revivalproject | Oh Where Could He Be?

Entry tags:

Oh Where Could He Be?

WHO: Omega, Tony (the Mothkitten), Tony (the Human) and Jon
WHERE: Not!Temba
WHAT: Just some Lost Children on an Unplanned Adventure
WHEN: End of July
WARNINGS: N/A? Will change as needed

Roughly one hour and twenty minutes ago...

"Oh no..."

Hugging the squirmy mothkitten to her chest, Omega turned just in time to see the doors slide shut to the train before the floor shuddered underfoot and the scenery began to slowly but surely move past the windows. She clambered onto one of the seats, pressing her face against the glass as they began to pick up speed, catching a glimpse of the ARC Trooper she'd been trying to tail earlier before ending up chasing the mothkitten aboard the transport. Sheepishly she offered a wave as they quickly sped on past.

The winged furball mewled and tried to get comfortable in her lap as she sighed and flopped back into the seat.

"This is all your fault," she scolded lightly.

Twenty minutes ago...

Omega was jolted awake when the train seemed to finally pull to a stop. The mothkitten in her lap yawned and stretched, and she scooped it up as she approached the doors, peering out into the unfamiliar station.

"This must be the other city..." she observed, for the moment forgetting her situation with the eagerness to see more of another new place. Letting the mothkitten clamber up onto her shoulder where he seemed to like being, not that it was a bother because he was so surprisingly light, the girl started towards the exit. Maybe someone else was still around. And anyway, it would be boring sitting on the train waiting for it to start up again.

She hardly got two steps onto the road from the station when the mothkitten abruptly took off, wings fluttering, eyes big as he took in the new smells. Right before he went darting off.

"Oh, no, no, no- Tony! Come back!"

Now...

It's hard to enjoy the scenery when you're busy looking for a runaway kitten. She'd feel terrible if anything happened to the little one. "Tony!" she calls out every now and then, hoping she'd hear that familiar reply and see him come drifting back.

"Tony, where are you?"

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Omega's baffled reaction hadn't really been what Tony had been anticipating, making him drop his hand at her defensive posture and look to Jon again, this time for some help because he had a much more thorough understanding of that distant galaxy. If she wasn't a Jedi..."How do you know Echo then?" Tony was asking before he really thought about it. It wasn't like Echo had been entirely unsociable, but no one had made it sound like these clones had spent much time with anyone outside of their military units. That wasn't exactly the point.

"Yeah... Ezra told me something about that," Omega said. She blinked at Jon's question. "What's a... padawan? Something to do with Jedi?" Given the context, that must be the case. Maybe it wasn't such a strange thing that they assumed she was related to the Jedi in some way, given how many Ezra had spoken of. Given Jon's wording, apparently these two weren't from 'home', but otherwise were acquainted enough with those here who were.

Turning her head towards Tony the human, she hesitated at a response. "I'm part of his squad."

"Padawans are young Jedi, still training under their masters." Jon explains, but can't help the frown. Though it should make sense that she doesn't know about the different training stages of the Jedi, given that most of them may well be... Well. Gone. In her time.

Though he feels more curious about the information she shares. "You are part of Echo's squad?" Does that mean she is military?

Tony very suddenly found himself hoping that there was a perfectly good reason that military-produced clones were socializing outside of their units. Not that the Jedi had proved above training children for their battles, but if this one wasn't even a Jedi, then Tony was starting to see why they might have been pissing people off. "Hey--" he interrupted, before Omega had to elaborate about her child soldier situation out here in the middle of a strange jungle. With a gesture toward the mothkitten, he suggested, "Hold that thought. We should get him somewhere safe and see if he's hungry, huh?," gaze lingering on Jon again, hoping he could confirm that had something that they could feed Omega. Maybe Tony was going to get to test that tea party theory.

It would be a lot to unpack, and she wasn't even sure how much they were familiar with, let alone regarding Echo. The girl grimaced at Jon's own echo. "That's what I said, isn't it?" she said with a slight jut of her lips.

She was thankful for having the attention off of her. Turning her own attention back to the mothkitten in the Archivist's hands, she held a hand out to him with a faint smile. "Is he yours, then? Maybe that's why he went on the train- to look for you." She'd bet that it was more just because the train happened to be there, really.

The response the girl gives him and the way she delivers it leaves the Archivist to just stare at her for a moment, mouth half open and brows pulled together. He shifts his irritation over to Tony with a little motion of his head and a twitch to his brow. Is it really that natural for kids to be soldiers in this galaxy that they get offended by the irritation of people about it?

"I, ah--" He tries with all the attention being directed at the mothcat he is holding. "They live at the library. Over in Temba." Is the answer Jon settles with. He wouldn't say the Countess or her litter belong to anyone, always willing to deny being a pet owner. He just... Looks out for them. Makes sure they are okay and well. Then he sighs and nods. "But- Right. We have something we can feed them- ah- him."

Feed the mothkitten, feed the child. Unless the child decides she needs to hunt her own ration bars or whatever it is they feed child soldiers in that galaxy.

Jon was not finding any refuge in Tony, because he was clearly battling with a charmed smirk at Omega's stubborn pout. Jon's look only managed to make Tony get control of his own expression enough to return an innocent blink and the smallest shrug, yeah, man, what's your problem?, but Tony did have to suddenly give his beard a scratch as he drew up to his full height.

It was hard to tell exactly how old Omega was, so offering that hand was something of a gamble to find out which way her age might have leaned and Tony quickly talked through the gesture so it seemed natural whether Omega took it or not; "The train'll be back eventually, but this place isn't so bad if you're an animal gal. Honestly, I was just starting to think Temba was too quiet. Do you get that? If there isn't a traffic jam, three ambulances, and a dance party going on outside my window, it doesn't feel like home. Big city, everyone shouts to get what they want."

Clearly there was a lack of understanding here- mostly due to the fact that Omega had no normal upbringing to compare to whatever sort of expectations Jon had. Jedi didn't even factor into things so far as she was concerned. She tilted her head at the Archivist's slip, but she wasn't going to say not to a snack if they had anything. It had been a long train ride.

She looked at Tony and the hand offered, hesitating. The last time she'd went along with someone by the hand, they'd turned out to be a bounty hunter trying to take her away. But if they were all stuck here, where would they go? Finally she slipped her little hand into his, deciding it was meant to help him get to his feet but if he wanted to hold hands to lead her to their somewhere safe, she wouldn't begrudge it.

"It is pretty quiet," she agreed. "We've been staying in a city and it's a lot more noisy. And questionable, I guess. But I like it."

Leaving it to Tony to tend to Omega, Jon settles with making sure the mothkitten is kept secure in his arms and leads the way back to where they have set up camp at what counts for this city's library.

"I believe we should seek out the- w-well. I'm not certain it really counts as a museum, but- It appears these people at least had a place where they collected items of value." Jon points out over his shoulder, not quite sure how to contribute to that conversation about busy cities.

Not sure which vector was contributing the most to Jon's discomfort, or if trying to needle him about it was the best way to put Omega at ease, Tony only raised an eyebrow at his back for this stumbling suggestion then grinned at Omega to conclude, "Treasure hunt?" Giving them all something to do on equal ground wasn't a bad idea, even if it was coming out of Jon's chronic work fixation and distracted briefly from Tony's careful probing. He had to get back on track with a gentle shake of her hand to ask, "Who's 'we'? Back home, I live with my whole team. One of them smells like a dog and spills beer on my couches constantly, but mostly I miss them."

The girl brightened, glad to be included, although she supposed that bringing her along was probably the best thing to do considering there was no one else around. "Treasure hunt sounds fun! What were we supposed to be looking for here anyway?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully before grinning a little as Tony mentions his own team. "My squad. Technically we live on our ship but we rent space to dock it in between our missions." She considered before adding, "Guess it does smell a bit but it's a gunship so it wasn't exactly made for long term passengers." Her face fell a little as she thought of them. "But I miss them a lot too. I've never been on my own before. It's...different."

"What happened to your parents?" Jon asks plainly what he assumes him and Tony both to have been wondering this entire time. Clearly this girl must have parents - Or be an orphan. Both plausible, yet even for an orphan to end up as a child soldier is harsh in Jon's opinion.

That was far more direct than Tony was trying to be while they weren't somewhere that he was sure Omega was comfortable, making Tony's genial smile harden as he tried to catch Jon's eye with a tick of his head toward the kid. She already sounded a little sad; if Jon made her cry, she was going to become Jon's responsibility.

"Figuring out the rules is part of the game," Tony answered, and it was supposed to be conspiratorial but most of the energy had gone out of it in his dread for whatever sad response Omega could possibly have for Jon.

As much as Tony's response basically suggested they had no idea, Omega supposed it was fair enough in a way. She pouted thoughtfully at that before directing her attention to Jon again.

"I've never had any," she replied, her answer so matter-of-fact that it was borderline dismissive. She at least kind of knew what parents even were to give a proper answer in that regard, but she hadn't felt particularly robbed of the experience.

"...you never had any." Jon repeats, his pace slowing as he works through those information.

In the end, Jon just nods. "You're a clone, then. Like Echo..." Different model, he assumes. But it would explain the demeanor. "I... I will admit that I still struggle with fully picturing that." Clones. Human clones going out to fight wars. It feels surreal even after having passed through an entire apocalypse. At least that was all supernatural. These clones are- They are real. They are people.

That casual delivery from someone who was still young enough to hold Tony's hand to navigate safely broke Tony's heart enough to leave him grimacing at Jon again in a quick transformation from his accusatory look to one clearly begging for help. Omega being one of the clones wasn't a leap that Tony had immediately made, assuming they just found her himself and didn't know what else to do with her, because this wasn't at all how clones worked in Tony's experience. The clones of the Avengers were fully formed, not...grown. That was horrific, and Tony was reluctant to look back toward Omega for confirmation. Struggle was one way of putting it.

"You grew up together?" Tony assumed, trying to work out the relationship with this new context--no wonder she didn't recognize him. It wouldn't be the first incidence of a timeline not quite matching up, like the twins being different ages. More importantly, did that mean Omega had that chip in her head? Tony did not know how to communicate that concern silently, but maybe it wasn't an immediate one. After all, Echo got to...whatever age he was without being triggered.

You're a clone, then. Omega's fingers tightened slightly around Tony's hand as she looked cautiously at Jon at that observation, unsure of what their feelings on that matter might be. She gave an emphatic nod.

"He's my brother. Like the rest of my squad. But we're considered defective," she said, shrugging a little. "The Regs don't much like us. That's why when I saw Echo in this armor, I wasn't sure if he was...well, a Reg."

She kicked at a pebble that she came across, shaking her head at Tony's question. "No. They were already doing missions. They're all made to age faster. I stayed on Kamino. Mostly I was acting as Nala Se's assistant. She's one of the ones in charge of the cloning program."

Edited (what is english) 2021-08-03 22:59 (UTC)

Jon falls silent at that, expression freezing into a scowl at the term defective and that scowl is shared with Tony in a wordless conversation. That just isn't right! These are people being created and treated like some kind of product! He has already learned that this galaxy has a massive slavery problem, and of course the issue with the clones being bred to serve as an army in the first place.

And this is a galaxy with really advanced technology!

Closing his eyes, Jon exhales sharply through his nose. "...aight." He mutters, his one hand dropping down from supporting the mothkitten named Tony to land on Omega's shoulder and give it a quick squeeze. "I'm sorry I asked. You can stay with us until you decide whether you want to meet up with Echo, head back to Temba or have figured out how you wish to go on. Probably don't need us to look out for you, but- It tends to be safer not to get separated too much."

Tony gave a reassuring squeeze back to Omega's hand, they weren't going anywhere, but was looking to Jon again as she continued to explain. Their focus met at defective, but while Jon looked rightfully angry, Tony responded with what appeared to be wide-eyed guilt, like he should have personally dealt with this problem already, and had to remember to take a deep breath while Jon tried to exhale his frustration. Even through that, though, it didn't escape Tony that assisting the person in charge of the cloning meant that Omega likely knew plenty of damaging information about the program....

Jon was right, this wasn't the best time to pursue that. "More eyes for the treasure," Tony agreed, not quite as energetically as he meant to. "Come on, we'll drop this off," he indicated the pouch he still carried, "get some water, make sure no one's been bitten by anything, and we'll go check out the museum."

Omega glanced between the two, trying to make any sense out of those ranging expressions that swept across their faces. She took refuge in the more physical responses, that hand on her shoulder, the squeeze back of her hand. For her limited experience of anything beyond Kamino, she'd simply accepted the practice for what it was. True the cloning program and the Kaminoans would be a complicated matter to explain, but it was never something she'd really had to talk with anyone about other than those who had come from it.

She was more eager to move off the subject than she realized in that moment, nodding at the two. "You're not sending me away then?" It had only happened once before, but she'd been all the more intent on not messing things up so she wouldn't be in the way of people, so that she wouldn't be sent off. The people she wanted to be with weren't here, and Echo at the moment was going to be...tricky, but she wanted some time to think there. And if these two were going to let her stay for now, she wasn't going to complain.

"Of course we aren't sending you away! Who would do that?!" Jon asks, bewildered by the suggestion alone. But the way the question is asked speaks of previous experience, which makes him wince. "We're all stuck on this planet and have to work together. It's as Tony says: More eyes are a good thing."

He looks up from Omega and over to Tony, only to incline his head a little towards the winged feline still hanging over his shoulder. "Do you think you can improvise something like- A harness? To make sure your namesake doesn't wander off?" Fine, he can't quite hide a little smirk at that last part. That certainly is one thing the Tonys have in common.

Jon's outburst had Tony twisting his mouth to the side over Omega's head, not because he wouldn't gladly have that very civil conversation with whoever had left Omega asking that question, but it would probably be nice if they could avoid treating her like she was 'defective' while she was around. They could work out that energy where they didn't have to make it her problem. The cautioning expression quickly turned to a flat stare at Jon's smirk, not exactly embracing this namesake thing, though wasn't about to let anyone think he couldn't make something. With the smallest toss of his head up toward the library building as they approached to indicate his acquiescence, Tony asked, "Who did you say called him that...?" His civil conversation schedule was getting full.

Inside, the building felt close and dark, any natural light coming in dimly from cracks in the walls or a few of those mostly closed off windows, the stone not conducive to letting in much light, and no light fixtures to speak of even if Tony could figure out the power. There was a very faint glow pouring from a slightly cracked open door to the side of the hall, though, just raised enough for their large lizard friend to squeeze under, and perhaps Omega if she wanted to crawl. Tony hauled at a dangling pulley system draped inconspicuously among the vines crawling up the wall beside it to lift the door open for them and welcome Omega into what used to be a classroom, now with the many desks pushed up toward the far wall and fencing off the area around a broken, open window where the foliage from outside had been creeping its way in as a thick moss and ambitious branches. The glow was from what looked like bowls of what could have been oil, like candles, left liberally over most surfaces so their cumulative presence had any kind of effect, any one container about as luminescent as a firefly. On the floor in front of a driftwood-looking cradle where a bag of pungently ripe fruits hung off of one end, keeping them off of the floor, and a hammock was strung between the supports, Tony had clearly already been working on something with a few more of those vines from his pulley and some dried leaves. He dropped to sit there, sorting through his materials to find the most reliable ones to craft a quick harness.

There didn't appear to be any flies attracted to the glowing bowls or the smell of the sticky fruit, and that might have had something to do with the green, swivelling eye that appeared at the top of the broken window, considering the party.

She figured she'd be put on the next train back to Temba if she was going to be a bother. These two seemed to be a little better about dealing with children than her brothers were. A little. Jon seemed very excitable.

Giggling a little as Jon indicated the mothkitten, she smiled over at Tony. "I heard Echo call him Tony. I think you have to share names now," she replied, grinning as the mothkitten purred from Jon's arms.

There was no hiding her eagerness to see what sort of camp these two have set up once they arrived. Omega watched, fascinated by the door system that Tony activated. She ducked beneath it even before it had been fully raised, looking around at the plant-infested room. "Wow..." She ran up to some of the nearest bowls, marveling at the glow coming from them.

"How long have you two been staying here?" she asked as she wandered over by the hammock, perhaps the most familiar thing to her. She smiled faintly as she gave it a light tug, completely unaware of being watched by alien eyes.

That odd tense silence from Tony isn't being missed by Jon and he frowns a little, but doesn't comment on it.

He waits for Omega to enter the room they have set up their camp in before ducking through the door himself, holding the mothkitten close, which especially now seems newly eager to explore this new place. Though Jon maintains his hold on the feline. "Would it make you feel better if we called him... Captain?" It's an offer. So far Jon hasn't named any of the mothkittens, but Tony seems to take the name-thing... Weirdly.

His attention shifts back to Omega and he Jon exhales once. "Since we arrived in this city? Wouldn't have been able to stay here all by myself, though." He will admit that, then cast a glance over to the window and nod briefly towards the green head slowly shifting itself into view. "Yes, I'm back."

Echo? That couldn't be right, Tony hadn't nearly had enough chances to irritate Echo into this prank. This puzzle was missing pieces, and Tony was going to find them. In the meantime, Jon's offer was not nearly any better, causing Tony to give him another narrow look, mouth slightly tight this time, and suspicious. Jon quickly became suspect number one.

"Yeah, a few, uh...days," Tony did agree, not exactly sure anymore how long they had been here, or how long Omega had been on the planet to compare. He did toss his head with a wry smile to welcome her to the hammock if she wanted while he worked. "And he's being humble, you'll get used to that. I'm just here to keep him comfortable while he does the important work. So, if you're sticking around, you'll have to pull your weight, you can either help me," he said, and help up the length of viney rope he was weaving, loops already looking about mothkitten sized, "or assist the boss in the field. You'll have to provide qualifications, of course."

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