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?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was a pretty long ride that did involve another nap along the way, but it was nice to be back in more familiar territory, even if it was only slightly more so than the city they'd come from. She smiled up at Tony before seeming to startle a bit herself at the ARC Trooper's greeting.

Glancing at Jon as he stepped off the train, she carefully untangled the leash from her wrist as she passed the mothkitten over, though she still looked a little uncertain as she turned her attention back to Echo. "Um...thanks," she replied with a shuffle of her feet, eyes flicking briefly towards the ground as she folded her hands behind her. "I hope I didn't make you worry."

Echo's initial response to Tony's reply was the slight wrinkling of his nose behind his helmeted visage. "No," was the mostly neutral answer given with a hint of a smirk as he glanced over at Jon, nodding in return. "It's been a little busier than usual. Nothing's been set?"

In saying this, he broke the seal of his helmet, pulling it off with one hand since there weren't any threats around. His gaze then flickered back to Omega, the faint crease in his brow present yet lacking in severity. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," he sighed, crouching down to her level. "At least you weren't out there alone."

Between Jon's frown and Echo's flat rejection, Tony gave a small pout then haughtily raised his nose, not to be deterred by this lack of appreciation and fussing his hair carefully back into place as he pulled his sunglasses back on to look his devastating best for anyone else with better taste that might greet them on the platform. It might look empty otherwise, but Tony could wring attention out of a desert if he had to.

His pointed grooming slowly stopped, forgotten, as Echo crouched for Tony to watch cautiously, sensitive to Omega's fidgeting and searching for the first sign that he should intervene. "She was great," he promised with a reductive wave of his hand for Echo's concern. "She had Tony." His airy delivery suddenly got very acidic with a meaningful narrow of his eyes at Echo.

Taking the mothkitten off Omega's hands, Jon makes sure to have the leash around one wrist and hand while the winged creature yawned and stretched in his arms, wings fluttering a little. The feline Tony makes no attempts to escape, however, allowing Jon to cast his attention over to the human Tony, only to observe the man fussing about with his own hair.

Oh. He recognizes the attitude. Only a moment before the sunglasses- There they are. Jon sighs inwardly, then looks back to Echo. "We will be taking Tony here-" He nods towards the mothkitten. "-back to the library. To his family. You- Don't happen to know where he has gotten his name, Echo?"

At least you weren't alone out there. That stung in different ways, but Omega could still agree on that. She lifted her head to glance between Jon and Tony with an appreciative smile, nodding. "Yeah..."

This was difficult. It shouldn't be, but it was such a strange situation that she really wasn't sure how to go about it. Her eyes dropped towards the floor again as she pried her hands from behind her, if only to grasp in front of her. "I'm sorry," she said, resuming with an apology for the worry caused. "I didn't mean to. I couldn't stop Tony before he got on the train..."

There was something familiar about Omega, something sad but that thought vanished the second he heard big Tony's tonal shift, his gaze flitting to catch the last bit of grooming and met narrowing eyes with one of his own. Except it was more of an unspoken query as to why this was directed at him before the necessary connections were made.

Jon helped in explaining it further as the mothkitten answered with a prolonged meow near - if not in - the man's ear. "That," Echo pointed out, quite literally, "was all Cayde." Really, that was all the explanation needed. "Believe me, I tried other names. None of them stuck."

His attention turned back to Omega then, brow lifting as she apologized. "Ah, don't worry about it. The little guy's too curious for his own good. What's important is that you're safe."

Cayde. That made much more horrible sense, and Tony's bristling at Echo seemed to crest at the information, his shoulders tense and jaw tight, like he was going to impatiently take it out on Echo anyway. With a glance out from the train and toward the city, though, the tension was suddenly gone with a small nod as Tony pointedly pushed his glasses up his nose again, then gave his own point toward Echo that he held until he got confirmation for his silent recruitment into the war that had just begun. They deserved their revenge.

The pair of clones, meanwhile, had quickly gotten very hard to read, because this didn't feel like a reunion exactly, but they clearly knew each other. Omega's apologetic squirming continued to trouble Tony, because she hadn't been nearly so nervous to meet a man who came running at her in the woods, and the only immediate recourse he had was to look to Jon a little helplessly for some insight. Jon still looked irritated, which could only have been exacerbated by sitting around the train for so long, and now he was burdened under the opinionated animal. This left Tony looking quickly between the group, not sure what problem was more pressing, and he slid up behind Jon where he could massage a promise into the small of his back with a gentle press of his knuckles, bowing his head like he was just there to recruit his namesake as well. "If you guys are okay..." he started slowly, eyebrows raised as he caught Omega's eye for confirmation.

Despite having to maintain the mothkitten's increased squirming in his hold, Jon follows Tony's primarily nonverbal commentary, raising a single brow out of his frown at the growing tension creeping through the man's body.

He does meet Tony's eyes when he turns towards him, however and responds with a minimal tilt of his head to the right. Echo and Omega will be fine despite the girl's insecurities.

"Right." He sighs with a nod and a glance to Tony when the man steps behind him, giving a clear enough message for them to get going already, which Jon is willing enough to comply with. Though if Tony's goal is the library or rather to find the Exo Hunter isn't something Jon finds himself capable to tell. Not without looking. "We will see you two later." And turning his attention to Omega especially he adds: "I will let you know how the reunification went." Which will include pictures, naturally.

Edited 2021-08-14 12:23 (UTC)

Omega stole a glance back at Jon and Tony, looking hesitant as she caught on. Well, there didn't really seem a point for them to stay, other than to potentially hide behind but that wouldn't get anyone anywhere. She looked back at Echo before turning to the other two with a nod, looking like she'd made up her mind about something, at least.

"Thank you for everything," she said, smiling a little. She then nodded at Jon. "Can I come visit some time?"

With that said, she steeled herself for whatever strange sort of conversation would be coming next, rolling her shoulders back as she took a breath before facing Echo again.

Whatever Tony didn't say was was given an additional look, and since there was no handbook on how to interpret such cues from the man Echo had to wing it. Despite the frown, he nodded, agreeing to the nonsense that was to come from the nonverbal cue.

It seemed like everyone was ready to move on, however. Amid all of the stolen glances, Echo felt like he was out of the loop. Maybe for a good reason. He said nothing as Jon spoke, nodding again while watching the interactions without interruption, eventually letting his gaze fall back upon Omega as she thanked the two men.

His expression smoothed out by then, meeting her gaze when she turned her attention back to him. And it did feel awkward, if not a little tense as things quieted down. "...It's the armor, isn't it?"

Tony would happily stay if Omega needed someone to hide behind, so he lagged a little reluctantly despite Jon taking the cue from his own urging, looking very much like he was the one who might get separation anxiety. It was only when Jon was effectively out of reach that Tony looked to him again and started quickly to catch up, insisting back to Omega, "I expect it, sweetheart!"

With a hand back on Jon's back to tell him that Tony had caught up a few steps away from the platform, Tony continued to glance back the way they had come, then tried to tear his focus away with a wiggle of his glinting fingers to catch the fussing mothcat's attention and calm them both down. "She's going to be okay, right? Echo's a good guy. He's only killed a few people so far. He's kind of a bad influence. Should we go back? She'll come to the library if she's in trouble," he rattled, shoulders going heavy with the exhaustion of every worst case scenario that he was imagining, and the long trip away from Temba. At least he wasn't cut off from the network anymore. He could keep watch.

Jon has nodded his approval while Tony has been much more verbal in declaring his own.

Though Tony's restlessness only increases the further they move away from the two clones, causing Jon to eventually slow down enough to find himself next to Tony and look up at him to first catch his eye, then slowly, yet decidedly reach up to capture his fretting hand in his own as well. "Echo saved me over in the other city, Tony. When I got lost in the dense forest and a predator decided to make me its meal." This? Isn't necessarily something Jon has mentioned to Tony before. If only to not worry the man needlessly. Jon adds a little squeeze to the hold of his hand. Reassurance that he hasn't gotten hurt. "He safely escorted me out of there. I trust him. They'll be fine."

Omega still couldn't help but look after the two as they started to go off. At least she knew somewhere she could find them. Oblivious as to whatever sort of things might erupt from their ensuing line of conversation, she studied the clone in front of her. She felt a little bad as she could tell Echo wasn't sure what to make of things either, and at his question, she shook her head.

"Not the way you think..." she admitted. She looked at his face now that it wasn't hidden behind a helmet. He could have been any Reg at a glance.

"My name's Omega," she continued, figuring that was the easiest place to start.

His face - it was the same as any other clone, the same as any one of his many brothers. Maybe a little leaner, but there was nothing remarkable or memorable to tell the difference.

There was, however, a degree of change in the way Echo arched a brow at her admission, an inquiring glance that stayed as she introduced herself.

"I'm Echo," he said in turn. That should have been the end of it, a simplified action before going into the next step of escorting her to a safer area. But it wasn't. Not when there was something familiar about the cut of the collar and sleeve on her tunic. The familiarity in her face. "What do you mean by that?"

Were there other Echos in the GAR? Given how many millions of clones there were, it could be possible. "See-Tee Fourteen-Oh-Nine, right?" Omega asked, even though she didn't really like referring to the numbers, but those were guaranteed to be individual, ironically enough. Her knowing that much might even be more of a give away, but she'd still offer another puzzle piece anyway.

"I'm from Kamino too. But we don't meet until...when the war ends." She wasn't sure how long that would be between whenever he was now and then, but she wasn't sure how much she should say about the in-between either.

Echo's eyes widened, his voice dropping into a whisper. "That's my number." He hadn't referred to his number for a time, but having someone recite his specific designation was startling.

No one else from the galaxy at large ever spoke of Kamino as much as he did, either. The pieces clicked into place along a timeline he wasn't a part of (yet), recognition settling in perfectly to spur about realization.

"-You're a clone." A conclusive statement. A question. He saw it now, but the confusion was very palpable. "But you're- "

"Different," Omega finished for him, but she smiled a faint, crooked smile. "It's okay. You were confused then, too." It wasn't like it was advertised, but then there were only so many non-Kaminoans around Tipoca City. But then she hadn't been around the military complex until some time later.

"Sorry, I didn't want for this to be strange, but...I guess there's no helping it."

It's okay. You were confused then, too.

He fell silent, letting his gaze drop as he mulled over it.

He knew the Kaminoans kept their secrets. They only spoke of what was important at the time. What mattered.

That was what they did. How they operated. No questions asked.

"...Yeah." Although he frowned, it wasn't directed toward Omega. "We can't really help it being strange. Things are just...complicated here."

"Yeah..."

'Complicated' was putting it lightly, really. The girl folded her hands behind her back as she shifted from one foot to the other. "...sorry. At first I wasn't sure who you were, and then I wasn't sure how to talk about this. But I thought you should know."

With Omega saying she wasn't sure who Echo was the first time she saw him, he felt bad for not knowing about her. Still, he shook his head, not blaming her for reacting the way she did.

"For what it's worth, you had the courage to say as much. And it's a little more than what I already have," he said with a trying smile, a soft sigh heard among those spoken words as he rose to his feet.

The girl smiled back with some relief, glad at least that much was off her chest. She wasn't sure that it resolved anything, but at least that part wouldn't be coming as a surprise to him.

"...I don't know what else I should tell you. I might not even have the answers you want, if you ask questions. But if need to think about things, I'll understand."

"There's gonna be a lot of thinking involved," the clone confessed, somewhat relieved that she even included the option. "I'm not sure where I would even begin to ask..."

They still had other matters to go over, ones that affected them presently instead of where they came from. "I can take you to the Jedi Temple," he said. "They welcome anyone seeking shelter, and it's a safe place to be."

That was a fair enough answer. Omega nodded.

"I know where that is. I've been there. Ezra told me, and a man in silver armor showed me where to find it." Emotions flickered on her face, confusion, disappointment, smoothing out into something more neutral as she considered things. "I'm at the hotel right now. It's...all right. Lark lives upstairs, so there are people nearby." But it wasn't the same.

Echo recognized the name, and he knew who Omega was also describing. "That'd be Mando," he replied, reminding him that he should get around to telling him and Quill the search party was canceled.

Despite her knowing of the temple and having somewhere to stay, he still felt something was off, gauging her neutralized expression and body language in the beats that followed. "The hotel's not as bad as some of the other places around Temba," he offered, his tone softening a bit. "I'll escort you over there."

"Mando," the girl nodded, committing the name to memory. Echo's offer at least made her brighten, and she nodded again.

"Thank you." It felt strangely lacking, speaking like this to Echo, but she decided other things would just have to be given time. Just telling him when it was that they met seemed to be enough for the trooper to digest. There were plenty of other things that would probably overwhelm him. She'd have to tread carefully.

"Should we go, then?" Omega prompted, smiling a little.

(no subject)

on_repeat - 2021-08-17 00:14 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only