revivalproject | Someone Didn't Pay the Electric Bill

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Someone Didn't Pay the Electric Bill

WHO: Cal Kestis, Kaz Brekker, Asterope Glass, Merrin and whoever might want to drop by
WHERE: Not-Temba/Sh'Ka's Power Station and related areas
WHAT: Cal's assembled a team to work on restoring the power and maybe establish communication from the other city
WHEN: End of August to mid-September ~~OMG WHY IS IT SEPTEMBER ALREADY~~
WARNINGS: ~~Kaz~~ N/A

Basecamp was set up within some of the offices of the power station, with a space for a rudimentary campfire outside if people wanted to heat up food or water to drink or use in general, or just enjoy the fresh air at night. Cal had brought along a couple of portable space heaters he'd cobbled together in case things got too cool inside at night, free for anyone's use.

The first day had mainly consisted of setting up a space for them to stay in and unloading whatever they'd managed to bring by way of equipment and rations, and a bit of territory scouting to see what was available for them. While the water plant, wherever that was, would have to be another project entirely, at least water itself was available, if requiring a bit of a walk from the station. Kyle's buddy system would be recommended, mainly out of concern for the large creatures that have been known to dwell within the wooded areas not far from there.

The power plant itself would be the next thing to look at to see what might need repairs, and if parts would be needed from the other city. Cal had Reeve's notes to share as well as previous experience in working on power restoration for Temba, and the similarities between the cities would make things at least a little easier. The most tedious part would be inspecting the connecting lines to make sure there wouldn't be any damaged areas that might cause problems if they went ahead and turned everything on. This would take the longest time, so the inspections would be divided up in sections, and they'd check back in after each one. The option to swap out between engineers would also be there so no one would be stuck with any one task, and Merrin would be able to bring them back and forth as she got more familiar with the layout of things.

It would be a lot of work and effort, but if there were things worth learning here, getting this done would be a key part to it.

((OOC: Feel free to treat this as a mingle and task sort of thing! Working on stuff? Taking a break? Getting chased by bunnyboars? Dropping off care packages for your hard-working engineers and friends? Do it do it do it! I will post an update on progress once I get some infos~))

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"Used to play as a kid. It was a test, everything was at the la--as a kid. But it wasn't a painful one, wasn't too hard to be successful at. And it's nice to try again now, not on their terms. To play without it being for someone else, trying to meet standards. To pick what to play."

She can't pinpoint why she didn't tell him about the lab. Maybe because she didn't want to see how it made his face look, if she did.

Even with the careful omission, this was particular enough phrasing for Tony to raise his eyebrows curiously. Particular, but Tony thought he might have understood what she meant, in a way, to be tested under severe scrutiny when you were still expected to hold hands when crossing the road. "It was languages, for me, that came easy," he tried to feel out, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he gestured loosely like he was just listening to his own voice again. "I mean, listen, everything comes easy for me, I'm a genius, that's the whole shtick. But my old man didn't expect me to speak Mandarin or whatever to him at home, and he wasn't checking my code when I built something, either it worked or it didn't, or it was a waste of time in the first place, you know, dad stuff. They weren't really things he could drill down with me about, they were--binary. I could do it, pat on the head. Metaphorically. Scotch on the rocks if he was feeling generous."

"It makes you want to work harder, to push yourself more, to do anything just to get that pat on the head." She lets out a sound that isn't really a laugh, even if it's shaped like one. "Were you ever in competition with anyone? Trying to be one of the worthy ones out of many?"

That was a little more revealing, and Tony nodded slowly in encouragement, like she could speak freely here with someone who understood the same pressure. External motivation for Tony more typically took the form of the threat of the stick, rather than the promise of the carrot--and whether he was trying to avoid that stick or provoking it changed rapidly. This girl didn't make it sound like she would be putting her feet up on the dean's desk any time soon.

Tony's worth was a different performance altogether, and he hesitated then, openly studying her this time as he considered how to get her to tell him more. "When I was your age..." he guessed, head tilted slightly with the question, how old was she anyway?, but continuing nonetheless, "I thought I was untouchable. It wasn't a competition, I had already won with the opening move. I was a complete asshole, of course. Now I know better, I've seen more past my own dick, and I spend most of my time trying to keep up. It's still not really a competition, I don't--...I'm buying my way into the game, every day. I know that's not going to end well for me."

"Maybe if you'd been back there, you would have been one of the successful ones. Usually, it was the strong or fast ones. People wanted them as soldiers, as infiltrators. To serve in the wars. The smart ones, too. Strategists."

She doesn't place herself in any of those categories, though.

"Were you engineered, too, Tony?"

If all it took to succeed in this place the girl was talking about was an inflated ego, then Tony grinned and nodded, sure, maybe he would have. It wasn't lost on him how she hadn't included herself in either party as she spoke, either the product or the buyers, and his plastic grin faded as he considered where that left her with 'too'. All of the pieces she had offered of this puzzle so far were producing a hollow dread in his stomach that made his shrug heavier and less casual than he intended as he replied, "Nah. Baseline. This face was the luck of the draw," with a flourish and renewed, dazzling smile. It took on a distinctly predatory cast, eyes coldly intent as he asked, "What were you supposed to be?"

"Enhanced senses. Better ability for math. A failed experiment. It leads to getting overwhelmed, in crowded or loud or bright places. Deficient, unwanted. Stayed until the lab was taken down by American special forces. The irony is, at least one person on that team had grown up there. Good enough for the Americans."

She doesn't look at him as she speaks, instead glancing down over the edge of the building. So she misses that predatory smile, that frost in his gaze.

As long as she wasn't about to tell him that her next move was to start burning shit down, that sounded more like Spider-Woman that Captain America. Including using the same formula to squash out the undesirables. Tony looked away as well then, clicking his teeth anxiously as he tried to manage his frustration with this shadow of a story he thought he knew too well already.

"You're in luck," he eventually produced, and glanced around at the crumbling building, long abandoned, as far as they knew just them and a handful of equally lost orphans in the whole solar system. "No Christmas shopping rush here. Next, you're going to tell me you always really liked foraging for mushrooms anyway." It did sound like Tony wasn't really listening, he did hear that, and finished with a click of his tongue and lopsided, apologetic smile.

"Listen, you don't even want to do what your parents expected of you," he amended. "You're what the future looks like, that can't fit into some mold they've already got in the shop. That's hardly deficient."

"Not parents, creators. It was discouraged to view them as parental figures." Here, she almost sounds wistful. She's heard stories of what having parents is supposed to be like. No, not like Tony's dad; he sounds more like the scientists that created and tested her. But actual parents, who'd take care of their children.

"But. Really, there's no clear direction for what to do next. Maybe being here is best, it's so different from anything back home. Everything is from scratch, in a sense."

Tony didn't stop himself from muttering, "Jesus," but he did look apologetic for that, too. After all, he knew she was hardly the only person here, let alone that he knew back on Earth, who had creators. How rigidly reinforced this not-parents thing was to make it important enough to continue to repeat it to some guy in a different dimension just felt viscerally cold.

"You've got some direction here," he provided, because she made it sound like that was how she was comfortable, "if you're into that kind of thing. Get this place working, sure, but then it's the water, and then it's cleaning up some of these buildings or deciding which ones to tear down, or levelling the whole place to make a habitable zone if we can't figure out how to put a stop to the storms." He gave a shrug with one shoulder then, looking unconvinced. "If you want to be a rebel, though, my door's always open."

"A rebel? What kind of a rebel are you?" She's still very curious about him, about how he lives and works and exists, in this strange world, given his background.

Maybe it's easier to concentrate on him than on herself, with everything she's shared and how he's reacted to it.

Oh, now, that wouldn't do. She had already stripped Tony of some of his armor, he wasn't about to just start talking about himself for nothing. He gave her a slow, impish grin, like he was waiting for her to realize some mistake she had made in opening that particular door, and when she didn't close it fast enough he answered, "Whatever kind makes your heart beat, sweetheart."

Maybe their worlds weren't as different and she made them sound, and, hey, they both liked music. Presumably. Twinkle Twinkle couldn't have been the only thing that transcended the barrier between Earths. Tony tipped carefully closer to nudge her shoulder with his own in encouragement and tried in a low, lilting purr, "I'd sell my soul, for you, babe..For money to burn, for you.." He watched closely for any sign of recognition as he sang, giddily ready to jump to his feet and belt if she was on board.

See, here's the thing: when he nudges her, when he makes that one moment of real physical contact, she leans in and rests her head on his shoulder. Like, she knows that wasn't an invitation, but she's taking it as one all the same and here she is now.

"Don't sell your soul, it's worth a whole lot more than you'd be getting."

"Oh, uh--..." This wasn't exactly what Tony had expected her to do with an invitation to rock out. Maybe Billy Idol hadn't survived the war where she was from. Maybe she was just very good at communicating the support she actually needed, and Tony shouldn't be taking it for granted, because he was evidently floundering.

After a frozen moment of surprised hesitation, Tony shifted to welcome her more comfortably with an arm draped around her where he could still gesture with a loose wrist hung from her shoulder. "Hey, you can't buy a particle accelerator or a baby bottle without my name on it back home, I've never made a bad deal in my life, I've got this," he insisted, mostly so it still felt light when his voice dropped slightly to ask, "You okay?"

Asterope? Good at communicating? No, absolutely the opposite. She's unable to ask, but Tony's intuited well enough for himself. That arm around her is just perfect. She relaxes into it, letting out a contented sigh, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, okay. Are you okay?"

As long as the information was tactile, Tony was usually at his best, but this signalled very much not okay to him so he was left hesitating again despite his own pre-programmed answer already prepared behind his teeth and forcing its way out with a breath, "Always." Not that he knew how to ask now, leaving him settling his weight on his free hand and awkwardly searching for somewhere else to direct his restless focus, landing on the alien stars again with a distracted frown and idly humming his song so it didn't get too quiet for either of them. He knew he wasn't going anywhere in the dark anyway.

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Someone Didn't Pay the Electric Bill

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