revivalproject | [Open] Calibrating To Earth Life

Entry tags:

[Open] Calibrating To Earth Life

WHO: Lauri-Ell, Open
WHERE: Calibrations Room
WHAT: Calibrations Room
WHEN: Calibrations
WARNINGS: CW: Grief about a mother Lauri never knew

Calibrations Waiting Room

Here

Calibrations

The space is clearly an apartment of some sort. Comfortable and comfortably appointed. Some of the walls are bare bricks, or plastered walls painted in a similar color. One portion is clearly set up as a living room, with a green love seat oriented toward a flat screen television, and with a coffee table. On that table was a pile of pizza boxes, cans of sosa, bags of chips, and a remote control. It's perfectly set up for some television binging. Wonder what's on the tube.

Lauri-Ell herself is stretched out on one side of this loveseat, slouching and with one leg draped over the arm of the loveseat, an orange tabby cat sitting in her lap and purring as she pets it. Her attention is fully on the screen, as if she expects something of it, but she hasn't reached to turn it on.

Nearby is a bookshelf, atop which are two framed pictures. One displays a blonde woman who looks a bit like Lauri-Ell, smiling radiantly in the arms of a black man. Next to that is a photo of a younger version of the same blond woman, held in the arms of an older woman. There again is the familial resemblance, and there is more to Lauri-Ell and the older woman than there is to the blonde girl, especially since Lauri-Ell clearly has the woman's hair.

The room transitions into a kitchenette with only a bit of wall to mime at separation. There's no door, just an open space that is too wide for a door, too narrow for 'open plan' living. Near the far window, looking out on the streets of New York, is a kitchen table with a few chairs. Leaning against it rests Lauri-Ell's Hammer, begging for attention. Could it possibly be safely touched in this space, even if it can't in real life?

Finally the kitchen has pantries one can look in, which are mostly empty, and a fridge covered in photos. The place is rather empty, like the apartment exists for someone to live in, but that person isn't around as much as they could be. Perhaps that's exactly what it's like. But given nothing in here is of a scale suitable for Lauri-Ell, it's no doubt that this place isn't properly hers.

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That did not clarify anything, leaving Tony staring dumbly back at Lauri-Ell, like the clarification might still come, then swinging around like he might still see Rhodey and Jess and they could explain in terms he understood. Both hands up toward Lauri-Ell, Tony tried for himself, "You didn't steal it, you just took it." He supposed the difference must have been whether or not the king decided you should have the thing in the end. With that sorted, Tony quickly powered on, "None of these people are Kree where I'm from, by the way, this is--they never took Earth, or whatever," not sure how else to interpret the uniforms, and figuring Lauri-Ell's stories about Carol's mother made a lot more sense in this context.

"You have surely taken up weapons in the heat of battle to save your allies, yes? That is how I first held the weapon. When the battle was over I returned it to Carol, who the Emperor had chosen as his Accuser. At the wedding he chose me to remain his Accuser."

Really she doesn't get how Tony fails to understand all of this.

"And Carol remains half-Kree, by the blood of our mother Mari-Ell. The others, however, wear the colors for Carol went to a Sorcerer to divide the power of the Weapon by magic, giving her a team. Those three are those she called to the duty with her. She was lucky only the Emperor knew. Our people would not have been happy. I think it suited Jessica best. I liked her. She complimented my arms many times."

Lauri-Ell, Accuser of the Alliance, sister of Carol Danvers, and holder of a crush on Jessica Drew.

Oh, yeah, that was all very straightforward and easy for Tony to follow, he should have simply been more perceptive of the wedding-warrior-appointments and magic-weapon-polyamory stuff. His lip slowly raised as Lauri-Ell continued, really not sure what to do with any of this, except for the part about liking Jess. That, he understood, and she only ever insulted his arms.

"Most things suit her. I think it's the hair. She's really got great hair," he muttered so they knew where their common ground was. It was a rare inch. "So, what, they're off to...Conquer space, while you're here having a pizza party?" he determined, not sure why Lauri-Ell hadn't made the cut for this team or where the rest of the Avengers were, and wandering back toward the couch to try flipping open one of the boxes.

"Yes, very nice hair. I wish I had seen more of her face," Lauri-Ell said thoughtfully. Which was more for her than for Tony.

"No, they go to clear my name. When I first met Carol she had been sent to find and judge the one accused of destroying the city I was stationed in. I was the only survivor. She determined I was innocent and needed to prove it, but given I was seen as a criminal, she defied the Emperor and left me here while she and the others went to capture a human man named Wastrel."

So she had been left behind.

"Right, that's on me, not conquer. Judge and accuse," Tony decided to accept, nodding theatrically instead of getting into another fight about who's reality made any sense. "Except without the judging or accusing part, naturally," he did have to acknowledge with a roll of his eyes. As outrageous as Lauri-Ell's brief explanation of Carol's role in this drama was, he did have to conclude that roll with a softening of his expression, then pinch of concern as he reluctantly slid his focus back toward Lauri-Ell, trying to figure out how to transition smoothly before he was just blurting anyway, "The only one?" To be the last one standing, that was the nightmare scenario. Literally, waking-up-in-a-cold-sweat type.

"Yes, but I try not to, because we are not the only justice, the only law in the universe. I am told I am mainly to serve as a protector of the emperor save when he sends me on specific assignment."

SHe hopes that the Emperor is actually telling the truth.

Though she did accuse and judge when her duty demanded it.

His question earns a brief sigh and then he nods.

"Yes, the only one. I awoke in the ruins, and as they thought I did it, I was attacked. I tried to keep them back. I did not wish to harm the other soldiers."

It was difficult to tell if Lauri-Ell's 'I' was actually a personal morality, or a stand-in for the broader description of her title since it did seem to align with what she thought her duties were, and the general state of the cognitive dissonance that she had described thus far. Tony's frown returned, eyes narrowed to ask if Lauri-Ell really didn't see how weird everything she was saying was, and he had to nod. She did generally seem unfathomably earnest. "Sure, I also just don't do my job sometimes, in case someone else wants to take a crack at it," he said.

He dropped onto the couch then, draped in the centre with his arms spread along the back of it and knees crossed to bounce his foot restlessly. "What happened to all of those people?" he felt like he didn't really want to know the answer.

"The ones that attacked me? They were fine, with some minor injuries. Carol intervened at the Emperor's request."

But that didn't matter because everything around them starts to fade away once he settles in. And he ends up between a half-transparent Lauri-Ell on one side, and an orange tabby cat (or so it seems) on the other side. And, on a nearby chair, the dream-Lauri-Ell.

The television comes on, to a mid-season episode of Real Bachelor of New York, and there's no denying it's one of those stupid dating reality TV shows. Lauri-of-then seems confused at first, with a questioning commentary directed to the feline, which she refers to alternatively as 'Beast' and 'Chewie'. The Lauri-Of-Now also starts to comment on it, as they move through the shows, clearly caught up in all that is going on. Her commentary is more... annoyed and prescient, as if she knows to warn the woman that the man is unworthy. It would be easy to lure her into the proper fight.

Only after she suggests pelting the man with spoiled meat and a knock comes at the door does the memory of the past fade, and Lauri actually is sitting in that other chair, and she looks annoyed.

"Those women deserved better."

Edited 2022-06-06 18:26 (UTC)

Maybe they weren't really supposed to care about the city that had come down around Lauri-Ell, so Tony only released the breath that he had taken to correct her. There were two of her now, anyway, and he knew how to retreat when flanked, watching the faint Lauri-Ell cautiously out of the corner of his eye and trying not to look tense even as his toes continued to bounce.

The show itself wasn't something that Tony had seen so much as he was aware of it. Or, more precisely, knew a few women who had been through the dating show process, so the show itself offered a kind of macabre autopsy of those relationships that he hadn't expected. And he could tell Lauri-Ell just how much some of them might have spent on their clothes just to be humiliated on camera.

"They've all got a much better chance at not being stuck there until the finale," he pointed out. "Get in, slam down a couple of 24 carat episodes, get a hundred thousand instagram followers out of it, get kicked off for plenty of time to promote your lifestyle brand."

Oh. She had just assumed Tony wouldn't care about all those Kree and Skrull innocents. Those lives, though, they weighed heavily on her. Innocents that it was her job as a soldier to protect.

And she had failed.

The memories and show passes, though, and Lauri-Ell sighs, shaking her head.

"So they are doing this to make money? That... makes me sad."

She seemed to take that a little personally, making Tony raise his eyebrows inquisitively, with a vague point toward the darkened TV, trying to forge the connection for himself. He might have been newly acquainted with the show, but it wasn't clear to him what else Lauri-Ell thought anyone on it was likely to get out of the experience. "Much easier ways to fall in love," he tried reassuring, his pointing hand alighting daintily on his chest. "And the money helps."

Those women went through things they didn't deserve and all for money? Of course she did not like that. Why should she like that? Of course, Kree ensured all of their people had basic income after all.

"Do you have much experience with love? Carol seemed to have some love, but I never had a chance to ask her or Sir Rhodey about their relationship."

That was a lot to take at once. Tony blinked slowly, still in the trench wondering what he could even claim he knew about love when he had to contend with the implication that Carol and Rhodey had a 'relationship', and, more importantly, 'Sir Rhodey'. He would love that. Tony could not allow Lauri-Ell to say that to his face.

Looking past Lauri-Ell, eyes unfocused, he declared, "That makes sense," despite the jealous wound he could feel in his chest. Maybe because of it. It seemed almost ridiculous suddenly that they weren't together, that there had been some conspiracy to keep them apart. Had Tony been keeping them apart? "Ah--" he had to try to refocus, pushing away this nebulous guilt to cobble, "Love is--you have to earn it. Carol and Rhodey, they've got that in spades, they can probably...See right through each other."

How else should she address the noble human warrior?

“Earn it,” she says, frowning. “Well, I do not believe that male earned the love of any of the Ashleys. I would be better for any one of them than he was.”

And yes, she says that with pride and posture. She’s… had a bit more confidence in this realization of hers.

It was difficult to tell how normal that was for Lauri-Ell, culturally--Mar-Vell hadn't made any sweeping declarations of his worthy, warrior spirit or whatever, so the sentiment sounded closer to Tony's Asgardian friends than his limited experience with the Kree. He breathed a laugh and said, "You make it sound like you've got it all planned out," with an eyebrow raised to suggest he didn't exactly believe that, curious what thought Lauri-Ell had put into her romantic gestures. All of her experience with them seemed to come from the show.

She had ideas for what to do with romance. But she was an idealist right now.

"I have no plans, just dreams."

Dreams were feeling very real at the moment, which Tony acknowledged with a pointed glance around the room he had never actually been in, sucking his teeth then shooting Lauri-Ell a sidelong glance. "What's the difference?" he prompted. "Most of what I dream comes true." Sometimes it was even a good thing.

Oh dreams were feeling very real.

"Kree are not supposed to have dreams. I was not made to have dreams. I was created to obey and serve," she says with a sigh. "To wish to be more was always a... failing of my creation."

Tony had to release another frustrated breath, mouth twisted to the side as he tried to determine if Lauri-Ell was trying to pick a fight with him again. She wasn't answering the question, at least. "You don't have plans, and you're not allowed to dream. You were made to service an Ashley," he summarized helpfully. Now that he said it out loud, he did have to give a pout of consideration, seeing some of the benefits of that lifestyle.

No, there was no attempt to pick a fight here.

"I do not mean it like that," she sighs, looking frustrated. "I hate what I was made to be for the Kree. I want to be something else. Something worthy of another's attention and affection."

Is that wrong?

"Then what's the difference?" Tony repeated before Lauri-Ell was even finished, assuming he knew what she was going to say then feeling maybe a little bad that he had interrupted, letting his gaze drop then dart anxiously around the room. He probably could have anticipated that better, given how the conversation had started. It didn't really change his question, though. Softer, he finished, "I didn't ask the Kree, I asked you."

"I am Kree," she points out, truly looking confused at this point. What did he mean to get at.

There was no way she wasn't trying to irritate him. Tony pursed his lips, hard focus back on Lauri-Ell briefly before it was skirting over her to the kitchen, and he was on his feet. If he was lucky, the star-born Carol that Lauri-Ell knew didn't have all of those messy human failings that Tony was familiar with, and she kept a bottle or two around the house.

"Great," he decided as he went rummaging through the cupboards. "So, you were created to obey and serve yourself. One of my favourite pastimes, I've got to say, I mean, listen, weren't we all?" Unfortunately, this place seemed basically barren, like Carol only pretended to live here.

Sorry Tony, but the memory has no drinks.

"Not to obey and serve myself. But my superiors. I was designed to be a war leader. But I hate war. I don't want to be what they made me. I never wanted it. I wanted to read books. And look at flowers, And see the stars but not as we conquered. And I wanted to meet my famous sister. And now I want to protect my Emperor, and all my friends, and keep learning how to be more than I was made to be."

Was this truly so bad? To be like that?

"Why do you hate me, Tony Stark?"

Tony hadn't expected that to work, either--Lauri-Ell was very committed to her bit, so he was already nodding as he produced a can of cat food just to wrinkle his nose and toss it back into the pantry that he found it. It probably wasn't even worth trying to press again, or take her bait, whichever it actually was, but he still felt compelled to open his mouth and argue that she clearly wasn't all that committed to that learning experience, only to be taken aback, teeth clicking shut. He still empty hand hovered in front of him, like he held a phantom of the glass that he was searching for to anchor him, and it wasn't doing much to help in this situation.

Maybe the difference between a plan and a dream wasn't an easy question to answer, he didn't have one prepared, either, and didn't know what would come out of his mouth if he was asked, so it was possible that this made it a challenging question. Not as in hard, as in aggressive, like he should probably apologize, but without knowing what exactly he was apologizing for and nothing to offer, he said instead, "Okay, it's--fine--forget I asked." He was frozen there a beat longer, feeling strongly out of place, before he unstuck to turn impulsively to the fridge to continue his search.

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I stg I will do the memory next tag. I just can't manage it on a phone tag.

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