I’ve got this funny feeling that I just can’t shake

[art_of_war]

WHO: Thrawn and you?
WHERE: Temba and then Sh'ka
WHAT: Exploring Temba first, then checking out as much of Sh'ka as he can in one day
WHEN: Late October
WARNINGS: None anticipated


Temba

Diner; Granted he had not been here long, but he was making headway in cleaning out the structure close by it, but not attached to the Diner that once he and Eli had shared. At the moment he had offered to help out however he could so it would most likely be a very tall (as in 7'6") blue-skinned man with red-on-red eyes and wearing noticeably dusty pants that you would find in the kitchen rather than Tommy. He is cold and stoic in demeanor, hands clasped behind his back.

"Greetings."

Greenhouse Thrawn was exploring here as well. He was taking his time examining each plant on each floor and was delighted to find the subterranean "night" floors were still being maintained. Since his vision allowed him to also see in the infrared spectrum as well as the light spectrum, his eyes had the unsettling effect of glowing in the dark. It meant that as Agra-10's sun set, Thrawn stayed in the greenhouse. It wasn't helping matters that he moved silently as well, so anyone he came across would see those glowing eyes and hear nothing until Thrawn was right next to them.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to know where the plant called "Crunchy Persimmon" is?"

Sh'ka

Museum Anyone that knew Thrawn even a little bit would not be surprised to find him here. He first examined the murals from afar but the part that he truly found fascinating was examining them up close. Very carefully, almost reverently, he had touched one of the ridges that made up the mural with a single finger. The paint was fading on it but the sculpted stone still shone through.

After some time he did move on to find that beyond the beautifully decorated walls much of the rest of the buildings were collapsed in on themselves. But despite that, Thrawn could see where different areas, though collapsed, had originally been "niches" so he got down on his hands and knees to very carefully but very persistently clear away some more rubble.

The University/Library He had picked his way carefully past the broken stone and then paused to look through the shelves. Obviously, this had once been some form of library but it looked to be derelict now. Thrawn picked his way through it carefully noting the sundial in the garden. Past it, there were lecture halls and what was most important to him; boards meant for writing on and displaying to classes.

"So this place did have written language, and they were teaching with it."

Comments

Diner

[kree_soldieress]

Meat is a needed part of many diets here, and while Lauri-Ell had turned her main attentions to medical work here, she still kept to her agreement to ensure that the diner had fresh hunted meat when she could. Which was what Lauri-Ell had arrived to do today.

What she wasn't expecting was to step inside and not find the young mutant, but rather someone that almost felt familiar and yet was not. He was, after all, blue of skin, and tall like a Kree. He even stood like a soldier. For a moment Lauri-Ell's face lit up, excited, and she stepped forward and started to process more of his appearance. The dark hair, the crimson eyes... No, this one was not Kree.

"Who are you?" she asked anyway, desperate to be told he might be one of her kinsmen but perhaps of another universe.

[art_of_war]

It was up for debate whether the Kree and the Chiss were some form of variants of each other's universe but Thrawn also did a sort of mental double take at Lauri-El. Of course, this was only represented as the raising of a single black eyebrow on his facial expression.

"You may call me Thrawn. Who are you?"

[kree_soldieress]

'Thrawn' is not a Kree name at all, which only made her spirits sink more.

"I am Lauri-Ell. I have brought meat for cleaning and later cooking. Or drying. I do not know what all is done with it when it is not immediately cooked."

[art_of_war]

That's just his core name too. The rest of his name is both longer and needlessly more complicated. Her statement catches his interest, though.

"Is there a way to judge what animal meat is edible now?"

He's been away from Temba for some time.

[kree_soldieress]

"It is what we have been eating for a while," she said. Which makes it very clear that it is successful to eat. Which is why she trusts it.

"You cook?"

[art_of_war]

If the way to test it was 'people ate it and didn't die' that would be somewhat questionable to Thrawn, but he could not argue with meat augmenting the communal diet here.

"Sadly I do not, or at least no more than the simple fair that the few cooking lessons I've had can show me."

Thrawn nodded to the carcass.

"It will not keep without proper refrigeration, though. I understand that 'smoking' meat can preserve it. Is that the way it is preserved here?"

[kree_soldieress]

"I understand there are those here with magic that could freeze it some, but for now, cooking and smoking, yes."

So she doesn't mind the issues. She is certain Thomas will return soon.

[art_of_war]

"I fear that my assistance will only be as another pair of hands, but I would offer them to help with 'smoking'."

The talk of magic being used piques Thrawn's interest.

"Can someone regularly keep things frozen with magic?"

If so, was that a possibility for other things?

[kree_soldieress]

"I am not certain how one smokes things," she admits with a frown. If he knows she would help him though.

"You would have to seek the man out to ask. His name is, I believe, Reeve."

Diner

[crystalmaster]

Radley had grown quite used to seeing Tommy, so it was surprising in general to see someone different. And seeing someone so much taller than his 6'2" was very startling, to say nothing of seeing someone with such a unique-to-him skin color. He had to stop and blink for a moment.

"... Hi," he said at last. "I'm Radley. I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?"

[art_of_war]

As Radley paused to look at him, so Thrawn took a moment to look at Radley; an adult human male. Lines of strain around mouth and eyes. Despite the style they were intending to emulate, they wore clean clothes that would need to be carefully looked after in Temba since there wouldn't be a way to replace them.

"You may call me Thrawn. While I am not new, it has been some time since I was in Temba. I feel that much has changed since I was last here."

[crystalmaster]

Radley indeed had an interesting time keeping his leather safe. Sometimes he opted for black jean material instead, but on peaceful days he wore what he liked best.

"Really?" He was very curious now. "How long ago were you here? I'm pretty new here myself, just a couple of months or so."

[art_of_war]

"All told it would likely be one year that I was here. It becomes more interesting to tell solar time with the increased length of daylight. I'm now trying to mentally consolidate my time here and the time I experienced while I was in my own 'home universe". From what I remember there was no such place as a second city, though."

Not sure if that helps for making a timeline, but it's easily been over 2 years since Thrawn saw Temba.

[crystalmaster]

"So you were back home again until now?" Radley was further intrigued by that.

He wasn't up to date on the whole timeline either, but he filed that away anyway.

"I haven't been to the other city yet. I wonder what it's like."

[art_of_war]

"I was. But it seemed as though I had no memory of this place until I came back here again. "

Privately, Thrawn thought it was downright silly to not take any moment one possibly could to explore the second city. But then again Thrawn was far more curious than was healthy for most.

"What is it you came here for? I am not much of a cook but if you came seeking food, I could assist with that."

[crystalmaster]

"Huh. I wonder if that's how it is for everybody." Maybe it's a kindness, so they won't be worrying about everyone here, but still.... "Did you go home to the same point in time you left from?"

He smiles and nods. "Yeah, I usually eat here." He likes company.

[art_of_war]

"I believe so. As I said, I am having difficulty reconciling the two timelines."

There was a large stockpot of stew keeping warm on the stove and Thrawn ladled out a bowl for Radley. If Radley expected that Thrawn would eat, too, he would have to invite Thrawn to do so since it would not occur to Thrawn otherwise. If you can't tell, Thrawn isn't very good at picking up on social niceties.

Museum

[quark_assassin]

As Thrawn did to him so many months ago, it's Dustin's turn to creep up on him in the Sh'Ka Museum. This was certainly not his original intent in being here; he's on a temporary jaunt to Sh'Ka to scout out Barry tracks and has elected to do some extra exploring while he's here. There's plenty of it to do, after all. The Museum is a prime target given the mention of murals, which Dustin has taken some interest in for other reasons in Temba, and now is a much better time to go investigate it since the storm has knocked down most of the dangerous stone leaves from the overhanging tree rooftop.

Carefully stepping over the shattered remains of some of those stones, Dustin catches a glance of the mural from behind Thrawn while still keeping a respectful distance. Their first meeting didn't give him an excellent gauge of how trustworthy the guy is, so, best to maintain some caution.

...To a point. "Don't touch it," Dustin chides as Thrawn's hand hovers over the mural. "You'll take more of the paint off."

Sorry about that, technology fail

[art_of_war]

If Dustin's intent was to sneak up on Thrawn he will be disappointed since Thrawn had heard Dustin's footfalls and the slight squeak of crushed stone underfoot as he climbed over pieces of stone leaves. Granted he could only tell it was a bipedal creature from listening to those footfalls for such a short time, though.

"I'm not touching it yet. I'm looking closely to see what sorts of tools were used to make it."

And he wasn't quite touching it with his finger stopped millimeters from the surface. It would also be good to know what metric Dustin used to gauge the trustworthiness of a particular person.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin squints, mentally assessing the actual distance of Thrawn's fingertips from the mural's surface, frowns and continues circling around when he's satisfied that he's telling the truth. Eventually Dustin stops at the further end of the mural wall so he can get his own look at the tool marks - or rather, the lack thereof.

"I'm not sure any were," he says curtly. Analysis of the stonework vies for, and eventually wins out over his paranoid attention to Thrawn's movements nearby. "Too smooth--could be weathering, but the paint isn't worn in the right places for that to make sense, and the corners don't match a standard weathering pattern. Maybe a stone mold." Dustin tilts his head slightly. "Or stone molding."

[art_of_war]

"Even a mold would leave evidence, small imperfections at the edges of the resulting artwork."

Thrawn only has eyes for the mural and hasn't once looked away from his careful analysis of it. He does drop the hand that was hovering so close though.

"Extraordinary. I've never seen artwork made without any tools at all."

He sounds almost in reverent awe of the dusty, old mural. There was very little use of line or color to be found here, and the subjects of the mural seemed to be nothing more than peaceful scenes of natural beauty. But were they aspirational or just what was already on display?

"Are there other murals to be found in this city?"

This last question was directed toward Dustin, though Thrawn has yet to look away from the mural he's studying.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin divides his attention between the mural and Thrawn, casting cautious glances over to him periodically while he mentally compares notes. Thrawn's assessment matches his own, but his motivations do not; the moment any sort of affection for the mural colors the man's voice, Dustin is looking over at him with an expression of blatant skepticism. This stuff is interesting, but it's not...that interesting, in Dustin's opinion. Does he think it looks nice or something? It's quite old, and simple, and could definitely be worked into something more impressive.

"Yes," Dustin says, shrugging and shaking his head as he walks back from the stone face. He's seen enough to draw his conclusions and memorize the picture of the thing for later. "At the Memorial, in Temba. Northwestern corner."

[art_of_war]

Probably because Thrawn saw much more than just the finished artwork. He would see the minds that made the artwork; what they felt, what they valued in their own culture and how they interacted with others. People were often shocked at how his brilliant battle tactics were assembled from such small scraps of information in artwork

"No, I meant in this city. Since two different civilizations created this mural versus the one in Temba, they wouldn't be comparable."

Thrawn sounded vaguely amused in his response to Dustin.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin pauses to shoot Thrawn a wilting glare over his shoulder. The last storm's effects on his abilities have left him feeling distinctly self-conscious about his memory and comprehension in general, so anything that sounds even remotely like teasing makes him bristle in defense.

"That would be short-sighted," he answers, voice tight with irritation and ears growing hot under his hair. "Cultural bleed from two societies connected by a short train ride would be inevitable. Besides, neither one built the mural in Temba."

[art_of_war]

However Dustin takes it, Thrawn only meant it in vague amusement at the context of the statement. Now Thrawn finally turned enough to look at Dustin, as blank-faced as ever. He had no intention of trying to tease Dustin and now only his tone of voice betrayed his level of curiosity.

"Oh? How do you know it was not created by either this civilization or the Agrii?"