But This is Not Black and White

[out_of_order]

WHO: Cal Kestis, BD-1 and you
WHERE: Sh'Ka
WHAT: Totally avoiding Certain People while trying to recenter himself
WHEN: Mid-July
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTE: Will match tag format/preference!


"I will find you, Cal Kestis."

While the sentiment in those words is nothing new, the real concern that haunts the young Jedi is the fact that the threat is new and most importantly, here on this planet. Worse yet, within a confined area of a planet that they really had no great means to travel to, much less any knowledge of any possible places beyond the two cities they currently have access to.

Cal had thought that being on the run would have been over for him. He'd finally come out of hiding, fearlessly faced the Empire and the Inquisitors it sent relentlessly after him and his friends. He'd infiltrated the Fortress Inquisitorious and somehow made it back out alive. Being able to stay alive after everything is always a positive outcome. Being brought back to Agra 10 was considerably a vacation in comparison.

Once again, he finds himself in a defensive mode. At least he has the Force to rely on, and the one who might seek him out does not, but Cal had learned early on to be wary of Albert Wesker. Those concerns had only been further underlined once he'd found himself in the man's dreamspace.

If nothing else, Sh'Ka proves to be at least much more bearable for the weather. Cal had had BD-1 shoot off a few messages to Tony, Jon and Echo to tell them where he'd be if they needed him, an abrupt enough message to leave without seeing them, but the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to them if Wesker was on the prowl. He decides to revisit the power plant where he'd last set up camp, back when he'd led a small team on the repair work for the power grid. If he's going to be here, he may as well make himself useful and see if he can pick up on what was being done about the water.

It's been easier to find focus here too, for some reason. Calmer. Quieter. When he's not working on the water treatment equipment or tracing water lines, he's up on the roof of the hotel, meditating. It's not an easy spot to get to but it's peaceful, and the view's pretty nice.

Comments

[out_of_order]

"It wasn't meant to be a long-term solution," Cal said. "It never is anyway." He'd already tried that once, and it was sure no way to live. Five years living in hiding, right under the Empire's noses... Even if he hadn't meant to reveal himself, moving into a more active one rather than a defensive one had been freeing.

"I figure I'd have to confront him at some point, in which case I'll just have to see whether he's open to conversation or if he means to pick up where he left off."

[in_extremis]

"That's a lot of variables," Tony mused, like this could have possibly been an idle observation. "Not a fan, myself. You want something to work right, you have to keep them to a minimum. Set a specific course, solve the wind problem first, pick a day it's not going to rain, send your own car to pick up the hot blonde you're trying to impress. Make sure it's stocked with champagne so you know she'll be open to conversation."

[out_of_order]

"Give him a call, ask if he's up for a chat over dinner?" Cal smiled crookedly. "Public venue where he can't pull anything without further bringing attention to his questionable reputation."

Unless he just got too mad to care, but Wesker had been trying to keep his secrets and there really wasn't anywhere he could go if everyone became aware of them. He was already established as dangerous. After what Cal had heard from the man in that dreamspace, he had no doubt Wesker would kill everyone if he felt the need to, and that was what was frightening.

[in_extremis]

Just talking out their differences would have been a very nice solution. Hard to imagine, but nice nonetheless. Tony's fingers drummed again as he squinted thoughtfully across the rooftops, and muttered, "A party. Bring everyone together so they can let him know how he's hurting them. That's just--I've seen interventions like that work, I guess, it's a wake up call for some people. Assuming they're not intending to hurt anyone." Tony wasn't so optimistic about Wesker's intentions. "Maybe it is a date," he continued, not quite talking to Cal anymore. "Dinner. Someone he trusts. Relies on. In this place, there's got to be at least one person."

[out_of_order]

Cal shook his head. Tony's further proposal was sounding less and less realistic. Wesker wasn't going to care that he was hurting people because that was exactly what he meant to do. Potentially 'ganging up' on him might provoke him to do worse.

He listened as Tony continued to put forth his thoughts, nibbling on more cheesecake. "He seems pretty intent on being self-sufficient," he observed. "Keeps his cards close to his chest."

[in_extremis]

That couldn't be entirely true. Surviving the heat alone in the abandoned city was a community effort. Irritable that he couldn't immediately see the exploitable gaps despite this, Tony grumbled and fidgeted before proposing, "Maybe we give him one. Someone he relies on. Inspire a change of heart." That was a risky position to put someone in if it didn't work.

[out_of_order]

By the look on Cal's face, he didn't really like the sound of that proposition either. "I'm not sure dragging in any more people into this is going to solve anything. Especially if it doesn't work out."

He laughed briefly as he considered. "Unless I somehow manage to convince him I won't do anything with what I've learned about him. But I wouldn't be surprised if ended up more suspicious about that."

[in_extremis]

"That's a pretty strong in," Tony was ready to agree. "'Trust me with this secret'. You're going to go one of two ways with people who have seen you at your worst, and you said it yourself, you haven't given him the chance yet to pick that direction. You left him at the altar."

[out_of_order]

"Well, I've either given him time to rethink his options or how he'd approach trying to get rid of me," Cal shrugged, almost carefree in that, but talking about the whole deal had helped disperse any lingering tension. He dipped his fingers into the melty remnants of cheesecake again.

"If I'm lucky maybe he just forgot or didn't remember the whole thing." He doubted that, but one could hope.

[in_extremis]

All of that quiet time that Cal had found out here must have made the whole ordeal not seem that pressing, so maybe Tony should hang around and let it temper, too, because hearing about these kids getting tied up in knots back to back was a lot of pressure to him. The tapping of his fingers and bouncing of his toes finally stopped, like a breath held for just a beat while he watched Cal, wondering who he should have sent instead, who Cal could actually listen to. Everyone had to be relying on someone. "Yeah," Tony eventually mumbled, "If you're lucky."

[out_of_order]

Cal hadn't been lying about his reasons for coming out here, for the compounding disturbances that made it hard to work things out. He'd been more or less figuring that things would turn out to be a confrontation, and that was one thing he was more accepting of doing these days, especially after so many narrow escapes from the Empire. Sometimes you had to run, but other times you had no choice but to fight. And he'd learned that running didn't tend to solve anything for very long.

But he could sense that Tony still had his concerns, that even for all the talk, there was something that just wasn't clicking into place like it should have.

"I'm still not completely convinced that's the best idea," he admitted after studying the man a moment out of the corner of his eye. "But if it's going to happen sooner or later, I'd rather find him first and try to work things out than the other way around without having the option." He upturned a slightly sticky hand. "Unless you have any other suggestions."

[in_extremis]

Tony hadn't made this trip with confidence in his problem solving, some genius, and the reminder was discouraging enough to leave him pursing his lips and searching the horizon restlessly, head tilted away from that feeling of being watched like it was so foreign to him. He'd come here to deliver cake, a rousing smile, and convince Cal a visit back at home base wouldn't be so bad, and one out of three was a better success rate than his recent average, so maybe he should dredge up some optimism. The best he could do was a raised hand to open in return, a welcome and a surrender, and a thoughtful hum. He had to say something, someone had to fill all of this space that was getting increasingly airless, and as he dropped his hand with some determination he produced, "You should probably ask someone who actually knows him. Tae or Billy, maybe, they work together, they're close. Physically, at least."

[out_of_order]

Ah, right. Wesker was involved at the hospital. Cal wasn't sure how reassuring that was now that he was more aware of the man's activities, but at least here there wasn't any sort of goals that would really align with what the man usually sought after. That however didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

"I think the problem is I know more about him than I'd have cared for," Cal said dryly, half a smile tugging at his lips. "But I guess they'd be the ones to know how he's been since we got out of Calibrations, if he's still been going to the hospital."

His smile softened at Tony then. "Still think I should come back then?"

[in_extremis]

That was something Tony hadn't properly considered; that Wesker's behaviour might have changed after being Calibrated, too. More than one person must have gotten into his head, after all. He hummed again, looking distant, not sure if he could be trusted where to put that and all of the engines firing anyway, except for the one where he expected Cal to address him again. He had to raise his eyebrows, and blurt the only answer he had prepared, "No," which surprised him, too, with its directness. "Guess not." Cal had kept himself out of harms' way, whether real or imagined. "Maybe, listen, maybe I'll stay out here, too. Just for a bit--you won't even know I'm here, whole city to get lost in, you know, I'll try out that meditation thing, got to stick eventually." That was probably better for all of them.

[out_of_order]

Cal was a little surprised at the reply too, half-expecting Tony to double down. But at least they were acknowledging the potential complications of this problem. He'd been starting to wonder if he were overthinking things.

"Still a lot of things to do around here if you know where to look, anyway," he said. "You don't...have to try avoiding me you know."

[in_extremis]

The suggestion that it took a discerning eye to find a problem to solve in this decrepit city had Tony snorting a laugh, and his sardonic smile lingered curiously at Cal's cautious invitation until it tensed with guilt that he had given the impression that it was Cal he was avoiding. Biting suddenly, polishing away all of that evasive muttering, he went, "Uh-huh, sure, you're going to run out of trains to hop real fast. Do you need the push to get you to go climbing that new mountain, is that what this is? Is there, like, a time frame you're aiming for, sweetheart? Because you wouldn't believe how annoying I'm capable of being, you haven't even seen me try, all of this has been effortless. We can make a bet on it, if you want; I give you two days, tops, you're out of here, you're not even looking back."

[out_of_order]

The Jedi ignored that sudden switch in Tony's mood. Brow lifting, he gave him a lopsided smile. "So you don't want to hang out then?" Mixed messages here. The man had come all the way out here to find him and get him to come back to the city. But then just knowing the people you cared about were close by was enough, sometimes.

"I hadn't figured you came all the way out here just to annoy me."

[in_extremis]

A smile was easier to return, though Tony tucked his against his chest like a secret joke, and it was gone by the time he answered, "No. Just to see your beautiful face." It might have even been sincere; he managed the last second restraint, cutting off the breath, to not press Cal for the skincare regimen that would take a few years off that face. And he kept his focus on the horizon. "Why, were you just hoping I would be the one to find the body once Wesker tracked you down? That's cruel. I get it." He did not possess much restraint.

[out_of_order]

An eye-roll at the first. A sigh at the second. Cal shook his head. "It'd be much easier to sense when he was coming around here than in Temba. And like you said, a whole city to get lost in. I know Sh'Ka better than he probably does. Avoiding trouble with him wouldn't be difficult if it came down to it."

[in_extremis]

It would be even easier to get lost if Cal didn't leave breadcrumbs with Tony, so there must have been a few weak points Cal wasn't really considering. Deliberate bait, maybe. That would have worked on Tony. Wesker's temper didn't make him terribly hard to bait. The processes were impossible to shut off, even as Tony squeezed his eyes shut to try to clear the fragments, and it took him a couple of halted breaths to force out a redirect, "What if it was Merrin?" Maybe that wasn't fair. He kept his focus averted, voice light as he continued, "You're me, sittin' here, listening to Merrin tell you she's come out here running scared, hoping this guy doesn't track her down, looking over her shoulder."

[out_of_order]

It was probably wrong to laugh, but the notion of Merrin running- no, Merrin scared, was a difficult one to picture. "Sorry," Cal quickly apologized, pressing a fist to his mouth as though it could smother his already escaped laugh. "I know you're trying to put things in perspective but Merrin would probably turn you inside-out for suggesting she wasn't able to take care of herself," he said.

[in_extremis]

The laugh perplexed Tony, earning a confused smile, until the reminder of who exactly he thought he was talking about and Tony had to give an overemphasized nod of acceptance, right, that was on him, tension breaking up in his own chest around the bubble of his own unexpected laugh. Not a great example. As far as Tony could tell, Merrin was ready to invert him for suggesting anything nice about her. "You're a lucky man," he acknowledged, hand to his heart. "There we go, we get her back here, problem solved."

[out_of_order]

The suggestion, light as it was meant to be, still made Cal wince a little. He snorted lightly. "Right, simple," he said, although the half-smile wasn't entirely forced at least.

"I'm getting mixed messages here. You said I probably shouldn't head back, but then you make it sound like I shouldn't stay here either." He paused, brow lifting. "Or do you actually want me to go climbing a mountain?"

[in_extremis]

The hand still on Tony's chest tensed, the scrape of metal as his finger caught a seam a sharp sound that he didn't really hear anymore. "No, I'm--I'm trying not to tell you what to do," he said awkwardly, with a grimace that led him to amend, "Not trying to...," not really liking it that way, either. Another gear, then, "I'm listening. I know, it's a new thing for me, we're still working out the bugs, and your thing is--I guess you're not supposed to be trying to do something with patience, that's not the intended application." Or try taking a breath.

[out_of_order]

"Not exactly what I meant. It's more like...you kind of always circle around what you're wanting to say. Herding nerfs in the general direction and then giving them a prod when they start wandering too far from where you want them to go."

Cal tilted his head at Tony. "I don't think this is the sort of thing to run headlong into without patience. If it's just a matter of waiting for people to recover from being stuck in Calibrations then I'd rather give that a chance than exacerbate a situation still hot out of the oven."