revivalproject | No Hug Zone

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No Hug Zone

WHO: Wesker & ~~Friends~~ Your lucky self!
WHERE: Agrii Ship
WHAT: Goin on an Explore, meeting some Agrii & avoiding them hugs
WHEN: Rest of January
WARNINGS: E G G

Aliens...

Finally being able to leave that planet he has been dragged to was one thing. Actually going to space? Another. Landing on a different planet to participate in some sort of alien new year celebrations was.... Unexpected. And Wesker did his best to not get caught up in any of the shenanigans going on. Luckily this has been rather succesful. He even found time to explore the strange castle, but that had not resulted in anything actually worth that time. But all that aside he has finally gotten a look at their alien captors. Who hardly meet what little expectation he has had of them.

However, Wesker isn't ungrateful for the gifts. New sets of clothes are always useful. Though he wonders how these were chosen. And why. And what is the matter with the egg? And those are thoughts he keeps set aside while finally going to check out the large ship the Agrii seem to live in. Luckily the Agrii easily accepted the boundaries Wesker set in regards of physical contact, a single sharp look enough to tell them to not dare trying to give him one of their four-armed hugs. It's a pleasant detail to discover that apparently he has come to be someone the Agrii are cautious around.

It doesn't take him long to notice that there is a lot on this ship and the Agrii living on it that brings up more questions than the ones he already has. Questions that will be hard to get answers to given how few of the Agrii are actually able to communicate with him.

"At this point it might be faster if I start to learn their language." The man grumbles to no one in particular after getting what one may generously consider directions from one of the Agrii.

To control or to be controlled

After checking the medical facilities and some other areas on the ship in an attempt to learn more about their alien hosts, Wesker finds himself in a much more ominous room. A room that immediately feels more promising. Not that learning about the Agrii's skin care didn't have its own value, but this room is a very obvious look behind the scenes of what's going on back on Agra-10. Moreso even than the theater had, even though that one remains a place Wesker plans to return to

Wesker takes to study the various monitors, dictionaries, every single attempt at written language. There is little order or reason behind the entire mess, but it's getting obvious very fast that the Agrii try to learn from those they hold captive. Or are being made to hold captive.

He finds himself in the large chair, one leg idle over the other and scanning through yet another dictionary and pausing at every little note scribbled in various corners.

"...why bees?"

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Language was an increasingly dynamic variable for Tony to account for in his life, and he had figured out early that it meant different things to different people. When his mom said 'watch your language', she didn't mean the way he had to intuit what his dad wanted him to say, or the way he had to carefully edit how he spoke to the people who came to their lavish parties. He did learn a language quickly, whether it was Mandarin or Python or a piano sonata, though not as quickly as he recognized the symbols etched on walls on this ship, or the ones used to program their computers. That strange leap in familiarity was still a mystery for him to solve, made all the stranger when he reported, "I don't believe you can." He peered up at the tall man with big, expressive blue eyes, his phone clasped to his chest and head tilted critically, unable to hide or unaware of how openly he was assessing the man's posture. "Not without some adaptation to interpret signals beyond the typical human perception range. But I can show you where to go." The ship, at least, was very straightforward to human perception. And he had a map.

Now if it isn’t a little too obvious just who this nosy little brat could possibly be. Wesker is not someone that is fond of children. He had to rescue enough to know that. He also had to take care his coworker’s daughter on more than one occasion, and while Sherry was an easy child to look after, it still took away from the time Wesker had to focus on his work.

“And what would you know about adapting typical human perception ranges.” Wesker remarks flatly, at least acknowledging that little Stark’s observation isn’t necessarily wrong. But that’s really more his area of expertise. Making adaptations.

The adult waves a hand through the air. “That map we received will not get me where I plan to go.”

Effectively chided, Tony's curious study dropped away to keep his eyes respectfully on the floor, slightly flushed and his hands tightening around the communication device until the man also discouraged his map and he had to awkwardly pocket it as well. "Okay, um," he breathed deeply, like he knew he shouldn't have been talking but couldn't quite help himself, "If it's not on the map, then I believe the Agrii can't tell you how to get there, either. The people I talked to didn't know how the ship worked. You'll have to ask someone, maybe, the captain..." Ships had captains, but Tony did not sound or feel confident about that designation. He was pretty sure none of their fleet had anyone at the helm like that.

"These people are too disorganized to have any proper leadership." Wesker points out, dissatisfied with his own observations. "And I doubt any of them know how to reach that area. They barely know how to commandeer their own ship." Which is pretty telling and not necessarily something Wesker is unfamiliar with.

He starts moving down the4 long hallway ahead, leaving it up to the boy to follow or not. "I will make my own way if I must."

There had to be someone in charge, that was how things worked, and they were organized enough to be able to give Tony the map in the first place, so he looked dubious with a pout and covert pat at his phone. What he didn't doubt was that there were part of the ship that they didn't know about, and was very curious that this man was so sure he could get to one. Tony clasped his restless hands behind him to try to look less like trouble, watching the man go out of the corner of his eye, and only started to follow when he was far enough away that Tony thought he could creep along after him without being noticed.

Since Wesker is already familiar with adult Tony, he expects the boy to follow. But it changes nothing about his intention. If anything, he will have to figure out a way the boy might have some use.

And maybe mess with him just a little bit.

He takes a sharp turn at the end of the hallway and marches down the next, keeping his eyes on the walls and ceiling, but an ear out for the footsteps behind him. Making sure to be spotted before rounding the next corner Wesker stops for a moment to inspect the nearby walls, running a gloved hand over the cold surface of one of them.

It wasn't difficult to keep track of the tall man, and for Tony to keep himself hidden around corners and in doorways where he could watch curiously as the man made his examination. The structure of the ship wasn't complicated, and as Tony glanced up to try to see what the man had been searching for along the ceiling, he only twisted his mouth to the side, sure that was a hallway up there and hunting for some anomaly. He did the same when he could tiptoe up to the wall the man had touched, trying to mirror the motion to feel what might have caught his attention.

"And? What do you feel?" Wesker asks from right behind Tony just as the boy is moving his hand over the wall. How he suddenly is right behind the kid is a simple matter of looping back around. Made even simpler by Wesker's inhuman speed. Though it's not a habit of him to use his powers to surprise anyone, Wesker is always open for exceptions.

The man was just in front of him, Tony should have had plenty of space to conduct his investigation and time yet to catch up again, and he definitely wasn't listening for someone to come up behind him. He gasp was so sharp it caught in his throat and he went taut as a wire, clearly fighting a very strong instinct to bolt. When he didn't immediately feel hands on him, he had to try to process quickly, because he clearly had a second to talk his way out of the punishment if he could parse what was actually asked of him.

"A...wall," was not a good answer, but he had to say something, and 'nothing' was never going to be acceptable. It got the engine to turn over, though, and he tried to ease his hand back flat where it had tensed up into a claw. "There's a ventilation system here, it's vibrating. Either it hasn't been maintained, or it's working beyond its intended parameters."

Wesker turns a chuckle into a pleased smirk with ease at the boy's reaction. Children may be easy targets, but this is a case where Wesker allows himself to be amused.

"A wall is correct." He states and turns around again, but this time he clearly gestures for Tony to follow. "There is nothing here." He already knows exactly where he needs to go.

That was it? Tony didn't follow immediately, lip raised in confusion, and still tense from the discovery, but there would be consequences for dawdling too long, and he really didn't want them to be that he never found out what this man thought he was going to find. He had to briefly jog to catch up again, then rapidly transitioned into a respectable clip just behind the man, pushing his hair back into place carefully and trying not to show how quickly he was breathing from the run.

"Tell me, Tony." Wesker prompts as he leads the way to a lower layer of the ship. "What have you learned about this ship so far?" It's not a difficult question and for the most part just presented to see where a younger Tony's interest lie when faced with an actual alien spaceship and aliens themselves.

That this man knew him could have been another data point to make sense of his behaviour, but it wasn't immediately solving that equation for Tony, and it was hard to focus on when he had the new question to consider of how this man knew him. A friend of his parents, maybe, or the tutor he was supposed to find when he got here, or maybe just someone intent on kidnapping him for ransom money. Tony couldn't rule out the possibility. That didn't stop him from following along placidly, wondering if being kidnapped was all that bad. He could to talk about the ship, after all, which he did enthusiastically, immediately launching into the design points that he could compare to 'an underwater craft, like a submarine', then the total volume of breathable atmosphere that must have been contained, and an aside about how the whole structure must have been built in space rather than launched from the surface.

Wesker lets the boy talk and share his findings and observations regarding the vessel while he checks on his phone from time to time to ensure they are on the right track. This part of the ship is pretty much devoid of anyone but the two of them and if Wesker were actually in the business of kidnapping children, it would have been way too easy to do so.

When Wesker stops, he will have led the young Tony to the middle of one of the many long hallways facing a long empty metal wall. He confirms the location once more before crossing his arms and looking down either way of the wall.

"And what do you make of this?" He prompts the boy again, casting a nod forward and indicating the wall. If Tony is to check his own map, he will find that they have ended up below the engineering area and that what they are facing is the part of the ship simply labeled cooling pipes.

He didn't seem to have to check the map, though he had to hold his hands behind his back in a way that might have appeared prim if he could keep his fingers still, or stop the restless bouncing on his heels. He immediately glanced up, like he could track that engineering room from any point in the ship and had already oriented himself around it.

"That's the engines up there," he reported, "And...my theory is that their power source must be nuclear, because it would be sustainable for a long period, and would require a dedicated cooling system, one that is isolated from the rest of the ship's systems. They're being overly cautious, though. It would be quite safe, if someone would let me in to see." Clearly, he had already tried.

"And by overly cautious you mean there is no access point to this cooling system at all." Wesker adds, his attention trained on the empty wall for a little longer before shifting to Tony. "How do you suggest we get through this wall?"

Tony could hear the skepticism, and was giving the man a cautious, sidelong look up until he was suddenly turning toward Tony, making the boy catch his breath and quickly look intently toward the (blank wall) problem again. He evidently hadn't thought about this hard enough. And when presented with a wall, the solution was not often to go through it.

"If it is a cooling system," he acknowledged, adopting that skepticism, "Then it can't be entirely self contained. That energy is being used or vented, and it's not just there to cool itself." So there couldn't be no access point, and the most likely one was still in the engine room above. That would be the way through. On the other hand, "If there is no access point," he continued, "it would be both incredibly important, and highly unusual, enough to reconsider the entire function of the vessel. A ship, in particular a space-faring one, has to be fractionally efficient, not dedicating space to something that will not be used. So, it's not a ship. It's whatever is in there."

There aren't a lot of Agrii that want to interact with Wesker. He has proven to be one of the scary ones. So what it ultimately comes down to is an Agrii being chosen to approach him.

"He Row Speak very hard for Agrii," Ga Re explains as she comes up to Wesker. Of course she has been elected for this. Who else has the courage to face him?

While Wesker isn't opposed to inducing fear in others, he would still be interested to know the exact reasoning for that to be the case when to his knowledge he hasn't actively done anything to warrant being feared just yet. He hasn't been going around wrecking havok on the city. The opposite is much more true. In fact, there were instances where he tried to prevent others from mindlessly destroying the place around them. He has to wonder if the foolish and reckless ones are just as feared for their destructive behavior...

"How so?" He inquires, considering the Agrii with a frown. "Your kind os capable of verbal communication and you have been watching us for literal years according to my knowledge. Somehow everyone that ends up on your planet even speaks the same language, regardless of their background or place of origin. Which is incredibly convenient considering Earth alone has thousands of different languages. Just how different is the language we speak to your own?"

Some people just have scary vibes. Wesker definitely has scary vibes.

"Is hard," Ga Re repeats. She can't be held responsible for knowing why it's hard or not. It just is. "Why matter? Not matter. He Rows of Fleet all speak and know speaking. Same here. But we are not He Rows. Cannot learn same way."

"It matters." Wesker disagrees, crossing his arms. Given that Ga Re is by nature taller than him, he may have to look up, but he has faced taller individuals than even him before. Size does nothing to intimidate this man.

"Has it never occured to you that those you bring in might be more successful in solving your little dilemma if they knew a little more about you? And I am not speaking about how you celebrate New Year's. If we knew how you communicate among yourself, we might have been able to learn your manner of speaking. If I had any information about your biology, I could have researched how the environment of Agra-10 and more importantly the storms affect your kind physically. I could be working on a solution already. If a patient requests my aid, I expect them to cooperate with me." Though he is already harboring doubts that the storms are really the issue that needs solving.

Truly, Wesker has the attitude of a man who is ten feet tall. How can anyone stand next to that?

"We can give data. On how storms affect. In our come putters. Have suffered storm myself. Is..."

Ga Re gives a full body shudder.

"Is bad."

As far as he's concerned he has every right to have that kind of attitude.

A deep red glow pierces through those dark glasses in response to hearing these information. So they had data they were withholding this entire time. Data that might or might not be useful. And he's only learning that because he asked. Did they think he is some kind of joke?

"Show me that data." Wesker demands in a pointedly controlled tone. "I will decide whether or not it's of any use."

Why would data be relevant? It is how it affects the Agrii. And perhaps Wesker should be upset at prior He Rows for not gathering the data earlier.

Ga Re sighs, this man is very intense.

"Come Medic All Wings."

Wesker gestures for the Agrii to lead the way despite knowing where to go himself.

"How many of you have actually been living on Agra-10 before being forced off the planet?" He asks while the both of them are headed to the medical area of the ship.

"Not know count. Many years past," Ga Re says with shrug. "All of parent parents parents parents. Many back."

"What you're saying is that generations of your kind have been spending their entire lives on this ship." Wesker frowns at that. "At that point it would make more sense to find a new place to settle down entirely rather than insisting to return to a planet your kind may not even be suited to inhabit in the first place!"

"What do you know about those little plant people that are all over Agra-10?"

Well now that is silly.

"Is home," she says. Of course they would want to settle down here. Where else would they go? His comment is silly.

"Never see plant that talk beef four He Rows."

Wesker scoffs at that response. "What if I prove to you that it isn't your home?" He challenges, his expression shifting back to one of cold professionalism. "I am not surprised you never encountered them. They are very well adapted and connected. Mutiple subspecies and cultures that blend in and work with their natural environment. Unless you know what to look out for, they are easy to miss. Maybe they would have been the ones to ask for help rather than pulling in outsiders."

That sounds weird. But she considers this. Then shakes her head. No. That doesn't make sense.

"Is our home," she says. It doesn't seem like he could prove otherwise when they have video proof of their living there.

It will make sense. In time.

"Just get me to the data before I decide it's easier to collect my own." He would require samples for that and has never had any qualms to collect those.

That sounds alarming. Ga Re nods.

"Come to Medic All Wing. Give data there."

And she's already turning to walk at a quick pace.

It's meant to sound alarming. These aliens with all their technology and resources are obviously very naive, if not delusional. Clearly the best Wesker can do is gather as much information as possible while he can.

He holds Ga Re's pace easily despite the difference in height. "Do you also have records on how the storms affect your people?"

"May be yes," she says as she continues her walk, trying to speed up just a little more to try and keep away from him. Just a bit.

Wesker notices the change of pace, yet doesn't comment on it. Instead he simply keeps up with Ga Re.

"You will give me any data you have. I won't tolerate any further secrecy."

"It's a real headache, right?" The voice might be familiar, few as their previous encounters had been. It comes strangely from somewhere above. The turtle teen's wedged himself against the ceiling of the hall, a precarious position for how little there are of things to use as footholds and grips, but he makes do with his toes dug against the nearest doorframe, using his metal staff as leverage against the opposite wall. He takes a quick look around before dropping down once there seems to be no signs of Agrii.

"I don't have the comms data point so I'm not sure how much that'd help though. It probably won't translate the broken way they piece words together for those that have tried learning to communicate with us." He collapses his tech-bō with the tap of a thumb, tucking it behind his metal battle shell.

"You looking for somewhere specific?"

The voice from above earns its owner a mildly irritated scowl from the man standing firmly on the ground. Now that's some suspicious behavior right there.

"What were you doing up there?" Wesker asks in turn rather than answering any questions directed at him. He isn't in the business of giving up information and never has been.

At least Donnie doesn't take it personally, although he's automatically cautious. Wesker had never really been very friendly and Tony had told him it was better to keep under the man's radar.

"Avoiding overly touchy aliens," he snorts. "Calm down already."

Wesker has no reason to be friendly to anyone, yet plenty of reasons to be suspicious. Few of the people he has found himself trapped with act particularly reasonable - Or predictable. He can only guess what he could have achieved already if either were the case.

The snort is met with the hint of a snarl. "If you want to avoid them, then just leave their ship." A simple solution for a self-induced problem as far as Wesker is concerned.

"I would, but that would get us absolutely nowhere. Who knows if this is going to be a long-term thing? I intend to study what tech they're using while I get the chance," Donnie snaps back, stubbornness the only thing keeping him from outright withdrawing at Wesker's response.

"I didn't know they'd be so hands-on though. Maybe I should make a shield or something." He grumbles, turning away from the man as he pulls up his holocomputer on his wrist with a sweep of a hand, making a note. That doesn't sound like a bad idea anyway.

At least wanting to get something done is an attitude Wesker can agree with. The rest of the attitude on display is not. Which is why Wesker doesn't feel bad about finding some amusement in Donnie's misery caused by their alien admirers. A fate he is lucky to be spared.

"Obviously you left them with the impression that you are fine with their attention." The man remarks with a faint smirk. A smirk that is gone with the wave of a single hand. "So. Have you been able to learn anything of use yet?" He may have to test this one. Just in case he gets to pick up some of the projects that have been put on hold with their collective forced departure from Agra-10.

Donnie bristles a bit at the suggestion. "Why, just because I talked to a few and gave them a couple of things?" His nose wrinkles as he thinks about it. Considering the people they were talking about, he supposes Wesker isn't entirely wrong. He doesn't care for the smirk though, making a face.

"It's a huge ship and there's a lot to take in. My main objective was to have a look at the bridge since I talked to them Ga Re about it. I wanted to see if there's any equipment this ship has that can scan for energy anomalies, anything to give us a better head's up on when storms might be building- and potentially track where their origination might be coming from. They're not normal so they have to be sourced from somewhere."

Unlike Wesker, Donnie's unfortunately eager to dispense information. Part of him just wants to impress the man so he'll back off or stop looking down at him, at least, but validation's always been something Donnie's pursued from adult figures.

"I want to take a look at engineering when I can. Got sidetracked by the theater- there's footage that basically chronicles what happened when the original Agrii were first forced off Agra Ten."

Wesker refains from giving an answer to the question that Donnie has already answered himself. Which saves some time at least.

"The theater has little to offer aside from heavily edited background information." He puts out his opinion on that part. He has checked some of the entries, but they are far from clean recordings of actual history.

"Judging by your words you have not yet made it to either the bridge or engineering?"

"I'm sure it is, but keep in mind, it's probably what the Agrii have been basing, well, everything that they know about non-Agrii off of. Did you manage to watch the episode for that missing button?" It had been a pain trying to sort through things just to gain access to it, but Donnie had never been one to back down from a technical challenge.

"I haven't made it to engineering yet," the turtle teen concedes. "I spent... Okay I'm not sure how long I spent in the bridge but while my efforts weren't fruitless, they also likely won't give me any immediate results since we're not near Agra Ten. Unsurprising, but frustrating." He sighs. "But hopefully a step in the right direction. Like all research it's going to take some time to collect data."

"Simply believing everything they see and hear on television is how most humans spend their entire lives. I don't see why it should be any different for an alien species such as the Agrii." Wesker remarks dryly. If the theater has made one thing clear to him at least, it's that someone has been editing all that accumulated footage into nice, bite-sized episodes. And that it's very unlikely that this someone is anywhere on this ship.

The man listens, then nods once while making a decision. "You can tell me about these efforts while we are headed for engineering."

"True," Donnie can at least agree. "It's worse with the internet." His chuckle is brief at that. It's hard to relax around a guy like Wesker.

"We?" Great, he's going too, then. Well...at the very least, the man seems like the competent sort. Maybe they'll make better progress. He gestures then. Lead on. Cautiously optimistic, Donnie still however makes a face at the way 'efforts' was said. Efforts aren't results, he knows, but he hates the brush-off all the same. Oh, he'll show him.

"The Agrii don't completely understand the systems they have at their disposal, even after all this time. But I'm not completely surprised, I'm sure their ship providers were counting on that.

"The ship is equipped with scanners thankfully- I mean why not, it seems a necessary function when you're out in space with who knows what, floating out there, so calibrating it to detect energy signatures wasn't difficult. In regard to storm tracking, I found that there are already some pre-programmed subroutines. I dredged that up to figure out, but I'm going to need someone aboard to monitor things so we can actually see how it works." Te Mi, he thinks. The young Agrii's been learning their language better, and certainly open to learning in general. Donnie's not about to admit he's a bit partial to the kid either, much less drop any names in front of sunglasses-man.

'We', indeed. It's vaguely the direction Wesker had intended to go anyway and from the looks of it he may be gaining some further pieces of information simply by listening. In return he will be a very effective way to keep the Agrii at a reasonable distance from both of them.

"I see." He replies while going over these new information. "And I assume these scanners are also capable of scanning for other life forms outside of the cities we know of." Not that he expects the Agrii to have tried something like that. Not with Donatello confirming that even after several years they barely control their own ship.

"It can potentially be programmed for such things but it's also got a limited range. Took me some work to even find the subroutines though- but I guess I'm not too surprised by that, considering this isn't the Agrii's ship to begin with."

Donnie makes a face as he thinks about the 'lost' episode he'd seen. Things had happened so quickly, the Agrii reaction to the Storm instantaneous. Edited footage or not, there are still key facts. He'll need to stop by the medical wing or something at some point, but for now he'll focus on engineering. "What were you wanting to look for in engineering?" he asks, glancing back at Wesker.

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No Hug Zone

Aliens...

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not an alien

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