revivalproject | Open | How do I even learn to play the human way?

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Open | How do I even learn to play the human way?

WHO:Thrawn and you?
WHERE: planet Risa
WHAT: Thrawn's return...to a vaction spot?
WHEN: Right after the Energy Storm
WARNINGS: None anticipated

Upon arriving Thrawn did not remember anything about Agra-10. And then much like the Data Points, a 'download' of sorts added information and emotion directly into his mind. Finding the process disconcerting Thrawn closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he opened them again he first noted the beach was much larger than he remembered. Then he noted the locals (and the fact there were locals at all) and the fact that they were more solicitous than he was comfortable with. Escaping them he removed his shoes and coat to more easily walk along the sand.

Subterranean glowing gardens

Since it was so warm outside, Thrawn has been chased in and now went below ground to find relief. Without the addition of sunlight, his vision reverted to infrared. Surprisingly Garden also had an aesthetically pleasing aspect to it even then. He was charmed to see a number of blooms climbing a trellis and hanging over the path like gently glowing stars. And further along, there were blooms that seemed to emit more heat to change the colors that a registered in his vision. He also registered that the garden did not give many scents.

Investigating the computers

This was the first time there had been anything like a computer system. And Thrawn did not mean to waste it. At first, he was only able to find things related to agriculture. Looking through the computer system definitely showed that this was a different world if he needed more confirmation.

Twin Roses

Much as he has done it before, Thrawn made his way to the bridge and sat down in the Pilot's chair. The flight controls for similar enough to the First Breath as to be nearly identical. That raised the question as to whether there was a default Data Point configuration and if so did that mean all the Agrii had received the same set of information with no difference and thus creativity?

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He's learning, and what Tommy's learning is that he wants to keep some of the more important parts of his stuff on the ship, in case they get kidnapped to a snow planet again. Which was why he was here, to drop stuff off.

To see someone on the bridge, though, that gets Tommy to pause. And then he's flinching because...

"Hey. Who's there?"

Thrawn did not even turn around, though he noted the concern in Tommy's voice.

"There is no need for alarm, I assure you that I have reason to be here."

Interesting. He knows that voice. Which earns a smile as he enters.

"So, are you back or do you not remember having been here?"

Eli's going to be so happy.

As he came closer Thrawn grimaced at Tommy.

"I am able to recall being here but I did not recall any of it when I was back on a Star Destroyer's bridge."

It seems like there was also a time discrepancy.

"The memories that I had from Agra-10 do not seem to know where they fall in the series of events. It is all somewhat confusing."

Interesting. Good to know that they did get to go home. Sad to know he'll not remember this Wanda.

"Yeah, I'm just hoping that since you came back, other people come back too," Tommy admits with a sigh. "Your people missed you."

[Upon arriving, Eli had immediately went and purchased a various assortment of civilian clothing. It was nice to be out of uniform for a chance and not get those wary looks it often brought as well. Now he could blend in more.

He had decided to explore the glowing gardens that he had been informed about and wondered if he could pick up some to take back to Agra 10 with later...They would have to be in the Greenhouse though since it was always warm there.

Yet, a familiar face held Eli's attention. At first he thought it was his mind playing tricks as his mind often on the Chiss. Had Thrawn always been there? Did the Agri send him here by accident? He found it interesting to see him here and not back on Agra 10.

He peered from the blooming flowers to look up at Thrawn. Would it be his Thrawn? The one that arrived with him or another variation that didn't remember their time here?

"Thrawn?" he hesitantly called out.

For a moment Thrawn was absorbed by a single plant with three distinct blooms.
Even with his vision like this Eli still had a very distinctive look and sound. Then again Thrawn had the time to study Eli over the years.

Though he kept his hands behind his back they tightened when Thrawn heard that voice. Eli looked different in civilian clothes. Thrawn was wearing his uniform, as he usually did, though his hair was not grown long anymore.

"Van-"

Thrawn paused on a hoarse note then cleared his throat to speak normally.

"Vanto."

At the sound of his name, Eli moved closer to throw his arms around the Chiss. "I thought I would never see you again," he whispered.

Tears were already falling down his face. He hated the fact that he was so emotional, but after all this time of trying to keep himself in check it was a relief to finally show them. He also knew he wouldn't be given a hard time about it.

That information made the world go round was something Cipher Nine had gotten beaten into his skull even before leaving Copero, and definitely before leaving Csilla headed for the Empire. So even here, he was out to learn as much as he could. Being dumped into a storm, then to this place, it had definitely thrown him for a loop.

He wiped sweat off of his brow as he worked the unfamiliar systems, not sure if it was the heat getting to him, the withdrawals, or the damage Intelligence had done to his brain when that had brainwashed him- either way, he was pretty annoyed. Determined nonetheless, of course, as he'd always been.

Still, the young Chiss couldn't help but curse under his breath, a soft "Oh, fuck me-" as he worked.

Plenty of available information- just none that he actually found useful. Putting his skill as a slicer to work was more or less useless too, the damned machines refusing to spit out the answers he was searching for. Not that he'd gotten his hopes up, he'd just hoped there would be something worth committing to memory.

Frustrated as he was though, he did react to his surroundings as well- and hearing another person, turned his head- and then back again.

Another Chiss wasn't exactly something he saw as special, even if at any other time, he might be glad to see one of his own people.

Thrawn raised both of his eyebrows. It had not occurred to him that he might be missed, or indeed anyone that might miss his presence normally, nevermind on Agra-10.

"My people...?"

"Yeah, the people you were here with."

Sure, there were other blue people too, but Tommy wasn't going to be racist and assume they're of the same species.

"Eli, especially. I hung out with him because for a bit of time there, he lost all his friends."

Thrawn tensed at first with his hands hovering around Eli's shoulders, still not used to displays of affection. But he could hear the tears in Eli's voice, the relief. Showing emotion had never been a problem for Eli so it's no surprise that it happens now.

Thrawn did not know what he could say if there was anything to be said at all. So he glanced around once, then hesitantly let his arms settle around Eli and after a beat of getting used to the novelty, Thrawn gathered Eli close.

It was probably a good five minutes or so before Eli finally calmed down and was able to speak. He noted that Thrawn wrapped an arm around which helped. He knew that Thrawn had a hard time understanding emotion and showing it. That this display would be a little overwhelming to the Chiss. But the slight gesture helped calm him down.

"Do you remember our time on Agra 10?" he softly asked. He refused to let go of Thrawn and hesitantly looked up at him trying to studying the slightly form of emotion he might show.

In response, Thrawn used the back of knuckles to wipe the lingering tears from Eli's cheek. He said nothing at first. Taking the moment to study Eli's expression; the open honesty there and the raw feelings coming off of him. There was some fear, some sadness there but also a fragile bit of hope.

Still silent, Thrawn laid his palm against Eli's cheek. It might have been a tender gesture but Thrawn's hand was large enough to thread into Eli's hair and hold him still. Leaning down Thrawn answered Eli's question with a kiss. Though 'kiss' is a too soft word for it. It was not a sweet and loving thing, but harsh and demanding. He could feel that mix of heat and ocean water and though there was a sense of burning to it, Thrawn was coming to associate that burn with what is quintessentially Eli.

Did Thrawn remember? Oh yes.

Eli's eyes widened a bit, surprised by Thrawn's response. He had always known Thrawn to be hesitant in showing displays of emotion even when they had admitted their feelings.

It didn't stop him from returning an equally demanding kiss. Reluctantly, Eli only pulled away when the need for air was a demand.

"I can't help but think that this is some kind of dream. I always thought I would find you, but it seems you found me this time."

Thrawn, however, was not used to seeing more of his own kind. He was desperately curious but did not want to show it. So at first, he was limited to occasional glances. Of course. that changed when he noticed that someone was slicing into his data stream in order to make their own searches seem like his.

Raising one eyebrow, Thrawn turned to ask in a deliberately casual way;

"Would you please stop attempting to slice your way in. It is slowing my stream."

"Why, you finding anything useful even without?" The agent asked, though he did in fact stop- after all, he himself had failed to find anything he saw as necessary information. And he happened to be very good at sifting through data- after all, he wouldn't have become a Cipher Agent if he hadn't been good at what he did. Of course, any of the Watchers would be better at looking through the available information and making sense of it, and he was no Watcher.

Still, Aden got the distinct feeling that this place wasn't really connected to Agra 10 or the Agrii- or if it was, they were very good at hiding that fact.

"If you are, willing to share with the class?"

He gave a vague gesture then, because honestly- being dumped on Agra 10, receiving the worst news of his life, then suddenly being somewhere else, he was starting to feel like someone was jerking him and everyone else around, much like he'd felt when Hunter and his shadowy Star Cabal had yanked him around.

And he didn't enjoy the feeling at all. He needed some useful information right about now.

Edited 2020-03-15 00:43 (UTC)

"If it is a dream, it is a pleasant one."

Thrawn still had the same anxious feeling he often dealt with whenever he engaged in displays of affection. But this time he also felt a new thread of giddy euphoria added to it. Did this always happen whenever to Eli when he would kiss Thrawn? If so then that would explain much his behavior. Thrawn also decided to try doing this sort display again sometime, if only to repeat the experiment.

"Unfortunately, I had no more choice in coming here again than I had the first time I arrived."

"I'm just glad to have found you...even if it might be for a little while."

He gave Thrawn a quick kiss on the cheek and reached to wrap his brown hand round Thrawn's blue hand. "Why don't we check out this place and catch up on things?"

As he was always careful to do, Thrawn did not exactly lie but he did refrain from answering fully.

"Searches for both Agrii and Angra-10 yield no results."

Thrawn was repeatedly frustrated by the barrier that separated his messages from the Risan system. And it was a system. Towers that had a radius around them and sent or picked up signals that would relay quickly among each tower.

But try as he might, Thrawn couldn't so much as send a simple text message.

Now that he had the other Chiss' attention he clasped his hands behind his back and regarded Aden.

"I did not think I would see another of my species for some time."

"Mm, you don't say," Aden responded, both brows going up, voice near dripping with sarcasm, as though it hadn't occurred to him to search for anything about their captors and the world they'd been brought to, first without any slicing, a surface search, and then with, going deeper into places where he shouldn't be.

Still, he didn't stay sarcastic long, nor was he dismissive at all, instead settling into a thoughtful look- despite everything, he was happy to see another Chiss.

"Agrii, Agra 10, the data points found there, the energy storms that sent them all off their planet... There's nothing relevant. Not on the surface, nor beneath..."

It was a mystery, one that didn't seem like there would be an answer to anytime soon.

Thrawn's words of not thinking he'd see another of his species also made him tilt his head, "No? You separated from the Ascendancy then, back home?"

"In a manner of speaking."

Exile was generally rather good at separation. Despite it being more complicated than just 'exile' to begin with. Thrawn was still careful to keep his expression blank but when not dealing with other Chiss for so long he had gotten out of the habit and was having to think about keeping his expression neutral.

"What is it on Agra-10 you are hoping to find information on first?"

"Any information at all would be useful at this point. There is no truly useless information- just need to figure out where what you have belongs to make sense of it."

Questions without answers, answers without questions. But everything had a time and a place it belonged. They'd had playing savior to an entire world dumped into their laps, so any new information they could turn up to solve the puzzle would be helpful.

Aden had learned not to dismiss any bit of information, however insignificant it might seem at first. All information had its place.

Though he wished he had Keeper or one of the Watchers with him to make sense of anything he could find. Their minds processed information at a rate much faster than his own- at least they once had. He'd never admit out loud that it was a resource he missed, though.

Unlike Thrawn, Aden's own expression changed quite a lot- maybe not entirely as much as a human's would, but certainly more than a normal Chiss. He'd been apart from his people for quite some time too- and trying to blend in had served him well.

"Right now it feels like we're being jerked around though. First a storm and then they apparently have the ability to send us here? Not to mention being able to yank people from their own worlds in the first place. Sounds to me like they could fix their own problems, but instead they're pulling in random people with varied skill sets or maybe no real skills at all... I'm not sure if there's anything malicious behind it exactly, but..."

There had to be more to it than what it looked like on the surface.

"I believe they are totally ignorant of how a society is formed. Case in point, the apparently random choices of who is taken."

Thrawn was frustrated with his own unanswered questions but he was starting to find a method to the madness, at least a little bit.

"I surmise that they needed to view a social group handling a crisis. Hence the storm. It seems to be less about being "jerked around" and moe about viewing us as a child with an ant farm."

"Maybe. They must've had a pretty grand society of their own once, judging by how things look back on Agra 10. Not that I was there for long, but..."

Place like that didn't get built by a race that had no idea about societies or social groups. At least Aden didn't think so.

"Of course, with distance from their planet, maybe plenty of them killed in the energy storms, leaders both in the practical sense and maybe spiritual or religious sense as well going poof, they could have devolved without the guidance they used to have. Become more like savages, less defined societal rules... Though, mm... If that was the case, they're not nearly sadistic enough and entirely too technologically advanced. Doesn't seem like they're using what they have without any rhyme or reason, at any rate."

Child with an ant farm was a fine enough descriptor, he supposed, but children with ant farms tended to want to watch their captives tear each other apart, not put several different kinds of ants in there in the hope the ants would all get along. At least, that was his experience. Maybe he'd just spent entirely too much time in the Empire and around Sith.

Still, it didn't change that they were all left with entirely too many questions and patience that was running out. At least his was.

"Guess we're stuck playing their game for the time being. There certainly aren't any answers to be found here."

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Open | How do I even learn to play the human way?

Twin Roses

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Glowing Gardens

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Investigating the Computers

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