revivalproject | Ship Them All Away

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Ship Them All Away

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, Open
WHERE: Agrii Ship
WHAT: New Tick Has Arrived
WHEN: January 10th and 11th
WARNINGS: None ~~unless you consider Mini near a gun dangerous~~

1. Let's Get Accessorized

The gifts are, at their core, nothing new. Well, there were more than there had been previously, and Reeve wondered if the Agrii were going to keep escalating this celebration of theirs. How long until it became a truly untenable amount of things for them to take back? There was still that giant stone statue on the one ship since Link left. Not that he begrudged the thing, it was just so... large.

"Ya need ta stop worrying so much. Gonna go gray early," Mini chides from where he sits in Reeve's lap on one of the nice blankets. The cat had just finished hauling all three of Reeve's gifts over and was now making a show of 'resting' in the man's lap.

"A bit of gray in my hair would likely only serve to make me look more distinguished," Reeve counters as he reaches out for the first gift.

"Ya're vain enough ta dye it," Mini teased.

Reeve rolled his eyes, even as true as it was. Meanwhile his hands went through the process of opening a box. He wasn't even thinking much about it. Only he did freeze when he saw what was inside.

Golden sandals. With little straps and red stones on the outside edges.

"Oy, those are hideous!" Mini laughs. "Hey, come here, look at these."

Reeve meanwhile was left staring in shock as Mini beckoned to the next nearest He Row, still laughing up a storm.

2. Mini's Got A Gun

"Now this one," Mini says, when things calm down after the teasing about silly accessories from home. Reeve now wore his Protect ring on his finger to keep it easy to find until he can find Richie and put it on the man's finger. For now the cat was dragging over the largest box, one wrapped in orange.

"Clearly, as there are no others," Reeve said before gesturing for Mini to act.

The cat tears through the orange paper with all of the fervor of his form, shredding the paper as he went. Soon enough the feline was pulling the top off of a box and.

"Holy Mother Minerva!" Mini shouted in shock before falling back on his fluffy butt and scooting quickly away. "Is th-tha-that what I think it is!?"

"You're making a scene," Reeve sighed before reaching into the box with both hands and lifting the gift out. "Been a while since I saw one of these."

The man expertly checked to make sure that the safety on the semi-automatic rifle was on before he started field stripping the thing with casual efficiency.

"Seems to be in working order too. But of course they did not include a proper maintenance kit," he lamented as he checked the firing pin. "I shall have to ask Cayde or Soldier if they are equipped in such areas. It would be quite unfortunate to not keep such a fine piece of machinery in anything but pristine working conditions."

"Reeve, that's a gun!" Mini protested loudly. "We can't have one of those!"

"And yet," he said with a shrug before continuing his deconstruction and inspection, "would it not be nice to have a means to be protected in emergencies when my magic does not function?"

3. Tension In The Air

"Is it just me, or does this whole place feel like a ticking time bomb?"

The words are breathed just under Reeve's breath at breakfast the next morning. The lines for food in the Mess Hall are not lengthy, at least not this portion of it. Perhaps People are already tired of the faint peanut butter taste to many of the foods. Reeve... Well, he'd been driven enough in the process of repairs last time that he was pretty sure he had burnt his tastebuds out on the flavor and could no longer tell it was there anymore.

At last that's what he told himself as he stood in line for what looked like a slightly teal form of pancake that smelled of... honey and peanut butter of course. But hey, that combination of flavors might actually work.

Mostly, though, he was here to speak. With the way the Agrii felt like they watched him, the ones that wanted to thank him for repair help last time, and his quiet conversations with the AI the night before, well, he wanted to bounce some ideas off of any other 'He Row' he could.

And this one felt insanely pressing to him. The metaphor felt particularly fitting as well. He'd been in situations racing against ticking time bombs before after all. plus all of those executive level meetings that just as well could have been compared to one.

But there was always a chance this was all in his head. That the tension he read in the Agrii was just his own stress manifesting in a misreading between species. So the outside input was something he very much desired.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good thing Reeve was not seeking to raise to an argument in the moment. Tony did not do magic, thus he could not understand. It was fair. Reeve did not make suits of armor that flew, so he didn't really understand them either. That was just how life worked sometimes.

"I am not concerned with respect," Reeve assures his friend with a smile. "I'm just becoming more aware that more visible weapons will be interpreted better as 'I have a means to protect myself' among some parties than glowing crytalization of memory at my wrist."

He lifts a hand and lets his sleeve fall just enough to show off the bracer and the glowing materia at said wrist as if to illustrate.

"And yes, I know my way around a gun. It's just mechanics and physics. It's the aim I need to polish up on. I used to visit the range every week. There were enough threats on my life as an executive at Shinra and as the leader of the WRO that intimate knowledge of how to manage take down shots in a high stress situation was vital to survival. And I'd like to be sure I can still kneecap someone if the situation calls for it."

Tony met the smile with narrowed eyes, not sure what to make of that denial; he wasn't the one that had brought up the respect. "Sure, I mean," he had to agree, flicking his empty hand in a helpless gesture, "a fancy watch like that in New York is basically an invitation to get jumped. Big gun, very different brand. People still tend to go for the watch one, though, more popular choice. Sexier."

The source of the skill made plenty of sense to Tony, though he couldn't agree that most of the engineers he knew could handle a firearm with any confidence, no matter how many advanced physics degrees they had between them, and the c-suite usually relied on a hired professional rather than getting strapped themselves. He had to keep them all convinced he had a bodyguard himself. "Well, I beg your pardon, Trigger, I should have guessed there wasn't anything you couldn't do," he said. "Makes you just the man to figure out what the hell the gun is doing here in the first place."

"I find I've never found much time for 'sexy' watches. I've had a horrible instance of accidentally frying them with too much channeled electricity when testing things, or fire when burning paperwork that annoys me."

Listen, he was justified in burning that paperwork, he swears it. Don't question it. Just accept that burning paperwork is worth it. It's emotionally satisfying too.

"There are plenty of things I can't do. Like tell you the quality of a sword, or save the world back home. But I try and pick up skills where I can. And honestly, I think we have both been in enough board meetings to answer that question."

He nods to the remains of the orange wrapping paper, then off toward an orange token Agrii that Mini has slipped over to speak to. The advantages of being linked with Mini is being able to handle two conversations at once.

"Division in the internal ranks. Like a board meeting with two major factions battling over funding."

As much as Reeve tried to unconvincingly humble his way through the observation with patently outrageously goals, it was never going to work in the first place since he was just going to prove he could do exactly what Tony predicted, too. So far, Reeve was living up to the assessment. Tony lifted his chin, appearing wary to look away from Reeve or his new gift, rolling a slow scan over Mini and his conversation partner and sliding right back to Reeve. "So, what, you're the assassin now?" he asked. "Gone from protecting yourself to the hired gun." The hiring process didn't usually happen right in front of the target. At least, Tony didn't think he'd ever seen Sunset write out the cheque for his neck right in front of him at one of his parties. He did tend to be a little distracted when she was around.

"I only make use of weapons to protect myself or others," Reeve corrects. "Perhaps I have been friends with a number of assassins in my life. Actually, a surprisingly large number. But to know such people does not make one such a person themselves."

Or so Reeve hoped. He wanted to be a good person. Then again, many of the assassins he knew could be called 'good' at their core, or by some lens of inspection.

"But I do wonder what they would hire us to attack. Which is what Mini is trying to figure out. Right now all he's getting is that these are to defend ourselves."

It wasn't Tony that Reeve had to convince of his strong moral code, so Reeve only got raised eyebrows in return, and a muttered, "Sure, and I made all those landmines in the name of American freedom." With enough whiskey, he could sometimes believe it.

He pointed vaguely toward Mini now, or more toward the Agrii that he spoke with, the concept, and wondered, "From who? The other Agrii?" They had already been given guns on the planet's surface, and the last time they were handing out gifts, they had handed Tony a sword and a murder-robot. And that hadn't seemed to cause any ideological rifts that suddenly needed managing. "Everyone's been acting like they're the aggressors."

Landmines? For freedom? Now talk about an oxymoron. For defensive purposes, maybe, but even then it was questionable. But he doesn't mention it. He just frowns.

"Now for that, I'm not certain. If Orange is one group, then the other groups... Well, they seem gentler. They don't carry weapons. So maybe assassins it is. And that bothers me. Or perhaps they are about to send us somewhere dangerous. Or perhaps they are somewhat aware of what happened in the last storm and want us better prepared, though it seems foolish now."

So yes, he's very confused. But he knows there is something wrong.

"This place has the tension of a pending coup," Reeve admits after a moment. "And that scares me. I don't want to have to go through another one of those."

Someone seeming gentle didn't mean much. It was Reeve himself that handled that rifle like a professional, and Tony had seen enough friends labelled monsters in fights that didn't have clear right or wrong sides. He let his dubious frown challenge Reeve's perception of the other Agrii groups, the same ones that kidnapped kids and sent others to their deaths. "You're happy with the leadership, then?" he asked, and only relented enough to give a flick of a hand at the gift box. The nature of the revolution aside.

"Happy? Minerva bless me, no," Reeve says, his voice sharp. "They are fools led by fools, and that is not always destructive. But here it has escalated to a point where they are like dogs biting at their own heels. And that, that is dangerous in the most extreme way. I'm afraid, Tony. Very afraid."

And he didn't like that sensation. Not now, not ever. It's never gone well for him.

The Agrii had never seemed like a particularly well directed group to Tony, either out of naivete or a calculated performance of it, so it might have been inevitable that the status quo would become frustrating for a number of them. It was frustrating to be subjugated under. He didn't have a further argument for Reeve then, only slowly licking his lips, then dropping his probing gaze as Reeve admitted his fear. Finally, he patted the lightly jangling pockets of his toolbelt to produce a lighter for his tortured cigarette, buying them both some time while he nursed the ember.

"Someone else should take control," he said, like it was an airy offering, still looking away, toward the playing children. Someone like Steve, who they had taken care to be rid of before he could be a problem. "That's what they're asking for, if your theory is right. The gun, that's their method. Isn't the only one."

"Someone noble and a peacemaker," Reeve agrees. "Alas, we've few of those to go around, and I don't think the Agrii would take kindly to outside governance."

But Tony's right. The weapon isn't the only method to create unity. But a group like this would need a gentle hand.

"Perhaps one of the younger He Rows might wish to give themselves to such a duty. There are a few I that I've heard rumored can never return home, like Richie can't. Perhaps we should look to the youth."

Tony started to nod along, driving a knuckle against his chest like he aimed for an itch under the muscle, only to stop with an inquisitive frown then splay of his restless hand across his shirt. His lips parted to argue, only it was a multi-tiered problem that Reeve had just confronted him with, and for a moment he could only let smoke seep out slowly. The Agrii's acquiescence was maybe the easy part, he and Reeve didn't necessarily disagree there, but in practice, what that looked like when that came in conflict with how much they pretended to fawn over their He Rows, and when they had submitted so rapidly to their AI manager, would have been an interesting disturbance in their conflict at least. It was the suggestion that Reeve didn't have such regard for the He Rows that gave Tony pause.

And in that pause, he found himself suddenly asking, "What--I didn't mean permanently. Do you? Because they can't go back, some kid, they should be stuck here, king of the torture chamber? Some future."

Oh Tony, don't you get it? Reeve frowns at him, concern in his eyes.

"There may not be much else for them, Tony. If it was death or helping a people in need who would pamper them, I would hope they chose life. From the way people talk of their worlds, I begin to suspect not all of you come from places with reincarnation cycles such as Gaia has. And that scares me."

He's lived his whole life certain there was a cycle of life and death on his planet that he was a part of. His magic, in a way, made him more familiar with that than most humans were. He'd always known that the end of his life was just him returning to the planet so that he might one day become something new. But the others...

That he feared for.

"No future is a binary," Tony snapped back, annoyed that Reeve thought those were the only two options, the edge in his voice betraying the personal offense he took in the assumption. He heard it too, and swung back a step, hand curling into a fist again to redistribute the pressure. Reeve had watched him pretend to solve this problem for years, he had every reason not to trust Tony. "There isn't just two options," he tried again, less sharp. "It's not just the kids who came here on the brink of death. It's Jon. Cayde. Catra, out there, somewhere, you know, people who need our help, that these people threw away. I can't go back. We don't just have to live by these rules. We can get out." He glanced back toward Mini and the Agrii struggling to understand him. It wasn't even a structure that was functional for their abductors, if that rifle meant what Reeve thought it did.

Why wouldn't he trust Tony? Reeve had nothing but respect for the man. Sometimes one genius isn't going to solve the problem. Especially if it's been shut away from him like it had been. The second Tony could get to the problem he'd been part of the team to end the storms, hadn't he? That earned quite a bit of credit.

"Forgive me. Sometimes on my world it has been a binary. Save the world or fail unfortunately has very little wiggle room. That said..."

That said he doesn't get it. There were plenty that aspired to return home. Strange how he had not expected Tony not to be in their number. Even Reeve wished to return home, even after finding family and love twice over.

"I can't begin to imagine an out. Perhaps I'm not creative enough."

There were a million different kinds of success and failure every time Tony saw a new end bearing down on the world, and he saw at least three a night, so it was becoming more clear why Reeve thought this was a black or white issue, too. Tony's eyes narrowed in brief thought, considering arguing Reeve into a more moderate position on the end of the world, but breathed a surprised laugh before he could construct one. "You're standing on a ship that travels through time and space," he pointed out, mouth still hooked in that laugh, not quite able to believe Reeve hadn't even considered that. "It's just a machine. Anyone could control it."

"All things that travel through time travel through space and vice versa. Or are there things about my understanding of physics that are wrong?" Reeve muses.

And of course, Tony has experiences that Reeve could never fathom that would affect that.

"What if... What if it became more than a machine?" Reeve asks, his voice soft and nervous. Because he could change that. God, how terrifying was that?

With a finger up to tick discouragement, Tony pointed out, "You weren't even considering a third dimension a second ago. You only had two." Maybe save the physics lecture for someone else. His hand was dropping quickly, though, discouraged himself out of that argument, and might have been even without that unnerving tone in Reeve's voice. That was an unsettling question no matter Reeve was about to propose. Tony liked machines. The fact that anyone could control the machine was supposed to be a good thing. "What did you do?" he had to ask.

"Nothing," Reeve snaps back immediately, because he doesn't like the accusation. "But it's... It's about what I could do. What I could give this ship. Something to make it more real, more independent. And... possibly leave me connected to it. I... Would probably have to stay here though. Because the distance is such a strain."

Getting the sharp energy in return only made Tony's frown deepen, wondering if it was overly defensive, if there was a more immediate explanation for Enide's recent awakening. He didn't exactly share with everyone every time he caused an explosion, either. Reeve's halting proposal didn't exactly endear him.

After a beat, Tony replied, "I thought you were happy," and had to wave a dismissive hand for the pedantry that he didn't want to drill through to make his point, amending, "Fulfilled. You know. Got something to live for. If it's that bad that you're making up new ways to make yourself suffer, bringing something else into this world to suffer with you isn't gonna fix the problem."

"I am happy," Reeve says with a sigh. "But... doesn't helping these people matter?"

Shouldn't it matter? Reeve's just the sort of guy like that. But he just puts the gun down and rubs at his brow.

"I worry sometimes that York might want to go home. I know Richie... can't. But I feel that York and you and any others that want to should get to go back."

They weren't having the same argument; at least, Tony thought they were debating the merits of Reeve's half-baked plan, and not whether or not Tony believed helping anyone mattered. His eyes widened and he thumped his hand against his chest where that bullet struck as he glanced around for the reason he had been targeted. "And you're sure," he had to refocus for them, "that to make that happen, you have to teach the ship to feel pain. Okay. Good. Do it. Send them home." And then, after a beat, had to echo, "You worry? You're worried that he wants to go home?"

"No, I'm not sure. At all. But it's possible that if an outside force is messing with the ship, a ship that seems to have come to care for them, giving it more agency on, say, Mini's level may protect it and them."

Though Reeve himself could override Mini some. And was he truly more to be trusted than whatever force was manipulating them all? He sighs. It's hard to have a good answer. But on the York front, he definitely had one.

"In his world, he's hunted for who and what he is. I'm worried he'll go home only to end up immediately in the hands of those who would hurt him, who would tear him apart."

Sending those you love home to an uncertain future is... terrifying. Reeve can't protect the android that had become something of a son to him if he's not there. And who would even choose to protect York there? From what he's heard, not many people at all.

The suggestion that the ship cared for the Agrii had Tony taking a sharp breath like he might interrupt there, only to raise a hand to himself, cut through the air with a flick, and release it slowly, brow furrowed in annoyance and glaring like it was Reeve that stopped him from arguing. If Reeve really believed the ship cared, his proposal sounded more like taking agency away from her. They clearly understood the concept very differently.

"They want to hurt him here, too. All they want is to hurt us," Tony pointed out. "At least if you went with him, all three of you, you could disappear there, get yourselves a little cottage where you're not anybody's experiment anymore. If you and Richie can't stand your worlds anymore, and York is homesick, win-win-win."

Yes, there were complications to the suggestion. But Reeve would be one to believe he was granting more agency than he would be stripping. But who knew if he was right or not.

"They want to hurt him very differently there," Reeve countered. "And I can't go with him, Tony. I'm... If I go anywhere, it's home. Because while I was never an experiment, my fear of that fact made me compliant in too much suffering. My life is dedicated to correcting my sins there."

And he cannot walk away forever. It was never a matter of him not standing his world. Going back has always been a goal.

Ship Them All Away

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