revivalproject | Log // Catch-All for April

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Log // Catch-All for April - OTA

WHO: Cal Kestis, BD-1 and you!
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Exploring, fixing stuff, poking around and scavenging
WHEN: Catch-all for April
WARNINGS: N/A

Without the threat of a storm looming over them, Cal figures it's as good a time as any to try to get anything done. There seems to be plenty to see, and he's had his share of experiences when it comes to roaming ruins. The replicator project has been a success, and in no small part due to the help of Cipher Nine and Hux. What else needs fixing around here? Other than...well, everything.

Green
In the northwest part of the city he's begun clearing out one of the larger buildings. The space had seemed ample enough for a suitable work area, and the adjoining room suitable for storage. If not moving things around, Cal can be found bringing in some things, likely broken, very much salvaged, from wherever his wanderings have been.

...or you might catch him napping on a makeshift pallet in a corner while BD-1 plays around in a box of junk. Hey, even Jedi get exhausted! Who knew?

Blue
Running around some random ruins is probably training enough, but sometimes it's nice to know you're in a controlled space. The old theater looks sturdy enough, and given it's still standing as it is after so long, Cal hopes his trust in the architecture isn't unfounded.

If he's not found climbing along the sides of the highest raised rows or making impossible jumps (or heaven forbid, wall-running), he might be found at ground level at the theater's center, going through some exercises with a metal rod (probably a thin pipe) he'd found somewhere. It's far from a lightsaber and it makes him miss the one he's lost, but he goes through the forms fluidly and with as much care as if he still wields a blade of light.

Alternatively he can be found by the flood plain, looking very much like he's contemplating a swim as he wonders what the waters have swallowed up.

(OOC: Or choose your own adventure/wildcard! If you're up for doing anything else or have any ideas, tag away or PM/plurk/discord (Trilobite Punch#4073) me! :D And if action tags are more your thing over prose, I'll go with whatever your pref.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The approach of the droid got Tony to lean forward, hands clasped over his folded knee to answer like he was explaining fusion reactions to a toddler after they asked what the sun was. "It's where you show all of your suitors who still had a chance to make you a married man, and explain to the ones that didn't make the cut why you're not meant for each other. Stuff like speaking in tongues can be a real deal breaker for most guys." He slouched back again as BD-1 went pattering away, head cocked with an admiring grin to watch him climb again and settle like he belonged there. That was a boy and his dog if Tony ever saw one.

He didn't quite read the weight of Cal's answer about the lightsaber, though, distracted by one unmistakable detail; "You had other things arrive with you?" Obviously, Cal had his little buddy there, which made it all the stranger what the selection process was. "I showed up like I was born here. Did you get stuff?" The question to Jon was almost accusatory, like he had been in charge of what Tony was or wasn't allowed to bring with him.

"Voice?" Jon blinks at Cal for a moment, but then seems to get what he is being asked and settles with an almost apologetic look "Oh, right. That... I guess it's... I've gotten used to it, my assistants prefer not to be in the same room. It's... Something to do with these specific texts. They draw you in and you adopt their... Tone."

It may not be the best explanation, but it's a good enough try. And hopefully he doesn't have to give a full disclosure on the various kinds of statements.

Chalking that matter up to be answered, Jon proceeds to incline his head at Cal's explanation for his lacking lightsaber.

"So they didn't let you keep your weapon." Which in a way makes sense? And he casts a look over to Tony, raising a brow at the man's tone before answering his question "I had my tape recorder on me." Yes, not the most impressive piece of technology, but Jon feels better with it around.

Somehow BD-1 manages to give a perfect impression of a blank look with that explanation. Humans of Tony's world must be a strange breed indeed! Such a custom is certainly nothing he's collected in his databanks before now, and one can be sure that there is now an entry under 'Rose Ceremony'.

Cal isn't quite sure he understands the need for such a tone, as Jon describes it, but he can see why Jon's assistants wouldn't be comfortable in the same room if the way the Archivist had spoken those words earlier were anything to go by. He looks like he might ask more, but with the subject shifting to the specifics of their arrival, he lets it lapse.

He also seems mildly relieved he isn't pressed about details regarding the lightsaber, accepting the tangent with a nod. "Just what I was wearing, along with BeeDee." Honestly he's glad the little droid had been with him, and although he wouldn't have it any other way, he still constantly feels the absence of his lightsaber.

A shrug is given at Jon's observation. "It wasn't working anyway," he says. The tape recorder had been something Cal was aware of from when he first met the Archivist, so the response to Tony isn't unexpected.

Edited (whoops, too man 'nows') 2020-04-22 00:48 (UTC)

Of course Jon had the recorder on him, obviously everyone else got to travel with what they loved most in the world. Tony pouted, feeling at this moment like he would have appreciated the comfort of his own socks at least half as much as Cal appreciated his droid, never mind the Iron Man, and unable to think the disparity in luggage was anything but subjective. This was a personal punishment.

If Jon was correct about the weapon restriction, though, that could have explained the Iron Man's conspicuous absence. Not that Tony would agree with the assessment, but the Agrii were hard to pin down. Tony had to keep on pressing Cal about his discipline, though, because he just said something completely wild. "Your sword doesn't work," Tony rephrased flatly for him, the question in the arch of his brow. Had he meant 'light' as in radiation, not weight?

To be fair, if Jon hadn't arrived with the recorder, he would probably just subconsciously spawn even more of those things around him any time he needs to vent. Which he does frequently enough at least.

Though he does catch the same specific wording in Cal's phrase as Tony and he pulls up a single brow and tilts his head as if to wordlessly second the question. Is he literally speaking of a saber made of light?

It's a clarification that Cal hasn't anticipated, although he supposes he should have for how different the places they come from seem to be. He blinks as he realizes what Tony is implying, the laugh that follows brief, but unforced.

Explaining a lightsaber's the easy part, at least.

"Oh, right." The padawan scratches the back of his head, looking almost sheepish at having overlooked that detail. He lifts the pipe. "Lightsaber. The weapon of a Jedi." Among other things, if the Inquisitors were anything to show for it. "The blade is pure energy, like a beam of light. It can cut through almost anything. The power is generated from the hilt."

That wasn't much less wild, and Tony squinted and looked to Jon to see if he was buying this. Now Cal's story was really sounding like a game he played, very well-my-sword-can-cut-diamonds, but the details weren't in the top ten weirdest encounters Tony had experienced here. Jon was in the room, it was hard to ignore, and it wasn't like Tony was unfamiliar with laser cutting or a bunch of teenagers doing extraordinarily dangerous shit. If Cal looked a few years older, Tony thought, he might not have been as slow to believe him.

"Can we make one?" Besides, Tony really wanted to see it now.

"Even if we could, the real question might be, if we should." Jon comments with a dark frown "An energy blade capable of cutting through almost anything sounds remarkably dangerous." And the Agrii didn't bring them here to fight any wars as far as Jon remembers.

Or at least he hopes that isn't the case.

The padawan doesn't respond so quickly, perhaps gauging between the reactions of Tony and Jon. He dips his head in a slight nod, a partial answer to both.

"It's a weapon. The potential for danger is always there. It depends on the use and the wielder, of course." He lowers the pipe. "It does have its uses outside of combat. Slicing through doors and walls. ...I don't recommend doing so with power cables unless they're shut down." There's the flicker of a grimace, and BD-1's hooting sounds almost chiding in a way, further confirmation that the latter may have been a lesson learned through unfortunate experience.

Glancing from Jon to Tony, Cal shrugs. "The real problem would be the power source. Seeking out a kyber crystal to use for making our lightsaber is one of the tests we go through as younglings."

This time, when Tony squinted at Jon, it was still conspiratory but far more judgemental. He had no way of knowing how much Cal knew about Jon's unique proclivities and he wasn't about to be the one to spread the news, so Tony kept a knuckle pressed against his lips where he dropped his head into his hand again to catch Jon's eye, but that wasn't enough to stop him from frowning then raising his eyebrows at Jon to ask what else he might think is dangerous. At least most people knew how to react to a sword.

Cal's miscalculated defense of the lightsaber's less dangerous properties drew Tony quickly out of the accusatory aside with a chuckle to turn that judgement on Cal. "Yeah, okay, that doesn't sound dangerous, and we sure are overwhelmed with stable walls and doors around here that we could stand getting rid of," he teased. What trouble he could have gotten into with power cables with a lightbeam was a whole other matter-- unless Cal just wanted to share with them how he learned not to touch a live wire he encountered. That couldn't be right. "Are you telling me the energy is conducive?" They were going to have to cycle back to the mineral power source, 'younglings', and just about everything else about Cal's culture, Tony was realizing.

Tony's attempt at catching Jon's attention is at least temporarily rewarded and his unspoken question met with a brief scowl. The answer would simply be: A lot.

"Right." He scoffs "Nothing dangerous about a weapon capable to cut through walls. As we all know flesh and bone are no walls and therefore are perfectly safe." Yes, that accusatory tone is primarily directed at Tony "And let's not forget that apparently the Agrii already have brought people here who had little better to do than put bounties on others that were just as kidnapped as they were. We might as well equip everyone with the necessary tools to start a proper slaughter."

Does he sound maybe a little paranoid? Maybe. But only a little.

Cal makes a slight face at Tony. "It wasn't one of my better moments." But no one has to tell him how dangerous a weapon like a lightsaber can be. Given how the Archivist is so adamant about it, the padawan refrains from mentioning anything about the countless times he's had to fight for his life using that very weapon.

He goes noticeably silent when Jon brings up a certain someone, glancing away with a frown. "...I haven't heard from him since. Maybe that's a good thing. If what I heard from Hux is true, he's not someone I'd want to draw the attention of." People like Kylo Ren are what justify his caution in trusting people even in a world far from the galaxy he knows.

Oh, so Cal did just not know how to keep his distance, and Tony laughed again at that expression but put his free hand up in apology for it. Sorry, everyone learned at the own pace, it was only a little funny. He didn't know why Jon was getting on his case, though, because it sounded to Tony like he was making Tony's argument for him. He hadn't even really thought about the story Poe had told him, but that was really just another way the Agrii could be a threat to them-- it was only the Agrii, so far, who had control over who came in and out, their picks could have been very calculated.

"I'm not comfortable with the idea that most of us can't defend ourselves," Tony added, only a little pointed. "If somebody comes at me with a lightsaber, I'd rather have one in my back pocket, too. Don't try to make that a slippery slope, it's just rational. It's not like we've elected a town sheriff to keep the peace." He looked between them then, hoping either of them could correct him on that observation; a system of government would have been more solid ground to work with than individualist anarchy.

"I don't like to think we need to defend ourselves in the first place." Jon frowned back at neither of them, but clearly troubled by the mere idea. He half-crosses his arms, fingertips tapping against his own elbows in a remotely nervous fashion "Even if I had a weapon-" And for a moment he wants to ask Tony if he knows how to use a sword, but cuts himself off. He sure doesn't know how to defend himself, thank you. He has tried in the past, but so far has always failed spectacularly.

And not unlike Tony, Jon lets his eyes shift between the two other men, unsure of where a solution may lie. In the end the best he can do is offer a shrug.

"It is... True, that we are currently relying on everyone being more invested in returning home than causing trouble." But aside from that, this planet is basically a lawless land. In his opinion, adding weapons to that mix might only complicate matters.

"As far as I'm aware of, that was the only incident involving someone potentially hostile into our midst. That's not to say he would have been the most or least dangerous of anyone brought here."

The Agrii had after all brought a Mandalorian into the fold. While Cal isn't personally familiar with the beskar armored man outside of the few encounters he's had, he knows that Mandalorians were formidable warriors and doesn't doubt that the same goes for this one as well, with child or no.

"I'd rather we don't have to worry about defending ourselves from anyone or anything else either, but given how much we don't know about so much here, we can't discount the possibility that a situation might come up. Not that I'm promoting making weapons. Preparation, that's different." Cal looks between Jon and Tony. "So far, the only real threat has been the storm, and that didn't even need a weapon."

Tony picked up on what Jon had been trying to say, and clarified, "I don't think everyone needs one. Just the people who are equipped to take on the responsibility, if shit goes sideways." Just like the Avengers wasn't a open membership to the public, someone had to be prepared to defend the people who couldn't. Who that actually meant was more complicated here, assuming they were all 'he rows' as the Agrii put it, but at least Jon was self-aware enough to want to sit out the physical combat. "Back home, we've got a team on standby just in case a meteor is headed for the planet. Here, we're going to be chickens with our heads cut off." Tony's personal involvement in that team wasn't necessary information. No one else seemed to be maintaining secret identities, but he didn't even have the suit here to out him. It was worth hanging onto that one for now.

Preparation could have meant plenty of things, and figuring out who to trust in the worst case scenario was one of them. They could have still been on the same page. "What makes you so sure you should trust me not to be a threat?" Tony challenged Cal, open palm up with a small shrug because he couldn't see a good reason. As far as Cal knew, this guy who had just wandered into his practice session had a bomb strapped to him. "What about you?" he turned on Jon. "How do you know no one else is just biding their time?"

Jon gives a sigh in response to Tony's question "I don't." He possibly could know, but... Part of him just hopes that he knows when he needs to.

"This team you speak of sounds an awful lot like the plot of various comic books, I must admit. And I believe we even have a few bored superheroes around." Just herd them together and tell them to team up? Is that how superhero teams work?

"And yet, Cal is right. Neither weapons nor superhero team-ups might help us with the storms."

A group that could take action if needed, that sounds ideal, but Cal hardly knows how many people total are even here. The matter of trust also goes without saying, but Tony's suggestion is something he feels is worth considering. Protecting those who can't protect themselves or just need help in general is still something deeply ingrained into him from his Temple days.

Tony's question gets a nod in Jon's direction. "I trusted his judgment." He hadn't sensed anything amiss from either of the two men either. "I don't know what you would have had to gain even if you did turn out to be a threat. But you're right. We don't know. I have no simple answers for that, but given the response with that one case, I'd like to think that for the most part, those present at least understand the gravity of the situation we're in over holding old grudges and questionable morality."

His stance shifts as he feels BD-1 scrabble to the opposite side he'd been clinging to, a natural movement for how accustomed Cal's been to the droid's presence. He doesn't have to look to figure his little buddy is glancing this way and that at their present company, beeping inquisitively at something, to which Cal can only shrug. "What's the difference between heroes and...super-heroes?" he asks in BD's stead.

Edited 2020-04-23 01:12 (UTC)

Tensions were high, they were in a stressful situation. Some people who would consider themselves perfectly normal and morally reasonable had all the reason in the alien world to react to this situation negatively, and find small disagreements feeling monumental. Hell, Tony could have easily knocked Jon on his ass for pulling his magic shit on him, but he doubted anyone in this room wanted that to be how the city was settling its differences. And there were far greater power imbalances to worry about. Grudges, Tony thought, should have been high on their list of concerns.

The droid's language was similar enough to the others that Tony had met that he was starting to think he could pick out phrases, but he wasn't competent enough to understand the subtle distinctions in the question he had. "Comic book stuff," he agreed with Jon for an answer with a smile, but Tony could see this was finally his local culture in the cue and he could be a little more helpful than that. "Anybody can be a hero. You know, firefighters, nurses, the guy that feeds your meter when you're stuck in a meeting. A superhero is someone with the kind of gift that they use to help other people, that easily transcends obstacles that would otherwise be insurmountable for a baseline human. Flight or...telepathy, shooting lighting out of your hands, that kind of thing. That kind of thing isn't quote-unquote normal where I'm from, anyway. The real difference is, you know, a cop can stop a mass shooter if he's got really good aim, and he would absolutely still be a hero in that situation. But a superhero, a really good one, wouldn't have to shoot. They've got other options."

Tony didn't feel like he had to convince Cal any further that being armed and ready wasn't a bad idea, but he did give Jon another questioning look, wondering if that did anything to bring him around on the idea of weapons. They weren't supposed to be used for execution.

It's true, Tony could have easily knocked Jon out had he reacted in a more physically aggressive way. And for a moment that's what Jon thought might happen any moment. Even now, all this talk about arming themselves and he can practically feel all these weapons turning on him, the evil, brain-sucking monster. It's that train of thought that has Jon reach for his own neck, not fully aware of the motion, but very aware of the scar Daisy left there when she wanted to go through his voice box.

He lets out a short exhale at the memory and nods briefly a simple at Tony's answer to BD's question "Right. They are people with special powers that set them apart from regular people. Depending on the plot, these powers can be genetic, caused by experiments, stem from mystic sources or similar. And they... Help people in need." And sometimes fight super villains. A role Jon can very well see some of the other avatars fill in happily.

"And I still don't like the idea of creating weapons." Here, he sighs. But it's a sigh reluctantly admitted defeat "I also don't think this is a decision we can simply make among ourselves."

If the two get into a physical disagreement of some kind, Cal would hate to play the part of peacekeeper. Even now he can sense the growing tension, and he closes his eyes for a moment as if that would distance himself from it, even as he simply hopes that nothing would happen. He'd much rather make friends than enemies, especially when the latter vastly outweighed the former back in his galaxy, and that mainly because of who he is and what he can do.

He relaxes just a little when Tony obliges BD-1 and his own question. Comic books draw a blank, but he begins to nod slowly as the man explains what it is to be a superhero. "I see," the padawan replies, looking down again.

His eyes lift towards Jon, knowing the man's unease yet lingers, and he catches the movement towards his neck. The Archivist had his own burdens, and when he finally spoke up again, Cal once again dips his head in a nod, acknowledging, understanding the concerns.

"It's not a necessity. But it's an option that I'm sure anyone who usually makes use of weapons has probably considered, especially if they're brought here without them. We can't tell anyone what to do." It's also not their call, as Jon has said. "But not everyone needs physical weapons either. Because they're kind of like superheros, right?" He glances at Tony then, not out of assumption, but because he'd provided the explanation. "There are people with abilities here."

Tommy with his speed, Teddy with his shapeshifting, Wanda with... He's not quite sure where her capabilities lie, but from what she had said, and from brief demonstration it had seemed along the lines of the Force, if not vaguely reminiscent of the magick of the Nightsisters from his limited experience. And then there's Altair, and himself.

Edited 2020-04-23 17:15 (UTC)

The delineation between heroes with weapons and superheroes who didn't need them was not that clear, and Tony sucked his teeth with a shake of his head, neither yes or no, to Cal's question. Cap and Thor might have been powerhouses on their own, but they definitely preferred to work with their shield and hammer. That was Tony's own idealism getting in the way of the explanation he gave; he had stopped producing weapons a long time ago for a good reason. He also kept the Iron Man.

It was the exact people with abilities that Cal wondered about that Tony would say he would trust with their own kind of lightsaber in a heartbeat, but they had only been vetted on Tony's Earth, and it was possible none of them were really the kind of people Tony thought-- both cosmically, they could have been from different enough universes that their morality could come to surprise him, and under this microscope they could react in the destructive way he was worried about. He didn't know any of them well enough, not even Steve, who his gut reaction was to trust implicitly, but this wasn't his Steve. That was the tension in this delicate discourse that made him feel the most sick.

He just wanted to see the cool sword. Tony took a deep breath, waving off the larger complexities to ask, "So, what, we put the question to the group? Just make a network post, hey guys, just wondering, how do we all feel about gun laws?" That would have been a dangerous question in any public forum where Tony was from, but maybe it didn't translate properly. "That's going to put everyone on edge, that'll be the spark that causes the explosion," he clarified.

"Making it a big, public discussion is a bad idea, I agree." Jon says with a soft sigh and a nod in Tony's direction before looking down at his feet.

"And don't get me wrong. I understand your reasoning and see the points. Right now everything still seems to work out fine and we don't seem to be in any acute danger at the moment, but of course that all can change in an instant. Most likely when we least expect it and knowing that is just as terrifying as the thought of having someone try to murder me with a blade of pure energy." And this is where he is slowly but surely drifting off into frustrated venting territory.

"Yes, I want us to be prepared when something happens. And I want there to be an us to be prepared. But I have seen these sorts of discussions on Earth and they rarely result in the required unity. And so far... There isn't even much of a unity to speak of in the first place! At best we might risk shattering even that."

"I wish I could simply know what awaits us. What our best course of action is. What the deal is with the storms and the Agrii and if what we try to achieve here even has any value to it." He pauses for a moment to exhale with a slight snarl, pressing his eyes shut into a scowl and taps his own temple with one of his knuckles "And I know the answers are all there. But thankfully not all of us have control over their abilities and instead of finding anything useful end up knowing what everyone's favorite cereal brand is."

And it's his own lack of proper answers that frustrates him the most. Because he knows they are there - Just out of reach, mocking him.

This is far from anything Cal had intended to spark with his simple habit. He hadn't even thought anything of needs for defense or danger existing within their own circle of fellow kidnappees. Should he have? Past the normal caution he's learned to exercise, he'd just not sure what else he's supposed to be doing aside from whatever the Agrii somehow expected of them.

Again he closes his eyes, distancing himself from the conversation, perhaps, but he's still listening, still very much aware of the flaring emotions, the concerns, the frustrations. In part he feels guilty that just having brought up his specific weapon has now given Jon a new idea of fear that he probably could have done without.

BD-1 ducks behind him, while not sensing things as Cal does, plenty able to determine emotion from the tone in which the Archivist takes and the expression that crosses his face. He makes no sound, but tips his head slightly when the padawan expels a sigh that comes out louder than he'd meant it to.

"...I'm sorry."

It seems almost a non-sequitur response following everything else that's been said. Cal half turns away from the two men, shaking his head before looking down at the pipe in his hand like it's suddenly to blame. He knows better.

"This has gotten more complicated than it should have been, maybe even than it should be. I'm sorry I brought it up. It's not going to happen anyway, either with my old one or in trying to make a new one." A note of frustration escapes in those words, the incident that had led to his damaging that lightsaber still fresh, still painful.

"Lightsabers and weapons won't do anything against storms that can dig into your head and summon ghosts only you see. They won't do anything for a storm that can cut you off from whatever abilities or powers you might have. I'd like to know too, what to expect, what to do, how to help, but I've got nothing."

An us, in Tony's experience, didn't always work best as a publicly known institution--part of protecting people, for most of Tony's career, meant doing plenty without them ever having to shoulder the burden of knowing what that took. And while he wouldn't wish that role on anyone, not with the headaches and inability to look oneself in the eye that came with it, Tony very much would do it again if that was the best solution. An us might have been what was necessary here, too. But Jon clearly needed to spool down for a moment before Tony made a suggestion like that, and before Tony thought it was time to fill the space again, Cal was...apologizing?

Tony realized he had been staring intently at Jon, fist pressed to his mouth again, when Cal's voice drew him out of the scrutiny and surprised Tony with the kid's posture. This place clearly wasn't meant to be the philosophical salon today, Tony had intruded on a much lighter schedule. He wouldn't have expected any of the Young Avengers back home to have this discussion with him, he would have been encouraging them not to worry about it, do their homework and get into a good college. Finally, Tony got up out of his seat, bouncing onto the stage with Cal and searching the area for something else long and pipe-like. "For the big problems like that, you can't take them all on yourself, you've got to trust your back up," he said with a clap to Cal's shoulder. From there, he spotted what could have been a fire iron wedged against a seat near Jon, and gestured for him to investigate and bring it over. "We're looking at this too close, we're in the weeds. Jon's right, unity is the problem. There can't be that many of us here, it's not nearly as monumental a task as it seems-- I've seen a whole football stadium unite in bloodlust for a stupid mascot. We've all already got a shared goal."

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