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

Those little ambulators were lovely pieces of machinery, complex systems to balance how topheavy this droid was and still be able to climb confidently. The wires seemed to be for some kind of interface, maybe for what he meant when he said 'slicing', but more notably, this foot wasn't all one original piece. "He's taking good care of you, hm?" Tony murmured, assuming the mechanic's skills must have been more useful than putting replicators back together. Whatever BD-1 had to say about the crystal did not register, though, and Tony gave a helpless shrug, not sure how to translate two languages at once without some kind of rosetta stone. "Does it generate energy, something like vibranium?" he asked, hoping if they shared most minerals, this one was among them and they weren't just trading phrases neither of them understood. Tony didn't wait for an answer, though, because Cal was squaring up and Tony had to point out, "Oh, this is the good part," to the droid, stretching his legs out to cross at the ankle and propping himself up on his hands.

The little droid beeps an affirmative. Cal had fixed his busted scomp link and given him useful upgrades, and BD-1 tells Tony as much. The query about energy and the kyber crystal gets an uncertain hoot, followed by a question as vibranium's a new thing to him.

BD-1 spins about as Tony makes himself comfortable and points out that things are about to be stepped up between Cal and Jon.

Jon's response prompts a bit more of a smile and an encouraging nod. Cal had thought he might decline, after all. Looks like the Archivist has gained more confidence in the whole exercise. It's a distinct change from how the man had been acting earlier. He grins briefly in Tony and BD-1's direction.

"Yeah. I'll hold it up for you to hit. I might move it a little, but I won't be striking back. For now, just think of it as a target," he suggests, getting a firmer grip on the pipe as he holds it outward, a default at-ready stance.

Jon takes a moment to cast Tony a look himself, but is quick to turn back to Cal as the Padawan assumes his own stance, then proceeds to do so himself, readjusting his own two-handed hold on the weapon currently in his possession.

"That doesn't sound too hard." He confirms the instruction, then lifts the fire iron for his first swing - And it hits with a metallic clang.

Cal may note a certain lack of force in the impact, but that is plain the Archivist's very own lack of actual strength. Most of the force in these hits stems from the swing itself and the weight of the iron. But he has been told to hit the target, and so he will.

"Now, look," Tony started his commentary for BD-1, one hand up to point between his subjects as he casted in a controlled whisper like he sat green-side at a game of golf. They would get back to the vibranium and the crystals. "Cal's been training his whole life for this match, he's confident, look at that smile. Some might say cocky, you've got to look out for that attitude, its been the downfall of many a...Jedi...Sword-fight...Man," Tony stumbled, he was going to have to workshop the name of this sport, but pressed on bombastically, "does he have the skills to back it up? Jon is a newcomer to the ring, a fresh-faced fighter, obviously in the prime of his youth, just recently graduating from the amateur league, an absolute unknown on the field and isn't that exciting for all of us today, here, at the Jedi-Sword-Man Ampitheatre? If I were you, I'd let it all ride on Mr. Sims because the payout is bound to be massive. And here comes the first swing!...And it hits, it does make contact, the audience is on the edge of their seats."

The little droid glances at Tony and then back at the two, his head tilting from one side to the other as the man takes on the part of an announcer. Tony's words are more exciting than what's actually going on that BD-1 figures the poor guy's just that bored.

Cal's not feeling cocky so much as relieved that all the heaviness of concerns with weapons have been put behind them for the moment. He bobs his head in a nod as Jon's iron connects, not nearly as forceful as he'd expected after seeing the intent of the Archivist's earlier swings.

"Keep at it," he encourages, keeping the pipe where it is so Jon can at least get a feel for hitting something solid before Cal switches up the position of his makeshift weapon.

Well, hitting a metal pipe sure is different than hitting your imaginary boss. Jon still puts more intensity into his hits once he has gotten a feeling for- Well. Hitting a metal pipe with a fire iron.

Once or twice his mind does drift off, though. Back down into the tunnels below the Archives. Back to being chased by the Not Them. Back to trying to convince himself he could do any damage to anything with a metal pipe he could hardly carry. And it's that thought along with the frustration it brings along that results in a notably stronger strike from the Archivist, the noise of metal meeting metal louder and sharper.

Tony's commentary? Not truly registering for Jon at the moment. Not while he's beginning to focus on striking actual monsters.

The things Tony did because he was bored were far more self-destructive, but the lack of reaction in the room certainly wasn't what he was hoping for and BD-1 might have been dangerously close to witnessed Tony at bored. He continued, "The standing champion is on the defense early. We'll have to see if this is a ploy to get Jon to let his guard down, or the new kid has really got him backed against the ropes. He's really taking those hits! It's a slaughter! Can he recover from this or are we finally going to see our champ go down-- Ooh!" With that last hit, Tony's voice changed, abandoning his sotto voce commentary to directly address the combatants of his play, "You alright, Cal?" It wasn't really a question about Cal's ability to manage Jon's clumsy swings.

Beside Tony, BD-1 flinches with the sharp sounds accompanying Jon's attacks. Didn't know the guy had it in him! As Tony continues to babble on, the little droid looks him over before attempting to clamber on up and onto his shoulder, as though that new perch will provide him with a better view of things.

The padawan can feel the strikes as they gradually grow more intense, more sure. Whatever Jon's thoughts have drifted off to, it doesn't seem pleasant. There's that underlying sense of frustration.

Cal takes a step back as the strikes continue to ring out, shifting his foot, the angle of the pipe. A better position to absorb the mounting force issued with each swing of Jon's fire iron.

"I'm fine-" he manages between the ringing of metal, his eyes not leaving the Archivist. Letting his own attention slip would be dangerous, and while earlier he'd been amused at the man's focus and ability for a simple change of mindset, he's now cautious about making sure Jon doesn't accidentally hurt anyone, himself included.

The changeling is the first being Jon's mind sets as his target. He still remembers that creature well. The one that took Sasha then took her place and it still infuriates him that it simply erased any memory of his actual assistant and that all that is left of the actual Sasha are the few recordings of her voice on some of his tapes. Tapes that the powers of the monster couldn't alter despite how easily it replaced Sasha everywhere else.

Prentiss makes another worthwhile target. The image of her hole-riddled body still so vividly burned into Jon's mind from her attack on the Archive. Then there are the hunters. Who still pose a threat, and it's unlikely that Jon would be able to take either of them on himself, but right there and then it feels good to drive some iron against their skills. Of course Elias shows up again, if only because Jon has never met Peter and Elias is well enough to blame for whatever the avatar of the Lonely is dragging Martin into. Trying to attack the ever winding corridors isn't half as satisfying.

But then there is the mannequin, of course. A voice that makes Jon glad he doesn't sleep anymore. And for not having dreams of his own any longer should he try. Wandering the nightmares is preferable to reliving the Unknowing. Nikola has cost him a lot. And for all she has taken and caused, she deserves every harsh and every imperfect hit. Every swing that shatters plastic and bones and tears through leather and stolen skin.

Outside of his own mindscape, the Archivist has worked himself into a bit of a frenzy, beating down on that target before him with an intensity that matches his glare, but not quite the lack of actual breathing.

The look on Jon's face was a familiar one. Not only had Tony been in something like Cal's position enough times to know when Tony Stark was the symbol of all of the ills of the world for a desperate guy in a stilt-suit he had rigged himself in a basement, but he had seen friends and team members like Steve enter a similar fugue state after a tough loss and pour all of that aggression into the nearest punching bag. It wasn't any more healthy than finding the bottom of a bottle.

With his gaze darting between the two other men, Tony had barely dipped his shoulder to help BD-1 find a place, bringing a hand up to hold over his feet and impart at least some of the thrill that trust had given him, under the circumstances. It might have been misplaced, though, because Tony was shortly on his feet, trying to catch Cal's eye, knowing full well that this would have been the worse move if Jon had been someone with the brute strength or stubborn temper of Steve, but not about to let Cal suffer the full brunt of this when he knew he could easily pin Jon if he had to, and grow back a finger if it came to it. "Oo-oh-kay," Tony concluded for them, making his move just as Jon made another feral swing and shot out to halt the more laborious upswing with a hand spread over the tense knot of Jon's wrists, just a little pressure to make lifting the iron that much more difficult, then followed his arms up to bar his across Jon's chest, holding him back from Cal and patting his far shoulder to bring him back to the present. "An impressive display from the new kid," he played off for them so no one had to feel self-conscious. "That's one for the record books, folks, incredible sportsmanship."

Whatever's going through Jon's mind, Cal only feels the growing emotions. The Archivist has been holding back a lot, he realizes, and what was meant to be a simple exercise of stress relief, maybe a little introduction into swordplay, has turned into pure venting of aggression.

Cal's changed his stance completely, remaining completely on the defensive as he meets each blow now, purposely blocking each wild, desperate swing by Jon's fire iron. That the man's so bent on trying to strike something, or maybe someone gives no real thought to tactics, thankfully, but on the other hand his giving into his emotions like this makes him all the more unpredictable for where he might aim.

He steals but a glance in Tony's direction, all at once getting an idea of what the man intends to do and knowing somehow that despite his headshake Tony would make his move anyway. Drawing in a sharp breath between his teeth, Cal prepares to reach through the Force if he has to.

On Tony's shoulder, BD-1 clings to his shirt, hunkering down a little once the man gets to his feet and moves to intervene. The droid squeals, slipping back behind Tony so he won't be in the way when the man interposes himself to stop Jon.

The Archivist for his part is too wound up mentally beating a cackling woman made of wax that he is entirely oblivious to the man approaching his back. So when his last swing is being halted before he can even bring up up, Jon pauses - And finds himself being pulled back from his intended forward-movement. Not harshly by any means, given that Jon's movements are rather blocked than anything else as he is being trapped between an arm and the owner of said arm.

It's a rather effective trap for the Archivist, though.

Reality comes crumbling back around him as the pat on his shoulder draws Jon's attention and that oh-so-familiar voice finally makes itself be heard pretty much right above his own ear, sending a shiver down his spine with its closeness. He tries not to shudder even though the words make little sense to him at this point. Though he does look down at Tony's hand against his own shoulder and the man's arm across his chest and he can feel the warmth of a body behind him and that's about when he finally picks up the fear.

It's not exactly fear in the sense of someone fearing for their life. It's more of a worry. The creeping sense that something isn't right, one aspect of I Do Not Know You - The Stranger. Fear of the unknown.

And looking up from Tony's hand and arm, Jon can see it clearly around Cal, directed at him.

And it feels right.

"...Jesus."

That's all the Archivist mutters as he lets go of the fire iron and the makeshift training weapon clatters loudly to the floor while Jon takes an instinctive step backwards. Or tries to do so, at least. Tony is still right behind him after all, meaning that Jon plain backs right into the taller man and tenses up instantly at the realization that, yes. He is indeed trapped.

Is he about to panic? Of course he is.

"That was fun, huh?" It's a question directed at Cal again, but the hard line of Tony's mouth didn't say fun and the quirk of his brow pressed a very different question. Cal was in a better position to read Jon's expression now, and while Tony could tell how tightly wound he was, he had no idea where that pressure might release and isn't eager to pull his steadying arm back without Cal's signal.

Cal lowers his pipe, still cautious, but grateful that Tony's intervention proves to work, and seeing Jon finally come to his senses is an additional relief. It's the hint of what will follow that keeps the padawan on edge.

He looks at Tony, understanding the implications, his eyes flicking back towards Jon as he slowly stoops down to set the pipe down on the ground rather than let it drop and create more of a ruckus. Then slowly, he approaches the two, directing a nod at Tony to let Jon go.

"It's...it's okay. You're okay. It's just us," he says, softly in attempts to calm the Archivist, even as he tries to modulate his own pulse and breathing from the abrupt exertion.

It's hard for Jon to ignore the fear. His eyes find Cal when the Padawan moves and the caution he sees... That's not a good sign. And while Tony's voice just remains too close to his ear as to not have the hair in his neck stand on edge, Jon finds himself paying more attention to Cal. His voice, words, the way he moves...

All too cautious.

It's then that the Archivist finally starts breathing again. Or rather: He takes one deep breathe to have air in his lungs to slowly exhale through his teeth while clenching them into a bit of a grimace that is a mix of irritation and his very own fear. One of his hands comes up for him to lightly place it around Tony's wrist, not really trying to remove the hand but more a wordless sign on his own.

"You know I'm- I'm not some wild animal, right?"

Coherence. Just letting them know he has it.

It might not have been a great idea for Cal to approach, Tony had no way of knowing if Cal had been part of Jon's trigger mechanism, but with a signal from both of them he had no good reason to keep hovering over Jon. Cal knew what he was doing, right? BD-1 was pretty clear (insistently clear, it was Tony that was having a hard time keeping up) that Cal would have every reason and experience to be keyed in to someone's intentions. Reluctantly, lingering enough to give Jon's heart a grounding press of his palm as it passed, Tony withdrew his arm and stepped away enough that he was confident he wasn't putting BD directly into any fray as he twisted and tried to coax him to come on out under Tony's arm, where Tony could hold him up to see that Cal was doing okay. "Yeah, well, you smell like one, boss," he said, which could have easily just been light teasing for the sweat he had worked up just swinging a fire iron for a few minutes, but something wild had been evident to a few more senses in the room.

BD-1 maneuvers around clinging to Tony's shirt, lacking in the extra layers and protective gear that Cal has to provide him a better grip. He hoots inquiringly as he makes his way back up Tony's shoulder, checking if things are okay now.

Cal grimaces a little at Jon's response, but it serves to allow him to shed the rest of his own tension with a shrug as he lowers his hand. Getting a response at all is a good thing.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way. Just that...you were...somewhere else, earlier." Or some-when. He not quite winces at Tony's own remark, but the twitch of a somewhat lopsided, albeit faint smile tries its best to stick in place.

"You all right?" he asks Jon. "Got a little carried away there. I think that's why we're not usually encouraged to put faces to targets."

While it's good to be released again - and Jon does take notice of the almost soothing increase of pressure of Tony's hand over his heart - the Archivist does turn halfway around to give the other man a quick, feisty retort for his comment. Though he gets interrupted by Cal's apology and swallows his remark, looking over to the Padawan.

"No- Please. Don't apologize. I-" A pause, then a resigning sigh.

"I am sorry. Goodness. I just... This was a mistake. I'm sorry." During the last part, Jon has effectively turned his attention away from the other two. So much for not feeling self-conscious.

"I... Will go back to the library. Getting some work done." The library, yes. Not the hospital. Because the chance to meet another person there are significantly lower.

Tony didn't have a good answer for the droid, so he offered a cautious shrug while he didn't think he had Jon's attention, but that was something of a mistake-- that look Jon shot him clearly said he was not interested in pursuing Tony's oblique suggestion to address what just happened. That was fine, Tony wasn't going to approach it any more directly; as far as he knew, this was an unhealthy coping mechanism, not the start of a downward spiral, and Tony definitely was not the guy to try to talk anyone through their psychological problems. He had his own suggestions, but AA steps didn't apply in every situation. His next signal to Cal was palms out, fingers spread, telling him Tony was disengaging. If Cal was pursuing it, he was on his own. "Great, we're all apologizing, powerful stuff," Tony said, hoping that would put an end to that behaviour and they both realized it was ridiculous for either of them to have gone there.

He doesn't directly look a Tony but he does catch the man's gesture out of his peripheral. Distancing from the situation isn't a bad idea at all. Cal just doesn't want to do so too abruptly. It's only when Tony speaks up that he does glance at the man, his head canting in the subtlest of a nod in acknowledgment of the unspoken.

"Hey. We're all good. Okay?" Cal tries to meet Jon's gaze as he speaks. "Anyway, it was something." It wasn't quite the workout he'd expected to get out, but he's not sure it helped the Archivist get over any qualms about knowing how to arm himself.

Slowly the padawan offers a nod as Jon volunteers to return to the library. "If you want," he says, not wanting to outright stop the man, but wanting to leave the option there so he'd know he's still welcome company. But if Jon wants to retreat, Cal can understand the need for some space.

As much as he likes to admit it, but Tony is right. Maybe not in his literal spoken words, but the underlying message carried within the tone. This sort of behavior is exactly what got Tim killed. It's this entire refusal to talk about stuff that Jon himself has been trying to press Martin to leave behind. To stop drifting away into the distance and talk to those that care.

And now it's him doing that very same thing.

Jon shakes his head, only half daring to look at the Padawan.

"No, Cal. It's not good. It's not okay. He's right, you know?" He gestures towards Tony. "He's right! I talk about hoping for there to be an us and now I just want to run and hide and- Shit." A rare expletive for the Archivist and it's then that he fully looks up to Cal again "I tried to split your skull with a fire iron! Yes, realistically I wouldn't have succeeded, but I still tried! And that's not okay. If it weren't you or if Tony weren't around - The thought alone scares me!"

As much as Tony liked to hear about how right he was, it felt so accusatory from Jon that Tony looked between him and Cal with a wide-eyed shake of his head, trying to figure out if he should defend himself somehow from this outrageous defamation. That was an interesting interpretation of 'us' that Tony hadn't really factored in to the social health of Temba; he had meant more of a shared moral compass, a general agreement on boundaries and goals and how to manage elements working against those, not emotional openness. If that was the credit Jon was trying to bestow on him, maybe he really should have been defending himself.

From what Tony could tell, Jon wasn't any more in control of what was happening now than he had been over his practice sword, but those wild swings sure did connect-- just like Tony couldn't very well slink away from this conversation now that running and hiding was explicitly in the 'shit' territory. He was going to have to take some more cues from Cal here, because the kid had had proven so far to be overwhelmingly both nice and gentle, much more qualified for the job. Tony went for a more familiar physical tactic and slid an arm over Jon's shoulders again, a mirror of the cautionary hold he had over him before, leaning his weight carelessly into Jon to force him out of his head. "What d'you think?" he said to Cal, the victim deserving of reparations, "We send him to the brig?"

As much as he might agree with Jon, with the sentiments silently echoed by Tony, Cal doesn't say as much. For a while, he doesn't say anything, letting the Archivist do the talking. At least Jon can admit to things. It doesn't mean a quick fix, but there are never quick fixes to anything like this.

Although he doesn't mean to be, it seems like he's been made out to be the mediator in all of this. It's a Jedi role if ever there was one, and while he doesn't necessarily think these things, it comes naturally for all that he's never actively played the part. Looking at Tony, the flicker of a half-smile appears in appreciation of having an offset to the heavy emotion rolling off of Jon and the wake of his words.

"If it weren't for me or Tony, you wouldn't have been pushed into the position you were in. We're to blame as much as anyone, but rather than point fingers or claim faults, we can all say we had no idea what would have happened. But right now, we're past that point. What's happened has happened. So..."

He trails off, feeling that knot in his gut. This is wrong. He shakes his head. "I'm..." His brow furrows as he looks aside. "...I'm hardly the person to be suggesting what should be done, not without being hypocritical." He can't say to move on, he can't say to accept and learn, not when he hasn't.

That sudden weight leaning on him? Certainly distracting. Especially combined with that nonsensical question.

It was a nonsensical question, right?

At any rate, Jon is trying to focus on Cal's words and for a moment he wants to argue that something like this might have been happened under somewhat different circumstances with different parties involved as well and- and- and....

Okay, Tony. You're getting heavy. And sorry, Cal, but it's hard to think while slowly being pushed to the ground. Jon will have to put this entire argument on hold to deal with a literally more pressing matter. Which means to direct a simple, pointedly non-compelling question at Tony.

"...d-didn't you have your share of physical contact for today?"

Tony didn't mean to imply that anything should be done, just put Jon's crisis into perspective, so he doesn't know what to with with Cal's vague allusion. Did Cal mean to tell them that he had bashed some kid's head in with a piece of metal, too? He didn't come off as the type to Tony, but he had seen some real transformations in his life.

Cal is briefly rescued from Tony's probing by Jon's ever reliable grace under pressure, earning him a dangerous smirk. Tony had no idea where Jon could have got that idea, unless he was feeling more sore about how Tony had intervened than he had let on, because Tony answered quite honestly, "Are you kidding?" and dragged Jon up closer to purr into his ear, "I'm starving." That would keep him occupied for a little while. Tony did him the favour of shifting his weight back, but he was going to have to suffer the indignity of trying to escape Tony's arm if he could face it, because the tactic had proven fruitful. Very casually, Tony's attention went back to Cal, "You can't just say things and expect me to let them go. Is this coming from the same place as that ambiguous stance on letting people arm themselves?" He seemed to have a firmer opinion in this case.

Log // Catch-All for April - OTA

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