revivalproject | Surprise! It's Spring

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Surprise! It's Spring

WHO: Everyone?
WHERE: Sudden-Magic-Cherry Blossom Grove/Carnival
WHAT: Spring Merriment
WHEN: End of April
WARNINGS: TBD

[Video]

[There's a video message to greet everyone when they awake. A somewhat tired looking Billy offers a smile and a small wave. He seems to be inside of the caves at the moment, his powers are amplified there.]

Hey, I uh...I kind of arranged something for you guys. If anyone wants to, obviously, um...but I always did this kind of stuff with my parents around this time of year, and I thought it would be fun? I dunno. Check it out. If I missed anything let me know.

It's a bit of a vague message, but there's helpful signage to point any one looking for what he might be talking about, and once they come across it, it's rather hard to miss.

A large clearing has been transformed to a beautiful cherry blossom grove, all in full bloom, petals floating through the air. Feel free to take a stroll, or maybe have yourself a picnic? Billy's helpfully provided a little picnic station near the front with baskets and all sorts of prepared sandwiches, snacks and juice boxes; pack yourself a basket and grab a provided blanket and make an afternoon of it.

Or maybe, if you venture a little further, you'll hear music luring you away to a small carnival not too far from the blossoms. There's booths with games, and prizes including the usual stuffed animals, but also a good deal of Avengers themed toys, like Cap shield frisbees, and inflatable Thor's hammers.

While there's no attendants working anything, it all seems to run itself through magic. There's a teacup ride, a merry go round, and even a small ferris wheel, that's quite the sight all lit up as evening falls. There's a small selection of typical food available, cotton candy, various fried foods and the like, and once it's dark enough, there's even a small fireworks show.

Enjoy yourselves.

[OOC: The carnival and most of the trees will disappear the following day, but any prizes won will remain.]

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The only thing worse than not having a date to the carnival, was not finding a date at the carnival. And the selection was slim on a good day in Temba, but Tony was sure he would be watching the options narrow further as this day went on. The engagement had clearly made Billy a romantic, or that was just a side of him Tony had never had the pleasure of seeing, with the high level of chaos that always seemed to come through the door with the kid back on Earth. It was a commendable effort, wherever the urge had come from--Tony wasn't sure he believed the story about the parents. The fluttering petals of the cherry blossoms were undeniably the atmosphere of amour, that was a particularly crafted detail of this fantasy. That couldn't only be Tony's take, right? And it was a fantasy, it couldn't be avoided. Tony wasn't sure how much he trusted a magical ferris wheel to keep his bones on the inside, as much as he appreciated the imagery.

He had been fashionably late, hoping this party would be in full swing by the time he arrived so he could avoid the host more easily, but looking out over these festival grounds really drove home how sparse this population of what should have been a lively city really was. Running into Billy or any of his friends would have been inevitable and awkward, so Tony kept uncomfortably disengaged, circling the carnival grounds where he could watch a few games without intruding, trying to decide if just being around enough counted as putting in an appearance. As long as someone noticed he was there, he had done his job, right? He slowed to a stop a few feet from an adorably minuscule bumper car ring, the riders safely wrapped up in avoiding being rammed, and instinctively reached for his communicator as though he had anyone to call to look busy. He could fake it, maybe. Knowing that wouldn't fly, he tucked it under his arm to at least have it handy while he plucked a loose cigarette from his pocket, one among a handful stolen from the carton left wordlessly on the desk he had seen Jon claim in the library, after an abysmally used first meeting with the replicator. He would be prepared next time, knowing now that he couldn't ask too much from it at once.

"I wasn't aware you smoke..." The words are spoken testingly, almost guarded. But fitting to the way Jon keeps just outside the range of a regular conversation, one of his hands tucked away awkwardly in one of his pockets.

He also hasn't been aware that Tony had been back to the library at some point. It has been easy enough to convince himself of the opposite. Though this explains the small box he has found only to spend most of the night feeling paranoid and stressing himself out. What remains is the more pressing question of the why. Why would Tony bother...?

Then Jon's hand moves out of his pocket and holds out a plain zippo lighter towards Tony. One of the things he bought back from Risa after finding his restless hands missing the much fancier lighter the Spider sent him. The haptic isn't entirely the same, but it helped ease his boredom on that planet a little.

The question accompanying the offered item is a carefully uncompelling one "Can I offer you a light?"

Jon can count the times he has been at a carnival on one hand. Well, maybe one and a half. His grandmother took him one, maybe twice. He mainly remembers getting into trouble at one of the large lottery booths for vehemently asking questions about winning ratios and getting into an argument with a colorfully dressed man trying to sell tickets. When he was older he let himself be talked into going by some classmates once. That... didn't go well. And at least once he went by himself only to get out for a little while, have a look around and... Well. There were cheaper ways to get drunk.

At any rate, the Archivist has never truly found the appeal of carnivals. But here on Temba it's a nice distraction for at least a few hours.

So Jon can be found wandering the place mostly in silence, maybe picking away on a small bag of roasted nuts or simply staring a little too long at the offered games and rides, mentally cataloguing them before pulling out his recorder and making a few verbal notes to later record a more thorough report on the event.

Though while doing so he just might suddenly turn around and run into you, not too prone to paying attention while busy recording his thoughts. Let's hope you weren't just enjoying some ice cream.

"You can..." Tony welcomed, happy to see that zippo's humble familiarity, deliberately bracing his free arm across his chest to make Jon do the honours as Tony bowed his head. The device he had cobbled together from an old igniter at the forge was still in beta testing anyway. The list of people Tony didn't want to run into was getting unreasonably long for his the size of this population, he realized, but at least this one was circumstantial; if Jon didn't have such bad timing, he would have been glad to provoke him into a teacup he looked like he would almost fit into, and wasn't that wonderfully demeaning? Tony could still have some plausible deniability, though. It wasn't like Jon saw Tony make his delivery, he could still play dumb. Couching the lie in a truth, he explained, "Only when I'm under pressure. Smoke fairy," with a mysterious wiggle of his fingers. Peer pressure wasn't really his issue, but Tony had a myriad of addictive fixations that the Agrii had imposed an abrupt halt to, and after Cayde's innocent wondering about a bar in public, it was looking more and more like the one Tony thought he had under control would be the only release valve. He was going to have to find another one. Pretending like he wasn't aware Jon shared this problem after he turned out to be a man that carried a lighter around, was not going to help sell Tony's story. Only a little reluctantly, he offered another cigarette from his pocket. "I wasn't aware you were allowed out in sunlight." That was a weak dig, Tony's grin admitted it, but Jon was suited to a very different atmosphere.

"Hm." Jon nods simply, then takes a step forward to light Tony's cigarette, adopting a false tone of mystery as he responds to the light, yet not entirely unfamiliar tease without taking his eyes off his task of lighting the cigarette "Only once every seven years the Crypt Keeper is allowed under the sun to watch the Blood Moon rise and mourn the fall of the cherry blossoms while lamenting his own lonesomeness."

Tim sure did enjoy teasing him about how much time he spent at work and a few of his remarks even got bits of amusement out of Jon at times. Better times.

Feeling a little surprised to be offered one, he accepts it with a slight smile and doesn't hesitate before lighting that one as well and taking a drag "Thanks. For me it's pressure, stress, restlessness... Lately even boredom. I hadn't thought I'd fall back this badly after having quit for five years, but then Leitner happened and..." He gives a short gesture with his hand still holding the lighter before shoving it back into his pocket with a short sigh "Being here on this planet... doesn't quite help." It sure does get lonely.

"Have you tried any of the rides?" An innocent, and again uncompelling question. Though Jon can guess the answer. Tony hardly strikes him as someone to be tempted by these rather harmless rides. The man seems to prefer something more... Well. Thrilling.

The setup is unlike anything he's ever seen before. The Jedi weren't known for taking part in such festivities, and even if there had been such events, political circumstances had only ensured that they had their priorities focused elsewhere.

It's unfamiliar territory for Cal, but from what he sees so far, it's absolutely amazing. No, he hasn't any idea how something like this could possibly be done. By reasonable means, there's simply no way any of the structures and food could have been fabricated in so short a time. And yet everything seems real.

"Don't short yourself out, BeeDee," he laughs, as the little droid's taken to doing his own recording of things.

BD-1 seems as excited as if not more so than Cal, skittering off to try scanning things here and there, taking images. Thankfully the carnival grounds aren't full of a crowd one might normally associate with them. Cal himself looks on, distracted watching the little droid enjoy himself that the padawan doesn't notice the potential collision course of a certain Archivist behind him until a second just before Jon turns.

"Oh, sorry about that-"

Having been quite busy with his recorder, Jon hasn't noticed the droid hopping around excitedly nearby and neither does the Padawan's voice register with him right away. Those strangely shaped inflatable toys have required some additional observations on potential cultural or religious meanings.

And just as he clicks off the recorder and makes to put it away, he turns right into another person, resulting in a short, hardly dignified shriek and an Archivist almost jumping a foot back. Almost.

"C-Cal! What are you- I mean-- Of course you are, but-" He forces himself to pause, then starts again "Jesus. I didn't see you there!"

[Video]

Huh! You do all that, kid? That's impressive. And naturally prompts so many questions but really, why spoil a good thing.

Cherry Blossom Grove

The grove's a beautiful sight, although Cayde supposes calling it otherworldly would be inaccurate given technically it is from another world, making its presence here a double entendre.

He's not much for picnicking, but one might find him relaxing under one of the trees, arms folded behind his head as he watches it sprinkle petals every now and then.

Carnival!

The only thing missing here are the crowds. Still, it's a fun atmosphere, and even someone used to run down ruins can enjoy the new and cheery surroundings. The rides are things he's largely only read about or seen in pre-Golden Age videos, so it's something of a treat to see now, although he's not in a hurry to go for a spin.

What really draws him are the games, and it should be of no surprise that he's particularly drawn to the ones that might require more skills in marksmanship. He's definitely got a good eye, whether it be darts or balls thrown, or popping off shots with air rifles.

It doesn't take him long to register who it is, but anything more that Cal would have said is forestalled as Jon stammers over an exclamation. The padawan winces, mostly at the shriek. The Archivist must have really been focused elsewhere.

By then BD-1's heard the commotion and has come rushing back over. He stops beside Cal's foot, giving an inquisitive hoot. Really, sometimes humans are so excitable!

"...hey, Jon," Cal finally offers, deciding a belated greeting is better than nothing. "I didn't actually notice you were there either. Was kind of overwhelmed with everything else." He smiles a bit, glancing around. "I've never been to anything like it before."

For a moment Jon is distracted by BD-1's arrival, but Cal's words easily catch his attention.

"You mean there are no carnivals where you come from?" That's rather baffling to hear for him. At least that bafflement quite effectively distracts from the rather awkward greeting.

Jon looks around for a moment, taking in the comparably small size of the fair.

"I admit it's comparably small, but... We aren't many people in the city anyway, so I suppose it's enough."

"Not that I know of," Cal replies, shaking his head. He stoops down to help BD-1 back up, the little droid opting to stay perched over a shoulder, partially bracing himself against Cal's arm as though anxious he might miss seeing something new.

"Is there a particular occasion for it? How big would it usually be?" Cal can understand the downsizing when there are all but a handful of people here. Still, it's a lot to take in. He's kind of glad it's empty and not as busy as he suspects something like this usually would be, although a few more people wouldn't go amiss.

It's actually nice to see the little droid again. Especially with how curious he seems to be about everything that's going on. It has for a good part been curiosity that lured Jon here as well. A distraction from what they have to deal with on a daily base.

Cal's question earns the younger man a small shrug.

"Several times this size. With bigger rides and more variety among them. More food places also. And hundreds of people squeezing their way around the place. It can admittedly get a little much. I haven't visited an actual carnival myself in years. Though I vividly recall getting terribly ill on a roller coaster." Those are fun memories, indeed.

"The food is quite nice, though."

"Heh. I guess in that case, this is probably a good introduction to carnivals." How a place like this might accommodate more people is something Cal can't imagine, much less something bigger. Then again he's not been to many public functions, and perhaps the most people he's seen in a given place outside of Coruscant's busy higher echelons or the Jedi temple are the clone army that his master had been given charge of.

"The food looks pretty good. Definitely something I want to try." Especially given the limited selection they have on planet. However this all came to be, it can't have been without some cost.

"What's a roller coaster?"

The act of sharing a cigarette to establish a sense of camaraderie in a difficult negotiation was what had started Tony's habit, but he had never seen it work so quickly. Jonathan Sims, joking with Tony instead of giving him dirty looks for the remark? Had Billy crafted the guests here as well? Tony's surprised laugh at Jon playing along with him was skeptical, but if this was a weird magic trick or Jon trying to get something out of him, Tony was happy to play along for now.

"Oh, sorry, I..." It wasn't like Tony could take it back now, but for a second he was very worried that the gesture at the library had just been an act of cruelty and now he couldn't say anything. Maybe it wasn't him, maybe he was overthinking it, Jon did suggest another trigger. It was a good thing Tony had something to do with his mouth, taking his time with a long drag that almost made him cough at the suggestion of the indignity of the carnival rides. He gave his answer with a dismissive flick of his wrist, confirming in the motion Jon's suspicions. These weren't really his speed, he didn't see a good reason to hit up the merry-go-round at his age. "I might try some of the games, I can get into that," he did admit.

With a deep breath of fresh air and no better segue, he offered, "I've been sober for just over three years now, just got my chip, you know, before this, actually." His smile was an unusual one for him, lacking any crookedness or boastful pride, deliberately crafted in the same way that Jon's questions were deliberately uncompelling; Jon could take that information how he wanted it, Tony had his own peace with it. "Not for nothing, five years is a long time. If I make it to five, I might have a drink to celebrate." That might not have been a joke that played as well outside of a meeting, but Tony's regular wry grin returned. "I've fallen off the wagon because a girl didn't like me, though, is what I mean to say, so whoever Leitner is, or being kidnapped by aliens, if that's what did it for you, sweetheart, that's a steady journey you're on. Cheers."

[Billy gives a bashful sort of shrug.]

Just try to have fun.

That's the plan!

The dirty looks can well still happen, but for now Jon is very fine with just sharing a piece of amusement he had no qualms getting behind himself. And the laugh was a welcome change from the usually a little cruel smirk Tony likes to cast his way. It's that same vein that has him refrain from requesting of Tony to drop the nickname in this very instance. The fact that Tony still even bothers with them at least makes it feel as if he still cares enough to try and get a reaction out of the Archivist.

He can have that reaction later. Maybe over some silly carnival games Jon already knows himself to be terrible at.

"Jurgen Leitner." Jon gives the full name and takes another drag from his cigarette, his eyes shifting over to the little bumper cars "I have cursed the man since I was a child. Convinced he is responsible for all the evil in the world. And in the end... He was nothing but a librarian and a fool, believing he could collect and trap all those books filled with sinister magic." A little sigh escapes the Archivist and he turns his eyes back to Tony "He was the first to tell me about the fears. That the place I work for is nothing more than a temple built for one of them. That every employee of the Magnus Institute unknowingly serves and feeds an evil god bend on reshaping the world to its liking. He told me that I belong to the Eye - That's when I needed some air. And a smoke."

There is another pause and again Jon's eyes shift away, this time to the cigarette between his fingers "When I returned, he was lying on my desk. His head bludgeoned to a pulp with a pipe and blood dripping everywhere. It only kept getting worse from there. Wanted by the police for murder, chased by monsters that wanted me dead, my boss kindly informing us all that our lives are tied to the Institute and expecting of me to figure out on my own what it means to be The Archivist in whatever this... Competition among the Fears is even meant to be. Being worried about what a cigarette might do to my lungs very easily became the least of my problems."

He knows it's a lot, and Jon is giving Tony the time the man may need to process all these information while Jon's eyes are back on the man. Of course there is a certain risk with laying these things out in the open, but Tony already knows what he is and hasn't called for a hunt on his head and Jon will give him that credit. It also would be nice to be able to trust someone again. To some degree.

"Oh, they... Go fast." Jon answers the question, making a sort-of wave-y motion with his hand, even including a little loop "And sometimes they go upside-down. I don't recommend them after overindulging in alcohol, to be honest." But he was young, bored and no less recklessly curious than these days.

"The rides on this one are harmless - Unless you fall off the wheel, that is. The prices seem to be of the appropriately cheap quality, at least?" Not that he is too interested in trying his hands at any of the games. Or the rides.

"There must be something at least similar that people in your world do for fun, though. It might just not be part of being trained to be a Jedi." Or getting entangled in a war.

BD-1 watches Jon's movement intently as the man explains, perking before hooting excitedly at Cal, who grimaces just a little. "Yeah, that does sound a little like our experience with the gorgara," he laughs.

There's just something to the way the droid seems to be staring that translates plenty with him saying anything. Again Cal can't help but laugh. "All right, fine, we'll try the rides later," he promises, earning a happy litany of beeps.

He glances at Jon again, smiling wryly. "I'm sure there probably is. Just not anywhere I've been, not that I've been to many places before...everything happened. You're right though. Definitely part of Jedi training."

Jon raises a brow "Gorgara? That... Sounds like a name." And does he really want to know what sort of person one would find themselves being reminded of at the vague description of a roller coaster? In a way, yes. He does. In another... Probably not so much.

At least BD seems excited about the rides? Which makes sense. The little droid does in many ways remind Jon of an eager child.

"I feel like BD-1 will like the ferris wheel. He will get a nice view from up there."

"It's the name of a creature we ran into on Dathomir. Its wingspan could probably cover most of the area of the carnival."

At Jon's suggestion, the droid's already looking from Cal's shoulder to see which ride the Archivist is talking about. He hops a bit as he spies the biggest thing that can be seen above the rest of the structures, tweedling eagerly as he looks back at Cal and Jon.

"That's the one, right?" Cal asks as he follows BD-1's glance before looking back at Jon as well.

"And Dathomir is a place." Has to be. Jon casts a short look from one end of the carnival to the other to get an idea of the size of this creature. The result is a rather wary expression.

"I don't think I want to encounter this creature. But yes, the big wheel over there. That's the one."

And while it's not exactly massive, it serves its purpose.

Cal nods. "It was the last place we were before we got here."

He can't blame Jon's look in the slightest. The Gorgara hadn't exactly been a pleasant encounter and he's just glad that they'd managed to come out of it alive and in one piece.

Turning his attention to the ferris wheel again, Cal nods. It certainly seems tamer than anything going in loop-de-loops. "So all it does is go around like that?" He glances at Jon and grins a bit. "Let's go try it out."

There hadn't been any manipulation, stealing or lying to get any of that information out of Jon, he just offered it freely-- not just the answer to the question Tony had only suggested, but a whole web of context that had Tony not quite meeting his eye when Jon had gotten it off his chest. For a moment, he stared at the scar on Jon's neck, uniquely grizzly, not the kind of wound that usually had the chance to scar over and then casually suggest it was either inflicted by evil god monsters controlling your entire life, or a desperate attempt to escape them. It was the kind of story that usually had Tony offering a room at the Mansion. It clearly wasn't offered to elicit some kind of sympathy from Tony, but he didn't know where else to put the information, more of it was relatable than all of the magic elements suggested it should have been; on the run for a murder he didn't commit, hunted by a single-minded monster, fighting for control over his own life from an entity that saw him as a tool of destruction. Avenger stuff. So when Tony did finally move it was to curiously brush that scar with the back of his hand, then squeeze Jon's shoulder. He had reduced his own struggle to 'a girl didn't like me', his emotional communication was better off non-verbal.

"Did you figure it out?" he asked, knowing this story did not have a happy end from the state of Jon. But if where he had left his life back home could say anything about why he was here on this planet, now seemed like a good time to get him to talk about it.

Jon doesn't move away from the light touch to his neck and his eyes rest on that hand for a few quiet moments as it sits on his shoulder. A silent, reassuring weight. Not necessarily a gesture he would have expected from Tony, that much Jon will admit to himself.

The man's question pulls Jon's eyes back upward again and he gives a one-sided shrug.

"I'm not sure. But I- I feel I am still missing something. At the same time I feel like I am running out of time. I already lost two of my assistants to the Stranger - The fear of the unknown. One willingly blinded herself to escape the Institute and the other is slowly drifting away into the Lonely and... Despite everything I'm not sure if I will be strong enough to get him out of there should that happen. Getting out of the Buried was- Luck? I think? Christ, I was in that dreadful casket for three weeks. Unable to move or breathe and when I tried to feel my rib- It's... It's terrifying to learn that you have willingly crawled off into a place that only exists outside of reality. Being physically dead for half a year didn't feel half as long. At least I had the nightmares..."

It's a lot, and Jon is well aware of that. Especially as it's a lot he hasn't had a chance to talk about to anyone really. If anything, he has been feeling lonely even before being pulled here. He sighs heavily.

"I... I feel that I'm important somehow. That The Archivist is important to the Eye and it... It needs me. Somehow. But no one tells me anything. Like everyone but me received the script for this play and I am the only one wandering around clueless, merely avoiding to get killed by monsters, other avatars or whatever hunter decides to show up in the Archives."

All that said, Jon falls silent for another few moments, then gives a short, sound- and humorless laugh. Little more than a short motion of his head and shoulders "Tony, I... I'm sorry for unloading all this on you. It's all a mess and I hardly understand any of it. I just- I wish I could still sleep. But I'm hardly even human enough anymore for that."

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Surprise! It's Spring

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Cayde-6 // [Video to Billy] and OTA

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[Video]

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