revivalproject | ruminate

WHO: Tony, Eli and anyone hungry.
WHERE: Vanto's Diner
WHAT: A regular meeting of a breakfast club, and some investigative interviews to build a database of the city
WHEN: Most mornings for a while, if Tony remembers to emerge from his mad lab
WARNINGS: Tony.
YOU KNOW I HAVE NOTES: If you want to have an interview with specifically Tony, Jon or both of them, just make that clear somewhere in your tag, don't stand on ceremony. If you're coming to breakfast, do threadjack.

for Eli
Food in general had been a series of continuously upsetting discoveries since Tony's arrival, everything native entirely new and having either an unexpected flavour profile, a very wrong texture, or turning out to be highly combustible. The latter had made him frustratingly skittish about even trying something else new, reducing his options even further, until he was sure it didn't come with adverse side effects like a total alcoholic relapse. Some gassiness he could deal with; he didn't know if he could handle an entire break from reality right now, that already felt on edge with his reality so inscrutably distant. While he hadn't ever been great about his eating habits, this situation was a test. His patience was already questionable, and he was starting to lose focus. The forge was difficult enough to run on his own, if he started losing more mass the work would slow to a crawl.

Most importantly, he hadn't had a cup of coffee in a brutal lifetime and a hit of caffeine would really solve all of his problems. His most reliable company in Temba weren't really big eaters, if that was something, but he didn't have to ask around; the little sign in the window declaring 'Vanto's Diner' had been a consistent enough curiosity every time Tony had to cross through the centre of town. If anyone could offer Tony some relief, it had to be the Vanto of the diner, which this desperate morning Tony was imagining had to be one of those retro type, vinyl boothed, checker floored staples where a waitress had a pot of coffee in either hand at all times. He could practically smell it. He wasn't exactly disappointed that it clearly wasn't when he had dragged himself all the way up from the forge, but he still closed his eyes and sniffed the air as he stepped inside, sad to see the fantasy go. It was dark, the long night not quite subdued yet by the rising sun, and the scattered tables were empty when Tony allowed himself to accept the reality and look around, but the one promise the sign lived up to was that this place didn't seem as abandoned as the rest of the city. "Hello?" Tony tried, wandering further into the room, wondering if this was a self-serve situation, and offered to the space, "You should maybe get a bell, something, liven the place up..."

the breakfast special
It got lively in Eli's diner by mid-morning. It was one of the few communal spaces established in the city, and with the population so small and spread across the crumbling area, it had to be a natural contact point for even the most reclusive residents when the cabin fever, as it were, set in. The one thing they all confidently had in common was that fountain outside. Everything else, how or if they settled in this city and what they did with their time, what planet they were from, what time period, what species, were all barriers between them that the fountain flowed through. Tony didn't have a lot of faith in Eli's branding or business plan otherwise, but the location was an undeniable spark of genius.

He wound his way through the diner back to the table that had been claimed while he waited for their meals, balancing several plates from Eli that rattled ominously as he tried to carefully lift them over other people's heads, but couldn't confidently tell anyone what was on any of them. "Which one of us got the...blue, herby experiment? I've got a kind of orange porridge concoction. And this looks a lot like a tea biscuit, which, honestly, I'm threatened by," he announced as he arrived, ready to dole out however a meal was claimed; he had faith he could eat what remained, if anything.

take a seat
The video shared to the Net Work had been short, with Tony looking off screen with a question in his expression directed toward someone who seemed to be with him when he didn't seem sure how to construct his message. "Listen, this isn't working, we're all over the place," he had started, commiserating with the camera with what must have been a shared frustration with their situation. "Every day someone tells me something about this planet like it's common knowledge, like I'm supposed to know that if I turn three times in place clockwise at sunset, I'll summon Billy for fashion advice. When do you think I figured that one out, what was I supposed to be doing to make that breakthrough?...Okay, sorry, here it is, we're going to make a database, we want to start figuring this stuff out and sharing it, so there's a record in the library. We could use your help, everyone has figured something out or has seen something interesting that is worth looking into, and maybe together we can get a better idea of what we're working with, properly distribute the resources, that kind of thing...If you've got a minute, we'll be at Vanto's, it'll be super casual, no commitments, just the dirty parts. Must be good on camera, bring a headshot."

Video wasn't actually part of the recording process, but it was slightly imposing. Jon's tape recorder alone set a certain mood that Tony wasn't getting used to, but he brought with him to arrange on the table a small globe, not entirely unlike the data point outside the diner, that glowed faintly and connected by a myriad of wires to the exposed hardware of his communication device cracked open in front of him. He wasn't great at waiting without someone sitting with him, so if he was meant to be alone the globe pulsed ominously, abandoned on the table, while he flitted around the room or disappeared into Eli's kitchen to assess his hardware with a general impatient disappointment until he had a quick solution to a small problem that he thought he could get away with. With the Archivist, Tony lounged more easily, draped across his seat and nursing a drink, working out his impatience by obviously needling Jon and getting him just on the edge of snapping at Tony for the leading questions, trying to find new buttons to push with a taunting grin he wasn't even hiding.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Christ..." Jon mutters at the sight of the small, yet obviously very useful device. What is it with everyone wandering off to potentially dangerous places? Is he the only one that worries about possible dangers? Or is this the sort of behavior that is expected of him and he should toss all caution aside and just wander into the next likely death trap without telling anyone?

...because that certainly would work out well.

Jon swallows those thoughts and looks back up at Cal "So... D- did you find anything?"

While Jon was contemplating a watery death, Tony eagerly leaned over the table, eyebrows raised curiously to admire the equipment. He had never seen anything like it that compact, it must have been incredibly efficient. "Can you make more?" Tony was already asking with a grin while Jon stuttered through his anxious question. Or that, Tony could concede, maybe hold off on a group outing until they knew there was something down there worth exploring.

One day Jon, Cal would have to regale you on the many hazards of working as a rigger crew for the scrapper guild. Dangling hundreds of feet in the air, running across rickety catwalks and having arm-day everyday. Diving underwater was by far much tamer, so long as there wasn't anything huge and hungry living there.

But it wasn't like he meant to worry Jon on purpose. For Cal, risks were just a part of everyday life. Not that his life was by far a normal one. He smothered a grin as he sensed Jon's uneasiness, but still maintained a casual smile. "There were buildings in the area before whatever happened to flood the place. I haven't explored any of them yet, just had a look at what was around. I don't think anything lives down there except plants, so far as we were able to tell."

The padawan passed the rebreather over to Tony. "Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. BeeDee has the specs for it. We just feed it into the replicator."

Risks may be part of Jon's life as well these days, but on most days he doesn't actively seek them out? Which doesn't mean he tends to wander into danger fearlessly. But that's besides the point.

"H-how deep does it go...?" He decides to ask, bringing up a mental picture of the area now playing home to said lake. Has the ground beneath the buildings given in and caused them all to drop to allow for the lake to form? If there are even more tunnels down there than the one Tony and Cayde had discovered, that isn't too impossible to imagine.

Closing his eyes and tapping a single finger lightly on the surface of the table, Jon adds "Also before we go down there, I needd to use the replicator myself."

Tony hadn't realized what conversation they were having, clearly. He had gladly taken the rebreather to twist in his hands, trying to quickly evaluate the components and if he could reproduce it himself without wasting a good coffee or condom charge from the replicator, only to be dragged away from it and Cal's Atlantis to stare at Jon and parrot, "We?" Without the preamble, Tony would have assumed Jon needed the replicator for a nice plant for his desk, maybe a new set of pencils to push. He was here recording the discoveries, not signing up for them.

"Deep enough to submerge buildings," Cal replied with a wry smile. "I'm not sure if the ground's sunk in or if things were just built on a lower level before whatever happened to flood the area."

He blinked as like Tony he caught onto that bit of detail spoken then, brows arching. Given the concerns Jon had, it was a surprise that he'd possibly include himself in any submerged explorations. Then again, perhaps this was one of those things he needed to 'know', as with walking headlong into the storm.

Of course both of them would look at him as if he had just sprouted a second head, to which Jon gives a mildly irritated glare that lasts for a second before he opts to pick up the mug before him and pointedly take a sip of his tea, prompting both of them with a few words "Speak your mind."

There's a promise here that he will listen - With an underlying guarantee that he will not guarantee that he won't be sharing his mind in turn.

That was a dangerous invitation. With a wary lip raised, Tony looked to Cal first, tying to communicate to him that they were going to need a plan to bail and Tony was open to suggestions, because it was in no way advisable that anyone spoke their minds when it was requested in that tone. Tony had seen a stiletto puncture leather after not treating that tone with due respect. The extraction was just as difficult, though, and Tony hadn't perfected it yet, but it definitely involved figuring out what Jon wanted to hear without letting him know that was what Tony was doing, or he would start throwing shoes anyway.

"Do you know how to swim?" was the thoughtful question that came out of his mouth.

Cal caught the look from Tony, and perhaps even the sentiment behind it. There were some complicated feelings going on there that only made the padawan wonder what sort of experiences Tony's had with that particular question.

Looking back at Jon, he wasn't sure whether to laugh or grimace as Tony voiced his response. "After your obvious concerns it's just a little surprising that you might want to come along," Cal admitted on the tail of that question, shrugging lightly. "But I'm not objecting. Besides, it might be a nice change of pace." New scenery, take a swim... Lighthearted fare.

Tony's response earns him a dirty and doubtlessly challenging look from the Archivist. It was that very moment that ensured that no arguing and no reasoning will make Jon change his mind.

The look eases a little once it shifts over to Cal, and while the determination remains, Jon can't help a little bit of sarcasm "Thanks for the approval." Just a slight pause before he goes on "As for my concerns... There is little I can do about those by staying behind."

Tony raised a hand in surrender, it was an honest question, how was he supposed to know?, and looked to Cal again for that exit strategy, pleadingly. But Cal was encouraging Jon, like he couldn't clearly see Jon had the kind of constitution that inspired laying one's jacket over a puddle to keep his ankles dry, making Tony question if that was a personal problem or Cal just didn't have a lot of experience with librarians.

Tony handed the rebreather back over to take up his own cup where he could hide his smirk, accusing mildly, "You do go looking for trouble."

The only librarian Cal really knew was Jocasta Nu, head of the Jedi archives. She was old, but she was anything but frail, and anyone who still wore a lightsaber at their hip in the temple definitely knew how to use it.

Cal himself saw nothing wrong with Jon wanting to have a look. The waters had felt safe and didn't hold crashed remnants of ships and bodies like the places he'd had to navigate through before. He smiled crookedly as he took the rebreather back and tucked it away again.

"Honestly I think all of us do whether we mean to or not, so Jon's in good company," he quipped.

Jon meets Cal's words with a brief nod of appreciation before sending a glance that suits Tony's mildly accusing tone over to the other man "So far it's been the most reliable way of tracking you down."

His voice now becomes a little more airy "Besides, someone has to make sure you don't go blindly exploring any underwater tunnels and get lost." Of course Jon will vehemently deny that this is exactly something he may be more at risk of doing than the other two combined.

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