June-July and Calibrations

[plate_builder]

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, OTA
WHERE: Arriving In Tunnel, Calibrations Waiting Room, Reeve’s Calibration Room
WHAT: The lead up to and time around Calibrations
WHEN: June 2nd to July 10th
WARNINGS: CW: Reeve’s Calibration room may contain references to kidnapping and confinement, including of children


Man and Cat OTA
When they arrive it’s near the end of the thirty-six hour period. There had been much to do for preparation, things to pack, and honestly, he wanted to see the storm as it brewed up. It wasn’t like he’d seen it the first time, having arrived just days after the last blew itself away. But that means the man arrives with quite a bundle in his arms. Packs and papers and the few kits and tools he’s gotten himself from the replicator.

And at his side, a foot and a half tall stuffed animal of a black and white, tuxedo-cat, its own arms wrapped around coiled up papers. Was it possible for a stuffed animal to look proud of itself? Perhaps it should, because it’s got a very smart looking, dark green cape tied around its neck and a whole load of responsibility, so why wouldn’t it be happy?

“Does anyone know how long these storms typically last?” Reeve asks of anyone who comes near. And Mini stops every few steps to readjust the papers. It’s a lot harder to carry things when you don’t have fingers.

Calibrations Waiting Room

here

Calibrations [CW: Referenced (nothing explicitly depicted) kidnapping and confinement, including of children]

It’s not a bedroom, it’s an office. A rather dark one at that, most of the light coming either from the scattering of monitors, some recessed lighting high above, or two lights pointed at the rather oversized Shinra corporate logo behind the desk. The desk itself is cluttered, covered with files and papers and reports. This is clearly the desk of someone far too busy with their life. Someone who isn’t fully organized.

On it there are a few things of notable interest, like architectural reports and diagrams, a few reports on small hinges with one bearing a sticky note of ‘but why would you want them’, and there’s even a box filled with several glowing green and blue orbs. Materia. Further along, in a corner, is a framed picture of a couple that look vaguely like Reeve, his parents no doubt, and Reeve as a boy, all of them smiling in front of what looks like a farm house. The computer monitors scroll through a number of images of Midgar in various stages of being built.

Of course most of that only matters if you didn’t sit in the very comfortable office chair. Hope you like boring board meetings.

Reeve himself lounges on one of the couches in the room, looking tired. Very tired. Like he wishes he could just sleep in peace. But, if engaged, he will indeed talk.

Comments

Calibrations

[backoff]

Cloud could tell right away that he ended up in a Shinra office. The logo staring him right in the face. The people above the plate sure did live differently from those below. Cloud presses his lips together since he had been in Midgar working for the same company before. Trying to achieve a dream that never came.

He sighs a little at the thought while glancing around to see if Reeve's in his room. He spots the man on one of the couches and walks cautiously over. In this room his clothing is a bit more relaxed, a loose long sleeved dark blue sweater turtleneck, black slacks and dress shoes. He wasn't going to complain about that strangeness. "Hey."

[plate_builder]

Reeve, who had been 'reading' a report, looked up from it to smile at Cloud. And look at him, he's not even in a suit. Well, the coat has been discarded, at least. And the tie.

"It seems it's your turn to visit. Welcome to my office. I hate it."

[backoff]

"Yeah, I'm here." He looks around it while taking in the various other things. "I bet you spent many long nights at this office. How are you feeling not being in one?"

Cloud tilts his head a bit at the more relaxed look coming Reeve. Perhaps he doesn't always wear suits.

[plate_builder]

"It would be more accurate to say I didn't spend a lot of time out of this office until it didn't exist anymore," Reeve counters.

The not being in it is... strange. He sighs and sits up in his seat, gesturing for Cloud to join him.

"There were many times I was afraid that leaving, knowing other people too much, would get me into trouble."

[backoff]

Cloud presses his lips together at the counter. Diamond Weapon. He knows that it's still unbelievable that Rufus Shinra even lived through that.

He turns and sits down next to Reeve.

"You had a lot of pressure to deal with too. It's harder for me to understand with only knowing my own part of the story. I don't know what all you must have been dealing with."

Calibrations - Headspace time!

[beholding_archivist]

"Jesus Christ." Well, that's definitely a first reaction. Maybe not to the cluttered desk - This desk still looks pretty tidy compared to the one Jon has in his archive. It's rather a reaction to the entire office itself. It's big. And actually nice! Not an old basement in an equally old building somewhere in central London. Where basements are dingy, rooms are small and cramped to the brim with anything and everything.

Surely no wall would crumble away in this office to make room for an invasion of aggressive worms.

Jon spends a couple of minutes just wandering the place, seemingly oblivious of Reeve's very presence. He comes to a stop before the monitors, large and precise and showing pictures of an unfamiliar city. It's... Fascinating.

[plate_builder]

"Midgar."

Reeve had been watching the other man, silent and attentive for a long period of time. But the gaze on the monitors drew his attention.

"I designed and oversaw the building of it."

[beholding_archivist]

Midgar. The name makes Jon wonder briefly if there is a matching Asgar to it. But that internal question doesn't get very far as the rest of the provided information sinks in and the Archivist's attention finally snaps towards Reeve.

"W-w-what?! You designed and oversaw the construction of an entire city?!" A city that isn't even small by any means. How does one person do that? Jon can't even book a flight to America without one of his assistants checking the data he has put into the online form.

[plate_builder]

"Impressive for a farm boy, right?" Reeve asks, rising from the couch and slowly circling the large desk. "I was called a prodigy, in my younger days. A visionary. I think it's just silly."

He pulls the desk chair aside for a moment and settles himself into it, taking the mouse and moving it on to the middle screen of the three on his desk, clicking through files with possibly startling speed. This was his own mind, after all, and there was no detail about his city that he didn't have memorized.

"Less impressive than Neo-Midgar designs, but I've long since abandoned that. Hold on a second. Scale can be really hard to tell on these wireframe models."

He opens a file of the city and with the buildings on the plates more easily picked out. Along with details in the bottom corner for reference. Including details like the upper side of the plates being fifty meters off the ground below, and the diameter of the round city being over six-hundred and fifty meters.

"I had assistance, of course. One man cannot do it all. But creating the systems to sustain the city was difficult work. By the fall of Midgar I had a team of hundreds of architects, electrical engineers, city planners, all sorts of technicians under me in Urban Development. We lived for this city, for the people. And now..."

Another few quick movements through the files and instead of Midgar was it was in its prime, it was a picture of it in ruins, taken from the bridge of the Highwind, beyond even the limits of Edge.

"This, I believe, is why the Agrii chose me. I cannot speak to other people, but I have built a city on the scale of Temba, more or less. And I've helped manage rebuilding after it was destroyed. It's still a work in progress, of course, there is much we cannot easily do anymore, but this is why I am here. To atone, and to help."

Calibrations ;

[afterform]

The Shinra logo held dominion over Vincent from the first moment he stepped across the threshold into the room. The powerful symbol stood out like a beacon of light within the darkness. Historic memories swept across his mind and left him feeling exposed. His steps echoed across the marble, and he stopped just short a few feet from the desk. He felt another presence in the room and saw the other man from the corner of his eye. Vincent looked from the sigil on the wall, which broke its curse over him to find Reeve.

He had been in these offices before, back when he was someone else, something else. Thirty-some years ago, he wore a dark suit and took orders from someone who sat in an office like this. Faces from his past manifested over a blurred body as he looked to the empty chair at the desk. A sight only he could see, and one Vincent eagerly tried to push aside. He looked from the chair to the monitors, which displayed various indefinable information and readings. Vincent then turned to Reeve and watched him.

[plate_builder]

When he enters, Reeve just... stares. He looks over the top of the book, just the memory of a book, and stares. Vincent, his lips forming the name. This isn't... this isn't possible. At all. Vincent would have told him.

It wasn't until Vincent turns and watches him that he sets aside the book and stands.

"Vincent."

[afterform]

Vincent offered a nod to his name as if he needed to confirm his identity to Reeve. He scrutinized Reeve from head to toe back to head. He stood still and silent while under Reeve's eye. The book Reeve held was far from Vincent's mind. Instead, he wondered about the man's lack of costume. Not that Vincent had any expectation of seeing Cait Sith cozy within a Shinra room. Still, perhaps it was a possibility within this dream.

[plate_builder]

"Are you real?" he asks, unable to believe it. "Or just a memory?"

sneaksneaksneak are you sick of me yet

[deal_me_in]

Was this the office that Reeve had meant? Not that Cayde is immediately aware of who's headspace he's entered then. What fun are offices? He can't help but smile knowingly as he notes the paperwork that litters the desk. What a nightmare. He's just glad it's not his pile of paperwork to handle.

The logo is given a curious look. He recognizes the character style, but not enough to translate it. Was this some kind of Golden Age business?

What naturally catches his eye are the glowing orbs. Green and blue aren't as valuable as violet and gold if they were engrams, which, the Exo notes with some mild disappointment that they are not. But then again, if they're not engrams, then who knows what they're worth?

He picks up a blue one, because in his head he's still comparing them to engrams.

nah he invited you

[plate_builder]

Well, it was hardly like Reeve required command or support materia. He had enough in the stones he already had, and he was more a black mage than a supportive one.

Reeve, lost in his book of memories, doesn't even look up. Doesn't think to stop Cayde. Which is why they're suddenly on a beach, far above their heads metal support structures of something built over the quaint village at Cayde's back. Before him a sandy beach and a small group of people sitting on it, in various states of dress. Some are in swimming clothes, some in casual things, and one that is clearly a younger Reeve sans facial hair, sitting in just short of business clothes. And the only reason it's just short is because the sleeves of his shirt are rolled up, he's got no tie, and his coat rests on the sand beside him.

Some of the group are splashing around in the waves cast into shadows from the structure far above their heads. Young Reeve sits beside a man clearly a touch older than him, with dark hair and laughter on his lips and piercing green eyes. The man is holding out a box, small enough to hold something like the orb Cayde had touched. It's wrapped in silver paper with little cats playing across it with little glass balls that look like the one Cayde had picked up.

"What is this?" Young Reeve was asking, frowning as he looked at his companion.

"A graduation gift. Or new job gift. Everyone pitched in for it," the older man said, smiling and dropping it right into Reeve's lap.

And then there's an older Reeve standing at Cayde's side, watching with a sigh. The memory hasn't faded, it's just rolling along around them.

[deal_me_in]

A beach- that's not something Cayde had expected. The most recent experience of such a place had been on Risa. Home was sorely lacking in such spots, not that many thought of taking a trip down to the beach for a swim.

The sigh beside him almost startles him, so caught up in watching the memory that he nearly fumbles the materia he holds. It had only struck him then as he watched the people seated there as to whose head he'd stumbled into. He turns and looks to Reeve then.

"You always have a thing for cats?"

[plate_builder]

"People associate me with them. But I grew up liking fairy tales about them, and we off course had barn cats to help keep the vermin away from Betty."

Their chocobo had been a very nervous lady, but she pulled a plow and that was what mattered. He gestures to the orb in Cayde's hand. "You're about to see that again."

And sure enough younger Reeve was opening the box now, working the paper off very nearly and folding it once it was free. The paper went into his pocket, earning a laugh from the man beside him, before he opened the white box and drew out a pale blue orb, matching the one in Cayde's hand.

"An All Materia? This must have cost..."

"We all chipped in," the older man promised. "Besides, maybe you'll find a way to apply its effects to filling out paperwork. All-Signature or something."

Younger Reeve chuckled. "Or just burning it all when it's stupid?"

"Or something like that," the man agreed, grinning. "I also hope it helps you remember us all."

That lead to a softening of Reeve's expression, his eyes going momentarily teary before he lunged forward and hugged his friend. The shocked noise from the other man drew attention and just about everyone else on the beach or the water piled out to go dog-pile Reeve, leading to enough laughter that the voices were hard to pick apart. And like that, the memory faded, leaving them back in Reeve's office.

here he comes

[in_extremis]

This office had to be Reeve's, unless there was someone else stuck down in this hole that Tony hadn't met, that happened to be an architect. It wouldn't have suited them better; Tony could practically hear Reeve's voice in the hum of the monitors, making him crawl an anxious hand up his front to drag back through his hair and dig his nails into the back of his neck. Even with his head bowed and frozen cautiously to the spot, his gaze darted hungrily around the room, processing what he could see from where the doorway had been and compiling; company identity facing, disorganized, cozy but not welcoming. When Tony's attention finally settled for a brief moment on Reeve, he slouched for a slow breath himself, like he could feel the exhaustion on Reeve's face, but shortly he was glancing around again as he pushed his shoulders back and slung his hands easily into his pockets, chin up deliberately. "Sorry," he muttered into the dark room, "it's Russian roulette."

[plate_builder]

Reeve looks up when he hears someone enter, and he tries not to look apprehensive at the presence.

"I suppose it is," Reeve notes, standing to regard the man. "I warn you, the office chair and the box of materia have memories, a few with the latter."

This is awkward.

[in_extremis]

That was to be expected, Tony thought, though he hadn't encountered a trapped chair yet, everything should have been considered armed and dangerous, even the most mundane. So he pressed his lips in a thin line and raised his eyebrows at Reeve, chancing a stroll further into the room and trying his best not to look too much like he was prowling even as he cut a sharp look across Reeve's desk to try to assess some of the paperwork. "You telling me that because you don't want me to see them, or trying to keep me away from something else?" he asked.

[plate_builder]

Keep him away from something? Hardly.

"By all means, you're welcome to touch anything in the room. The chair is a board meeting, the materia vary depending on whether you select blue or green. I think the monitor depends on when you touch it..."

That one was the strange one, but he doesn't think it matters much. With Tony prowling around he settles back onto the couch he had arisen from and considers Tony.

"If you're looking for anything related to attacks on mako reactors, I'm afraid you'll only find me touring damaged facilities in hazard gear, as I was not part of Avalanche during the periods of time when that was a tactic they employed. I would hardly call myself a member at all. Some of us joined the team Cloud was on well after that."

Yes, he spoke with Cloud about what he and Tony had been speaking on. Well, what he feared Tony might have held against him at least.

Man and Cat

[happybeeps]

"Last one was about two weeks I think," Poe offers, "They didn't send us down here last time though, so who knows how relevant last time is." He shrugs a shoulder and moves to offer a helping hand, not sure which of the over burdened figures needs it more. "You find your room yet? I can help you get settled."

The droids trailing after him seem to want to help as well, trying to usher Mini along like they're herding sheep.

[plate_builder]

Two weeks. How horridly long. Reeve sighs, resisting the urge to cross his arms over his chest at the news. Reeve considers the offering hand and after a moment passes some tools over. Once that was done, he crouches down a bit to lift the doll, papers and all, into an arm. Which the Doll squirms against, so Reeve puts him back down and just accepts SOME of the papers.

"We have assigned rooms? How intriguing. Yes, I might require some assistance finding my way to it. If they are labelled then I would be looking for Reeve Tuesti or some variation thereupon."

[happybeeps]

"Reeve," he repeats, giving a nod and a smile, "Good to meet you Reeve. I'm Poe. Poe Dameron. That's BB-8, and CC-9," he introduces, nodding to each droid in turn, eyeing Mini curiously. He assumes he must be some kind of droid too, but he looks very different to anything he's seen before. Why someone would turn a doll into a droid he's not sure, unless it was meant for a child?

"Seems to be a room for each of us. And one big common area. Haven't toured the whole place yet, but seems like they expect us to be down here for a while."

[plate_builder]

"This is Mini-Cait," Reeve offered, gesturing an elbow toward the cat doll, whose tail swayed in something like a greeting. Maybe.

"A while? That will not be... pleasing."

He's not claustrophobic, but he could easily cross the line to it.