revivalproject | June-July and Calibrations

Entry tags:

June-July and Calibrations

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

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.

"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."

Impressive, indeed. And maybe a little intimidating.

Jon steps closer to get a better look at what Reeve puts on display, watching quietly as he listens to what the man adds verbally. A man of brilliance, vision and success. It's just... Normal to feel inferior to that, right?

Reeve's conclusion as to having been actively chosen by the Agrii makes the Archivist cast a doubtful glance in his direction. No. He doesn't believe for a single moment that the Agrii have chosen any of them purposely. His own presence disproves that notion enough. And yet he won't shatter Reeve's conviction. If it helps them get anything done in this place, he shall hold on to that belief.

"Why was the city destroyed?" He asks instead, letting his eyes travel back to the picture of destruction. It's not too unlike the state Temba is in, isn't it.

"That... is a very lengthy and dark story," Reeve admits, looking away from Jon. But there's no tinge of fear to come from that statement. Just... sorrow. Grief and pain. He was a pragmatic man, and had moved past that specific issue.

"And one of the ways my world almost ended. Hardly an uplifting tale."

"Believe it or not, I quite welcome a dreadful tale." Jon replies, meaning to keep his tone casual rather than eager "And I believe we have some time yet - Unless you wish for me to actively seek out some memories."

He can do that as well, of course. But these trips to other people's minds... They seem to be taking a while.

Really, he thinks he would rather keep the secrets of his life to himself. Not that he could ever control things. If Jon sought, he should.

"No one wants to hear about the end of the world," Reeve counters. Because he can't imagine ever telling it. "What matters is that Midgar has fallen. Surely I can entertain you with a better tale. I know a few. Silly things, hopeful things."

Well, that's a little disappointing. But obviously he won't try to force Reeve to share that story. Even though he can offer some stories about attempts to end the world in exchange.

"Hm." Jon offers is reply, turning his attention towards the box of materia and pointing towards them and reaching to pick one up, more interested in plain information than tales that are already promised to be silly.

"What are these?"

"Materia. I kept a collection in my office, though I didn't often take them out of the building. Mostly because I didn't often leave the building. But I was more than competent with them. I expect the same factors that allow me to use magic allowed me to more easily tap into the condensed mako and the memories of magic within them."

He has no reason to suspect they will cause any disturbance if touched. They're just materia. More the fool him for it. They were inherently tied to memory, weren't they?

"Riiiight...." Not much of that... Made any sense to Jon. Who is now giving the green ball in his hand a confused look.

"I suppose this is used for... Magic, then. Storing spells to throw them?" Something... Like that? These can hardly be artifacts of much worth, given the amount present here and so idly sitting around.

"And what is mako?"

Oh, they were artifacts of GREAT value. Reeve was just, relatively, wealthy. But to watch Jon almost playing with such a precious thing... Reeve reaches out and touches the materia, as if to pick it out of the man's hand. Except...

Two people touching seems to be the key for this one. The office wasn't around them anymore, but rather open air around them, a road below them. They face the sea and behind them is the buildings of the city.

"Junon," Reeve breathes out, the materia gone. His eyes cast about and nearby there's one of the areas of patios that look out toward the sea. He can't help but move that way. Toward where a man in his early twenties and someone in their mid-teens, clearly Reeve from the height and hair, stood together, leaning against a railing, looking out over the edge. "Oh my, this is a very long time ago."

The change in scenery may not be entirely unexpected - that's how these places work, right? It's still always a bit of a surprise and Jon can't claim these events don't tend to catch him off-guard entirely.

Junon, as Reeve introduces the city, of course isn't one the Archivist is familiar with and he takes a moment to look around, taking in the design while Reeve already drifts away to what appears to be the memory tied to those orbs. Well, Jon may not be getting any direct answers right away, but he does follow quietly regardless, his attention setting on the two people.

"I take it you know what is going to happen here." Obviously. These are Reeve's memories after all.

“Magic,” Reeve offers with a shrug.

By the lookout the younger Reeve is laughing, the motion making his shoulder bump with that of the older man.

“Come on, it’s not that ridiculous, Reeve.”

“I’m sorry, Garret, but you’ve never been outside of Junon. Why would you waste money on buying a materia if you’re never going to see a monster?”

“Home protection,” Garret counters with a smile as he pulls a dull green orb out of his pocket and rolls it around on his palm.

“Yeah, because someone is going to break into your sixth floor apartment. Can you even cast from the thing?”

“Of course I can,” the older man says with a petulant tone that says he hadn’t succeeded so far. Which earned a hearty chuckle from the younger Reeve. “What? You think it’s easy?”

Young Reeve’s fingers pluck the orb from the older man’s hand, and once his fingers are on it, it starts to glow.

"Home protection." Jon echoes the unknown man's answer with an expression that is a very clear sneer on his face. That's even more abstract than buying a gun for that very same reason. But apparently that sort of sentiment exists in other worlds as well. Now witnessing magic as being considered a common means of defense...

Maybe he really should have read a fantasy or science fiction novel every once in a while.

His eyes shift over to the older Reeve and Jon crosses his arms "Please tell me your younger self isn't going to blow up our friend Garret over there." It's not an entirely serious question and more a reaction at the casualness with which this magic is being used in this memory.

“Back then I didn’t know he deserved burned. So no. No hurting him.”

Over by the lookout Reeve is smiling at the warm light cradled in his hand with the materia.

“It likes you,” Garret teases, “maybe it just likes you. Maybe you’re natural with magic. Abandon architecture and become a mage or something.”

With how the man is looking at the materia, he misses how Reeve pales. How he struggles not to turn and run.

“People who can use magic in my world, without materia... we were forced to hide.

“Can you use it?”

Edited 2020-06-07 20:25 (UTC)

"Hm." It's a rather noncommittal sound Jon makes as he keeps studying the scene. He doesn't miss the fear on the younger Reeve's face.

"Why didn't you become a... Mage or something?" He asks after a few moments "Just hide in plain sight with an excuse to train that magic." It's a thought. And it's literally what Elias has been doing with the Institute.

"Because mages don't actually matter in a lot of ways," Reeve sighs as he moves closer. "Not many people care about whether you can use materia, and I didn't have money for a lot of them anyway."

He wants as Reeve's fingers grip firmly around the orb and the light only grows. His arm thrusts forward and from it a fireball launches into the open air, the flames consuming nothing before finally dying away.

"Wow man, that's awesome," Garret said, voice loud and pleased. "Didn't think you could."

"We had a few around the farm, for keeping monsters away."

What a lie. Reeve sighs and shakes his head.

"It was my first time handling one. It feels like... your soul connecting to something deeper. But it was natural. Garret told me later he had it for weeks and couldn't get a spark."

But Reeve was just connected to his inner magic. And across the way the younger Reeve looks so pleased to have the praise of the older man. It's that pleasure the scene goes soft and fades on, leaving Reeve in the seat and lifting the materia from Jon's hand to resettle it in the case.

"Well that was... an experience."

One's soul connecting to something deeper... Yes, that is something Jon may be able to relate to. Even though he remains reluctant to consider his... Powers to be actively intended magic. They still feel much rather... Instinctual. A reflex, maybe. What the memory showed was a deliberate use of magic.

Something people can use to fight... Monsters.

He lets his eyes rest on the materia for a little longer, then repeats his question: "So what i this mako? I would also like to know if you have ever designed a building that interacts with magical items such as these."

"Materia is condensed mako. Mako is... was what we used for power," Reeve says. And there it is, the guilt. The lingering touch of fear. Fear that he'd broken everything.

"Mako is the literal blood of the planet. When people die their souls return to the lifestream. Life is born from those souls, new life. And we burned the physical flow of it, mako, for power."

"I see." So his idea of the lifestream Cloud has mentioned to him being comparable to fossil fuel adds up. Like an... Esoteric version of it. Which makes materia vaguely comparable to coal.

Turning back towards the changing pictures of the city, Jon crosses his arms, pensive.

"So you burned a resource that... Literally kept your planet alive? Am I understanding that correctly?" If the souls of living beings are this... Planet blood... At least it's not entirely impossible for Jon to think in those abstracts. He has done research in paranormal items, creatures and events for a few years now. It's the parallels he finds himself able to draw a little too easily that make him pause.

"Is that what destroyed your city?"

No. No, fossil fuels and the lifestream were VERY different. Burning coal didn't cannibalize the planet, like Tony hat put it.

"No, you aren't understanding it at all," Reeve counters, and he goes with the same demonstration he had offered Tony. He rolls up his sleeve and bares his arm to Jon. Taps his veins. "Blood keeps us alive, but it isn't what we are. Mako may be the blood of the planet, but it can't be replenished. That planet has a fixed quanta of life. Or if it can make more, we won't know it for eons. Mako is the planet itself. It's the soul of it, of everything. Yes, if we burn it, the planet will die, but it won't be alike a sickness. It won't be like bleeding it out. It's... taking away the will of the thing."

And that is what makes Reeve so horrible. He shakes his head and leans back in his chair.

"What destroyed Midgar was greed, but that greed had us killing nature around us for many miles. What destroyed Midgar was Meteor. The Lifestream rose up to fight it off, but that doesn't mean it wasn't Meteor that did it."

No, not the same, but comparable in terms that both are limited resources used as fuel. The main difference lies in the consequences, and Jon can work with that analogy for himself. He has had to make sense of stranger things.

"So if you knew what it is and what you were burning... Why?" And yes, Reeve has already given a partial answer to that: Greed. It's always greed, isn't it? But this seems just so... Foolish. Wouldn't it be a remotely logical conclusion that if souls return to a pool of... Souls... That people, beings... Are being born from that resource as well?

It's a thought Jon is mentally circling, yet not voicing out loud, still rounding out some edges on his inner thesis.

"Greed. Lack of knowledge, then lack of proof, then just... status quo and greed," Reeve sighs, fingers carding through his hair.

After a moment he shakes his head and stands. Starts to pace even.

"It's forbidden now. No one can deny it."

"At least a lesson seems to have been learned." From the sound of it. "Remains to hope that it lasts. And yet... People tend to repeat their mistakes. Or decide that laws don't apply to them." Unfortunately greed has little to do with fear. Though it is a powerful tool to extract fear if it drives a person to harm another for their personal gain.

But that's a different train of thought. One Jon won't necessarily follow at the moment.

Instead, he takes to slowly cross the office, taking a look around without reaching for anything else. Not after Reeve made it rather clear that he didn't agree with the Archivist touching the materia.

"Is this an accurate depiction of your workplace, then?"

"Those who violate the standing will receive harsh punishment from powers they can't stand against," Reeve says, his voice dark.

Even as Jon starts moving the door appears on the far side of the room, a silent statement that he was free to leave, not that Reeve was dismissing him. That would be rude to do to a friend.

"It is an accurate depiction of my office at Shinra, more or less. I haven't been in this office in three years back home.

(no subject)

beholding_archivist - 2020-06-10 23:52 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

plate_builder - 2020-06-10 23:55 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only