Strange Noises & Too Many Legs

[beholding_archivist]

WHO: Jon, Tony, Cal, Cayde & probably YOU? (some closed and an open prompt in here)
WHERE: Not!Library, Safehouse, Control Shed
WHAT: Giant spiders are invading the city and one Archivist doesn't have a good time.
WHEN: Spider Invasion Event thingie
WARNINGS: violence, injuries, idiocy, possibly huge spiders? No mothcats are being hurt.

Day 1 - Not!Library [ closed to Cal, later Tony ]

"Countess! S-stop it-- C-Countess!! I- OW!" Jon tries to duck from a set of clawed paws coming down on his head again, carried by a pair of fluttering wings before the winged feline with its long, feathered tail pushes away again with an agitated hiss and lands on the side of a nearby shelf, wings and feathers spread open wide while she hisses in a display of intimidation and fury. Jon looks up at the animal from where he has tried to crouch down in confusion, unsure what to make of the situation.

And he thought it would just be another, well... Day. But apparently the creature that has taken to live in the library as well has decided it doesn't agree with his presence or something. Haven't they been getting along just fine?

He carefully raises a hand towards the mothcat, attempting to calm her down again. "Look. I- I know you like to nap between these shelves, but I- W-well. Sometimes I have to walk between them? We both live he--AHHH!!" No, he doesn't even get to finish his sentence before the Countess pounces onto his hand and arm and sink claws as well as teeth into it viciously and tearing that scream of shock and pain from the Archivist.

Day 2 onward - Safehouse [ OPEN ]

When Jon wakes up, everything hurts. His head, his toes and everything between those parts. Heck, even his teeth hurt. It takes him a moment longer to realize another thing: He is alive. And that's the thought that really pushes itself into the foreground when he finally opens his eyes to figure out where exactly he is waking up.

The following days Jon remains at the safehouse. To recover and also gather information about what is going on, whether it be over the network by replying to people, or from those stepping by the safehouse themselves. Even though it quickly becomes obvious that its service is only really needed during the night. At the same time it's winter in Temba and the nights are clearly longer than the days and even the strongest among their group will need a night without having to deal with massive spiders every once in a while.

And so Jon will offer company for now. And maybe information. And maybe, maybe he can figure out what's the reason for all these spiders to suddenly attack the city...

Towards end of event - Control Shed [ closed to Tony & Cayde ]

It has been a quick audio message: 'I believe this is our fault. Has either of you noticed the countdown stopping? Meet me at the control room.'

Sending the message has been quicker than walking all the way back to the tower while still not fully recovered. Jon does his best to hide the limp, though, and he hopes they can get this fixed before it gets dark again and they end up getting attacked while stuck in that little shed that hardly offers any protection at all.

Jon makes a point to carefully avoid the nearby tower's area of effect when heading back to the hidden little building, pretty much expecting the other two to already be there by the time he arrives.

Comments

Day 1

[out_of_order]

It's just one of those feelings that you just can't shake. For those attuned to certain energies, they might even go so far as to hazard that there's a disturbance. It's exactly in that sense that Cal finds himself distracted from his usual routine.

He's already heading towards the direction of the diner when he feels the spike panic, and in a quiet, empty place like Temba, any such emotions are relatively easy to pick up out of the normal calm. BD-1 clings to his harness tightly as the padawan suddenly bolts for the library, and it's he's just barely through the door when he hears Jon's scream.

"Jon-?!" he calls out, already making a beeline for the Archivist's position, easily sensing where he and the mothcat are. He comes around the end of the row of shelves, nearly skidding to a halt. He remembers the winged feline, but the way she's acting currently goes against anything he'd ever felt from her when she'd first thought to pester Jon.

[beholding_archivist]

The Countess releases Jon's hand the moment Cal arrives and calls out to the man, her attention snapping between both but her bristling and growling not ceasing. Jon, on the other hand, takes the chance to scramble away and towards the Padawan, holding his injured hand with a wincing expression. "Thank god, Cal! I- I don't know what's wrong with her!"

Jon hasn't even reached Cal when the mothcat flies up and quickly comes diving back down to lash out at the retreating Archivist, who at least manages to dodge that swoop, but not without a little shriek. "Jesus Christ, Countess!"

[out_of_order]

Jon's words have Cal glancing from the Archivist back to the mothcat, BD-1 trilling worriedly over his shoulder. "Look out!" he shouts as the winged feline swipes at the retreating man, hurrying to Jon's side before she can try again.

"Easy there," he says, addressing Countess, holding his hands up as he tries to keep between her and Jon. "It's okay, it's just us..." His brow furrows. "Something's agitating her. When did she start acting like this?"

[beholding_archivist]

"I- I don't know. I just... I came back up and- She attacked me." Jon explains with a grimace of confusion and a worried look at the mothcat, who flutters from one side to the other in front of Cal, tail feathers spread wide and growling. "Maybe she's getting territorial? I'm not certain this is fear I'm getting from her, but-"

It's that moment Countess strikes, trying to latch onto Cal's hand this time in a very similar manner she has bestowed upon Jon's, who flinches at the animal's sudden movement. "Please don't hurt her!"

[out_of_order]

"I don't think it's a matter of territory," Cal says grimly, unsure of how he's certain of this, but standing by his senses. He's at least ready for her when she pounces, shifting his arm enough that Countess won't clamp down on his hand directly, but the leather bracer around his right wrist. BD-1 squeals in alarm, staying tensed behind the padawan aa Cal watches for those claws, wincing at the raw ferocity coming from the mothcat. He doesn't want to hurt her either.

"Countess, it's us, it's okay," he says softly, trying to maintain some air of calm in hopes of countering the anger that seems to seethe from the cat. He's not as good with animals as Obi-Wan, but he's had decent experience with them...so long as they weren't bent on killing him outright. Countess had been playful and quite approachable, so to see her change so much and without warning is troubling.

Day 2

[hadthehighground]

"Don't move," is the first words Jon would hear as he starts to sit up. A firm tone coming from someone in a hooded robe that was leaning over him, eyes closed, with his hand on hand placed on wherever it hurts most.

Whatever it was Ben was doing, Jon would feel a warm tingling sensation as the man used the Force to direct the other's body to heal itself more quickly. Pouring some of his own energy into it so that the recovery would happen more speedily.

With the way things were, they couldn't afford to have anyone down for long.

[beholding_archivist]

The tingling is the first thing Jon becomes aware of, mind still fuzzy and disoriented as of where he is and what happened. He winces a little at first in response to the sensation, a frown forming on his face as the warmth and tingling gets disrupted by a sudden sting as his body seems to try and reject the healing. It makes Jon flinch and try to grab the man's hand while at the same time jerking up and into a sitting position fully. Much too fast, honestly, for his head to spare him some spinning.

"Wh- wha--...?" Jon mumbles incoherently, trying to blink his eyes open through an initially foggy awakening and the blurriness. The latter seems much less likely to simply be blinked away until he has located his glasses.

[hadthehighground]

Obi-Wan also recoils as he feels something, pulling his hand back as if he too had been stung. The Jedi blinking in astonishment and confusion, yet he puts his hands back on Jon's shoulders to hold him steady now that he was up and clearly confused.

"Easy there. You were attacked, but you're safe now. We pulled you out of there. However, you have been injured and need to rest."

He then put his hand to Jon's forehead and attempted to use his healing again. Hopefully to clear his mind and begin to repair any head injuries he had sustained. Whatever that was he felt could have just been some sort of defense mechanism that the man had upon waking up the way he did. Hopefully if he kept him calm it wouldn't happen again.

[beholding_archivist]

While the information he is given is slowly being unwrapped and made sense off, Jon connects the voice to a person he has spoken to before. Ben Kenobi. The Jedi Master. Telling him he has been... Oh. Right.

Right.

Jon closes his eyes again, blocking out the fuzziness of his vision for a moment when he feels the hand against his forehead again. But before he can try uttering a thanks in the man's direction, he feels another jab of pain, less severe this time, but very distinct. It has him flinch away with a small, distraught noise, opening one eye to glance up at the hand and reach up carefully to gently nudge it away. "P-please. Whatever you are doing- Don't." He inhales deeply, then adds with a lower, tired tone. "...I don't think it works on me the way it's meant to."

[hadthehighground]

He feels it too, and pulls away with the gentle nudging. A concerned frown on his face.

"I'm sorry. I admit that's never happened before in my experience."

He was trying to help, but he gets the feeling that Jon knows that. Thus he puts his hands down and simply sits next to the fellow. Looking him over with a careful eye. He seems to be relatively alright at least. Nothing too serious.

Day 2

[doubled_speed]

"First it's fucking Skrull and Kree fighting over New York. Then it's stupid damn plant-people everywhere. Now spiders. Fucking spiders."

Hello, Tommy is here this morning, stumbling in and looking like several kinds of hell before he almost falls over inside the door. He's so tired.

But then he sees Jon and he waves.

"Hey. Don't suppose you can scare the bug things away, can you?"

[beholding_archivist]

Jon looks up from his phone and over to Tommy, having been able to move enough by now to sit on one of the present chairs. He is missing his glasses and there are bloody tears in various places over his clothes, but neither of his wounds appear to be bleeding anymore. He even pushes himself up to walk over to Tommy and offer him a hand, sighing.

"If only, Tommy. But I'm afraid I am more afraid of them than they are of me." He doesn't try to hide the apologetic tone. "Can I get you something? There is food here. And blankets. And the first aid package I left here."

[doubled_speed]

The hand is happily taken, and a bit of Tommy's weight goes onto the other man. Sorry. He's just so tired.

"Food. Blankets. Clean water to get myself tidied with if we can spare it. I don't know if we can.

[beholding_archivist]

He wouldn't have offered if it weren't okay. Jon may not have had a pleasant time with their eight-legged invaders himself, but that won't stop him from at least trying to help where he can.

He makes a short, slightly affronted noise. "We better can afford cleaning off the remains of those terrible beasts attacking us! If anyone says otherwise, I will have words for them!" Jon has a very particular hatred reserved for spiders and about as much may be clear by the time he has led Tommy over to one of the chairs and leaves it for him to sit down while he picks up some blankets to hand over first, muttering disapprovingly through his teeth. "...don't even want to know where they all came from all of the sudden."

[doubled_speed]

Too bad Tommy's way of dealing with the things was so messy. He collapsed into the chair and closed his eyes. This was so tired.

"Underground? Like the rage bugs? Evil bug underground."

Day 2 Onward

[on_repeat]

It's definitely past the second day at this point. Actually, who knows how long it's been? Short days and long nights are not the greatest combination when activity levels have been bustling during the latter.

One of the days prove to take a small toll on the ARC Trooper, who returns from one of his shifts to crash for a bit in the safehouse. Well, not exactly 'crash' – it's more like he needs to sit and rest his eyes for a few minutes. Or take a short nap.

But even before he does any of that, he lightly taps Jon on the upper arm in passing with the back of his hand. "Hey. How're you holding up?"

[beholding_archivist]

When the clone steps in, Jon looks up from where he has been collecting notes on a piece of paper, a mug of tea sitting next to it. He looks up at the man addressing him, then nods. "Comparatively well. Thanks to- Well. Pretty much everyone, I suppose." His voice is soft, if a little worn from the stress they all share these days. "I am glad they avoid this building, but- I hope they also stay away from the library." Is Countess still in the building? Is she alright?

He can't dwell on that. Not now. So instead, He stands up, still a little carefully. "Let me fetch you some tea."

[on_repeat]

There's a hint of a chuckle that filters through the vocal modulator, but it's more of a reaction than anything. "That's good." Better than how they found him after his initial distress text went out. "I'm just glad we were able to get to you in time."

He also sounds tired, but he manages, removing his helmet so he can breathe a little easier. "Something about this safehouse, I guess," he says with a frown, his brow furrowing for a moment. "I don't know if it's the same for the other buildings, but do you need me to check the library?"

Yet Jon is getting up, and he kind of hovers to make sure the Archivist isn't going to fall over. "You don't have to, Jon. Really, I was gonna sit for a while."

[beholding_archivist]

"Yes, and I- I really appreciate everyone's help." Jon's voice is soft when he says this, ignoring Echo's words about him not having to prepare the tea. He is stubborn enough to just go on with it. "I try not to think about it if I can avoid doing so. And yet, at the same time, I am hiding away... Here." In the safehouse.

He sighs, turning his head to look over at Echo, frowning in an obviously concerned way. "I'd rather no one else gets hurt, as much as I want to make sure my- ah... I assume she is my cat in some ways?" And he shakes his head, letting out another heavy sigh. "I will just hope she flew away if those things came into the library." It's with those words he offers Echo the mug filled with hot water and a teabag still in it.

[on_repeat]

Echo suppresses a sigh, stepping back a bit so that Jon can busy himself with tea preparation. "Hiding is an option if you can take it. And to be honest, anyone with the sense to preserve their well-being in the middle of what's going on right now is making a wise choice."

Because going head-to-head with the creatures is just plain crazy, but who is he to say otherwise?

With that being said, he then sinks down to his knees, settling into a loosely-formed sitting position. "Eh, getting hurt's part of the job – minor injuries being more favorable than severe or fatal ones anyway," he says with a shrug. A gloved hand accepts the mug, drawing it close so that he can feel the warmth. His brow arches, however. "Cat? Cats fly here?" That's a new one to him.

Control Shed

[in_extremis]

While Tony wasn't surprised to find he was somehow at fault for the rapid breakdown in the city, it hadn't yet occurred to him to consider the effect of the tower. There were no hints of a storm; a few clouds in a chilly sky, but dry and largely calm while the chaos surged on the ground. So as Jon's voice said countdown, he had quickly pulled up the video feed from the control room to stare at, feeling slow and stupid, trying to decipher the structure of the codeforms that still didn't make any sense to him but had clearly reached some kind of defined zero point.

It took him a beat too long to realize Jon had also said 'meet me', which hit him like a shock to the system and sent him up into the air before he had even shot off the frustrated text, Did you go on your own? They were really going to have to put a bell on him.

Even skirting around the barren area flanking the tower, the Iron Man had reached the decrepit building far faster than anyone could have walked there from across the city, leaving him staring into the empty room with renewed frustration. His next text read, If you're dead, I'm going to kill you, as he contemplated the still mystifying control room, then trudged back through the cover of the overgrown forest to stare up at the tower. He could probably figure out what that effect was that sent Cayde falling to the ground...

SO PRISTINE I MUST...TAG

[deal_me_in]

You too, huh? Whether the response to Jon's initial message from the Exo is reassuring or not is left up to question, but Cayde at the very least feels vindicated that his hunches hadn't been off. Truth be told, he'd forgotten about the monitoring of the countdown, although that just means that this new and latest mess has also indeed been their fault. More so his, given all the button pushing he'd done.

"Note to self- do not let the little green kid near this place," he narrates, Sundance nodding dutifully beside him in agreement as they approached the near-hidden building. He may not have fancy jet-flying abilities, but when a Guardian wants to move, they move, in great leaps and bounds. It also doesn't hurt to have a pair of lucky pants.

Now that they're at the near outskirts of the city, it seems silly to go bouncing around when the terrain's mostly level, and thinking they're making a good pace, Cayde maintains a steady walk as they get closer to their destination. "...you seeing that?" he asks as a gleam catches his eye near the overgrowth just beyond. He's pretty sure hallucinations shouldn't start out this far but he still feels he needs a second opinion, although he's not sure what to think when Sundance confirms he's not imagining things.

"What have we here?" he calls out as he saunters closer.

[beholding_archivist]

Having neither the option of flight nor to mobility of a Guardian, Jon trails up towards his destination well enough after the others. At least he has made sure he has some sort of a head-start by sending the message after having set out on his way himself. And while he has made sure to put on an extra layer of clothes in the form of what may be the largest poncho lying about in the safehouse, he still feels a little underdressed compared to the Exo hunter in his respective armor and the man that just might have spent the past week stuck in a reinforced tin can. But as long as the poncho distracts from some fresh scarring and a few stubbornly lingering bruises that aren't on his face, Jon will put up with it.

Since he hasn't bothered to actually respond to either of the texts, Jon approaches the place they are about to meet and the two figures already present with a simple gesture at the empty air surrounding him. Of course he has gone on his own. He's an adult. He can take care of himself!

And yet he still gives a small sigh of relief about reaching his destination, adamantly refusing to display any signs of fatigue and simply nodding towards the others in silent greeting before looking over to the old structure. "... I swear if we permanently replaced those energy storms with spider invasions, I'm going to be angry." Yes, the storms are bad, but these huge spiders? Worse. Much worse.

[in_extremis]

The sound of Cayde's voice was the only thing that kept Iron Man from flying up and testing the limits himself, making him startle guiltily instead. He twisted, stepping clear of the brush to watch their approach, raising one hand in greeting at first, then tucking both behind his coyly dipped head like he was flexing for a cover shot to reply, "Is it working? Is this doing it for you yet?" Jon wasn't too far behind, though, making Iron Man drop his arms limply with some frustration, lifting his chin to indicate the man making his noticeably slow way toward them. The gesture that Jon made meant to defend himself and his choices was returned more emphatically, because he was almost spider dinner, clearly not taking very good care!, then Iron Man was welcoming him into the assembly with his hands braced on his hips and his own metallic sigh of disbelief.

"Maybe this is ideal," he countered, turning to look out at the tower again. "That thing isn't generating spiders--I mean, I don't think so, that's...I guess that could be possible, but if it's just a noise, like Catra said, and all we have to do is break the noise-maker, I think leaving it on permanent spider-mode could be good for us."

[deal_me_in]

"This your latest attempt to woo me?" Cayde asks, an amused grin on his face. "Or is this an attempt at flattery? How'd that saying go...?"

Sundance is quiet at usual, but somehow the subtle twitch and twist of her vertices suggest she's just as amused. Both she and her Guardian turn when Jon comes up on her shared radar.

"Know what, I was feeling kinda bad about accidentally setting spider-geddon on us, but honestly I'm with Stark here. And at least you can shoot spiders. Can't shoot a storm."