revivalproject | Night at the Museum (OTA)

Entry tags:

Night at the Museum (OTA)

WHO: Kyle Broflovski and YOU!
WHERE: The Underground of Coruscant (Level 4)
WHAT: A very wholesome field trip to the lost Galactic Museum.
WHEN: During the event. (Mid-ish?)
WARNINGS: The foulest of language. Injury extremely likely. More as needed.

Kyle's seen aliens before.

A group of them from the Jannex Galaxy, a spaceship full of greys, the Marklar, and Jeff Bezos. This is the first time he's seen quite so many different kinds in one place, but even so it doesn't take him long to feel comfortable enough to talk to a few of them at the Senate Tour that Obi-Wan had suggested he take. One of these friendly aliens had mentioned in passing that it was a pity that the Galactic Museum could no longer be toured, due to it having been lost and forgotten somewhere down on Level 4.

A lost museum seems to Kyle like exactly the sort of thing the Agrii would want them to find. And even if not, well. Kyle really likes museums.

Is it difficult to get to Level 4? Oh, yes. And extremely dangerous. This doesn't deter Kyle one bit, and so he puts out a call on the Network to let people know that hey, he's putting together a museum field trip and anybody is welcome to come! Provided, that is, that you don't mind finding your way down through huge portals/ventilation shafts into a world where sunlight is less than a memory and dangerous people and creatures lurk around every corner.

But hey, if you decide to come down, you'll find a too-tall ginger waiting for you with some flashlights and a notepad.

You bet your ass he's going to force you to use the Buddy System.

--

[OOC: Feel free to skip straight to the Museum proper of course! Mingle away, create your own TLs, whatever!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The call for an underground museum trip is enough to lure Jon down there, driven by hi innate curiosity. Though he is already carrying his own flashlight, heavy, bright and powerful to drive away any natural darkness at least. And should anyone wonder? He has a spare and backup batteries in his backpack. If the tunnels under the Institute have taught him one thing, then to be prepared well before heading underground.

"Hello, Kyle." Jon greets with an easy smile and a little wave of his free hand.

"Jon!" Kyle waves back, grinning widely. He's genuinely happy to see him - in Jon, Kyle recognises an intellect and a desire for knowledge that he can relate to. IE: Jon's a nerd. Kyle wonders if he plays Dungeons and Dragons, and vows to ask at a later date.

"Tommy scouted ahead already, so we've got a map that he drew," he tells him happily. "So we won't get lost. And he didn't see anything that looked like it was gonna eat us." It is an alien underground, after all. There could be giant cockroaches or something.

"Okay, so, like, we're all gonna stick together in a group, but if you HAVE to go off someplace, you gotta take a buddy." he says this last loud enough for everybody to hear. "Nobody wanders off alone, that's how you wind up killed in a horror movie."

He turns back to Jon. "You stoked? I'm stoked. We should head out. The guy I heard about this place from? He said there was at some point artifacts from thousands of different cultures! Thousands! Can you imagine?"

Seeing the excitement in Kyle is unexpected, but a nice change and Jon gives a small nod of understanding as the young man gives his report on what has already been achieved to locate their destination. "Right. I suppose Tommy would be very helpful for scouting ahead. Can't say I'm surprised he's interested as well." Tommy isn't only very intelligent, but about as eager to learn new things as Jon is.

Though Jon does raise a brow upon being told he needs to take a... Buddy along should he decide to split off of the group. Oh, clearly that doesn't count for him. He's too old for that sort of thing.

"Given that they are basically on open display, I will assume those artifacts are at least harmless and won't curse anyone of us." Jon remarks somewhat off-handedly, refraining from commenting on the entire buddy thing and then turns his head to look around. "Since you have the map, I will let you lead the way, Kyle."

"Really? He kinda seemed like he thought I was a lameass. But I think maybe he just actually thinks I'm a lameass all the time, so." He frowns. Ugh, Tommy.

The group moves through the tunnels, following the map Tommy has drawn. Kyle at one point can be clearly seen arguing with Tommy, but one they reach the museum and enter he falls back beside Jon.

"Dude," he says softly.

The lobby is huge. It's dark and filthy, but the former majesty of it is still apparent. Different halls branch off in every direction.

"Okay, I'm serious about the buddy system, you guys!" Kyle says loudly. He looks at Jon.

"Where should we even start?"

Jon merely gives a remotely bemused little smirk in response to Kyle's frustration with Tommy, but overall lets the two younger men work themselves out on their own. His main focus while they are on their way is with observing their surroundings and taking in the structures and also the beings living down here. Finding people living down here and lurking in the darkest shadows to observe them probably planning... Something, at least. It's unsettling. Though Tommy's presence may be one of the reasons their little group isn't being attacked on their way and they end up arriving at their destination eventually.

Without hesitating much Jon wanders over to what once may have been an information desk, picking up an old, yet still readable information pamphlet and flicking through it. Even in Aurebesh it's not very different from these little brochures he remembers from Earth, so this is a little reassuring at least.

Hearing the reminder for Kyle's buddy system gets a low groan and Jon casts a frown in Kyle's direction. "Kyle, please. We're all adults here and I doubt anyone of us will recklessly wander off down here. Besides," He gestures towards one of the larger doors towards the other end of the entry hall. "There is a tour. We could simply follow that and eventually should find ourselves back here."

Kyle plants his feet and squares his shoulders. His expression is one of someone who has spent years explaining rational plans to people.

"I said everybody keeps someone with them at all times," he says stubbornly. He ignores any snickers this might cause.

"And there WAS a tour. This place has been abandoned for like, hundreds of years maybe. So yeah, let's follow it but that's no excuse to get careless."

He walks over to Jon's side. "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight, you're nuts. Okay, let's take a tour then!"

The Archivist meets the display with the face of someone used to be stubbornly defiant when told to do something he isn't willing to do. He doesn't argue verbally. Instead, he makes to move to follow the former tour route indicated by the still present signage halfway through Kyle's little speech, muttering something to himself.

What he isn't expecting, however, is Kyle to suddenly be by his side, more or less forcing Jon to cast a frown up at the younger yet taller man. "Jesus, Kyle. You can't seriously be expecting for us to follow some rules intended to keep little children in line! I at least can assure you that I won't be getting lost."

He huffs and breaks off of the old path towards a long wall by the side covered in large, faded pictures and equally large blocks of text engraved into the wall in Aurebesh and in all likelihood giving further information on the pictures. These, in turn, display the museum itself. Some show the outside of it in various stages, others varying parts of the rooms within, making it obvious enough that this initial display is meant to introduce the museum itself.

"Well, then don't act like little children by wandering off alone into an abandoned alien structure," Kyle snaps back. "It's not just getting lost, Jon, something could fall on you and knock you out or there might be giant albino aligators."

When Jon turns off, so does Kyle, because the buddy system. He studies the wall with interest, trying to figure out which section of the museum would be the best place to start. After all, they're supposed to be learning something to help the Agrii.

"I feel like if we can investigate some of the fallen cultures, maybe we can find something similar in records to what happened on Agra," he muses aloud. "Not exactly the same, probably, but... there might be a precedent for dealing with what we have left to work with. What do you think?"

Because he's going to stick to Jon like a barnacle.

"There are no albino alligators on this planet." Jon replies matter-of-factly while continuing to read the engraved text before moving on to the next picture. "In fact, alligators as we know them from Earth are not a known species to this entire galaxy and as far as wildlife on Coruscant is concerned? It's rare and mostly consists of small scavengers that have adapted to live in a place devoid of any wilderness."

And Jon pauses after that to make a face at himself and curse mildly. No, he hasn't meant to know any of this.

Though he doesn't dwell on it for long, given that Kyle's next words draw Jon's attention - and a little frown - back to Kyle. "You haven't seen the video, then? The one from--" He cuts himself off, frown turning into a scowl. "...Christ, no. Of course not! It- It's hardly the first thing that comes up when people first arrive in Temba! But- There is a video. Allegedly from the day the Agrii were forced to flee their planet. Driven off by a series of devastating energy storms and helped by a different group of heroes along with the Atroma. To them it was but another episode in some sort of space reality show. It's what inspired the Agrii to bring us to their planet again. To be their new generation of heroes to help them out once again."

"Well, how the hell am I supposed to know that? And boi could STILL get knocked out and die just by falling through the floor or something, so there." Kyle argues as naturally as he breathes, and all Jon has done is convince him to stay at his side no matter what.

"I got the introductory info dump," he says, sounding a little embarrassed. "But I didn't have time to learn much more. I know the energy storms drove them off, but I figured... like, do we know WHY the storms happen. What causes them? Is there a way to prevent them?" He sighs. "Or maybe you guys already have it figured out, I don't know. In that case, I'm going to focus on stuff that we can use for survival if all the power goes out or something."

"I... Thought we figured out what created the storms, but I'm not so sure any longer. The tower and its controls are broken, but that caused the new light to appear and- So far we haven't had any other storms." Which doesn't mean there won't be any further ones, unfortunately. "At the moment we can only wait and observe what happens."

There's a pause before Jon adds: "And I wouldn't worry about me getting killed by a mere accident. Though I will still keep an eye out for anyone else."

Kyle tries not to deflate too much; he had thought he'd found a way to genuinely help. "Oh," he says dully. "That's the light that never moves, right."

He shows absolutely no sign of leaving Jon alone. "Well. Fuck. I didn't know." He kicks at a piece of debris, some long crumbled part of a pillar. "That's okay, though. We can look for like... I bet we can still learn more that might give us some context..."

He shines his flashlight along a row of ancient displays, peering in to see what certainly looks like statues.

"And what, you're immune to accidents?"

"Right. The light Cayde has mentioned on the network. I appeared shortly after we... Broke. The tower." The tower that may or may not have bee causing the spider invasion. They might never fully know that.

Jon finishes studying the wall filled with history about the museum as well and looks further himself, grimacing slightly at the sight of the statues left to catch dust and fall apart in the dark room up ahead.

"Also I-- I wouldn't call it immune. The opposite, rather. I attract accidents. Or dreadful things wanting me dead." Which is a simple way to put it. "I decided to live when I had the choice and something doesn't want me dead."

"You guys broke it. Way to go," he says, deadpan.

He looks at Jon skeptically. "So you attract accidents, and you think that knowing that I'm going to let you wander off into the dark unknown ALONE? For seriously? Dude."

He shakes his head and snorts.

Fine. Jon won't argue with that since that is exactly how he has phrased it. As for the second part, though, Jon is still willing to argue.

"Well, yes. Since it would be safer for everyone else. I'm much more likely to survive a fall. Or being buried under a building. Or- W-well. Not that I WANT any of that to happen, but- None of it would kill me!" At least in most cases.

"Yeah, well, too bad because I'm not leaving you alone now."

He doesn't care that Jon seems to think he's invincible. As far as Kyle is concerned, he's just as likely to get killed as anybody else. And the buddy system means no man left behind.

"Hm. I think I could still convince you." Jon returns, shining his light into and around the room with the statues before taking a careful step into it. And it's true. He could quite likely just compel Kyle to leave him alone. But he doesn't plan to use his powers on the younger man.

So he just shrugs and shakes his head in the darkness. "But I won't."

"Gee, thanks," Kyle mutters. "Convince me... convince my ass..."

Kyle marches into the room, apparently unconcerned with things like lurking cannibals or eyeless monsters. (Or giant albino alligators for that matter.) He's peeved that nobody seems to want to take the buddy system seriously, and even more so that Jon - aka the one other person in this group who isn't a space marine or a jedi or a cop or something - apparently seems to think he's more durable than Kyle. The fact that this could be true does nothing to improve his frame of mind.

He peers into display cases, frowning lightly, trying to recapture the excitement he'd felt seeing the museum for the first time.

He may not be a Jedi, a superhero or even in any way trained to fight or defend himself, though Jon would wager that at least the scars his body is quite littered with speak of certain experience with evading permanent death. That he is hardly human anymore at this point remains a whole different detail.

The room they have entered appears to have been displaying old pieces of armor and weaponry, some of them still present. The armor displayed here almost exclusively is entirely black, which appears to make some sense to Jon after reading some of the metal plates next to the cases. "...huh. These are all labelled as Sith armor. I'm having a hard time picturing Altair in any of these, but-- This may also be long past his time..."

"Which one is Altair?" Kyle asks at once. There's so many people he hasn't met, and even those he has he barely knows. Standing in the dark on an alien planet, Kyle has a moment where he really comprehends exactly how far from home he is, and how alone.

He comes up beside Jon to look at the armour, which is pretty cool looking. "And Sith, are, uhm, like the bad Jedi, right?"

"Bad Jedi... huh. Some people certainly want us to believe that." Jon muses, eyes on the armor and arms crossed lightly. "Altair was a Sith. Or- I suppose technically he still is, in his time. Sith Lord, member of the Sith Council... He's the emperor of the galaxy in his time, even. But- He isn't on Agra 10 anymore. Left a couple of months ago." It has been a while...

"Though he never struck me as a bad person. A little callous at times and rather self-centered , but- He genuinely seemed to want to help people. Christ, he has been genuinely hurt when I told him he lacks empathy. Ran away crying... Can't say I have actually met an evil Sith Lord yet. Or one I can imagine wearing anything like this."

"Sorry," he apologises at once. "I think all the timelines and wars and stuff. It's hard to keep track of who has what politics."

The fact that Jon has clearly lost someone he likes tufs at Kyle's considerable heart strings. Even if the mental picture Jon paints is kind of funny.

"I mean, sometimes we do really terrible things when we think we're helping. You get it in your head that you know what's best for people, and you just... you get carried away." His voice is soft, his eyes on the armour.

"So, uh, was this dude your boyfriend or something?"

Jon's attention instantly snaps over to Kyle at that question. "Wha- Good lord, no! No, we just-- We worked with one another at the hospital for a while. Very misguided idea on my part to believe I'd be any good there, but we cleaned the place up quite a bit? But- N-no. We were never closer than that. More on the contrary at one point."

A grimace finds its way onto Jon's face and he casts the armor one more look before sighing and shaking his head. "...though you are not wrong. Sometimes we do terrible things when we hope to help those we care about." With those words Jon starts walking again, shining his torch towards the door at the end of this room to head into the next one.

"Oh, okay, sorry! Sorry. No offense meant, I wasn't like... yeah. Sorry."

What is social interaction?

Kyle follows after, much subdued by this point. "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" he asks, eyes on the display cases.

The next room is filled with a collection of large creatures, their dead bodies turned into lifelike taxidermy. Several of the pieces haven't taken being abandoned thousands of levels below the planet's surface very well, but even if they had the sight wouldn't be any less unnerving to the Archivist who freezes for a moment as they step into the dark room and shine their lights around.

"...shit." He mutters before casting a glance over to Kyle. "And that may not be the sort of question to answer down here. But if you wish to share, I'm all ears."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject