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

"Some places are worse for it than others." The Archivist points out with another look up the creature and from it over to another beast, labeled as an Eopie, which in a way resembles a hairless camel. Though its hard to say if this piece simply lost all its hair over the years. "Places can hold power. Or be tied to something you are better off not feeding."

Jon looks from the Eopie over to an even larger creature, a Bantha. There are further more lizard-like creatures set up as well and he ends up making a small face. "...these are all meant to be ridden. I really don't like that idea."

"Are you talking about ghosts?" Kyle asks curiously. "Because I've seen ghosts, I can accept that." He's still skeptical, and generally unimpressed with what ghosts he has seen.

Kyle follows Jon's gaze and whistles lowly. "Why not? Because they're so big? That Mando dude, he has a big animal called a Blurrg. I think he oughtta name it Sue but he's not too keen on the idea." Kyle walks down the line of creatures, eyes bright and interested. "Think how well we could get around if we had some of these, though. Or do you just not like pets?"

Jon merely frowns. "I don't mind pets. Never had the time to care for one myself, but- These are hardly pets." These are meant to be ridden. To be used for various tasks. "I still feel we would be better off if we had free usage of those ships. Get a proper look at what Agra 10 looks outside of Temba." Though that may just be him.

"Ghosts don't exist on my Earth. We have other monsters, but not ghosts in the traditional sense. That would have been too easy."

"Sure they are! Just really big ones." Kyle grins. "Come on, you could have your own, uh..." He peers at the information plaque. "Bantha. Look at him, he's like a big shaggy cow! He's cute."

Kyle sighs. "Yeah. It's sort of hard to find out what the fuck it is we're up against when we're confined to one city. For all we know the rest of the friggin planet is doing just fine." Maybe not likely, but it's a possibility.

Kyle looks at Jon curiously. "So. Like what kind of monsters? Eldritch gods? Giant mech creatures? Bigass spiders? Monstrous guinea pigs? Zombies? Help me out here, dude."

"Thanks, but no, thanks." Jon decides immediately and makes his point by heading towards the next door. He doesn't mention that his library is already being taken over by winged felines in their absence.

"So far Billy and Tommy may have been the ones most able to scout out parts of the planet." He says on the matte of exploring Agra 10. "And my actual boyfriend appears to have finished something that allows him to fly freely. Not sure what Tony's plans for that armor of his are, however." Jon isn't entirely sure if Tony plans to do any scouting with it.

He does give a little snort at the list Kyle offers. "Actually, Eldritch gods may be the closest for my Earth. Manifestations of the terror felt by all living beings, lingering at the edge of reality, wishing for little more than to come through and turn the world into their own feeding ground. Though they already do affect the world to cause phenomena that somewhat line up with bigass spiders, monstrous guinea pigs and even zombies. I read the statements. And encountered a few."

Kyle rolls his eyes behind Jon's back. "Sorry, buddy," he mutters to the stuffed Bantha.

He immediately perks up, however, as he processes what might be the least important part of what Jon just said. "Mr. Stark is your boyfriend? Dude! He was on my ship! Wow, you guys are like... big brain power couple. That's cool." It's possible that Kyle thinks Tony Stark is just really cool based on their limited interactions.

"Right, because you're like a super creepy librarian." He makes a face. "I mean more like a librarian at a creepy library. YOU'RE not creepy. But, okay, I think I'm putting together a mental picture of it. That's cool." He's supremely unbothered by the concept of manifestations of terror.

That reaction is unexpected at best. Especially combined with hearing Tony being called Mr. Stark. Well. Looks like someone has left an impression. The thought brings a little smile to Jon's face anyway. "I hope he behaved on the flight here." It can be a genuine hope at times.

Jon doesn't correct or approve Kyle's chosen perception of him. Which he deems to be a reasonable choice as they step into the next room and find themselves surrounded by display cases filled with small hand-weapons, trinkets and possible artifacts. "Well then. No more stuffed formerly living beings it is." Jon comments, not without relief.

"Oh, yeah, he slept through most of it I think and then he woke up and gave that Beck guy shit. He was pretty awesome. Although he touched my hair. That was awkward." He wrinkles his nose and does his best to stuff said hair back under his hat.

"You really don't like that stuff, huh? I get it. I have a friend who hates like, taxidermy and all of that. He's sensitive." The implication that Jon may also be sensitive is obvious. "Do you get supremely wigged out by like, the Egyptian wing at museums with the mummies?"

Huh. Seems like someone doesn't like having his hair touched. Though those are boundaries Jon has no qualms with respecting at least. He isn't the most physical person himself.

Kyle's observation makes him huff a little. "You wouldn't be overly fond of it yourself had you been kept hostage for weeks in an abandoned wax museum with the only outlook being to be skinned alive by an evil mannequin once your skin quality was up to her standards."

Kyle has many strong feelings about his hair, and none of them are good.

Kyle's eyebrows lift and he looks at Jon with both surprise and sympathy. "Dude," he says. "That's horrible. Yeah, I guess I definitely wouldn't be."

He's quiet for a moment, thinking. "She seriously like... moisturized you against your will?"

"She had an entire skincare routine for me." Jon replies flatly, but not without giving a mildly irritated scratch at his cheek. "...didn't bother to keep it up after we blew up her ritual."

Does he have to add more to that? No, Jon doesn't think so. And yet he maintains a frown while scanning a broken display case for a moment before reaching in and freeing an old, heavily ornate dagger from a small pile of debris before lifting it up and out for closer inspection. The symbols on it only look vaguely familiar.

A little snort is surprised out of Kyle because as horrible as the situation is? That's just funny. "Sorry," he mutters, knowing full well Jon might take offense.

Kyle pokes around in one of he broken cases, giving Jon a little space. The silence feels oppressive in the light of Jon's explanation, and so Kyle clears his throat. "Uhm. That's pretty messed up," he offers. "So, you know. I wasn't trying to tease you. I get it, the whole like... not wanting to be reminded of things. I can't go by the Apple store without breaking out into a cold sweat."

Jon doesn't quite mind the bemusement. He himself has been joking about how his skin has significantly improved afterwards. So he simply shakes his head and offers a mild smile in the light their torches provide. "It's alright. A lot... Happens. Back on my Earth. I've gotten used to it for the most part."

Though he also inclines his head a little, feeling a bit curious. "An Apple store, you say... That wouldn't be the place you have seen those ghosts, I presume..."

"Yeah, sounds like where I grew up. Felt like some fucked up shit happened every week."

Kyle hunches his shoulders a little. "No, no. The ghosts, well, a few were in my house. I don't go into Apple stores, I had a really bad experience once with one of their products. So... yeah. The ghosts were better. Abe Lincoln didn't want to hurt me or anything."

"Hmm. Just your typical monster of the week nonsense, indeed." Jon offers in response, well aware that that's not exactly how things were.

Hearing about ghosts potentially attempting to hurt Kyle and him having had a bad experience with a piece of electronics has Jon pause, however. He may have to phrase his inquiry very carefully here as to not accidentally compel the young man. "Without telling me any of the details... Some of these ghost encounters and that... That bad experience. They left you rattled, I assume."

"Pretty much."

Kyle shrugs. "I mean, I guess? The ghosts weren't a big deal, to be totally honest, aside from the one that possessed my little brother. That was kind of fucked up, but at the time I just wanted to save him. I don't think it did me any lasting trauma."

Kyle sincerely believes he isn't really traumatized by his childhood, which is extraordinarily stupid of him.

"The Apple thing? Yeah. That was bad. And I guess some other things left me 'rattled.' But, I mean, you're from a weird place, you know how it is - you just move on."

You move on, huh. Jon frowns for a few moments at that, but then nods lightly.

"...right. I suppose." A pause. "Actually... It can be hard for some. Moving on, I mean. I-- Read the statements. Record them. Records from people that encountered supernatural beings or experienced something science can't explain. A lot of them were left... Deeply marked by those encounters." And some of them he marked himself without even noticing it.

He still sees them in his dreams.

He clears his throat. "I'm glad to hear you managed to move on."

Kyle looks at Jon, brow creased.

"You're looking at me funny," he says finally. "Look, I'm not trying to minimize anybody's trauma. I'm not a total dick. If people got messed up by it, that's totally understandable.

"But that was probably like, one experience, right? They saw something strange, probably as an adult, and it hurt their sense of reality." Kyle's tone is one of someone who is used to explaining things, used to public speaking. If you guessed he was on the debate team in high school, you'd have guessed right.

"But if weird shit becomes your default, it's hard not to get a bit desensitized. Having Abraham Lincoln swing by my house to explain why ugly people have more character as adults was a lot less traumatizing than the fourth grade girls voting me the ugliest boy in class in the first place.

"And we're assuming every weird thing I saw was real. It could have all been... I dunno. Hallucinations. Group hysteria." He really doesn't believe that, though.

"Oh, I-- I didn't mean to. I'm sorry!" Jon apologizes with a little wince and is quick to look at the nearest display case instead, his hands still occupied with the dagger he had been inspecting and one finger tapping soundlessly against its dull blade.

"I mean-- You're right." He starts. "Not every story is correct. Drugs, hallucinations, sometimes simple light reflections are all there is to unnerve a person. But-" And here Jon pauses and carefully looks back over to Kyle. "There are real ones. Actual encounters with beings set to draw out your deepest fears to feast on your terror."

Another pause. "...at least that's how it works on my Earth."

Kyle relaxes a little. "It's fine, dude, seriously. Just, you know, if you wanna say something, say it."

He sighs and pulls off his hat so he can run a hand through the disaster that is his hair. "I know." He turns to study a case, not really seeing it.

"I almost died when I was a kid because of a monster. So. Yeah."

Jon produces a short noise, halfway to being a dry little snort. "What. You want to hear from me that I'm one of those monsters terrorizing mankind?" It's a rhetoric question perhaps, but the words may still send a tingling sensation up Kyle's neck and into the back of his mind.

Then there is a pause from the Archivist before he actually asks. "What if I were?" The sensation with these words is stronger, more deliberate and purposely aimed to drag the answer out of the younger man whether he wishes to give it or not.

Kyle shivers once and turns to look at Jon once more. "No," he replies. "I meant that if you disagree with me, or think I'll full of shit, you can say so. You don't gotta hold back."

But then there's a feeling like maybe his thoughts are no longer his own, and Kyle's mouth drops open. "Then you'd be a pretty fucking stupid monster," is his immediate and genuine response. "You let yourself be put on an alien planet with a limited number of other kidnapped humanoids, so if your whole deal was terrorizing people you'd either run out of victims pretty goddamn fast, or give yourself away and have everybody turn on you as one and try to kill you.

"And that's not taking into account your free will. Would you HAVE to terrorize people? Is it fun? Or is it a necessity? Some monsters are nice. We had one in my hometown, all he wanted to do was weave wicker baskets."

Kyle never shuts up normally - compelling him clearly makes it worse. "Maybe your monster powers would be useful. Terrible people can do great things. I don't see why that wouldn't apply to other creatures."

He blinks, looking a little confused. "Sorry, that was... weird." He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose for a second. "Space madness, maybe, heh."

Jon follows Kyle's rambling quietly, flashlight in one hand, blunt ancient knife idly in the other and his head slightly tipped to the left. His lips a pressed into a thin, noncommittal line. In the end, he simply sighs and turns to put the knife back into the display case, effectively taking his eyes off of Kyle.

"Compulsion. That's what it's called. It's not a power useful when you have to rebuild a city, but- I tell people what I am these days. I'd rather not accidentally submit anyone to a life of perpetual nightmares." He frowns. "As for being a fucking stupid monster... I will remind you that even superheroes with godlike powers such as Billy have had no way of preventing getting taken hostage as well. We are all powerless, regardless how human we are."

"YOU did that?" Not that Kyle isn't probe to word vomit anyway, but this was different.

He's quiet for a moment, but then he shrugs. "Hey man, you asked," he points out. "It wasn't like, an intentional insult." His expression cracks with a grin. "Come on, don't be a bitch about it, I think you're cool. Were you gonna stab me if I freaked out on you? It's fine if you were."

"I asked, indeed." Jon confirms, accepting that defeat. "And I have no excuse. But-" He shakes his head. "No. I had no intention of stabbing you with an ancient, brittle knife. I have no interest in hurting anyone. It's as you said: I'd rather not have anyone come to the conclusion I'm better off dead."

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