revivalproject | Archivist Catch-All

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Archivist Catch-All

WHO: Jon & YOU
WHERE: Coruscant - Various places
WHAT: Coruscant Event catch-all. Some open, some closed prompts. See what your little Eldritch avatar has been doing...
WHEN: Coruscant Event
WARNINGS: One of them includes Tony. Approach at own risk.

The Perfect Gift [ OPEN ]

Coruscant is- A lot. A lot of city, a lot of people a lot of- Everything. Even for Jon, who has been living in London for a good decade now. But even London seems unnaturally small compared to Coruscant. And yet living there has ensured that Jon isn't intimidated by crowds. In fact, he has come to find himself quite capable of adjusting himself to their situation and as he learns more about the planet and its inhabitants, Jon also learns more about how to navigate it and find that which he is looking for.

Which proves invaluable While out to acquire goods and supplies he deems useful for their inevitable return to Temba.

It's a long list Jon has for himself. A variety of clothes and footwear are on it, including some actual swimwear, equipment and supplies for his little chemistry lab, writing utensils, notepads, new variants of tea and other luxuries, a couple of handy little tools and - Gifts. And especially those gifts prove to be the difficult part. Since the person Jon is trying to find a gift for is none other than Tony. The man that tries to fix everything and constantly makes gifts for others himself. Finding a gift for such a man is harder than one might wish to think.

Apparently a selection of treats are about to become part of the assortment of gifts Jon has already picked up and he is currently studying the packaging of what may be actual chocolate. One can never go wrong with some sweets and a good wine. Jon smiles softly to himself and his attention drifts over to something that is either a futuristic bottle opener or a very peculiar toy, making him frown before reaching out to pick it up, vaguely addressing either the person next to him or no one in particular. "No idea what this is, but- I'm curious."

Being A Monster [ OPEN ]

Some may say it is ill-advised for Jon to be heading down into the lower levels of this multi-layered city. And yet here he is, his worn clothes and too large poncho making him easily melt into the crowd of beings who ignore his seeking stare. A stare that isn't seeking for difficulties with finding its target, but rather because every being down here proves to be a remarkably suited target for his needs.

He takes the easy route and turns into the next bar he passes. There are plenty of dreadful stories here for him to request, confine to memory and later record. Which will have to wait until they are back in Temba, since his tape recorder has not been brought along on this trip.

It's later that night - Or maybe early the next morning that the Archivist returns to the hotel they are all staying in. His steps swaying a little from the alcohol, but a contentment rarely seen by many on his expression. He even gives a cheerful wave to anyone else he encounters at this odd hour. "Someone is up early!"

Among Force Sensitives [ CLOSED to Obi-Wan ]

It's not without a healthy degree of trepidation that Jon walks up to the intimidating structure that he has been told to be the Jedi Temple. He is dressed in a set of new clothes, which he assumes to be local enough in style and clear of the wear and grime of the clothes he has been wearing down over the past months on Agra 10. Well fitting grey pants covering the better part of dark boots and a light, long-sleeved tunic paired with a very functional messenger bag is just one outfit the Archivist has come to pick up so far and he finds himself particularly happy to now own some footwear that isn't meant to be purely decorative while one spends the better part of the day behind a desk.

Though even his new attire doesn't fully keep Jon from pausing briefly in his steps to look up the massive building. Home and training ground of the Jedi. Jedi like Cal and Obi-Wan and Ezra. Beings sensitive to an energy field called The Force.

Beings that can sense something is not right with him.

Jon swallows once, hand tightening around the strap of his bag before he pushes forward, expression set into a stubborn set of determination. It will be fine. The Jedi Master has agreed to accompany him into the Temple, meaning Jon won't be heading in there by himself. It will be fine.

At the top of the stairs, he comes to another stop, finding himself looking up at massive columns of a height that raises questions for the Archivist. Questions he will be keeping to himself at least for the time being before taking his attention back down and looking around for the man he is supposed to meet up here at the very entrance of the Temple, muttering to himself. "...Christ. I hope he hasn't forgotten."

It's a date! [ CLOSED to Tony ]

New clothes that actually fit him and that Jon feels good in are but one of the things this planet has provided. Another thing is the chance to get his hair cut back to a more reasonable length, get the items required for a decent shave and of course have a proper bath. Small luxuries that add noticeably to Jon feeling human again. And to provide him with the confidence to ask Tony out for a proper date. How many chances like this will they get anyway?

The beings tending to their needs at their hotel have been quite helpful to him with setting everything up and recommending the right places not too far away. From a good, rather exclusive restaurant high up in a tall spire looming over Coruscant's upper level along with similar, yet distant skyscrapers and providing an excellent view to an artificially created and very unique park at the very base of said spire to the suggestion of a sensual and very private message provided by specially programmed droids up in their hotel's poshest suite offered by the beings in charge of the hotel tending to their guest's needs. Being that are remarkably eager to please this easy source of good credits. And after all these months on Agra 10, Jon has very little qualms about spending what the Agrii provide them with.

Having arrived a little early, Jon has already been seated at one of the rather few tables the restaurant actually possesses. All set apart and separated with strategically placed pots filled with colorful alien flora and a stunning view out of the large windows making up the entire outer walls of the place. A soft tune hangs in the air that Jon listens idly to while looking out of the window, over the city and every once in a while daring a glance down, feeling a bit thankful that Mike Crew hasn't instilled an even greater fear of heights into him. His hands are loosely clasped in front of him on the table, having very little to do at the moment.

When he hears a set of footsteps approaching, Jon turns his attention away from the window to greet who he assumes to be Tony with a gently, yet genuine smile.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The realization that there is, in fact, no one for Jon to scare away only adds to the bright bloom of embarrassment on his face and he lets out a huff of indignation before settling his eyes on Tony again but ending up scratching the back of his own neck. "I- The only times I... Asked someone out was because I believed I had to. That it's what you just... Do. Never quite liked it and a few times- Got too drunk and embarrassed myself."

A shrug in Jon's part and by then one of his hands has already come to grab Tony's sleeve and at least the worst crimson faded from his face. "Please tell me I don't have to actually raise my voice at you if I want you to accompany me back to the hotel."

Tony should have expected that any answer he got wasn't going to be a goofy first date story, but, in hindsight, at least it didn't end up being a sordid tale of death and monsters, either. Drinking too much and fucking it up was almost quaintly pedestrian, and Tony would have bumped his shoulder against Jon's in drunk mess solidarity if he wasn't a little stricken by the idea that Jon thought this date was some kind of functional requirement. Jon grabbing and propositioning him reassured Tony that this wasn't necessarily a problem with him personally, making him breath a baffled laugh of relief, but it was probably worth talking about before Jon started resenting him while organizing dates out of obligation.

For now, Tony assured him with a disarming smile, "You can save that for later," and rolled easily up onto his feet again where he offered a hand of assistance once more. "You don't have to..." he started, twirling his free hand in the air to indicate the whole experience before he was correcting, "We don't have to do this, you know." What the alternative was, Tony wasn't sure, but they had kind of been doing it before today, anyway. "If you don't like it, we can figure out our own thing. I've built more out of less."

"I do want to spend time with you." Jon points out while letting himself be helped back onto his feet, but not without hooking a finger under the cape's collar to bring it up with himself. "I admit that I-- Maybe I tried too hard? I mean- I still enjoy spending this time with you? Being together and- Out?" Outside and among people and even being noticed.

He then actually smiles and offers the cape to Tony once neither of them are standing on it any longer. "But I wouldn't mind figuring out our own thing, either. Doesn't have to be perfect. As long as we enjoy it and each other it'll be fine."

Waving his free hand to dissuade any concern that the plan itself had been flawed, Tony insisted, "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the attention." Trying very hard for Tony's affection was definitely going to have to remain; taking it away from him now would be cruel, and he certainly didn't mean they should spend less time together. He already felt like he was constantly letting his battery die well before he had the chance to recharge.

He shook out the cape, only to drape it around Jon, the rich fabric velvety and heavy on Jon's shoulders. "I've been on plenty of dates in my life, and, so far, the process has not yielded the expected results. So, maybe you're right, it's something we do, but..." Tony hadn't really thought about it. There was a whole life that he had very consciously constructed because he was supposed to, and more than a few dates had been in service of that image. "I like..." Tony only hesitated briefly, the phrase not quite as distasteful as usual because he didn't really have any control over, "that you're different."

Heavy as the cape may be, there is something reassuring about its weight that prompts a smile. "Different seems fair enough. I think I can accept that." How couldn't he accept being something Tony likes. "And I still love you, Tony." Is added after a brief moment. A little reminder.

"Come on, then." Jon prompts, taking a step closer and casting a somewhat challenging look up at Tony while giving one of his hands the slightest nudge with his own. "Let's find out how the rest of tonight turns out."

"You still do--what happened, were you not sure, did we have to check in?" Tony asked, not looking nearly as serious as he meant to with a wry smile as he leaned closer while he spoke. Of course he was going to meet that challenge by stealing a kiss instead, pressed to the corner of Jon's mouth as Tony took hold of his wrist to keep him steady. He would have left it there, too, stubbornly combative and ready to tuck his hands away in his pockets if only for the sake of being contrary, but the oppressive awareness that it could be any of them, it could be Jon that went next, reminded Tony that he had more than enough regrets. With a flicker of hesitation that he played off in another kiss to Jon's cheek, he linked their fingers then quickly turned away to lead them back along the curve of the lake. There was hardly anyone around, anyway, and it was even less likely that they would encounter someone they knew, so Tony could squeeze Jon's hand for a little while. At least until they were approaching the park gates again.

"Hmm. Maybe I just like to say it. It feels nice. And I get to see your reaction." Jon muses, closing his eyes as Tony leans closer for that first little kiss. It may just be that, but that brief moment of contact, that brief moment of warm lips brushing against his skin causes his heart to leap and dread the inevitable parting.

But his heart gets another kiss to soothe its ache and when Jon opens his eyes again his hand is held in Tony's and he will let him lead their way while drinking in every moment of warm pressure on his hand. And yet he as well remains painfully aware that each of them could be next. And while Jon wants to convince himself that they can fight such a fate, that they will find a way back to one another, he remains afraid of one day showing up at the forge and find nothing but a distinct lack of Tony in it.

It's that thought that twists his guts heavily and has him return the squeeze much tighter than intended.

Though he had impulsively sprung up at Jon's suggestion, that tight clutch around his hand had Tony slowing cautiously to let Jon pace them, eyebrows raised inquisitively until he read the anxiety in Jon's expression. He glanced around at the growing number of people milling around as they rounded the lake again, wishing idly that he still had the cape with a deliberate push of his glasses up his nose before realizing it worked just as well for Jon. Easing out of his hold, he used both hands to carefully pull the dark hood up over Jon's head, where he could retreat and become one of the myriad of humanoid locals for Tony to ruin the reputation of instead of the respectable librarian, or chemist, or...Tony wasn't actually sure how the rest of Temba thought of Jon. He smoothed the hood down over Jon's ears to press another kiss to the velvet against his head, bumping carelessly against him as they walked.

That's hardly a move Jon could have anticipated and he blinks stupidly up at Tony for a few moments before managing to put his irritation into something resembling words. "W-wha- Tony? Is something wrong?"

If Tony could read Jon's anxiety in his face, then Jon can quite literally see it radiating off of Tony in that way he is certain he dislikes. Since Tony can be incredibly anxious about little and seemingly trivial things. Jon makes no move to pull the cape's hood back off, at least. But he does raise one of his thumbs to push it a little further up and allow himself to see properly again.

"No!" Tony insisted immediately, which was ridiculous, because most thing were wrong enough that his chest hurt, but none of them were anything that Jon did. Particularly not the way he peeked out from under the fabric, making Tony chuckle as he dropped his arm around Jon's shoulders and produce easily, "Just trying to keep you quiet, boss. Got a long way to go for you to keep saying dangerous stuff to me, these poor people didn't come out here for a show, please." Before Jon could think too hard about that, Tony was skipping along with a flick of his wrist out at the park, very aware that he wasn't talking as much as usual and maybe that wasn't helping, "You haven't even told me about this place and you're chasing me out of it. There's no way you planned this without reading the Wikipedia article, it's practically leaking out of your ears."

Jon keeps looking at Tony with a small frown on his face, not quite buying that little ramble.

He moves his hand away from the hood and down to Tony's hand draped over his shoulder and holds onto it while stopping. "Hold on a moment, please."

The combination of Jon taking his hand and actually vocally making his request made Tony instantly defensive, holding dutifully with the other hand curling absently into his shirt against his chest, but with an impatient cock of his hip and roll of his eyes as he clicked his tongue as though they had anywhere to be. Looking resolutely toward the park entrance, he continued, "You'd think there'd be more spaces like this, I mean, if it was up to you to design the whole thing--the entire place is artificial, it's practically a simulation of a planet, and you don't even need roads..." He was quickly running out of material, not actually that invested in the green spaces of Coruscant. The city had a lot of work to do before anyone would have been worried about accessible parks.

That senseless rambling is a little disconcerting and Jon watches Tony patiently while waiting for him to run out of things to say. Which really is inevitable at this point. Tony is at a loss with himself now that Steve is gone, leaving Jon to wonder if himself disappearing would have had a similar effect on Tony.

He isn't sure.

And maybe that should irk him more, but at this moment all he wants is to do what he can to show Tony that he is there for him. That he will support him and listen to him and hold him if that is what he needs.

And right now it looks like Tony needs someone to put a stop to that little breakdown he is having.

Stepping in front of Tony, Jon uses his free hand to push the hood back off his head first, then places both his hands on either side of Tony's face to turn it towards him. Without warning, Jon pulls Tony's head down a little and presses their lips together in a firm, uncomplicated kiss.

While Tony entirely knew that he hadn't produced his best distraction, Jon had a proven talent for recognizing when Tony really would rather he play along with the poor performance and was dismayed when Jon instead seemed to very deliberately force Tony to look him in the eye. That was the last thing Tony wanted, and the sunglasses no longer felt like any help whatsoever, though he didn't try to draw away and quickly gripped Jon's wrists as he took hold of his face, not to pull them away but grounding himself in the hold. What he really didn't expect was the kiss, making his response lag with his mouth set grimly in preparation for some kind of lecture for, at the very least, ruining Jon's romantic evening when they finally had the opportunity to pretend to be a little normal.

What Tony figured out, very fast, was that Jon's talent was less for playing along than feeling out what would actually help. Granted, Tony would have thought Jon telling him about building an artificial lake was helping, but he wasn't the one that had worked out that he really just wanted to drop his hold on Jon's wrists to wrap tightly around his chest instead, arms folded around him under the cape that had been a very poor substitute for this embrace, in retrospect. His belated kiss in return was brief, jaw still clenched tensely, but he remained bowed close enough that his nod was a brush of his nose against Jon's cheek before he muttered, "Sorry," for the rambling.

"It's alright." Jon replies softly, letting his hands brush back and around Tony's head to lightly wrap his arms around his neck, maintaining the proximity and pressing another small kiss on Tony's lips.

"We don't have to talk. You can just hold me and- I can kiss you again." An offer. One underlined by a little brush of Jon's nose against Tony's.

Tony's expression was still apologetic and tight, but he relaxed enough to let his hand sweep down Jon's back, taking as much time as he could manage to hold so still to accept the offer and linger in another chaste kiss. It felt much more like Jon sharing his air with him again so that Tony wouldn't drown, a thought that had a lump in Tony's throat again and his hand working up Jon's side to give an encouraging pat to ease him back; Tony could hold his breath a little longer. "Let's go," he encouraged with a nod up the path, "I'm okay. Show me what else you had planned."

And from all Jon can tell, Tony has need of his air once more. But that's fine. He's happy to share. He lingers a moment longer, fingers dancing across Tony's shoulders and his hands brushing down his arms once he is willing to take a step back.

"I think," Jon says, giving an impression of thinking about this. "We skip the history lesson at the Jedi temple and go right to the point where I feed you some sweets and massage the the tension out of your back." There's a short pause here in which Jon shrugs, takes hold of one of Tony's hands again and gives him a teasing bump with his shoulder as he turns to walk next to Tony again. "They wouldn't let me try out one of their lightsabers, can you imagine..."

Most of the time, it was difficult enough for Tony to tell when Jon was teasing him without nearly enough experience in the matter, and the temple history lesson sounded enough like an actual thing that would be interesting to Jon that Tony was already raising a lip in shock that he would have planned such a thing for them. Was he serious? He couldn't be serious. At least he had a very welcome alternative, because all Tony wanted to do was wrap himself around Jon, and he was pretty sure the Jedi would have something to say about it if they tried that in their temple.

His fingers continued to twitch restlessly in Jon's hold, but instead of drawing away this time Tony did his best to channel that energy into his other hand, gesturing a little more erratically than usual when he wasn't drumming it stiffly against his heart like an idling cycle. "I heard they let kids do that, try it out, see what it's like. They took one look at you and knew there'd be missing fingers, missing legs, they'd be crying, you'd be crying..." he gave back. "Trust me, I talked to them, all of them at once, the Jedi pope, it was all very relaxed, and they said they would much rather you spent your time figuring out what my favourite candy was. They recognized that I would probably still get hurt, but that's as much as we all agreed we could minimize your influence."

Jon lets Tony talk as they walk, raising his brow and nodding along in mock understanding, well aware that Tony is just making these things up.

He offers a little smirk. "So you mean it wasn't because they sensed what I am? Gave Master Kenobi quite the headache when he tried to heal me." Which isn't a detail Jon has brought up before. Neither that he feels off in the Force. Even the guards at the temple originally had been getting ready to attack him on his first visit.

"But that's okay. I actually did find some quite intriguing candy and something that might be comparable to chocolate. I will let you guess which ones are the cheap ones and which ones are being sold as local delicacies."

Jon spending his time in Coruscant researching treats was adorable enough that Tony snorted and had to release Jon's hand then to curl an arm around his waist instead and keep him close as Tony purred, "But will any of them compare to my favourite delicacy?," with a nip to Jon's ear. It left him in a good position to give an apologetic butt against his head, having not considered that the Force powers would interact strangely with Jon's and could have left him vulnerable in this place. The clearest idea Tony had still of what the Force could be was Cal's moving things with his mind and sometimes touching something exciting.

"He didn't...he wasn't weird about it, right?" Tony asked cautiously. Everyone in this place seemed to have such specific boundaries of what was an acceptable way to have powers that Tony wasn't getting a good handle on, and didn't map well with like boundaries on Earth. "Was he trying to heal it?" That kind of thing was familiar.

The attempt from Jon's side to not sputter away is at least somewhat successful, though it still doesn't keep the blush from his cheeks. At least Tony is back to his shameless flirting. And while a little embarrassing, Jon can't quite argue that he dislikes it as he leans against Tony with a simple. "Guess we'll find out..."

Tony's questions regarding Obi-Wan's reaction to Jon are initially met with some silence while Jon recalls the encounter. "He... Tried to heal me after the spider attack. Backfired on him and he said I feel dark to him. Some of the Jedi here sensed it too. Always kept a close eye on me..."

Tony would have pursued a bigger reaction if they weren't both a little subdued, but was reasonably satisfied that Jon was blushing brighter than his own glow of affection at Jon just being cute, and gave his side an appreciative pat as they fell into step together. His fingers continued to pluck anxiously at the seam on Jon's shirt as he considered the Jedi sensing what might have been a problem, and who to get ahead of it if they decided it was one they had to handle. Their stay in this city wasn't going to last, they could keep their heads down and be long gone before it was really an issue, but so many sensitive people in and environment like Temba could lead to tension.

"You're not, ah...doing anything, that Kenobi would disagree with," he phrased carefully, free hand up to try to capture the question without it being accusatory, but eyebrow raised for an answer. Not that he was entirely sure that would hold up in a Jedi court, or however they conducted themselves, but Tony was pretty sure he could organize a jury of Jon's peers in Temba in his favour.

He gives a small, shallow laugh at the inquiry. "I am something they disagree with. Kenobi says I feel dark. The opposite of their light. Which makes sense, I suppose, given that I am the... Embodiment of a primordial fear." Jon rolls his eyes at his own words and lets out an audible exhale while tipping his head against Tony's shoulder to cast a stern little pout at him. "Don't comment on that. It's... Fine. I assume he will never fully trust me, but I don't the trust of a space-faring monk-wizard." The pout shifts into a little smile. "I know who I can trust, though. And... That's not a small list, admittedly. Which is quite nice."

Especially if he thinks back roughly a year ago when he has been certain people would hunt him down if they found out what he is.

Not much had really changed since Jon had first told Tony that he had chosen to trust more this evening, but this time Tony was more certain that he didn't want to try to talk Jon out of it even if he thought it was misguided--even the people who had been willing to rely on Jon in their private wasteland so far could change their minds the moment it was more comfortable to, and an influence like Kenobi seemed to have could change the board entirely. Instead, Tony vowed to watch Jon's blind spots for him with another pat to his hip, looking up any away innocently at that pout Jon had given him like he couldn't imagine any myriad of scandalous concepts someone could be accusing Jon of embodying.

"It's unfair, though," he did say, turning his own pout on Jon. "To talk about it like that, light and dark. They didn't ask to be born Jedi as much as you didn't ask for...this. Shit happened and choices were made, sure, but..." He twisted his free hand in the air, because it didn't really matter. "On Earth--back home, we've got people like Cap who have superstrength out of a needle, and they're celebrated as icons and heroes, the absolute best of us. If you have the same powers because you were born that way, though, some random mutation in the genetic code, you're a threat, kicked out of your community--end up in juvie, like Tommy. Angels and demons. I don't believe in a higher power like that, maybe that's it--I believe in the future. In the program, AA, that faith is an important step, you have to be able to identify something bigger than you. I don't know if that makes you healthier." He took a deep breath, at least identifying the rambling this time, and abruptly offered, "Most guys come out of it with a sweet tooth, though, did you know that? Sugar addiction, instead of their suicide of choice. It's the coffee and donuts that get you in the door." Not an indulgence that Temba offered often, without alien sweets to be innocently fed to him.

Those bits and pieces Tony brings up from his own Earth are sure to capture Jon's attention. Yes, he has heard most of this before. The comparison between Steve and Tommy is very clear and also very daunting. Sure, Tony's world has superheroes willing to fight for their planet, but those heroes also receive a lot of distrust and mistreatment. Which is disheartening.

At the same time their world also has supervillains. And regular people trapped in the middle. The reasons for all these conflicts seem much too obvious to him, with no solution anywhere in sight.

"...believing in the future..." Jon ends up parroting the words thoughtfully, opting to not start a discussion about the fairness and it's lack thereof in their respective worlds. Very few things are ever fair after all.

"That's not a bad thing to believe in. For now we... Can believe in a near future featuring sweets." Something nice, simple and achievable for now. Maybe not the most elegant, but for Jon himself it has been getting progressively harder to picture an actual future for himself.

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