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

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.

Tony knew it hadn't been a particularly hopeful, barely coherent speech, the raw talent for that sort of thing might have been gone with Steve and the best anyone else could manage was to not be completely disheartening, but it was Jon's answer sounding so bleak despite himself that had Tony sliding away to take his hand again apologetically. "And that great bathtub," he tried to add helpfully, hand out flat to help envision the luxury of their hotel bathrooms, which might have been where more than a few of them had spent most of their limited time in Coruscant before it was taken away again. "And maybe we can get that really cute gal who works room service to bring us some burgers. Bet she'd like you. You probably wear the same size, we could get you one of those outfits."

The bathtub suggestion sounds fine with Jon and he casts a short glance down towards their once again joined hands only to find himself smiling lightly again. Making use of the room service for some burgers also doesn't sound awful. They haven't exactly eaten anything just yet. As for the rest... Well.

"T-Tony!" Another clearly flustered outburst from Jon is Tony's initial reward. That he is also holding tighter onto Tony's hand is just an additional treat on top of that wide-eyed look Jon is directing at Tony as he stutters. "W-wha-why... Why would I want to wear that?!"

The only reason for Jon to look nearly so stricken and make Tony try to hide his laugh behind his hand, wavering closer then sidling experimentally away to see if that clutch around his fingers translated to Jon sticking nervously close in case anyone else could hear how loud his blush was, the only reason was that he knew entirely what he would be wearing it for. Recovering as smoothly as possible, Tony raised his eyebrows innocently to ask, "You don't have a thing for uniforms? Is that weird?" It occurred to Tony that he had asked Jon something similar enough times that the list of his 'things' might have been getting intimidatingly unwieldy, whereas it wasn't really the kind of information Jon shared with Tony, and yet he continued, "Waitresses especially. A diner waitress, with the little nametag--that probably means something, I wouldn't want to tell that to a psychiatrist."

Tony has no need to worry, Jon knows precisely what he is implying, his flustered nervousness translating into his hand repeatedly clenching and unclenching around Tony's hand. After a couple of moments he manages to formulate a reply, though he is pointedly looking away as if that would in any way hide the blush. "We will talk about this- In private. But just so you know: I'm not quite comfortable putting on a skirt." Because he would only look ridiculous in one. A male uniform properly fitted for him he might be able to see the appeal.

The grumbling about it paired with the very minor hard limit of 'no skirts' had Tony unable to conceal his laugh this time, and his eyes were still bright with it as he tugged Jon around the park entrance and into a receded alcove just outside that Tony would have guessed as a bus stop, had he ever seen a bus in this place. Private, right? It was just outside of the cast of the streetlight, anyway, where Tony pressed his back against the wall, sliding down enough, with his weight braced on his heel, that they were about the same height when he coaxed Jon close with another tug at his hand and pluck at the front of his shirt, where he could feel the heat from his face. "Putting it on isn't even the fun part," he grinned, toying still with the front of Jon's shirt until he had opened the closure at his collar.

It left him quite unprepared for the speeder that tore up to stop suddenly and expectantly just outside of their waiting alcove, leaving Tony blinking owlishly in their called vehicle's lights. There might not have been buses, but there was clearly a system.

Getting dragged into that little nook in the wall isn't something Jon outright expects, but he finds himself not too surprised by the action as well and knows better than to put up a fight. It's much more the insinuation Tony puts out into the world while fiddling with Jon's collar and the way his voice and actions turn his guts into a heated knot that has him back to sputtering slightly.

Of course he knows exactly what Tony is implying. The part where one wraps a present rarely is the part anyone enjoys. It's unwrapping that comes with the excitement that-

Jon finds his words rudely interrupted just as he has started to open his mouth to verbally respond to Tony, but instead first blinks at him, then turns to the waiting speeder and blinks again, one of his hand paused halfway up to settle on Tony's elbow. "...ah... r-right..... Might want to hold that thought."

His eyes flick back to Tony and he then nods towards what apparently will be their private little transport. At least it's manned by a droid rather than a living being.

Tony was nodding back with a wry smile, looking very respectfully curious about those gears he could hear turning in Jon's head that apparently left him so occupied that Tony had to ease him back and out of their waiting area. He glanced back as they clambered into the vehicle, spotting the lights above the alcove that must have been the signals for the vehicles before he was rapidly more entranced by their synthetic driver, leaning up against the back of their seat to peer curiously at the droid and the controls. Directions to the hotel was only a good excuse for about half a second before Tony's looming was very obvious, but the droid didn't seem bothered, only delivering a very practiced but unaffected slap to his hand as Tony reached inquisitively for the dash.

It had its intended effect, sending Tony pouting back into his own seat, slouching down and clearly plotting how he would be taking one of these apart by the time the sun rose again.

Unlike Tony, Jon's attention is less with the inside of the speeder but the city speeding by outside of it. Which doesn't mean he misses his partner's interest in the droid and looks over the moment he slumps back into his seat.

The pout gets a small chuckle out of Jon. "Just let him do his job. I'd rather not crash with this thing. I'm sure otherwise he'd love to be your friend." Maybe the droid wouldn't agree to be taken apart, but that's beside the point, right? Without awaiting a response, Jon moves to lean against Tony, which at least means his eyes aren't glued to Coruscant's ridiculous traffic and he won't try to make any sense of it.

A crash hadn't even occurred to Tony, and the concept seemed to delight him even as he absently accepted Jon against his side with an arm around his shoulders. He slouched further to kick his toes experimentally up under the seat ahead of him as though this might reveal some functionality, asking, "What do you think the safety features are?" There didn't seem to be any, to Tony's eye, which was a lot of trust to put into an automated system. At this speed, it wouldn't even be a very long flight, and other vehicles hurtled by close enough to leave their speeder rocking in the wake. "When I'm designing the quinjets, they don't get out the door without thirty redundancies for seatbelts that none of the Avengers use, anyway," he muttered, belts notably absent here along with anything else Tony could immediately notice meant purely for their protection. "Cap does," he corrected after a moment. "They didn't even have seatbelts when he was born. I think he does it to humour me."

"Or maybe he is genuinely relieved that safety regulations have improved since that time." Jon offers with a little smile, then casts a glance out of the window again. "Which don't appear to be anyone's concern on this planet. Which is impressive already without looking past the surface level. Somehow... It still works."

Part of that may also be that the planet is so densely populated that accidents simply go unnoticed. Which isn't an issue Jon is willing to raise. They weren't sent here to fix Coruscant.

Obviously, Jon hadn't gotten much of a chance to spend time with Steve, because Tony was snorting at the idea of Cap having any respect for safety regulations, only to bow the twist of a longing frown into Jon's hair, hugging him closer, before it got too obvious. Jon's smiles were coming easily, that wasn't worth interrupting, and he didn't even know what he was missing out on. After a deep breath, he could counter, "Or it's just impossible to govern. This many people, showing up at all times from out there in the galaxy, there can't be that many small laws. Not any that are actually enforced, anyway. They don't seem to think much about individuals here, everything's replaceable, it's all a big system. Dollars to donuts, he doesn't get repaired if he crashes."

“Huh...” Jon looks over to their droid driver while being content enough to be held close. “I bet he could tell us more... But the last ones I asked something were adamant to point out that they are programmed to not engage with their costumers.” And while it bothers Jon in some way, right now he feels fine with these restrictions.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are actually laws in place, but just like in Earth a lot of them are being ignored, forgotten or simply broken.” He will admit, however, that he hasn’t checked what laws do or don’t exist on Coruscant.

Tony hummed thoughtfully about the droid, having about the same experience when he tried to charm a droid and much more success getting to know them from scrapers and marketplaces, and attempts to override this programming just to satisfy his curiousity had quickly felt invasive. It went deep, he knew that much, making the droids who had joined them in Temba all the more interesting.

"Government is massive," he observed, but narrowed his eyes skeptically, not sure that meant much more than a consolidation of power. "Just about everyone I meet that isn't doing shift work is some kind of senator or minister or legislator. It's been harder to blend in than I thought--in order to get into those rooms, you have to be an official advisor of some kind, military at least. None of them really talk about Coruscant, though. Few of them have plenty of stories about storms, but nothing like back on Agra 10."

From what Jon has been able to learn at the temple and also the droids roaming freely through those halls is that each of them has its very own personality programming. Which should have surprised him a lot less after having come to know BD-1, yet still has left the Archivist quite baffled.

Almost as baffled as he listens to Tony’s words right now. Words that have him lean forward to turn his head towards the man and give him a wide-eyed look that is equally amazed as it is amused. “That is the sort of research you did here?” He won’t even attempt to keep the little laugh from his voice. “I- I probably shouldn’t be surprised.” No. Not after what he has learned about Tony working with an international spying agency. Making friends in higher places must come easy to him.

“And I have been wondering why I never saw you at the temple...”

At first, Tony gave a flick of his hand to ask what Jon thought he had been doing this whole time, but it wasn't like Temba had provided Tony with the opportunities to flex his most ruthless skills in charm and manipulation. Then again, Jon had seen the most of them. With Jon pulling out of his hold, Tony shifted his arm up along the back of the seat to lean his head in his hand, lending a coy slant to his most disarming smile. It dropped for an accusatory frown as he asked in return, "Have you found much at the temple?" He had clearly dismissed this as a useful source, at least not useful in solving their actual problem. "I was hoping someone would recognize the kind of weapon used to make those storms, or the ship design, or know something about singing planets. Some leads on the ships but..." he elaborated, wavering his free hand because he was pretty sure that wasn't going to amount to anything. "If the Atroma or the Agrii exist to these people, it's either way in this past or this future. I'm still tracking down some weapons developers, see if I can pick up a trail."

"Well, I have been hoping that the most extensive library and archives of this galaxy might hold at least a clue." Jon admits with a little shrug in return to that dropped smile and leans back against the seat himself, finding his place under Tony's arm and resting his head against it while peering up. "Checked all known species and planets, but even in records listing planets and beings that were destroyed of have gone extinct millennia ago there is no mention of Agra 10, the Agrii or the Atroma. They let me use a holocron to play back old personal recordings as well. Interesting, but..." He trails off, shrugging again while his gaze drops down onto his own hand, which he has raised slightly as if still holding one of the cubes. "Fascinating system to store data. Yes, you need someone adept at using the Force to activate the holocron, but once it's open you just... Drop whichever data crystal you want it to read into it. If the system were more widely accessible..." This time Jon cuts himself off with a tiny, dismissive laugh, shaking his head and closing his hand again. "No. I didn't find anything useful, I'm afraid."

As much as Tony had already dismissed the temple, it wasn't until Jon's explanation that he realized how strangely restricted the information was, making Tony's nose wrinkle with some irritation that the Jedi were hoarding these archives, and in formats that required some weird, genetic code to access. At least being granted that access meant that the Jedi couldn't have been that bothered by Jon, and the close eye could have had more to do with...Jon, than anything lurking in his head.

What made everyone in this society accept that the Jedi were in control (and the inevitable conclusion of that, as far as Tony could tell) was a question for someone like Cal or Kenobi, perhaps. After a beat, what Tony responded with was, "You look healthy," lifting his head to brush his fingers through Jon's hair. Maybe it wasn't just his tape recorder that he had to rely on.

It's only the holocrons that are this restricted, at least. Regular datapads and holodiscs don't require an active holocron to access. But those were also a lot less fascinating to Jon.

Feeling the tips of Tony's fingers brushing against his head has Jon perk up and his response may be a little more enthusiastic than he normally would let himself appear. There is also a distinct note of satisfaction in the comparably short response. "Thanks! I'm feeling pretty good as well." He raises a finger. "And before you ask: They tried to eat me first." Which is at least meant to be half of a joke.

It wasn't a joke that Tony was following, but he started to laugh in confusion regardless as Jon's rare pride in it. "The holocron?" he tried, more confused than ever about how this Force-linked system worked. "Is it some kind of creature?" Tony had been assuming the temple was full of hard drives, not herding uniquely talented animals around to read their archives.

Jon easily joins in on the laugh with a chuckle of his own. "Oh no. They are mechanical devices which you may find fascinating if they weren't tied to the Jedi's magic. Though they helped, too. Some of those recording were very much like the statements left with the institute. Reports of encounters and experiences. I only wish I could have done some research into them to uncover more about the folklore and creatures reported about!"

Sure, there were false statements as well, but Jon hasn't had any difficulties recognizing real ones. "I made copies of the real ones with my tape recorder." He announces proudly.

That pretty much confirmed for Tony that the Jedi had plenty of good reason to watch Jon closely just from his behaviour, because Tony and Cal had been eyeing him after watching him make a recording, too. "You know you get weird when you do that?" Tony laughed. "They must have thought you were an actor of some kind. Did they start trying to show you space-Shakespeare after the first one?"

Weird is an oddly cute way to put it and Jon blinks up at Tony twice for his choice of words, blushing faintly before glancing away in an attempt to appear indifferent. And failing spectacularly once he opens his mouth again and his excitement returns. "They are... The statements. They are A Lot. They draw you in and I- I lose myself a little. I'm there, experiencing what's happening!" It's no wonder Martin hates doing them.

Even that was a little bit of the weirdness, as far as Tony could tell, and it was charming that Jon was actually enthusiastic about something, but unfortunately it was something that left Tony feeling awkward. He fidgeted, shifting in his seat and looking for something to twist his empty hand into, and eyed the piloting droid, wondering at how seamless the system would have been if it really was one big network and not a series of disparate signals, droids designed as individuals.

"That's the thing, where you can open up a little bit in your head," Tony surmised, not entirely confident but seeing how the network might work. "You know more than what's actually on the page. Do you--can you tell when people are lying to you? Do you have to repeat it?"

"I'm not a lie detector, Tony." Jon replies gently, noting the fidgeting and responding by putting one hand onto Tony's closest leg in an attempt at being comforting. And it's true. "Back home we found the real statements when they wouldn't record on our laptops and we had to use the tape recorders. Here they... They were mostly written on datapads. They felt off upon reading them."

He gives Tony's leg a little squeeze and rolls his head onto the other man's shoulder. "And people... They lie to me all the time. I'd have to ask them to tell the truth, I suppose, but- That would require me to suspect anything." Is it better that he doesn't suspect anything? Probably not. He sighs. "I guess I could tell... If I looked really hard. But that's more likely to hurt them and myself and... No. I'd rather have people trust me and tell em the truth where it's needed."

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