nightlogs | welcome to the party, pal

Entry tags:

welcome to the party, pal

Who: Branch, Miguel, Tim, Boba, Dan, and Stacia
What: The supply and prisoner exchange
Where: The emptied out workroom floor
When: After all of Branch's chaos.
Warnings/Notes: Some blood, eventual cw mentions of cannibalism probably when Branch is hashing it out with Dan and Stacia, I'll put warnings in the subject.

[It's going to plan. And the heightened chaos is making it exactly as distracting and chaotic a situation as he was hoping for. The floor is cleared and there are people leading Elves and yetis to areas they've cleared, but traps can still be heard going off, sometimes randomly. Occasionally there's the angry argleblorgleblorg of a yeti getting chili powder exploding out of an air cannon to their face.]

[In some areas where traps were already set off and cleared, somehow (read: thanks to his 14-year-old secret accomplice) they've been reset, only to go off again.]

[It leaves things nice and unsettled and distracting.]

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[ A familiar Someone is at the other end of the door. Though, he doesn't immediately turn to acknowledge the kid. Miguel has his head and forearms buried in a server rack-like cabinet that he was constructing for a work space. The noodly aluminum sliding racks took time to assemble together and align correctly, so he was doing them one at a time from the top down. It was painfully archaic and time-consuming compared to what he could put together in Nueva York, but it'll be necessary for their missions.

In the meantime, it appears that he was assigned to be the local Lucky-Wrangler, since he can't stop himself from being the Guy Who Steps Up. Especially not after seeing how Boba knocked the fuck out the instant he got something of a meal. However, unable to stay away from his work for too long, he found a compromise. Keep an eye on feral boy, get necessary work done.

So, outside of the room was a scattered amount of supplies around his space. It was organized chaos - the tools all in one area and building materials in another. Screwdrivers weren't as effective as knives, but maybe they could be useful in a pinch. ]

[Boba cracks the door open to see his guard, and it looks like he's settled in for the long-haul. He was really hoping that he wouldn't have to try the window, but it looks like he may not have a choice.

Maybe he can sneak around and come back in through another door to find a new hiding place? Just until he figures out how to get his hands on one of the globes. It would be risky. He knows how to handle the wet and the cold, but he's never actually had to deal with snow before. He'd only seen it in picture before he was brought here.

There's a hydrospanner-looking tool sitting close to the door. He could probably reach it, but it would risk exposing himself. It doesn't look like Miguel's noticed him yet, and that would give him both a tool and a weapon.

He decides to risk it.

As quietly as he can, barely daring to breathe, Boba crouches down and reaches out for the tool. He carefully lifts it with his fingers before getting a firmer grasp. Hopefully Miguel is too focused to look over his shoulder.]

[Dan's primary impulse is to try and get up to assist, but he's well aware that that won't be seen as anything but an attack, so he stays seated. His secondary impulse is to fidget, preferably with a cigarette, which is his go-to whenever he has to sit still longer than a few minutes, but that's both gauche at the Pole and would require him to reach into his pocket to retrieve something, and he knows better than to do that.

So he's quiet and mostly still as he watches Branch work, just occasionally softly flicking the aglet on one of his shoelaces to keep those perpetual jitters satisfied.]

Well, my answer to that is that we ain't in your home. We're all from different places, and we got to cooperate past our differences. I imagine you ain't met all the big folk there are, so you might could have gotten a, what's the term. Non-representative sample, what with them Bergens. [Dan isn't sure what a Bergen is. He glances at Stacia, curious if she knows.] Like you said, if we wanted to kill you, we could have might already, and we ain't.

[That seems more sensible than a platitude about how Branch could probably fight them off. There's no pretending there isn't a power imbalance.]

You look like you lost a lot of blood volume. I got some water, if you want me to slide you a glass. It'll help. I'll drink some first if you want to show it ain't poison.

Don't.

[ Miguel had already known he was awake when he heard the shuffling around in Boba's room. If it sometimes seems like he has eyes in the back of his head, it is from the spidery enhanced hearing and simple parent instinct.

His head appears out of the cabinet, looking stern but not angry, as seemed to be his default state around the kid. ]

How are you feeling? Still dizzy?

Edited 2023-09-01 14:37 (UTC)

[Stacia answers Dan's questioning glance with a shrug. She and the guy haven't had the chance to start trading vocabulary lessons yet; "Bergens" might just mean "big ones" or it might be what those people call themselves.

When Dan finishes making his offer to get water, she adds her own answer to the question.]

You're right. If this were a pretense, it would be exhausting. And, no offense, but there's no way you're calorically dense enough for me to put this much work into killing and eating you; even putting aside the whole I don't eat things smart enough to hold a conversation aside. Which takes some doing, that's a pretty big thing to put aside.

[She's trying to inject a little humor into the conversation. It usually works out well, so long as it hits rather than falling flat.]

[Boba freezes. The tool slips out of his grip and clatters onto the floor.

The question makes him take stock. How is he feeling? Not dizzy. Tired, ache, and his head throbs dully. His brain feels like it's stuffed full of swirling clouds, like Bespin. The meal and a night's rest did Boba good but he needs more of both before he's going to be back to baseline.]

Fine.

[He wants to go back in the room and hide. Maybe make for the window.

He want to know what Miguel wants more, so he doesn't move. The crouching position isn't the most comfortable, but he can deal with it.]

Edited 2023-09-01 23:20 (UTC)

[ In a very deadpan tone: ]

Here. Food is a thing you need to do semi-regularly.

[ It appears that Miguel came prepared.... with a deli sandwich. He was wearing a coat over his suit, since the latter lacked pockets and the interior of pockets was where many of his tools were sitting. And so, out of his coat came a plastic-wrapped breakfast for him.

He lets Boba have a little forewarning before tossing it over. If he can get Lucky the kid to eat two meals, even if its sequestered in his room somewhere, it'll already be better than whatever he was doing before. ]

[Boba scowls. It's not like he wasn't eating on purpose. He just... forgot. It's hard to remember when he's so used to having his meals given to him at scheduled times.

He catches the sandwich. It gets squished into a pocket for later.]

What do you want?

[It's a genuine question and an accusation in one.]

[He huffs out a breath at "calorically dense" that almost is the ghost of a dark laugh. Almost.]

[Boy, but she does have a point, though. With how much trouble he's caused, if they intended harm they'd just come over and grab him or stomp on him.]

[Branch wipes the blood of his now-empty vial of water with a piece of gauze and rolls it over to Dan. It goes mostly in a straight line.]

You can fill that and roll it back.

[He doesn't demand Dan drink the water first.]

[He's quiet for a little bit, looking at them both as if trying to judge from their expressions if they're lying. But he thinks...maybe they really aren't.]

[And that means if they're trying to de-escalate things and come to some kind of understanding, they need to know why he flipped out.]

The Bergens are the big people back home and they did put a lot of work into eating us. They built a cage around the tree the village lived in and built their entire town around it.

They used to mostly come for us once a year on a holiday they called Trollstice. But sometimes in between. The adults built tunnels for us to escape through when I was a kid.

But they still looked for us. They dug up the tunnels as we were escaping, and kept looking for us even after we escaped. For twenty years. And almost killed the whole village when they found and caught us. They only stopped because our queen convinced them to finally stop hunting us.

That was a little over a year ago.

[They need to understand why he was scared. And why he might make demands. And why there are places he needs to be met halfway.]

You shouldn’t wait too long to eat that. Cold deli can make you sick if it gets old.

[ it’s possible that the Boy’s dimension does not have cheese and ham. He shouldn’t skip the meal either, so it works both ways. Anyway, as for the question: ]

And what I want is to finish this rack to start installing hardware, but I have to keep an eye on you, clearly.

[ so he is doing both! ]

[Dan pulls a small water bottle from his pocket - with all the layers he wears, he's always got plenty of supplies stashed in his jacket and hoodie and underlayers - and fills the vial. He rolls it back, then takes a drink of the remainder, even though Branch didn't ask for a demonstration.

He stays quiet during Branch's explanation, but he's listening and paying attention to how matter-of-fact Branch is being. That's how some people talk about horrible things that have happened to them. Just the facts.

He gives Stacia a smile. Her humor was well-calibrated for the scenario. Then he turns back to Branch.]

That sounds terrible. And recent. [Dan tucks his water bottle back into his jacket.] I'm sorry that happened to all of you. That won't be happening to you here.

[He glances again at Stacia, because Stacia knows the outline of why Dan is the way he is and what tragedies comprise his background.] There are other folks here who've been hunted down by folks meaning to wish them harm. Myself included. It's important to me that that sort of thing don't happen here.

[Boba reluctantly pulls out the sandwich. It got a little smushed. He unwraps it and takes a bite.

It's... weird. Different from anything he's eaten before. Almost overwhelming, considering how long he's been living off of the bland slop they serve in prison.

Once he's finished he crumbles up the plastic wrap, shoves it into his pocket, and hesitantly steps forward. Not enough to leave the doorway, he can still quickly duck back into the room if he has to, but enough to get a slightly better look at what Miguel's doing.]

You wouldn't have to keep an eye on me if you just let me leave.

[ Lucky's been awake for ten minutes and already goes back to that. ]

Why not give it a few weeks? At least get yourself up to speed before you decide if you want to leave.

[ Myths functioned differently from your regular baseline humans, but the kid was still recuperating. Miguel would still rather he get taken care of until he was back to full health.

As for what he was working on - it was at least a peculiar object. Solid wood and sculpted details mixed with more industrial-looking brackets used for computer hardware. The project had clearly involved some amount of creative crafting to merge together. ]

[Yeah, like he believes that. It might be a good idea to go along with things for now. Just until he's gained enough trust that he's allowed more freedom.

If they allow him more freedom.]

...Fine. I guess.

[Boba doesn't really know who's supposed to be in charge here, but it looks like Miguel's taking responsibility for him. He doesn't understand it. Boba doesn't have access to any of his accounts, or his ship, or his weapons. Unless Miguel wants to use his training and experience to fight (and he's really not sure if that's the case), Boba has nothing to give him. Why is he investing so much time and energy?

He takes a few cautious steps further and lets the door shut behind him. He might as well start earning some of that trust.]

What are you building?

[ Well, Lucky clearly doesn't like the arrangement, but its a start. As much as he resisted wanting to get too attached to the kid, it looks like he would be taking responsibility... for now. ]

A computer. The technology here is lacking compared to my world, but if I get enough hardware together... It should be enough for what we need.

[ dimensional travel, eventually. ]

[Stacia inhales deeply as the little guy begins his explanation, and breathes slowly through the rest of it. He doesn't need someone angry on his behalf right now, he needs someone who's listening to him.]

Yeah, what Dan said. This is normally the point in the conversation where I'd offer a hug, but... [She raise a hand and gestures, attempting to encompass the whole situation, from their physical difference to their significant size difference.] Yeah, I'd understand if you weren't up for anything that felt remotely like restraint.

[Branch is quiet for a little while, processing. He uses taking a drink of the water as an excuse to not talk.]

[Also he's really thirsty and dizzy.]

[He doesn't want a hug from a stranger, especially such a big stranger. But if she were his size...maybe.]

[In the face of such uncomprimising kindness, with people able to denounce what the Bergens did, his resolve and rebellion starts to finally break down.]

[He digs for one more rebuttal, one more attempt to catch them out as evil.]

That kid, why does he think he's going to be forced to fight? Is it true?

[Boba starts examining the parts from a distance. He's trying to be subtle, but probably isn't succeeding.

Some of parts look completely foreign to him. Some look more familiar. He spent a lot of time taking apart and rebuilding all of the systems in Slave I. Plus all the times he helped his dad repair his gear, or slice into comlinks and datapads, or build weapons and gear from leftover parts.

Boba knows a lot about how to build things. Especially ships. Back on Kamino he filled a lot of hours with every technical manual he could get his hands on. And every book he could get his hands on. And every hologame he could get his hands on.

He had a lot of hours to fill on Kamino.]

What's the computer going to do?

Which kid? There are a few of them here. I ain't met them all, but the ones I met are more keen on fighting than I'd like them to be. [Dan's trying to keep an eye on them all, but he doesn't like using the communicators and things are still a little chaotic. People have slipped under his radar.]

[Stacia muffles a laugh because this is serious, but:]

Yeah, no kids are going to be forced to fight. The first time I met Bunny, he told me that I should myself under his protection; regardless of the fact I can turn into a big scary monster or that I was almost legally an adult by human standards. It was really sweet, actually.

His name's Lucky. He reached out to me in secret to ask if he could go with me. He thought he was going to be forced to fight. I tried to take him with me.

[Which makes it abundantly clear why the Belief decided he would make for a good Guardian. Terrified, desperate, injured, and outmatched by people that were 30 times his size, he'd still tried to save a child he thought was being exploited.]

[A human child. A child big enough to be a threat, big enough to harm him if he decided to be as randomly cruel as any adult big person.]

[But...he believes them that they wouldn't make him fight. Why lie about it when it's something they'd be caught out over pretty immediately? If they were planning it, it feels more like they'd make excuses as to why it's okay. The kid probably has his reasons to assume the worst. Kids in terrifying situations often do and who knows what situation he came from.]

I think - I think I actually believe you.

[Even if the stupid Elf tried to eat him, even if an adult fed him to him, it was probably an isolated act. But that doesn't mean all the big people are okay with it. That they'll let it happen.]

[He suddenly buries his face in his hands to hide the complicated emotions that come next. The outpouring of grief that comes every time he becomes afraid like this because of what the fear is so intimately tied to. The tearful relief. The guilt over what he's done, including kidnapping Tim.]

[He doesn't sob and his shoulders don't shake but he clearly needs to work through it before actually facing them again.]

[Something else comes with the emotion, now that he's not dull with despair. Magical light starts to rise up his body and the more saturated colors follow after it. He's still a little duller than usual when it's finished, but it's nowhere near as bad.]

[He gasps his way through it all, then briefly knocks his forehead against his knees, as if having a little fit to exorcise the anxiety demons. Finally, arms wrapped around his knees, he raises his head to look at them.]

I want to talk to the Elf. I need to know if someone gave me to him.

I'm going to be studying this dimension.

[ he does notice the kid's interest in what he was working on. It's not unwelcome. It's better to have him curious about computer parts rather than fearful and trying to stab people with screwdrivers. ]

With some luck, I'll be able to gain some insight into this end of the Multiverse and find a way to stop the threat here before it spreads.

[ eyebrow quirk. ]

Would you like to take a closer look?

[Boba's mind starts going over the possibilities. With easy access to tech he may not be as trapped and defenseless as he thought. He could start collecting stuff, building stuff. Maybe even his own blaster...

Yeah. Yeah, this sounds like a good plan. If Miguel is going to keep a close eye on him, he might as well be productive with it.

Boba picks up the screwdriver, walks up and sits on the floor near Miguel. He's out of immediate arm's reach with a straight shot to the door of the bedroom. But he's close enough to be able to see what the other man is doing.]

...Yeah.

[His answer is a little late considering that he already sat down.

He holds out the screwdriver as a peace offering.]

[Dan gives Branch his space to fall apart and put himself back together. The trust they've been given is already so tentative; Dan's not about to do anything that could be seen as pushy.

He's had his meltdowns like this in the past. He's been lucky that it's almost always been in private, those times when it all hits at once, when there's just enough relief that the dam loses all its tension and breaks.]

We can make that happen. We can ask around and see if anyone else saw what happened when you were unconscious. [Dan gives a little nod.] You're looking a little better.

[ Miguel pockets the tool! This is a good development to him. He is not interested in having to sit in front of Boba's door and stare at him forever.

Ideally, he can be given more freedom over time. ]

This is more of a frame. Not very exciting, yet.

[ With the tool he was using, he points out the little screwholes in the aluminium rack. ]

Computer parts will be mounted on here, eventually. It should enough to run scans and simulations, once it's all connected.

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Page 3 of 5

welcome to the party, pal

the aftermath continues.......

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