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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[Stacia tries not to fidget as the guy has a little breakdown. This is normally the part where gives someone a hug or a blanket or a snack or something, but she doesn't want to move suddenly while he's emotionally dealing with his shit.

Maybe they should find him a desk or something else heavy to hide under while he recalibrates; something the big people here can move aside.

Like I said, Jack's already talking to the elves. I think out of everyone here, he's probably got the best chance of getting information out of them. They don't exactly strike me as the stone-faced snitches get stitches type. Either the others in the know are going to rat out the responsible party, or the responsible party is going to start crying when Jack expresses disappointment in whoever did it.

[Case in point, they're joined by Jack, who walks up behind Stacia and Dan slowly, so Branch has plenty of time to see him.]

I found the guilty party. It was Bingle. [The Elf jingles up behind Jack and hides behind his leg, looking like he fully knows he's in trouble.]

[Jack crouches next to the other two humans there, so he's not towering.]

Bingle thought you were a toy. He and the other Elves are like little kids and I don't know about the kids of your species but human kids like to chew on things. We actually have to put age warnings on toys if they're choking hazards. The Elves are like that, too.

With the thinking you were a toy thing, it probably didn't help that I put you in the room of a dollhouse in the Infirmary. I was worried if I just left you on a bed on the ground you might get stepped on, or if I did it on a table or a ledge you might wake up and be too out of and fall off and get hurt.

Even despite that, Bingle [And here he turns and gives Bingle a stern look that makes the Elf cringe back slightly, not out of fear but out of shame] knows he's not allowed in the Infirmary without permission, but he saw me tuck you away through the doorway when we were fixing everyone up.

He thought I was playing with a cool toy so he decided to sneak in, in between between people checking on you, and take you for himself or at least play with you when no one was around.

[When Branch sees Jack walk up, Elf in tow, he doesn't go into a full panic again - Dan and Stacia have helped defuse that potential bomb - but he does dart around the chair table leg he was pressed against, limping around it to fearfully pear around it from the other side, just in case.]

[But what comes is a gentle explanation, not an attack, not an attempt to feed him to said Elf.]

So you're telling me he just decided to do it on his own. Nobody gave me to him?

[Branch sounds deeply skeptical but at Jack's gentle nod in response, he stands there, balancing on his good leg, clearly trying to work out if he believes him. Eventually, he sees enough of the genuinely contrite expression on the face of the Elf himself - someone small, like him, even if he's bigger in comparison - that he comes to a conclusion.]

[It's the one Poppy would've tried to lead him to at a time like this, even though hope is difficult and trust is even harder.]

[At the realization that maybe this hadn't needed to blow up as much as it had, he lightly knocks his forehead against the table leg and then slides to kneel there with his head against it.]

[He's completely spent at this point. He's exhausted by the situation and deeply exasperated with himself and his own clearly disastrous way of reacting to things, including putting someone in a cage.]

[He put someone his size. In a cage.]

[The situation could've not have gone any other way, given his paranoia. The inevitability of his reaction, how impossible it'd been to cut it off, how it really couldn't have happened any other way with a wake up like that, just makes him feel broken.]

So what now? [He still has his colors but his voice is flat.] Are you going to lock me up? The bergens do that if someone does something wrong. Do humans do that?

[His people don't. They don't have a jail. Their idea of justice is entirely reparations-based. If you've done something wrong, once the community calls it out as such, you fix it.]

I did that to someone else. I locked him up.

[It's very fortunate they don't plan to. Having that much control taken away, even for a relatively short time, would genuinely destroy the last shreds of any mental health he's clinging to right now.]

I don't lock people up. [Dan can't speak for the group, but there's a sternness in his voice that suggests that he's not about to let others lock people up either.] Ain't nothing you did worth depriving you your freedoms. Ain't much folks can do to merit that. I done enough jail time to know how worthless it is.

[Absent any other options, Dan will take imprisoning someone over killing them, but usually it doesn't come to that. Usually Dan's methods work.]

I reckon I'd like to ask you what you think Bingle ought to do to make this right. If you want my opinion, since Bingle didn't know no better, he ought to apologize and promise not to play with nothing again without checking that it ain't alive and willing. And then we can talk about whatever else might could help you feel safe here among all us giants. Do that feel fair?

[Boba just sits and watches, not saying anything as Miguel works.

It may not be exciting but even the simplest-looking tools are unfamiliar to him. He needs to start learning. He needs every advantage he can get.

After a while the question that's been sitting like a rock in his stomach finally gets voiced. He's quiet, as if hoping Miguel won't even hear him.]

What are you going to do with me now?

[Because punishment is coming. But the waiting and not knowing is sometimes the worst part.]

[ There's a certain gloomy recognition that the boy was expecting to be punished despite giving him some space. ]

Nothing.

If you avoid a repeat incident like before, then you can go about as normal. I don't think anyone will hold it against you for being scared and disoriented. I don't plan on it.

[ Miguel can't see him as a perfectly innocent kid. He is clearly capable of being violent, but only when backed into a corner. So, some railguards would be needed, but he still believed they could talk it through. ]

If building things interests you, I could use a hand.

[Boba doesn't believe him. Even if Miguel doesn't think he needs to face consequences, someone else might feel differently. But he will believe that nothing's going to happen right now. Probably.

He scoots a little closer to the frame Miguel's building.]

I'm good at building and fixing stuff.

[It's a quiet offer. He's trying to suppress the nervousness in his voice, but isn't entirely succeeding.]

I'm the one who takes-- [No, Aurra crashed it. He doesn't have a ship anymore. He doesn't have his dad's ship anymore. He clenches his fists.]

Took care of my ship.

[It was one of the only times he knew he would be left alone back on Slave I. Aurra, Bossk, and Castas were always breathing down his neck. Doing repairs and upkeep became an escape of sorts. A moment to breathe and forget about all the osik* going on around him.]

(*Shit)

I'll back Dan on this one. [Stacia jerks a thumb in Dan's direction and grins. It's a little toothy.] And I'm very good at getting other people to agree that doing things my way is less annoying than fighting with me about it. You were acting because you were scared, not because you were trying to be a jerk.

That takes an impressive amount of technical proficiency, kid.

[ Given the amount of teenage tech geniuses he bumps into in his jaunts into the multiverse, he believes it. He'll just have to see it with his own eyes. ]

Working with Yeti carpentry won't be as sophisticated as that, but it needs focus just the same. Want to give it a try?

[ he flips the tool he was using so the handle was facing Lucky. A return peace offering for him! The cabinet itself still needed a few shelves to be locked in place. ]

[Boba cautiously takes the tool and examines it closely.]

This isn't-- I don't know how to use this.

[His ears burn in embarrassment. Why can't he just have a hydrospanner like a civilized sentient?]

[ Kid's maintenance of the ship must have involved more electronic components... ]

It's simple enough. The tip of the screwdriver matches the screws you put into the holes.

[ he pinches one of the silvery screws between his fingers, demonstrating for him. Miguel is able to twist in the first few threads with his fingertips. ]

Turn right to tighten, left to loosen.

[Boba makes a face.]

I know what a screw is. I just didn't recognize the bit.

[Screws aren't multi-universal, apparently. Just because he doesn't have the same tools where he comes from doesn't mean he can't put together a shelf. Now that he knows what the screwdriver is supposed to do, the rest is easy.]

[ the defensiveness over his knowledge of screws was endearing. Almost like the kid didn't stab him and was just some regular kid. ]

Well, now you do. Wood and aluminium is going to be a bit softer than spaceship parts, so just be patient with it.

[ He sits back on his haunches, giving Lucky some room to maneuver in there. ]

[That almost is doing a lot of work.]

What are your computers going to do?

[Boba works pretty quickly. When he has a little trouble keeping things in place by himself he grumbles and swears under his breath, but doesn't ask for help.]

[ Miguel debates helping, but figures he should remain hands off unless the kid starts to really struggle. Something tells him Lucky wouldn't like him stepping in unless he really needed it. ]

The technology here puts a limit on how much research I can do, but it will eventually be for running models and simulations.

A lot of it you can do on paper, if you can believe it, but with dimensional travel you'll be in trouble without a computer to guide along some of the math.

[That sounds like astrogation calculations. You can do it by hand, but it's a lot faster and safer with a droid or computer. Boba's dad used to have him practice doing the math himself.

Wait, isn't lightspeed is a form of dimensional travel?]

I know how to do that.

[He says as he finally gets the parts to stay where they're supposed to, allowing him to put the screws in.]

[ That gets a half-incredulous, half-impressed look from Miguel. It’s not impossible. He lived in a building of spiderfolk that didn’t skew that much older than the kid, and they were all pretty clever themselves. And maintaining a spaceship would require knowledge on navigation. ]

All by hand? You’ll have to show me how they do it on your world.

[ it wouldn’t hurt to believe him. ]

How’d a smart kid like you get locked up?

[Boba scowls. The question smells like a trap.

If he's honest he'll lose any trust he's being given, but lying could get him in trouble too. All it would take is one conversation with Rex for someone to learn about what he did.]

I was an accomplice.

[It's technically true, not that Miguel is able to check his sentence.]

[ dryly: ]

What's with the look? You already showed me your aptitude with a knife.

[ Miguel doesn't seem too busted up about it, at least.

Ultimately, whatever Lucky did in his home universe will have to be excused somewhat, as long as he wasn't looking to hurt anyone now. And so far, the kid's actions had all been defensive, even the surprise stabbing. ]

Maybe I don't want to talk about it.

[He doesn't.]

Why did you get involved with me and Branch?

[Miguel's not the only one who can ask questions!]

Because the troll boobytrapped the main floor and was making a mess of it.

[ the answer comes easy. Miguel doesn’t have anything to hide. ]

And I’m not really a fan of standing around while a kid runs off into the wild where he’ll get himself killed.

Call it a sense of duty, if you want.

I would've been fine.

[He's done it before!]

But why you? Someone else could have dealt with it.

Yeah. Right. Until you’re not fine, and then who has to come get you?

[ he’s repeating this for posterity - they’re in this together now, for better or for worse. ]

And I dealt with it because I was there first and decided a long time ago that I didn’t like sitting on my hands.

Lucky you.

[There's more scowling because he thinks Miguel's response is wrong and stupid.]

Right. Lucky me...

[Boba zones out for a moment while thinking about his "luck".

His dad didn't believe in luck, so Boba doesn't either, but he can't say that things have been going good since Jango died.]

Could be worse.

[ he says it pointedly. ]

You could be wandering around in the cold, completely lost, instead of having a warm place to scowl at.

[ sure the kid was capable, but there’s no tech solution out of being dumped somewhere in the arctic. ]

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welcome to the party, pal

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