Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Theo Morrison The CORPUS JURIS sure is a damn big place. It's also a big, stationary place, and sort of works as a secondary HQ for the Paladins while the Ad Coelum is out in the field or otherwise engaged. Which is fine, because it'd be way more awkward to have this conversation in one of the most secure places in the Multiverse.

Staren's cell was more like a particularly spartan guest room. He was of course thoroughly disarmed and had his minor injuries treated when he got taken in and processed, and really, all he had to do for about half a day was to be bored. After that, he got let back out, and told that his release was pending a debriefing with Paladin personnel, because... really, trying to hold him was going to be more trouble than it's worth, especially under the circumstances.

Staren /almost/ gets taken to a pretty traditional interrogation room, but instead was diverted to... a lounge? There's more than a few in a place with enough people on-station to populate a city. This one is out of the way and clearly designed for officers to catch a couple quiet moments in peace, with deep chairs and dimmable lighting.

Theo is sitting at a low table by his lonesome, thumbing through cards. It's probably meditative. He makes an idle gesture at Staren's escort without looking up, and they leave the two of them alone.
Staren     It turns out the besides the bag, all Staren actually keeps on him is his laser pistol, beam saber, some spare com-units and ectos, a bracer with a holoprojector and grapple tag gun in it, and of course his shoes function as hoverskates. And his labcoat is armored and can magically reconfigure into other outfits. And he has a forcefield projector pendant and a protoabstractum ring being used as his bandana clasp that lets him fly. Just all that. And a wallet with his IDs and credcards in it and a few gold and silver coins. Also his matter manipulator on his belt. That's probably everything. If there's anything else honestly Staren's forgotten too.

    Living in the Multiverse, the Paladin guards are probably used enough to people like this.

    The cybernetic implants in his head and forearms aren't easily removed, but he promises not to try anything with the tool wristbands, and rather than be bored for half a day, he'll use his headware to work on nanofabrication blueprints for Theo and play video games, unless they have some way of shutting it down.

    Given the circumstances, he's pretty calm about it all, not making a fuss or being belligerent.

    And then he ends up standing by the door in a room with Theo. "So, uh, hey." He greets awkwardly, and gives a little wave. "Sorry again about the cards. Are they going to replace them?"
Theo Morrison They probably did something to prevent him from remotely interfacing with things, but given he's not in a megaconcrete box, he's probably clear to sit around and play video games. Staren isn't the enemy of any states the Paladins are directly involved in, and /generally/ has a pretty good rep, so...

But then he's there with Theo and being awkward. It's inevitable. Theo looks up, smiling a little, jerking his head slightly in an upwards-tilting nod of recognition. 'I see you,' it says, 'and I know you. Be welcome.' ...More or less.

"I'm gonna put in the paperwork about it," Theo assures him, "but it can be a little bit annoying proving to the quartermaster-types that I need this really specific component for a specific game from a specific world to do my thing. Looks like I'm trying to use funding for personal gain." He rolls his eyes.

"Still kinda ticked at you," he says, pointing at Staren, but he's got no heat in his voice. "Heat of the moment, accident, I get it. You okay? How's the... caaaat lllleg...?" He's not sure which limb that corresponds to.
Staren     Staren nods awkwardly at the 'heat of the moment' comment, then in response to the question wiggles his arm a bit. The silvery bands on his forearms, now clearly visible, do seem to correspond to the ones on the cat's forelegs. "Fine. You have top-notch medical tech here."

    Beat.

    "So, um..." Staren rubs the back of his head. "What, uh, what do you know about Ghirapur, since it's a card game on your world? Even if the story doesn't play out exactly the same, knowing who we need to keep an eye on..." he trails off.
Theo Morrison "Oh my god Staren sit down," Theo groans, running a hand over his face. "You're hovering like I'm gonna jump up and stab you or declare you persona non grata or something. There was a fight. It was dumb. Neither of us got seriously injured. And you're obviously gonna get outta here unless you don't tell us about the Omega Thirteen. So, just --" He gestures emphatically at a chair across from him. It's got big arms and a lot of squishy cushioning.

Theo waits for that beat, then puts his handful of cards down, leaning back. "A bunch. Who Renegade Prime is. What her story was. What goes down at the Fair, for the most part..." He wiggles his hand a little uncertainly. "The specifics are kinda hazy but I remember the gist. Why, did Yuuki ask you to pump me for information or something?"
Staren     "Sorry." Staren apologizes again at being asked to sit down... he actually chuckles and cracks a smile at the joke about Omega Thirteen, and takes a seat.

    "What happens at the /fair/ is in there too? Nnh... not exactly. Once I heard what Aether was I put two and two together, and... I /did/ tell them you probably knew stuff and that I'd talk to you as soon as I could. But I haven't gotten a chance to, and now... well, you know what's going to happen, or at least, what would have without Multiversal experience. How bad it'll be, how much stuff we can prevent... you tell me."

    Staren scratches his head. "The Concord would prefer to keep the Consulate in charge unless they're all corrupt or something -- the renegades don't seem like they could plan out a long-term government. So... knowing who the bad apples are and preventing governmental collapse would be a plus for us, /besides/ the whole not-messing-up-everyone's-lives-with-a-bloody-and-chaotic-regime-change deal."
Theo Morrison Theo is glad Staren did not have to ask him about the Omega Thirteen thing. That would've just made everything so much /more/ awkward, and they're already at critical mass on the awk-fission pile.

"Huh," is his response to Staren laying it all out. He slouches a little, entwining his fingers in his lap. "Huh," he repeats. "Y'know, I got into this big thing on our comms about the dangers of foreknowledge a while ago because of this specific thing? The problem is that if I lay out what I 'know'," he makes actual air-quotes with his fingers, "happens, and interference has already set things off, but we act like it's in the pipeline /anyway/..."

A shrug. "It'll be a mess. You've dealt with time stuff before, you know what I mean."

He tilts his head back, looking upwards. "The Consulate in --" He makes a noise. "-- 'canon' is kinda... it's well-intentioned but dealing with people pushing it to extremes, mainly? There's a crew of guys from offworld in the Consulate that are diverting Aether for a sinister project, and they're going to swoop in at the Fair and start scooping some of the best inventions for 'public safety.'"

"What're you gonna do with the Renegades?" Theo suddenly asks. "Think you can get them to be more precise, or...?"
Staren     Staren nods as the hazards of foreknowledge are pointed out. "Still, it's better to try to do something than to refuse to interfere. I mean, try to be smart about it, but... It's better than nothing." He nods at the comment about having dealt with time stuff.

    He listens to the explanation. "Huh. That someone in the Consulate was diverting power for something was a theory we had."

    "The Renegades don't seem to want to hurt anyone, and we see no reason not to keep this conflict bloodless if possible." Little does he know that a few days later, the Watch's new mimic will kill a guard. Oops. "We're offering the whole city, including the renegades, electric power to supplement aether and ease any supply issues. Between that and the Renegades' presence at the inventor's fair, we think if someone in the Consulate has it out for the renegades specifically, rather than just stealing power from random people, they'll be moved to action and we catch them. Then they can have their power back and well, there won't be any need for them to be 'renegades' anymore."

    Staren rubs his chin. "At least, we thought that. If the real objective is to steal power and inventions... hmm. Iiiii figured the Concord would handle the bad apples in the Consulate more directly, but depending on specifics... I'm sure the Renegades would be glad to help, again, in nonlethal matters. Whether it can be resolved so cleanly, though..." he shrugs. "Depends on what we're dealing with."
Theo Morrison Theo nods. "The Renegades really do just want things to be fair down there. Far as I can tell, if things hadn't gone to hell, it'd all turn out... /mostly/ okay. I think Pia ended up in some Consulate position to make things fair and just again in the end? It's a hellishly complex road there, though, and we're way off that route."

"Alright." Theo sighs. "Names. Easy enough. Dovin Baan, he's the Minister of Inspections. Blue guy, serious type. He's the genuine article, doing what he does for the safety of the people. His problem is that there's a guy named Tezzeret that came from off-plane who convinced him that what they're doing /is/ for the safety of the people, and he's totally using him." Theo gestures at his right arm. "He's got a metal arm. Kinda wispy, I guess? It's not solid, it's... hard to explain it. Anyway, if things are going as they are, he's presently the Grand Consul and the reason things are all diverted. He's ruthless and dangerous, though, especially while the Consulate thinks he's their guy."
Staren     Staren nods and listens. "So, assuming there aren't more multiversal monkey wrenches in the works, we need to stop Tezzeret without starting a war, and we need to convince Dovin Baan that he's been tricked. And the rest of the Consulate too. Anything else we need to know? Err, I mean, that you think won't mess stuff up too much to tell us? I mean, I'm not saying we'll just assassinate Tezzeret or something, but at least we'll know to investigate him and maybe find something we can use to expose him. ...Shoot, is HE the one that assassinated that counselor guy? Why? Err... 'in canon', I mean."
Theo Morrison "Yeah, there might be a whole mess of other Planeswalkers popping in to mess things up. I dunno if they will, though, and it's gonna be tough to find them if they do." Theo shrugs. "Um... no. Kaladesh was pretty not-grim, other than Baral being way too fond of elaborate death-traps, and there being some secret prison somewhere like you'd expect when stuff is getting vaguely Orwellian."

Theo shakes his head. "No way. I'd put money on it being Priscilla, actually. I think Yuuki said something about the Consulate being on board with the Concord about something or other, so maybe it's one hand not talking to the other. Actually seeing the scene and comparing it to what I saw of her when she was cutting loose --" Theo shivers. "No. Tezzeret wouldn't've bothered. And he wouldn't've left such a mess."
Staren     "I think it's an obvious frame job." Staren responds, seriously. "So far, I trust Priscilla, but not blindly. If that does turn out to be her fault, she's going to need a hell of an explanation for not telling us."

    Then Staren offers a friendly smile, and leans forward, extending a hand to shake. "Thanks for the intel. I'll pass it along."

    As he stands up, he adds, "Oh, and Omega-13 is the plan to take that orb we found in the Citadel and supercharge it so it rewinds the whole Multiverse one day if anything /really/ bad happens." He grins, then blinks and looks thoughtful. "Shit, would that /work/? Hmm... be hella dangerous though..."

    "Seeya around, Theo." He waves as he heads for the door. "We gotta meet again and play Magic or something. It's been too long."
Theo Morrison "I don't think so," Theo says seriously. "I can't give you anything about the scene, but trust me when I say that there's only a certain number of people who could've done it and she ranks at the top of the likelihood charts. Just..." He shakes his head slightly. "Keep an eye open. Okay? I wouldn't confront her about it or anything, anyway. Don't even mention it if you don't have to."

He takes the hand. His grip is strong. Then, Theo laughs. "Keep me updated on if it turns out to be plausible. Having a one-day rewind button sounds pretty handy, even if it /does/ make space-time grow a mouth and literally curse the user's name."

Theo waves Staren out, settling back again. "Yeah, definitely. After all this is done with we'll have to hang out again. 'Til then," he affects a somewhat stereotypical 'copper' accent, "keep yer nose clean, kid, eh?"
Staren     Staren gives a slight nod. He's aware.

    He smiles at the reply to the joke. "If it does it'll probably be classified. A rewind button's less useful the more people know about it, whoever's responsible for the need for it might find out and then they'd know to take it out first."

    Keep yer nose clean, kid. "I'm older than you." Staren observes, though not harshly. =_=
Theo Morrison "Yeah but I'm the space cop up here, so I get to call people 'kid' in a ridiculous accent," Theo points out, in a completely reasonable sort of tone.
Staren     That does get a humorous laugh out of Staren as he makes his way out the door!