Players: Keld and Vance
Summary: Vance meets his fellow Avenger teammate, Keld.
Date: January 8, 2011
Log Title: Bombadil
Rating: PG
NYC - The Avenger Mansion (Library)
The Avengers' library is, in a word, comprehensive. Shelves line most of the walls, with the exception of the pair of doors in the room, and there are free standing shelves as well. Covering many genres and authors, the books range from historical non-fiction, to the fantasy classics such as Tolkien.
In a very rare off-duty day, Keld Jonahl is in the library in the Avengers Mansion. He's been excessively busy with his "day job" at SWORD; this is, in fact, the first time he's been back since mid-December when he took a day to visit with Tony Stark and Jennifer Walters, but since then it's been spy-vs-spy on the Peak, but with white spy being Kree and black spy being Skrull … or vice versa.
The alien Avenger is reading the unabridged Lord of the Rings; a dictionary and two additional references are nearby.
The newest member to return to the flock of the Avengers is young Vance Astrovik, dressed in a blue sweatshirt and jeans. The young man makes his way into the library and pauses upon seeing Keld, Vance ahems, "Hello. You're Kazhurr?" He smiles and telekinetically floats towards the alien, "I'm Vance Astrovik. Justice." He extends a hand to shake Keld's.
"I am, when I'm on duty. I'm Keld otherwise. No secret identity."
He returns the handshake, careful as usual to exert only terran-normal strength in the grip. He's taken to wearing a metal bracer on his left arm; it's unremarkable, a slightly matte metal with a walnut-sized bulge on one side. He touches the bracer for a moment, and looks up.
"Oh, you're the telekinetic with the temporal complications, right?" A bit of curiosity tinges his voice.
Since returning, Vance has fallen into the habit of being awed by his teammates. But after a little chat with Jessica, he calms down, though a small grin appears on his face as he shakes hands with the alien Avenger, "Sorry, Keld. Nice to meet you. And, yes. Telekinetic. And by temporal complications, you mean my counterpart on the Guardians of the Galaxy." The grin leaves his face and he sighs, "So how've you been? Since I've returned I've only seen Jessica and Jarvis."
Keld quirks an eyebrow. "Exactly. And I'm certain that Speedball and Iron Man have been at the Mansion, along with Jen on occasion, but I did have a similar feeling for some time myself. We seem to be a busy bunch. I've been busy anyway; the recent cyclic changes in solar flux have made for a larger number of alien visitors, and I'm in demand as 'scary cop' at the Peak, for some reason."
He puts a bookmark in the open volume and closes it, shifting around to give Vance his full attention.
"Is there a specific reason for your visit other than team-building and consolidation of social connections?"
"Well, I took the time off to finish my degree, which I was able to do a semester early. So I told Cap I would come back and here I am." Vance smiles, "And to be fair and honest, I did miss it too." He looks down at the Tolkien book and telekinetically pulls a seat closer for him to sit down on across from Keld. "It's good to be back." He stares at the room, "I am always in awe of this place."
"I'm not sure I understand that. It is by most standards a beautiful home, and it has adequate technology rather well concealed, but the desire to maintain the semblance of simplicity seems to have limited what that technology is used for."
A half-second pause, before Keld realizes… "OR, do you mean the institution of the Avengers?"
Chuckling, Vance responds, "Yes, I meant the institution of the Avengers, but also the mansion too." He seems to smell the room, "I know the air is no different in here than anywhere else, despite how immaculate Jarvis keeps it. I had a home to grow up in and have been on other teams and had other headquarters, but these is an atmosphere to this place that I've not gotten anywhere else." He shrugs, "Sorry, I tend to lose myself here."
Keld watches Vance with some degree of curiosity, and smiles very slightly at the conclusion.
"It's unusual for a Dakkamite warrior-caste to have a home in the usual sense, until we've been retired. If that happens, it's due to an untreatable injury to body or mind, or because an individual is somehow more valuable in a civilian occupation. Instead, we have created something else. Our… barracks is the closest word, but it's not right. Communal quarters, perhaps. We tend to find a person or persons who are gifted in creating a haven and a sanctuary."
Keld nods towards the hallway where Jarvis is performing one of his many tasks. "Jarvis would be considered a master of host-craft, extremely valued for his ability to do so. I have indulged myself, perhaps, in staying here as much as I have."
Vance smiles, "Yes, Jarvis is great." Looking down at the Tolkien novel, "Fan of Lord of the Rings are you?" He looks it over, "I never got around to reading the trilogy, just saw the movies. Is there anything like that on Dakkam?" He pauses, "Did I pronounce your home planet correctly?"
"You did. And no, we have very little in the way of arts and literature. We've been at war since before we went into space; the Shiar and the Kree have been expanding into our part of the universe for the last… Ten thousand years, I believe it is. Dakkam is less of a crossroads than this happy planet though."
Keld pauses, rubbing his temples in a gesture that doesn't mean 'headache' where he's from; instead it means 'I plan my next words carefully.'
"Literature is considered only a tool for shaping the opinions of the masses. We express our creative urge, if we have one, through our work; we invent better ways to detoxify food, more effective weapons, better medical treatments. We have kept our primitive mythos but only as a tool for framing teaching stories."
Blinking a moment, Vance tilts his head registering what Keld has said. It will take time to adjust. "Ah, so Dakkam is much more advanced than Earth, I take it? How have you adjusted and found acclimation to the terran way?"
"We have a much higher base for technology in several areas, and a much poorer understanding of many things that are perhaps more important. We have sacrificed a great deal in our quest to remain our own people and not become the slaves of the Shiar, the Kree, and the Skrull. They claim to be benevolent, but each empire tends to repurpose their subject peoples to their own ends, which are not always to the benefit of the subjects."
Yes, Imperialism is alive and prospering in space too! Keld smiles again. "I like reading this book because, I'm assured, it is an exceptional example of literature but also because it's very differently purposed. I can see the propaganda components, but it's got so much else."
Vance nods his head, "I should read the book then. I always saw it as a D&D type adventure. Full of magic and mystery." He sighs his cellphone rings, "Oh. It's my mom. I have to take this." He hops back up, "Well, Keld, it was nice to meet you and let's train soon." He picks up the phone, "Hey mom." as he walks out of the room.
Keld nods as Vance is called away by family. Wonder what that would be like? Still, never really had one, don't really miss having one. He stares into the distance for a few minutes, then re-opens the book and returns to reading. What IS this "Bombadil" thing about anyway?
