tushanshu_logs | Catch-All for Operation Get Our Stuff Back

Entry tags:

Catch-All for Operation Get Our Stuff Back

Characters: Tony, Sokka, Valdis, Gene, Cain and YOU
Date: December 12 onwards
Location: The Hotel
Situation: Tony is pissed about SI falling into kedan hands, and more levelheaded people have to talk him out of doing something stupid. Once sense and discretion have prevailed, it occurs to Tony et al. that the foreigners might be able to more rapidly regain some leverage in Keeliai if they worked together to befriend/infiltrate the gangs, especially the three major families. Devious plotting ensues.
Warnings/Rating: None so far

[1 - the common room of the Hotel - December 12]

Tony returns from his meeting with Zanru after less than two hours, and he is seething. Sokka had asked him about the status of his job at Stark Industries, and Tony had promised to go find out right away (he'd put off meeting with the new "boss" of SI long enough already). The meeting had not gone well. To put it mildly.

Now he's back at the Hotel, looking for Sokka, to deliver the bad news. And poor Sokka is about to get an earful.

[2 - around the Hotel - the following days and weeks]

Tony had - miraculously - been talked down from teleporting his entire lab and all its contents out of SI and permanently alienating the Metalworker family. A longer-term strategy of insinuating themselves into the families' good graces had been suggested, and Tony, grudgingly, had acquiesced.

Since then, word has been getting around. Anyone who hears about that discussion and wants to ask Tony about it or offer their help should be able to locate him pretty easily around and about the Hotel. That's where he's spending most of his time, after all, since he is currently unwelcome at SI.

[3 - Make your own starter!]

[ooc: the initial discussion will be closed to Tony, Sokka, Valdis, Gene, Cain, but anyone who wants to have their character hear about it second-hand is welcome to post a thread here. You can request a thread with Tony or any of the other original conspirators, but it isn't necessary - anyone can thread out anything related to this plan in this log.

Keep in mind that this is not (currently) a conspiracy to depose the families or destroy the gangs or take over Keeliai - merely an attempt to organize the foreigners so that they can pool information and coordinate their negotiations with the gangs without making the kedan more distrustful. However, this is supposed to be on the DL, so if your character accidentally or intentionally lets the plan slip to the kedan, expect there to be IC consequences!

The ooc plotting post for Operation Get Our Stuff Back can be found here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Tony's mood visibly improves as soon as Gene walks in, though... his sudden shift in temper is not necessarily a good thing.]

Gene! You can help me teleport stuff, right? [He frowns thoughtfully.] We don't have anywhere to put things right now, but there should be plenty of room to set up a lab in the Palace once we've explored it and cleaned it up...

Edited 2015-01-04 01:49 (UTC)

[Sokka really hasn't had the opportunity before to interact with Gene much before now, so his entry into the room is a little surprising. He quickly glances back and forth between Tony and the newcomer, more to Tony to get a reading off of him to know if this is a conversation that should continue with him, though given that Gene seems to already know about the whole thing already given Tony's raving, well, it's too late for that. Besides, Tony seems happily comfortable with him here, so there's that too.

[While Sokka is indeed very upset by the whole ordeal (because, after all, this was one of the happier parts of Sokka's life on the turtle), everything starts to quickly shift with Tony's new thoughts and his possible plans. In some regards, though angry, he's much more reluctant to just go in there guns ablazing. Especially since Sokka's never really fired a gun before.]

Whoa whoa whoa, time out here. You want to just go in there and steal our stuff back? [Granted, Sokka's not really out anywhere NEARLY as much as Tony is, not even by a long shot. But given that this new leader of Stark Industries seems to be a big deal... and that the foreigner collective isn't exactly the most loved group of people on the shell, well...] Hey, I'm all for fairness, and I'm not actually opposed to thievery when the odds are in our favour, but this isn't the most, ah, circumspect idea you've come up with, Tony.

I could, [Gene agrees. It's certainly within his capabilities. But...he nods to Sokka.] I won't.

Unless we've decided that we really want to make ourselves pariahs. Like it or not, this place changed without us. The structure of power changed. We could gut the labs right from under Zanru's nose...if we want to give the kedan any more reason to distrust us. We do that, we burn every chance we have at a working relationship with the new masters of Keeliai.

[Tony expression returns to a scowl, and he flops into one of the armchairs, radiating resentment. He looks offended and betrayed that neither his friend nor his boyfriend are leaping to his aid.]

It's ours, it's not like they can arrest us for taking it back. We don't need a working relationship with the Metalworkers. We just need our equipment, and we can restart Stark Industries somewhere else. It doesn't matter if the kedan like us, they'll still pay us for better tech. [A truth that every corporate bigwig knows. People will give up almost any freedom and compromise almost any ideal for the sake of convenience.]

[Oh great. Now Tony's angry at him too. Surely it has been a mistake stoking Tony's anger with his own.]

Hey, take it easy. It's not like I like the Metalworkers. I mean, I don't even think there are really any kedan that I've got a personal liking towards, and the Metalworkers are on the bottom of that list to begin with.

I'm just saying that, okay, maybe they can't arrest us, but killing us is still probably within their capabilities. I mean, sure, let's get our stuff back, fine, great! But if we're going to do it, we should have a plan first.

[Tony, you're adorable when you sulk. You know that, right?]

That might be true, Tony, but we need to have a plan, like Sokka said. And having the kedan not hate our living guts would probably make our lives a lot easier. Unless you want to start growing your own food and making the Foreigner collective entirely self-sufficient. [He would not put it past the kedan to give the Foreigners rotting or poisoned food if they burn all their bridges.

And he's pretty sure that nobody's going to appreciate that.]

[~~NO U~~

Tony snorts at Sokka.] They can try. But if Doctor Doom and Titanium Man couldn't take down my armor, I don't think the kedan are going to have a lot of luck. [Of course he is only thinking about himself. His actions, having repercussions for other people? PFFFFFT.

He turns his glower on Gene.] They already hate us, apparently, so what difference does it make?

[~~yes, he is adorable, thank you for noticing~~

Gene meanders over to the armchair Tony is sulking in and claps a hand on his shoulder in a companionable manner. This should be immediately suspicious.]

Oh, for the love of-- I cannot believe I'm saying this, and keep in mind this is coming from me, of all people-- [And he smacks Tony in the back of the head. Not too hard, just hard enough to get his attention, and hisses:] Think about how your actions affect other people, nín zìxíng xīshōu shǎguā!

[Valdis had trying very hard to ignore the obnoxious noise coming from the next room. She truly didn't want to be involved in Tony's little tantrum, but when the noise refused to cease, she finally got up and walked into the common room, ready to talk some sense into the obviously self absorbed boy. She paused when she saw Gene smack Tony and allowed herself a little laugh.] For all that is good in this world, listen to Gene when he tells you that your poorly contrived plan will have consequences for all of us.

[Okay, Sokka must have gotten in much deeper into this than he had actually expected because everything seems to have gotten much more chaotic and terrible than he had accounted for. What started off as a rather innocuous question about whether or not he had a job still has become a shouting match amongst friends. Granted, he doesn't know about Tony and Gene being together, but, this is just crazy.

[And now there are four people in the room debating this? This is just too much.]

Alright, alright. Everyone just stop right here.

[He points to Tony.] You need to calm down just a little bit.

[He points over to Gene.] You need to not call my friend a jackass.

[He then points over to Valdis.] And you, [Sokka says before hesitating. It's like the catgator has his tongue.] I don't know why you're here, but I'm ever so thankful right now.

Ow! [Tony rubs his head and glares up at Gene, and then turns and glares even harder at Valdis, because who the hell invited you, lady? What is this, the Everybody-Bitch-At-Tony Olympics?]

Well then, what's your big plan, geniuses? Hide away in the hotel and live off of dumpster scraps forever? Maybe we should all just tape big signs to our backs that say "KICK ME," so all the kedan can know what huge fucking pushovers we are!

[Well, to be fair, Tony, you're hardly a sporting target. Your terrible, terrible ideas and poor impulse control are especially low-hanging fruit, and everyone in this room would have to be fools for not going for it.

Also, because you're acting like a stupid nineteen-year-old shitbaby.

First, to Sokka:] I can call him that when he's acting like one.

[Then, to Tony, his tone sharp:] Nobody is saying we should cower away, we just shouldn't completely fuck over all the other Foreigners in the process of solving your problem. You lack tact, and you lack subtlety, and you need to step back before you cause us all some serious harm because you are behaving like a spoiled child.

[His hand settles back on Tony's shoulder again, half-reassurance, half-restraint, and his voice softens.] You are better than this, Tony. [He'd bring up Howard if he wasn't absolutely positive that would backfire.]

[Valdis dipped her head at Sokka's words before meeting Tony's glare with her own, slightly more terrifying, one.]

You need to calm down, Tony Stark. We have all lost things important to us, but you don't see us trying to start a war, do you?

[Well, as much as he doesn't like what Gene called Tony (because after all, Tony is a good friend), Gene has a point. For a moment there's a glower on Sokka's face, but eventually he backs down on that one and just folds his arms over his chest.

[Because let's face it. Tony is being something of a poohead at the moment.]

Okay, okay... well then, are we all agreed that we should make a concerted effort to actually get stuff done? That we should take back at least some of the stuff that those guys took from us? That that's fair?

[Sound good? Right? Right? Right? Okay, good.]

Then what we need is a creative plan on how to get that. Much as I don't really like it, we need the kedan a little more than they need us. So we've got to convince them that, hey, we've got a right to be here too, and that they should help us rather than just be complete jerks the entire time. Because we can be useful.

And then we can get our stuff back.

That's it! That's what we should name this! Operation Get Our Stuff Back!

It's not just my problem, [Tony snaps. ] Nearly all of us lost our jobs and everything else we had. Last time I checked, I'm not the only one around here who needs to eat.

[Valdis' glare doesn't intimidate him, and her rebuke only riles him up more. But Gene's comment, along with the reassuring touch, are enough to keep him from lashing out again.

So he falls into surly silence to listen to Sokka, who... is making a fair amount of sense. Still, Tony's not going to jump on the "let's all be friends" bandwagon just yet.

He grunts dubiously.] Okay, so how are we going to do that? According to them, they've been doing just fine without us for a year, and they're not interested in how useful we can be. They just want us gone again. What's going to stop them from turning down anything we have to offer, just to spite us?

[Hmm. Not a bad name, Sokka. Though Gene respectfully recommends we keep Operation WAFFLE-O as a backup. Given the way things have been going so far.]

The fact that if they turn us down outright, we are both powerful and spiteful enough to burn the entire city to the ground, [Gene says lightly. It could almost be a joke, except he might be serious.] And the fact that, for the most part, giving our stuff back is less onerous than dealing with a campaign of concentrated harassment. [Unemployed Foreigners missing their trinkets have a lot of time on their hands and a lot of tenacity.]

Obviously, we have to prove to them that we're beneficial. Which is crap, of course, without us they'd still be petrified of Malicant...so maybe we should remind them of that fact.

[Make 'em an offer they can't refuse, Gene.]

Edited 2015-01-09 05:50 (UTC)

[Valdis decides not to mention that she doesn't, in fact, need to eat, thinking it to be irrelevant at the moment.]

You geniuses are either really self-involved or just plain stupid if you think that intimidating the Kedan will get us anywhere. Have you even tried to find out what happened to them in the year that we were comatose? Do you even know the changes that went on within their lives? Why don't you try understanding them instead of trying to force them to understand us?

[Was she really the only one making an effort to understand what had happened in the year they had been gone?]

[Hey, Sokka's not trying to intimidate anyone. Unless Valdis is just ignoring Sokka's presence in the room because he's a little more animated and zany than the other two, at which point, she can knock herself out with that.]

Well, in fairness, Enj and I had that idea the other day.

[He grumbles a bit because that he feels like that rebuke doesn't apply to him, even if he was pretty angry just a bit ago. There is some justifiable anger within him, even if he's a little carried away sometimes.]

Look, I'm sure the kedan aren't completely ungrateful for the things we've done for them. I'm sure they like the technology and that they like not having the Creep Lord ruling over the turtle any longer. [Try as he might, Sokka just won't say Malicant's name out loud now that there's a nickname for him.]

[And then, turning to Valdis, indicating that he's got a small idea of what's going on, he adds:]

But if I gather rightly, we've got a couple large gangs that are ruling the city now that there's no more emperor to speak of. So we either have to make friends with one of the gangs or convince the kedan not in the gangs to like us better than the gangs themselves. Either of which is going to require us working with them.

Look, I'm not saying we have to be completely oogie [he says this word half-romantically and half-deadpan] to the kedan, and let me tell you, I'm not too fond of them myself right now, so I won't be the first. But we do have to live with them. And at least pretend to be happy about it?

[Oh my god, Valdis, you are so not helping. What's wrong with a little intimidation, huh? At least Gene gets it.]

Well that all sounds really nice, but there's the little problem of those three gang "families." From what I hear, they hate each other's guts even more than they hate ours. If we suck up to one, the other two will really, really hate us, and if we suck up to the small gangs we'll probably end up with all three of the families out to get us.

Anybody have any non-genius ideas [another scathing look in Valdis' direction] for how to get around that?

[Gene takes this opportunity to look at Valdis quite witheringly. Jeez, why do people always gotta think the worst of him?]

I didn't mean that we should intimidate them, [he says shortly,] I meant that they owe us. Without us, they would have all been so much dead meat. And it seems like they've forgotten that.

[Well, Tony, the Foreigners could always make their own gang. With blackjack! And hookers!] So we don't 'suck up' to any faction in particular, [he says.] We deal with them as much as we have to, but prove ourselves to be coming from a place of power on our own. They're treating us Foreigners like our own faction anyway. Why not make it official? [Then he smiles a little.] We are the biggest badasses on the turtle, since the kedan owe us all their lives, probably several times over.

[Valdis sighed again. Tony did not seem to get it, she had apparently misjudged Gene's intentions and poor Sokka had felt slighted.]

It isn't about 'hating each other's guts', it is about balance. After the invasion, the Kedan achieved a sort of balance between the three major families. Our arrival threw off that balance and now they are uncertain. We are both a problem and a solution, we confuse them, they a afraid of us in a manner of speaking.

[She nodded to Gene]

Being our own faction gives us an advantage, but only if we are respected. Fear will only unite them against us, we must move slowly and carefully, play the long term game, similar to what Sokka suggested.

One thing you should know is that these are no longer the passive people whom Malicant walked all over. Whatever magic suppressed their potential has faded and now they have regained their true selves. They are proud. Damage that pride, threaten their balance, and they will not hesitate to strike back.

[Okay, well... strike one. It started off as a nice plan, but of course Tony is admittedly slightly right. However, Gene kicks it off going in a different direction, and that definitely sounds like a reasonable possibility.]

That's actually not a bad plan, [he says with a gesture to Gene, subsequently nodding to Valdis.] We kind of are our own force, whether for good or ill. The whole thing really relies upon us being able to control our own image on the turtle. You know, the long game is that we have to erase that nasty perception that they have of us of [and here Sokka plays the part with a whiny voice] "oh no those foreigner guys are so mean and irresponsible" thing with something that they feel like they can trust and get behind.

And that can either be a mixture of forceful posturing—because we do have to interact with the gangs at least somewhat—and some decent humanitarianism. We need people behind us, so we need people to like us. Or at least like us enough where we're more likeable than some of these gang types.

Somehow I get the feeling that it's going to be a little hard to get the kedan on board with the idea of our own foreigner faction. Just based on their reactions to us so far. And, you know, the fact that they hate us. In case anyone had forgotten that.

But hey, you're the mastermind here. [He gestures at Valdis, who is currently the focus of his irritation since she showed up uninvited to the dogpile.] So, Glorious Leader, what's our next step? Design a logo and slogan and start printing off buttons?

The point is, they basically already are on board with a Foreigner faction, because they've spent the time since we returned proving that we're not welcome in kedan society. They've pretty much boxed us up, and we should welcome that. Play the long game. [He nods to Sokka.] Prove our worth without acting like we have something to prove. Nobody likes a try-hard.

They fear us? [Gene snorts.] They should. To a lot of these new bosses, we're an unknown quantity. We can use that. Balance forceful posturing and humanitarianism - or I suppose kedanitarianism - like Sokka said. Carrot and stick.

[His brain is ticking away. Something he'd thought long-buried is coming back. He remembers running the Tong at sixteen, but he's older now, wiser, more clever, more powerful. And the Tong are small potatoes compared to his displaced fellows.

If need be, he can build a network strong enough to crush Yunxu and Zanru and Heojin and all of them beneath the Foreigners' heels. Not the ideal, but if he can do that, he can surely build a small empire to make the kedan know they can't kick the Foreigners around. They are a force to be reckoned with - they are - and it's time to give the kedan a gentle reminder of that.]

[Valdis frowned at Tony, he was being far more difficult than he needed to be, but at least Sokka and Gene were reasonable.]

There are several ways we can play this, but a common theme is avoiding conflict with the Kedan. [She nodded to Gene] Gene seems to be on the same page in that we need to make ourselves useful to them, but as a whole we must maintain our independence. [She turned to Sokka] Sokka, you have the right idea when it comes to what is needed, but do you have an idea of how to make it happen?

Edited (formatting) 2015-01-13 19:25 (UTC)

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the hallmark of a healthy relationship, everybody

Yes, you are both adorable, now shut up

I got that reference, Gene.

Tony Stark is a one-ingredient recipe for instant chaos and terribleness

and then you need the rest of these losers for a crappy idea stew

Re: and then you need the rest of these losers for a crappy idea stew

Sokka is the best namer of things ever.

/makes him a construction paper badge "#1 NAMER"

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Valids makes me hilariously aware of the number of canine-related colloquialisms in English

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