8208/Hunting on Hala

Hunting on Hala
Date of Scene:	11 October 2021
Location:	The Planet of Hala
Synopsis:	Ava, Finley, and Carol go to find the scientist Yv'Kar. Unfortunately, he's dead. But what they find in his lab will change one of their lives... forever.
Cast of Characters:	Ava Starr, Finley Ellison, Carol Danvers

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Ava Starr has posed:
The advantage of being a pale-skinned Terran on Hala, Finley may discover, is that at least half the Kree populace -- the privileged half -- share the same skin tone. This certainly makes passing through the streets a little easier for her.

Ava's richer tan, however, does attract some attention. Enough so that people aren't entirely certain if she's Kree or not. Thus, she has tried to make herself a little less obtrusive by sporting a hooded cloak favoured by the locals and keeping her face mostly covered. She wears her Ghost suit underneath and has wrapped strips of fabric around the bracers on her wrists.

The market place beyond the warehouse the Milano has been hidden in, is a busy, crowded place. There are blue-skinned Kree here doing much of the more menial, blue-collar tasks (no pun intended). Pink-skinned Kree tend to be browsing more, though there's a fairly even mix of pink-to-blue behind the stall counters.

At this point, as she often does in a new city, Ava is merely scoping out the locals. She's trying to get a feel for the people, the culture, the ebb and flow of the city. This, she's determined, is the commercial district. But it may not be the place to find Yv'Kar. However, it's probably a good place to find informants, gossip, or news... providing they can learn to tell the difference between truth and lies, honest folks and sheisters.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley holds Ava's hand demonstratively, almost possessively, as they wander through the market. Since her clothing marks her as an outsider more than her physical appearance, her first observations are the common dress of those browsing the goods. Currency is still an illusive thing, but if she can't purchase some thing more suitable, Finley would at least like to have a good idea of what style to mimic.

Her hand in Ava's serves two purposes. First and foremost, she doesn't want to lose the often intangible woman as she slips through the crowded street. But secondly, the contact marks them as together, and offers Ava the protection of her skin.

Ava Starr has posed:
Fortunately, so far from Earth, Finley's clear display of affection and possession is largely unremarkable. Aside from their unusual dress -- something that largely gets them labeled as 'spacers' rather than 'aliens' -- they so far pass unmolested. To be fair, that's likely because Ava has unconsciously made the pair of them largely intangible. She doesn't even have to think about it and the bands make extending her personal field to include Finley a non-issue.

Hell, it takes phasing a whole ship, these days, to knock her on her ass. That's a change.

Her pendant, of course, is tucked against her chest, invisible beneath the suit. Her fingers lace with Finley's and she cants her head slightly at some of the fashions she sees. "I wonder," she murmurs softly in English, "if I can make clothes..." With her q-bands she means. Clothes are simple, right? Not like machines.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley's eyes shine with excitement. She hadn't considered that possibility. She asks, "Would you like to try?"

Carol Danvers has posed:
Car-El hasn't set foot on Hala in several years and this is definitely not how she expected to be doing it once again. Arriving with the Guardians of the Galaxy after running past Kree patrols and hiding out in a warehouse while hunting for a cure for one of her fellow human and SHIELD agents. Just so they could get back into the swing of things hunting down Black Order and thwarting Thanos.

Their collective lives are strange.

Before leaving the warehouse there was a light shimmer of cosmic energy and her Captain Marvel gear and uniform replaced itself with stylish and very authentic Kree garb. She lived here for some time, she knows where they are and the customs. She speaks the language as well as fluent as a native without a translator.

For the moment she has been trailing after Finloey and Ava, keeping her own features obscured with a hooded cloak as well. Browsing and dwelling in old memories of 'home' some of which were forcifully inserted and earned the normal way.

That question catches her attention and she drifts closer to the two and answers it very softly. "You should be able to yes, I can probably teach you the trick to rearrange the molocules in some clothes into .. different clothes."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava glances back to Carol as she interrupts. A small smile actually touches her lips. See, Carol is Captain Marvel, not Captain Wannabe. So far, most of Vance's advice has been... hit or miss at best. (Mostly miss.) Call it a mental block, but Ava just hasn't quite managed to wrap her head around all his assumptions and analogies. Maybe she'll have better luck with Carol.

She gives Finley's had a brief squeeze, canting her head to Carol in response. "That would likely be helpful. Blending in, finding this scientist, is going to be a lot more difficult if people keep noticing us." Okay, yes, she could just phase them invisible, but that has its own drawbacks. "Not having any currency doesn't help, either." Hasn't helped this wholed damned trip, really. Poor planning not bringing galactic travellers cheques or a Galaxy Express card. Seriously.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finely nods enthusiastically. She's glad to see Captain Marvel, especially as she's the one person who's most likely to actually have the knowledge to help them. Both in relation to the quantum bands and navigating Hala. "Ava's figured out a lot on her own," she says stoutly, and after only a slight pause, adds, "but I'd love to know how you do it. Not that I can...but the more descriptions I hear, the more it sort of makes sense to me."

Carol Danvers has posed:
"On the currency front, Hala like pretty much all of civilized space, uses Units. Of which the crew and myself have, so I'm happy to take you both shopping for things to make this mission easier. We should still practice harnessing the q-bands and manipulating the fundementals though."

She fishes down into a pocket and pulls out a couple flat silver chunks of metal that look very similar to featureless dog-tags. The real magic is the tech on the inside though, as each metal object holds a specific amount of units bound into them in a very difficult way to forge.

She nods to Finley "I've been watching." and .. drinking a lot of Quill's booze. Phyla's death has really gut punched Carol. It has been impossible to miss how much it messed her up, the Thanos thing. The kid of her old love. The works. "I'm walk you both through it though. Some of it is intuitive once you can feel the various bonds between particles though." which means she isn't entirely sure how much she can explain to Finley, but she seems game to try.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava really can't blame Carol for her grief. She's dealt with her own emotional upset around it -- though it's been far more selfish in nature. Thus she's kept it tightly to herself. But dealing with Vance has been... a trial. Especially given how he unintentionally upsets Finley almost every time he tries to help Ava figure things out.

"I'd appreciate it," she tells Carol. "I'm getting tired of being fanboyed." That's unkind to say. She knows it. She knows it's inaccurate, too. She's just frustrated. "Is it anything like when I feel the waves of quantum energy around me?"

Finley Ellison has posed:
"As long as Ava understands," Finley says. "That's the important part."

Finley's given Carol space since the tragedy. She hadn't known what to say. And dragging her back to a place that tormented her seemed a necessary unkindness. So she hadn't wanted to force her to dwell. Still it's good to see the woman out and interacting. Finley doesn't know what to do in this situation at all, but for Ava's sake she needs to make this social interaction worse. She tries not to let her nerves show.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Well. I hate to tell you but the q-bands bring a level of celebrity with them. They really are supposedly passed down by the Elders of the Universe to champions." she sounds entirely like she understands though about the celebrity of great power and protecting people. Deep in her bones. "You eventually make terms with it." she adds.

She splays the two unit chits out and then offers one of them to each Finley and Ava.

"As for how it feels, yes probably very similar to that but on a smaller level. Instead of focusing on the ewaves of quantum energy generically, you need to focus on how it interacts with the objects on a quantum scale, molecular bonds and .. nudge them into new configurations." she pauses "We should not practice in the market though, could be explosive."

Ava Starr has posed:
Takes the unit tag with a word of thanks, slipping it into a secure pocket on her suit. She gives a wry, rather unhappy smile in response to the comment about celebrity. Raising one hand, with its fabric wrapped arm, she says, "Hence these. A poor solution, I know, but it was all I could do at the time."

She won't argue about not practicing in the market, however. She glances to Finley. "Shall we cut this short, then? I think the more I can learn from an expert, the better off we'll be." Captain Marvel qualifies. Major Victory does not.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley agrees, knowing that most of Ava's experimentation has been explosive. Explosive on purpose, but explosive, nonetheless. She still takes the unit tag and pockets it. Perhaps they can go shopping later. Although they might need Carol to act as interpreter.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Sure if you are eager to dig into it. May want to get some loose clothing though on the way back to the ship to hide your arms better and blend in easier as well though. I saw some stalls on the way here actually that I think would have what you want. Though more can be perused in the future."

She considers "We should probably find some public terminals later and see about discretely looking into the scientist that Phyla mentioned. Narrow it down before we go out looking."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava nods. "Lead on," she says, gesturing for Carol to go ahead. She'll trust her, certainly. "Finley's right. We need some sort of translator, anyway. Mostly, I just wanted to get a feel for the way people interact here." Which, to some degree, she has. It's the more subtle laws she's afraid will really trip them up.

"I don't even know where to begin looking for Yv'Kar..."