tushanshu_logs | Working Off A Debt [CLOSED]

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Working Off A Debt [CLOSED]

Characters: Tony Stark and Raine Sage
Date: 10 February
Location: The Healer's Guild
Situation: In return for seeing his future back home, Tony has promised Milyn that he will help out Raine at the Healer's Guild.
Warnings/Rating: None yet.

It's been almost a week since Tony went with Gene to see Milyn, and now that he's mostly? kind of? got himself sorted out, he's holding up his end of the bargain and going to offer his services to Raine.

He decides to go see her at work, rather than knocking on her door and risking another encounter with Solomon. But he hasn't been to the Healer's Guild before, so when he gets there, he's not sure where to actually find her.

He homes in on the first official-ish-looking person he sees. "Hey, I'm looking for Raine. Is she around?"

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Tony doesn't react to the chilly reception - he's gotten used to it, by now. He doesn't like it, but he's used to it. "Thanks," he says politely, and settles in to wait.

He spends a few minutes admiring the architecture until Raine arrives... and then a few more minutes admiring it as Raine finishes her conversation. By the time she walks over to him, every aspect of the room's construction has been very thoroughly admired.

"Hey, Raine." He smiles. "A couple days ago, I went to Milyn to do that Gha'nal venom procedure - the one where you can see what happens to you back home. Anyway, I was going to help her out at the clinic to pay her back, but she said she didn't need anything and sent me to you instead. So, uh, whatever you want me to do... I'm here to do it."

Raine stares at him for a moment, expression blank. What in the world is she supposed to do with Tony Stark at the Healer's Guild? What did Milyn think she was going to do with him?

"Facilities," she says at length, back in the neighborhood of a pleasant smile. "Unless you have much in the way of medical expertise, I think that will be best. The Guild had been defunct for some time before Milyn gave the building over to me, and while most things remain intact, a more in-depth review would be helpful. There's nothing highly technological, however. Or," and here her smile turns just the slightest bit mischievous, "you may choose to serve as receptionist for some time, and thereby free up those with healing capabilities who could be using that time more constructively."

Don't ask him, Raine, it wasn't his idea.

"Facilities. Yeah. I can do that." His smile becomes a little strained when she goes on to suggest reception. "I can do reception, too," he says slowly, "if that's where you need me most." Please, please not reception. Anything but that.

She presses her lips together, and does not manage to altogether hide her amusement. That did tweak him a little, and now she knows what to threaten him with if necessary. Homework doesn't seem like it would have much of an effect on Tony, but boredom and bureaucratic make-work? Yes.

"All right." Raine inclines her head a little, invitation to follow, and heads back the way she came, planning to show him around. "This way. I'll give you free rein, for the most part, but consult with me first if you have the urge to make any major structural modifications. In the mean time-- how have you been, Tony? It's been a while, hasn't it."

Laugh now, Raine, but if you put him on reception, all your miscellaneous office supplies are going to go missing and you're going to find miniature wind-up strandbeests wandering the halls.

But it looks like she's not going to make good on her threat of bureaucratic tedium (yet, anyway). Relieved, Tony nods and follows.

Her question catches him by surprise - it's not an unusual question, he just doesn't know how to answer it. He's been... it's complicated.

So he falls back on that age-old staple of teenage male communication: he shrugs.

As long as they're not hostile miniature wind-up strandbeests, she can probably be convinced to be okay with it. She draws the line at things that will require beating down.

She's not quite expecting silence, though, and when she pauses to open a door, Raine gives Tony a quizzical look, considering whether to push or let it slide. "Tony?" she prompts in a moment. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. I guess so." He puts his hands in his pockets and doesn't meet her eyes.

But he knows that's not going to satisfy her, so a few seconds later, he adds, "The trip home didn't go too well."

Now that body language Raine has unfortunate familiarity with, and she can only imagine what he means by 'didn't go too well,' as she distinctly recalls that he'd already had to deal with an alien invasion. "I see," she says, neutrally. She pauses over what to say -- she doesn't know him well enough to know if prodding him to talk about it will help -- and settles on, "While I'm aware that 'help' is a foreign concept to many of us, please don't hesitate to ask, should you need it." Raine's more than willing to be an ear or an advisor, but if Tony wishes, she'll leave it at that. She leaves the door open for him behind her.

"Thanks." It's not enough to make him smile, but the gratitude is genuine. "But, I don't know how much you know..." about Gene, and what he did. "I don't know if I should talk about it."

Talking about it would require talking about all the awful things Gene had done at home, and if Raine doesn't already know about that, Tony doesn't think it's right for him to be the one to tell her. That's up to Gene.

"I think it's okay, though. We... worked some stuff out. It was just a lot to take in."

Raine doesn't know all that much about their situation, actually, and she nods when Tony makes that note. It makes sense. "I understand," she says. Which she does, as long as personal issues don't turn into something that presents a danger to others as well, but it sounds like Tony has things under control. There's a thought. "The offer stands."

That handled, for a given value of handled, Raine returns to the business of showing Tony around the facilities to give him an idea what she's hoping for from him. The building was barely used while the Foreigners were in the Dreaming, except to remove useful or valuable things, and despite the work she's put in that's still somewhat evident.

Tony nods, but he doesn't think he's going to take her up on that. Not right now, at least. He's talked through it with Gene and a few other people, and he thinks they're okay. Just... still stabilizing.

He follows behind and listens dutifully as Raine gives him the tour. The building is mostly in working order, but definitely showing signs of having gone to seed over the year it was abandoned. He has a decent amount of work ahead of him.

"What kind of supplies do you have for me to make replacements and repairs?"

Ah, yes, the finer details. Raine tilts her head up a little, gaze distant while she recounts what they have to work with from memory. The guild's gotten some donations, and some of that's set aside for the replacement and repair endeavor, which she'll give Tony access to within reason. There are some raw materials available, some few things she's managed to acquire herself already that are somewhat the worse for wear, but past a certain extent she's just going to have to be content to leave things in Tony's hands. "Any technical specifications you need, I can provide," she adds, "but I trust your initiative and know-how. We don't need fancy; we just need functional."

She would also love it if he could manage not to antagonize anyone along the way, but this she doesn't voice, reasoning that informing Tony she's a little dubious of his social skills may in fact exacerbate that.

Tony memorizes what Raine lists off, but he'll have to actually see the state of the building's facilities before he'll know if what she has is enough.

"I'll take any specs and schematics you have; anything that doesn't have them, I'll draw them up as I go along. And once I've looked everything over, I can tell you if there's any materials I still need."

It'll be easy work, though it might take a few days to go over everything. Which reminds him, if he's going to be coming and going for a few days...

"So, does Solomon ever come around here...?" He tries to make the question sound casual, but mostly it sounds hesitant and apprehensive.

~~what was that you were thinking about him antagonizing people, Raine?~~

Raine starts taking him through the rest of the building bit by bit, since he needs to look over the rest anyway, and in theory they can talk and walk. "All right, that sounds reasonable."

His question, however, earns him a moderately suspicious look. Last she heard they didn't exactly like each other, but Tony sounds like maybe he'd rather brave a herd of wild velocidragons than encounter Solomon again, and that seems a bit extreme for her last knowledge of the situation. "You're not likely to run into him unexpectedly, if that's what you're asking," Raine says pointedly. "Is there likely to be a problem if you do?"

It sounds rather a lot like am I going to have to separate you two.

"No," says Tony, too quickly. "We'd probably both just be happier if we didn't. Do that. Run into each other unexpectedly, I mean, yeah."

It's very obvious he's avoiding eye contact with Raine. Wow, those ducts sure are fascinating! It's definitely time to change the subject! "Do you know what the building's average monthly power and water usage are?"

Tony. Tony, she may be a little rusty about dealing with teenage bullshit but she sure knows what it sounds like. "Remember that I can simply return home and ask Solomon if there's likely to be a problem," Raine points out. Not necessarily why, because that may not be entirely her business, but certainly if. There's also the implication that Solomon's account will probably be less favorable to Tony. "Ensuring the two of you never meet sounds right now like more trouble than it's worth simply to avoid some discomfort, but if you have some reason to believe the results would be genuinely bad..."

She shakes her head at him. A more transparent dodge she's rarely seen. "I don't have those figures to hand, no, but I can give you what data I do have and you should be able to extrapolate from there."

"Please don't," Tony says - and it's very nearly pleading. He knows he screwed up that last conversation with Solomon, but he doesn't want Raine to think any worse of him than she already does. "It's nothing. It won't be a problem."

And he makes a promise to himself that it won't be. He won't let Solomon get under his skin again. He's here to do a job, and he'll act like a professional, no matter how unbearable Raine's boyfriend decides to be.

Raine gives him a long, level look. She wants now very much to know what happened to inspire that tone of voice, but-- he did say please. As long as it doesn't become an actual problem that she later has to deal with, though perhaps unfortunately for Tony her definition of a problem she has to deal with does cover some of Solomon's problems, as well.

"All right," she says at length. "I won't press the issue." A beat, then, "I trust you, Tony."

Which is only a little bit of a guilt trip. It's true, though, and while she maybe wouldn't trust him with her deepest secrets, she's pretty sure she can rely on him in most situations.

No you don't want to know, Raine. You really don't.

"Thanks," Tony says again, and his shoulders slump: a little from relief, and a little from embarrassment. It's nice to hear Raine say that she trusts him, but he's not sure he's earned it. All he ever seems to do around her is screw up.

All the more reason to focus on the job, and focus on doing it well.

"Where's the boiler room for this place? I should probably start there, especially if it needs major repairs."

Raine almost always wants to know. She eyes him sidelong for another moment or two, then just nods before turning her attention back to the building and the halls. That seems to have had the desired effect for now. She hopes.

"Let me show you," she says, electing not to comment any further, and starts leading him that way. It seems a sensible place to start, and it will redirect any lingering awkwardness, with any luck.

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Working Off A Debt [CLOSED]

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HEY LOOK I FOUND ONE OF THOSE MISSING TAGS /facepalm

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