I got a demon in my soul and a voice in my head

[highprofilerichkid]

Characters: Tiny Tony Stark and YOU
Date: Throughout June (plus some backdated threads)
Location: All over Keeliai
Situation: Catching up with old friends, meeting new people, dealing with Too Much Shit, and quietly working himself to exhaustion. Don't worry about it. He's got this all under control.
Warnings/Rating: None



1. For Steve | The Sky Sector [Backdated to Steve's arrival]

After chatting for a while with Steve (Captain Rogers? What should Tony be calling him?), Tony had logged off the console to have a minor heart attack about meeting Captain America. CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Tony had even offered to meet up and give him a tour, show him the ropes, and Steve had agreed. Tony is too thrilled for words.

It takes the wind out of his sails a little bit when 'after I've settled in' stretches into several days, but it's probably for the best. It gives him some time to get the fanboy squealing out of his system.

So he mostly (mostly) manages to stay chill when Steve finally calls him back. Tony suggests a tour of the Sky Sector, since that's sort of the Foreigner sector, and picks out one of his favorite cafes to meet at. Completely contrary to his nature, he actually arrives early, and orders some tea while he waits.


2. For Milyn | House Spicy Iron Dragon [Backdated to early May]

Milyn may be taking refuge in their house, but she is not in Tony's good books right now.

He'd given her a few days to rest, recover, and get settled in, but now it's time to Talk. With a capital 'T'.

He knocks on the door of the guest room.


3. For Zatanna | The Welcome Center

Jackie's done with the Snakes, but it sounds like he's not sure the Snakes are done with him. And now that Tony has thrown what savings he has into the Golden Koi, Tony's obligation to protect Jackie has expanded to protecting his investment.

If this had been a few months ago, Tony would have spent some extra time lurking around the bar in his armor, to make it clear to any potential troublemakers that he had his eye on things. But, truth be told, he just doesn't have time for that anymore. Anyway, he thinks there's a more elegant solution.

Tony makes his way to the Welcome Center and pokes his head inside. "Zatanna? Are you around?"


4. For Callaghan | Tony's Lab

It's a shame Abigail hadn't stuck around. Tony had liked her, and she'd been almost as brilliant as him. But that's just the way things work around here.

He won't let her work go to waste, though. The stuff she'd done with the scorpion silk is incredible. It's certainly a fun project to work on, but more than that, it's important. Tony hasn't forgotten the kin'nal. The damage done by the earthquake has mostly been repaired, but Tony has diligently continued working on improvements to the lorn level. The kin'nal are still uncomfortable with him doing too much of the manual labor (the whole 'taking away their work' hangup that they have), so a lot of Tony's contributions come from the lab. He splits his time between working with the silk, crunching numbers on stability analyses, and designing reinforcement structures.

That's time that he's already splitting with his actual paying job and all his other responsibilities, though, so the progress is slower than he'd like.

He's lucky today to have a few rare free hours to devote to the project. He's intensely focused on the work, but his lab door is open - nothing he's doing right now is dangerous or likely to explode.


5. For Bucky | A market in the Water Sector

When he's headed home from work, Tony often takes a detour to do some grocery shopping. Three newly-fledged young adults, one of whom eats enough for two all on his own, go through a lot of food. These days, the only good shopping in Keeliai is in the Water Sector, since the fish markets haven't been completely shut down by the perpetual winter.

He's mostly done with his shopping when he spots a Foreigner he doesn't recognize poking through the offerings of one of the stalls. He doesn't look especially lost or perplexed, but Tony's not convinced he knows what he's about to buy.

"Sea prunes," Tony interjects, on the off chance that it may save a newcomer from an... unexpected culinary experience. "They're kind of an acquired taste."


6. For Simon | The Jasmine Dragon Tea House

Iroh has returned, and Tony is one of the reopened tea house's first customers. Anton's infinite coffee is great, but it's just one jar of coffee, and people are starting to give him dirty looks for constantly emptying it (you'd think people would be more generous with infinite coffee). Some of Iroh's teas have even more caffeine than coffee, anyway, even if the taste isn't as comfortingly familiar.

He'd pulled an all-nighter last night working on some stuff for Bisi, so he's taking his lunch break out on the patio of the Jasmine Dragon Tea House with a full pot of that high-octane supertea Zuko (the original version of him; Tony's not sure what to make of this New and Improved Zuko) had introduced him to.

Even with the caffeine, he's still yawning. Extremis and normal youthful resilience keep him from looking like a total zombie, but there are still dark circles under his eyes. He needs a twenty-minute powernap and a cucumber eye mask. Except there aren't any cucumbers here. Thanks for nothing, Keeliai.


7. For Yorda | House Spicy Iron Dragon

Tony has claimed the kitchen for the day, and warned everyone - especially Gene - to steer clear. He's invited Yorda over to talk business and try baking, and... well, let's just say, he's a lot better at the former than the latter. Who knows what kind of state the kitchen will be in when they finish.


8. For YOU | Choose your own adventure!

Anyone looking for Tony will have the best chance of finding him at the College, either in his lab or in the community workspace. He also makes regular visits to the kin'nal in the lorn level of Hatal, and he can occasionally be seen in the Golden Koi, chatting with Jackie. Good luck catching him anywhere else - he doesn't have much time for relaxation or recreation these days.

Comments

[backwordscompatible]

"Up here."

...no, really; he'll have to look almost straight up. Like, several feet up. The girl in question was sitting cross-legged in mid-air, with a slight smudge of white powder on her nose and cheek, doodling...something on the wooden paneling above the main entrance.

Of course, when she glanced down at him, she acted like this was a perfectly normal state to find her in. Nothing amiss at all, nope.

"Hey, Tony. You need something?"

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony does look up, and it really shows how long he's been in Keeliai that his only reaction is a smile and "cool," before moving on to his question.

"Yeah, actually. That anti-violence protection spell - how hard is that to do? I mean, could you make another one...? I have a friend who's worried about Snakes giving him a hard time at his business. An anti-violence spell would be basically perfect."

[backwordscompatible]

The request itself was pretty straightforward. And not hard to do. She could even think of a half dozen good reasons why anybody would want one of those as additional insurance...especially after that announcement about the Hotel.

But when he mentioned the Snakes...she frowned. "How bad is it?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"I'm not sure," Tony admits. "I think I'd be happier if I didn't have to find out, you know?" He's assuming it's easier to put up a protection spell than to, say, rebuild a building that's been burned to the ground.

"He used to be in the Snakes, but he got out, and he's worried they're holding a grudge. You know Jackie? The guy who just opened the Golden Koi in the Sky Sector?"

[starspangled]

It's not a heart attack that Steve's feeling, but it's definitely different. What started as some random kid messing with him turned out to be something else entirely, something unexpected. Something he still has to see with his own eyes.

But there were other things that he had to focus on too: getting settled, going through the whole thing once again with Pepper, finding the beginnings of purpose here. It did end up taking a few days, and Steve's sorry for that. But the important thing is that it's happening.

He finds the cafe easily enough, and once Steve actually lays eyes on him, he forgets about the city and buildings around him.

"Tony?" The tea is noted with mild amusement. He's used to seeing Tony drinking things with a bit more of a...kick to them. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I thought I left in plenty of time."

[highprofilerichkid]

There's only one place in Keeliai where coffee exists, Steve. He's had to make do.

Tony looks up when Steve says his name, and beams. "Captain Rogers!" He stands up (should he shake his hand? salute or something?? okay he's just going to stand for now). "No, I just got here." (fifteen minutes ago.) "This is great, you're fine."

Tony lets out a little laugh, looking at Steve like he can't quite believe he's there. "It's really an honor to meet you, Captain."

[starspangled]

"Steve is fine."

A smile tugs at one corner of his lips. Steve looks him up and down, shaking his head before offering an apology.

"It's good to meet you too. I don't mean to stare." He's just picturing him twenty, twenty-five years from now, a little more mileage on him, a couple more battles and near-death experiences. "Let's have a seat."

Steve gestures to Tony's before sitting down across from him after ordering a tea for himself.

"I got a few questions, but I'm not sure what's safe to ask and what's not."

2.

[cherrywood]

For all her faults, Milyn's not actually a bad houseguest. Even once healed, she's pretty quiet unless she gets talking about something, and doesn't seem adverse to helping out around the house without being asked.

"Come in," she called brightly at the knock, looking up from having been writing studiously in a journal-like book in neat kedanese script.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony steps inside and closes the door behind him. He sees the notebook and asks, "What are you working on?"

Introductory small talk, nosiness, or genuine curiosity? A little of all the above, honestly.

[cherrywood]

"I'm thinking of expanding my clinic," Milyn replies brightly. "Well, the building, not the actual clinic part. There's only one of me, so there's really no need for multiple exam rooms when I can only be in one at a time, of course. But I've been thinking of putting a greenhouse on the back half of the property, and installing some of those arboretum pods like Hatal has. You're clever with building things, Tony, would you help me design it?"

[pompous_today]

The tea house had become one of Simon's favorite destinations, as well; he'd always enjoyed a good cup of it, and it reminded him a bit of Inara, and thus home.

Tony didn't strike him as the type to frequent such a place, though, and so Simon was a little surprised to see his friend enter when he was there one day, reading and nursing a cup of green tea, and gave him a wave.

"Tony!"

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony looks around when someone calls his name; he smiles when he sees Simon and reroutes to his table. "Hey, Simon!" don't say 'what's up doc' that's the least clever joke ever "How's it going?"

[pompous_today]

"I am well." He smiled back, then frowned a little as Tony got closer. "And how are you feeling? If you don't mind me saing so, you look tired."

[dislocked]

[ There's a wide array of fruits and vegetables for sale here, and so much of them are things Bucky's never seen before. He's settling down quite well, all things considered, but he spends his time getting the lay of the land, still cautious and wary.

He comes out only when the crowd thins, even though he knows from experience that one's chances of getting killed are just about the same whether it's in a crowded space or not, and he's about to purchase the sea prunes when he hears that comment. Pausing, Bucky glances over at the stranger, brows raised. ]

Acquired taste? [ Prunes, from the sea? Really? ]

my headcanon is that sea prunes are tunicates

[highprofilerichkid]

Unless you're feeling really adventurous, you might want to stick to fish, [Tony advises.] I'm not even sure what kingdom they belong to. People treat them like a plant, but I don't know, they could be some kind of weird underwater fungus. I'm not even totally convinced they're not animals. I swear I've seen them move.

OH MAN

[dislocked]

[ Bucky puts it back, frowning at them. He might not be the pickiest eater, but something about the young man's commentary makes the food off-putting. ]

Move in here or underwater?

7!

[shroudofgray]

Talking business with Yorda was probably going to wind up pretty futile. But baking? Much less so.

She had come prepared. Perhaps a bit overenthusiastic but she had never had friends to invite her over to bake so she had decided on being safe rather than sorry.

She lugged the rather hefty bag of ingredients into the kitchen, beaming with pride. Probably best not to ask where she got all this.

"Hello, Tony Stark," she greeted, setting the bag down. "Thank you for asking me to come over."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Hey, no problem. It sounded like fun, and I need break." Tony assesses the bag she's brought with her. Apparently, him stocking up on ingredients was redundant. "Wow. So it looks like you've gotten some people to pay you for finding their stuff."

[shroudofgray]

She nodded, hefting the bag with a hint of pride.

"I found a ring. It was very important," she explained.

"I thought it was better to bring my own food and not use yours. Humans need to eat. I just like to."

Lorn

[ten_zero]

The Kin'nal were of immediate interest to Mag - she'd seen first hand what came from trampling an entire people under your foot, especially when your society relied on them. It didn't work out for the Orokin, and it wouldn't work out for Hatal.

She saw an opportunity to help... and perhaps profit. She started spending a fair amount of time in the outskirts of the city, offering her services where they were useful. She spent time moving debris (ferrous debris was particularly easy to move for someone who could control magnetic fields), kick starting power grids if there wasn't any significant damage, accompanying Kin'nal on Koxalu scorpion gathering missions. It didn't take long for Tony and Mag to run across each other.

[highprofilerichkid]

The first place Tony runs into Mag/Bisi outside of the lab is in Hatal. She's taken an interest in the plight of the Kin'nal, too, which doesn't surprise him. And he's glad to have more Foreigners getting involved. Maybe they can't change the whole culture overnight, but they can assist the Kin'nal in concrete ways, at least. And maybe their influence will be the start of a shift in attitudes.

He's been going over surveying analyses with some of the Kin'nal... foremen? construction experts? today, so he's not armored, and he smiles when sees Mag. It's odd to watch the warframe walking around and interacting with people, knowing that Bisi is controlling it all the way from the College (he could do the same with his armor, he just doesn't). The somatic link the warframe uses is conceptually similar to Tony's link with his armor, but from a technical perspective it's very different, and it's interesting to see it in action.

"How's the somatic link working out? Everything running like it should?"

[ten_zero]

"Yes! Very well. I... wouldn't be able to express how much I missed this."

Mag's unchanging, swirling visage is difficult to discern emotion from outside of her voice, but she is momentarily lost in joy. She turns back to Tony, having forgotten that he was there for a second.

"And I can't express how thankful I am for your help."

i remain the slowest tagger ever

[pushtheboundaries]

Where Tony thinks it's a shame, Callaghan isn't even acknowledging it at all. It's not that he doesn't miss her, but it's almost disturbing how easily he avoids the subject of her loss, how he'll shift a conversation around so that they're talking about something, anything but her. The work is fine- the creator is not.

(Tony's likely able to tell that he is, in fact, bothered - but that the man is very, very good at wearing a mask and playing a part when he feels the need.)

"Anything interesting today?" he asks seemingly out of the blue, resting an arm on the doorframe as he watches Tony hard at work. If nothing else, he's devoted to what is done with her work - especially at the hands of someone he has such an interesting relationship with.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony looks up from the work and smiles at his visitor. He's surprised that it's Callaghan - he's been... weird since Abigail left.

The incident(s) with the nanobots had added a tense undercurrent to their relationship, but things had been steady for a while, and Tony had been happy to settle back into the comfortable camaraderie of fellow scientists. Then Abigail had vanished.

Tony's not all that skilled at reading people, but he has a hunch that Callaghan isn't handling it well.

But he thinks it's promising that the professor is still interested in Abigail's work. Maybe it'll help him open up.

"I think I might have figured out how to blend the synthetic fibers with the real silk," Tony replies enthusiastically. "The synthetic still isn't anywhere near as good as the real stuff on its own," he picks a wad of slimy, snot-like precipitate out of one of his beakers; the precursor to the synthetic fibers he's been working on, "but when it's integrated the right way with the natural silk, the resulting fiber is just as strong. Almost identical properties, but it uses a lot less real silk, so what the Kin'nal collect will go a lot farther. Abigail's notes helped me figure out the chemical treatment that gets the fibers to bind together."

[pushtheboundaries]

Those microbots are still under wraps. Still safe. Still secure. The only time they come out is behind a locked door, when Callaghan is distracting himself by performing some maintenance; the methodical, repetitive work can easy consume him for hours at a time.

Not entirely, though. As much as he might like it to.

There's a minute twitch of expression at the mention of Abigail, but it passes as he steps in. "Hm. Chemistry was never my strong suit," he admits, moving to take a closer look. Hands off, out of respect, but there's still some clear interest. "Or would this be considered biotech?"