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

[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."

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony's grin widens. "Steve. Got it." He's not offended by the staring - he might be doing a little of it himself.

He sits back down and shrugs. "Go for it. Ask whatever you want. If there's an interdimensional Prime Directive, no one's told us about it," he says, chuckling. "Me and JARVIS and Bruce did the compare and contrast, so I get it." The curiosity, the burning desire to know what's different and what's the same, how the world you know could have changed if things had gone just a little differently.

[starspangled]

He smiles a little at the mention of Bruce's name. It's true, if there was any problem with the interdimensional prime...thing, he probably would've caught it. Steve glances down at Tony's chest, tapping his own.

"For awhile, you had something here, an arc reactor. Did you know about that?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"Yup." Tony nods. "JARVIS told me about that. I had one too. Not an arc reactor—" because that's friggin crazy what the hell himself "—but a sort of heart monitor slash pacemaker deal. Plane crash, when I was fifteen. JARVIS said his Tony got it in Afghanistan, when he got kidnapped during a weapons test."

There's the slightest change in his tone when he says 'weapons test'; something that might be distaste. But he covers it up pretty well, and moves on.

"I had it for about two years, until I got a dose of Extremis to fix my heart." His smile returns, a little mischievous this time. "No more implant, and I got some cool bonus upgrades." Ask him about his sweet superpowers, Steve.

[starspangled]

Steve nods to confirm some of the things that this Tony has heard. He and Tony, the larger one, talked about it a time or two, but Steve also read his teammates' files. He knows everything he needed to know to help lead them.

He tips his head curiously when he hears the change in the young man's voice. It's not something he would've expected, but it just goes to show that they're really not the same person. He lets him continue on without interruption.

"Upgrades?" Steve's brow arches. "What kind?" Tell him all about those sweet superpowers, the Captain's all ears.

"the larger one" lmao

[highprofilerichkid]

"It was SHIELD's attempt to recreate the serum that you got, but nanotech-based. It has all the standard stuff: enhanced strength, speed, endurance, resilience; enhanced senses; faster healing. But it's unpredictable. It affects everyone differently. For me, the nanotech altered my brain." Gosh, it sounds creepy when he says it like that. "Now I'm wifi-enabled." Tony grins. Still cool, though. "I can mentally interface with anything that receives wireless signals. It's basically technopathy." It's basically the best superpower ever. "I'm technically a cyborg."

Tony takes a sip of his tea, looking very pleased with himself.

tony lite

[starspangled]

"Yeah, there was a few attempts of that back on my world. It didn't work out so well."

Steve thinks of Dr. Erskine, the one thing that the serum was really missing, the reason it couldn't be duplicated properly. He picks up his cup, watching Tony over the edge of it as he takes a drink. There's a little quirk of his eyebrows when he gets to the part about his brain - Steve has even more concerns when it comes to things messing with someone's head. But he goes on to talk about technology, which is a very 'Tony' thing.

Maybe a little too much.

"Cyborg?" He doesn't choke on his tea, he just has to swallow it quickly. "Does that mean you can go into the internet? Hack into things, things like that?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"Extremis... mostly didn't work. I took a low dose, and got really lucky." That's the ugly side of Extremis, and Tony's a little relieved not to have to go into detail when Steve nearly inhales his tea at 'I'm a cyborg.' That's much more fun to talk about.

"Exactly," Tony replies brightly. "The internet, the armor, satellites, Chinese missiles, people's fitbits..."

[starspangled]

Fitbit. Steve knows that word, thinks it might be that thing that Natasha got him for Christmas. He got the feeling that it was really meant as a joke, but he's not sure.

Tony seems pretty pleased, and Steve has that uncertain little frown thing going on - which must be pretty typical of their relationship no matter what universe they're from or where they are. He takes a breath, reaching a hand up to rub one of his own shoulders in an attempt to ease some of the tension in it.

"Do you know about Ultron?"

He *could* brainhack a Fitbit, but why would he even want to

[highprofilerichkid]

Aw, jeez, Steve, why you gotta bring up that stuff. Tony frowns and looks away, his good mood wilting. "Yeah. Some of it. Bruce told me the basics." His frown deepens. He twirls his half-empty teacup in circles. "That doesn't have anything to do with Extremis, though. Anyway. I'm out of the AI business. The multiverse has been sending me a pretty clear message - I'm taking the hint."

[starspangled]

Sorry, Tony. Someone has to bring up the un-fun stuff, and that someone is usually Steve. His reaction is answer enough at first, and Steve leans forward as he listens.

"I'm glad to hear it." Tony's intentions were always good, but this way there's no worrying about the outcome. "Sorry, I didn't mean to strike a nerve. You mentioned that about cyborgs...reminded me a little of what we're facing back home." Steve reaches over and places a hand on Tony's shoulder. "But there's obviously not any connection. I misunderstood, I'm sorry Tony."

[highprofilerichkid]

"No, it's okay." Tony chuckles nervously. HOLY SHIT CAPTAIN AMERICA IS TOUCHING HIM. ON THE SHOULDER. LIKE THEY'RE FRIENDS. "A cyborg is just an organic organism enhanced with technological components that utilize some kind of biofeedback. It doesn't have anything to do with AI. Actually, if you gave an AI a fully or partially organic body, that would be the opposite of a cyborg. A technological organism enhanced with biological material." Tony. You're yammering. Cut it out.

Tony clears his throat and gives Steve a weak smile. "Thanks for the heads up. I'd rather hear it from you than learn about it the hard way." Then he looks down, rubbing the back of his neck, and mutters, "Not sure what it says about me that the first thing anyone from an alternate timeline ever wants to tell me is how I cause the apocalypse."

[starspangled]

The more you know.™ Steve follows, learning something new at this table, even if it will always be Tony's area of expertise.

"That you're not someone who just sits back and waits for someone else to take care of a problem, that's what it says. You try." And in talking to this Tony, Steve feels like he understands the one he knows a little better. "The Tony I know just wants to protect everyone. We all make mistakes, but I've never seen anyone work harder to correct theirs than he does. When things go wrong, he's right there on the front lines. Be proud of him. Be proud of yourself."

Steve gives his shoulder a squeeze. No feeling bad, not today.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony actually looks stunned. He was completely unprepared for an emotional pep talk from Captain Freakin' America within five minutes of properly meeting the guy.

"I... um. Thanks." He smiles again, this time more warmly. He's not sure that's really true, but it's surprisingly heartening that Steve believes the best of him.

A moment later, he realizes he's probably gazing at Steve like a starstruck moron, and he should probably move the conversation forward. His smile shifting into a wry grin, he observes, "You know, you sounded a lot like my dad right there." His dad always know what to say to make him feel better, too. "It's too bad you didn't get here a couple weeks earlier. He would have loved to meet you."

[starspangled]

"Howard?" And now it's Steve's turn to look a little surprised. He wonders about the differences and similarities between this Tony's father and the one he knew pretty well. "Yeah, I would've liked that too." Steve murmurs, still thoughtful. "You must miss him too. Was he here for very long?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"Just two weeks," Tony says, with a melancholy smile. "Yeah. I miss him a lot." But it's not all bad: "He might be back. The past two years we've had these Dreaming fluxes where loads of new Foreigners show up for a couple weeks and then vanish again. He was here both times. Maybe he'll show up again next time it happens." As an afterthought, Tony adds, "That's when Bruce and JARVIS showed up, too, this last time."

[starspangled]

"I hope so." Steve smiles, pulling himself out of his thoughts to the here and now. He'd like to see Howard again, along with a lot of people. "Jarvis." That name confuses him a little, if it can be called that. Steve's learned that things that he couldn't really imagine before are possible now. He's learned to keep himself open. "The program? Stark's A.I.?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"That's right." He smiles wryly. "The one that's not evil. He showed up in one of his Tony's suits. He said he'd just come from taking down AIM, and, uh..." Tony pauses and gets a weird look on his face. He's trying to refrain from both laughing and rolling his eyes. "...The Mandarin. The fake Mandarin."

[starspangled]

"Slattery. The guy who thought he was pretending to be a terrorist?" While bad things were really happening. "I followed that. Tony handled it."

Steve sighs, shaking his head.

"It's weird, the things that match up. The things that are different."

[highprofilerichkid]

STEVE THE PRESIDENT GOT KIDNAPPED. HE MAYBE COULD HAVE USED A LITTLE HELP HANDLING IT.

"Yeah, uh, that part didn't match up so well with my universe," Tony says, and he can't help but laugh. " My Mandarin would have eaten Trevor" Trevor "for breakfast, and AIM is a bunch of beekeeper-themed goofballs." A threat, for sure, but a goofy one. "Their pet project is a giant head. It flies. With a jet pack. And it has little tiny arms and legs." Again: serious threat. Still fucking ridiculous.

[starspangled]

A GUY IS DUE A WEEKEND OFF FROM TIME TO TIME.

Steve snorts at that mental image, with the little dip between his eyebrows proof that he's trying to picture it. A head with a jet pack.

"I thought my universe had gotten pretty weird. Now I'm thinking that yours wins, hands down."

his acronym is legit c for conquest instead of k for killing because imaa is a children's show l o l

[highprofilerichkid]

"MODOC is pretty weird, even for my universe," Tony admits. But yeah, Steve, Mini Tony's universe is definitely weirder.

"Okay. So what's the weirdest thing that's happened in yours?"

[starspangled]

"Besides me?" Steve winks at him before smiling. He hasn't been the strangest thing in a very long time and he knows it. There's a deep breath taken before Steve leans back in his seat, looking out over the scenery as he thinks.

"I've gotta go with the aliens." Steve wasn't long out of the ice, and aliens and gods were so far beyond his wheelhouse. It secretly felt overwhelming. Definitely weird. "That and people eating bacon on their donuts - the older you can put away half a dozen of those, I've seen it. Mostly when Pepper's not around."

[highprofilerichkid]

That's cute, Steve. "If frozen supersoldiers are the weirdest thing you've got going on, you've got a lot of catching up to do." Get back to him when you've held hostage negotiations with a nine-eyed flying centipede demon.

'Aliens' is a pretty good answer, though. Aliens definitely establish a solid baseline for weirdness. "Yeah, we've had a run-in with some interstellar weirdos, too. The Makluans. But bacon donuts are totally normal, and delicious, so you'd better take that back."