Open | Atam | Tony Stark's Adventurs in Atam

[iron_ego]

Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner, and YOU
Date: April 5th, April 7th - 13th, otherwise known as BACKDATED
Location: Keeliai (April 5th), Atam (April 7th - 13th)
Situation: Tony hosts dinner, then Atam hosts Tony; no regrets shall be had.
Warnings/Rating: Tony Stark. See comment headers for CW changes.

OOC: Thread headers for open and closed portions are in the comments below. Come, be "graced" with the presence and opinions of one Tony Stark! And accept this formal apology in advance for everything he says and does.

Comments

APRIL 5TH - FI-3A - CLOSED TO PEPPER POTTS & BRUCE BANNER

[iron_ego]

[The intent is simple -- a reunion dinner of sorts between he, his girlfriend, and his science mistress. Mister. It is the best form of polyamorous anything that man has ever known and it makes sense to bring them together to mark the occasion.

Thus, dinner. An invitation (green paper with purple ink) has been dispatched to Bruce Banner and Pepper, well. It's much easier to invite her for at least 33% of dinner (he learned from his future; no 12% antics here).

JARVIS concocted the recipe and Tony tried. He tried. A blowtorch may have been involved to cut the roast before he called out a kedan messenger to pick up a meal -- the best that juulan and the rationing can buy. There may have been some black market involved, as the meal is the turtlequivalent of lobster, steak, and salad. Tony tips him well and brings the boxes into the dining area of the first floor -- one of the only areas untouched by his workshop renovations (in constant expansion as he takes on new projects and gathers more scrap for recycling into toys and trinkets.

Food acquired, he delves into the cabinet on the far side of the room for, you guessed it, alcohol.]

Re: APRIL 5TH - FI-3A - CLOSED TO PEPPER POTTS & BRUCE BANNER

[angermanaging]

[Bruce arrives while he's cabinet diving, feeling somewhat weird about it. It's strange to find two people that like you so much when all you know about them is what you saw on the news, and Bruce finds anything on there highly suspicious. After all, they're responsible for naming the Hulk.

He'd stared at the invitation for a solid minute, trying to decide again if he should be amused or indignant at how casually the threat he represents is being treated. He lands somewhere on exasperated fondness. Yes, he thinks he needs to be taken more seriously, but it's hard to be agitated with someone that keeps arguing your best qualities to you.

He feels much less conflicted about Pepper. She'd been professional and warm at the same time, so she's easy to relax around. (It occurs to him that this is probably part of what Tony likes in her, too.)

In any case, he shows up ready to at least try not to make an awkward social mess of the evening with his unending problems. That dinner with Betty and Dr. Samson is at the forefront of his mind; at least he knows he won't break down into embarrassing tears at how it feels to laugh. He likes to think he's better adjusted these days.]

Hello? [he calls out, sure enough of his welcome to open the door without knocking, sidling into the room. There's a small bag tucked under one arm.]

[iron_ego]

[There's the sound of rummaging. The thud of a hard head hitting hard wood. Even a huffed breath of akin to brief pain before Tony pops up like a gopher, two small bottles of liquor gripped between the fingers of one hand.]

Doctor Banner. You made it.

[That's a tone of... relief? Satisfaction. Tony sheds the skins of emotion with ease and rapidity, often going through two or three shadows of thought within a single word.]

Come in. Get comfortable. Wine?

[angermanaging]

[Bruce notices the tone and finds it curious, but doesn't comment on it. It's part of the bro code.]

No, I don't drink. [At all, is the unspoken implication.] Sorry, but I'm kind of a buzz kill.

[He was pretty much always a buzz kill, even before the Hulk. Bruce comes in and closes the door behind him, casing the room automatically. But he's pretty relaxed, for Bruce; it's a flick of his eyes and not a slow, careful examination. He feels as safe as he ever gets, without Betty.]

Pepper isn't here yet? [One conversation and he's already on first names with her.]

[the_other_eight]

[It was at about that time that Pepper made her way out of the bedroom. She was wearing a more casual skirt and blouse for the occasion and she was putting her still slightly damp hair into a neat ponytail.]

Just finishing up I'm afraid. someone took all the provisioned hot water.

[Yes Tony, that patronizing glance is set right on you. Shorter showers, or at least reserving a little of the hot water would be appreciated.]

We might still have some tea left over.

[Of course they did. The only use it got was when Inara would visit or someone else who didn't drink coffee.]

Would you like me to make you a cup instead?

[She makes no time in walking right over and giving Bruce a hug as if they are old friends. Even to her they aren't, but Bruce seems to have a way with her. An easy to care about presence. No matter the danger he presented he was still Bruce to Pepper.]

APRIL 7TH - QUARANTINE - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Paperwork and processing. Ah! What a taste of the familiar, though hosing-down episodes are generally saved for drunk tanks and not customs. Tony takes it all in strike, charming a few of Atam's finest ladies-in-uniform as he's stripped down, hosed off, and a quick inspection is done of the arc reactor in his chest.

Once all is said and done, he directs them to put his cleaned clothing down on a chair ("I don't like things handed to me") and dresses without care for viewers. They want a free show? They have it.]

All this attention and free laundry services. [A thoughtful cant to his head, then he straightens his jacket.] What service. If you're looking for a tip, you should consider adding a massage to that stripsearch. Really helps us tourists feel at home.

[And that's it. He's ready to hit the streets at a run. Strut.]

APRIL 8TH - CENTRAL STOCKADE - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Tony does a brief tour of the central stockade in the midmorning, peering over barriers and at the outdated methods of torture. He makes a few comments about waterboarding, then simply shrugs the mess off. With no signs of recent use, the whole thing comes across as Hannibal's Heritage Park instead of some terrifying deal.]

Quaint. Positively medieval. [A pause.] And yet, no tour guides. [A disappointed half-sigh as he moves on.]

[depicted]

[Dorian finds the stockade a little unsettling. There is nothing like the symbols of authoritarian punishments to make a deviant antinomian's skin crawl. Overhearing the comment, he replies,] Perhaps they thought, "No, wouldn't want to be gauche about it."

[Shaking his head, Dorian releases a puff of air and turns from the stockade.]

[iron_ego]

[Tony stops and looks at Dorian, hands loosely resting in his slacks' front pockets. His head cants to the side, an eyebrow arching up.]

And yet, who wouldn't want a revival of the smash hit The Iron Maiden of the Opera? Talk about Broadway blockbuster that every militant state needs to experience.

[Sincerity happens to be on extended vacation in his tone, every word a wry commentary to the state of Atam.]

[depicted]

They do need something for entertainment.

[But at least they aren't Oliver Cromwell. Hands already comfortable in his coat pockets, Dorian starts to walk away. No need to stay around the place.]

APRIL 9TH - MARKETPLACE - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Today is business more than pleasure, with Tony perusing the marketplaces and converting a good portion of his juulan into the local currency. There's no waste to this haste, for he buys up every bit of interesting technology he can find - including a newer rifle with a blown-out muzzle -- useless to them, but he and JARVIS can use it to reverse engineer if he likes, plus the damage gives him a good measure of the stress loads of the material used. Each and every purchase he arranged to be delivered to the departure port at the end of the week.

Texts, designs, food, clothes, luxuries, mundanities; there is no limit to what he investigates and little to what he invests in. Tony picks up and tosses things down at apparent random, commenting just as much to himself as others to the nature of things and his observations.

Approach this strange shopper? Y/Y/BACK AWAY SLOWLY.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack has been lurking along the upper walls of the market, staying off the street level as much as he can to avoid being walked through by the unknowing citizens of Atam. But he spotted Tony's flagrant stroll through the shops and follows, waiting until the area surrounding him clears a little of pedestrians before dropping down to the ground, a ready smile brightening his pale features. ]

So I thought it was girls who usually went on shopping sprees...

[iron_ego]

[Tony stops. Blinks. Looks at Jack -- right. He knows him. Definitely not from the playboy side. Important to Pepper. Ding-ding-ding, his twelve percent son! He grins -- not out of recognition so much as amusement to the comment.]

And let them have all the fun? Never. [Not once. Nope.] Only, the diamond-in-the-rough I'm looking for isn't attached to a ring. Pendant. Shirt. [A vague gesture.] Whatever they like it being attached to.

[wintershepherd]

So it's like a treasure hunt?

[ Grinning, happy to have something to focus on other than the disgustingly humid weather in Atam and the fact that no one could see him. In fact with a sixth sense perfected over centuries, he steps out of the way just as one of the natives brushes past, though an arm still swings through the spirit's shoulder with a dissipating waver before appearing solid once again. ]

Ugh.

APRIL 10TH - WALL - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Two hours and forty-three minutes are all he contributes to his effort to make sense of the walls that surround Atam. Tony refers to a phone linked into the Stark Industries network and holding weak signal this far out, comparing feedback from JARVIS to what he can scan and sense of it.

All the while, there is an ache in his chest that slowly becomes sharper the longer that he waits. Tony rubs idly at the area encircling the arc reactor, guessing it a fail of technology.]

How about that.

[The shrapnel's trying to move against the weakening magnetic field. That occurs to him and ends his investigation for the sake of health, though he'd love to have tried the Mark VI on the charge in the wall (noted when he tossed a small piece of gravel at it); see if it took the power the way it did Thor's little fourth-of-July show, but. Alas. The suit's in Keeliai and he doesn't have everything needed to build a Mark V briefcase model quite yet.]

APRIL 11TH - LIQUOR CELLAR - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Clued in by the innkeeper where he's staying, Tony beelines straight for the cellar -- one of Atam's finest for liquor, if the lauding is to be believed. He spends the entirety of this day perusing the walls lining each room of this cellar. Bottle after bottle is laid out, from wines to whiskeys, and for one gone dry in this time of rationing? This is a heaven beneath the earth -- and here he's always been told that everything south is hell.

Tony's in an excellent mood, bolstered also by samplings of the stock offered by the resident staff.]

Cheers.

[Said many a time in toasting to the samples, just prior to his partaking of it. Come and touch glasses with him?]

[liugan]

[ Loki needed to get drunk like yesterday. It's bad enough that the fruit here comes in cans, of all things, but ever since that one man decided to be so cryptic with his details, disappearing without so much of a toodle-oo, it's left Loki feeling quite irritated. When he can't understand something, and especially when vital information is kept from him, it doesn't leave him in the best of mood.

Which is all the more reason to pilfer all the alcohol he can manage. If he's going to do some serious pondering, might as well get a little buzz going first, clear his head, regret it later, then ponder.

And since it's being handed out in ample supply, he sees no reason to be skimpy. He's bringing a red wine bottle in one hand, the other open so he can sample this "scotch" stuff. He had planned to just get in and get out, but perhaps later he'll come by for a third.

There's a fellow offering cheers, and Loki rarely participates but- well, new world, new start. He walks passed him, and doesn't even bother to look up as he lifts the wine bottle to clink against the other's offered glass. Only a mere human, after all, no need to get chummy. ]

[iron_ego]

[Tony responds to the bottle with some enthusiasm, proffering the start of a grin. Only the start, however, when he takes a look and sees something familiar. Someone familiar and it nags at his mind, dries up the drink that he's already downed with that odd chill felt when he watched his future in the pool and saw what'd be coming when he went home sweet home.]

You call that a toast? There's no spirit to it.

[Yes, he's calling him out -- his tone jovial, but he's watching with some intensity the fact that he's doublefisting the alcohol (Asgardians, go figure).]

Swing back here and show me what you've got.

[liugan]

[ Oh, sigh. He would have to be the sociable type.

Loki does stop, but he rolls his eyes and takes another drink from the scotch, because he can already tell this man is going to be more of a headache than he's worth. It's already reminiscient of Asgard's drinking, ruckusing party animals, and here he was hoping he could avoid those of similar behaviour.

Alas. Life wasn't always on his side. So he does turn, but he doesn't advance back towards the man, because really this is so not worth his time. He could be in his nice luxury suite with his booze right now. ]

That would not be wise, any closer and I'd be tempted to break it against your skull. [ What a waste of good wine that would be. ] And I do not swing.

APRIL 11TH - DRUNK DIAL - CLOSED TO PEPPER POTTS

[iron_ego]

[The liquor cellar's stock has done its job and Tony gets back to his rented suite (the finest in Atam) late in the evening and pickled as an egg in a British pub. He carries with him a half-empty bottle of the best local brew and sways quite contentedly around his room to an ACDC beat that only he can hear.

Then, it occurs to him that he doesn't need to party alone!

Out comes his Stark Industries phone and open becomes his window as he leans out it to get the best connection, drunk dialing the love of his life and most beautiful girlfriend, Pepper Potts. The world is so, so sorry about this.]

Re: APRIL 11TH - DRUNK DIAL - CLOSED TO PEPPER POTTS

[the_other_eight]

[Tony's actually lucky that Pepper's phone is on. After the minimal help she got in the nearby clinic she's had it off almost all day. She doesn't want anyone to know what happened. Part of that is embaressment that she wasn't cautious enough, part of it is because she knows that the few people she is close to on the turtle will worry, but the bigger part is fear. She doesn't know what will happen now. She was attacked in broad daylight. She'd heard of it happening, heard the cautions, but didn't really expect it to happen to her. She thought she was cautious enough. Apparently she was wrong.

When she finally did pick up the phone (a very out of the ordinary fifth ring pick up) she sounded groggy and a bit slowed due to the pain relievers that she'd been given for the injuries.]

Tony?

[She didn't expect to hear from him until he returned back from landfall. Maybe he was sending things through that she needed to pick up. She'd have to schedule it in and figure out a way to get there. There was no way she was going to hobble all the way to pick it up. It just wouldn't be dignified looking.]

[iron_ego]

[Phone's broken. Five rings. Never happens. Tony takes it away from his ear and looks at it. Squints at it. Gonna have to calibrate it lat-- Oh, hey, she answered! He grins drunkenly and lifts it back up to his hear. Erm. Ear.]

Yes. Surprise! You... That was who you expected, right?

[A moment of thought. Is there someone calling her behind his back? After a second, he snorts and shakes his head.]

Of course you did. Pepper. Because you're really-- [He stops. Thinks.] Hi.

[It's been a while since he's been this drunk.]

[the_other_eight]

[Pepper lets out a soft and relieved sigh. It's so good to hear his voice. She curls up under the covers and just listens to him ramble a bit. He's very obviously drunk ... Or Jack's hit him with one of those magic snowballs.]

I take it you found the wine selection to your liking.

[She's only teasing. Tony's a grown man, he can do what he wants, and Pepper isn't worried about him straying ... Much. Alright, maybe Pepper's a little worried about him straying, an iota, a bit. Not here though. Here they're more one another's rocks then even at home.]

APRIL 12TH - INN - OTA

[iron_ego]

[With one final night to pass before returning to the city of Keeliai and the country of Turtle, Tony goes all out with the fellow diners at the inn he's staying at. Dinner is bought for all and he even covers the first round of drinks for the lot. It's a celebration -- something for Atam to remember him by, though it's not limited merely to the residents of this fine city. Foreigners are more than welcome to partake! And, in fact, he happens to come to his feet a few time, glass raised.]

A toast to the fineries of interdimensional travel and the psychedelic substances that could inspire this trip.

APRIL 13TH - CUSTOMS - OTA

[iron_ego]

[Dawn of the final day, twelve hours remaining. Tony Stark spends the first three hours standing outside the customs area and arranging his cargo to be returned. Looking to make a quick juulan? He's pulling aside people and offering courier jobs for the strong of back. Each and every parcel has the appropriate customs paperwork. Duties that need paying are ready to be covered should they arise. Promise, he won't send you back with anything illegal.

Feel like turning a profit on your last day? Stop by when he snaps his fingers and points at you. Or you. And you.