[ She blinks, chin raising, because there are very very few reasons someone would be willing to lower all their shields to convince her of their honesty and all of them carry implications for the future of her bond that aren't pleasant. But it's a gesture of good faith. ] How do you not know when someone moved in with you?
[ Okay, questions, more questions. What to ask, though, especially since most of her attention is focused on carefully exploring his mind, trying to figure out more from it. She can feel where an empath has gone before, and it's a weirdly familiar path but not quite, differences in method and feeling. ] Who are you? I mean, name, but - [ hesitation, and her eyes are a little hard ] Who are you to me?
[ He thinks maybe that was too many down all at once and that he should slowly raise at least the ones that would prevent her from experiencing the world to the degree to which he does - harsh, at times, unbearably soft at others, and griding and grating in between. A little more... Welcoming, than in the harsh light of everything bared. But he lets her gently poke around in his mind, for whatever security she might need, because he's not going to make what looks sort of like a scared animal and more scared or... something. ]
Man, you don't ask hard questions at all. I don't actually know - we've never really.. Quantified it. I could start, older you, found me, when I needed an empath to ... t-to help, and didn't know how to ask and sh-ou did it and then after that it was just, if I needed help, she would help, and vice versa. We got friendly, then... very friendly [ Which he's not thinking about. not at all. nope. ] But like, really, it's a weird relationship.
[ She withdraws after not too long, pretty much as soon as she admits to herself that he's not trying to lie to her at all. It just feels too strange to be rummaging around someone's mind when they're so entirely aware that she is and it's not -
She's not thinking about that. Except that she has to, because now she has more questions, that explanation only sort of working enough to help her understand what's going on here. As for 'very friendly', even if she hadn't been in his mind still then she thinks she would have gotten the not very subtle meaning there, and there's a momentary pair of raised eyebrows at it, a move she apparently perfected when very young. ] Why did she need help? [ And that's sort of the million dollar question, for her. ]
[ This is why people don't trust him with anything younger than five and older than thirteen, if they trust him with anything in the first place. He doesn't do this kind of interpersonal relationship unless the other person is sort of pulling him into it, and he didn't think about the bond thing, didn't even consider it when he started talking to her, and she still looks really defensive and he's totally not sure what he's supposed to be doing.
So, okay, he'll opt for normal. He'll just keep acting, he'll grab a handful of cereal out of a box and leave it out on the counter and just sort of start heading back downstairs. Maybe normal will work. It helped later on, right? ]
Everybody needs help. You just get people like her who don't want to ask for it and think they don't need it, and assholes like me who both refuse it when it's there and later take more than is earthly possible. Come on, she's got projects you can look at. They're sort of yours anyway.
[ The biggest problem for her is that there's a gaping hole where her bond is supposed to be and in its place is this guy who's talking like he's replaced it but she doesn't have the history behind that and regardless of what it is at one point in time it had to be unpleasant for her.
But he's also the only point of familiarity he has, in that he knows her and he's giving her at least some sort of answers, so she follows him downstairs slowly, glancing around. ] She builds things? That's - good. [ Better. ] If she doesn't think she needs help, why do you think she does?
[ He'd probably be more apologetic about it if a. he knew how to be, and b. he realised precisely how deeply it was effecting her. Obviously, he can tell it's a big thing, but these versions of themselves don't actually know each other and it's hard enough working out the issues when he knows the ground he's standing on.
But hey, downstairs is more his element anyway. More distractions, he can play with his robots, look at his holograms, dis- and reassemble his car, let her look at stuff too, it'll be great. ] She builds awesome things. Some of them are over there, some of them are in cyberspace - [ gesturing, a flick of the wrist pulls up files in the air ] - and I don't. I think help makes stuff easier, not possible.
[ Downstairs is his element, she can tell that almost immediately. And files in the air, okay, that's pretty cool, even if she's stuck in the future with things that are going to not go well in her head and someone who is at once interesting and also driving her a little crazy because this is not something to be nonchalant over and she is very very good at being nonchalant most of the time. ]
Oh, hey, I know this one. [ Grinning a little. ] It should be finished though already. I mean, long fuse and I don't have a lot of free time, but still. I should be able to get to it and finish it within a year or two. [ Half just talking aloud to herself. ] How old is she? Your me.
Yeah? [ He glances over at what she's talking about. It makes a bit of sense, although they don't normally seem to talk about their respective projects unless they just want the other's opinion on something. ]
What's ganking all your free time? [ And oh. Uh. ] Maybe thirty? I've never asked. [ And wouldn't really remember if he had. ]
[ Spinning it around in the air before she collapses it and goes back to looking through files one by one. ] Oh, you know. College, work, night job. [ A glance at him at that last one, curious as to whether he'll get the reference, wondering how much he knows. (If she's even still - but of course she's still a vigilante, why would she quit?) ]
Sounds busy. I don't multi-opt like that - night job, meet day job, become one with the day job. [ Like the hall of armor behind him doesn't adequately express this. ] Much easier that way. [ Well. Not really, but Tony Stark likes to make things look easy.
That makes him smirk a little though. ] Yeah, you are.
Smart, but identity compromising is a really bad idea. [ Terrible, really, in her experience. But the hall of armor she has noticed, and is kind of quietly eyeing inbetween glancing over her own files. Questions, questions. Glancing up at that last bit with narrowed eyes. ]
[ That is the smallest of small beats while he works and then everything's back to normal. ] Tell me about it.
[ She can ask questions, but he's not actually looking at her enough to notice she has them. He does gesture to the workshop a little bit at her last sentence. ] Weird is the form of currency here.
[ She pauses a moment herself, some sort of blip almost registering, but shakes it off as she glances over. ] Regret it already?
Figures I'd wind up somewhere like that. [ Abandoning the files to start wandering around, touching things with what looks like relative abandon unless you look closely enough to realize she's being quite selective about what she actually touches. ] How long have you known her?
[ He's falling back into old habits, because they clearly don't know each other that well, and the smile he flashes at her matches the brief hiccup in shielding. ] 'Course not. Being a superhero? Best thing ever, c'mon.
[ That part he picks up on a little better - he's starting to notice just how observant she's being. ] Uh. Little over half a year? Maybe.
[ A glance sideways, momentarily arrested because something's itching, but she doesn't know him well enough to know what. ] Well, it's not bad. Actually yeah, it's pretty great, but there's downsides.
[ Observation is the name of her game right now. It's a very important game. ] And she must have been unbonded then already.
[ Nnnn he doesn't know what to do with these bond questionssssss ]
I really don't know much about that, sorry. Neither one of us actually talks that much. We basically graduated jointly from the Anti-Hemingway School of Oration, where you learn to put in a million times as many words as necessary and remove all the things they could mean in the process.
[ it's important to her. kind of really important. ]
That doesn't sound like me at all. [ Well. No, okay, it sounds kind of like her when she's got something to hide or is trying to pretend she doesn't have a problem. Just not all the time. ] So you don't know what happened with - never mind. I guess I'll have a decade to find out.
[ Yeah, you're probably not a kid. He wasn't one at your age anymore either. ]
Poke around anything that looks interesting. Except the Ford there. [ pointing ] That one's my baby. If anything else doesn't need to be touched, it'll let you know.
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[ Okay, questions, more questions. What to ask, though, especially since most of her attention is focused on carefully exploring his mind, trying to figure out more from it. She can feel where an empath has gone before, and it's a weirdly familiar path but not quite, differences in method and feeling. ] Who are you? I mean, name, but - [ hesitation, and her eyes are a little hard ] Who are you to me?
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Man, you don't ask hard questions at all. I don't actually know - we've never really.. Quantified it. I could start, older you, found me, when I needed an empath to ... t-to help, and didn't know how to ask and sh-ou did it and then after that it was just, if I needed help, she would help, and vice versa. We got friendly, then... very friendly [ Which he's not thinking about. not at all. nope. ] But like, really, it's a weird relationship.
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She's not thinking about that. Except that she has to, because now she has more questions, that explanation only sort of working enough to help her understand what's going on here. As for 'very friendly', even if she hadn't been in his mind still then she thinks she would have gotten the not very subtle meaning there, and there's a momentary pair of raised eyebrows at it, a move she apparently perfected when very young. ] Why did she need help? [ And that's sort of the million dollar question, for her. ]
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So, okay, he'll opt for normal. He'll just keep acting, he'll grab a handful of cereal out of a box and leave it out on the counter and just sort of start heading back downstairs. Maybe normal will work. It helped later on, right? ]
Everybody needs help. You just get people like her who don't want to ask for it and think they don't need it, and assholes like me who both refuse it when it's there and later take more than is earthly possible. Come on, she's got projects you can look at. They're sort of yours anyway.
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But he's also the only point of familiarity he has, in that he knows her and he's giving her at least some sort of answers, so she follows him downstairs slowly, glancing around. ] She builds things? That's - good. [ Better. ] If she doesn't think she needs help, why do you think she does?
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But hey, downstairs is more his element anyway. More distractions, he can play with his robots, look at his holograms, dis- and reassemble his car, let her look at stuff too, it'll be great. ] She builds awesome things. Some of them are over there, some of them are in cyberspace - [ gesturing, a flick of the wrist pulls up files in the air ] - and I don't. I think help makes stuff easier, not possible.
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Oh, hey, I know this one. [ Grinning a little. ] It should be finished though already. I mean, long fuse and I don't have a lot of free time, but still. I should be able to get to it and finish it within a year or two. [ Half just talking aloud to herself. ] How old is she? Your me.
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What's ganking all your free time? [ And oh. Uh. ] Maybe thirty? I've never asked. [ And wouldn't really remember if he had. ]
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So about a decade on. Weird.
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That makes him smirk a little though. ] Yeah, you are.
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Oh yeah?
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[ She can ask questions, but he's not actually looking at her enough to notice she has them. He does gesture to the workshop a little bit at her last sentence. ] Weird is the form of currency here.
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Figures I'd wind up somewhere like that. [ Abandoning the files to start wandering around, touching things with what looks like relative abandon unless you look closely enough to realize she's being quite selective about what she actually touches. ] How long have you known her?
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[ That part he picks up on a little better - he's starting to notice just how observant she's being. ] Uh. Little over half a year? Maybe.
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[ Observation is the name of her game right now. It's a very important game. ] And she must have been unbonded then already.
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I really don't know much about that, sorry. Neither one of us actually talks that much. We basically graduated jointly from the Anti-Hemingway School of Oration, where you learn to put in a million times as many words as necessary and remove all the things they could mean in the process.
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That doesn't sound like me at all. [ Well. No, okay, it sounds kind of like her when she's got something to hide or is trying to pretend she doesn't have a problem. Just not all the time. ] So you don't know what happened with - never mind. I guess I'll have a decade to find out.
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Poke around anything that looks interesting. Except the Ford there. [ pointing ] That one's my baby. If anything else doesn't need to be touched, it'll let you know.
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So you just let me have free reign of your workshop? Seriously?
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that's a perfectly reasonable thing to be annoyed by
yes i agree
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