[ 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.
Ssssort of. They're AIs in that they have some leeway in what they choose to do, but they're somewhat limited in scope. And breadth. And... Well, I don't want my babies to hear the word that means impaired but, sometimes... [ Theatrically significant trailing off. But he's still working, even after he shrugs to finish the show. ]
[ Okay, that gets a laugh out of her, amused. Even in the middle of whatever mess this is, she can't lose her sense of humor. ] They're cute, though. [ Still poking around, but now she's circling back towards the suits. ] So what are you? What's this armor for?
[ Good. He'd be doing it really wrong if he couldn't get her to laugh even a little bit after a while. ] Me. It helps if you're flying around to be encased in a suit of armor. You know, sometimes you get hit by an F16, sometimes you need to tackle some bad guy, it's just how it goes.
[ Max at any age likes laughing, and the younger she is the less she's surprised at laughing at any given moment. ] You can fly in that? [ color her very very interested. ] That's not subtle enough for vigilante. Superhero, I guess?
Hey, check-it, got it in one. I can totally fly in that. I can fly everywhere in that. [ Idle tap of the reactor casing through his shirt. That's what makes him fly everywhere. ] I am Iron Man. A superhero.
[ Glancing at the reactor and filing that away on the list of things to consider asking about. It still looks interesting. Cybernetics? ] Iron Man, huh? A suit that big - [ wait no this is not a time to actually make terrible jokes. She trails off with a grin and ducks her head. ] So what's she do, if you're off flying?
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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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