sorry mario

[fe_male]

WHO: Tony Stark
WHERE: The Fountain, Blacksmithy.
WHEN: 25 Sept.
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Tony Stark.
STATUS: Open, ongoing. Like I'll ever remember to edit this once it's not.

---

ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏᴜɴᴛᴀɪɴ

He squints.

Both at the sunlight and the fact that the world seems to have rearranged itself somehow in the last little while since he most recently took survey of his surroundings, and he's not entirely sure to which direction things have swung but he knows he doesn't like it.

Level one, assessment. He's sitting up on the bottom of a probably-concrete pit outside, and he can hear wildlife. No, wait, not a pit, a fountain, unless one makes the argument that a fountain without any water is technically a pit anyway. "Somebody changed my clothes, sure, why not, that's not weird at all. That hasn't happened since like. Ninety four." Investigating the backpack tells him very little aside from the fact that someone around here apparently lacks forethought and that he's retroactively pretty happy this fountain is empty aside from one increasingly irritated engineer.

"Alright, I don't know what kind of game this is, but it's pretty crappy! Like, terrible. Duke Nukem wouldn't even touch this with a wavebird, and now I'm just talking to myself in a hole. Fantastic. I have red pants, a peacoat, and nothing to get out of here with."

Shouting into the void seems like potentially a Bad Idea, so instead he's gonna poke around and see if he can finagle something out of the pipework maybe. Probably with running commentary to himself.

ʙʟᴀᴄᴋsᴍɪᴛʜʏ

Well this is familiar. His hand releases the strap of his backpack over his shoulder and trails over the edge of a shelf. Tony hasn't seen much of wherever the hell this little place is - nothing even really indicates whatever country he's supposed to be in now - but he can't really say it looks that appealing. If there's a blacksmith, then this might be a little bit more rustic than he's comfortable with. Either that or he's found the last bastion of hipsters. That might at least explain the overalls.

Comments

smithy

[taurohtar]

After sitting in the trees all day, watching the people come and go beneath her in the town, Tauriel had decided to brave coming down from her perch to explore a little, doing her best to avoid running into any of the people who seemed to live here.

The few she'd met seemed nice enough, but nobody was able to tell her what was going on, and that made her worry enough to want to keep separate for the time being, until she was able to figure out what she was going to do next. Would she settle in here with the rest of these humans and attempt to carve out a life for herself while she waited for something to happen? Or would she try and escape, try and get back to Osgiliath?

Whatever she was going to do, she knew she needed more information, at the very least. So she set out to explore. Skirting around the edges of town, she found her way eventually towards what appeared to be communal buildings, peeking into a storeroom and a mill, and, eventually, a smithy.

She's poking around the smithy, hoping to find arrowheads at the very least, when the scuff of boots behind her alerts her to the fact that she's not alone. Spinning around, she automatically drops slightly into more of a crouch, settling her balance in case an attack is launched and she must defend herself. The intruder is a Man, with dark hair and a strangely styled beard, and while he looks harmless enough, Tauriel knows better than to believe that. There are many Men whose looks belie their strength, and she will not let herself be overpowered so easily.

[fe_male]

He wasn't really expecting to find anybody else in here, but then again right now he has literally no constants for this place and is still well within the 'information gathering' phase, so he's not surprised when he's apparently not alone. Tony does the conventional thing first this time - he puts his hands up in the universal not looking for a fight bro gesture - but he lets them fall to his sides again almost immediately. Although he does keep his perusings a safe distance away from her - just as much to keep the situation from escalating as it is because hey he doesn't know where she's been, and he doesn't need any broken bones right now.

"Cool down there, Fists of Fury, I'm just scoping the joint out."

Speaking of information gathering. "I don't suppose you'd happen to actually be from here, because that would just make things too easy and you appear to be on Team Black Nurses so I'm guessing probably not."

[taurohtar]

The Man's body language does settle her hackles somewhat, but the words that come out of his mouth just serve to leave her confused. She straightens, watching him warily as he moves around the room opposite her, her head slowly cocking to one side like a confused owl.

"I...don't know what that means," she confesses, automatically moving to keep him opposite her, since she doesn't know who he might be or what he's capable of. At least he doesn't look like he's going to attack her, but who knows.

"I am from Eryn Lasgalen," she says, her posture straightening unconsciously as she speaks of her home. "It is known to Men as the Greenwood, realm of King Thranduil, son of Oropher of Doriath." To be honest, it is known as Mirkwood to most Men, but Tauriel finds the name distasteful and refuses to use it if she can avoid it. "And I am not a nurse." She cannot fight the urge to cover her chest defensively; what on earth made him insinuate that she is a wetnurse? Just the thought of it makes her struggle against a blush.

[fe_male]

He doesn't mind if she treats him like he's dangerous, because it keeps her over there and then he doesn't have to keep treating her like she might be. Her general reaction aside from that is wildly confusing though, and interesting enough to divert the majority of his attention to her in lieu of his continued perusal of the building.

"Neither am I, but all I need are white sneakers to complete the ensemble. Sounds like quite the place. What's so bad about being a nurse though, what's all - " he makes the same gesture she did. "Nurses are great."

[taurohtar]

She doesn't know what white sneakers are, so if he's hoping for that to elicit any reaction, he's going to be disappointed.

"There is nothing wrong with being a nurse," she replies, still feeling defensive about the whole thing, though she does manage to lower her arms and leave them loose at her sides. "But I am not one; there are no babes in this place to suckle, and I am certainly not pregnant myself."

Why are they even talking about this?

[fe_male]

Tony pauses for a moment. "I think we're working with two different definitions." Deciding that this then means they're done with that part of the conversation, he gives her a sort of once-over one more time - because, wow - before going more or less back to his perusal of the workshop.

"Thanks for information though, that's nice to hear - I always like to know when there aren't any suckling babes nearby. Speeds things right on up. So how long have you been here? And where is here, precisely?"

[taurohtar]

This Man is very...strange. Tauriel cannot quite parse what it is he is doing, or what he's thinking. She decides to ignore most of his babbling, as it makes no sense whatsoever, and indulging him in it will clearly bring them more harm than good, if only because confusion is distracting and she cannot afford to be distracted right now.

"I have been here less than a day. As to where this is, I do not know."

The few tools there are, he picks up and handles as if he knows them. For a brief moment, Tauriel lets herself hope that he might be a blacksmith; maybe he knows how to work this dormant forge, maybe he could fabricate weapons for her. "What is your name?"

lord i thought i hit post hours ago i'm so sorry

[fe_male]

Oh fantastic, she's new here too. Actually now he's a little curious. "Did you spring up in the fountain? Who helped you out?" Because he wasn't in there too long, but it's really not that big of a fountain that he would have missed an entire other occupant.

Anyway, it means that she nearly certainly isn't going to have any answers for him. The tools he finds seem sound enough - everything in here looks like a Spartan soldier would call it ancient by Tony's standards, but it isn't as though he hasn't worked with less before. He tests a couple of the moving parts to see if they even can, and gets more or less what he was expecting. Not terrible, but in matching with the rest of the rather used décor.

Also lord, his second having to introduce himself in one day, this is going to be exhausting. "Tony Stark. What's yours, not-a-nurse?"

fountain

[womanofvalue]

She's beginning to think that they ought to just throw a rope down the fountain and let it be. It might not be the most welcoming of ways to invite people into the community, but at least then people aren't stuck there in the dark thinking that they've been abandoned. Hauling the rope she'd found at the mill over her shoulder, she shoulders it forward in order to let it drop over the edge, tumbling down into the darkness towards the voice.

"Grab hold," she encourages, "and don't denigrate red trousers, they're a perfectly fashionable thing when worn the right way!"

[fe_male]

They should absolutely throw a rope down the fountain - if Tony learns they've had to do this more than once then he's going to start questioning why they ever bothered pulling the rope up at all.

Anyway, this catches his attention pretty quickly, because while trying to build something out of pipework might be fun and eventually fruitful, rope is a much better alternative. So grab hold he does, although he doesn't agree with your red pants opinions, stranger.

"Anything's fashionable at some point or another - you sound like a big fan of the 80s. I don't have a problem with the red pants, it's the overalls that are really, just, I know you haven't seen me yet but do I look like a six year old? I'm not wearing those."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy doesn't quite roll her eyes, but it's a close thing at all the constant chatter. "Don't worry, you can always cut off the top and hem them into proper denim, though I have no idea why on earth you would wear something so garish and workmanlike." Her words are punctuated with her strain of pulling, stumbling backwards as the rope starts to get to the top. "Red pants are perfectly normal," she huffs, but as she hauls one more time, she finds she can see the crown of hair.

And then the face, which is a face she doesn't know, but is still familiar enough to her that she has to squint and wonder if she's not seeing things. It certainly hadn't been Howard's voice, so she knows it's not him, but it's eerie how similar this man looks. She supposes there have been odder coincidences and that she shouldn't read anything into this.

[fe_male]

"Really? You think jeans are workmanlike but overalls are okay? Are you a painter?" There's a bit more of an edge to his voice, just the result of trying to haul himself up the rope. Luckily for him, he stays a bit more task-oriented and doesn't pay attention to the woman helping him out of the pit (it's a pit, let's be real, if there's no water then it's not a fountain) until he's got feet on solid earth.

Standing up, he brushes his hands off on his totally-normal-red-pants and turns to face the lady, another comment immediately dying on his lips as the genial look on his face shoots abruptly into blank surprise. Tony glances her over once while his mouth rearranges what it was getting ready to say. "What the hell - why aren't, you're..." He's squinting again. "You're young. You're really young. This is weird. I must have hit my head on that concrete. Why are you here?"

[womanofvalue]

Taken aback, Peggy isn't sure precisely where the insult or compliment is in those words, but she does feel like there must be some sort in there, given that she has no idea why, but most people don't suddenly ascend from the pits of a fountain in order to accuse their rescuer of youth. She starts to haul up the rope (she'll need it for her canyon expedition later this week) and narrows her eyes at the madman she's apparently rescued.

"I'm precisely the right age I'm meant to be," she counters. "And I've every right to be here as much as you do," she goes on, a touch defensive. "Did you lose your manners down the fountain? Shall I drop the rope in again for them?"

[fe_male]

"Wait, what do I look like, what kind of fountain is this supposed to be?" he continues sort of mumbling, glancing back down at it as much as his eyes tracking her movements as she retrieves the rope.

With her somewhat focused more on the task and less on him, he examines her again, now that he's less shocked and grinding gears into figuring this place out. He wasn't joking when he said she looked young - she looks like herself in a way he's only ever seen in photographs, and he isn't certain exactly but he's pretty sure he's exactly as old as he thinks he is. He has all his memories, anyway, and her response to his line of questioning doesn't sound like someone about to explain to him that he happened to arrive when the magical fountain of youth was going through a dry spell.

"I'm not sure it counts as a 'right' when you didn't want to be here in the first place. What's the last thing you remember before coming here?" Because nevermind manners, there are more important things happening right now.

[womanofvalue]

She blushes to the tips of her ears when he asks for the last thing she remembers, which is reason enough not to tell a stranger about the activities she and Chief Sousa had been getting up to behind closed doors, and besides that...

"I hardly think that's any of your business," she points out, draping the rope over her shoulder as she turns back to him. "You haven't even introduced yourself or offered me your name, but you want to know what I remember before I was here, after pointing out how very young I am?" It all speaks of such casual knowledge, but she can't imagine why.

"Who are you?" she demands, thinking it best to go the blunt route.

blacksmithy

[taiyny]

There's a tree, just outside the blacksmith. It's where Natasha goes to do her mending, although right now there isn't a whole lot of it. Snags and tears are surprisingly few and far between, but every now and then a sheet they want to keep using for it's intended purpose has its hem come loose in the laundry, and Natasha volunteers to fix it. She can do a straight stitch, nothing too fancy, and embroidery and cross stitch are both out of her wheelhouse, but she can fix clothes and people and that's what counts.

She's got a couple of sheets today, folded up under her arm, needle and thread tucked away inside of it, but there's movement inside the building this time, and it catches her attention. She sets her pile down under the tree, and slowly makes her way towards the building, pushing the door open with a loud creak—

And stops cold.

Well. She's not going to run from this argument, either.

"Tony."

like 75% of the icons i've used on this post are all in his 'what' category

[fe_male]

If he turns around a skosh on what seems like the quick side it's probably because wow that voice sounds familiar and he's already met his pseudo-aunt who is now half his age and this is all starting to get a little more weird than he was even trying to prepare himself for. It probably makes him a bit of an asshole but he's actually pleased to see her - if she's here already then maybe she has some answers to the tempest of questions swirling around his mind.

"Speak of the devil." He turns to face her a little more head-on, but mostly he's still exploring the forge, occasionally glancing over some new found tool or element within it with an eye of appraisal. Blowtorches are more efficient, but there's nothing he's seeing visually that indicates this place either isn't functional or couldn't easily be made to be, depending on what's not immediately visible or just something he's missing because hey, he might be in shock. He's having a hard time telling, so he's just pretending not to even be aware of the possibility.

Anyway. "Not that I was talking, it's just been kind of a weird morning - is it morning? It might be afternoon - and there's no real end planned for this sentence so I guess it ought to stop here. Speaking of 'here', though, for real this time, how long have you been here?"

i mean it's a perfectly acceptable reaction

[taiyny]

He's not mad to see her. That's the most surprising thing about it, because she's used to his hyper verbal nature, although it hasn't been something she's seen lately. Sure, he quipped and bantered and was sarcastic as hell, but there'd been no long stream of consciousness style techno babble (even just normal babble). But it's his enthusiasm for her being here that causes her to take an actual physical half step back, and she wonders, briefly, if he's forgotten somehow.

Her surprise causes her to take a moment to respond to his question, and she blinks a couple of times before words come to her.

"Few weeks. Did you just get here?"

There's no point in starting an argument he may not even remember having, not until she's fully aware of what's going on. After all, James Barnes is here. So is Peggy Carter. For all she knows, Tony still thinks she's Natalie Rushman.

i hope i don't run out of them

[fe_male]

Tony does notice that lag there, because she doesn't usually do things like that, much less visibly so, but he doesn't comment on it. Maybe later, but it's not necessary now - for all he knows, she's just still surprised to see him. He's certainly riding the wave of being surprised to see her.

The weeks thing though. That makes him squint for a few moments before he goes more or less back to his appraisal.

"Did you know Peggy Carter was here? Which is funny, because she's younger than I ever met her before. And it's definitely not been 'a few weeks' since I saw you back home." Tony doesn't like this place. He doesn't like it at all. He doesn't appreciate not being able to count on independent variables to remain true constants amongst the myriad of other things anyone has to account for on any given day. "Yeah. Your fountain is broken."

[taiyny]

There are three separate trains of thought there that Natasha can catch: Peggy Carter, he hasn't seen her in a while, and the fountain is broken. Two of those things she's aware of, and will get to in time, but the third...

"How long has it been for you?"

She's cautious, still not taking anymore steps into the building towards him. She still has residual hurt and annoyance from the last thing he'd said to her, even aware as she is that he said it out of frustration and his own pain. Everyone had been hurting after that fight. It doesn't excuse it, but — she understands. And she won't hold it against him, especially because it doesn't seem that he even knows he said it. It might be the sudden thrust into a situation that neither of them were ever prepared for in any capacity, but... She's not so sure.

[fe_male]

"Since I got here? I don't know, maybe an hour?"

It's offhanded, because he's investigating the bellows to see if it still seems operational. This mostly means making sure it can move and whatnot, because if he's gonna be stuck here, he might as well have something to do. Hopefully there's some metal somewhere nearby.

[taiyny]

"No," she says slowly, carefully. "Since you last saw me."

She follows his movement with her gaze, and finally steps into the blacksmith's, letting the door close behind her. He's being way too blasé about her to be still angry at her. Or even know why he should be angry at her. And that's got her more curious than anything, despite any lingering feelings of anger of her own.

[tobeclosetohim]

She watches the new people. Sometimes there's not much better to watch. Jo does a lot that isn't that. Keeping the records, and making sure the map of the place and all information gathered stays as good as they can keep it, but often times it bites at her. Sends her out restless. Which is when she sees another of the new guys in red -- tall, look like he hasn't really seen a good sleep or a deep enough bottle in ages, even before this place, one of those looks she knows too well -- is sliding into the smithy.

She knows the place well enough, because Thorfinn talks about it.

Mentions things from his past and she notices him looking at it. Like he might give it a go.



Something about the combination sends Jo in that direction. Following after him, only giving it a second or two before asking, "How's it looking in here?"

jeeeeesus this is late, i'm so sorry

[fe_male]

He glances over his shoulder at the - well. Interloper or newcomer, depending on how he winds up feeling about this place. Either one might be applicable. Regardless, noise gets his attention for the moment, and he looks over before returning to his inspection of the area.

"Abysmally retro."

No worries, slowtime is the most lovingest of loves

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo doesn't mind, doesn't really even seem to give the glance at her more than cursory notice, before she's looking at the room, again. She's been in here. She's been in everywhere. That was her first job when she got her. Scout every building that wasn't a house and already claimed, and take anything that looked like it made a feasible weapon. Even if it required some work, since nothing here was left in a good shape.

"Yeah?" Is not entirely interested, but curious all the same as she makes a slow circuit of the space, with no specific direction toward getting straight to him. "What's it like back where you're from?"