revivalproject | Enkindle

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Enkindle

WHO: Tony and you, dear knight
WHERE: The Temba Rain Fare!
WHAT: Just Tony enjoying the festival a very normal amount. He's definitely a romantic. In the Arthurian sense.
WHEN: Throughout the event
WARNINGS: Nothing.........so far.

a. Crafting [OTA! Let Tony help you with the forge, help him with the costumes]
This kind of felt like a Billy thing. Enough so that Tony almost had a text composed as he approached the sudden fairground suspiciously, ready to ask if the kid was going through some new thing and stop this from getting out of hand. It was a bird darting through one of the weirdly still figures, making it flicker and distort, that gave Tony pause. A projection? More confidently then, faced with at least a little science and less magic, he made his way closer, circling around to try to search for the source of this pantomime and coming upon not any kind of projector, but the telltale Agrii writing. He had to raise his hand, then reluctantly slap it down onto the side of one of the tents to confirm that this part was, indeed, solid. The food did smell very real, enough to make his stomach grumble with longing, but after following his nose he stopped short of a booth with invitingly sizzling meat on display, rubbing anxiously at his chest then glancing around for any indication that eating this random, alluring food wasn't a terrible idea. Either this was some kind of trap, or what was on offer was a threat to his sobriety if this was anything like the Agrii's other parties, and lingering here any longer was just punishing himself.

Nothing else that Tony found in his slinking around the fairground seemed quite as much like some kind of trickery. It looked like games, and maybe some engineering he didn't exactly trust, but not because he expected it to be an intentional deception. In fact, the more he investigated, the more he felt at ease, even casually twirling a sword that he risked picking up and carrying away from its display by the time he came to consider what was undoubtedly a rustic forge. He probably still wasn't going to risk eating anything, but someone had to find out what all of these materials were, and he was willing to make that sacrifice. After all, maybe the best way to get the Agrii's attention and succeed at this game they were playing, was to sometimes, maybe, play along. Be a little enthusiastic. Making sure everyone was properly outfitted to play at knights and princesses was entirely a tactical move.

b. Courting [for Rufus and Reeve]
Handling other people's emotions was much more uncomfortable than handling a live wire. Tony knew what he would get if he fumbled one of those, and knew that he would survive it. What he was very good at, and what he would insist was a perfectly valid way of ignoring having emotions at all, was a distraction.

And a distraction was its most effective when you were least prepared for it.

It was Rufus Shinra that received a text, definitely from the username 'Reeve Tuesti'. There couldn't have been any reason to question that, and his friend was clearly in need of help because it simply read, Come over.

After a moment, Reeve seemed to remember how polite he was supposed to be and added, Please.

Immediately.

c. Composing [also OTA, but less productive]
One always had to dress the part, whether it was a suit of armor or a tailored tuxedo. Once Tony had his bearings, he had a vision, and it didn't take him long to realize it; a loose, wide-sleeved shirt, indecently open at the collar; a cape, to keep warm, of course, rich red and draping generously from a pair of spaulders that did look suspiciously like the golden shoulder plating of the Iron Man; and a pair of boldly tight pants to fit into the much more recognizable red and gold boots, clearly altered for the touch of chivalrous romance to crest almost up to his hips. What he needed was a respectable hat--or a crown, that would probably suit him. Or a reliable steed, naturally, a necessary partner for any proper knight. The kind that couldn't fly, anyway.

He probably wasn't going to find any of those things at the stage, where he leaned up against the platform on his toes to investigate where the music might be coming from, and what instruments he might recognize that seemed to be laying around. Worse than a knight with no horse, a proper band of merrymakers couldn't just be one guy with a lute, so he spun around to find the nearest warm body and said, "Hey. Can you keep time?" A proper, romantic evening didn't pass quietly, but with a raucous party, and this jangling music wasn't going to be getting anybody dancing or embarrassing themselves before the court. They'd hardly have anything to gossip about in the morrow without some encouragement.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Between Mini's ineffectual shoving and Reeve's very dignified noise of protest, Tony was starting to giggle as he wrestled with Reeve's clothes. It was cut abruptly short by the appearance of the...animal, making Tony freeze up with one of Reeve's legs still tucked under his arm, eyebrows raised with concern. He'd seen it before, of course, but that did not prepare him to have it so up close and glaring at him.

He wasn't sure how much he could trust Rufus to keep the creature from expressing itself any more pointedly, but he forced his shoulders to react at the man's appearance and complained, "Finally. What took you so long? C'mere, help me with this." He dropped Reeve's leg for Rufus to take over the dirty work while he rummaged around in the box he brought along with him, which rang and clattered ominously until he was drawing out an armful of fabric in a navy blue plaid.

Mini hisses at seeing Dark Nation as expected, and moves to hide, like he always does. Reeve, however, stops struggling to look at Rufus.

ANd then to Tony.

And back to Rufus.

"God DAMMIT Anthony!" Reeve hisses, reaching to smack Tony's leg. "What did you drag Rufus here for? Good day, Rufus, I'm sorry that Stark has decided to involve you in one of his farces. I can't imagine what he's after. Not me. His boyfriend would kill us both."

"Hello, Reeve. I got a message that was supposedly from you needing help but- " He turns his attention to Tony, raising his eyebrows. He still has his hand on Dark Nation's head, she stays where she's at but she's tensed like a coil ready to be sprung, ears back as a low growl rumbles in her throat.

"-I can't say I'm interested in joining this farce of yours," he comments to Tony. "You must be Tony. Reeve's mentioned you a few times but said nothing about your....interesting sense of humor." He glances at Reeve from the corner of his eyes- he's not going to set Dark Nation on anyone but she certainly makes for a good distraction when needed.

The smack was not in the least bit a deterrent, much like Reeve's grumbling and yelping. Instead, Tony continued to lay out his contrived costume, and talked over Reeve and his noticeably much more polite greeting to Rufus to argue, "I didn't drag him anywhere, he just walked in here, put some clothes on so you can think clearer." It was only Reeve saying 'his boyfriend' to this virtual stranger that had Tony stiffening awkwardly, eyes narrowed in a glare back at Reeve finally.

"Christ, there's two of you," he broke out of this staredown with a groan when Rufus echoed farce. Tony really should have been more prepared for that, he knew the pair of them travelled in the same circles so Reeve's distinct vocabulary was going to get a lot less unique. "This isn't a joke, listen, this is serious, if you two could just get dressed, we could go," he corrected, and shoved what he had gathered out of the box across the bed at Reeve. There was a kilt, with a matching sash and golden, cat-shaped broach. He had to go back into the box to carelessly toss a crown out onto the mattress as well, letting it bounce its way toward Reeve so he could reveal with a flourish a sumptuous, black cape. "I didn't know your size," he said to Rufus. "But there's a few things, here--" Along with the cape, he bundled a pair of glimmering, silver gauntlets. Safe bets, without any measurements to work from.

"You tricked him to come here," Reeve said with certainty as he pushed Tony away. "Both of you out of my bedroom so I can change. If Tony's going to insist, I'm going to do it on my own thank you."

Though he smirks when Tony makes the observation. Of COURSE there were 'two of them', Tony. It was families like Rufus that Reeve tried to emulate in his accent. He'd had his clear outsider accent refined with Veld's guidance to keep himself in the presence of people like Rufus's father.

Though seeing the kilt had him pause and look at Tony in shock. It was even close to his family colors.

"Tony... Why this?" he asked in shock, a touch of his brogue coming out in his shock. Rufus, being another person that knew what Reeve truly sounded like, would perhaps recognize it as betraying deep emotion.

Rufus has to snort with amusement at Tony's comment- it was the Shinra family who established customs and culture in Midgar, the ones that everyone followed so that not only they could fit in but also have a chance to live among the elite, of course, Reeve talked like him. No one could get to become an executive of the company if they follow those cultural norms.

Hearing Reeve's accent slip was even more noticeable in contrast so he barely registers Tony throwing something at him until it's almost too late. He has to drop Dark Nation's leash to be able to catch them without letting go of his can but the dog doesn't move, her eyes remaining on Tony.

"I'm going to find a treat for D, that looks like it will suit you," he teases Reeve a little as he gestures for Dark Nation to follow him. She stands there for a long moment, staring at Tony to assess him before deciding to follow Rufus. He will allow Reeve some privacy, setting the gauntlets down as he finds some food that will work to calm Dark Nation down, settling on a couple of biscuits.

Despite the shoving and complaining, Tony raised his chin in triumph with the certainty that Reeve was going to play along, gladly gathering up what remained of his creating in the box to head out without complaint. Reeve's shock stilled him, leaving him between the pincer of those wide eyes and the animal's narrowed ones, feeling trapped and baffled. Tony couldn't even assess for sure that the shock was for the costume, or the whole production, because the kilt had been the natural choice to Tony between the accent that Mini didn't bother to hide, the colour of that hideous coat that Reeve wore around, and the much more forgiving tailoring of the skirt compared to a pair of pants. The explanation he had was a light, "Your highness must dress for the momentous occasion."

To his relief, the animal appeared to be satisfied with her assessment by then, and Tony could risk moving for the door as well with an impatient, "Mini, where'd you go? I didn't forget about you," and rattle of the box for the doll to follow.

Out in the office with Rufus, he let his shoulders drop with a sigh and careless toss of the jangling box onto a paper-strewn table. "Thanks," he said, gaze averted and one hand on his hip, only elaborating with a vague wave of his hand around the room.

"I will nah be joinin' ya," Mini advised Tony quite immediately from his hiding spot. Of course the cat was hiding. While there was no good basis for it, Mini was in fact scared of Dark Nation. As for Reeve, he just shrugged and went to the bedroom door to close it to get himself privacy.

"You're welcome," Rufus raises an eyebrow with amusement as he sits at Reeve's table, resting his cane against the side of his leg before letting Dark Nation grab the biscuits from his hands. Once she has her treats she sits in front of Rufus, making sure to keep between the two of them.

"So what is the occasion for playing dress-up? I assume you don't dress like this normally."

Tony took this question like an accusation, watching as he smoothed both hands down his blousy shirt as though he couldn't possibly see what Rufus meant. "Why, don't you like it?" he asked, and immediately got the sense from the animal's continued vigilance that she, at least, did not. "We're going to cheer Reeve up," he explained, sort of. "Distract him. For a bit."

Good thing Tony doesn't say that loud enough for Reeve to hear it. He might get truly annoyed. As it was, he came out of the bedroom, already dressed. Granted he didn't look completely pleased with it all, despite the fact that there was no denying it looked good, or that Reeve knew how to put it on. The kilt was properly placed and fell to the right point, the sash curled over his shoulder and pinned in place. The man had gotten out his dress shoes, and wore a pair of black dress socks pulled up as far as he could, but he still almost made the look of a dress kilt.

"Tony, was there by any chance a leather pouch on a chain with the things? It's strange to be in this without a sporran. And Rufus, do you have the hunting knife? It's just not right without a knife.

Rufus regards Tony thoughtfully but doesn't have a chance to respond before Reeve comes out. His eyes scan the other man from the head down, he doesn't recall if he had ever seen Reeve dressed in anything that would be considered professional by Shinra/Midgar standards but he has to admit that the other man can pull it off rather well.

Dark Nation runs over to Reeve, back tentacle waving with excitement as she nudges against his hand in greeting, sniffing to see if he has any treats before Rufus calls her back.

"I do- be careful with it," Rufus nods as he takes out the knife. He's not sentimental by nature but he still feels an odd sense of fondness when it comes to the knfe. Not something he wants to think about too much.

That was much less intimidating behaviour from the animal, which somehow only managed to make Tony feel worse, lip raised slightly for whatever it was that had been so obvious to her to stare at him so judgmentally. Reeve, conversely, did deserve some tail wagging, surprising Tony with how well he pulled the outfit together after his grousing, but he quickly diverted Tony to reply, "What? Listen, the skirt was hard enough, I didn't think I had to make you a purse, too. Where's your crown?"

With the same slightly miffed energy, he rounded on Rufus to demand, "And you, come on, get dressed, we've got places to be." Rattling the box again, he pulled out a much smaller crown with hanging 'pearls' in the same glimmering gold and demanded sharply, "Mini!," only to immediately resume more conversationally, "There's more accessories, if that's the problem."

"Thank you, Rufus."

Reeve nodded seriously at Rufus and immediately tucked the knife into his sock before starting to look around his supplies to find something that might serve as a replacement for a sporran.

"It's not a skirt, Tony. It's a wrap of cloth called a kilt. And you need a sporran for it. And I'm not wearing a crown."

Mini himself was barely ducking his head out of the bedroom, and yeah, Reeve was going to need to think of a way to carry the poor thing, for how fearful he was of the hound. Which Reeve was patting absentmindedly as he worked to find a suitable stand in.

"You'll not get him out here, Tony. Mini will not, no matter my reassurances, allow himself to be at a level that Dark Nation can reach," Reeve said, before looking to Rufus. "And has Tony said why he's brought you here? Or why he's dressing me up in clothes from home?"

"If you find a treat and hold it out to her she'll come to you," Rufus comments as he notices Tony's look when Dark Nation greets Reeve happily. "She can be a bit overeager when it comes to making friends but she won't bite."

He stands carefully, taking the cane in hand but lets Dark Nation remain off her leash since she's behaving so far. "As for as I can tell this is distraction. But I'm still not sure the purpose of dressing up though."

He glances down at what Tony has given him before looking back at him. "I appreciate the thoughtfulness but I will pass." Costumes were not something that he did and manovering that, a cane, and a large dog didn't seem practical.

It was possible that this could be going worse, but with Rufus' refusal to participate Tony felt the energy draining out of him, making his shoulders sag as he breathed a long sigh and tried to salvage any part of this design. Maybe trying to make friends with the dog(? independent governing body? pocket dimension?) as suggested was the key. He flashed Rufus a dubious frown, then tried crouching down to her level with a hand out to offer, "I don't have any treats, but there are plenty where we're going. You're excited to go, right?"

Oh it could go worse, for Reeve at least. The man, having found a small carrying bag he'd made for tools, sighs, deems it enough, and puts it on around his waist, carefully tying up the shoulder strap to try and make something like a sporran. There. Better. Then he looks to Tony and Rufus.

"She doesn't bite, but if you give her treats, she will assume you are a soft touch forever, and never leave you alone," Reeve said, moving to the bedroom door and scooping Mini up into his arms. The cat started to struggle, and Reeve lifted Mini up to his shoulder. Then he held his hand out to Tony.

"The crown? Mini can wear it, whether he likes it or not. If I'm doing this, so is he."

He won't force Rufus though.

"We don't even know where we're going, Tony. I also didn't know that you knew Rufus. Rufus, you haven't been telling stories behind my back have you?"

Dark Nation approaches Tony slowly, her back tentacle swishing back and forth slowly. She nudges her nose against his hand, taking her time before she's satisfied that he's not a threat. Her body relaxes and she nudges into his hand but steps back when she realizes there's no treat.

"This is the first time we've met. And what kind of stories would I be telling behind your back? You tell the tree story best since I wasn't there, I just had second hand information from an eye witness."

He laughs as he gestures for Dark Nation to return to him so Tony could have some room, taking his cane in hand as he stands. "I'm sure Reeve has told you all about me including how we met so I won't bore you with that particular story."

Well, that was something, if she wasn't staring daggers at him they had made some progress. Tony dropped his hand with a sigh, frowning after her still for a moment before swinging back up to his feet.

"I told you, I didn't drag him anywhere, he just showed up," Tony pointed out after Rufus confirmed his obvious innocence. He was only aware of Rufus, so he couldn't possibly have gotten him to do anything. Meanwhile, he raised the crown he still carried up for Mini to take, eyebrow quirked inquisitively to challenge if everyone's bad mood was really enough to leave Tony hanging onto it. It wasn't much, but it was what he had to offer, he didn't know why that was so difficult. Once he was so close, he could mutter to Reeve, "What's the tree story?," eyes widening already because he had to assume it was an awesome one if it was the first to occur to Rufus, and he wasn't even involved.

He still wasn't telling where they were going, though. Instead, he gestured for the party to follow, leading them out the door and up the road toward the jangle of strange music, and alluring scent.

"Don't," Reeve said, pointing emphatically by Rufus. "He's heard the real story, don't you dare trot that out."

He reaches up to put the crown on MIni, who was immediately adjusting it to make it balance right given his ears. Means the whole thing is tilting to the side a good bit.

"And of course you'd mention that one," Reeve sighs, sounding exasperated. "Do you know how long it took me to..."

Right, Tony is here. So Reeve turns his attention to the other man, looking a touch more animated.

"There is a large tree in the middle of one of the cafeteria levels. Rufus had given me Dark Nation to babysit for the afternoon, I have no clue why I was trusted with her. I'm a cat person, not a dog. And, of course, she took an immediate disliking to Reno."

"I wouldn't dare even though it's a rather endearing story." Rufus chuckles as if he wouldn't have been delighted to. Dark Nation watches Mini with the crown before turning towards the door to follow Tony eagerly once she made sure that Rufus was following her.

Rufus follows Tony, pausing only for a moment to let Reeve catch up. Ahead, Dark Nation was eagerly scouting ahead, stopping to sniff at anything that catches her attention.

"The tree story is sort of a series of very unfortunate things combining into a perfect storm," Rufus answers Tony, looking at Reeve with amusement.

"It was only supposed to be for 10 minutes and you were the best option who happened to be standing there on my way. And I couldn't have predicted that Reno and Rude would be passing through at the same time as Scarlet and my father. And- well, I'll let you continue since you were the one who was in the middle of it."

There were already enough characters in this story that Tony did not have any context for that he was losing some patience for it, nose wrinkling briefly and looking desperately to Reeve for help once Rufus had finished his list, only Reeve was just as treacherous. They were not helping with their vague allusions to a meeting that Tony had been under the impression wasn't nearly so interesting. This wasn't really a story for him, though, clearly, it was a pair of people that really understood each other, a rare bond in this alien situation, reinforcing that connection, so Tony's frown softened as he glanced between them. Looking out after the dog, he encouraged, "Sounds like a volatile combination."

At least Reeve knows the necessity of explanations, so he was trying.

"So, I don't know how much you remember of Calibrations, Tony, but Scarlet and the late president you would have seen. The latter was the man who gave me my promotion. Horrid man, blonde with a terrible little mustache and rotund in his own way, full offense meant, Rufus."

He knew his friend would absolutely approve of it.

"Scarlet was the harlot looking woman, blonde hair, red dress, slept her way to the top but her mind was made for weaponry. She makes most of the weapons, materia, and robotic creations in the world. She'll sleep with anyone if it will get her an advantage, she'll smile and purr while she stabs you in the front because why worry about back stabbing? Rumor had it the woman would use her own guards as literal footstools. Woman was crazy. And, of course, she didn't get on with the Turks. They were... internal security."

He didn't want to talk negatively about them because Rude and Reno had changed, and they were family to Rufus.

"So, basically you've got Rufus's father who doesn't take well to nonsense, Scarlet who doesn't deal well with anyone slighting her, two internal security experts who get into a lot of trouble on their own, and then me and Dark Nation. All by the tree. Reno isn't big on dogs, and when he got a bit too close to me when I was feeding her a treat and Reno made me uncomfortable, flirting like he always does. She picked up on it, and knowing I had the treats, started to growl at him. And Reno, nervous about dogs, jumped. And fell over into Rude. Who tried to catch him but was thrown off balance. I swear the man is a martial arts master, but when Reno's around he's clumsier than I am."

Reeve shook his head at the whole memory of it.

"I saw it, in slow motion, Rude with Reno in his arms, falling backwards, right into Scarlet. Rude grabs for stability and... Well, his hand accidentally catches Scarlet's dress. And no one knew how flimsy the one she'd been wearing that day was!"

Rufus walks a little ahead of them while Reeve explained, chuckling as Dark Nation joined him again, her back tentacle waving back and forth as she sniffed his hand to check in before raining ahead once more.

"I used to have footage of that whole thing that I had saved to my old phone. A pity I don't have it anymore," he remarks with amusement before looking back at Tony.

"So what is it we're dressing up for today? Is it a local tradition of sorts?"

Some of the context did help, and Tony snorted at Reeve's passion in his disapproval, though his description of Scarlet did make Tony start to squirm slightly and he found himself kind of missing trying to get the dog's approval as a distraction, peering after her with some longing. It did at least assure him that the ending he could see coming from a mile away couldn't have happened to a better person, and by the time Reeve's story concluded, Tony was giving him a sidelong look with a wry smile, primed now for the kind of chaos his office job could actually provide. He had made it seem so boring until now. "This is the kind of company you were running?" Tony directed at Rufus, voice accusatory but impish glint still in his eye, clearly expecting a proud acceptance and nothing further as he quickly waved it away to answer.

"I don't actually know why it's happening, it just...appeared," he explained, nodding ahead to where some of the strange structures could be seen between the buildings. "It's a renaissance fair--do you have those? Did you have a Renaissance? Doesn't matter, listen, here's the deal: you and I, Rufus, sweetheart, we're knights out to prove our worth in bravery in skill, to be invited to the court of his esteemed highness..." Okay, this was already falling apart slightly, because both of them were refusing their roles, but at least Tony had someone in a crown to point to, "Mini."

Enkindle

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he'll come out dressed next tag.

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