Mesh

[in_extremis]

WHO: You, your favourite person, your least favourite person, and someone you've never met. Open!
WHERE: The library garden, Temba
WHAT: Putting the plants in order, for fun and...fun. Tony's been building a hedge maze.
WHEN: A lovely summer evening.
WARNINGS: Mark it if you get nasty. This is an open invitation function, and the sheriff can't stop all of you at once.

NETWORK // un: ironman // TEXT
Come to the library. Try to find your way out.
It's better with a hand to hold.


What was supposed to be a much more gradual project had rapidly become unmanageable. After being released back into the sunlight, Tony was sure he was going to return to a yard that was parched and languishing without care. He had never been much of a botanist, if he could help it. What he found instead was a snarl of plants that were threatening to take over any progress he had made on this project, while he transformed the room in the library basement into his workshop and repurposed the gutted parts, and beating the stems and petals back was only getting him so far. The ring he had been carrying around, telling himself he needed just the right place to reveal it, might have still been missing, but this garden was not going to tolerate being tamed for long.

Even on the terrace wrapping the back of the library, the greenery broke through the flagstones in wild tufts of grass and thorny weeds that had to be hacked back. Much of it now was burning sweetly in the firepit, ringed by the last of the intact stone benches that were found here. Maybe sitting under them was more comfortable, though, like the few, cuddling mothcats that could be found there, because the benches were clearly Agrii design. The yard back here was braced in by a few tall trees along the edges of the property, obscuring most of the road beyond and sending fluttering seedpods skipping across the stones with every summer breeze.

Dominating the space now was a maze. It was imposing, particularly in low light, after the sun had set and Tony had sent his cryptic message. Not much could be seen peering into the structure from the entrance; the depths darkened rapidly, and the first path to choose came quickly. Flanking the entrance were torches, though, and with them baskets of lumpy, oily candles that could be lit on the flickering braziers to carry into the dark, and become floating points of light that whispered past each other in the soft grass and between the fragrant, lusciously flowering walls of the maze. Even now, the branches and vines that determined the structure seemed to be stretching voraciously, leaving beds of petals where they had crashed into each other, and sneaking across the paths to catch uncritical toes. Even experienced maze-solvers might find some challenges within, with some tricks of the eye and secret doors to discover, but they might also find there was no rush to the exit; the myriad blind alleys and cul-de-sacs weren't simply dead ends. In one, a set of swings, flat wooden boards hung close to each other and maybe tall enough to peek over the maze wall with an enthusiastic enough push. In another, a shallow pond, thick with small flowers that swam over the surface of the water that glowed eerily. A particularly lucky and industrious explorer might find a puzzle box, waiting patiently in a nest of purple sand, that rattled when shook. There was definitely something in there. What else might be hidden in the dark?* Around only a few corners, the whole experience might be over, breaking back into the open garden of the library from a surprising nook just a few steps away from the inviting entrance to the maze. It would probably be better not to get too impatient.

*Feel free to make up some fun, weird stuff, I'm sure we can all be cool. If you're really not sure and need me to say yes, you can dm here or @ me on discord.

Comments

[renoreactor]

Cosplay wasn't her whole life, just it was more important now than the other bigger part of shooting down airplanes. And while she's not hesitant at all about explaining that, yes, she is a World War 2 cruiser in the form of a rather well-endowed young woman... well, yes. She's not eager to bring it up out of the blue either. That may likely come the father they get into the maze.

"Oh, the Infinity Stones!" There's a cant to her head at just how Tony had described them, and she approaches Tony with widening violet eyes. "Would Black Cat be looking for those? Jewels are jewels," she thought with a nod. "And they would make a nice costume accessory!" They're obviously not the real ones, of course. Right? Right!

[in_extremis]

"Pretty sure she had her claws on one of them at some point..." Tony mused, eyes narrowing briefly at her language ('stones'? Well, that wasn't wrong...). He offered Reno a lit candle, then took up one of his own, muttering, "Try not to burn the place down, we're still working on a fire department," before he was inviting her to lead the way with an encouraging hand at her back. He wouldn't be nearly so good at getting them lost, and that was the whole point. "She does also like to get those claws on an Iron Man. I feel like you have a lot in common, just a hunch. Kpew." It was sardonic and and light, but Tony did raise his free hand to give a loose flash of his palm.

[renoreactor]

The candle is held very cautiously then, Reno guarding it from touching any of the plants. "I know some about firefighting, but this would be kinda big, yeah!" It'd also be kinda tight to try to fit in with her rigging, and she's pretty sure she lost her fire extinguishers too.

While not torching the maze is easy enough, trying to make her way through tighter corridors is harder. There's two notably large reasons why she isn't into more sports or active lifestyles, though she is adept at not bumping them into Tony. That would be horribly impolite. "Oh, she does? I thought she was more for Spider-Man," recalling her favorite shows. Maybe she should've watched more Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

And then she just froze. "Your- That- Its just like mine!" Her own glove is raised, "Wow, you're really good at this too!"

[in_extremis]

"You do?" Tony asked, slightly incredulous. He supposed plenty of kids might know some basics about oxygen control and dalmatians, but to make a declaration like that suggested more than a passing interest, and had him considering that perhaps actually putting together an emergency response team instead of just joking about it was probably overdue. He kept close at her back, trying not to lead the way and brushing up the more ambitious branches so she wouldn't have to duck under them.

"Spider-Man doesn't have any cool stuff for her to steal. He wears his pyjamas to fight crime in, he's not sitting on a vault of valuables," he pointed out, with a chuckle of pride at Reno's enthusiasm for his own incredibly cool stuff before he was quickly tucking his hand into his pocket. "His commitment to keeping her in check is purely altruistic. I think. He seems pretty dedicated to his gal." Maybe that was saying too much. Did Reno know the Spider-Man that was here, the one Tony knew from Earth, or some other, single and flirty Spider-Man?

[renoreactor]

There's a nod to Tony's first question, though her eyes dim momentarily at some thought before she's all smiles again. No need to dwell on those memories. "Yeah, I can! I'll be able to explain it better once we're done," said with a small wave. "It's more of a Reno thing and not a Black Cat thing." She leads the way then, not an unusual position for her though there's momentary pauses while sorting out which branch or fork to take when they reach them. "Mmm, this way!"

"And speaking of, I kinda thought Spider-Man was a little conflicted. Sure, he has Mary Jane in most stories, but there's always that what-if with Felicia or Gwen, right?" Her and Peter here have been ships passing in the night for now, granted that she might not even know this version. "I've watched a lot of the cartoons."

[in_extremis]

Right, they were supposed to be in character. Tony snorted another laugh, and nodded dutifully to properly commit to his role while they wound their way around the maze, dark and hushed in the press of the plants around them. His commitment quickly faltered when Reno revealed she not only knew Mary-Jane's name, but apparently Peter's whole social circle. 'Stories' and 'cartoons' weren't that weird, there were plenty of adaptations about any hero big enough to catch the media attention, but only a few heroes had public enough identities that they were in any way accurate.

A very other Spider-Man, then.

"Oh, uh--I don't think he has cartoons--where I'm from," he faltered, not sure anymore what he might or might not reveal about the personal life that Spider-Man did try to maintain. "He's--very private. Is that how you know what Iron Man looks like?"

[renoreactor]

"Cartoons and a movie," comes the answer as Reno shoos away a stray leaf from her head. "Its why I think you got the cosplay perfect, you kinda look just like him! The gloves too!" She's still new here, knowing few and only Steve in the other ongoing thread. "And know a lot about him and other heroes too!" That gives her a moment's pause, a cant to her head, and then a branch to her chest when she wasn't fully paying attention. "Oof-" That gets shoved away fast with her non-candle hand.

[in_extremis]

The natural question felt like it should have been why she said Iron Man, not Tony Stark, because he definitely would have appeared alongside his bodyguard in these shows, but Tony found himself opening his mouth only to purse his lips together, realizing that if MJ was a cartoon character, he probably didn't have very many secrets, either. At least he was saved from how awkward that was with the brief distraction, murmuring apologetically, "Careful, they're outrageously stubborn," like he couldn't imagine what that was like as he tried to bend the branch back for Reno. It didn't much want to do that, either, creaking ominously until Tony edged around it and let it flutter back into the place it was reaching for across the path.

"You must see them around New York," he guessed (if she wasn't the 'Brooklyn class', did that make her, what, Queens...?) trying to navigate carefully around just how much she did actually know without admitting it. "The cartoons can't be that accurate, I mean, listen--Iron Man is much more handsome in person."

[renoreactor]

"I was based out of NY before being taken here," Reno starts to explain as she avoids another rather stubborn branch by doing an improvised mini-limbo dance. "Just like Black Cat with lasers! And, uh..." That has her nearly cross-eyed in thought, brow furrowed beneath her silver bangs. "I never saw any real superheroes there. Their stories are all different too, each show and movie is different." The poor girl may not be entirely convinced that superheroes aren't real. Reality has been found to be rather fungible in her world.

Her progress pauses momentarily as an eyebrow arches up at those last words. "Much more handsome? That- That kinda sounds like something he would say..."

[in_extremis]

The limbo move had Tony biting back another laugh, and he made a motion like he might follow Reno's lead, only to snap the branch off to sling over his shoulder as he followed instead. A little like following Black Cat through her traps, too. He was bouncing it idly when Reno stopped, clearly trying very hard to otherwise keep still, lips pressed together and his own eyebrows raised innocently like he couldn't imagine why she would think he even sounds like Iron Man, only to narrow his eyes then with a small nod to encourage that logical path. It was brief, and suddenly he was dropping the stick to tap on the ground as he continued like they hadn't been so distracted, "So was I. Couldn't walk a block without seeing one of them myself. I was in Manhattan, though, Baxter Building right there, Avengers Mansion, Damage Control, honestly, I'm surprised when I don't see anyone in their underwear all day." He gave that one a second thought, head tilted slightly, then added, "Or a costume, too."

[renoreactor]

She follows his nod and his lead, stepping through the maze intrepidly. There's a bit of claustrophobia what with all the walls and alien plants, these were things she never quite encountered back home. Yet with her companion with her, Reno felt oddly safe. Though whether Tony feels safe may be in question when she abruptly stops and spins to face him. "Wait. Avengers? The Fantastic Four? You've actually seen them- their bases!" Now she's lit up as if all searchlights were aimed forward. "Actual superheroes!"

[in_extremis]

Maybe not unsafe, but definitely nervous by the sound of his laugh in the face of her sudden...confrontation. She did seem quite serious about this being a revelation, so Tony's laugh died as awkwardly as it started, and he had to admit, "I thought that was what we've been talking about this whole time, come on, keep up. Are you not allowed to leave school grounds or something? That's a form of cruelty, New York's the greatest place on Earth, you should be using your Black Cat skills to bust out of there and make your dad nervous."

[renoreactor]

"Yes, but I thought..." Reno scrunches her face a moment in confusion, "I thought you were like me. Watched the movies and TV shows. There's no real superheroes in our NY City." Her jaw offset slightly, "Unless you count us, but I'm just a sidekick. I tried being a real hero, but these," a hand swept at her chest, "Kept getting in the way."

"But you! You get to live with the real heroes! It must be exciting!" A pause. "And a little frightening, what with the supervillains and alien invaders. If I ever wound up there, I'd be staring them down... " The words 'collateral damage' are suddenly brought back to mind. "... if they ever threaten the harbor!"

A smile again, "But yeah, we're 'heroes' now, aren't we? Or you are, I'm kinda hero! C'mon, let's see if we can bust out of here and find the jewels!"

[in_extremis]

There had to be another way to interpret that gesture, because Tony could not calculate what her chest would have to do with her heroing credentials, but now he was thinking about it and found himself awkwardly tucking his hands behind his back to narrow his eyes thoughtfully and reroute his focus back to the puzzle pieces Reno had left him somewhere between 'us' and 'sidekick'. "I thought you were like me," he echoed, without all of her boisterous enthusiasm and a brief, sad smile instead. She wasn't the first person to tell him that there were Earths out there without superheroes, and it was starting to sound like they had the greater margin.

"Exciting, rewarding, challenging, invigorating..." he agreed as she continued, gaze wandering then as he wondered at the hollowness of an Earth without the heroes and advances they had made. Something else was in their place, though, he'd just have to warm up to the idea. "I believe we're all expected to be heroes here," he assured her. "You've been given a promotion. Shame about the benefits package. What were you sidekicking if it wasn't supervillains?"

[renoreactor]

_{[I should be working, but hnnnngh good stuff.]}

Oh no. She made him sad. Violet eyes start to glisten at that and jazz hands engage once more. "I am like you! Kinda!" Talk about promotions and sidekicking and, there's a rather hesitant glance aside. Maybe she shouldn't be beating about the bush. Another thought, her eyes lighting up and she turns to face him with lips drawn.

"So, you know how Tony Stark created JARVIS and Ultron and Vision? In my world, brilliant inventors figured out how to take an alien energy source and use it to create a different form of life as well. Just, not robots. Kansen have human bodies but we're also warships from a long ago conflict. Like, for example, say an Atlanta-class cruiser. Oakland subclass. Hull number CL-96."

And a deep breath. "USS Reno."

Secret origin unlocked. There's another pause, however. "I'd show you my real superpowers but they're even bigger than these," once again swiping at her chest then gesturing at the rather close quarters they're in. Also her eyes are wide and completely expectant. Please don't be sad!

[in_extremis]

Reno started that explanation on a very rocky foundation, making Tony turn a sidelong look on her, not sure where to begin with the suggestion that he 'created' Jarvis, or what felt kind of like a wildly undeserved compliment that he could have made either Ultron or Vizh. But, okay, two of those were synthetics, that was logic he could follow. Or so he thought, expecting Reno to produce her own AI like the gloves, and not expecting alien warship girls.

"What?" was as far as he got before being further unbalanced by the revelation that he wasn't just being a weird pervert, and didn't even know if that was reassuring as she tried to direct his attention again, making him physically step back to get some perspective on the wild misread he had done on 'class'. It didn't help much.

Gaze still on the stars like they would help him plot the course, he admitted, "You've kind of got me at a disadvantage here, sweetheart, I don't think we've got the cartoons and movies about...warship...people, I'm--uh..." He twirled a finger at his temple, processing and also maybe going crazy, before trying, "Run that by me again?"

[renoreactor]

At least he wasn't sad.

Reno could go with the full explanation of 'kansen' but even the abbreviated explanation still had her new friend stunned. "I know, I'm one of a kind here," offered sheepishly as she bundled herself up behind her arms. Her gaze trails off to the sides of the maze, "Maybe its easier if I just said I'm a superhero too, just one who's superpowers involve being able to skate on water while firing a lot of anti-aircraft cannons."

Remembering Tony's disappointment, she does step forward and offer a hand. "But other than that, I'm just a girl who likes sports, and superhero shows, and building toys like repuslor gloves." With her smile, "So I can pretend I'm Iron Man, or Kamen Rider, or even Black Cat. Everything else," given with a glance behind her, "I can explain it later."

[in_extremis]

Talking over her as she tried to offer the superhero angle, Tony insistent, "No, it's, I think I get it, it's just a lot of parts..." twisting both hands in front of him then to form those parts into their coherent whole for himself. Alien, fine, synthetic, fine, weird World War II legacy heroes, still fine, all of that just made the Torch, shouldn't have even felt new. She made it seem really new.

He breathed a tense laugh at her gracious reintroduction, feeling suddenly like he very much was the one making this weird, and gladly took her hand to accept this more immediate and grounded part of her. "Tony," he finally offered in return, and the flash of his smile suggested he knew exactly what conclusion she'd finally be allowed to come to, but it was brief before he was pressing a courtly kiss to his knuckles.

[renoreactor]

There's more than a few parts currently not shown: Turrets, torpedo tubes, a funnel or two. It will be quite new once Reno has an opportunity to share that, given that she survives the encounter. Which may not be quite as certain given what followed.

"To-"

That's all that escaped her lips before all five-foot-something of teenage shipgirl abruptly froze into a solid chunk of utter fangirl shock. Eyes exploding, her jaw nearly hitting her chest, her hand remaining in mid-air long after the kiss, there may have even been uncontrolled fireworks if she still had those on her.

It couldn't be. It couldn't be. He couldn't have. But he is, and he did. Even if he didn't look quite like RDJ.

The mini-Renos in her head frantically flipped breakers in a desperate attempt to bring her back online. "-ny," finally finished with a gasp. This was really happening. Wait, no, she disappointed him. Quick, do something that'll make him not sad! "Uh. Gosh," said as she caressed said hand, "Even more of a gentleman in person!" That'll work, right?

[in_extremis]

The very visible reboot she just did was not unfamiliar, and Tony was happy to keep hold of her hand in both of his as he straightened with a crease of concern on his brow and faint smirk, as much to keep her upright and to find some focus as to make sure she wasn't actually going to pass out. Maybe that had been a little cruel to keep from her. When she finally remembered to breathe, he gave her hand a reassuring pat before tucking his away casually in his pockets again, nodding like she had managed to answer a stubborn calculation for him.

"Handsome," he corrected, though there was a please glint in his eye. "That's what I said before, wasn't it? Don't let it get out of here that I'm a gentleman, I've got a reputation to uphold." His hands didn't stay trapped for long, one up to spin in the air to get them moving through the maze again and leading them along at an easy stride to set a predictable pace, so maybe they could stop shocking each other.

"Why did you say you were a sidekick?" he had to press, now that he had more context.

[renoreactor]

_{[Apologies in advance for the 'Oh Japan' moment, but its literally one of her lines in the game.]}

"Handsome!" It easily escaped Reno's lips at that, and there's a faint blush at realizing just how easily it did. "Yes, handsome, it'll be our secret." That's not helping her attempt to hide her feelings any, either. Fortunately it is just the two of them, and she easily follows his lead through the maze despite the fact that her entire face is just positively sparkling at the moment.

At least until Tony starts asking questions again. Well, of course he would. "I tried to train as a hero, but." Another thought. "You know all the training, say, Captain America goes through? I was training like that, really hard! But these," another gesture again at her chest, "Kept getting in the way. Hard to do push-ups and pull-ups and jogging..."

[in_extremis]

Sidekicks weren't really something that was done anymore, not since Bucky and Toro. That had been enough tragedy. A young hero was a hero in their own right, and not often because they sought it out, and definitely not because there was anyone to put them through any training. That was going to become its own problem, Tony already saw that, but it didn't sound like whatever training this was wasn't doing much better...

With a slight wince, and his typically animated hand slightly stiff and close to his chest as he talked, Tony said, "But you make stuff, don't you? Can't you--I mean, there's plenty of ways to make life easier. I've known blind heroes and heroes that can't go out in the sunlight. Quicksilver's clothes would fall off every time he hit speed unless they were custom made."

[renoreactor]

There's an emphatic nod at making stuff. "Yeah, I made these," once again wriggling her gloved fingers, "And a batarang, a vibranium shield, a henshin belt, I made it all myself! But they're not the real thing- uh-" It took a moment and a cant of her head before it clicked. "Oh! You mean something for..." As he's rather uncomfortable with her continually pointing it out, she'll just go with "... my problem."

"I guess I could? Unless..." Her gaze falls across him again, its not like he was as super built as Steve or some of the battleships. And he was one of the greatest of them all, at least in this girl's eyes. "Maybe I really don't need all that training to be a superhero?"

[in_extremis]

While Tony wasn't entirely sure what she meant, especially if these things weren't 'real', Reno made it sound like she had the crafting experience to at least have an idea of how to solve her 'problem'. Tony narrowed his eyes expectantly as she worked through it, nodding again with hopeful encouragement, and was not prepared for her conclusion to be to skip the training instead. One of them had missed a step in the equation.

"Oh, uh--" Tony started, without an answer prepared, and feeling a bit like he should probably not encourage her to avoid the gym as much as he did. He could practically feel Cap's disappointment. "Listen, it's not a bad idea to be prepared. You can't always rely on your powers to get you through a situation. For most of the costume crowd, that means keeping in shape, making sure you can outrun a problem if you have to. Some of us...are more creative."

[renoreactor]

The girl's gaze lowers at first, once again sensing Tony's disappointment. This is so not going the way she had always dreamed about. He's just so... real. Even in the world of superheroes, there are no short cuts. "Yeah, you're right," she admits with a sigh. "And I guess I can tell you that I don't have all my powers either, not without any ammo." The maze was still too tight for the full reveal, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to now. His poor arc reactor might not take it.

"Now that you mention it, if I had to fight here..." A side glance as the admission comes hard to Reno, "I'm not sure I would be really prepared for it. I'm ready for anything, but all I've ever fought on was on oceans and with all my powers. Here, I'm a fish out of water. Kinda literally. I'm going to need training regardless."