revivalproject | [Open] Sports Are Another Woman's Job

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[Open] Sports Are Another Woman's Job

WHO: Tae Takemi, Tony Stark, Open
WHERE: Pry Says Tent, Sports Day Events
WHAT: Longing For Pry Says, Trying to Sport
WHEN: May 2nd through 5th
WARNINGS: None

I. Look At All The Pretty Things | Closed To Tony Stark

Tae had not really been excited to hear the Agrii's announcement. In some ways it had felt like a jab right at her. She hadn't been so helpful during that fight, and the running off barefoot had not been fun. Still, she hadn't really been a sports club person in high school, and while she did enough exercise to keep healthy, competition wasn't really her thing.

Which was why she had come here. To look at the Prizes and tell herself that it clearly wasn't worth it, especially since the hospital was starting to get going well here.

And instead here she was, eyeing a pair of black leggings with a gray spider web pattern on it. Which was after she'd looked at some practical, work suitable tennis shoes. And some wonderful stiletto heals. Not to mention the leather mini skirt.

"Dammit," she sighs as she looks over it all. "How am I going to get enough for these and the vouchers and the other supplies. If there was ever a time I could use the guinea pig around, this would be it."

II. Balloon Popping Queen | Open

It was a starting place. A miserable one given what Tae had on her shopping list, but a starting point. Because amazingly enough, sports were a lot easier to do when you weren't wearing platform high heels, right? Still, Tae had absolutely found the best solution to getting started.

Which was why the woman entered the balloon pop fenced in area with the straps of her boots loose. As soon as the timer started she stepped out of them, picked one up in each hand, and started at the offending balloons with the sharp heels. Which was pretty effective, given the points they came to. The woman clearly knew what she was doing with how often there were popping noises. That said anyone watching might want to take a step back, because the glitter was sure flying.

"This glitter better be biodegradable, aliens."

III. Trying Your Best | Open

Alright. It had taken her almost a third of the day once things had started to buy the shoes she needed, and she had needed to wash her legs and clothes during a light lunch on her ship, but now she was back and the doctor looked... intent as she moved through the games, her pockets jingling with chits.

"Alright then," she said, facing down the line of games. "I suppose it's time to get started. Now, how do I know which of these are even worth trying?"

She needed the best pay out possible for someone of her level of skill, so she was probably not going to do well here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was unlike the Agrii to care much about their well-being, in Tony's experience, so this had to be some kind of trick. It was always some kind of trick. It was out in the open, at least, so Tony could get close to investigate without being too worried he was about to get trapped in some torture chamber, and so far it was...exactly as advertised. Some games, some prizes. There was glitter coming from somewhere. The prizes must have been the real lure, naturally, so he assessed them critically, searching for the trap, mostly finding plastic.

Tae's grumbling had him raising his eyebrows, thinking maybe that was the trick. They hadn't been running like a proper society, everyone just took and left as they needed, and now they were being reminded that goods were usually paid for. Why should they? The only greeting that Tony offered was a brief hand on Tae's shoulder, before he was plucking up those heels that seemed a little deadly and misguided with a very short lived inquisitive expression (he did not need the answer, of course those were the ones she wanted), then he was sauntering away from the tent with the shoes swinging from one hand.

Ah yes, the five finger discount. Tae, eyebrow raised, turns to watch Tony walk as if he's going to leave the tent with them. She raises her fingers at her side to count down.

Three.

Two.

One.

And yep, there's that invisible wall he's going to hit since he's still holding shoes he didn't pay for.

There was a ringing in Tony's skull, and his glasses were on the ground after being crushed painfully into his nose, and he had no idea why. He was left staring down at them, innocently in the grass, holding his nose and entirely bewildered. Whatever had happened was definitely not cool and/or suave, a very poor representation of the brand, so Tony had to steel himself to look over his shoulder to check if Tae had seen that. Great.

First rule of medicine in her book: If you aren't crying or cursing, you're probably hurt a lot more than expected. Tae abandons her amusement as she strides quickly to his side and goes to her knees beside him. She reaches out, wordlessly indicating that she wants to see his face.

"I tried that already with a box of tongue depressors. It went a bit less spectacularly than you attempt. Let me make sure you're okay."

Maybe it wasn't suave or cool, but it did have a doctor paying him dedicated and careful attention. Small victor?

He was supposed to be invincible, so Tony was pretty sure he was a lot more surprised than hurt, even if he was a little reluctant to take his hand away for both of them to find out what the damage was. "It's fine, I'm fine," he dismissed, the shoes he still carried wiggling as he tried to flap a careless hand, then finally relented to check if there was any blood on the other one. At the very least, he needed to get those glasses back, and he snatched them up quickly before it occurred to him to accuse, "You knew that was going to happen?" She must have come from a familiar Earth. Most people here didn't know the very public flaws and had gave him the chance to be annoying before figuring out they should hate him this much.

Did she know? She brushes back her bangs to showcase the nice red bump forming on her head.

"Learned the hard way. Wasn't expecting you to be moving with enough force to get more seriously hurt. Didn't think it would hurt anyone to have the minor reminder that 'stealing is wrong'. Which apparently our hosts have decided this is."

With that she gave a less than impressed look. What was the point of that here?

"Taunting us with useful supplies for what? It's just ridiculous. But I do need the clothes, and medical stuff. Thank you for trying though."

With his glasses perched back on his slightly protesting nose, Tony started to lift a hand with a small pout toward the red mark, then reconsidered and gave a restless scratch at his chest instead. "What are you doing still hanging around here? We should get you some ice. What kind of sports event doesn't have a first aid tent?" he mumbled even while she spoke, then was left flapping a hand again for the thanks.

"Bullshit," he replied, which was not a very gracious response, until he was twirling his finger up toward the sky and their coy hosts. "They stole us, they stole our stuff--" he said, lifting up the shoes which were definitely not Agrii-sized, "they don't get to teach us some morality lesson. I will be lying, cheating and stealing my way out of here. Pretty sure that's not wrong."

"Trying to make a plan. And I don't have ice. And I'm not replicating ice."

So she's going to deal with her little 'boo boo' and move on. Don't argue with her, she'd the one with the MD, not the PhD.

"I assume they aren't trying to teach us a morality lesson, Mister Stark. Or may I properly call you Tony? They clearly are lacking in proper understanding of morality, perhaps because of whatever led to them thinking it was a bright idea to bring us here."

Though she does offer him a soft smile. The shoes are still in his hand.

"In case you're curious, when I said I accept payment in shoes, stolen does count. So high marks for effort."

Tony's specialty was arguing, so he was doing it before she was even done talking, quiet enough that he might have been talking to himself with his gaze rolled toward the grey sky and free hand waving, "We can't we tolerating damage to our best asset. Reeve can make ice, I think. I can call Reeve." He was just as easy to redirect, though, drawing his focus back down but continuing in the same tone to Tae's question, "Please. Mister Stark was my dad. Doctor Tae." He hadn't quite landed on what he should call her in return.

When he suddenly ran out of words to just keep on saying, his hand kept moving, held aloft and fingers ticking like he was counting as he tried to work out if he appreciated the (sarcastic?) praise more than he cared about the context. The confusion won out. "What am I paying you for?" he had to ask, now in more of a stage whisper so they could resume this performance once he understood his role better.

"Just Tae then, Tony," she said, still trying to get a better look at him.

Stubborn. She's used to stubborn. She can be stubborn too.

"I was talking about suitable payment for medical care. I think you made a reference to alternative payment, and I mentioned you couldn't provide what I could be bribed with."

She gestures first at her shoes and then at the ones Tony still has.

Right, when Tae went on to insist Tony couldn't possibly be competent at anything useful to her. So far, he was largely proving her right, by not even managing to walk away from an unguarded tent. "Listen, that was kind of your fault," he pointed out, splaying his free hand toward the...whatever he had slammed his face into, and taking the chance to get an extra step away from it in case it came up in his space again for him to further humiliate himself. "If anything, I feel like I should be the one getting compensated. Medical care. Emotional damages. Ongoing..trauma. Was that part of your plan?"

"Hardly," she says, pushing to her feet. "And when you go on like that you sound excessively like an overly litigious middle class jerk. And you hardly gave me much time to warn you away from the action."

This doesn't need to be a fight and she sighs to try and figure out how to defuse it.

"How about I take care of this and owe you one, beyond what I already do. And I go back to hating this system that denies me new clothes because I am working on the hospital first and foremost?"

Starting with the name calling said to Tony that Tae was clearly spoiling for a fight instead of answering his question, and he echoed softly, "Middle class?" with a hand to his wounded chest. Even when he was homeless, he was so intolerable his peers knew to call him 'poor little rich boy'. And maybe 'jerk' was kind of rude, too.

Talking over her again as soon as she made her offer, waving a hand to shut that down, he said, "How about we forget about, and no one owes anyone anything, because it sounds like owing you is asking for high maintenance head games, and you've already started making up the scoreboard for us, you're pathological. At least buy me dinner first." He dropped the shoes back onto the nearest table, then pushed everything else away from them, clearing a surface carelessly with plastic toys and candy falling aside into the grass. Pointing to this new clear space with the shoes at the centre, he continued, "What else?"

Seriously, what is up with this guy? Pathological? She almost looks bored with that insult.

“Sadly this place doesn’t have Cafe Leblanc, so I can’t buy you dinner. And do yourself a favor, consider your word choice. When you accuse a woman of ‘high maintenance head games’ you sound misogynistic. It’s not attractive. Nor is calling someone pathological because you decided to do some light theft.”

Honestly to her it just seemed like the guy wanted to start a fight, and she was so far from being in the mood for it. Fights were other people’s duties. She was there to fix things.

“So how about we start back from ‘we forget about it and no one owes anyone anything’ and we talk like reasoned adults about how much of a scam these Agrii have decided to set up here.”

"Yeah, I'm considering," Tony responded, like she had really given him something to think about, finger twirling in the air for only a fraction of a second before he landed on, "and I'm sticking by it, you just did it again, see, you can't help yourself. Pathological. Go ahead, you've got another insult in there for me, lay it out then tell me we should be being respectful to each other or whatever, one of those combinations is going to work eventually." He raised his eyebrows expectantly, hand still out toward the counter, waiting for Tae to decide if she wanted to drop the facade and stick to arguing, or try to pretend she was capable of doing what she kept insisting and answer one of Tony's questions.

He's almost starting to remind her of her old boss. It's not a good look. Of course she does have to live with this man, more or less so she heaves a deep sigh and refuses to engage on the 'another insult'. He started it, and pointing that out clearly isn't going to help.

"May I at least ask why you've placed the shoes on a metaphorical plinth and remain gesturing at them?"

That was a little disappointing, and Tony breathed a fond laugh through a wry smile for the stubborn commitment, releasing steam like tempering steel to cool the fight he had been ready for. Much more lightly, instead of in the challenging tone of his argument, he repeated, "What else?," and probably should have left it there so she didn't have as much opportunity to hone in on something else to accuse him of. That didn't stop him from continuing, "So we know what we're aiming for. Plan's got to have a target."

Oh. Well that was interesting.

"I'd almost be worried that putting them there like that would tempt out people to win them. Then I remember there are so few women here."

Which was said with a faint hint of amusement. There were all of three women on the planet and one was a child. And somehow, despite a situation with about ten men to every one woman or girl, she has not been sexually harassed once. It's been heaven. And it also meant competition for the shoes should be light.

"Should this be a pie in the sky plan? Because there are a lot of clothes I want. Or should it be practical? Because practical means replacing those with a pair of comfortable tennis shoes in my size, maybe a pair of pants or two, and medical supplies."

Some of the men were pretty small, so Tony had to tilt his head with a dubious pout, then challenge, "You don't think I'd look good in them?" The imbalance shouldn't be so reassuring, was the point, so he nodded in understanding, and made a swirling wave over the shoes and the table around them that they would use to promise to cover Tae's selection away from eager eyes.

He was less sure he understood her dichotomy, 'pie in the sky' vs. 'practical', and he had to weigh his head side to side to try to get around it before concluding, "Let's say we're planning for what you need. What you need isn't always practical. Sometimes it's downright extravagant. The tennis shoes, then, and these. You can say they're for my pleasure, if it makes you feel better. I couldn't deny making a woman feel her best."

"You'd look good in them, but only if you had leggings or a skirt to properly show off your legs," she said immediately, and with a smirk.

But what really gets her is the 'for my pleasure' line. In spite of herself she chuckles. What can she say, she did like feeling her best.

"This place doesn't seem as friendly to the extravagant as Tokyo is. I had to flee one of those giants barefoot. I don't recommend it."

It was not the time to slink away guiltily for apparently leaving Tae to be eaten by giant beasts, so Tony tried to fussily fix his hair like he wasn't even that focused, worrying his lip briefly before pointing out, "You just gotta have a backup plan. You bring an umbrella when you get a blowout, you know. And now you know that you can give me a call any time, and I'll fly you out of there, no problem. Are you okay?"

Hey, she didn't blame him for the giants thing. She didn't even know Tony was super powered. To her he was just an inventor. Though she laughs at the blowout point.

"I've heard of those. They're not as common in Japan. Our hair type is typically not suited to it. But I'll take your word for it."

Though from her experience, people were very prone to carrying umbrellas any time the weather called for it. A lot less people forgetting that in Tokyo. It's a cultural thing. Still, she has to pause and look at him in shock.

"You can fly? And yes, of course I'm okay. Radley helped me bandage them once we were at that place with the replicator, and my favorite apprentice, Billy, healed them up after."

"Couldn't keep me on the ground," Tony didn't really answer, mumbled like a secret with a coquettish smile. The last thing he was interested in was trying to prove himself to Tae, it wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he was much more open with raised eyebrows and a surprised grin to ask, "He's your apprentice now? About time someone turned him into a real doctor. Never listened to me about anything, though, you must have really charmed him."

Honestly, she was less looking to have him prove himself in that flight thing than she was intrigued. How was that even possible? But she's also met elves. Sooooo Yeah, she supposes she's got to take it in stride.

"I would hardly call the kid an apprentice. But he's devoted and he had so much working before I showed up. I'm doing my best to make sure that all that eagerness of his makes it somewhere."

And she seems a bit pleased about that. She's proud of Billy for how much he had already taught himself just from books. Though she chuckles at Tony's comment about him not being listened to.

"I think he listens to me because I have something he wants to hear. If I told him he was too young, or that using magic to heal wasn't something I would work with, or any other number of things, he wouldn't listen. Though I also had a kid like him around back home. Got used to how to talk to him."

Her expression says that had actually taken some work.

"And most people don't accuse me of being charming."

After a stricken blink and glance around like he had to check if he was hearing things, and those very pointed examples that Billy must have given Tae, Tony had to conclude, "I'm getting the sense that you prefer it that way." At least it wasn't just him that experienced the hostility, if 'most people' had also had a taste. He raised a hand before she had to punctuate the point, pushing away from the table to go collect those more practical shoes that he had clearly been neglecting, and add them to the collection.

A pretty thing 😘

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