revivalproject

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WHO: Tony and Jon
WHERE: The Warrens
WHAT: A...reunion...?
WHEN: Shortly after the evacuation
WARNINGS: Tony's pretty depressed.

The way to stay distracted was to stay busy, and to stay busy meant tracing the cascading problem of resources down to a source point and working methodically back up. Tony couldn't just build a percussive drill to break through the earth, he had to forge parts, and produce materials before that, and manage to set a single thing on fire before that. In its own way, the whole maddening process was keeping him from the humiliating urge to ask a fruit to take up valuable space in their resource delivery for a bottle of scotch. He would still stop his work and tap out careful messages to the Barrys, explaining that he was building a stove, what each part did, and what the logistical problems were, and maybe, if he needed it, he would be able to ask a favour of them. He was absolutely rich in owed favours; one more couldn't hurt. And sure, the stove would be a good source of heat and way to manage the waste, but it was also going to help them stretch their food rations more efficiently, making the Barrys' job easier. That must have been worth a minibar vodka at least.

When the work was too repetitive and not challenging enough, the risk of an outburst of frustration or melancholy increased. Frustration could be productive, like the signboard that Tony had erected where the traffic was high, ostensibly for, as the rough title he carved into the top of it read, 'COMMUNITY'. Functionally, it was a place for him to post a message,
'SEEKING SCISSORS
LEAVE THEM'
How anyone else made use of it would be up to them, until Tony managed to build a radio.

The melancholy was more difficult to manage. It was quieter, and lasted longer. It left Tony sitting in a dark tunnel, listening to the rhythms of a machine he didn't understand, staring at it from the floor with the parts of his project scattered around his feet, his head tipped back against the wall and telling himself he was trying to find some pattern in the vibrations or cycling of fluids. It was about as effective as some stone age priest divining the meaning of life in the stars.

Stars would have been nice.

Mostly, it reminded him how stupid he actually was. Maybe it was a fluke, when he used to look at an alien engine and know how to replicate it in minutes. Some trick of the environment, encouragement from friends he had finessed into believing the image he had crafted for himself, arrogance. Definitely arrogance. He was definitely wrong about this stupid stove, too. The piece he had been carefully forming made a weird, dull sound as it bounced off of the alien machine, hitting that strange cushion before it could even leave a mark, the metal resolutely silent as Tony's part clattered noisily back to the floor.

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"Yeah, a shit situation..." Tony muttered, letting his head thump heavily back against the wall and knocking his fist against his chest. No one was fine because he still hadn't been able to fix one measly volcano; he didn't deserve to feel as bad about it when it was his fault they were stuck here.

His mouth twisted again at the question, sort of, and he made a loose gesture toward the mystery machine, saying, "That should make it easy. It's already making heat. Basically just requires a surface and a conduit. Easy." Too bad he couldn't figure it out.

Before Jon could ask him why not, Tony did not have that answer, he pressed instead, "Is that it for you? Shit? Or have you been working it out with someone who actually listens? You've been talking to somebody."

Jon settles with a shrug. "I'm just glad everyone made it to safety." He sighs. "...and that these aren't the tunnels under London. No one here gets taken away by monsters." And no monsters get lured here because Jon is hiding out here with everyone else.

He pauses briefly, then finally asks. "Why did you try to stay in the city?"

Monsters were somewhere in the middle of Tony's list of concerns, and the reminder that a tunnel could very well be full of them raised their ranking considerably despite Jon's confidence. Most tunnels had monsters, in Tony's experience, just with varying degrees of potential friend or foe. That adjustment in calculations would have to run in the background while Tony regrouped to acknowledge, "You did good, boss, getting everyone moving, the timer'n'everything..." Tony was pretty sure he'd never seen the whole place so organized. Everyone else managed to pick themselves up and follow instructions.

Tony, meanwhile, had dug his heels in, just like he did now, reluctant to answer. He flashed Jon a wry smile and shrug of a shoulder like there was some joke to make, and couldn't quite produce it. "I know I haven't given you any reason to believe it, but back on Earth, I was a hero. Sometimes," he eventually said, weighing his hand, okay, debatable. "Volcano wouldn't even be an issue, I would have seen it coming 20 years ago, diffused it, turned it into a power plant and botanical garden." That stupid, impossible engine was staring back at him as he continued, "Now--I don't think the good I did ever outweighed the bad, but it's not even close here. And I know I don't listen, and I'm too needy, and I thought if I could do this one thing, and protect our home...you'd ignore it, for a little longer. Buy me some time, to do some good." Instead, Jon was right again, Tony hadn't listened again, and things were worse again.

"I tried..." Jon replies. How well he really did is not something he is sure about, however. What he knows for sure is that he has been at the verge of panicking especially because there have been things he simply didn't know. Questions he couldn't answer. Places he couldn't see.

But in the end what matters is that everyone got to safety.

Jon leans his head back against Tony's shoulder. "The rules here are different for all of us. You know as well as I do that the deck here is stacked heavily against us. Back on Earth a volcano doesn't grow over the course of a few weeks." A pause. "W-well. Unless there's an apocalypse, but... You know." He shrugs, then nudges Tony with his elbow. "And you forget that I own an Iron Man action figure." The one Billy created when he explained them being superheroes and even showed Jon his comics. "Didn't forget to pack it before coming down here."

The doubt in Jon's voice was another guilty pang in Tony's chest, and he welcomed Jon close again with another apologetic pat through his hair before resting his cheek there so he wouldn't have to try to meet Jon's eye anymore. How effective Jon's reassurance was felt negligible, it sounded like a lot of reasons Tony should have been handling it better, but the contact was making it easier to breathe at least, and he huffed a surprised laugh at the nudge. "Should I be jealous?" he muttered, all of his usual sharp edges sounding dull and dark. "You've been spending all of your time with him lately."

As much as Jon tries to hide his insecurities, they are there. Especially in situations like this where he feels even less human than on any other day. Of course he remains aware that he had chosen this. Just as he is aware that his choice is one that leaves some people to feel uncomfortable around him. It's one of those things he is still working on getting properly used to. What he has more trouble fully coming to terms with is that even Tony seems to be wary of him and his powers these days. It all just makes it easier to withdraw himself. To be what he is supposed to be. What people fear.

"It's just a toy, Tony." He states the fact. A toy is no replacement for a person.

Jon was the one that brought it up like it meant anything. With another huff, the weight of Tony's head lifted away again so he could turn his glare back on the machine, and he muttered, "Yeah, okay."

It took some working of his fingers against his palm for Tony to produce, "Did you make it?" It wasn't an entirely formed hypothesis. Jon hadn't mentioned a volcano before, this was a new connection that Tony was forming. "The volcano, the apocalypse."

Because it means a lot to Jon. It's his one connection to Tony's world. Of course he will protect that. But that doesn't mean he treats it as a person.

Tony's question earns him a positively bewildered look. "What?"

"You said 'unless there's an apocalypse'," Tony started, because Jon only talked about one apocalypse and it was with guilt. At least, Tony was pretty sure it was rarely with any details like volcanoes before, except Jon probably meant something else by that, that Tony hadn't properly heard, because he hadn't been listening the first time Jon had explained it. He withdrew his arm then, so he could take the fruit Jon had brought him in both hands, pressing his thumbs into the skin like he could calculate the tension of it as he mumbled, "Never mind."

Jon still watches Tony for another moment before shaking his head slowly. "No. I... I didn't make the apocalypse. But I caused it. I summoned the beings that reshaped everything and created the different domains." Domains that only existed to create suffering for the Eye to watch. Jon sighs. "Pretty sure there was a domain of the Desolation somewhere that contained a volcano, but... That's not something I can do." He directs his attention to whatever Tony is doing with the fruit. "So.... No. I didn't create this volcano either." In case this is what the question was actually meant to be about.

Tony didn't necessarily mean to imply that it could have been Jon's direct creation, but any denial was effectively undermined by the obvious release of tension that saved the fruit from a bruise and made Tony's shoulders drop. He might have been a little worried about that, and more so how to make sure no one else made the same connection.

"You knew that was going to happen," he pointed out, because Jon had been confused about that when he contacted them. "Before you left, you said you knew something was going to happen, and then when you came back, look at that, it did, just like you said. Sometimes you know this stuff. When it's really big maybe, when the world is ending and some idiots are better off just letting you tell them what to do."

"It's- It's a matter of observation. You know. W-watching things. It's kind of--" What he does. Though this sentence is really rather finished by gesturing than verbally.

"You know that the Eye sees everything and I- I want to believe that it could also see what was happening in that volcano. And the rest-- There are scientific ways to calculate when a volcano erupts?" He thinks so. But with his connection to the Eye being very limited down here, he just can't know.

When it was clear that Jon thought he still had to defend himself, the interruption that Tony was building to fizzled out with a breath through his teeth as he worried his lip, and the fruit again, watching it turn as he nodded along to try to seem less confrontational. "Of course, yeah, there's a formula for that," he mumbled, "Lots of reasons you could have known what to do, you know things, doesn't really matter now, forget I said anything."

"No, I-" He begins, but then it's Jons turn to deflate before admitting. "It's something I have tried to figure out myself." He lets his hands drop onto his legs. "Why I knew all of this. The Eye can't see the future as you may remember. And it doesn't usually warn me. It is entirely unable to comprehend the concept of danger. All it can do is watch. So why did I suddenly know all these very specific things? It makes no sense."

Since Tony's first theory of a possible pattern of forecasting didn't seem to be welcome, he wasn't sure what else he could say without being irritating again and started picking at the fruit instead as he searched for a reply that Jon could at least ignore. Maybe that answer was nothing, and keeping his mouth shut would have made every other conversation he'd ever had easier, in retrospect. That wasn't an easy habit to break. "The Funfronds knew. Dustin knew," Tony said, soft and quick. Maybe the Eye couldn't see the future, but it could see in other people's heads.

Jon looks up and over at Tony's suggestion, blinking twice at the man and for some reason feeling utterly foolish right there and then. "Christ, I haven't even consider that!"

But that might be it. The Watcher can get into people's heads. It enjoys soaking up worries and terrors and sharing them with Jon similar to Jon shares what he sees and feels with his patron. Just that Jon doesn't always get the full source material of what he is being delivered.

"Of course the Funfronds knew. And they had to inform Dustin. You are entirelya correct."

Without any confidence, Jon's owlish blinking had Tony starting to shake his head, ready to dismiss that attempt as well, only to have to reroute and start nodding when Jon did speak. Was that good? Maybe stop nodding.

"Cool. Great." Tony had stopped abusing the fruit, which left him a little rudderless, not particularly good at just taking a win when he got one. The next logical step was asking why Jon or the Funfronds knew that coming down here was going to be the only solution.

Jon accepts the moment of silence and lets himself lean fully against Tony, though he isn't finished being busy thinking either. But it's less about the whys and hows and more the whats.

"You know... Being underground like this, this deep... I don't think the Eye can truly reach me. I can't see anything of what's going on above ground. What we will be facing once we get back up and out..." He tries not to get excited about learning these details.

Not expecting the weight against his shoulder had Tony tense, every muscle down his arm ticking against Jon's side like each had to reboot before accepting they could relax under the warmth and Tony might have actually said something that earned the affection. And immediately, he had to resist the urge to tip Jon away enough to catch his eye, because they had just had a whole conversation where Tony neglected to notice that Jon was unfocused and struggling with his words. That was what he was usually like when he couldn't reach his sadistic god anymore.

"But you're..." Tony started to say, and didn't know how to finish the phrase without it sounding like an accusation. "Not at all?" he tried gingerly instead.

There's a sharp tap-tap-tapping nearby. Perhaps by now Tony was used to it, a small greeting rap from a vent in the hall that a tiny set of stairs had been made up to. No real information conveyed in the tapping other than pending arrival. Then the grate is swung open and a small Barry Warrior comes down the steps, thorn-sword in hand as it races down, a woven straw pack over its shoulder.

Once it sees Jon with Tony it pauses, seemingly lost in thought. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was just communicating with the distant Queen. Then it takes its thorn sword and raps it quickly against the floor to speak.

[Forgive interruption. Delivering requested tool. Workers tried to shape to specification.]

And with that it takes its pack off and spills out a collection of screw driver heads. They are clearly hand carved, and carved because they are not made of metal, but rather of a strangely dense and durable wood.

Delivery completed the Barry rushes right back off to the little stair and door.

Jon just gives a small nod in response. "Not at all." He acknowledges verbally as well. "But it's less of an issue since-" He waves a hand vaguely before settling on how to finish that sentence. "-since I fixed it. I mean- Kind of. A bit. But- I don't feel awful anymore." Disconnected, yes. But not in a way that's unbearable.

The arrival of the Barry has Jon look up and at the small creature, observing its path as well as its actions as it makes a deliverance to Tony. He is left blinking at the items and from them up to Tony. "You requested these?"

Jon had said he was 'working on it', and never quite explained the effect that had on the library, which Tony really should have adapted to better if it meant that Jon wasn't likely to go wandering into a storm and get lost. If he was then 'stronger', as he had put it, he must have been extraordinarily formidable in ways that Tony couldn't even imagine. He had already been an awesome force. What was he doing here?

It wasn't until the Barry was down the stairs and tapping their announcement that Tony tore his focus from Jon, looking around at it with raised eyebrows, and quite unprepared for the delivery. It was already up at the vent before Tony was reaching out to take up one of the heads curiously, and he had to shake his head slowly in answer to Jon. "No, I--I mean, I may have said I could use a screwdriver, but this isn't the kind I meant," he said. He glanced back up toward the vent where the Barry had gone, looking skeptical and trying to figure out what they may have wanted from him. It wasn't like he had much to offer. "Do you think we're supposed to be doing something down here?" he asked.

After listening to Tony’s answer, Jon picks up a different piece to inspect it between his fingers. “If you haven’t explicitly requested these, then I am wondering how they would know about bits and their different types.” Their little plantain hosts don’t seem like the type to use screwdrivers. Unless they are all severely misjudging these little guys.

He ends up with a shrug. “I don’t know.”

That wasn't a vector that Tony had considered, making him cock his head, not sure yet if it was a valuable one. Of course they knew about screwdrivers, otherwise, "How do you think they build?" They had managed to make these, after all, with some expertise. They were very industrious.

There was a time that Jon had been strangely excited to report that he didn't know something, making Tony watch him curiously again for another beat at this noncommittal shrug, now an exhausting constant even after whatever Jon had done to his brain. Tony shouldn't have asked. "I'll--" he started to say impulsively, immediately regretting it, already sorting it into his bloated list of failures as he finished reluctantly, "...figure it out." So he didn't have to meet Jon's eye for this lie and to have some tiny facsimile of control, he shifted up to his knees to start gathering all of the little screwdriver heads carefully into his pocket.

"They don't seem to be using screws and screwdrivers to me." Jon argues mildly, gesturing with a single hand. "You remember how the Graq used their spit to craft and build?"

He uses the same hand that has been moving to reach out and place it on Tony's shoulder to pull him back. "What do you need the screwdriver for?" He had asked for one after all.

"Okay, but these guys have tools, they're always carrying them--," Tony was eager enough to debate, until the unexpected touch made him flinch and start to drop his shoulder defensively. It took a glance back at Jon to shake that off and try his best to look carelessly cool and drape himself back against the wall while he felt like an open wound.

Talking through the problem always helped, even if that meant Tony was talking to himself in his workshop, and maybe eventually he would have asked himself a good leading question like that. If he knew what the Barry's meant him to use the screwdriver for, he might have a better idea of their greater purpose, or at leas that was what he thought Jon was pressing. "I was trying to explain this thing to them," he ventured, plucking up one of the scraps of his stove, another way he was talking through a problem and not expecting anyone else to answer. "They wouldn't have to work so hard, if we could stretch our food more. They don't have to work this hard in the first place, though, they could just leave us here. They also need a stove." No, that didn't seem right. They looked like they photosynthesized.

"I have been wonderin why they are helping us in the first place." Jon has to admit, letting a frown settle on his face. "They don't gain anything from doing any of this. All this ends up in for them is more work." Dustin really must have made an impression on their hosts which they all should be thankful for.

Jon lets his eyes wander over the pieces once more. "They don't really seem to need anything from us. But maybe... Maybe there is something you could build for them that they can simply enjoy?" It's a thought.

They must have needed something, and that need must have been new to them, too, after watching this community from afar for so long and not intervening until now. Either the activities of this new population were having some unknown effect on the Barrys, or the changes to the environment weren't only torturing the imports. Besides, "That's not really my area," Tony had to point out, tipping his head to give Jon a sidelong look with a wry smile. He was an engineer of destruction. Trying to work against that programming so far had produced a backlog of failure. "Maybe they're trying to impress you," made a little more sense. An offering to a holy being, after a fashion. "You're stronger now. They noticed." Tony not understanding what that meant didn't preclude the Barrys from sensing the change.

Jon raises a brow at those words, unconvinced. "I don't think this is about me, Tony." If anything it would be much more plausible for any of the plantkin to have observed Tony's talent in creating and building whatever comes to mind. Though he still doubts that the Barrys actually need anything built for them.

"So how difficult would it actually be for you to build them a little merry-go-round?"

Jon had a lot more to offer, so it was a much more workable theory to Tony, who challenged Jon with an inquisitive expression, are you sure?, and gave another illustrative tap at the simple device he was failing to build. Maybe they just felt sorry for him. Jesus.

At least he couldn't linger in that humiliation for too long before he was giving a short laugh of surprise at Jon's first impulse for 'simple enjoyment'. "Very evocative imagery," he had to admire, "I'm really enjoying that." It might dampen the Barrys' spirits to know that Tony thought their tiny berry ride looked ridiculous, so he schooled his expression to nod more seriously like he had been presented with am enriching neighbourhood development proposal. "I'll keep it in mind. It'll be a good proof-of-concept, for when I have to convince everyone to pool our resources down here so you can have one."

That laugh earns Tony a half-hearted slap to his leg and a quick pout. "It's not a bad idea!" He protests. Their plantkin friends don't exactly seem like they know the simple joy of riding a carousel.

Jon crosses his arms and huffs, though his expression softens again quickly. "What would you suggest to show our gratitude to them?"

The huffing and pouting was enough to evoke a fond smile that actually lingered, despite the theatrical flinch Tony gave to the slap, wounded hand to his heart. He might have even provoked Jon further, into a proper argument to keep his attention, except that 'showing gratitude' felt like a monumentally different question than satisfying some need, and Tony needed to rewire. "They're a little small for that," Tony started, though his focus was clearly elsewhere and not on a teasing smirk. "Funding an expansion for their kids' school probably won't sound very appealing. Do you think they have schools? A car has got to be the next best thing." Rhodey always appreciated another vehicle. He huffed and wouldn't talk to Tony for a little while, but he'd always be in that helicopter eventually. "That would make them faster. They like efficiency," Tony concluded, looking quite confident about something finally.

Jon blinks at Tony for those suggestions. "I don't think a car is a good idea, Tony." He says frankly, then considers his next words for another moment. "What I mean is- When you need a gift for someone that doesn't need anything, you just... You gift them something they can enjoy. A nice bottle of wine, chocolates..." And he trails off with a small shrug. He isn't someone that really ever bought many gifts. And he was always fine with being gifted something he could eat and that wouldn't clutter up his small apartment.

The confidence drained out of Tony, not all at once but a steady release of pressure that incrementally dropped his shoulders back down, then his head to consider his restless fingers again with a frown. If the Barrys even ate, Tony wasn't sure giving them some kind of food when all of the food they had down here came from the Barrys would be particularly welcome. He clearly didn't understand, though, because he still thought a vehicle sounded perfectly rational, so he muttered, "I'll ask if they prefer something fruity or dry the next time they pop out." Getting another still set up down here probably wasn't the best use of their resources, but if Jon thought it was a good idea..."Cayde has a pretty good idea by now of what's going to render well," he was willing to explore, you know, for the Barrys.

"You are making it sound as if you want to turn them into alcohol." Jon frowns while casting a somewhat concerned look at Tony. "I- I feel like you are overthinking this. Do we even know if they aren't already gaining something from our presence in Temba and Sh'Ka? It's possible that they are acting in their own interest in helping us." Which is just as possible. Jon shrugs, if a little helplessly. Not simply knowing for sure may be exciting in some ways, but frustrating in other very realistic ones.

"How about we ask them? Why they are helping us as well as what they enjoy."

That had not occurred to Tony, but now that Jon had said it, he muttered, "D'you think that would work?," if only to turn Jon's expression back to exasperation. He was at least aware that, as a group, if he wasn't trying to figure out what a Barry would want out of him specifically, they might have had some value and could answer, "They are. Kind of. I don't know what it is, but Dustin's been jerking them off for months, something about putting spores in our brains. Kid doesn't trust anything as much as he trusts them." Probably because of the spores.

With a glance back up toward the vent, Tony invited, "He might still be up there."

Jon grimaces at Tony's words. "Jerking them- Tony, please! Can you maybe not phrase it like that! I'm sure Dustin isn't- How would that even-- I don' know of any spores!" Tony made this all up, didn't he? Jon at least sure hopes so.

Though his eyes do flick up to the indicated vent. Not without concern, however. Should they ask about the spores first?

Jon knew about anything important happening in the city around them, so Tony was probably wrong again, and had misunderstood or was easily misled when he had followed after Dustin. He frowned, eyes down on his lap again, and mouth open like he could defend himself, only to nod without a reasonable justification or alternative explanation at the ready. He shouldn't have said anything. Obediently, he pushed himself up, finally leaving aside the abused fruit with the rest of his scraps, to rock up on his toes and try to spot any movement in the vent, then to give an experimental tap at the metal. "They'll bring more food eventually, right?" he said when he didn't get an immediate response. "There's a few of them hanging around then, you can probably just say hello. Nobody needs too much convincing to slack off for a pretty face."

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