Suit

[in_extremis]

WHO: Various people who made wishes, and anyone who spots them around town
WHERE: All over Temba, mostly the hotel
WHAT: Tony is doing his best to fulfill wishes
WHEN: Through the end of the month
WARNINGS: None yet.
NOTES: Sorry, this one is also structurally a little weird, get weird with me. The names are just a starting point, don't assume a thread is locked to that character, and feel free to discover these things without Tony involved at all. If you want to unwrap this thing you randomly found in the hall with your girlfriend, only god can judge you.


DELIVERIES

eddie
A surprisingly small, flat package, left right outside his door so it wasn't missed. It was just wound in ribbon left over from the Christmas tree.
Inside was something that looked superficially like the communication device that the Agrii had provided, but the message upon activating the screen read, Sorry about the selection. We'll digitize yours.
The headphones from the tape player Eddie already stole were compatible with what turned out to be a palm-sized collection of the tracks on the karaoke machine.

lark
This only got as far as the hotel lobby, and only had a paper bow on it, because it was about the same size as the check in desk. It kind of looked like a massive printer, with large feeding rolls and a spidery array of needles poised over them. There were hints as to what this actually was, like the large bobbins at either end that seemed to feed into each other, which might explain why this thing didn't seem to plug in to anything. Or the single big button on the side that someone had seen fit to simply lable LOOM.

donnie
Careful with this, it seems to be a bunch of loose parts wrapped in a big, delicate sheet of paper sitting on the forge. Hopefully, that doesn't get torn in the process, because on the inside there appears to be a blueprint? map? is that the volcano? If Donnie doesn't recognize the schematics for a particle accelerator on sight, he might know that equation for radiation decay, or at least understand the doodle of Iron Man lounging on a row of heavier elements in the margins.

HOUSECALLS

billy soldier
[A text arrives, at first with just an attached image. There's snow gathered at the bottom of the wall in it, so this must be the outside of a building. Where the flat surface has been cleared of dead vines and ice, thick, black lines that must be charcoal draw a four-square grid. The axes are labled: LOVE, HATE and NEVER, ALWAYS]

What do you think?

jan/peter b./may
Jan's tailoring was impeccable, as always. It wasn't the costume that had Tony hesitatingly anxiously at the door and in need of some encouragement as he patted down the front of it, then scratched at his beard. The only opinion that really mattered was a baby's, and she must have had a very distinct image of this figure already in mind that Tony only realized he could be completely ruining at this tender age once he was dressed. Still, the way he worried over it was a muttered, "Are you sure about this...?," with another pat at the liberties Jan had taken with the design.

By the time he was standing at Peter's door, Tony had practiced a smile enough times that it was already soldered into place and he looked every inch confident as he lounged against the doorframe with a pair of boxes balanced on his cocked hip. Maybe that was a few too many liberties of his own. "Is she still awake?" he greeted, with a very unconvincing show of a whisper that was just a rasp in his voice, lifting his chin to try to see over Peter's shoulder. His knock had already been louder than necessary, a jarring sound in the darkened hallway that had been muffled quiet in the snow. Even a kid who had tired herself out keeping her dad on the run all afternoon would be curious about this late night intrusion.

steve
The stars were already starting to fade, overtaken by the deep blue of the sun just over the horizon, and Tony was still in the red jacket. He might as well stay awake at this point, it was only rational, and if he stayed perched on the roof of the civic centre, he knew he could set a watch to Steve appearing for some excruciating morning workout. A run along the beach in the sun was much more satisfying; there were better ways to punish oneself than getting up before the light to battle the snow alone. This was the hour for reasonable people to sip at a chilled mug of coffee with their feet dangling over the side of the building, shivering slightly in a Santa costume but blank-eyed with his focus on the thirty projects safely warm in the basement of the library. Occasionally, Tony's nose scrunched and his breath was a heavy bloom of a sigh in the cold as D.A.T.A. refused to do as he was told, and had to be diverted to get control of the mess that he had just made instead before Tony had to go down there himself. He hardly noticed the time ticking by, the pool behind him slowly filling with falling snow, and mounding on the final gift that was left waiting in a box at the pool's edge.

Comments

[thepurpleone]

It wasn't difficult at all to spot the difference in the figurative picture. Given there weren't too many that Donnie knew to use the forge, that narrowed the list of suspects considerably. He approached the mysterious...package? with caution, not too unlike a cat who'd found something potentially intrusive in its territory. Maybe the dodge-roll closer to the table was a bit excessive, especially given all the stuff on the floor, but Donnie still managed to come up closer to the table and the suspicious object, head slowly rising level with it as he peered over the table's edge.

Eventually he got to his feet, hands at his hips as he studied the thing, finally moving to carefully unfold the paper like he was dismantling a bomb.

[in_extremis]

"Oh, hm," Tony greeted, looking puzzled before he shut the cold out behind him with a solid thud of the door, cutting off the whistle of wind to leave the forge suddenly silent but for the crackle of the fire. He had estimated that Donnie would have been and gone already, well before he had the chance to trudge back through the snow, though his patterns were getting harder to anticipate. Now Tony had to pretend to be innocently curious as he sauntered closer and pulled himself up onto the table, where he leaned over the opened package to inspect the contents; no uranium, but carefully modeled parts that could be fit together in a perfect scale replica of the dense schematic on the paper that wrapped them. "What're you gonna do with that?" he wondered.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie had been staring at the mess of parts as what of the blueprints he did glimpse had clicked into place with everything else. This was well beyond anything he'd ever expect so he wasn't quite sure how to feel about it, excitement seeming the most reasonable state, joy ranking right up there, but then the confusion was still floating around and throwing it all off.

Hearing a familiar voice behind him, he managed to tear his attention away from the highly advanced model kit to watch as Tony came over to join him. He was still processing some unknown equation that now included the man whether he wanted to be associated with the thing or not, but then the list of people who ever used the place was quite short so far as Donnie was aware of. The question tugged him out of his thoughts, and the turtle returned his attention to the parts sitting on top of the paper.

"...I don't know," Donnie admitted, sounding stunned, although not necessarily at the admission. Excitement was clawing its way to the top again, evinced by his growing grin. "But I sure am going to find out!"

[in_extremis]

It was harder to maintain his curious detachment as Donnie looked more excited, like he might actually enjoy this challenge and Tony hadn't made the worst decision by encouraging him to play with radiation. It was mostly theory, anyway. "I thought the Easy-Bake oven was out," he tried to dismiss with a flapping hand, "You're supposed to be into Furbys now. Or Stoicism. Listen, I don't have kids. I got Cassie one of those, Easy-Bake, when she was, I don't know, eight, that's my--niece, she blew it up by the end of the day, whole mansion smelled like chlorine, so I think she had a great time."

[thepurpleone]

"I think I gutted one of those when I was five... I think I did that to a Furby too, now that you mention it. Did you know they look even creepier without fur?" Stoicism, he'd been working on, but it was hard to maintain an emotionless bad boy image when you kept getting surprised like this, in ways you never were back home.

"Must have been some experimentation for there to be chlorine involved somehow but oh my banana pancakes this is amazing." Donnie started carefully moving parts off of the schematics, roughly setting them into piles of like pieces until he was able to free the former wrapping, inspecting it like a treasure map. In a way, it kind of was.

[in_extremis]

"Never occurred to me to disrobe a Furby, no, she's not really my type," Tony muttered, nose wrinkled against a laugh at the image of a tiny turtle destroying all of the toys in the house. "Don't you have brothers?" Someone must have had something to say about the habit.

With a tap to the page, Tony encouraged, "Once you figure out the basics, maybe you can figure out how to power a full scale one. Some modification to the power plant, maybe. The volcano's right there, though, you could use that thing to knock the planet off its axis if your math's right, and that's where you're going to find the denser particles anyway, natural hot room."

[thepurpleone]

"Three. They have other interests," Donnie said dismissively. He didn't destroy all the toys. Just dismantled a lot of electronicky things to see how they worked. Most everything they'd ever owned was formerly cast off or junked anyway, so the eventuality of Donnie being able to fix things certainly outweighed whatever destruction he might have wrought as a turtle tyke.

"There has been discussion about figuring out alternative power sources," he murmured. Setting the schematics down, Donnie started to clear off more of the workspace. If he was going to put a thing together, he wanted room! And while he could probably just take it elsewhere to do, he liked the privacy of the forge.

[in_extremis]

There was only so much space that Donnie could clear because Tony was not moving, only crossed his legs primly, one arm braced to tap at his chin thoughtfully as he considered the piles Donnie had made like this was helping. The performance stiffened with a curiosity that was harder to conceal, his eyebrows raised and hand going still as he pressed very casually, "Has there?" He had been warned away from the power plant long enough ago that it wasn't a surprise that he had missed this development.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie made a slight face at the space that was being occupied but he continued to make do with what he could claim. He started sorting pieces by which would be applied to which first, propping the schematics up against Tony since he was deciding to be an obstruction.

"Well, not formally I guess. But it came up with Sonic, and with Robotnik. Those two are not great pals by the way, not much fun being in the same room with them but at least I kept them from trying to... I don't know, kill each other or something."

[in_extremis]

That was more gossip than Tony was expecting from the inquiry, making him breathe a laugh with an inquisitive pout, wondering if that was something Donnie was supposed to be sharing. "Maybe you shouldn't be at the scene of the crime when it does happen," he suggested. "I've witnessed some explosive academic disagreements, much more bloody than locking a couple of spies in a room, I'll tell you that. The only way to bring a couple of brainiacs together is to unite them against a third, more annoying nerd."

[thepurpleone]

"Honestly, I was ready to smack 'em both myself if they kept it up any longer," Donnie dryly admitted as he looked at the first steps to assemble the project at hand. He abruptly turned to go and bring over his bag and his tools.

"Haha- well to be fair, Sonic isn't really a 'brainiac'. Very much the opposite, actually. Kind of reminds me of my brothers sometimes."

[in_extremis]

Now Tony felt like he had missed something crucial, potentially at the diner counter or wherever it was that anyone else was doing their socializing. Maybe for those few days that they had all been crammed together again. "I was sick on the ship, I missed the, you know, gala dinner or whatever--why were you talking about alternate power sources with him then?" he had to ask.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie paused then, mentally tracing the thread of conversation to figure out where the confusion was coming from, and not without a frown at the mention of the ship- he was still on the fence about how he was supposed to feel about those- before eventually shaking his head. Start over.

"It came up not long after the... Well, that storm," he said, casting a furtive glance in Tony's direction, not at all proud of his performance then and guilty that he hadn't gotten around to checking up on people once it had all blown over.

"Anyway," Donnie continued as he picked through his tools, pulling out the ones he figured might be needed. "-we were just talking about how bad things were when the storm knocked the power out and wondering if alternate methods would function, or if it was purely anything energy-based that would get sapped. But that's basically how it came up."

[in_extremis]

Tony bit his lip, focus darting away toward the fire and not eager to talk about the storm either, and glad for Donnie dragging them quickly away from that mire before he shivered from the memory of how cold Donnie's skin had gotten. "You're the one with all of the experience with those crystals," he pointed out. "That place, those caves, there's some shielding there from the effects of the storm, like the energy output outpaces the drain. If anything is likely to survive a storm, it's got to be those, it's just that the current system isn't efficient enough."

[thepurpleone]

"It works by the way," Donnie said, looking up with a brief grin. "I think you're right about that- whatever the crystals are drawing from, it might just be too much for the storm effects to dampen so effectively nullifies the process.

"When things first started looking weird, I went out to the caverns. Unfortunately it still throws off anything electronic so I couldn't really take any accurate readouts or connect with anything outside when nothing else was picking up. And as soon as I stepped outside, all the energy was sapped." He shuddered a little. "Really weird sensation."

Donnie started to fit some parts together, consulting the diagrams. "Have you ever tried asking the plant locals about it? The Agrii clearly know nothing about their own planet since they've never even set foot on it before."

[in_extremis]

That made Tony pause and consider before he admitted, "I've been thinking of it as technology, outside of their scope," which clearly wasn't accurate. Before those crystals were refined, they were very much part of a natural configuration that the plant people might understand very well. Did he have the capital to ask for even more from them?

Looking slightly uneasy, he doubled back for now, starting, "I bet you..." with a tilt of his head as he considered the rationality of what he had to propose. "If you can figure out how to bear the overcharge in those caves, you'll be a heck of a lot closer to the kind of shielding you'd need to get through the storm as well." And with all of that in the air, he finally pressed, "Is that what the uranium is for?"

[thepurpleone]

"Well...couldn't hurt to ask, right? I hadn't considered it as technology. I was thinking there might be more like...some kind of branch off of whatever natural energy lies within the core of this planet. Instead of heating up underground springs, it crystalized within the walls. Iiii am not a geology expert though so this is all theorizing, of course."

Donnie frowned thoughtfully as he worked, although clearly distracted by the thought Tony placed there for him then. The key to that still seemed to be reliant upon figuring out just how the crystals were charged.

"I tried to see if I could rig a way to recharge the crystals that were mined. Unrefined, they won't recharge save when they're brought back to the caverns. Some kind of energy resonance or something- same as how powers are amplified I guess. I thought maybe I could make some sort of looping configuration but I think I'm going to need something that actually gives off its own energy to be able to do that."

He paused, looking almost sheepish at Tony's question, scratching the back of his head. "Er... Well it was at the back of my mind. Asking for uranium otherwise was more like a kneejerk response. This is the first time my request was taken seriously."

[in_extremis]

"We'd see that kind of activity around the volcano, then," Tony pointed out, relaxing back on his hands and raising an eyebrow at Donnie, asking if that was also something that had been discovered while he wasn't looking. As far as he could tell, the volcano hadn't revealed anything significant to explain its rapid growth.

He pouted at the recharging problem, not equipped to solve that one and wanting to wince away apologetically for the reminder that Donnie had always been the smart one in the room. What he could offer was, "They resonate with us, too. Or do we just drain them?"

[thepurpleone]

"Haven't gone to check out the volcano myself. Have you..?" Donnie knew Sonic and Robotnik had gone but it didn't sound like they'd found anything worth noting. Unless they'd spent most of the time arguing.

"Hard to say. They don't really seem to generate enough energy to charge...us the way they do when they're still attached to the cave. But it's kind of hard for me to tell for sure. I'd need help to test that theory, given I guess I am not as normal as one would think a mutant turtle should be."

[in_extremis]

Tony pursed his lips then twisted his mouth to the side, excusing, "Saw plenty of it during the eruption." If there was something remarkable about it that he could have used...well, he probably wouldn't have spotted it, but he was looking. Now that he didn't even have the armor, going out there felt like it would just be another way to frustrate people.

"Yeah, I've got some baseline expectations for mutant turtles," he muttered, "Very boring, not supposed to be anything going on there. What kind of help? Someone else with powers? No one else seems to like going in there, gets them all overcharged, you'll have to find someone else who doesn't mind getting a tune up. Cap, maybe."

[thepurpleone]

"Not sure what we can hope to find from it now that it's already stopped its temper tantrum anyway. If there really was anything to find, it would've been before and during the eruption, I think." But if Tony hadn't found anything worthwhile, Donnie wasn't going to devote any energy into a potentially pointless expedition. Volcanos weren't within his usual science interests.

He made a face at Tony then. "Without powers, I mean. I thought I didn't but then...turns out that is not the case and I'm still not entirely sure what to do with that, but anyway, it makes it hard to run tests when you're getting charged just being in there." He looked at Tony meaningfully. The guy had said it didn't affect him, right?

[in_extremis]

That didn't sound exactly true to Tony, but he could only tip his head skeptically, and glanced back down at Donnie's model project. Donnie did effectively divert him from that potentially dangerous thought with that look, making him raise a dainty hand to his chest, like Donnie had made an outright accusation.

"I'm not exactly, entirely, without...something," he had to admit, because that sounded like it would skew the results that Donnie was looking for. There was definitely more options in town that were pure baseline humans, if that was the goal. Before Donnie could question what exactly it was that set Tony apart from them, though, he continued, "Most mutants have powers, that's kind of the deal, the minute you stopped being a turtle and started doing calculus, you know--The other turtles didn't survive that process for a reason."

[thepurpleone]

Was he being lied to this whole time?? The admission got a sharp rise of a brow. Not that Donnie had much reason to figure Tony was anything but human but perhaps he'd just read differently into whatever wasn't being implied. He'd been pretty distracted at the time. But now Tony had his attention, and so he gave something of a tilt of his head in expectation of further explanation.

His expression flattened when that clearly wasn't forthcoming. Put a pin in it, he'd circle back in a moment.

"I always thought the whole...turning into something we weren't was about it for the mutant part. But some of these new guys that have been popping up have got some weird abilities... I just figured it must have been a new mix from whatever Baron Draxum was working with and had to rework for the past...thirteen years or whatever." Donnie shook his head. "Why aren't you normal."

Boy, could you be any less blunt?

...no, the answer is no.

[in_extremis]

"I'm very normal," Tony retorted immediately, and didn't stop looking like he'd be lashing a tail if he had one as he continued, hand still splayed over his heart, "There's probably a little bit of chemical encouragement in the mix, but there's a long history of mad scientists hoping to make the perfect super soldier and getting only what that body had to give. Steve was always going to be extraordinarily kind, and stubborn. Hulk was always going to be angry, and clever. Whatever was already in there, that's just been amped up to 11."

His hand slid up his chest, to hook anxiously around his neck, pushing his fingers up into his hair at the curve of his skull, like he could feel the adaptation of his brain through his skin. For some people, a dose of supersoldier just made them more impatient and selfish. "That's why I'm so handsome and irresistible," he concluded with a brief smirk. "You're right, I should have told you, listen, it's not your fault you can't stop thinking about me, now you know."

[thepurpleone]

"Uh-huh." Usually when people insisted on such things, it was far from the truth. Donnie at least wore his doubt clearly on his face as he absently twirled a screwdriver between his fingers.

The points Tony made were pretty reasonable, but Donnie still knew that you could only get so much out of a turtle, and softshelled ones weren't exactly as ideal in the armored area in comparison to others. "...maybe it's from dad's end. He hasn't really told us much of anything until recently, and only because his past came up with a whole bunch of other problems."

Once again he gave Tony a flat look in response to the smirk before tipping his head back and forth in a begrudging nod. "I mean, my amazingly good looks are definitely from dad's DNA so I can't really say anything there."