revivalproject

Entry tags:

Suit

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

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.

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."

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."

"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."

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?"

"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."

"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?"

"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."

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."

"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?

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."

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.

"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."

"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."

They had definitely talked about this, but clearly not enough because Tony was left hanging in bewilderment trying to determine what exactly Donnie might have meant. The forced mutation was extraordinary enough to try to navigate, without the psychological snare involved in how he was raised, and Tony had to venture for both of them, "Your biological dad," hand out flat to try to find some stable ground. "Who is...a turtle."

"What, no. My dad the awesome martial artist-slash-action film star, Lou Jitsu," Donnie said, blinking at Tony as though this was a well-known fact. Or was he still hung up on the whole rat business...?

One of them didn't understand, and Tony was almost sure it was Donnie, because he squinted, searching for some recognition of the problem, or the tell that he was messing with Tony. He drew his expression on, so it should have been hard to miss. "Your dad's rat DNA," he continued for them.

"...." Did he miss that detail? Donnie only frowned more at the misunderstanding, but he supposed it was due to some misinformation or lack thereof on his part.

"...dad's human. Was human, anyway."

Edited 2024-01-03 01:14 (UTC)

That was not helping, and Tony only gave Donnie an extra second to get them back on track before he was nudging again, "Your biological rat dad's human DNA."

Donnie closed his eyes, pinching at the space between them with a long-suffering sigh.

"He was mutated too, apparently. Like I said, a lot he never told us about until like, literally this year. Last year. I have no idea what year it is anymore I'm on an alien planet."

He took a deep breath, muttering to himself. "Keep it together, we've been good all this figurative year..." Slowly he spread out his hands as he attempted to set his thoughts and an explanation in order.

"Draxum wanted to make superior fighters to help him destroy mankind because he thought they were a threat to his own kind, the yōkai. He sought out a formidable warrior to use their DNA in his experiment. At that time, father was conveniently in the yōkai Hidden City being held captive as a prize fighter for the local Battle Nexus. And yes, he was human. Lou Jitsu was probably the greatest action film star of his time ever, but of course I might be completely biased. Anyway...

"He was kidnapped and I guess just after he was used to mutate my brothers and I from regular turtles into...us, he got bit by a rat and when he was making his escape with us, came into contact with whatever Draxum used to change us, and...that's how he turned into a giant rat man. -or at least he says he was a lot taller back then, he's probably like... a third my size now? It's hard to picture."

"By all means," Tony invited blithely while Donnie berated himself, "Go a little nuts, it'd be nice to see what that looks like from the outside."

He did at least listen, though his chin remained raised like he was skeptical of what Donnie had to explain--not entirely due to Donnie's delivery, but sure there were plenty of details Donnie had been told like more than a few of Tony's friends had been lied to about their weird powers. The used-to-be-man-rat-dad seemed like enough of a snarl that there must have been chords that didn't connect, but they were hard for Tony to pick out of the story that Donnie gave him. What he did ask was, "What was the yōkai part then?"

Which of them was supposed to be the adult here? Not that it wasn't uncommon for Donnie to be giving his own father a scolding. Or grounding dear old dad for, say, stealing his precious new Turtle Tank.

The question Tony ended up asking threw Donnie a bit. "Huh?" he said, looking at the man in confusion.

Tony's hand twirled in the air, words not coming as easily, like that would be enough to turn the engine over and get Donnie up to his speed. When it didn't work, Tony had to retrace the path for them, "This guy wants to make superior fighters, but he doesn't think mankind is superior, the ubermensch formula can't have been 100% human. There's a yōkai prize fighter, too."

Donnie frowned at that. The suggest didn't not make sense, but the possibility had never come to mind. He shook his head.

"No, there isn't. That would've made things more unstable, I think. Mutations I've seen have only involved the target and recent exposure to the subject whose traits they obtain. ...which leaves me with so many questions regarding Todd the Capybara, now that I think about it." Even as he explained, he didn't look particularly satisfied with it. It wasn't unreasonable, after all.

"Dad said he was the only one hooked up to...whatever it was."

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how did I misspell movie twice

....I have no idea