revivalproject | ruminate

Entry tags:

ruminate

WHO: Tony, Eli and anyone hungry.
WHERE: Vanto's Diner
WHAT: A regular meeting of a breakfast club, and some investigative interviews to build a database of the city
WHEN: Most mornings for a while, if Tony remembers to emerge from his mad lab
WARNINGS: Tony.
YOU KNOW I HAVE NOTES: If you want to have an interview with specifically Tony, Jon or both of them, just make that clear somewhere in your tag, don't stand on ceremony. If you're coming to breakfast, do threadjack.

for Eli
Food in general had been a series of continuously upsetting discoveries since Tony's arrival, everything native entirely new and having either an unexpected flavour profile, a very wrong texture, or turning out to be highly combustible. The latter had made him frustratingly skittish about even trying something else new, reducing his options even further, until he was sure it didn't come with adverse side effects like a total alcoholic relapse. Some gassiness he could deal with; he didn't know if he could handle an entire break from reality right now, that already felt on edge with his reality so inscrutably distant. While he hadn't ever been great about his eating habits, this situation was a test. His patience was already questionable, and he was starting to lose focus. The forge was difficult enough to run on his own, if he started losing more mass the work would slow to a crawl.

Most importantly, he hadn't had a cup of coffee in a brutal lifetime and a hit of caffeine would really solve all of his problems. His most reliable company in Temba weren't really big eaters, if that was something, but he didn't have to ask around; the little sign in the window declaring 'Vanto's Diner' had been a consistent enough curiosity every time Tony had to cross through the centre of town. If anyone could offer Tony some relief, it had to be the Vanto of the diner, which this desperate morning Tony was imagining had to be one of those retro type, vinyl boothed, checker floored staples where a waitress had a pot of coffee in either hand at all times. He could practically smell it. He wasn't exactly disappointed that it clearly wasn't when he had dragged himself all the way up from the forge, but he still closed his eyes and sniffed the air as he stepped inside, sad to see the fantasy go. It was dark, the long night not quite subdued yet by the rising sun, and the scattered tables were empty when Tony allowed himself to accept the reality and look around, but the one promise the sign lived up to was that this place didn't seem as abandoned as the rest of the city. "Hello?" Tony tried, wandering further into the room, wondering if this was a self-serve situation, and offered to the space, "You should maybe get a bell, something, liven the place up..."

the breakfast special
It got lively in Eli's diner by mid-morning. It was one of the few communal spaces established in the city, and with the population so small and spread across the crumbling area, it had to be a natural contact point for even the most reclusive residents when the cabin fever, as it were, set in. The one thing they all confidently had in common was that fountain outside. Everything else, how or if they settled in this city and what they did with their time, what planet they were from, what time period, what species, were all barriers between them that the fountain flowed through. Tony didn't have a lot of faith in Eli's branding or business plan otherwise, but the location was an undeniable spark of genius.

He wound his way through the diner back to the table that had been claimed while he waited for their meals, balancing several plates from Eli that rattled ominously as he tried to carefully lift them over other people's heads, but couldn't confidently tell anyone what was on any of them. "Which one of us got the...blue, herby experiment? I've got a kind of orange porridge concoction. And this looks a lot like a tea biscuit, which, honestly, I'm threatened by," he announced as he arrived, ready to dole out however a meal was claimed; he had faith he could eat what remained, if anything.

take a seat
The video shared to the Net Work had been short, with Tony looking off screen with a question in his expression directed toward someone who seemed to be with him when he didn't seem sure how to construct his message. "Listen, this isn't working, we're all over the place," he had started, commiserating with the camera with what must have been a shared frustration with their situation. "Every day someone tells me something about this planet like it's common knowledge, like I'm supposed to know that if I turn three times in place clockwise at sunset, I'll summon Billy for fashion advice. When do you think I figured that one out, what was I supposed to be doing to make that breakthrough?...Okay, sorry, here it is, we're going to make a database, we want to start figuring this stuff out and sharing it, so there's a record in the library. We could use your help, everyone has figured something out or has seen something interesting that is worth looking into, and maybe together we can get a better idea of what we're working with, properly distribute the resources, that kind of thing...If you've got a minute, we'll be at Vanto's, it'll be super casual, no commitments, just the dirty parts. Must be good on camera, bring a headshot."

Video wasn't actually part of the recording process, but it was slightly imposing. Jon's tape recorder alone set a certain mood that Tony wasn't getting used to, but he brought with him to arrange on the table a small globe, not entirely unlike the data point outside the diner, that glowed faintly and connected by a myriad of wires to the exposed hardware of his communication device cracked open in front of him. He wasn't great at waiting without someone sitting with him, so if he was meant to be alone the globe pulsed ominously, abandoned on the table, while he flitted around the room or disappeared into Eli's kitchen to assess his hardware with a general impatient disappointment until he had a quick solution to a small problem that he thought he could get away with. With the Archivist, Tony lounged more easily, draped across his seat and nursing a drink, working out his impatience by obviously needling Jon and getting him just on the edge of snapping at Tony for the leading questions, trying to find new buttons to push with a taunting grin he wasn't even hiding.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Billy looks a little unsure himself.

"So um...what am I supposed to say? Are you going to ask questions, or do I just...?" he gestures vaguely and gives a flustered laugh.

This one seems to make Tony unsure as well. He's still warm and amiable, but his personable ease isn't as natural and he is less active than usual as Billy settles with them, eyeing Jon with both hands around his cup with a scant tilt of his head, hopeful he would take more of the lead. It's a brief look, gone before Billy is finished his question for Tony to pout at him with a thoughtful roll of his eyes up to the ceiling. "Maybe start with your name, your sign, what you're looking for in a guy, get the basics out of the way before we get personal," he suggests.

There is a lot of insecurity around, Jon can tell as much. Back I’m at the Institute the Archivist’s presence used to help steady statement givers to not feel overwhelmed by recalling and reporting their fears, but he knows he can’t really expect it to work that way here on Agra 10. This isn’t the Institute.

He lets his eyes linger on Tony for a few moments, then turns fully to Billy.

“I suggest you disregard half of what he just said. We’re interested in your time here. Strange observations, unique locations and any information that might be useful for us to leave behind for those the Agrii call here once we’re.... Returned. To where we come from...” The last bit feels heavy to say for Jon. He is painfully aware of what being send back means - And what he will lose. The slightly fretful tapping of his fingers against his own cup is the only indication he gives for his uneasiness, though.

Billy gives a hushed laugh, not taking Tony too seriously, and he nods at Jon's words with a hum.

"Mm, well...I've been here since the start, so...I guess the most useful stuff would be about the storms though, right? If that's what everyone's here to help stop?"

He looks between them then. "Were you here for that?" he asks uncertainly. He's reasonably sure Stark hadn't arrived yet, but less sure of Jon.

"Half?" Tony complained under his breath, but Jon was already launched into his much more prim explanation of their expectations. He seemed to lose his nerve as he searched for the correct word for the end of their experience with the Agrii, and Tony's combative expression softened, teasing abandoned.

"Haven't seen one yet," he confirmed for Billy. But, "What do you mean, the start?" He didn't realize there was a definable point of inception.

Yeah, Jon doesn’t necessarily wish to think about what happens when they are being released. Yes. They are all here against their will, but he dislikes the idea of forgetting everything and everyone. Especially those he consider close to him.

“Well. As for me... I arrived during the last storm. Actually was lost in it for about a week? Then they sent us off the Risa.” He finishes with a shrug. Tony has been on Risa, he knows as much. He vividly remembers their first conversation...

"Um, yeah, well- I don't know if there were people before us, but...it seemed to be the start of things. They had a welcome party for us and everything. This was before they locked us in the ships to get to know everyone. They weren't as good with English back then. Believe it or not they've actually improved." Billy explains with a laugh.

"You know then," he confirms, looking to Jon. "Did it...mess with your powers too?"

All of the stuff was equally useful, in Tony's summation, until they had figured out some system or pattern to work with-- the storms were clearly a major issue, but their cause or solution could stem from anywhere. Details like, someone as powerful as Billy being here from the beginning of whatever experiment they were part of, only to drag a baseline like Tony into the mix months down the road, had to have some meaning. A better jawline didn't make him more useful than Wiccan in this situation, he wasn't here to make up for what Billy lacked. "Who was at the party?" he asked, very light like he was just checking on the social scene.

"...Christ, I don't even want to know how bad their English has been back then." The Archivist groans with a little shudder, but then gives a short nod at Billy's question "It did mess with me, yes. Which was... Unsettling." He doesn't give any details, however.

"I believe I recall someone mentioning to have made scans of the storm?" He asks instead.

"..." Billy has to pause to try and think back. The roster of people has changed a bit since his arrival, "...Um...Tommy, me, Wanda, Vision...he was still here then. Cap. Two Buckys...I think. Captain Marvel. Um...Hux. Sansa...A ghostie guy, Phalanx. He was part of my crew. So was Delta, and Thrawn, and...Connor, but I can't remember if they were all there from the start or not...I'm probably missing people."

He looks a bit sheepish and shrugs a shoulder, "They might of taken scans. I didn't. I didn't have a way to. I was just trying to keep away from the ghosts and trying to figure out how to get help for Tommy."

This wasn't a completely useful list of names-- half of them strangers to Tony, or at least not anyone who had made an impression. Two Buckys-- and two Captain Americas, as it was-- was still interesting, as was the suggestion that Mar-Vell had made the cut, resurrected and all, before Teddy. And Billy's entire immediate family, the version Tony knew, all together from day one. Tony slowly tapped his cup, staring at Billy with a coldly piercing study, but no accusation came with it. They weren't even from the same dimension, Tony knew that. What was the pattern?

The stare broke for Tony to turn to Jon then slowly lean back in his seat, hooking an arm over the back of the chair in a small signal of surrender to Jon's lead again before Tony said something that put Billy on edge. He didn't know what that could be, that was why he had been avoiding the kid int he first place, but he knew probing about his family life was probably a tricky area. It certainly seemed to be the thing to really set Tommy off. He only made it a suggestion, not directed at Billy, "Whole family and the boyfriend here, lucky guy."

Jon isn’t entirely familiar with Billy’s and Tommy’s entire family situation, but the names Billy lists are mostly unfamiliar for him anyway. He casts a short glance over to Tony who seems to be able to place a few more of them, but then settled with a thoughtful expression.

“Tommy said that the storm took his powers. Practically made him human...” And the boy has been upset with Jon for suggesting to get used to the idea for when it happens again. “The ghosts don’t appear to have attacked anyone from what I heard so far? Given I encountered none...” He shrugs. His own time with the storm still hasn’t been a fun one.

Tony's suggestion, whether directed at him or not, prompts a guilty look from Billy. "...I didn't do this," he defends, reasonably sure he's telling the truth, though there is that seed of doubt.

He nods, confirming Jon's words. "They didn't attack or anything, it's just...seeing them is-" He glances to Tony then and pointedly shuts up about the ghosts, afraid of saying too much.

Tony wasn't under the impression that Billy could or had magicked up this whole planet of horrors for them and his stare was locked back on the kid, eyebrows raised slightly at Billy interpreting him like that. The way he cut himself off about the ghosts didn't help, looking back to Tony like he had put him in a difficult position, though Tony had no idea what it could mean. "What?" he pushed, clipped, for Billy to finish what he had been saying, build his defense before he put it entirely in Tony's hands to piece together.

The slight fear doesn't go unnoticed by Jon and he raises a single brow, leaning back a little and looking from Billy to Tony and back. That's an odd reaction.

"Are you just having trouble expressing yourself, or is there something you would rather not have us know...?" He asks, but very carefully and very set on not compelling Billy. The first issue he could actually fix that way, but the second... He would rather not force the information if it makes Billy uncomfortable.

"Nothing," Billy returns quickly, "It's nothing, it's just...it's just hard seeing them." And that's reasonable. It's half of the truth. Though there is a brief glance to Jon to plead him not to press the issue. Tony doesn't need to hear that.

Compulsion aside, Jon clearly had the skills to get someone comfortable with expressing themselves that Tony had never adopted, used to getting his information more indirectly from a resistant source. He licked his lip between his teeth, worrying it as he gave a slow nod with his cold calculation still on Billy to acknowledge the suspicion Billy was unequipped to dispel for them. "Is that what you wanted to share?" he asked, still brittle. "Just to make it clear, the storms suck?" Great, that would have to go on its own shelf in the library, very informative.

"I understand." Jon nods in Billy's direction to both, his direct statement of it being hard to see his family and the indirect request of not pressing the matter needlessly.

He then turns his head to Tony and tips it to one side in quiet, yet faintly judgemental approval. "Very eloquent. And not untrue. Now if they turn out to be sucking out our minds, life force or will to life, we may even take that literally." Yes, he can prod Tony as well for being maybe a little too harsh on the young mutant.

Billy flushes with a guilty sort of expression. "They try to lure you," he offers, "With people you've lost... But...I don't think they can actually hurt you. We couldn't catch up to any of them, they just...led us deeper into the storm."

This irritable from already squirming with what he didn't know about Billy and now this performance the kid was giving him, Tony was quick to turn his sharp look on Jon for being so understanding and dropped his hand under the table out of Billy's sight, to his lap to show Jon what he could suck with a flick of his wrist. Was he not listening, like usual? The immature reaction seemed at least somewhat restricted, though, and Tony's focus was back on Billy quickly. "How was it different than Wanda and Vizh?" he challenged. Billy just said he partied with them just fine, mood lighting couldn't have made the experience of seeing people back from the dead that much more difficult.

So it’s people they lost. No wonder Jon hasn’t seen any of these ghosts, then. Can’t exactly recognize someone you have no memories of. And maybe the storm didn’t deem him to having been close enough to Tim m? Now that would have been rude.

About as rude as Tony’s gesture, yet Jon lets that one slide with little more than a raised brow before returning his attention to Billy, leaving him with Tony’s question to answer.

"They're not-" Billy frowns, knowing he's not giving the answers Tony's looking for, "-...they're not my Wanda or Vision. And they aren't...dead anymore." So not so startling. Those would be better haunts for Tony than Billy. He hardly knew what it was he was missing with them.

"I don't want to spoil future things..." Future deaths. Deaths Tony hasn't had to live with yet.

"Spoil?" was annoying enough language to override 'dead anymore', as though that wasn't a big spoiler for Tony's supposed future. Tommy had suggested similarly, talking about Vision and Clint like he could possibly have known them, making Tony think it was some dark mind game if they weren't from more different dimensions than Billy and Tommy wanted to acknowledge. At least not dead 'anymore' made more sense. "Do you think we're talking about some comic book shit?" Tony would rather have been given a spoiler alert for his resurrected friends, at least that didn't seem so completely disrespectful. He stretched both of his hands flat, shaking tense, before he could release a heavy breath and some of his anger, and bring them both back onto the table, flitting busy over his cup and nodding for either fucking one of them to talk about something else then if Billy didn't like the topic.

Jon's reaction to Billy's words is equally irritated as Tony's, yet rather carried by a raised brow that harsh words. Though it's the words that pull over his attention and his eyes fall on Tony's hand, much more agitated than usual. He exhales while watching those hands, then makes an attempt to take the closer one into one of his while looking back to Billy.

"I agree with him, Billy. This isn't a book club. No one will be mad at you for pointing out which page Dumbledore dies on. And... Speaking for myself? I would very much like to hear such spoilers. Whether they regard myself or someone I know." He pauses."I have no intention of forcing you, however."

Okay, bad choice of words. He knows. Billy winces apologetically but still looks very apprehensive about continuing.

"I...it's-" he sighs, and looks truly sorry then- "...It's Cassie. I...we see Cassie out there, and...and I didn't want you to know...I'm sorry-"

Edited 2020-05-28 21:36 (UTC)

Interviews, Tony & Jon

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