revivalproject | OTA Log: Sometimes People Hide

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OTA Log: Sometimes People Hide

WHO: Reeve Tuesti and You
WHERE: He Row Soup Lies
WHAT: Avoiding the storm, tending to others
WHEN: November 6th-11th
WARNINGS: N/A

The Strangest Stuffed Animal

Not all of the stuffed toys lying around amid the blanket are just what they seem. One of them a bipedal, black and white tuxedo cat with a green cape, striding across the room toward the nearest person in a blanket. Somewhere in the background a man in a torn up suit, no doubt messed up by the crash, watches the stuffed animal approach, but doesn't say anything for now. Instead he watches with concern over how the doll moves, limping to whoever is there and reaching out to pat their arm with a pudgy paw.

There there, the doll seems to say. It just wished to provide comfort.

Hot Chocolate and Hiding

He hasn't been outside for days, not since he got here. It had been a burden, it had been a mess, it had been a whole thing. And Reeve, once he'd arrived, had found a place far from the door, sat down with a mug and Mini-C nearby, and watched the door.

It took a lot for him to even consider tearing his eyes from it. Outside was… too dangerous. He couldn't risk it. He had seen his own fears out there, and he didn't wish to face them again.

Reeve sips his cocoa and then jumps to his feet when he sees someone come in. The cocoa is passed off to Mini as Reeve grabs a blanket and heads for the door, ready to throw the blanket over the arrival.

"How is it getting out there? Come, let me get you a bowl of soup and some cider."

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Well, that was a bit of contact he didn't... know how to deal with. But Reeve allowed it for now. He's too concerned.

"Not anymore," Reeve admits. "It's been a few days of me hiding in here, helping whoever comes in."

So no, he doesn't find himself brave. But he'd had Mini, and the little one was all the best at keeping him going.

If others were coming and going, Tony was getting a better impression of what state exactly Reeve might have been in, and 'hiding' had some telling implications. Not any that Tony knew what to do with, but he tilted his head slightly, then put the soup aside to offer, "I'll go get what you need to fix up Mini. Not far from your house now, is it? I can get you some clean clothes. A hairbrush. You have one of those, right?"

What? Reeve looks horrified at the very idea.

"You would head out into that storm to do something so frivolous? It's unwise. Do not. I am not so vain as to want to deal with looking a bit mussed."

And Mini? He would be patient. They both were.

Now Tony was sure that this was Reeve, and he wasn't dead like Tony was still trying to deal with, and Tony didn't know what that emotion even was, never mind how to express it. Reeve was given the chance to exercise that patience, because Tony stared at him in the generous time he had to actually respond to that direction, mouth slowly opening like he very much wanted to say something and, for once, couldn't properly dislodge the fatal backup of words he usually seemed to have. Between Extremis still not working and the exhaustion he could feel cottoning around his brain instead, every reaction felt very irritatingly sluggish to Tony.

Not that he was likely to not do something just because Reeve said it was frivolous and unwise. Mini was torn, it wasn't that frivolous. Something about that finally made Tony's teeth click together, like a flip switched, managing to knit a few words together; "I knew a man, lifetime ago, who--we were together in a place kind of like this, and we were definitely going to die, lined up against a wall and executed, and it was just us in this--this cabin, waiting to die together. When I think back on it, when I think about him, I can see him so clearly, getting up every single morning to shave and wash his feet and press his clothes. Every morning, alone." That sounded incredibly loud in this empty room by the time Tony was done, leaving him unsure why he had shared that at all.

What a story. But... he doesn't know what to make of it except a simple answer.

"Tony, it's not that simple for me. My concern for your life and sanity outweighs my discomfort. And Mini will agree with it."

The doll nods his agreement.

From the tone alone, it was clear to Tony that Reeve was about to say something very serious and concerned, which made even the fact that Tony had said anything at all even more awkward, so Tony was already leaning back slightly and ready to dismiss this posture out of hand from the moment Reeve said his name, and said back at him, "Reeve," as he continued. Concern was not what Tony was trying to engender. As Mini, the traitor, agreed, Tony rolled his eyes until they landed on the door, where they looked slightly skeptical as he clicked his tongue. "I'm fine, it's just rain, not a problem," he said, but too quietly for it to really be an argument of the point, more of an argument for his sanity. After all, nothing had hurt him out there, and Reeve was right here, so he definitely hadn't seen any bodies anyone had to be concerned about, he was perfectly sane.

He remained like that for a beat, watching the door and listening to the thunder, fingers working restlessly through Mini's fur, before his gaze slid back to Reeve, a question on his face. Eventually, he managed to voice it, "What if we're supposed to do something, to make it stop?"

"Then go out there and make it stop. But I beg you, Tony, do not do it on my behalf."

He doesn't want Tony to feel the pain of that storm, of the fear. Reeve offers over the bowl of soup.

"Please eat."

If the ever evolving list of things Tony wasn't supposed to try to say to Reeve now included sharing anything (which, granted, nobody wanted to hear unless they were being paid to deal with it, and even then Tony always managed to make it incomprehensibly disjointed), or solving the problem (less expected, Tony had a more difficult time processing that one), Tony felt he was quickly tapping out his excuses to indulge in Reeve's safe house. Automatically, he took the bowl back up, at least that was a reason, but he was looking around then, assessing the room and the strange toys he had largely ignored to kneel on. "Okay, yeah, okay," he muttered absently into the bowl before he finally was sipping without engaging on any particular level with what was actually in the bowl, starting to wander away from Reeve instead, still carrying his doll. What did anyone even need to fix a doll? Tony could make that, that was nothing.

Oh Tony, none of the conclusions being drawn are correct at all.

"When the storm passes, I won't mind if you would be willing to take the walk. But for now, please don't put yourself at risk for me. If something happened to you because you were helping me, I would be shattered."

And Jon would probably kill him. But Reeve follows, slowly, at a bit of a remove.

"Do you want hot chocolate? The Agrii have provided that for us as well."

If Reeve wanted to stay at a remove, following Tony was not going to keep him there. Abruptly, Tony turned again, stalking back into Reeve's space and pushing the soup aside once more to gesture impatiently, demanding, "Where's your phone?" Tony's was back on his ship, abandoned under the assumption that if Extremis wasn't working, the network wasn't working, and he wouldn't be needing to pull it apart any time soon. He could use some hardware now, though. He did, at least, realize that Reeve was trying to talk to him, and mumbled, "Uh, sure," wiggling expectant fingers.

Tony, please, just... Never mind. Reeve doesn't know what to say about all of this, and it leaves his heart aching. He doesn't know what to say or do about any of this.

"Yes, of course," he says, taking out his communicator and handing it over to Tony. He trusts the man with it.

"But you should eat. The soup is strengthening, in the weird way Agrii things tend to."

Testing that trust, Tony immediately cracked the case open in his one free hand, flipping it around as he started back toward the toys again to peer into the board and pick out a pin to use. It wasn't going to be the most efficient sewing process, but it would get done--wait, what? Tony finally set Mini back down in the soft bed of blankets and cuddle dolls to work the pin he needed out of the communicator, and looking back at Reeve, puzzled. "They tend to what?," he asked, not sure they had the same experiences with 'Agrii things'. So far, most 'Agrii things' left Tony exhausted.

Reeve bites his lip, trying not to freak out over Tony's behavior. He's just lost his communicator hasn't he? But... But Tony produces an answer and Reeve smiles at him that fondness he can't stop offering the man when he does something kind. He'll have to tease thread from a blanket here very carefully, and contrive a way to get the whole thing done.

"You remain amazing to me, Tony," he smiles as he hold shis hand out for the pin.

"I mean that it feels good to eat. It's not truly fortifying, and it's a bit salty for my taste, but it's comforting just to have a bowl of hot soup, don't you think?"

That smile could have made Tony cry (that was just the exhaustion, his eyes were tired, of course they felt like that, and Tony rubbed at one with the back of his hand until they didn't anymore), gratified that he seemed to have done something right, and had him quickly handing over the tiny, extracted metal pin, even though, wait, no, he was supposed to be the one doing this. At least working out another one to use gave Tony something to look at that wasn't Reeve's face.

"The food the ships make is really...efficient," he said, not sure anymore if that meant he was agreeing with Reeve about the Agrii's talents. "I thought you were saying, with all of this other stuff getting in our heads, I just, I'm--" Paranoid, but that was edging too close to the insanity Tony was definitely in control of. Quickly, much safer, "Does he feel it?"

Crying would just break his heart, so it was good that Tony was able to stop himself. He settles and takes a less pleasing blanket, working at it to try and get a thread loose.

"Efficiency is not how food should work. Food should be more than that."

He considers the question, trying to reach more for Mini. And frankly, it pains Reeve just a touch to do it. The storm messes with his magic as well.

"The tear? Yes, but in a way that I don't think translates to our sort of experience."

Tony dropped back into the pile more carelessly and worked one of the toys out from under him with a frown to dig his fingers into a seam until it snapped and he could start piecing it into notions as well. The answer about Mini didn't quite assuage Tony's concerns, but he only followed it with an apologetic pout the doll's way for what they might have been about to do to him, however it translated. Stitches weren't Tony's favourite way to spend his time. He offered Mini a ball of stuffing, inquisitively, not sure if he needed refilling or if that was a step too intimate.

"I've never really thought about how food should work," Tony admitted as they each cannibalized their comfort items. "I don't cook or--anything, so it's not really my area."

With Tony back to an easy to access position, Mini toddles over and gets right back into his lap. And when Tony offers stuffing Mini considers it carefully before shifting to show his rip. Yes, clearly he could use a bit more material so his leg moves properly.

"He thanks you," Reeve says softly as he sits near Tony, but not quite at his side. He sheds his coat and starts teasing thread out again. "And I imagine you never needed to think about it as much as some do. I'm just glad the Agrii have managed to provide as much as they have."

Edited 2020-11-12 20:42 (UTC)

That felt uncomfortably like helping a friend put their guts back in, making Tony frown and do his best not to look entirely put out as he gingerly tested the rip to conduct his stuffing transplant. They really had to finish Mini's metal framing so something like this would feel less like surgery to Tony.

"I feel like I'm always talking about food with you," he mumbled into his work, not sure what that really meant until it occurred to him that this might be a 'safe' topic for Reeve and he shouldn't be examining it to closely. Quickly, he continued, "I never asked, did you like the sundae bar? I know, you said, the in public thing, but I figured, if everyone was doing it, maybe it would, you know."

Well, in a way, it totally makes sense, right? Tony is giving Cait Sith more guts, as it were. But yeah, Mini would appreciate that metal framing.

"Is that a problem?" Reeve asks with a smile as he finally works a thread free enough to start trying to figure things out. "I like food. You like food. We're in this awkward place of trying to figure out what our friendship is going to look like. And yes, I adored the sundae bar. I had three of them."

So yes, he had enjoyed it. And he didn't mind their friendship like this. But he wished it could be easier for them both.

Tony didn't quite have a thread extracted himself, but he put the toy he was deconstructing aside to show them both what he had been intending with the pins, gesturing for Mini to make himself comfortable where he wouldn't be moving around too much, and for Reeve to hand over the thread for now. The pin was first used as an awl, to puncture a hole that Reeve would then be able to use to push the thread through, more like machining than sewing. Slower, but doable as long as Mini didn't get impatient and start wiggling around.

Meanwhile, Tony tried on his own weak smile at the incredible chance that they both liked food, but didn't love how it felt. He still responded, "I thought maybe you had a weird food thing, like this was a farm thing I would never get until I worked the earth, or whatever," which wasn't nearly funny enough to gloss over that awkward place Reeve put into words. Thankfully, Tony still had his hands to focus on.

"I had a chance to think about that, out there--what I would have done differently," he said, down into his work, not quite ready now to hand it over to Reeve. Why Tony had that chance was definitely not a detail Reeve needed to hear, and the answers Tony had come up with were not particularly applicable, though. He tried the smile again to say, "But if you really liked the ice cream that much, I don't know if I'd change anything."

Mini is happy to let Tony start the work. And once he does it, Reeve's attention so insanely focused on Tony's hands ~~what beautiful, amazing, quick hands~~ and smiles.

Once Tony has done the demonstration, Reeve takes the doll and thread and needle and starts to work. His hands are quick and smart at the task, clearly he's spent many years sewing, with the complexity of stitches he's managing with this, sealing the wound up.

"Hey, I literally left the life working the land, remember? It didn't work for me," Reeve laughs.

"Well, do you want to talk about what you would have done instead? Just as a theoretical?"

Watching Reeve as he took over made very clear to Tony that he need not have bothered with his demonstration, but was glad to slouch over on one hand with his head on his shoulder to admire the display of competence, donor toy forgotten to pet through the fur on Mini's head reassuringly instead. He would have been lulled by the practiced rhythm of Reeve's work, too, if Reeve didn't just ask him to glance up with a look of pained caution for Reeve, no, maybe they shouldn't do that, and offer, "Uh, more balloons," as though he had been talking only about the party in the first place. That could be a framework Tony could work with, though, and as dropped his gaze again, he tried, "Was a little rushed."

It was definitely comforting to Mini to have a friend support him in this. Not that he could communicate it.

As for Reeve, he didn't know that Tony meant anything more than the party. After all, they had been talking about the sundae bar.

"I do like balloons," Reeve agrees, smiling peacefully as he works at the sewing. This was Reeve plying one of his skills, finding contentment in it.

"A balloon artist maybe. Making animals out of those tube balloons."

Despite not knowing of a person who actively disliked balloons, Tony found this admission from Reeve warmly charming enough to breathe a laugh and settle back into his slouch. "Honestly, I would not be surprised if you told me that was something you could do and, listen, I know you've got a whole thing, you built a city, saved the world, whatever, but if someone asked me to describe you right now, I would say, top three things, likes balloons, likes ice cream, plays with dolls. Is that a fake beard?" It wasn't quite the speed Tony would typically deliver at, but the drawl came dangerously close to a comfortable normal.

Now what a summation of his life. Likes balloons, likes ice cream, plays with dolls. He continues working at the tear as Mini reaches for Tony. Sorry, kiddo, seems like Uncle Tony is done being comforting.

"The beard is absolutely real. Why would I bother having a fake one? Besides, I'm allergic to that adhesive they use to put on fake hair. Tried it for halloween when I was younger. Before I grew the beard. It was horrid."

OTA Log: Sometimes People Hide

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