revivalproject | treasure

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treasure

WHO: Tony and...I don't know, there's some predetermined stuff, and some ambiguously open stuff in here. Check in at the Shenanigans plotting post if you're feeling unsure and need a formal invitation.
WHERE: The forge, the not-library
WHAT: Tony has a gift for Jon, and is trying to make a much more misguided gift for Poe. Some early speeder bike development catch all, if you like.
WHEN: Early February, Agrii Valentines Celebration
WARNINGS: Glitter?

a. The forge [OTA! If you just want to bring your own project, this is a good place]
The first shimmering fleck that caught Tony's eye fell onto his cheek, making him wink with his face twisted in surprise before carefully retrieving it with a finger pressed to the...plastic? It stuck easily to his skin, but Tony could only frown at it, baffled, and glance back toward the forge curiously, expecting the chimney to be pouring out some foreign element among the plume of dark smoke. He was on his back under the body of the vehicle that Cayde had called a sparrow, Poe had called a speeder, and was probably neither of them, really, as Tony slowly brought it together, the Iron Man kneeling in the grass next to him to Jack up the whole assembly for Tony to rework the fuel array again. Eventually, he would get this thing working.

As more of the strange precipitation began to flurry through the sky, clumping together against the seams of the Iron Man and through the bricks of the forge, Tony had to sit up and consider very seriously that this was...glitter. As he stared at the armor, he could see some of the more fanciful details--the heart shapes, the stars, making him raise a lip in confusion, then glance around again, seeking a source. It just seemed to be, warm and shimmery and catching the early light in a dancing array over the skyline.

By the time the sun had properly risen, he had disturbed Catra trying to sleep by the fire by clattering around in the forge, searching for empty vessels to collect as much of the strange glitter as possible. Impulsively, he had snatched at the bouquet of flowers he found by her head, only to have them burst in his hand and make him yelp, dancing away from the glitter bomb with his hand coated now in pink and red. He was much slower to pick up the card that had been with the bouquet, pinched carefully between two fingers until it didn't seem to be a bomb as well, the Agrii's pictures making him snort. Of course. It went up with the notes from Cayde and Jon that were clipped over his workbench, slouching against Cayde's map and funnelling more of the glitter throughout the day to gather in the folds of Jon's still designs.

By the time he was back to working on the bike, there were bowls and jars arranged against the walls and among the grass, incrementally measuring the shimmering downpour. This was going to be wreaking havoc on any meal production, Tony realized, so Tommy wasn't as likely to show up today, leaving him to grumble at the pile of tools and components that had been left around the weedy patch where he worked without the kid to find anything for him in this mess.

b. The library? [For Jon, but feel free to crash this party]
If Tony was going to try to understand the Agrii, and he would rather not, he hazarded a guess that whatever this glitter storm and gifting was about, it was something of an apology for the storm that they had come crashing into, or the giant pest problem that the Agrii had neglected to warn them about. Maybe that was just where Tony's head was, though, because he had plenty of his own apologies to make, and a misguided gift was historically how he dealt with that. Did he have something in common with the Agrii? Jesus.

Trying not to think too hard about that possibility, he came gliding slowly into the library on the Iron Man's skates, leaving rivulets in the dusting of glitter on the floor behind him. He carried what would have been a familiar shape to Jon, despite being wrapped as it was in what looked like a scrap of leather, against his armored chest; an acquisition from the replicator that he had impulsively requested just after replacing his sunglasses, then finding himself very overwhelmed with the amount of stuff he could really use at the forge. Taking the stairs down into the basement wasn't quite as smooth, producing a strange, very heavy thunk-thunk-thunk as he rolled carelessly down each step, the momentum depositing him against the desk that rattled with the lurch. He didn't really intend to stay, but had a quick look around for the Countess, hoping maybe she would display a tiny bit less annoyance upon seeing him so he could pretend Jon wasn't as annoyed with him as well. Yeah, that would totally work, Tony would feel great about that and all of his problems would be solved. He sighed into the mask when he didn't spot the animal, leaving the book on the desk and pushing himself back toward the stairs. It would be pretty obvious who it could have been from, Tony thought, even if Jon had no context for the author 'Reed Richards'--only a few pages into the forward of this physics text- cum-autobiography and it was already colourful with the caped heroes of Tony's world, and how they shaped the natural laws around them. And the library had just expanded exponentially, even if Jon wasn't particularly keen on the gesture and couldn't be convinced that Billy was clearly being very thoughtful.

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"...calibrations." Jon answers absentmindedly as he steps forward and further into the cavern, his eyes trailing along the crystal-encrusted ceiling and from there down to where the big cave splits up into further smaller ones. Yes, he has learned a few things while getting to see Reeve's spacious office. Very much a direct counterpart to his own little basement-dwelling. He keeps talking while slowly stepping through the cavern, hesitating here and there as if taking something in. "...also helped him do those measurements... When you let me use--" The gauntlet, yes. They had made good progress with that one. "But Cloud... He told me a lot. Wanted me to understand his disease." And Jon has his ways to make people talk. That the Archivist's presence alone can be quite helpful to add coherence and and eloquence to someone having a hard time expressing themselves is not exactly a secret to him at this point.

He stops in his traipsing and shudders involuntarily at an all too familiar sensation crawling up his back and his eyes fixate onto one of the smaller caves, a deep scowl settling on his features. "Oh, shit, this is--" Jon chokes and his eyes travel back up to stare at the crystals above. before his world explodes into everything and he doesn't even notice that he's falling backwards, eyes wide and expression mortified.

Jon had been far more effective at taking advantage of Calibrations than Tony had been, he was figuring out, which was a little unsettling. Tony thought he had been very carelessly invasive while he had the chance. So he was still watching Jon closely as the Archivist appeared to be cataloguing something that he couldn't see throughout the cave, making him more prepared for the next sudden stop, hand already tentatively up like last time and turning to try to follow Jon's gaze and see what he was seeing. "What...?" Tony tried, because he was still just getting 'atmospheric cave' and, at best, 'there might be water that way', which wasn't particularly remarkable.

He was looking back to Jon just in time to see him overbalance. The helmet rang and clattered as Tony dropped it and it bounced off of the rocks, skipping away down the slope of the cave and throwing its lights erratically over the walls. Meanwhile, Tony had flung both arms around Jon before his head could do the same, letting him sag back like Tony held him in a deep dip where Tony could watch his face, equally wide-eyed with panic. "Boss? You still with me?" he urged, touching Jon's cheek then the pulse in his neck as he glanced rapidly around the cave once more for what could have been the cause of whatever this was.

Jon's drive to gather knowledge hasn't left him while they were all locked in the tunnels.And those dreams made it very easy and convenient to learn and experience new things.

That he isn't plain hitting the floor is a little blessing Jon is very willing to accept, even as he keeps staring up, his expression twitching with growing distress while literally everything there is to know tries to force its way into his head at once. It's not merely knowledge, though. It's also everything terrible that has transpired in this cave the Agrii had hoped to find shelter in. All the old suffering, the pain and terror they had hoped to find tries to wedge itself among it all resulting in a pulsing, twisting knot Jon can't even point a finger at since all it appears to do is try to burst through his skull.

Tony still receives a reaction. It's little more than a strained gargle and a tentatively raised hand with no clear goal aside from providing a sign of life. Too much. It's just too much at once.

Externally, the experience of suddenly not knowing anything, as it felt to Tony, was not much better. To him, it looked as though Jon was having some kind of seizure or stroke, leaving him very torn on how to handle it. "Okay," he accepted, breathless and rushed and his best attempt at sounding less panicked than he felt, "that's good, keep, uh, talking." If that was how anyone could take that sound that had clawed its way out of Jon.

Whatever it was, staying in this cave and hoping it stopped didn't seem like a viable option. As carefully as Tony could manage in his anxious hurry, he bowed to gather Jon up and cradled against his chestplate, trying to keep his head steady against an unforgiving shoulder. "Keep talking," he said again, trying to fill the space, "I shouldn't have to tell you that, that shouldn't be a problem, you're always talking, come one, when do you have nothing to say?" The rocks under his feet didn't feel nearly as unsteady, shifting and sliding under every step as they had made their way into the cave. It left echoes of metal scraping against the stone as he retreated from the glow and the static projected from the abandoned helmet.

While the armor doesn't offer the same warmth and comfort and covers a lot of that familiar scent of the man wearing it, Jon still leans instinctively against the cool support and after half a dozen steps even manages to squeeze his eyes shut with a wince. The next and more notable sign of life is Jon's hand reaching up to Tony's opposite shoulder and try to cling to the smooth material while turning the rest of his body to press his face against the cold surface with a half swallowed whimper.

They have exited the large cavern at that point and the pressure on Jon's mind has eased enough to allow him to actually breathe again. Which he at least tries to honor by attempting to form actual words, as requested. "....kkkgnngh...-it... t-Tony... it-a-hnn... hurts--"

And it does. Not only the sudden onslaught of it all, but almost more so to lose it all again so abruptly, leaving Jon dizzy and nauseous.

Closing his eyes was at least slightly less disturbing, and Tony was happy to take that as a good sign. The whimper, however, had him muttering, "No, no, it's okay, you're okay...", then trying to gingerly hitch Jon up closer to his ear as he realized the man was trying to tell him something. Was it a good sign?

It was a development. So Tony hurried on, pulling Jon away from the cave and toward the orange light of the setting sun and the whisper of the ocean across the sand, the small window of it at the mouth of the cave looking shockingly bright and lively after the close air of the damp stones. "We're just going to warm you up," Tony decided frantically, like that might do something, "And relax, take a deep breath." Not that he was confident that this would solve the problem, which was clear enough in the way he cautiously shifted to shade a hand over Jon's face and ear to ease the transition into the light.

And Jon does, in fact, take a deep breath. Deep, heavy and slow. Inhale the same as the exhale that produces an accompanying, unhappy noise. "...Tony, I-- I saw it all--" He manages and tries to peek back over Tony's shoulder. Back to where they are coming from. Back towards the cave. The cave holding all this misery right along with all the answers.

At least the distance from it allows Jon's mind to slowly settle again, leaving him to softly mutter little curses and frustrations while Tony walks them both back outside. What little squirming he does is easy enough to keep under control though, given he is hardly putting any effort into it at all. "-there are answer here, Tony. I just-- I can't- shit."

Okay, full phrases were a definite improvement, but it might not have been quite time yet for wiggling. "Sure, alright," Tony welcomed the cursing, not really processing exactly what Jon was saying so much as that he was saying it, and working from there once he felt confident that Jon wasn't about to pass out.

The sand of the beach was more welcoming than the rocky cave, though Iron Man couldn't appreciate it much as he knelt down to sit Jon in the sun-warmed, sliding patch off of the tamped down path, where he could steady him on solid ground. "Again," he mumbled, and took a demonstrative deep breath himself that made his tight chest ache in surprise, anxious heart resistant, and held a glove against Jon's cheek to keep him still enough to watch for any alarming pupil response.

Being put down onto the sand has Jon look up slightly and cast a pensive glance in Tony's direction, hesitating briefly before nodding once, then twice and then taking that additional breath.

"...I... I'm sorry..." He starts babbling again, attention drifting back towards the cave entrance. Part of him wants to head right back in there, struggling against the part that is afraid of doing just that. Another thought pushes itself into the forefront of Jon's mind, causing him to drop his head. "Cal... he was in there-- all by himself..."

Focus was good, awareness was good, nothing seemed to be immediately dysfunctional anymore, letting Tony relax back on his heels with his own slow exhale, not entirely relieved but able to let his hand sag down Jon's back to hang absently from his shirt instead of holding him up anxiously. "Yeah, just don't do it again," he interrupted the apology with a wry twist of his mouth and brow furrowed to ask Jon where he thought that was going.

As Jon dropped his gaze, Tony gave his hook to Jon's shirt a tug, expecting another pained noise and not to be confronted with the idea that Cal possibly had the same experience of whatever that just was. "Listen, he's not there anymore, he's okay, you're okay," he offered gently, though wasn't very sure of that himself anymore. "You're okay?" he tried with another tug, tilting his head to try to catch Jon's eye again and offer anything he needed, and maybe some assurance that Cal wasn't still suffering from whatever pain the cave had to inflict on the empathic .

Jon remains sitting where he is in a moment of silence, pulling his own hands into his lap and twisting them together somewhat. Tony is right. As he often is. Cal is okay and so is he - Thanks to Tony's presence. "Thanks to you, I am..." He relays his thoughts before actually glancing up to meet Tony's eyes, offering the weakest smile along with the eye contact.

Though there is that still lingering frown as well. "Tony... In there-I- For a moment I- I knew everything. I understood it all, had all the answers! And then--" Jon pauses, wincing a little at his own following words. "...it's all gone again. Taken. I... Don't like this. It still... I will be fine." Losing knowledge remains the worst. And Jon can only guess how being in this cave may have looked for Cal, who in all likelihood suffered an even worse effect.

That wasn't very convincing, making Tony's smile in return marred by a distressed furrow of his brow as he searched Jon's expression for something more reassuring. What Jon probably needed was Billy, a glass of water at least, and somewhere to lie down, and what Tony had to offer was a ginger curl of his finger through Jon's hands to discourage their fretting and try to coax his weight against Tony's shoulder again.

Teasing Jon about not doing that again suddenly seemed premature, if doing it again meant they might understand something finally. Tony was tensely quiet for a moment that felt very long, hands stiff and lips slowly parting like he knew he was supposed to be saying something while he did rapidly calculate the cost and value of that potential knowledge, to know what was happening to them here and how to get them all home, how likely it was that what Jon knew was true, then just how awful of a person Tony was for even doing the analysis with the image of Jon's harrowing expression and the pained noises he had made not even yet cool to the touch. Tony's lashes fluttered as he tried to refocus, swallowing thickly, and he remained awkwardly tense, hot with resentment. It left Tony's voice a tight rasp when he finally asked, "Are you sure?," then coughed, shaking his head. "And the fear?" he pushed instead, trying to get some distance. They hadn't come here with the intention of making Jon worse.

Billy may be a friend, but Jon would argue that his presence is what he currently needs. He does, however, accept the invitation to lean against Tony's shoulder once more, frowning at recollecting what has happened - And what to make of it all, inwardly agreeing with Tony's observation. He should just head back inside and try to handle whatever is happening.

At the question about fear, Jon's brows pull together and he nods. "Pretty much the same. I... Saw it. Felt it. All of it at once and not only from the cave, but- It felt like all the terror felt by all living beings on the planet and it just-- It came crushing down on me. It was... A lot. Too much for me to handle. Like all that knowledge, I... just couldn't hold it in my mind."

Though sluggish as Tony tried to resist it, the impulse to pet reassuringly through Jon's hair was not one Tony had much power over. His fingers were tripping idly from Jon's temple around his ear as Tony considered the crystals and their resonance, as Cal had figured, and how the echoes for Cal, and the fear and knowledge worked as an energy source, quite literally for Jon. "You need a bigger battery," he muttered absently, "Or a safe way to discharge." That was true of the Iron Man, anyway, overloaded and unmanageable, but the armor was much easier to adapt. How did that translate to Jon's mind?

What Tony definitely should not have considered was how Jon and Cal could potentially manage it by sharing the load, because he definitely shouldn't send them both in there to be tortured just because he didn't like how thin Jon was. His hand dropped again to circle around Jon's wrist apologetically. Over Jon's head, the entire horizon looked hazy and imperceptible with the glitter reflecting over the quiet evening water.

"We'll figure something else out," Tony decided. "No loss, we're back to where we started. Now there's some rocks here that aren't very useful, great."

Hearing that he needs a bigger battery has Jon pause for a moment, then actually chuckle softly, leaning his head ever so slightly towards the fingers brushing through his hair. "Right. I just learn how to make multiple recordings simultaneously and ban it all on tape before the harddrive gets full." His voice fades off, along with the lingering amusement within it, a weary pensiveness taking its place. "Kind of wish that was possible. Would be useful, at least. Just redirect the stuff threatening to drawn your mind and--"

Jon shrugs, then sighs and at last glances out over the oddly sparkling ocean himself. "...is it odd that I've never been here? The beach, I mean. I grew up at the ocean and- How long has it been since I got here? A year now? And this... It's always been here. Never thought about it much..." Another pause, then: "Thanks for going with me. I- Actually had planned to find the cave on my own." Ant that wouldn't have gone well at all.

That didn't sound so outlandish to Tony, solidly within the realm of plausibly achievable as long as he was thinking about batteries and harddrives with just the small matter of limited human brain matter to work around, so he didn't see what was so funny. Instead, he bowed his head to kiss Jon's crown as he considered the psychic blockers, power inhibitors, mutant suppression techniques that might have been adaptable, if Tony had the means to produce them in the first place. Tommy would have to be pushed out of the forge.

"You don't have to do any of this stuff on your own, you know," Tony pointed out, since Jon seemed determined to do otherwise, between the boulder moving and scavenging around he was doing. "You, or Cal, neither of you should feel like you have to." Tony really was trying not to leave them feeling that way, though he wasn't very good at it, clearly.

"Listen, this place can be lonely, I know, boss, and there's--so much of it," he continued, not really meaning the place but the problem that they faced. "But we also got this chance to be able to do it together, and I know I'm better when I've got you, an' we got this beach here, n'..." He trailed off, losing his words and muttering before he managed to form the point he was trying to make between his brain and his mouth. Both Jon and Cal knew something about how these crystals worked now, was the point, and could share that, and that connection would be much more effective than either of them having a brain hemorrhage alone in the cave. And as awful as all of it was, right now Tony was sitting on the beach and watching the sunset with Jon.

None of those things were known to Jon, but he appreciates the kiss to the top of his head, unaware of what thoughts are going through Tony's head. They do have a uniquely beautiful sunset to watch and- Tony is right. Again.

Jon gives a slow nod of agreement, one of his hands finding the closest of Tony's gloved ones. At least looking at the sunset is quite helpful to hide his flushed face upon hearing Tony telling him he is better with Jon around. It's not something he expects to be told, but it's nice to hear and brings a warmth to his chest that makes him wish his thumb wouldn't be brushing over cold metal as he nods a second time. "I know. You're right. I will admit that I hadn't anticipated something like... This to happen here. I believed it to be more tied to Cal's Force sensitivity and that it wouldn't affect me. Foolish, as I know now. Though I couldn't have known, could I? Just as I couldn't have known there's a horde of angry spiders lurking under the old shopping center." He gives a small shudder at the memory, lips pressed into a tight line and the so far light hold he has had on Tony's hand tightens. "...guess what we can learn of this is what we should have already known: That even the most unassuming places here can be dangerous. And that heading in alone is unwise."

Tilting his head back again to glance back up at Tony, Jon offers a smile. "Being with you makes me better as well, I- I may not have realized that myself."

Still distracted by how awkward it was to say any of that, Tony's focus was very pointedly elsewhere, across the water somewhere in the middle distance while he considered the infinite possibilities of what he could have said instead of embarrassing himself, and not on the suit's gentle alert of the light pressure and warmth around his glove until Jon was squeezing it. The reminder of his failure definitely didn't ease Tony's embarrassment any, it was really worse than he thought, but he tried for a glib, "I didn't anticipate all of the Agrii food to taste like peanut butter, and somehow I was still surprised and disappointed right up until the end." There really was danger in every alien experience.

Expecting Jon to just not address it after all of that made his smile cause some kind of unstable reaction in Tony's chest, and he quickly looked away toward the sky again before it triggered a meltdown with a lopsided shrug and dismissive shake of his head. "Hey, look at that, you did learn something from the overload," he smirked with the taunting pride designed to make someone walk away from him before they lost their cool, only softened by the return squeeze around Jon's hand so he could segue easily to, "Does it still hurt?"

And still Jon has no intention to blame Tony for his hubris. No one could have known about the spiders. So he just snorts slightly at the reminder of the Agrii food. "Christ, the peanut butter and jelly thing was horrendous. Never tried it back on Earth and never felt tempted to. They could have just picked chocolate flavor and I assure you at least some of us were fine with that choice."

There is something rewarding about Tony's reaction, which Jon observes with a smile that morphs into a content little smirk and Jon chuckles fondly in response to Tony's conclusion before responding with a small shrug himself. "I mostly feel sore. Mentally, that is. I think I will lie down once we get back."

"Never?" Tony parroted, surprised; the combination felt like a staple childhood food to him, and Clint was constantly leaving the jars open on the kitchen counter at the Mansion so Tony wasn't under the impression that this was a boarding school exclusive recipe. That Jon would have happily eaten chocolate for weeks was perhaps more revealing, though.

Smoothing back Jon's hair for another kiss to his brow for his suffering, Tony muttered, "Box of chocolates, got it," committed to remembering for the next time he had an apology to make, or Jon had a headache. There was probably some overlap there. "Are you ready, do you think you can make it?" he asked, taking Jon's plans as a suggestion for them to get some distance between them and the caves, but not sure if a another flight or walking the distance back into town would be easy on him. They could take their time, and Tony was going to have to go back into that cave to retrieve his helmet eventually.

Of course he would have eaten chocolate for weeks. Combined with a nice tea...

He raises a brow at Tony's question, then returns: "How often have you had baked beans on toast for breakfast, Tony?" An idle question, not one to compel.

On the question whether he can make the entire way back, he just shrugs again. "It will be fine. We can rest along the way." And that's an already decided we.

"Only against my will," Tony gladly replied, already shifting back to push up onto his feet. If they were walking, like taking time to rest suggested, they would have to get started soon if they wanted to use what was left of the daylight. "I did my time in England, so you're going to have to work pretty hard to convince me your palate is too refined for some PB&J. Don't worry, you've got a minute, work it out, I'll be right back," he said, hands up to stop Jon from getting up as well and encourage him to rest while Tony started back for the cave. He didn't exactly have the resources to start casually leaving helmets around the place.

Jon doesn't reply to that, but simply chuckles and lets Tony return to the cave to retrieve his helmet. And he remains sitting for a little longer, letting his attention be pulled back to the sunset fora few more moments before eventually slowly getting onto his feet to wait for Tony's return.

Though he doesn't exactly plan on continuing this little debate over their respective home country's most common breakfast or how uncommon peanut butter happens to be in British households and super markets. No. He'd be more interested in hearing where else Tony has been. And what parts of England he has visited. Which they will have ample time to talk about on their way back to the library building.

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