[OPEN] don't you say it.

[letmetakeaselfie]

CHARACTERS: T STARK & YOU
LOCATION: In camp and surrounding area within radius.
WARNINGS: Nohomo sads
SUMMARY: Tony (and Digby) venture out in search of (1) missing Bucky Barnes.
NOTES: Catch him in camp or after he's already out


[ tony searches the treehouse he had made with bucky first, naturally, though he doesn't expect to find him. next is the campground and the med tent, though those also come up empty. he's trying not to panic, it isn't exactly unheart of for the man to go m.i.a. or to go long stretches without checking in. but tony thinks he earned at least a brief text or something in notification. especially after he'd fixed his arm; he thought they were really getting somewhere. so of course this place would deam now to be the time to take the soldier back.

another thing that disturbs him: if bucky really did go back 'home,' did he have anywhere to go? anyone to care what happened to him? tony seems even more listless than usual as he heads away from their settlement and out into the wilderness. he's carrying a handmade lantern and his gun is carefully tucked into his jacket in case he encounters more of those terrible creatures. but he wouldn't be opposed to company either. ]

Comments

[letmetakeaselfie]

He's probably... not here anymore. [ whether that meant he went home, or back to the place he went after that, or... somewhere else entirely. it's the uncertainty that's getting him most right now. either way, he doesn't want to rope some girl into looking for bucky when he's 99% likely to not be anywhere on this planet. ]

[klutziness]

[Her frown deepens. She knows what it's like to lose someone like that. The past five or so years of her life had been punctuated by loss. Each one was like a thousand punches to the gut. Saying it out loud, admitting it to someone else--that's the hard part. She offers a sympathetic smile, gesturing around them.] Won't know for sure without a second look, huh? My maintenance shift doesn't start for a while, and four eyes are better than two.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ since she seems adamant about it, he nods, pointing to the dog. ] That's Digby. Apparently. I didn't name him. [ it still doesn't always occur to him to introduce himself and so he merely leads the way out of the settlement and expects her to follow. ] So six eyes. Technically.

[klutziness]

[Rikku gives the dog a quick scratch behind the ears, addressing him instead of Tony.] Yeah, Digby and I go way back. [Well, way back to the same dimension. It's weird.] He'll be a good lookout. [She turns to follow him, folding her hands behind her head.] I'm Rikku, by the way. Former Chief Engineering Officer on the ship. [She might be trying to impress him a little. Old habits die hard.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ hm. he's quiet for a long moment, like he still didn't get the social cue that it's his turn to talk. ] Tony. [ he says belatedly, shaking his head to clear it. he needs to stop staring at things and spacing out like that, bucky isn't hiding in the foliage. ]

Uh. I'm an engineer too. [ a sedate answer for him, maybe, but he's grown used to no one knowing his name or moniker around here and he's honestly made his peace with it. after everything that happened with ultron it's almost a relief to have some anonymity honestly. ]

[klutziness]

[Wow, this re-re-meeting isn't going the way she imagined it would. Honestly though, she's gone through a thousand different scenarios in her head, which is what makes this surprising. Rikku mirrors his quiet, then:] Yeah. I've uh, heard of you. [That's probably the most lowkey way she could ever explain her relationship to an alternate dimension Tony Stark. Sorry about ruining our anonymity.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ a white hot beam of panic lances through him at her simple admission, turning to face her and actually looking at her for the first time. he tells himself to calm down, though it has very little practical effect. he shakes his head again and walks out ahead of her. ]

Sorry to disappoint. [ he knows he's not anything like people expect him to be. not anymore. he's too broken for that. ]

[klutziness]

[She almost stops walking when he turns to her, but instead she keeps pace, looking back. He's... something is different about him, that's for sure. Something has been different every time she's met him, it's surreal. When he speeds up, she jogs to his side again, confused.] Dude, what? Who said you're disappointing? [Because she will fuck them up.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ i did, he wants to say. or she may as well pick anyone he knows at this point. he shouldn't dwell on these things here, but he can't help it when there's only so much to fill the day. ] I'm not who you think I am. [ he settles on, expression wan. he can't pretend here and it makes him feel ridiculously vulnerable, even without celebrity status. ]

I mean, I am. Obviously. But I'm not. Do you... get what I'm saying? [ it's fair if she doesn't; he barely does himself. ]

[klutziness]

[For a few moments, Rikku is silent. It feels like an eternity to her, and she can't imagine what it feels like to him. "I'm not who you think I am." Technically, it's true. She doesn't know anything about this Tony Stark, doesn't know about what he's been through or where he's going. She can't deny it one bit. Her arms fall to her sides, and she shoves her hands into the pockets of her leather coveralls. She's an adult now, but she still feels like an awkward teenager sometimes.] Yeah. But. I mean, I'd like to get to know you. [A beat.] If that doesn't sound totally lame.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ he isn't good with the passage of time anyway, mostly he just thinks he said something stupid and she went quiet out of politeness to someone she thinks is cool or whatever. he sighs, but softly, hoping he didn't kill the conversation for good with his self-hating bullshit.

his heart does a little leap when she does speak up again, glancing over and realizing they're more or less in tandem. she does? maybe she just thinks she does, his mind helpfully supplies. but he'll take it. all he really has of home is wanda and that's tenuous of course. especially since she came back, and now that bucky is gone... god. he's really gone. ]

No take-backsies. [ he tells her matter-of-factly after a decently long pause of his own, lifting both eyebrows as he meets her gaze. if you wanna know t stark get ready to know t stark. ]

[klutziness]

[These pauses sure are long and awkward. Rikku can't remember the last time she experienced so many and handled them... so well. Slowly maturing with time. And crazy space adventures. An undesirable cocktail of shit to be sure, but so far it seems to kind of be working out for her.

Her smile is sincere, and she takes one hand from her pocket to wiggle her pinky at him in a mock of a pinky-swear] No take-backsies, promise. I'm not that kind of girl. [That is surprisingly close to the Tony Stark she remembers, and it gives her hope. Not that this Tony will be the same, but that they can be friends.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ tony doesn't even notice any awkwardness, but he's beyond distracted. he does catch the pinky thing and it gets the shadow of a smile out of him. ]

I'll hold you to that, Rikku. [ at least he was listening for her name? ] How long were you on the ship?

[klutziness]

[And hearing him say her name brings up more than one emotion she doesn't want to think about right now. Once Cid had basically failed as a mentor to her, finding Tony Stark in the City had been like a new beginning. She'd been given the chance to start over with a new mentor who actually listened to her, and when he ran off to do crazy things, at least he came back.

His question catches her off guard, and she actually has to do some calculations in her head. Time was funny on the ship, after all.] Uh, about two years, I think. I mean, assuming the jumps happened once a month.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ he gets a wave of something just then, for no reason. that's been happening a lot. he frowns, wondering if that has anything to do with another trend he's noticed. ] ...Were you somewhere else before that? Somewhere... not home?

[klutziness]

[The question catches her off guard for just a moment. She knows that there are a couple people who had made a pit stop in another dimension on their way to the ship--Ned had been one of them. She nods, looking up towards the sky.] It was called the City. In a state called New York on a planet called Earth. It was... well, it became my home. I had a job, a boyfriend, the works. Losing it when I was dragged here sucked. Hard.

[letmetakeaselfie]

I'm from New York City. [ but something about the way she says it, he doesn't think it's the same one. he can't be sure why that's the impression he's left with however. ] My friend... the guy we're looking for. He was somewhere else first, too.

[klutziness]

[New York City was a name she'd heard tossed around, and she's always been sure that the City was its replacement in whatever dimension that world was in. She glances over at him, tilting her head with interest.] Do you know where?

[letmetakeaselfie]

No. Somewhere... steampunky. He was never a big talker. [ tony shrugs a shoulder. ] I know, none of this is actually relevant. [ he's just out of ideas. ]

[klutziness]

Steampunky? [She's heard the phrase before, but hasn't ever met anyone from an entire world like that.] Sounds cool. I guess the dimension I was stuck in was a little ahead of the curve on tech from the uh, "standard" Earth. It was way ahead of my home, though. [Relevancy is overrated.]

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ he nods, breathing out a little sigh. he's gotten used to only speaking when it's necessary being around people from home. people who hated him. rikku seems to be encouraging him to talk about nothing and that's comforting in its own way. ]

Ahead, how? It was kind of cool, they gave him this metal-- arm. [ oops he wasn't supposed to tell her that. it probably can't do much harm unless he comes back though. ] I fixed it for him. It was this weird mixture of old and new tech.

[klutziness]

[A metal arm. She thinks she remembers someone from back in the City with one of those, but she's almost certain it isn't the same person Tony is talking about.] For one thing, the prosthetics. [Keeping on this subject is something she enjoys.] I have a friend back home who was missing an arm and a leg. The prosthetics we were able to rig up for him were top of the line, and he still couldn't walk without a cane and a limp. But in the City... man, I once met a guy, and I couldn't even tell he had a prosthetic until he peeled back the covering and showed me. It blew my mind! He could move each finger. It was incredible.

[letmetakeaselfie]

[ tony's smile turns wan. ] They can do all that with 3D printing now, you know. It takes some of the art out of it, maybe, but it's going to make it a lot more affordable in the developing world. [ which is a passion of his, and pepper's, and si. in recent years even more so. ]

I miss my version, too. [ new york. the people in it. ]

[klutziness]

[3D printing. Rikku can hardly imagine it. She's certain that something like it existed in the City, but she isn't sure if it was available in the way he's talking about. She can't help but smile.] You know, I used to think that dimension-hopping was the worst thing that happened to me. But I've met lots of people, and learned lots of things I never could have on Spira. That's worth something, you know? It's important. And if I ever get to go back, I gotta believe that I'll remember everything I've learned so I can put it to use. [Because otherwise... what's the point of it all been?]

[letmetakeaselfie]

I think I know what you mean. [ he hesitates over whether to say more, but... he hasn't been able to speak to anyone freely since coming here. sometimes you just have to have faith, and he's better at trusting people than they are at trusting him it would seem. (and he's not that good at it anymore.) ]

The man who went missing, he wasn't my friend. And my only friend here... she isn't either. Back... home, I mean. She hates me actually. Most people do now.