exsiliumlogs | and though the truth may vary

Entry tags:

and though the truth may vary

Who: Regular Max & tiny Tony.
What: Quite unexpected
When: Tonight.
Where: Tony's workshop.
Warnings: None that I can think of yet.

[ She hasn't actually checked the network since she got back, aimlessly walking around as she tries to figure out what to do next. Back here is more familiar than the old West, at least, but it's not too great, and she does miss the sun. She's restless, and irritated, and wandering around in the cold damp grey really isn't helping. It's always better for her to have something to do with her mind and hands.

She finds herself outside the workshop almost by accident. It's really just about the last place she'd meant to go, given the slip she'd made in front of Tony with her empathy, but she's here and it's not like she can't lie. She's good at lying. (She just doesn't want to have to, to someone she considers worth getting along with.)

Regardless, she had a project underway before they were called away, and she should check on it. Should, or wants to, or wants the excuse. Which one's the real reason is something she's not looking into too closely. She slips in through the side door she generally uses, whistles as she strolls into the main area in a casual warning of her approach. If he starts asking too many questions, she can duck out again, or lie, or whatever. Finishing work will be calming, and she could use calming. ]

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[ All Tony knows is that he's woken up somewhere new - not all that irregular an occurrence, since he falls asleep at parties or in the middle of a project and frequently wakes up having been carried somewhere a little more suitable for a sleeping little boy. He knows this is a new place, that his parents don't seem to be here, and that the thing swallowing his wrist seems to have a bunch of information on it, one of which being 'My lab'.

Following that, led him here, where he found a bunch of stuff that definitely could have been his - or his father's, and he wondered for a minute if maybe he hadn't stolen his father's wrist thing by mistake, even if he doubted Papa would believe it was a mistake. So for now, he set it aside, on one of the tables, because then maybe he could say that Papa had just forgotten it down here.

But the tentativeness hadn't lasted long in the face of finding something he could do. It wasn't that hard, putting the little thing together - really more the kind of tedious thing his father would be putting off until later because it was boring and he wanted to do the interesting part now - or, at least, that's what Tony thought. It's certainly what Tony thought he would do when he got older. (And had, in fact done. Tiny Tony is finishing the part that Adult Tony found boring and put off.) So he starts to assemble the thing, thinking maybe he can do that for his dad at least. Also he likes the tools, and working, and can't contact either of his parents anyway, so.

(The network had told him no such names existed and while that sent a small amount of panic through him, he wasn't going to let himself be too scared about it.)

So when he hears someone slip into the room, he looks over for the source of the noise. ]

Who're you?

[ Okay, so, that's definitely not Tony. She kind of stops in her tracks, looking at the - what is this kid, six? Seven? Young, and she's about to step forward and ask what the hell he's doing in here unsupervised, these tools are dangerous, but then she really looks at what he's working on.

He's putting it together right, from the little she can see, and his use of the tools doesn't look too bad. ]

I'm Max. [ She leaves her hands in her pockets, frowns as she tilts her head at him. ] I didn't know Tony let kids into his lab unsupervised.

[ Though if putting that piece together isn't just a fluke, the kid's smart enough that she can see Tony not caring about his age in regards to letting him into the lab. It's the unsupervised part that's throwing her the most. Where is Tony? It's still early, comparatively, he's rarely in bed by now. ]

[ Whatever she just said her name was all but flew out of his memory when she moved on to the next bit. Watch this kid's eyes get really big, kind of excited, and a little bit confused. ]

This is my lab? What are you talking about - I'm Tony. Is this mine? [ Glancing around the place - it sure does look more like it should be his than his father's - they're both messy but Papa tends to be messy in a different way. It's a little thing Tony's noticed from the few times he's been allowed in to watch his father work - not help. Not often, anyway. Not until he's 'older', but at this rate he'll never be older and he's tired of waiting. ]

Oh, whoops. [ Right, a person. Although she didn't really get close enough for it, mom and Edwin are still trying to teach him to behave properly. ] Do you want to shake hands? It's supposed to happen first but you kind of snuck in the side and surprised me. Actually, wait, you snuck in the side - are you supposed to be in here? Do you know where we are? Or were you looking for me? [ And just like that swift realization there's a number of possibilities for her branching out in front of him in his mind. He keeps a pretty firm grip on the tool in his hand either way. ]

What? [ She says it without thinking because, okay, this isn't Tony. She saw Tony just a day or two ago, and he was definitely older and taller and - older. This really doesn't make a lot of sense at this moment. But whether it makes sense or not doesn't matter, because she has a kid declaring himself to be Tony and no actual Tony.

She could check his mind. It might not give her a very clear picture, but it might help confirm whether he's telling the truth or not. Maybe -

That's not necessary yet. Whether he is or not, he's a kid. It can't hurt to play along and see if she can figure out if this is real. ] This is Tony's lab, yes. If you're Tony, then it's yours.

[ She takes a careful step forward, notes his grip on the tool as he keeps talking and takes her hands out of her pockets with what's an attempt at a reassuring smile. ] If I didn't have permission to be here I think JARVIS would be pretty unhappy right now. I just like side doors.

We can shake hands if you'd like.

[ He's watching her, evaluating. The hands are a good sign, and he relaxes his own a little bit. Not enough to drop the tool, but enough to be clear that he doesn't think she's going to hurt him. Verdict's still out on the 'is she a kidnapper' aspect of things, but hey. He's young, give him a little more time to work through things.

When she says 'If you're Tony, then it's yours,' his chest puffs out a little as he looks around properly. It's his. His workshop. Cool! Although. ] Jarvis? Jarvis is here? Where is he? I haven't seen him. He's not really much of a bodyguard though. [ ...beat. Then he points at her with the tool - it's just a screwdriver type thing. ] Who are you again? Do we know each other? Do you know my parents? [ Oh, god. ] Are you a baby-sitter? [ It's always either Jarvis, baby-sitters, or nannies, and he hates nannies, and Jarvis isn't here, so. ]

[ She's - not a kidnapper right now, how's that. Not that she hasn't ever kidnapped, but she's got no intentions of doing it right now, and particularly not with him. For one, he's tiny.

Seriously, he's tiny, and she doesn't know what to do with it because that look around the workshop, that expression - that was very Tony. She's not good with kids, either. ] I meant the AI. [ Oh god questions, why. She doesn't like to define how she knows people, it's weird. Also how do you explain that you're cautiously allies (?) with an older version of him? ] Just Max. I'm not a babysitter, I'm a mechanic and before you were here another you was letting me use this lab for some of my work. I don't know your parents, sorry.

The what? Jarvis is our butler. [ Crazy lady over here~ ] Another me? You mean like, another Stark? But if you don't know my parents... [ Hang on let him parse properly okay, he's smart, he can work it out. ] There's another me me here? Like, an older one, I guess, because you said 'kid'. Or something, I wasn't paying that much attention.

[ And he's not again, look at that. He's still looking around the area, taking it in. It's his. So he does get to be an engineer like dad. Oh man that'll be so cool. He's already had a bunch of ideas, he's just had a hard time getting his father to look at them with him, but maybe this means eventually he will and they can build them together. That would be really cool. Maybe once he's finished with all this Expo stuff, he'll have more time again, and Tony can try to bring up the idea. Again.

Suddenly, looking's over. Back to Max. ] What kinda mechanic?

[ A mildly confused beat, but okay she's just going to - right, tiny. Young. Were AI's at all normal when he was a kid? The history of his world might be different from hers, she can't rely on knowing what her world's timeline was. ] An older one, yes. I don't know if he's still here, but I think he would be here if he was.

[ She's watching him as he looks around, keeping a somewhat safe and wary distance because she doesn't know what to do with this. Really, it's just the kind of the thing that makes her want to turn around and run out, but she's not going to leave a kid unsupervised in this place. And she does like Tony well enough, and this is still him. Sort of. She thinks.

The question takes her a little by surprise. ] I used to work with cars, mostly, but I've branched out. I'll work with anything mechanical that moves, if I can figure it out.

Man, if I knew there was another me here I'd be down here to meet myself in a heartbeat. I guess if I'm here, he can't be. That's how it works in movies no one ever wants me to watch most of the time. Obie's awesome though - when I stay over with him, he lets me watch almost anything.

[ There's a little more considering, but ultimately anybody who works with cars is pretty much okay in his book. It is, admittedly, a very small, slim book, but still. ] Are you working on anything in here? Is that why you came in? Can I see? I bet I can help - I'm really good at making things.

[ Obie's an unknown name, and she can't help that she files it away for future reference. ] Maybe that is how it works.

[ That's not actually good criteria for people being okay, but she thinks it's not a good thing to tell a six year old to be more paranoid. Especially not if you want him to trust you at least a little bit. ] I am, yeah. If you want to -

[ She ambles over to what she's been using as her workbench and the bits and pieces of an alarm system that she's got in progress on it, gestures down at it with a look back at him. ] You can take a look and let me know what you see.

[ Oh he'll be so pleased with himself to have let that one slip again when he's full sized. ]

Really? [ But he wastes no time at all in letting her either confirm or deny how serious she was about letting him help, as he scrambles down from where he was sitting and working and runs over to where she's pointing, dragging a chair or a stool or whatever over with him - he doesn't care what it is as long as it puts him at a level he can see. Excited Tony is excited. Adults letting him help! With real stuff! And not being like 'hey, you can do these four screws on the outside casing that means absolutely nothing', because he's not stupid and he can tell when he's being given shit and told to think it's candy. He likes that phrase too, but Jarvis told him he shouldn't say it in front of any adults whose names he knows, or he'll probably get in trouble. Jarvis would have said 'anyone', but he knows Tony has finite capabilities in terms of controlling his mouth.

So after he's dragged the thing over and come to perch somewhat safely on top of it, he peers down over all the things she has laid out. He wants to touch some of them - pick them up, inspect them, and put them back, mostly - but people are trying to teach him not to just grab things, so he's got his hands tucked behind his knees to curb the impulse. A couple of times he starts and stops despite that though. ] I would have figured you wouldn't want an alarm since you came in all sneaky from the side. Is this for your workshop?

[ For now at least it's just a name unattached to anything else. ]

Yeah, sure. [ Because she may not be the greatest with kids, but what she can do is let them mess around with her things because she knows how to put them back together if it doesn't go well and it's an area she knows in general. She probably won't screw anything up too badly if it involves mechanics. She really hopes she won't screw anything or him up too badly.

He's really being quite well behaved, which she has to admit she wasn't exactly expecting out of a six year old Tony. Polite and eager to please and it's an interesting dichotomy. She's not entirely sure what it means, yet. ] I don't have my own workshop. This is for my room. [ Not that she doesn't already have one, she's just been working on an upgraded version so that she can genuinely feel safe to sleep there more than occasionally. ] You can touch, it's fine. I'm not too far into the project and I know how it all belongs.

[ He'd rather it stayed that way.

The final approval sees him - a few seconds later - having abandoned his stool/chair thing to actually get up on the table so he can squat down and look at the things she's laid out better. He's not going to step on anything, he sees how they're laid out, so unless he trips or stumbles or something, this isn't a cause for concern. Nor is it one when he starts picking things up and examining them, picking up something else to examine it while still holding something else. ] For your room? Out there? [ Gesture to the direction she came in from. ] How old are you?

[ Yeah no.

So far she can't see a cause for concern, and there's even a little approval in her eyes, though mostly she's just keeping it as neutral as possible to hide her lack of knowledge of what to do now. For the moment she knows how to handle him, but should she make sure that he knows where to sleep? Or how to get food? Is there someone else she can pawn him off on? ] Everyone here has a room in one of the Initiative's apartments, yes. [ A slightly amused glance. ] That's a question most women hate, so you know for the future. I'm thirty three.

[ Yeah he's already been down here by himself for a few hours or so. At some point very soon, he's going to need food, and after that he's going to be sleepy. Hope you can work something out there, Max. Or step up for the team. ]

That's dumb. [ He says around two screws he's holding in his lips, hands full of things still. ] It's just math. Thirty-three isn't even high. It's way better than six, anyway. I bet you can do whatever you want.

[ Maybe she can trade him in for renegade points? That sounds like a good idea, totally. ]

People don't like getting reminded that time keeps passing, later on. [ She really just got landed with a six year old, why. At least he's clearly still a very intelligent person. Just, you know, six. And tiny. ] And there's still plenty of things I want to do that I can't. Growing up doesn't fix as much as people think it does.

[ what, no, you can't just foist him off on someone else. ;; that happens enough already ]

Really? [ That got his attention, although sort of in the 'you're dashing a good percentage of my dreams and hopes here' way. He stops looking at her after a minute, looking instead somewhere more neutral, like the thing he was just putting together. After another couple of minutes, he starts to work on it again, but his demeanor has changed. He's a little quieter. ] Because everybody always says 'No, Tony. You can when you're older.' Or, 'When you're a little bigger,' or 'When you know a little more about it,' but I already know more than most of them and these screws are all tiny so I don't see why I need to be bigger or why I have to go to boarding school when I could learn just as much at home and not have to do all the boring stuff I'm not interested in anyway. [ He was running out of breath towards the end and stops to suck in another one, still working, but after he does, he doesn't continue. He thought he was going to, but he just bites down whatever else he was going to say and works quietly for a couple of minutes. Then, rapid shift, he looks back over at her with a bright look on his face, kind of excited. ] Hey, how's this? I changed one thing, it'll be more efficient this way. It looks like this place is kind of... Crappy, so, uh, this should draw less power for the same output. I think? Do you want to make sure?

[ But she doesn't know what to do with him at whatever point he stops entertaining himself with machinery.

But that little run on sentence makes her pause, because she's pretty sure that the person who tells a six year old that life gets progressively worse as you grow up gets an even worse position in hell than the one she's already aimed straight at. Besides, while she has her reasons to believe that Tony's grown up life isn't easy, she also knows that he seems - more or less happy. Most of the time. He has that Pepper-shaped hole here that is filled at home, and his work. ] You'll get to build all sorts of things when you're older, I can promise that. There's plenty of stuff you'll get to do. [ And drawing over to look at what he's working with. ] It is pretty crappy, using less power is good. I don't see anything, and you're pretty good with machines. I'll give it a test run later, probably.

[ Which is lucky for her probably going to be about right now since he's finished working on that thing for her.

He'd been trying to say that he thought things were sort of crappy right now but that people were always telling him they'd be better later, when he was older and could do the things he wanted to do. It's not really so much that she's said life gets worse as you grow older so much as she's said that maybe it's not going to be as easy as 'oh you're twelve now, your clearance level is now this and you can access this, that, and these.' That there's a little more to it than that, and here he was sort of forcing it to operate like the machinery he understands so well, with the strictly designated segments and partitions.

And he's happy again right now anyway, see, look, he was all happy to show you the alarm thing. But he's really happy when she says that, that one thing, even if his version of being happy about it is very familiar to his older self's. ] I'm great with machines. [ Although seriously, a real smile. And then a little more realistic. ] Tell me if it doesn't work though. I want to know what went wrong if it doesn't.

What am I like? Am I tall? Do I have a moustache like my dad? [ Screwdriver sitting on a pursed lip far too small to balance it properly, as imagery for her. It's pretty obvious but I'm going to point out anyway that in the maybe eight or ten minutes they've known each other now, he's gone from thinking maybe she's a kidnapper, to maybe she's his future adult self's girlfriend. So, self-preservation instincts: totally intact. ] What do I build? Are you my girlfriend? Is that why you were looking for me?

[ Congratulations Tony, you have received one (1) adult who doesn't know what one does with small children.

She can't help with that realization that life doesn't run smoothly, kid, sorry. It's just an unfortunate side product of the life part of it, and she kind of wishes she hadn't let him know even sort of that right now. He'd looked upset, and she was discovering that she didn't like him looking upset no matter which version of him it was.

But happy again, and that's good. That's really good, she'll figure out a way to keep that happiness up for him. ] Definitely. Maybe you can come do the test run with me, or something. On the spot repair if it's needed.

[ Oh boy, the dreaded 'tell me everything' questions. She kind of shrugs, keeps the uneasiness off her face. ] You're taller than me. I don't know what your dad's mustache is like, but you've got one. You - no, I'm not your girlfriend, I don't know if you have a girlfriend here. I'm just a - friend. [ When was the last time she called someone a friend. She just didn't think ally would fly with a six year old. ] You build pretty much everything, apparently.

[ It's okay neither do most of the adults around him at any given point. He's getting used to that. ]

Cool! I hope it breaks. Or, no, wait, I don't hope it breaks, because then I messed it up, but I want to keep working on it with you. So maybe I hope there's a little problem.

[ At some point the screwdriver fell off his face and he leaned over the edge of the seat he was on to look for it as it did so. Overbalance, flail back for the seat, okay awesome nothing happened he meant to do that. He's just not a very still person. Although something in there gets his attention again. ] You don't know what my dad looks like? He's not here? Is anybody I know here?

[ Well that's kind of sucky. Adults with children should acquire some knowledge of how to deal with them eventually. ]

If it works perfectly, we can always get started on some other project. Maybe something you think of. [ Projects! She's already figured out that this is probably her best way to get and keep his attention focused on something.

There's something familiar in that flail and she smiles a little at him, though her voice is still perfect serious as she answers his question. ] There's people here you'll know when you're an adult, but I don't think anyone you knew when you were younger. This place picks and chooses.

[ Projects are a very good idea Max has a fantastic learning curve. There are times he isn't as into them, but for the most part right now he doesn't get included in the projects of other people very much, and isn't as much of totally-not-a-team-player yet, so. It's a good theory. ] I wish I had all my ideas with me. It doesn't look like any of my stuff came when I did. [ Pause. ] But if I was already here I guess I didn't actually get here today.

[ The seriousness is good because he totally hates being condescended to or indulged for his age. He likes being indulged in general though. Some things don't change. Tony considers that for a moment or two, still pretty unsure of how he feels about it. ] This place is weird. Are you gonna stay though? Where do I live? No, wait, I bet that's on this thing. What do you do here?

[ Thank you she works hard on that learning curve. (Well, no, it's mostly instinctive, but.) And he'd mentioned how people didn't want him touching things yet, so. ] I bet you can remember some of them without your blueprints.

Well, you you only got here today, other you's been here longer than me. But yeah, it's a pretty weird place. Me? As far as I know I'm staying. I forget which apartment number you're in, and technically I fight for the people who brought us here. [ Was that all of his question she thinks that was all of them. ] Are you hungry? [ That seems important, she doesn't know how long he's been down here and it's not like Tony's super on top of eating. ]

[ He considers that. ] Maybe, but I'd have to write them down first, to make sure.

You fight for them? Why would you do that? You fight against kidnappers.

[ The last question takes him off guard more so than anything that came before it. ] Yeah. Why? Is it lunchtime?

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~headcanon

you know how much i love that

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