video;

[wrathfulkhan]

[Here, turtlefolk, have a teenage boy who is still a little bit zonked from landing on his ass in the palace. There is a Chinese dragon on his shirt, if anyone's at all interested in dragons. From what can be seen, his suite looks like it's in mild disarray; he got angry enough to break a couple things once he was alone and did not do such a good job cleaning it up from the camera's view. He looks mildly upset.]

I-- I don't understand why I'm here, I--

They gave me this place, they told me I have to work...I'm not really trapped, am I? I can't be. This doesn't make sense.

[He stops talking half-to himself and focuses his attention on the camera again.]

I guess I have to work under the assumption that this is all real, until proven otherwise. Even if I'm still not entirely sure what's going on.

Anyone care to enlighten me? The...kedan...weren't all that helpful.

Comments

video;

[dracobin]

[did you say dragons i love dragons and it is clearly all right to open with video because you have a dragon on your shirt and that means you will be not at all alarmed]

It is real, I can assure you of that, at least, but your initial assumption is incorrect: we are all trapped, until the thing we are fighting is defeated.

video; 1/2

[wrathfulkhan]

Wh--

[He stumbles back from the console. Congratulations, Temeraire. You broke him.]

video; 2/2 and I'm gonna be real this is exactly what I was hoping would happen

[wrathfulkhan]

A dragon.

Now I know I'm dreaming.

[Because at least Fin Fang Foom only tried to EAT him, never talk to him. And also was made out of stone.]

video;

[dracobin]

[why the freakouts]

I do not see how that is any proof, when you have got one on your shirt.

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

Well--

[Okay, you've got him there.]

--that doesn't mean I'm expecting to run into one!

video;

[dracobin]

So you mean to say that you have never seen a dragon before? [Have a screen full of dragon nose as he leans in to have a closer look at the shirt.] But that one is very like a great many Chinese breeds, except without wings; where did you get the image from?

Video;

[manofiron]

Welcome to the Twilight Zone, kid.

[ Some people might be sympathetic to the plight of a teenager waking up in bizarro land. Some people aren't Tony Stark, who lets the sympathy up to people who have feelings. ]

You think this is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Video; 1/2

[wrathfulkhan]

[WOW OKAY first a dragon and then the dead spit of Howard Stark yeah this is exactly what he wanted.]

Video; 2/2

[wrathfulkhan]

[Under breath:] This is officially a nightmare.

Stark?!

[ha ha ha ha OH GOD NO.]

[manofiron]

[ He doesn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed by the recognition. Either this is someone who's seen the news or it's someone from another world. The familiarity of that use of his last name points to the latter. ]

Last time I looked at my driver's license, that's what it said.

[wrathfulkhan]

I-- whoa, okay.

[He takes a deep breath and a closer look. Voice is different, but the resemblance is uncanny, despite the mismatch in facial hair.

And also, does not appear to recognize him.

Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Tentatively:] Right, but you're not...Howard Stark, are you?

[Can't be, because Howard Stark hates his living guts and would not be this calm. Either way, his finger is hovering over the button to cut the feed. Just in case.]

[manofiron]

[ One of the worst insults that can be leveled Tony's way is to be mistaken for his father. It doesn't happen often, and most notably with elderly people who actually knew the man, but every time it does, it sets his teeth on edge. ]

Yeah, no.

[ He would guess there's some time-traveling involved here, but the kid's shirt looks a little too modern. Which makes knowing Howard even stranger. ]

Try Tony. His son.

Video;

[asoothingvoice]

[It looks like someone was far more upset than they appear to be at the moment, going by some of the broken things in view.

It makes her angry herself, because there are so many kids and teenagers here, and none of them should be here, but she composes herself before turning on her video and replying.]

Everyone's stuck here. They brought us here to fight something [Her tone makes it clear how she feels about that, before switching to being concerned again] and we can't go home.

Are you alright, though? I know this is a huge shock to wake up to.

Video;

[wrathfulkhan]

I'm... [He sighs and his shoulders slump.] ...yeah, I'm all right. [It's pretty obvious that he's not.]

It's not even the shock. I was just...in the middle of something. Something important. And now they're saying I can't go back to finish it. I can't believe that.

Video;

[asoothingvoice]

[She doesn't buy that in the least.]

That has to be hard. Everyone's been brought here to help, so hopefully it will happen sooner than later. [Bianca's voice and expression certainly suggests that it better be sooner than later.] I know they said that everything stops until we return, at least.

[She's dubious about that, but it's not evident in her voice.]

Video;

[wrathfulkhan]

[Give him a break, he's not used to mom figures getting all up in his grill about stuff.]

Yeah. I don't know if I buy that. [And at any rate, when he does go back - because it's a when not an if - he kind of hopes he's not going to go back to the exact moment when he's getting repulsor-ed through a wall. Even through armor, that bruises.]

video;

[passively]

It does appear to be that we are, as they said, trapped here.

I'm afraid I don't know very much as I was just led to my own housing not too long ago, but that is what I was told.

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

[Aaaand that's a kid. An actual kid, not a very-nearly-adult like Gene. Which actually makes him really angry, 'cause he knows all about too-short childhoods.]

They dragged someone your age into this mess?

video;

[passively]

[No worries, Gene, he didn't have one already. He never did.]

From what I've heard, there are multiple children here. It is unfortunate, but I'm capable.

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

[They can start a club. A sad, sad club.]

Okay.

Define "capable".

audio;

[zinthosmantra]

It's as real as whatever dimension you left and for the moment there's no method for getting out, yes.

What do you want to know?

audio;

[wrathfulkhan]

Brilliant.

All I know, aside from the little that was explained upon arrival, is that I was supposedly brought here to help fight something. Any other details would be welcome.

Re: audio;

[zinthosmantra]

There aren't a lot of details to confirm beyond that. Did you happen to read back on the network for earlier posts?

[ ie; did you see the post it made? ]

audio; 1/2

[wrathfulkhan]

Not yet. I'll take a look.

audio; 2/2

[wrathfulkhan]

[A few minutes later...]

Okay. [He's trying to sound normal and not as affected by it as he is.] I don't like that. I don't like that at all.

[It had sounded weirdly familiar - or at least, the unease and nausea and pain were familiar enough. That reminded him of that demon Doom had tried to trade him to.]