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[writethatdown]

[At first, there's no image coming up on screen. Just the sound of some keys being pushed, a voice muttering, and the sounds of fabric and skin being rubbed over the microphone and- ah, there. A video flickering on, revealing an extreme close-up of an extremely unhappy man. Well, at least he looks unhappy. And rumpled. Like, say, he'd just been fished out of the ocean and told he's in some between worlds land of the dead place. That kind of unhappy.]

Alright, look here. [Oh, yeah, he's pissed.] I don't know what you people here are thinking, but landing on the back of some turtle in the middle of some spirit world doesn't really pass as normal back home.

[He leans back a little, narrowing his eyes at the screen in front of him.]

If I'm to actually believe this isn't some sort of scam or elaborate, drug induced plot, I'm guessing I'm here for the long haul, huh? Living on the back of a turtle.

[He scoffs, but the anger is fading back a bit, as it has been the more the looks around at this place, sharp eyes picking up sights of things that seem like something straight out of his imagination. Hell, the console in front of him is enough to have him almost thoroughly distracted.]

Right, well, cut a new fella a break, would ya, Keeliai? Could use a drink and a bit of a run down on the tech you're working with, here.

Comments

[usavatar]

Don't drink their alcohol. I don't think - [Even you could handle it. Is how that's supposed to finish. And then Steve realizes who he's talking to.

His reaction is one part HOWARD LET ME HUG YOU and one part OH GOD LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR SON BEFORE HE DOES.

Which leads to a prolonged silence, and then,] It's been a while.

[writethatdown]

[Of all the people he could have expected to see pop up on the screen, Steve Rogers was probably the last.

So, uh, give him a moment of just staring at the screen there, Steve. He kind of looks and feels like he just got hit over the head by that stupid shield of yours.]

A while. [He's echoing automatically, blinking and swallowing, pulling himself together and managing a tense half-smile.] Damn, kid. Tell me you're not here 'cause you're dead.

[Because that would probably be the actual worst right now.]

[usavatar]

No. No, I'm - [He has to stay silent for a second to keep his bearings. He laughs, and it sounds out of breath.] I'm alive, Howard.

[It's a little strange to say Howard, when his first instinct is to say Mr. Stark, but the last person Steve called Mr. Stark was Howard's son.

God, this is going to get complicated very quickly.

That's the thought that sets him straight again, keeps him from breaking at the sight of one more familiar face he last saw above the word DECEASED stamped in red.] Which sector are you in?

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[amonfire]

The spirit world is purportedly much less hospitable, and a fair deal drier.

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[writethatdown]

[Okay, give him a second to make sure the voice is coming from the machine in front of him instead of some other place. It's a lot clearer than he's used to, almost sounds like the guy's right in the room with him...]

Considering we're on the back of a giant turtle, I wasn't expecting it to stay dry. [Said really incredulously, now] You have experience with "spirit worlds", pal?

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[amonfire]

[ Amone from what is equivalent to the 1920s. He understands the confusion. ]

It's the heart of the spiritual beliefs from my own world, so to speak, and nothing at all the world you see before you.

There's nothing easy about this to swallow, but you'll not find yourself in want for a hundred different perspectives on the situation.

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[shootingshields]

[Half a smile, because that's how it goes with friendly, familiar faces, even if it means he's stuck here now too]

You're in luck, Howard. There are plenty of bars here, but the alcohol is a bit strong. Even for you.

And for the record, it is actually a turtle.

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[writethatdown]

[At the very least, seeing Peggy isn't a heart attack. So she's getting a smile that's just an edge away from relieved.]

No such thing as too strong, just such a thing as not quite used to it.

Having a room on the back of a turtle wasn't my first real estate choice, but. Gotta roll with the punches.

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[shootingshields]

I'm aware it's impossible to stop you, but start small, and don't ignore my advisement.

Where have you ended up then? The Metal Sector?

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[trainwrecked]

Stark!

It's been pretty lasting, you can totally drink the alcohol though it's not gonna be anything you've had before, and I guess you get your answer about spirit world right here?

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[writethatdown]

[This face, however, he's pretty sure fell off a train.]

Barnes. [Which might be why Howard looks and sounds suitably taken-aback by seeing you, Bucky.] Guess when people pull you out of the ocean and show you the turtle you're riding on, sometimes you gotta believe them.

[Have a grin, soldier] I'll be damned. Didn't expect to see you here, pal.

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[trainwrecked]

[Surprise! Bucky smirks back, because, damn, isn't this fun to do to people?]

Hey, I didn't expect to be here, either, a couple of months ago, so I guess that's going around.

Don't think they say all there's to know about the place, though.

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[notpredictable]

Yes yes, we’ve all heard the shpiel. You’re terribly angry about being tugged away from home, blah blah blah. We all know, we all get it. [SARCASTIC WINK.]
 
The tech question is one that is much more easily answerable – it’s primitive at best and seems to reflect something out of the bloody nineties, and is therefore obviously inadequate for anything other than simple trinkets and blasted toys. They are in serious need of a technological overhaul, here.

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[writethatdown]

[You, sir.

Are.

Blue.

...... Can Howard dissect you?]

Nineties. Assuming you mean the 1990s, in which case you'd still have about fifty years on when I'm from, friend. [... Yeah, there's definitely an interested glint in his eyes right now.

You... might want to run.] Last guy I knew of with a color pallet like yours killed a few friends of mine.

[Oh yeah, and you look like the Red Skull's inbred cousin.]

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[notpredictable]

[Yes! Blue! And a brilliant blue at that, and--

Oh. He...sees that glint - knows it very intimately, in fact.]

Yes. The 1990s, because evidently around here that does warrant some clarification.

[The killing bit though, that? He looks mighty offended at.]

Ha! Killed? Whoever it might be - and I should very much like to find this usurper and show him a thing or two - is obviously lacking class and standards. I, however, have both.

[Video]

[whoneedsbending]

I'm sensing a theme here with the older people arriving. Maybe we could keep a tally of everyone who mentions needing or wanting a drink. Oh! Or 2 juulan for everyone who says it.

I'm probably not the best to talk about the technology here. Parts of the turtle have tech more advanced than my own world.

This isn't really anything like the spirit world, not the way I've heard it described.

[Video]

[writethatdown]

Juulan? [There's a bit of curiosity, despite the undercurrent of discomfort that there's apparently kids stuck in this in-between world.] Not a form of currency I'm familiar with.

Something we have in common, then. [He's still poking at this computer thing, even in the middle of conversations.] I can see the roots, here. Dreamed up designs like this, myself, but we're not anywhere near this, yet.

[Oh, right. The spirit world stuff.] Second person to talk like they know the spirit world so far, kid.

[Video]

[whoneedsbending]

Honestly? It's not something I've used before coming here.

[Oh, he's pinged.]

You're an inventor?

[Sokka doesn't usually check other responses so he's curious about who else talked about the spirit world. Sokka nods though.]

Yeah, it's not somewhere I've been, but I know someone who has. It's sort of important to us. Or, well the people from my world.

permavoice;

[arches]

You've got some interesting priorities.

permavoice;

[writethatdown]

[Alright, he might not be used to the tech here, but he's getting the hang of it.

So there was only the slightest pause from his end (a pause that might have been a twitch and a hasty look around just to make sure no one else was in the room with him) before an answer is coming smoothly.]

Just how I operate, friend. I'd be more worried if someone showed up on this turtle and didn't want a drink.

[arches]

Oh, the drink I don't question. It's more the tech bit I was curious about.

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[iron_ego]

[Years. Years. Literal years have gone by since he's heard that voice as anything more than the garble of age-degraded film from Stark Expo media segments -- and that includes that weird inspirational speech about being limited by the technology of his time and believe in me who believes in you, son and-- oh, god.

Tony knows on the intellectual level that this is his father. Sure, put on the spot and he'd claim one Howard Stark'd been too busy searching for a Capsicle to leave a lasting impression of his voice or visage on his son, but let's be realistic here: He knows it.

That spurs an emotional tidal wave from hell and he holds down a good half-dozen feelings by swallowing them. Half choking on them. His dad's been dead for years. Years. And here he shows up, decidedly not in the realm of dead or old. Timeline displacement, sure. Tony has his theories and Howard's arrival just proves them, but science and son are having a bout of what do that culminates in him downing the scotch coffee meant to keep him going. He replaces it with a scotch-on-the-rocks, ice clinking in the glass along with his fingertip as he raises it.

Facts. Howard Stark is here. Howard Stark is young. Cap's already talking with him, so nice to know his dad didn't spend years hunting down a guy that didn't hold a flame for him back, but this guy doesn't look old enough to have alienated his son with those searches. He doesn't even look old enough to have said son. That means there's a good chance that Tony exists as much in this Howard's time as Howard does in his -- only backwards, because he's against being dead before he's born.

Facts. Facts are weird and aren't helping, so he starts up with words instead.]

Give it a week and the turtle'll feel downright normal. The spirit world bit's harder to swallow. Look at the facts a bit longer and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that 'time travel' and 'interdimensional rifts' will be your primary theories.

[Because those were his and, let's face it, genius runs in the family. Backwards, in this case.]

Welcome to the grand ol' gongshow.

[He raises the glass in a toast, then downs the contents.]

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[writethatdown]

[There's something about the man on the video that has Howard pausing. Has something almost like recognition flickering in his eyes. Something in the way he speaks, the shape of his eyes. It's not that dissimilar to looking into a mirror, than picking out the similarities between Howard and his father.

It's just something instinctively familiar, something Howard can't fully place, but something that catches his interest none-the-less. Catches and holds it.]

Considering I'm talking to a kid I know fell off a train, back home, spirit world's not that far of a stretch. [He can't help but grin, though.] Some combination of the two. Working with technology, here, that's barely even been dreamed up yet.

[His eyes flicker between the glass in the man's hand and his face, and Howard can't help but sigh, a little wistfully.]

Not particularly a place I wanted to get stuck in, but at least they have the basic amenities. [He waves a hand in an absent hello.] Howard. Thanks for the greeting.

[As borderline sarcastic as it might have been.]

[video]

[withoutaworld]

Howard Stark? Huh. Steve mentioned he knew you, but I didn't actually expect you'd... show up... [ Mostly because he's not really real to her in the same way Steve and Bucky and her grandmother are. It's weird.

She lifts a hand and waves a little. ] I'm Rikki Barnes. Sort of friends with the, uh, boys from World War II. You probably figured this out already, but you're not on drugs. Can't promise it's not a scam, but probably not the way you're thinking.

[video]

[writethatdown]

The one and only, doll. [Oh it's so easy to give a saucy wink, even over this... really strange communication's thing they have set up here.]

So long as we're not dealing with Hydra morons, it's not the scam I'm thinking of. [He grins, though] As for me showing up, can't leave these World War II boys on their own for too long without someone smart callin' the shots. Trust me, it's a mess.