maskormenacelogs | and a sun to maybe dissipate

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and a sun to maybe dissipate

WHO. Erik and various (will be updating main post with starters, please pm me or plurk me @

first_quadrant if you are interested in one!)
WHERE. Various
WHEN. Various
WHAT. Things
WARNINGS. Erik giving advice, tbh.

de chima ① closed to tony
[ Erik often comes to Stark Tech when he feels a displaced restless: late nights, early mornings, cool dusks. The machines here never sleep, and Erik has always found a comforting serenity in moving parts. He lets himself in because, in the case that someone is around (often the case), it's most likely he wouldn't want to disturb them from their work just to announce himself.

He makes his way to a seating area by an open pantry, overlooking the pitch dark city, sipping his coffee in between practicing reading lips on the televisions set to news or to looped reels of Stark Tech announcements and commercials.

When he hears someone coming, he pours into an empty mug from the coffee carafe. He's discovered it's liberating to do the most mundane tasks with his powers, when he can do them out in the open. ]

Tony.

[ The greeting is friendly enough, though things have been tenuous of late, for sure. Erik's trust is both hard-won and fragile, and Erik's nature is not to be lenient. Yet, he can't say that he isn't guilty of similar wrongdoings, can't say that he isn't also standing in the shadow of his own growing tsunami wondering if it will crest or quell. And on the other hand, slowly introducing himself back into Tony's life can help assure that he may be able to see the warning signs this time, that he won't be played for a fool again. ]

some abandoned site ② closed to wanda
[ Truth be told, he generally doesn't like to be in places like this, spaces that once were purposed and defined solely for people, now left to disarray. He finds it always makes an absence more marked to leave evidence behind; he hasn't spoken Polish in months, doesn't get too far into the woods, stuffed into the back of his wardrobe the t-shirt with the logo on it of the pizza place Peter used to work at.

However, undeniably, this place is a treasure trove of scrap metal, and it won't be missed, and honestly they would probably do the city a great service to raze it and save them the cost of doing it themselves. That's not in the plan, per se, more of a failsafe. ]

I think it used to be a school.

[ What was once a lawn is overgrown with weeds, patchy in some places, trash littering around like a bike that's been absorbed by a tree growing around it. ]

We'd considered it for the Foundation, but the location wasn't good. I think that's why they cleared out of it in the first place.

[ He stops and pivots in place, turning back to look at her as if he's showing a fixer-upper, not a complete garbage heap. ]

What do you think?

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[ Tony Stark was a workaholic. Anyone who mischaracterized him to be only a party-animal likely forgot the fact that he was a billionaire industrialist with a control-issue streak so far that the entire recent happenings had simply been... due to his own inability to lose control. So much so that to change him so drastically, it had only taken a flick of the switch.

Not that he recognized it, of course. He didn't know how he'd changed. Simply that he did.

That being said, late nights weren't alien. It wasn't even that he didn't know that a one Erik Lensherr -- CODENAME: MAGNETO the helpful information from the Superhuman database, forever on his mind -- was often hanging in his company, stealing the free coffee. Honestly, if it kept him from causing trouble, how could he really complain? ]

You even poured coffee for me? I'm touched.

[ He said, in lieu of a greeting. He had, after all, known he was in there, and approached of his own volition.

Sometimes...he just wanted to be around other human beings. Five months trapped in what amounted to a tiny harddrive meant he was inconsistent. Some moments he wanted nothing more than to be alone, and others... he needed human contact. Someone, something, just someone to talk to, to stop the loneliness and the sheer silence in his head. To remind him that this wasn't a reality of his own making -- and he had made them when he'd been trapped -- desperation did odd things to a man. ]

[ Erik wouldn't know what that was like; he's always trusted his mind. Oftentimes, it's been the one thing he could count on; this part of the experience, he doesn't know firsthand. But he also doesn't advise Tony on that, particularly. ]

You probably need it more than I do.

What are you working on?

[ People are often cagey about their work, especially if they have full ownership of it. From conception to implementation, Erik has found that even though he finds business or technological advances to be mundane and uninteresting, high-stake individuals in a product tend to be careful and guarded. So it wasn't a surprise when Tony refused to talk about his app, at least, at the time.

But now, he finds himself to be nosier, more unapologetically invasive. After all, he is here... ]

[ He knew the caginess he normally showed was...not something he could indulge in anymore, and even though he took the coffee, and drank it, he had to take a moment. ]

New Operating system. Phone upgrades. I'm still trying to perfect that haptic display -- that at least wasn't a lie.

[ A pause, and then. ]

Working on my suit. It's... it needs to be faster.

Let me take a look at it sometime.

[ Sure, he didn't have the peroper training, and he wasn't an engineer, and a whole lot of other things besides that probably wouldn't be desirable, but he makes the offer. It's friendly. They're... friends. And honestly that's probably a similar amount of strange for both of them. ]

Well, considering part of it runs on magnets...

That's probably not a bad idea.

[ The smile is companionable, a touch friendly. It's almost weird, thinking of Magneto -- dangerous -- his internal monologue suggests, as a friend, but there it is. He can't do anything more than accept that fact, after all.

He has few enough of them as it is. ]

I actually... needed to ask your advice on something else.

[ He raises a brow. No one asks Erik for advice.

No one who knows who Erik actually is, asks Erik for advice. So it's either something inconsequential, or... well, he should start paying attention. ]

Go ahead.

[ This is where it gets awkward, and it shows. He takes a moment to collect himself, put himself together, and doesn't start talking until he settled in, until he figured out how to word it. ]

You've...done bad things, right? In your world? In ours, it's a given.

But still... people don't seem to give you much trouble. Why?

[ Wow, coming out of the gates, man. ]

I don't know; I don't expect it. Most of them, probably, act politely while I'm present on someone else's invitation. And I suppose anyone else is... either related to me or agreed with me.

Surely this isn't the worst thing you've done, Tony. What made people forgive you before?

This is, in a way.

[ He shook his head. ]

Before...I was out of control in a different way -- when I had a drinking problem. That was something I fixed. After... like with the Registration Act, it was done with good intentions. Nothing was ever done with that kind of...blatant disregard for other people.

And the fact that it was still me makes it worse.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. You show remorse, and you hope the people you love see that.

That's all you can do.

[ Or you fuck up so bad they come to save you from yourself. One or the other. ]

[ A roll of his eyes, before he flopped into his chair. ]

Well you're no help. I don't think there's anything about me that doesn't regret it, but...

I think the fact that it'll be me in the future means...everyone's waiting for me to snap again.

[ Uh, yeah, young Magneto kind of knows how that feels. ]

They won't stop doing that.

But the feeling is new. It will pass; they'll start treating you normally soon. Just... every time you so much as make a step in the wrong direction, and they're back on the defensive.

I'm sorry, Tony. The other one played you well enough to convince the rest of us.

Well, that's probably because he was me.

[ The tightness in his face at that statement is obvious. Lips thin, eyebrows furrowed, he has the look of a man who has eaten something sour. ]

He wasn't playing, he was remembering. I just wish...I could do something to prevent it -- him from happening.

And why can't you?

Your future isn't set just because you've seen one version of it.

I remember... bits and pieces, impressions, of the older me. In a way it's like going home and coming back here, where the memories come back, but much slower. And I came to realize that his memories and mine are, from what I can tell, same up to a point where they diverge. Some of those are constants, things I'm not sure are fate or coincidence. But most of the memories are wholly different, things that never had to happen.

If you think that all those things that we become are the things that are unchangeable, then there's nothing we can do about it, short of voluntary imprisonment.

Well, I don't think it's that simple.

[ He shook his head. ] It's not... natural? That's the only way I can describe it. It wasn't like I suddenly changed my conclusions about the world. There was a catalyst, there was an... event of some sort. It was something that forced my hand, or changed the game. He just removed what that was from my memory.

Besides that, I can't remember anything that happens here. [ The sour look on his face said enough. He was mad about it. Angry. The kind of anger that settled deep in his bones, something impotent and something he couldn't change. Impotent rage was the worst. It was ineffective and it was useless.

he didn't have time for that. ]

The problem is that no matter what I do, back home is different. There's no changing that. [ A tightness of his lips, then. ] And believe me, I've tried.

...Then give someone the instructions to stop you.

[ He says this blandly, as if he's just stating facts. ]

Someone you trust to make the judgment so when you think there's an inevitable, you have a failsafe.

Ah.

Yes.

That's quite the problem.

[ Tony "Control Issues" Stark isn't exactly in the business of giving control over to other people. ]

There's nobody I trust who wouldn't try to use that in the event that they simply disagree with me.

[ The real problem with this other self is simple: He's so much like Stark that it's only a few actions that separate them. ]

That's the first problem, Tony.

[ You don't have friends and you're too paranoid. Things you wouldn't think would be things Magneto would say. ]

And don't tell me you would rather have a repeat like this, have people come find out and stop you the long way. It's too messy. The fallout is too rough.

You're right, it is.

Hence why I'm putting up protections now.

But... I've made it a lifetime of... doing things that are unpopular. That other people don't like. I've seen it time and time again, and unfortunately, I'm not exactly keen on having someone I know have the shortcut to taking me out, if I make a decision they don't like.

Ask Billy about the SHRA sometime. He'll give you a very...passionate review of what I did, and that he disagrees. Many did, and many of them were people I trusted. I don't trust that they wouldn't use the shortcut to put an end to it, if necessary.

I didn't say give them the kill switch.

[ And honestly he can't see Billy wanting to kill anyone if he had a chance to save them. Sorry Tony. ]

So how did the SHRA up?

I won.

[ He said, bluntly. ] But not without...sacrifices. You pit a bunch of superheroes against each other, and there's always collateral. On both sides.

[ Mostly Steve's. ]

It was necessary, for people to start trusting us again. It was the only way to end up with the least amount of casualties. Not that...they'd listen.

And you say your friends would have killed you?

[ And more than that: ]

Billy would have killed you?

There are things that can happen with that kind of power. People can get out of hand. People under my command had...

They'd broken ranks. Quite spectacularly. With Billy as one of the subjects. Do I think he could have killed me if he lost his temper. Rather quickly, too. Without a second thought.

If he'd lost his temper.

[ That being the operative word, he knows Billy knows the full weight of what killing someone in anger is like. He's got the best role model for that; Erik knows he would have regretted it. ]

Something that can happen when you're young, powerful, and emotionally compromised.

[ He said, with a sigh. ]

Something I learned the hard way. I don't like seeing kids put into those positions.

You don't have to.

But maybe we could all do a bit more of talking and listening before things get out of hand.

[ AKA Erik's entire MO ]

Yeah, sure.

I'll make sure this evil, future version of myself has no chance of coming back. [ He looked him right in the eye. ]

You do realize that the porter could shoot me out anytime, and I could come back as him, right? This isn't something that I've been ignoring -- but the solutions are difficult to locate in a case like this. How can I keep my company from him -- but can I keep my company from myself? Should I? Or would it only slow me down?

This isn't an easy problem.

[ He'd say that SIM has some sort of ego even when he's pretending he doesn't, or at least, relatively, but he doesn't think that will help Tony any right this moment. ]

How can you hide something from yourself?

It isn't an easy problem, but it's not one you can solve with impossibilities, either.

No, you're right. It's not going to be solved that way, either.

[ Which was the problem. He was the problem. ]

I'm starting to wonder if I really am my own worst enemy.

[ Great, now he's not even the dramatic one anymore. ]

I think... that we both know, I'm not the one who can help you answer these questions.

[ He can't even believe this but ]

Maybe it's time you see a therapist.

I'm seeing one, actually.

[ Mind, that therapist was Chilton, and mostly there to say he was different. ]

But I suppose... it's just a matter of waiting it out, isn't it?

[ Jesus Tony, you need a better therapist. ]

Yes it is. Every day.

[ Waking up, checking to see if everything's still together up there. ]

[Considering how abandoned the site looks to be, it seems like as good enough place as any for their needs today. Places like this one remind her of home in a way, how she and her brother would explore around in them.

So when he stops, she does too, taking the moment to pull he hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face later.]

Looks like it hasn't been one in a while. It should work.

Alright.

[ And then he smiles, growing excited over the opportunity to get to see Wanda at work. He has seen glimpses, and heard stories of course, but he wants to get a front-row seat. ]

After you.

[Translucent scarlet wisps dance around her hands before she focuses them towards some of the stuff that's already fallen on the ground -- a couple bricks, some wood -- and lifts those up. Small starts; there's plenty of stuff here to work up to bigger things. She focuses a smaller blast at it, just big enough to splinter the wood and shatter the brick, suspending the pieces in the air, contained in their own little bubble of scarlet wisps, before letting the pieces gently down to the ground.]

[ He watches with great fascination; unsurprisingly her minstrations remind him of Billy, though her movements more erratic, more oriented in the tips of her fingers. But almost like pulling mass out of folds of thin air no one else could see, she pulls the explosions, and he finds that he's delighted. ]

You said you dragged a car. Could you lift one?

Fairly easily, yeah, but still probably not as smoothly as you could. [As in, the weight of it she could support with her powers, but picking up larger things can get kind of awkward sometimes in general.]

It becomes a lot easier when all you worry about is the frame.

[ And also, you know, having your powers for forty years. ]

Who usually trains with you?

Well, fair point.

[also that.]

Uh. Usually just me. Maybe not the best plan, but, I guess I kind of got used to it in my first months here.

I'd like to help you with this.

[ He makes a gesture and picks up some... stuff. ]

[She watches with focus and interest and he picks up stuff, waiting to see what he might do with it further.]

Sounds like a good way to spend weekends or whenever to me. [Said with a flash of a smile.]

[ In response, he rearranges the floating pieces of metal in the air to read,

"Mornings or evenings?" ]

[That gets a laugh. Somehow she'd not been expecting writing in the air with stuff.]

I'm so much more of a morning person.

[ He smiles brightly, drops his filings to the ground, and drapes an arm around her shoulder for half of a hug. ]

Mornings it is.

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