Finding a New Normal

[runs_on_batteries]

Who: Tony + Gladio, Tony + OTA
Where: His office, the gym, anywhere but the kitchen
When: Egret 22-24
What: Tony dealing post-breakup

[For Gladio: Egret 22, evening]

He left the quiet room they'd been talking in and headed down the hall. It was late enough not too many people were around but not quite so safe as the middle of the night. His expression was hard. Anger and hurt were turbulent inside him for however long they'd been in that room. Now things were starting to just feel numb. He paused at the door to his office before he shook his head and continued on to the standard car where the store was. Damn party draining him of all his- what had Ignis called it? His vices.

Just as he picked the bottle up, he straightened and inwardly cringed as he stood face to face with Gladio. He took a ragged breath. "You should go find Ignis. He's going to need a friend."

[OTA]

There had been friction often in his relationship with Ignis. There had been many high points, but also some impressive lows. None so much as the other night. He sighed as he poured himself another glass. The details didn't matter really. He still cared deeply for the younger man and that wouldn't change. The simple fact that it became apparent they couldn't agree on some very fundamental things made them realize this wasn't working. So now he had a fresh bottle of bourbon and his ring back.

The first day was mainly spent in his office drinking and watching the Void till it gave him a headache. The second, he hit the gym. Wrapping his fists, he pummeled one of his dummies he'd made till his knuckles split and then switched to a sword.

That evening, he requested from one of his friends to get dinner delivered to his office so he wouldn't have to deal with Ignis' domain (i.e. the kitchen).

[OOC: Come bug him anywhere along this timeline.]

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

The first knock on the door that evening isn’t dinner.

“Stark?”

Joscelin peers in, glasses hanging off his nose. He hasn’t quite mastered the art of getting them to stay put. For once, he isn’t pretending to be anything but a child, concerned about a parent’s wellbeing.

“I heard.” Of course he had; it’s not a large train.

“How are you holding up?”

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony looks up as Joss comes in. He's been enjoying how cute Joss has been trying to figure out glasses and being human. The glasses in particular were amusing. He tried to find the humor in it today and found it much harder. This wasn't his first breakup though, so he knew it wouldn't be too long before it was back.

He lifted the bottle so Joss could see it was half gone. "Super." The buzz in his brain was helpful. He knew it was cushioning the pain well enough for now. "For the record, don't start dating a roommate. It gets awkward."

Dinner for three with the Thunderstorms?

[sweetnessandfight]

The second knock? That's dinner, the tray carried by the much-larger form of Dread. Sarai herself had been the one knocking, of course.

"I thought you might want a little company for dinner? We made it ourselves..." Trust two of the other good cooks on the train to try to spoil him just a little, in the light of things...

[thebiggestguy]

Maybe Tony would find some amusement in seeing Sarai fitting neatly under the tray he carried.

"You don't get to say no anyway, so I hope you're hungry." Though his threat was good-natured, it was true nonetheless; the Thunderstorms thought he'd been alone too long as it was.

[pleple]

Ple Two is not an uncommon sight in the gym - it's essential to keep up a workout routine in an enclosed space like this, and frankly, she wouldn't mind a second gym car to bug everyone into using. Still, there's an aura of frustration that makes it a little more awkward to use when, for example, a fellow passenger is working out their feelings on a dummy or a punching bag.

"I'm not very good at putting feelings to words but... take care of yourself, please." It's the best advice she can offer, and already might be stepping over a line. But she's young, and Tony's fond of her.

[runs_on_batteries]

Look, she can either hold the dummy, spar with him, ignore him, or get the hell out. Well, except this is Ple Two and he actually does like her.

His breathing was heavy as he turned to her at the advice. He was frustrated and angry, but the workout was doing wonders for his mood. That was likely the only reason he didn't snap at her (and would've felt awful about later). "Trying. Thought this was better than another bottle," he huffed out. "I knew I should've voted for the crocodiles.." He attempted a small smile, but his usual humor just wasn't very strong.

Day 24

[luckybucky]

Bucky, being that he is also overly fond of the kitchen has both not seen Tony in a couple of days and heard why. So when the request comes for dinner by delivery, Bucky volunteers to bring it, a plate piled with whatever the meal of the evening is -- and maybe a handful of cocoa nibs stolen from the pantry has made its way onto the tray, too.

He knocks at the 'office' door, tray balanced expertly atop his metal hand. "Got some take out here for a Tony Snark," he announces.

Re: Day 24

[runs_on_batteries]

Instead of his usual hard at work demeanor, when Bucky comes into the room, he'll find Tony with a blanket around his shoulders lounging with his back against the wall and legs stretched out across the seat. In his hand was his ring, which he carefully hid when his not!friend came through his door.

His eyebrows rose at seeing the delivery. Somehow, even though he'd asked for it, it was surprising how people were coming through for him over this. Particularly who was doing it.

"That doesn't look like liquor," he retorted, but it had no sting in his tone. In fact, his voice was subdued compared to his usual one.

Egret 22, evening

[callmegladio]

Gladio was, as usual these days, restless. And that meant walking. Where? Nowhere, clearly. The train was limited. He could walk to one end and then back to the other. It was boring. It was the same. It was driving him insane.

So imagine his surprise when he bumped into Tony before he'd gotten toward the end of his journey toward the end of the train. Imagine his further surprise to find the man sporting a face like thunder and holding a bottle of something he knew wasn't water.

When he spoke, Gladio just looked at the man quietly for a long moment. Then he shrugged his one good shoulder and glanced past Tony toward where he imagined Ignis was. "... I doubt I'd be welcome there. Why? What's he done now?" There was... very little emotion in Gladio's voice. He just didn't have any more fucks to give.

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony frowned, unsure what that comment meant. In any other situation he would be asking too, but he just didn't have the space mentally to deal with anything else. He was reeling from what they'd decided and how this was going to change so much of his life here.

"Come on," he said, nodding toward the door. "If I have to tell you the story, I'm not doing it sober."

Evening in the lab.

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter hasn't seen much of Tony in past few days aside from there normal coffee time, he's locked himself away figuratively in the dressing car to read and make calculations and plan out what he needs to ask the almighty train gods for when he has points again. He also needs to figure out how to get as many as possible as quickly as possible.

He comes into the lab for the first time in a few days with his arms full of his notes, Haibara's notes and the books he'd gotten recently.

"Hey Mr Stark can I talk to you-Have you talked to Conan recently?" He pauses to ask before noticing the gloomy feel of the the atmosphere. "...Are you okay?"

Re: Evening in the lab.

[runs_on_batteries]

[OOC: Totally being lazy and using the starter from Bucky :D]

Instead of his usual hard at work demeanor, when Peter comes into the room, he'll find Tony with a blanket around his shoulders lounging with his back against the wall and legs stretched out across the seat. In his hand was his ring, which he carefully hid when the young man enters.

The rush of words was harder to follow than usual, but after a pause, he nodded. "Yes I've spoken with Conan. And.. yeah, I'll be fine. What's all of this?" He gestured toward the papers Peter had.

[knifewithnoname]

She might have little idea what is going on but she knows something is going on and so she has been very scarce from their room for a little while. She knows when to avoid grown ups and when they seem to be having trouble between themselves was a time for children to be scarce.

So she had been keeping her self busy, but she still woke in her bed. As did Tony. As did Ignis. She had a nose. She had grown up in an inn. She could tell when someone had spent a night drinking.

Tony had been one of the first people she had met on the train. He had given her a name. He was one of the most dangerous people she knew but he was often kind to her. Fed her, had even given her the strange fake bear. Now something had happened and he was hurt.

She had no idea how to ease hurts. But that didn't stop her turning up in the gym, watching silently as he tried to murder practice dummy's. At least whatever was going on, he was dealing with it productively, rather than being leaky faced.

[runs_on_batteries]

He'd already been fighting for a couple hours already and he kept going to at least another hour with Buttercup there. However, there was only so much a body could take- even a fit one. His punches were getting sloppy and he stumbled. He wanted to keep going, but he slowly doubled over, hands on his knees, feeling dizzy and weak. Sweat was dripping off him as was some blood where he'd cut his hands.

He glanced up in her direction and gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "Think I could talk you into getting a bottle of water from the kitchen for me?" He knew a sports drink would be better, but they didn't seem to have that.

Office Drinks

[bornebygrace]

Aaron had a nose for people who were hurting and for alcohol. He first peeked into the office to see Tony and a bottle of bourbon, then let himself in because the door was unlocked. He closed it behind him and sat next to Tony, speaking softly.

"I'm a little offended you not only neglected to offer me, your favorite angel, some of your liquor," his tone was playful, but shifted to be lower and more serious, "but that you'd also deprive me of one of the best views on this train." Aaron was not so close it was uncomfortable, but was closer to Tony than would be considered polite in most circumstances. He was looking directly at Tony, not even bothering with the void outside.

[runs_on_batteries]

They really needed bigger bottles or maybe a bulk rate. Either that or he needed to find a way to drastically speed up the aging process of bourbon.

This was the very grand thought on his mind when Aaron came in the room. His room which usually had so many projects in the works had stuff mostly shoved to the side and only thing left out was the cups and the booze. There was also his journal, but it was already closed and pushed to the side of the table before Aaron joined him.

His eyebrow rose. "Everyone wants some of my liquor. All you mooches need to start paying me." It was an attempt at humor, but it came out more grumbly than he meant it. Even as he said it, though, he was pouring Aaron a drink. "And what exactly is that?"

Gym

[mtsilver_conquor]

This was probably going to be a monumentally bad idea. Very bad, do not pass start, kind. But, for all she had her own thoughts about Tony, and didn't always see eye to eye with him, she did respect the man.

And well. It was hard not to, in some shape or form, heard about a breakup, and in her experience (all of a grand total of once, but details), even the nicest of them weren't easy on the emotions.

?And, if he was venting on one of the training dummies, well. It was probably a messy breakup.

"Would it help if you had something a little more durable to vent on?" It's soft, serious, and she has Princess's pokeball in hand. "Like say... a pokemon?"

Re: Gym

[runs_on_batteries]

It seemed the healthiest place to put his anger. 'Bucky Jr' didn't have any feelings he could hurt as he worked through his own emotions. It takes right up until she speaks before he even realizes she was there.

He turned around and wiped his brow before giving the ball in her hand a skeptical look. ".. you want me to fight Princess? I don't want to hurt him."

Gym car

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin walked into the gym car, went to the ball cupboard, and rummaged around in it. Then he turned around and stood with a basketball cradled in the crook of his arm. He smiled and made a joke.

"Tony, if you mangle that practice dummy any further, it might lodge a complaint with the Council. Or it might sneak into your office and steal your liquor!"

Re: Gym car

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony was so focused on pummeling the dummy that he didn't notice Curufin was around until he started speaking. Startled, his head jerked up to see a very strange sight. An elf with a basketball. Huh, that had to be the start of a bad joke.

"You're familiar with basketball?" He asked, unstrapping his gloves.

[happyends]

Honestly, Madoka knows that she doesn't really need to knock to enter Tony's office. She's been over there enough times already by now. But either out of habit or just sheer ingrained politeness she can't quite shake, there's a knock at the door all the same.

"Dad..? You're there, right? Um, can I come in?"

[runs_on_batteries]

"Yes, sweetheart, come in."

He was sitting with his back against the wall, legs stretched out along the booth. He usually had so many projects going on, but nothing was being worked on now. All that he was doing was sipping from a glass. It was about as 'relaxed' as he ever got, even if there was no relaxation actually happening here. He was brooding.

He slowly moves so he can give her room to join him on his side of the booth or if she wants to sit across from him. "How are you?"

Office

[internetsexsymbol]

It's hard not to hear about a breakup when you're friends with both parties. Given things had been pretty normal last he talked to either Ignis or Tony, Reigen figured whatever happened must have been pretty bad. He definitely needed to check up on both of them...Tony gets first attempt, however, given that Reigen is 95% sure Tony will be drinking right about now and doesn't want him to overdo it.

"Hey, coming in." Reigen gives a small warning before opening the door to the office, holding a cup of tea. "Thought you might want this...how are you holding up?" The most Reigen has dealt with damage control from a breakup is people convinced that they're cursed because a partner dumped them and talking down people wanting to put curses on cheating exes, so having to do this for close friends is new territory.

Re: Office

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony, who was normally so animated and busy with his projects, was sitting still huddled against the wall. His laptop was closed and pushed aside, as were all the other things that cluttered this office. There was a tumbler with a few fingers of liquor in it and the bottle open on the table. At the moment, they were just sitting there though as he stared off into nowhere. It was annoying he couldn't really stare outside without getting a headache, so he was just looking in the direction of the other booth seat.

He was slow to react to Reigen's presence but he offered a smile with not much warmth at the greeting. He didn't really want anything, but Reigen had gone to the trouble of making him some tea so he took the mug. "Thanks."

How was he holding up? That was a good question. He wasn't sure. Maybe that was the answer. "Numb, mostly. Thanks to this," He tapped his cup lightly.

Office

[mayp]

May hadn't been that much of a fan of Tony's relationship, though she had never dreamed of saying anything. It was nice to see him happy, to have someone for him. Looking in from the outside though and from the things she had heard it was perhaps good that they had broken up. That didn't mean it was going to be easy for Tony, love was a strange thing and she expected him to be struggling with their breakup. So when no one seemed to know where he was, she figured she would search him out. She didn't have any alcohol to provide him, which would have been helpful, but she was willing to talk to him and offer him a distraction.

Eventually, she found him in his office (which wasn't that surprising). "Hey," she said pushing the door open before sitting in one of the chairs there before he could reply one way or another.

Re: Office

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony wouldn't understand what people didn't see in Ignis. He thought he was a good man, even if he was a little too young for him. However, he could be biased and not see everything clearly too. And he'd be really surprised people weren't able to guess where he was. It would be amusing if he could bare that mood right now.

Either way, it hurt. Everything hurt.

He looked up from where he was sitting with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He hadn't been returning to his cabin until the train made him. It was easier to hide away for a few days than face everyone on the train who was pitying him- although they seemed rather insistent on coming to find him anyway. There was also a number of them that had a free pass, like May.

"Hey. How are you? How's Peter?"

[tinkerheart]

It's evening and Fëanor is not here to promote healthy coping habits. So when he comes, he does so bringing two glasses and a bottle of booze. Not any bottle. The last bottle of the first batch of whiskey they distilled that he saved because he wanted to see how will the aging process behave in the conditions of void travel.
Right now? To hell, with experiment. At least the alcohol is extremely well-chilled.

"What, in the name of all that is holy, has happened?" he asks as he storms into Tony's office.

Fëanor might not be the first to notice something wrong going on a ... people level. Granted, he was quite distracted lately himself. But Tony trying to destroy a training dummy in the gym? That was a signal loud enough even for him.

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony looked up from where he was sitting with a blanket across his shoulders against the wall. His legs were stretched out along the length of the booth and besides that, he wasn't doing anything. Which was very weird. There were no projects or books to read or any task he was in middle of. He was simply brooding and had been rather enjoying it, thank you very much, till people kept coming in.

Although of those who were visiting, Feanor was one of the most appropriate. He wondered about that. It was still so strange that of all the people on this train, it was the incredibly arrogant elven king who he'd have the strongest friendship bond with.

"A lot of things," Tony said with a sigh. "A lot of lines got crossed."