voidtreckerexpress | Good morning

Entry tags:

Good morning

Who: Tony Stark + OTA
Where: Dining Carriage/ Kitchen
When: Month Apple, Day 2
What: Come bug him while he's eating breakfast/ having coffee
Warnings: Language maybe?
Notes: I'll make a note on a tag if it contains Endgame spoilers, but I'll try to avoid them.

Oh god, it wasn't a dream.

Some habits died hard, like his internal clock that had him waking early to a dark cramped space that after some moments confused, he remembered to be his bunk on a train. Moving as quietly as he could, he gathered some toiletries and slips into the bathroom for a shower trying not to wake anyone. From there it's a change of clothes and then the hunt for the one thing that will keep him sane during this trek- coffee.

Wearing one of the red polo shirts he'd been given, Tony arrives at the dining car early. He leaves the wheelchair downstairs in the kitchen, finding for just the short journey upstairs he doesn't need it. While he was in the kitchen, he doesn't protest too hard when someone on kitchen duty fixes him an egg white omelet, toast, and coffee.

Upstairs, he finds a good spot where he could watch the door and settles in to enjoy his breakfast and ponder over the fact that this situation he was in might not actually be a hallucination after all. He sorely misses his tablet where he could check the world news like he usually did over breakfast, but these things happen when you're randomly kidnapped by a freaky train in middle of the void.

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It took a moment for him to figure out what she was talking about. He'd forgotten he'd sent her on that quest. He was fairly certain he hadn't even been serious about it. There was a pang of guilt that she'd tried so hard for something he'd forgotten about. Not to say he wouldn't have loved getting some alcohol if she'd found it.

He notices she's waiting for an answer before she takes a bite. What had this poor child lived through to be so cautious? "That's alright. Thank you for looking for me," he answers gently. "I'm not mad, I promise."

He sits back and watches her, wondering what she'll think of the chocolate. "You know, chocolate is usually brown. The darker the color, the more pure the chocolate or cocoa beans it comes from. The sweetness is added ingredients. There are some in my world who would argue if this white chocolate is even real chocolate, but I've always been a fan of it. Call it a guilty pleasure- not something you can have often, but as a treat every once in a while. If you eat that whole bar at once it could make your stomach hurt. I'd recommend you eat some of it and some of your eggs and toast if you can. However, it's better if you eat the chocolate than nothing. I don't want you to get sick for not getting enough food."

He's not mad. That's good. At least he's not the kind to get mad when a mission was failed through no fault of her own. It wasn't her fault there was no alcohol on this stupid long-ship. Sailors loved drinking so it didn't even make any sense!

She looked back at the chocolate and listened carefully as he explained. The darker the chocolate the better it was, white was as good but it was still a treat. If she ate it all it would hurt. Was that a real hurt or was it like when Taiwin claimed that if she ate all her honey cakes at once her stomach would explode?

She brought it close and stuck her tongue out to taste it, there wasn't much she could taste like that so she bit off a corner and chewed it. Her eyes widened. It was a different kind of sweet than honey cakes. Milky but different than milk and honey too. Sweet filled her mouth as she took another bite. It was delicious. Not like anything she had ever tasted before.

Tony smiles as she face lights up. It was fun to see her discover new things, a lot like it had been watching Morgan grow up. Well, to this point. He was going to miss the rest of it. Still, there was something nice about getting to enjoy this feeling again, even if she wasn't his child.

He waits and lets her fully enjoy her bite before interrupting the experience again. "Buttercup, why don't you tell me a litle more about your life and where you're from? I'd like to get to know you better." What must her parents think about her being gone? He couldn't imagine how heartsick they'd have to be discovering she's missing. He lost Morgan for five minutes in Central Park and he about had a heart attack. Fortunately the girl had just crouched behind a bench after spotting a friendly cat.

"What sort of family do you have?"

She ate the square slowly, savouring the taste. All of a sudden this long-ship train did not seem so bad, if it had treats like this. It doesn't mean she doesn't want to go home, but she can endure being here a bit longer.

She freezes at his question, he wanted to know her better? Was he a spy? Had she somehow done something to make him suspicious? She had been very careful. She stared at the chocolate for a moment, so it had been payment. For information that she had not given yet. A trick to put her in his debt.

She had fallen for it, she's not used to this. Being alone, not having someone to brief her. Not having...

"I do no be having a family." Her voice is casual. She wants to flee into the emptiness but that would just build suspicion, especially if he was suspicious already. But she also doesn't want to think about the fact that that is true. She doesn't anymore.

"I do be coming from Gauig, I did be telling you that already. I do be working in an inn it do be being near the docks. We did be living there all ou... my life."

She keeps the flinch off her face, hopefully he didn't notice the slip.

Unfortunately, Tony misunderstands her reaction. He can see he hurt her by asking her questions, but he believes it to be the topic and not misconstrued payment for the chocolate. He hums a soft sympathetic note and shakes his head.

"I lost my family years ago too. I have a new one now with my wife and daughter, but I can understand it being difficult being without family. I'm sorry I brought it up, Buttercup. I didn't mean to make you sad."

He hears the slip, but doesn't know what it means. He doesn't think much of it, other than assuming she's still recovering from his last intrusive question. He's more curious about her inn work. "You're awfully young to be working. I hope they're treating you well there."

"I did no be losing them." She shook her head, "I just never did be having one, did no be needing one either." She pulled a face at his words. He hadn't made her sad. She didn't get sad. Sad was like scared, liable to get you dead.

She needs to get it together. She knows how to handle scrutiny, she's been able to deflect it for a long time. She pulls a further face. "I do no be being a baby. I do be being eleven." Plenty old enough, "And I did be working there as long as I did be smart enough," She grinned, "Which do be being a really long time."

Her situation and how to react to it seemed way above his maturity level, but he was the only one present. If Pepper were here, she'd be doing a much better job at this than he was. He listened but was unsure how to respond for a moment.

"No, you're not a baby. I can tell you're smart, Buttercup, but you're young and you deserve to be treated well and kept safe from harm. It's the same I want for Peter and Gwen. They're both smart and capable, just like you. But they're young and as an adult, it's my job to keep all of you safe and happy."

It's his job to keep young people safe and happy? What kind of job was that? A strange one? Was that what had gotten him injured?

He was light following, she had figured that much out. But the rest? He fascinated her. So quick to be nice, to give her a name. Quick to compliment her. He clearly wanted information. But what else? What would he do with that information?

She has to think. Remain focused. If she hadn't ended up on this stupid train she would be going to the Temple in a few days. Maybe even today. She would have been alone there, without guidance. She wasn't a baby. She had to focus.

"How did you be losing your first family?" She tilted her head one way and then another. "You did be saying you did be having a daughter who did be being nearly my age. Do she no be working with you?"

She wasn't wrong. Tony does want information. It's like his goal in life to know literally everything about everything. In this case, he figures the more he knows about the people on this train the better he can protect them. And no matter what Sarai says, he knows it's his job to keep them all safe. It's who he was.

Tony is taken back a bit at the question about his family. He hadn't expected her to turn the questions on him, but it seems only fair. "They were murdered," he explains, with some pain in his expression and tone. It didn't seem to matter how many years went by, it hurt that he lost his parents- and in such a brutal way too. He would never forgive Bucky, no matter what Captain said.

The part about his daughter brings some light back and he shakes his head. "No, my world, we don't believe in child labor. Children are supposed to go to school and be taken care of. Morgan will be five in a few months." And he'll miss it, just like all the following years. "She's pretty like you are and smart." She was the best parts of him and Pepper. To him, he couldn't see her as anything but perfect.

Murdered. She watched him as she spoke, he looked sad but a moment later he seemed happier again. She guessed it was true he had said he had gotten a new family now.

She wrinkles her nose as he began telling her about Morgan. "Five do be being much littler than eleven." No where near the same age at all! "How will she be learning if she do no be working with you?"

She knows that in that regard she is no different than any other child. Even children with parents were learning their trade, definitely by the time they were Buttercup's age but probably helping even when they were littler.

"What do school be being?"

Tony has to laugh at her expression. He couldn't blame her, five and eleven were pretty different. To them anyway.

"You'll have to forgive me for my age. You all just seem young and precious to me." He would roll his eyes if someone else criticized his age, but to a young girl like Buttercup, he knows how he must appear. Age was such a double edged sword. It gave him such valuable experience and knowledge, but it made his joins hurt and feel about a hundred some days. Especially lately. He'd never quite felt as haggard as he had since arriving here.

Anyway, back to her questions. "School is a place children go to learn and stay out of trouble till their adults. Some are there for months and only come home for vacation while others only go for several hours and come home every night." He'd grown up with the first one.

It was true, he was old. Even older than Kant. Maybe when you got that old all children seemed the same, even if five and eleven were vastly different.

School was a place children went to stay out of trouble and learn things. Were children so troublesome in Tony's world that they had to be sent away? Even one's as little as five?

"It do be being like the Temple then. But all children do be going there. Do Morgan be going for months or do she be going home every night?" That had to be a lot of travelling.

"The temple?" Tony asks, tilting his head a little to the side, subtly inviting her to share more with him. "What is that?"

He knows what a temple was in his world, but he wasn't going to assume what it was in Buttercup's. This temple could be just like a little kid convent or it could be something else more important. If he remembered correctly, she mentioned priestess earlier when talking about Lightning. Did these children serve the priestess?

"No, Morgan is still too young. She stays home with me or her mother, Pepper. Mostly me though." He had more flexibility with his schedule, after all. Since he'd been rescued from the space ship he'd refused any more public appearances that weren't absolutely necessary. They'd found a quiet home in the woods and he'd been home recovering and focusing on the important things in life.

"It do be being in the mountains." The Temple had always been a place she liked to hear about, there were lots of stories about it. But now she knew she was to go there she was less sure about it.

"It do no be being very warm there and in winter it do even be snowing. But it do be being where people who do be having magic do be going to be learning to be being priests and priestesses. They do be going when they do be being children and they do be learning every day until they do be being grown ups. If you do no be having magic you can be going there to be becoming a Warrior. That do be taking years and years and years of training too."

It sounded very much like Tony's school. Morgan would definitely be too young to go there.

It's hard not to cringe at her speech pattern, but he didn't want her to think she'd done something wrong. It wasn't her fault she'd been raised by people who couldn't talk properly- by his standards. It was entirely possible this was their version of English, however horrifying that thought might be. If he could put up with Thor telling a story, he could handle this.

"Which are you trying to become? A priestess or a warrior?" He asks, curiosu about what she'd been in training for. "Do you know any magic?"

She shook her head, "I do no be having magic. I have no never been going to the temple either."

She stared at the chocolate for a moment, he was from a different world from her. Though she still had to be very careful. But she can tell him, it's not really a secret. "I will be going though. I should have been going soon." Maybe today, or tomorrow. She's lost track of time.

"I will be training to be being a Warrior. So one day I will be being a Warrior and protecting a priestess or priest. They do be being really strong, the best fighters in the whole world."

There's pride in her voice but also sadness. She had always hoped, in her secret heart, that they would get sent to the Temple. That she would become a Warrior like Kant. But now... Going alone. It was not quite what she had thought.

And now she isn't there at all, but on this train with people from whole different worlds.

"I see. I'll bet you make a wonderful warrior some day. I just hope your priest or priestess appreciates their good fortune having you on their side." He would've said something similar if it had been the other answer too. She was eleven. In his mind, that meant if she said today she wanted to be a Warrior and tomorrow a chef, he'd only tell her what a great idea that was. When she gets to, say, Peter's age, he'd tell her if she was being stupid. Maybe.

Belatedly, he picks up on the note of sadness. What could be causing that? "Are you disappointed that you're here instead of the temple?"

"I do be hoping so!" Honestly the idea of swearing to protect someone for her whole life is a bit overwhelming, but it's not something she needs to do until she's a grown up and honestly being a grown up is a long time away, she might not even survive that long.

But now she's on a train so might never go to the temple at all. It's not the reason she is sad, not really. But also she can't tell him the real reason and this is a good excuse. She nods. "I do be guessing so, I do no be knowing where we do be going but it do no be being there."

She might never go there, she might never see her world again. It's a bit overwhelming.

Tony wouldn't be okay with the girl wondering if she was going to live long enough to see adulthood. It didn't seem right. He may be from a very different world than Buttercup, but he was okay forcing his beliefs about protecting children on someone else's culture. Most other things he'd respect, but not that.

"Hey, look at me Buttercup," Tony instructs gently. "Everything's going to be alright. I'm going to find us a way home. Until then I'm going to be here to watch out for you. You have my word."

Her eyes snap up to his face, obediently, making sure her eyes stayed on his and didn't drift away. Kant had been trying to teach her better conversation manners the last few months. But she often forgets.

But Tony was talking, telling her he was going to find a way home and he was going to watch out for her. That was a bit worrying. If he was watching out for her that meant he was watching her and she had to be careful. But she can be careful and hopefully he will find a way home soon.

"Do you be knowing a lot about train-ships?"

[ooc- Sorry some of my notifs got messed up in my inbox]

The way she reacts to his request makes him think he's making some progress here. She's learning slowly she can trust him. He had to believe that this attention and compassion would benefit them both eventually. She seemed a bit like one of those abused animals at a shelter who needs a good, kind home but is too scared to trust her new owner. At least, that's the metaphor he'd heard from other people. He has never had any interest in a pet in his whole life. Why have a pet when you can have a robot?

Anyway, he was curious about her question. It had nothing to do with what he'd just said. Either she didn't believe he would protect her or she didn't want him to. He was just going to have to prove himself and that relying on him would only be a good thing.

"Ship? Is that how you view this vehicle?" He considers that a moment before smirking and nodding. If he didn't know what a train was, he could see why she'd equate it to a ship. He has to give her props for coming up with that one. "Yes, although I've never seen one going through the void like this one. I didn't even know there was a void before I got here. Trains, though, are something common in my world. In fact, their technology is considered rather primative where I'm from. We have 'ships' that fly and some small ships called cars that just about everyone owns."

"It do no really be looking like a ship but it do be acting like one, except the flying and the void... Sarai did be mentioning flying ships as well and she did be being on a train that did be having ghosts that she did be beating up."

He had never heard of the void? Neither had she. Neither had anyone it seemed, no one seemed to know what was happening at all. "Do you be knowing a lot about those ships in your world then?"

She bit off another bit of chocolate. "Because I do be thinking if you do be finding us a way home you will be needing to be knowing how to be sailing this train."

Not that they had found the deck yet.

"Sarai was on a ship with ghosts on it?" Tony asks, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. He would have to ask Dread or Sarai about that story soon. "Did she call them flying ships or trains? Those might be a different type of machine." Were they talking about airplanes, baskets with bat wings, what? It was getting harder to know around here.

"Yes, I know how they operate and how they're built. I've never made one myself but, it can't be too hard to figure out once I see the nuts and bolts of this thing." His lips twitch upward at the corners hearing her tell him he needed to know how to 'sail' the train. She was too precious. "If I need to 'sail' the train, Buttercup, I promise I'll be able to do it."

"What kind of experience do you have with ships? Have you been on the ocean or sea before?"

"She did be saying it did be being a train, with ghosts and she did be beating them all up and that did be breaking the train and they did be escaping. But I did no never be seeing ghosts on this train. She did be saying a train did be being like an air ship or a chocobo."

She shrugs, it's a lot of new words and it's hard to imagine any of it. The idea that he might be able to build a train was amazing, he must be really clever. Maybe there was more than just bluff in his promise to get them all home.

"I did be living near the docks so I did be seeing lots of ships. I did no never be going on one though."

It was better luck than nothing that despite all the headaches of being abducted and brought to this place, ghosts weren't a part of their equation. At least not yet. It bothers him that someone puts them back in bed during the night, but he's going to ignore that for now.

He frowns at the word 'chocobo', unsure what that was. From her expression it seems she's repeating the words rather than fully grasping their meaning either, so he lets it go. Sarai would be the better person to ask anyway.

"This was before you were heading to the temple then? What kind of home did you have? Did you live with anyone else?"

Good morning

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