Someone Had a Rough Night, And For Once, It Wasn't Tony Who: Tony and Carol Where: Tony's Workshop When: Feb. 26th, Afternoon
(OOC: So...totally forgot to post this! Sorry about that, guys!)
Tony had spent a lot of time in the workshop since the big battle. Yes, he got a kick out of doing silly things like tormenting Bruce over the network about his new girlfriend, but he hadn't actually left this place other than to occasionally eat and sleep for a little while. Yeah, he knew that he was the obsessive type, but he didn't exactly care if anything like that was healthy or whatever. Instead, he kept his focus on his suit, working to see if he could implement the upgrades that Carol had suggested in hopes that, the next time he happened to run into the big purple dinosaur, he wouldn't turn out to be so fucking useless. He couldn't handle that bullshit.
"Hey.... Rocket? You got a mi- oh, hey Tony. Sorry to interrupt... I thought Rocket would be in here." Carol said with a tired smile as she padded into the room in her bare feet, obviously relaxing in a loose, partially unbuttoned white dress shirt and tiny gray shorts. "How's everything going? Little more calm and relaxed yet?"
Tony looked over at Carol when he heard her voice. "Just me in here today, blondie," he said to her, setting down his tools so that he could be remotely social for a change. "Not sure if I could call myself more calm and relaxed, but I'm at least in a less shitty of a mood. What do ya need?"
"Well, aside from suddenly feeling severely underdressed... I was just stopping by to go over some security measures Rocket had thought of. Me and Cosmo went over them and were just gonna give him feedback." Carol told him, running her fingers once through her long hair absently. "Do I even wanna know what you're working on this time?"
"And you say underdressed like it's a bad thing." Yeah, he was obviously doing a little bit better. "Still working on the ugrades for my suit to make sure I'm not just a floating hunk of metal in space every time someone with magic whips it at me, hopefully." He leaned against one of the work tables. "What security measures did you guys work on?"
"Yeah, well... enjoy the scenery. It doesn't get a whole lot better around here..." Heh. At least Carol had no issues with self esteem, hm? "And it's just.... a series of automatic weapons we're working on, set to fend off any kind of surprise attack. We don't want to get caught off guard again."
"I'm kind of inclined to agree, honestly," Tony said playfully with a wink. "And yeah, I'm all about not getting so caught off guard again, actually. Anything I can do to help with them?"
"Honestly? I'd say talk to Rocket about that. He gets these design ideas in his head and just runs with them. He's kind of like a furry little you. Just... WAY more belligerent." Hah! Well, that was one way of describing Rocket, hm? "God... you capable of designing anything that instantly makes hangovers go away?" She asked with a little laugh, wincing and rubbing her forehead.
Sadly, Rocket WAS kind of a more belligerent him, wasn't he? "Sure, and don't you think I totally would have already designed something like that if I could? Honestly, I still find that the best things that works is lots of fatty, greasy foods and water, as sad and easy as that sounds."
"...dammit." She sighed, grumbling. "This is why I don't drink often. UGH. I have cosmic powers but I can't handle a friggin' hangover."
Tony chuckled. "You can always try a bit of hair of the dog. Not the best way to deal with a hangover, but it'll make you feel better." He looked her over for a second. "Didn't realize you were such a party animal."
"I'm NOT... that's the problem." Carol grumbled, wincing at her own volume. "Just.... every now and then me and Jessica end up having a girls' night, and.... yeah. This is what happens."
Yeah, he was having to bite back a laugh at this. Mainly because he knew she could crush him. "Stick with the greasy foods then. Soaks up the alcohol quicker." Because an alcoholic would have learned a few tricks long ago.
"This sucks, Tony. I can lift a tank, fly, and shoot blasts of cosmic energy... but I can't handle one night of boozing it up?" She laughed, blushing at her own lameness. While she tried to keep up a serious demeanor lately... sometimes the goofy, fun Carol her friends knew managed to sneak out.
"I keep hearing this thing where it's our weaknesses that make us human," Tony joked. He was actually finding that he enjoyed when she happened to pop in lately. Strange. "It's at least a nice way to look at things that suck."
"Smart-ass..." Carol snickered, shaking her head. "I guess that's a constant then: ANY version of Tony Stark is going to be a wise-ass." Still, she'd always been loyal to him. Well, HER version of him, at least. Even when Civil War broke out among the country's heroes, she sided with Iron Man without any hesitation, and fought fiercely at his side.
"Hey, if I'm ever not a smart-ass, then check and see if I'm a pod person," Tony joked. He wondered if there was a version of her back at his home as well, since there was apparently a version of him here. Probably, he supposed.
Well, there definitely was.... WE JUST WON'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S LIKE FOR A COUPLE MORE YEARS, OK? Be patient. The mun certainly isn't. ANYWAY. "It's so weird to talk to a version of you that doesn't even KNOW me... we've been through so much together, yet you have no knowledge of it. Kinda... hard to wrap my brain around."
"It's weird to wrap my brain around, too. Everyone from here already knows me, but I'm having to basically catch up on knowing them." He still wasn't totally sure what to make of it, but it was at least something that he was getting used to. "What all did we work together on here? Can I even ask that?"
"Yeah... this isn't a time-travel thing, so I don't see how telling you things could hurt..." She said as she hopped up to sit that cute little butt on his table. "I re-joined The Avengers for you. When war broke out between the heroes, I stood by you until the end. Hell... me and Venom hooked up with the Guardians because you wanted an Avengers presence in space." She thought for a moment, before telling him, "I guess... even this version of you that I barely know has my full support. Anything you need, at ALL, you got it."
"War between the heroes?" he asked, eyes narrowing in confusion. God, he couldn't even imagine something like that happening. Was it because there were seemingly more of then here? "Thanks for that, though. It's nice knowing that someone here has my back pretty much no matter what."
"Of course I have your back. If I didn't trust you implicitly, do you REALLY think I'd be sitting here so casually in damn-near my underwear? C'mon now." She chuckled, tilting her head back for a moment of reflection before elaborating on what he'd asked. "And... yeah. There was a lot of shit going down. A law was passed that said all heroes had to make their identities public knowledge and essentially become employees of the government. You were on the side that supported the law, Cap was on the side that opposed it. It got really, really ugly before it was over... loyalties wavered on both sides... but I was one of the ones who never turned on you."
"Well, I'm glad that you trust me, or else this would be really awkward," Tony teased. "And it's so weird to think of me and Cap to be on different sides," he admitted. He also couldn't imagine wanting to work for the government for any sort of reason, but he knew that if things had happened to him differently, he might have a very different view.
"I think I like this version of you." She told him, giving him a genuine smile, that softened her features and showed just how beautiful she was when she wasn't stressing over everything. "You've obviously got SO much less baggage than Other!You. Not saying you've had it easy or anything, but... it seems like this version of you hasn't had nearly as many craptastic things happen to you."
"Well, as much as part of me wants to argue, I haven't had to fight on the opposite side of the fence from friends of mine, so I'm guessing that version has had it rougher than me." Tony REALLY hoped that he would never have to go through anything like that.
"You know, for as long as you're here.... you're welcome to be involved with anything dealing with the Avengers. I'll vouch for you if need be. "Our" Tony is busy on earth trying to figure out a way to get you all back where you're from, and frankly? It's never a bad thing to have any version of Iron Man around." Carol told him, taking a moment to reach up and tie her long blonde hair into a quick, loose ponytail. She really was a loyal friend once you won her over... which could admittedly be a DAMNED hard thing to do.
"That would be awesome, actually." Especially now that Pepper wasn't here, the more he could keep himself busy, the better. "And if only we could have an army of Iron Men around. The world would be a better place," he said playfully.
"Ahhhh, THERE'S the Tony Stark I know. The one who's ego is matched in size only by his bank account." She teased, giving a playfully snarky grin, and sticking her tongue out at him.
"What, were you worried that he went anywhere?" Tony teased, arching an eyebrow at her. "Trust me, the smarm will always be there."
"And the only thing that keeps that smarm bearable is knowing what a good, decent guy is underneath it all." She smirked, knowing that even though this was a different version of him... this was still the same guy who once sold Avengers Mansion to Luke Cage for a dollar. "Well... I should probably go grab a quick shower. Ok, more like a long, cleansing shower. I feel so damn scummy right now... if you see Rocket, just tell him I'm looking for him?"
"Don't let that get out though, or it'll ruin my reputation," he teased with a wink. "I'll let Rocket know that you dropped by when he does get back in here, though, don't you worry."
Giving him a grin that would be cripplingly sexy to a lesser man, she hopped down from the table, leaning in to give him a little hug. "Remember what I said, ok? Anything you need, let me know."
Well, that didn't make it any less sexy to him. He hugged her back, though, at least trying to pretend to be a vague gentleman. "I'll definitely let you know," he told her.