[Tony's about to retort back something matter-of-fact about how, um, excuse me, his "flashlight hand" could absolutely kill him, thank you very much, when--]
Thor? You know Thor? [Somehow, the revelation that the kid isn't just thieving from random fridges, but this specific one, is what makes Tony narrow his eyes and gesture.] Wait -- if you know him, why are you stealing his shit? Also-- [he crosses his arms,] I totally knew him first. So there.
[It absolutely could but he will literally die before he admits the whole side where the sonic blast hit is a continental bruise. Anyway—]
I'm not stealing! I'm paying him back! [And to prove it he rips the fridge door open again and points out the very fat and very dead rabbit on the middle shelf. There's no blood, but its neck is inescapably bent the wrong way, like it died trying to read the label on the Dijon mustard behind it.] See!
[To the second point, he has to narrow his own eyes.] What? So are you one of his Asgardyuns or something?
[Tony's gaze follows the kid's gesture, and -- he full-body recoils. He raises his eyes to the ceiling like he's looking for God.]
That is. A dead bunny. There's a dead bunny in the fridge.
[Tony scrubs a hand over his face, then turns back toward him.]
No, not Asgardian, just... buddies with one. From home. So-- [he gestures at the kid's head, specifically his cat ears,] guessing Cordis makes you go all... wild child? Meow and hiss at things? Murder poor, innocent Thumper?
Born-- wait. [Tony narrows his eyes and points at the top of his own head.] Born like what? With the ears?
[And claws too, by the looks of it. Tony decides to make a mental list of all the things he's discovered in, like, the past five seconds:
Kid's not Cordis.
He was a furry when he got here!
Kid's definitely not a cat.
Is it just Tony, or did that growl sound exactly like a German Shepherd?
Kid knows Thor.
Of course he knows Thor.
"Pick up food from some merchant" + literally a dead bunny in the refrigerator probably = actual real-life wild child.
Okay, this is, like, the third time the kid has made some reference to Tony being a foreigner, and his disdain for the word "modern" seems to fit in with the whole West of China shtick when they first met.
Wait. Is he the one who scratched that lettering into the counter like a goddamn psychopath?
That robe though.
Tony's gears turn. He thinks back to Robocop on the airplane. Future Earth is a relative term. If Tony's met people from alternate versions of his future, then...]
Hey. You said you were from Japan, right? [Pause.] What year?
[It occurs to him he might get "third era of the fifth prosperous shogunate" or something, but hey. That works.]
Yes, with the ears! Obviously! [This was so annoying. Wouldn't seeing these assholes with fox and cat and owlish bits lessen the shock just a little? He was hardly the strangest looking one around. He wasn't even the weirdest looking guy in this building. This man must be doing some fancy footwork to avoid running into the likes of Jester or Fjord.
It reminds him with a wasp-like sting of how Matthias had first thought he'd gotten cursed. Mutated by some evil force. He wasn't getting threatened or beaten, like he would at home. But he wasn't sure this gobsmacked bullshit was any better.]
My father was dog youkai. You can ask Thor about it if you're so confused. [The Thunder God had understood at once. He can do the explanations. Another minute spent justifying his freakish appearance would be a minute too long.
Inuyasha purses his lips. Ah, this question. Some of the irritation leaks out, two fingers pressed to his lips as he struggles to remember. His gaze drifts, no longer quite on Tony as he tries to do the mental math.]
Fuck. It's hard to keep track. Miroku says it's one thing but they changed how they counted time, right? It's a Western calendar now. So then....Kagome said it's probably...ah, 15...Either 1540 or 1550? Maybe something in between. I don't know.
Uh. [Tony raises a finger in objection.] No, pretty sure it does matter. Like. A lot -- wait, so...
[His gears turn faster. He circles around the kid, like he's assessing him in a whole new light.] Okay, I don't know anything about the yo... Cobra Kai stuff, but 1550? Really? You're telling me... cars, planes, fridges-- [he gestures at the ceiling] lightbulbs, you... you hadn't seen any of this before? Ever?
[He lets that soak in. Even Thor, with all his godly mysticism, had been from a technology-so-advanced-it's-like-magic kind of background. Hell, even Steve "Great Depression" Rogers had at least seen a telephone before. But this kind of jump from the past to the present was...]
That. [He blinks.] Okay, that... definitely exceeds "furries" on the crazy-meter.
Youkai! [He corrects irritably. It's two syllables, is it really so hard to sound out?
He looks progressively more flustered as the man makes his rounds, head whipping to keep a wary eye on his progress.] No, but— shut up! I know light bulbs! And lecktrissity! You can't escape them here, the place is overrun with those stupid lights!
[The assessment ends and Inuyasha is deemed a lunatic. His stare withers to flat disdain, lips pressed thin.] You live with a Thunder God and have an exploding metal hand. How am I the crazy one?
[Though that reminds him — he drops the sour grapes and claps the man on the shoulder.] Oh — before I forget. Tell Thor I won't take any more fruit and stuff. The weather's better now so I can find my own.
[Lean pickings though it may be, the crops were starting in. Bigger berries were sprouting on wild bushes, and foreign fruits were bulging from stems. All should serve him well.
He strides around the man, beelining for the window.]
The exploding hand's based on this thing called "science". As far as the Thunder God, he's technically a Thunder Alien, so that's...
[Tony trails off as something else the kid said catches up with his brain.]
Hey -- wait, the weather? [The kid gets closer to his original point of entry and Tony feels an odd kind of panic grip him, which he expresses as a gesture and incredulous expression.] So you've been going full-on hunter-gatherer because you... don't know how to order a pizza, wow that's. That's wild -- hey.
[He narrows his eyes.]
Where... are you staying, anyway?
Edited ("so you're telling me" "so you're saying" yeah we get it tony EDITS) 2019-06-19 07:52 (UTC)
INSOLENT MORTAL!!!!!!! YOUR EDITS HAVE DISTURBED MY SLUMBER
[So close to freedom. The brittle-paned barrier was mere strides away. He could ignore the yammering of this confusing man and go. Away. Far away.
......But he's just so infuriating, talking down to him like he's got rocks for brains or something. Oohing and aahing over his loss of footing, like its so easy to just step five hundred years into the future and find the whole world has gone crazy.
(Or, just maybe, he's pressed on a hidden bruise — Inuyasha had a guide when he visited the modern world on Earth. A welcoming household, food in the cupboard and smiles to greet him. Now he's alone, and he doesn't get it, and he's constantly looking like a fool or tripping over something he'd never know to look for in the first place, and the civilized folk are always gawking, always prodding—)
Inuyasha's shoulders gather in a peevish hunch and mask about half the stink eye he's beaming over them.]
Just how clueless do you think I am? I've ordered plenty of food from the market! It's not my fault the money painting just fucking vanished, or that no one takes real money any more! You all love your stupid "science" and your blinking glass bangles so much! Well I think they're garbage! They don't work half the time anyway! You know what?
[And here, one hand dives into the folds of his haori. It reappears with the comm link, inert, spidery breaks in the smooth surface stemming from a divot that looks suspiciously like a fang mark. Which it is.
He chucks it at the man's feet, disgusted, ears pinned flat to his head.]
You keep it! If you find out where the money went it's all yours, I don't need it! Anything I want, I can get from outside! Just like the rest of the beasts, right?
[His knuckles have whitened, painting pale edges to the fists he's gripping through the whole of his tirade.]
[There's a semi-long silence after the kid finishes his rant. Tony raises his chin and looks down at him with eyes that are a little wider than they were a second ago.]
Yeah. That's. What I thought.
[Internally, he spirals through mental calculations. The money painting just fucking vanished. They don't work half the time.
Anything I want, I can get from outside.
Tony feels the tension in the room, stretched in a taut line between him and dog boy, ready to slingshot the kid back out the window and onto the streets. There's no stopping him from going. Kids are stupid like that -- especially... animal-related ones. Tony feels a tightness in his gut (why hasn't Peter called?) and steps forward before the kid can disappear into the night.]
Hey -- I'm. Tony, by the way. Tony Stark. And you know... [He jerks a thumb over his shoulder.] There's a couch here. You could crash on it if you want, I'm sure Thor'd be fine with it. Thrilled, even -- more people to... revel.
[Tony's hand tenses at his side. Please don't be stupid, kid.]
I mean, you did save my life. Sorta. Kinda. [Definitely.]
[Whittling a man down to size should give him relief. The high airs he needs to leave this encounter feeling like he came out on top. It had worked, but watching the man's face fall only hollows him out. Inuyasha's gone egg-shell brittle. Outside he's rigid, fury turned to a searing sulk beneath the curtain of his bangs.
There's nothing more to say, is there? If he doesn't leave now he'll just dig the hole deeper, the man will bore into him with piteous eyes, and he just might go up in flames. Let hell devour him whole before he makes a bigger fool of himself.
Inuyasha takes one step. Then he's snared all over again — no jokes this time. It's a name. An invitation. His eyes zip to the couch and he nearly asks what "crash" is supposed to mean before the implication wallops him upside the head.
If Tony took his time answering before, Inuyasha doubles that measure now. His lips pull thin.
It's...a kind gesture. An unexpected one from this half of the household. Thor would be pretty cavalier about it, he guesses. That doesn't stop his skin from going prickly. A "yes" is an ocean away. Inuyasha doesn't belong here. In this apartment, in this city. In this world. He's only being offered something because he cuts such a pathetic picture, an antiquated novelty that can't parse magic glassworks to save his life.]
Keh!
[He turns his back and hikes the window high.]
Don't make a meal of it. These people would be pissed to find some carcass stinking up their moon, that's all.
[He could offer his own name back.
Inuyasha takes to the wind instead. He's a will-o-the-wisp in the moonlight, whisking over the rooftops in inhuman bounds. One blink, and he's gone with the mist.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
industries) wrote2019-05-15 09:19 pm
no subject
Thor? You know Thor? [Somehow, the revelation that the kid isn't just thieving from random fridges, but this specific one, is what makes Tony narrow his eyes and gesture.] Wait -- if you know him, why are you stealing his shit? Also-- [he crosses his arms,] I totally knew him first. So there.
no subject
I'm not stealing! I'm paying him back! [And to prove it he rips the fridge door open again and points out the very fat and very dead rabbit on the middle shelf. There's no blood, but its neck is inescapably bent the wrong way, like it died trying to read the label on the Dijon mustard behind it.] See!
[To the second point, he has to narrow his own eyes.] What? So are you one of his Asgardyuns or something?
no subject
That is. A dead bunny. There's a dead bunny in the fridge.
[Tony scrubs a hand over his face, then turns back toward him.]
No, not Asgardian, just... buddies with one. From home. So-- [he gestures at the kid's head, specifically his cat ears,] guessing Cordis makes you go all... wild child? Meow and hiss at things? Murder poor, innocent Thumper?
no subject
[Inuyasha stands clueless in the chilly waves of the cold box. He blinks.
Then his expression sours, eyes shut irritably as a muted canine rumble sounds in his chest. His claws rap on the door frame.]
All right. You're modern and you're a foreigner, so I'll forgive you for not knowing anything. But don't you ever call me a cat again.
[He slaps the door shut then, crossing his arms beneath his sleeves.] I was born like this. The moons haven't got shit to do with it.
Anyway, you shouldn't complain so much. Not everyone's so spoiled they can just pick up food from some merchant.
no subject
[And claws too, by the looks of it. Tony decides to make a mental list of all the things he's discovered in, like, the past five seconds:
Tony's gears turn. He thinks back to Robocop on the airplane. Future Earth is a relative term. If Tony's met people from alternate versions of his future, then...]
Hey. You said you were from Japan, right? [Pause.] What year?
[It occurs to him he might get "third era of the fifth prosperous shogunate" or something, but hey. That works.]
no subject
It reminds him with a wasp-like sting of how Matthias had first thought he'd gotten cursed. Mutated by some evil force. He wasn't getting threatened or beaten, like he would at home. But he wasn't sure this gobsmacked bullshit was any better.]
My father was dog youkai. You can ask Thor about it if you're so confused. [The Thunder God had understood at once. He can do the explanations. Another minute spent justifying his freakish appearance would be a minute too long.
Inuyasha purses his lips. Ah, this question. Some of the irritation leaks out, two fingers pressed to his lips as he struggles to remember. His gaze drifts, no longer quite on Tony as he tries to do the mental math.]
Fuck. It's hard to keep track. Miroku says it's one thing but they changed how they counted time, right? It's a Western calendar now. So then....Kagome said it's probably...ah, 15...Either 1540 or 1550? Maybe something in between. I don't know.
[He clicks his tongue and waves the matter away.]
Whatever. It hardly matters in this shit hole.
no subject
[His gears turn faster. He circles around the kid, like he's assessing him in a whole new light.] Okay, I don't know anything about the yo... Cobra Kai stuff, but 1550? Really? You're telling me... cars, planes, fridges-- [he gestures at the ceiling] lightbulbs, you... you hadn't seen any of this before? Ever?
[He lets that soak in. Even Thor, with all his godly mysticism, had been from a technology-so-advanced-it's-like-magic kind of background. Hell, even Steve "Great Depression" Rogers had at least seen a telephone before. But this kind of jump from the past to the present was...]
That. [He blinks.] Okay, that... definitely exceeds "furries" on the crazy-meter.
no subject
He looks progressively more flustered as the man makes his rounds, head whipping to keep a wary eye on his progress.] No, but— shut up! I know light bulbs! And lecktrissity! You can't escape them here, the place is overrun with those stupid lights!
[The assessment ends and Inuyasha is deemed a lunatic. His stare withers to flat disdain, lips pressed thin.] You live with a Thunder God and have an exploding metal hand. How am I the crazy one?
[Though that reminds him — he drops the sour grapes and claps the man on the shoulder.] Oh — before I forget. Tell Thor I won't take any more fruit and stuff. The weather's better now so I can find my own.
[Lean pickings though it may be, the crops were starting in. Bigger berries were sprouting on wild bushes, and foreign fruits were bulging from stems. All should serve him well.
He strides around the man, beelining for the window.]
Tell him thank you from me, too.
no subject
The exploding hand's based on this thing called "science". As far as the Thunder God, he's technically a Thunder Alien, so that's...
[Tony trails off as something else the kid said catches up with his brain.]
Hey -- wait, the weather? [The kid gets closer to his original point of entry and Tony feels an odd kind of panic grip him, which he expresses as a gesture and incredulous expression.] So you've been going full-on hunter-gatherer because you... don't know how to order a pizza, wow that's. That's wild -- hey.
[He narrows his eyes.]
Where... are you staying, anyway?
INSOLENT MORTAL!!!!!!! YOUR EDITS HAVE DISTURBED MY SLUMBER
......But he's just so infuriating, talking down to him like he's got rocks for brains or something. Oohing and aahing over his loss of footing, like its so easy to just step five hundred years into the future and find the whole world has gone crazy.
(Or, just maybe, he's pressed on a hidden bruise — Inuyasha had a guide when he visited the modern world on Earth. A welcoming household, food in the cupboard and smiles to greet him. Now he's alone, and he doesn't get it, and he's constantly looking like a fool or tripping over something he'd never know to look for in the first place, and the civilized folk are always gawking, always prodding—)
Inuyasha's shoulders gather in a peevish hunch and mask about half the stink eye he's beaming over them.]
Just how clueless do you think I am? I've ordered plenty of food from the market! It's not my fault the money painting just fucking vanished, or that no one takes real money any more! You all love your stupid "science" and your blinking glass bangles so much! Well I think they're garbage! They don't work half the time anyway! You know what?
[And here, one hand dives into the folds of his haori. It reappears with the comm link, inert, spidery breaks in the smooth surface stemming from a divot that looks suspiciously like a fang mark. Which it is.
He chucks it at the man's feet, disgusted, ears pinned flat to his head.]
You keep it! If you find out where the money went it's all yours, I don't need it! Anything I want, I can get from outside! Just like the rest of the beasts, right?
[His knuckles have whitened, painting pale edges to the fists he's gripping through the whole of his tirade.]
no subject
Yeah. That's. What I thought.
[Internally, he spirals through mental calculations. The money painting just fucking vanished. They don't work half the time.
Anything I want, I can get from outside.
Tony feels the tension in the room, stretched in a taut line between him and dog boy, ready to slingshot the kid back out the window and onto the streets. There's no stopping him from going. Kids are stupid like that -- especially... animal-related ones. Tony feels a tightness in his gut (why hasn't Peter called?) and steps forward before the kid can disappear into the night.]
Hey -- I'm. Tony, by the way. Tony Stark. And you know... [He jerks a thumb over his shoulder.] There's a couch here. You could crash on it if you want, I'm sure Thor'd be fine with it. Thrilled, even -- more people to... revel.
[Tony's hand tenses at his side. Please don't be stupid, kid.]
I mean, you did save my life. Sorta. Kinda. [Definitely.]
no subject
There's nothing more to say, is there? If he doesn't leave now he'll just dig the hole deeper, the man will bore into him with piteous eyes, and he just might go up in flames. Let hell devour him whole before he makes a bigger fool of himself.
Inuyasha takes one step. Then he's snared all over again — no jokes this time. It's a name. An invitation. His eyes zip to the couch and he nearly asks what "crash" is supposed to mean before the implication wallops him upside the head.
If Tony took his time answering before, Inuyasha doubles that measure now. His lips pull thin.
It's...a kind gesture. An unexpected one from this half of the household. Thor would be pretty cavalier about it, he guesses. That doesn't stop his skin from going prickly. A "yes" is an ocean away. Inuyasha doesn't belong here. In this apartment, in this city. In this world. He's only being offered something because he cuts such a pathetic picture, an antiquated novelty that can't parse magic glassworks to save his life.]
Keh!
[He turns his back and hikes the window high.]
Don't make a meal of it. These people would be pissed to find some carcass stinking up their moon, that's all.
[He could offer his own name back.
Inuyasha takes to the wind instead. He's a will-o-the-wisp in the moonlight, whisking over the rooftops in inhuman bounds. One blink, and he's gone with the mist.]