ahollowman | (no subject)

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elsa

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There was something niggling at Tony Stark since Pride. It wasn't anything important particularly, just the sort of thought that followed him around, popped up when he was by himself working in the shop, relaxed, listening to something good he'd heard a million times.

Who exactly was the mystery girl that was seeing Jessica Drew?

Yeah. He knew her name. It wasn't that hard after they'd met face to face a few times. Thank you, social media. Especially you, Eduardo Saverin, Cameron Winklevoss.

Anyway, it was an oversight on his part that he hadn't met the white-haired girl yet. She had some kind of cold powers? What did they call her? Didn't matter, she had cold powers, and Darrow was only so big, so PEGGI could find her thermal signature eventually. And PEGGI did.

Tony chased after the marker on his HUD, catching up eventually as she made her way down a sidewalk at night. He hovered nearby in the ELMO suit, glad all over again that it didn't utilize jet propulsion anymore, was whisper-quiet as a Dyson fan. It let him watch her. Not in a creepy way.

Maybe a little creepy.

Her hair caught his attention more than anything, a pale and thickly braided whip of it that seemed to glitter under the city lights. He thought of a vacation he'd gone on once with his parents to Yellowstone in the off-season when they had more of the park to themselves. Hiking in the early morning on a January day so cold and bright that almost imperceptible microscopic ice crystals hung suspended in the air.

Diamond dust.

Tony cleared his throat from where the suit hung a few feet above and behind her, repulsors glowing their dull, gentle blue..

"Hi."

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Even the sound of a throat clearing startles Elsa a bit. She thought she was alone, walking back to her apartment after an evening at The Secret Garden. Certainly she hasn't heard anyone approaching, but then there's that sound and a voice behind her.

She turns to look back, frowning to find no one there in the moment before her gaze raises.

"Oh!" she exclaims, surprised. Which, she tells herself, is silly. This is Darrow. She's hardly the only one around here who has special abilities. It's just startling to come across someone with them stealing up behind her in the dark. "Well, hello."

"Hi, yeah."

The faceplate folded away from Tony's face with a snap. He raised a hand and gave her a finger-wiggle of a gauntleted wave. Tony slowly dropped himself back down to street level, until he could stand a few feet away from her.

"You're dating Jessica, aren't you? I don't think we've ever been properly introduced. I don't think we've ever at all been introduced. Weird, right? I'm Tony."

"Oh," Elsa says, relaxing a little. It's still a bit strange, true, but at least she's heard of him. It makes it seem a little less bizarre.

Granted, she's not entirely sure how she feels about what she's heard. Jessica came to her pretty upset after their conversation at pride, and she's not thrilled with anyone who upsets her girlfriend. On the other hand, it's impossible for her to hear someone mention that she's dating Jessica and not smile.

"Yes, she's my girlfriend. It's nice to meet you, Tony. I'm Elsa."

"I wouldn't necessarily make the judgement call on that so early," Tony said, all irony and strange contrition. He was more than aware that his relationship to Jessica wouldn't be described as 'friends.' But he cared, too much, maybe just because Jessica's hazel eyes had something too familiar in them for him to ignore.

"But it's good to finally meet you, Elsa."

The suit folded open, delicately, complicated, and Tony spat himself out of it. He lost half a foot in the process, and most of his gravitas. But he didn't need those things for this conversation. There was no reason to intimidate.

He shook her hand with a naked one.

"Now we're proper."

"That's better," Elsa agrees, shaking his hand. He's not that much taller than her now, and he's not floating in the air; being on even footing makes her feel a little more comfortable. He has a point, of course, about not making that call so soon, but she is, despite Darrow, still a queen. She spent her childhood being taught impeccable manners. Until she has cause to treat him with anything less than absolute politeness, that's what he gets.

She eyes the suit for a moment, curious, her attention quickly turning back to him. "It does seem like it's about time, doesn't it? Jessica's... mentioned you many times."

It hasn't always been in the most flattering of lights, but he probably doesn't need to be told that.

"Doesn't surprise me. I'm sort of ... polarizing. Even the fact that I refer to myself as polarizing is probably also ... polarizing."

He stopped, looking her over. Especially in the dark, her skin was so pale that it glowed. Tony tilted his head to one side and smoothed down the line of his tie.

"Sorry if it seems like I tracked you down and now I've got nothing to say, but you are just ... did you know you're absolutely enchanting? Now that I'm this close it's so distracting, I see where your sticky paramour is coming from."

"Oh," Elsa says, "well, thank you. That's very kind." 'Sticky paramour' is a strange way to refer to Jessica, and she can't help smiling at it, amused. She's going to have to remember that and tell her; she'll — well, maybe she won't get a kick out of it. Jessica's feelings regarding Tony Stark are often mixed. It's hard to predict.

Still, he seems nice enough, even if he did, apparently, stalk her.

"So you tracked me down deliberately? Why?"

"Partially because superhero girlfriends is just adorable. So congratulations on that."

Maybe it was too much honesty. He shrugged one shoulder with innocent insouciance and slipped his hands into his pockets. He smiled at Elsa, an expression that threw into relief the brackets around his mouth.

"And I'm used to this being my job. Connecting everyone. Keeping an eye on them. Never in charge, but ... always up to date. Also, paying for stuff and making everyone look cool. Speaking of, is that costume made of ice? That is mind-blowing."

Edited 2018-06-28 03:06 (UTC)

No matter how long she's in Darrow, Elsa thinks, she'll never quite get over the giddy relief of hearing her powers referred to positively. She spent so much of her life terrified of it, but people here usually aren't afraid. Maybe they should be, because she's much more powerful than she knows how to control sometimes, but she likes that they aren't.

"Oh, thank you," she says. "It is, yes. I make it myself. I've never seen one like yours before — and it can fly. That's incredible." She can't fly, but that's fine. She can bolster herself with ice if she needs to, and her girlfriend can swing from any available surface. Between them, they make it work.

"You are very polite," Tony said, both amused and charmed. He smiled at her, an oddly quiet expression, especially in the dark.

Yeah, the suit could fly. There had been a time when that had been the whole point of it, to chase the excitement of it. Before the suit had become a weapon of opportunity. Before he'd become Iron Man.

"There isn't one like mine. And I do what I can to make sure of it. Because it never ends well. And because it's mine, and they can't have it. Only child, very bad at sharing. How long have you had the whole deal?"

"Since I was born," Elsa says, shrugging, her smile wry. "My poor parents hardly knew what to do with it." She hates to think of it, really; it's just one more thing to make her feel how much of a burden she must have been to them, how difficult she made their lives. But when she was young, it hadn't been such a problem. There was fun mixed with the caution. "We never knew what caused it."

She's made her peace with that, though. It is what it is, and there's no use in wondering about the cause.

"Wow." From birth, that was oddly heavy. He was familiar with some of Wanda's problems, concerns, and yet Wanda hadn't come into abilities like hers until she was nearly grown.

"I'm sorry to hear all that," Tony said, and although the words smacked of platitudes, his voice was honest and filled with sympathy. He smiled at Elsa in a way that threw into relief the crow's feet around his eyes.

"Actually, I'm gad you two found each other. You and Jessica. I don't know her very well, but I know what it's like to feel like someone you're with doesn't understand too much of you. Even if they want to."

The subject can be a terribly difficult one, heavy with the weight of all those years Elsa lost, the ones she spent locked away, keeping to herself. Her childhood was a lonely one. Her parents wanted so much, she knows, to help and to understand. They never could.

But here she is, and she has Jessica now. Tony's words are so kind, so understanding, and it moves her. She smiles, even reaches out to touch his arm for a moment. "Thank you," she says. "I'm so grateful for her. It was... very difficult, growing up, but it's easier here with her. And nice." She huffs out a laugh, all soft relief. "So nice not to be the only one who can do extraordinary things."

When the touch on his arm isn't as chilly as he expects it to be, he gives an oddly giddy smile. He understands Elsa's abilities are magical in origin. And the adult in Tony thinks that word is an excuse for a real explanation, but there's a child somewhere deep inside him that still thinks there was a little bit of magic in that January Yellowstone blue sky.

He darted his brows and glanced off to the left, thoughtful.

She'd said extraordinary, not magical, not supernatural, not inhuman. Extraordinary. Sometimes, he felt like he might fit that category. Other times, he felt alone and vulnerable and the odd man out.

Well, anymore he just felt lonely, and he was half to blame for that.

"Must be nice. Feeling like you have somewhere to fit with her. She why you started doing this whole thing? Not a bad motivator."

Edited 2018-07-10 03:26 (UTC)

Elsa nods. It's the truth and there's no reason to say otherwise. She wouldn't be here doing what she does without Jessica. She'd probably be home already, alone in her apartment, steadfastly avoiding magic.

"She helped me learn how to trust my powers," she says, soft and slow. "I — they can be very dangerous. But if I can use them to help people, then I will." It's a duty she has, the same as her royal obligations. She was born into power and she has to use it wisely and for the benefit of others.

Tony is reminded of Wanda. Young, incredibly powerful, still learning her skills. Worrying some days still that she might be dangerous. But still wanting, needing to do what she could to help.

He turned his head away for a second, knowing his expression must have turned to something between familiarity and shame. He'd called Wanda a weapon once, in a fut of frustration.

Now all he could see was kids, with too much responsibility.

"She's smart. Good moral compass. You two found each other, that's a blessing. This place isn't all bad, all the time."

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