(September Station Catch-All) I Make My Own Rules

[savingthrows]

CHARACTERS: Eleven & You (Open Starters + Closed TDM Continuations
LOCATION: Various aboard the station
DATE: immediately after arrival + the week leading up to the first mission
CONTENT: Catch-all Log
WARNINGS: potential references to human experimentation, child abuse/neglect. specific CWs in TLs when applicable

[ Top Levels in Comments:
Open: Batteries Needed: Lab & Tech Storage
Open: Abduction of Property: Sunlight Room
Open: Waffles or Bust: Kitchen
Closed: TDM Continuations ]

[ ooc note: default to brackets, but if you prefer prose, feel free to tag in with prose and I'll match format.

If you'd like a closed starter or have a different kind of thread idea for which none of these setups work, feel free to hit me at inkcharm, Discord inkcharm#4573 or send me a PM. ]

Comments

[arc_reactor]

( It's amazing how some solid sleep, a lot of meds, and several days spent at the mercy of both a bossy medical robot and half the Avengers can make a guy feel better– or at least not entirely on the verge of shattering at a moment's notice. Tony's still taking it easy, only leaving the infirmary for short stints he's sure he can manage: shuffling his way to the kitchen, picking up the odd tool he needs from the lab, poking with keen interest at the various settings in the armory, and soaking in the peaceful ambiance of the sunlight room.

His heart lurches to see the makeshift fort. It's somehow perfectly at home in the bucolic setting, the very thing Morgan would have set up herself, relieving them of kitchen stools, spare blankets, and even a spare tomato trellis or two for her purposes. The sign posted on this one makes him smile. That's like, basic Blanket Fort custom, okay, Food For Entry, "Feed Me And Go".

Tony doesn't stick around then- kid deserves their privacy -but that sign and the little fort among the trees stays with him through his coffee. If Morgan were lost, he'd want someone safe to look after her.

The ingredients are all there, a pleasant surprise in light of their location in the middle of space. Managing a meal one-handed isn't an easy task, but Tony actually relishes the challenge, and soon enough he's shuffling back through the grass with a full plate-

-And is promptly told off by a young voice. A young girl's voice, which has the effect of making his heart do a few more flip flops in his chest.

Undeterred, Tony plants his feet and slowly takes a careful knee. )

Oh, my mistake, ( he says airily, making sure the rising steam is floating toward that low entrance, ) Guess these waffles are gonna go to waste.

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven is on a ship full of strange adults. This, per se, does not frighten her. She knows she could kill many of them before they even found a weapon to kill her with. It's a comforting knowledge, not a scary one. But she's already learned that there are kind people here. Bucky showed her around. She hasn't told him about the blanket fort yet. Adults don't always understand and she doesn't always have the words to explain.

Doesn't want to say 'I don't like the rooms, because they're like the lab' to just anybody. Too white, too sterile. She doesn't want to draw a picture with crayons and stick it on the wall to have some color, as if she's back there. As if she's waiting for Papa to touch her head.

She's free - except she's not.

So instead, Eleven is here.

There's an impatient huff, and then she crawls through the entrance, half emerging on her stomach and shooting a judgmental glare at the broken man outside. Careful, Tony - don't crumble under the weight of 14 year old judgment. It's heavy. ]

You sound. Like a trap.

[arc_reactor]

Really?

( That is indeed a heavy weight to bear, but he can take it, already well-practiced at bearing the strain. Morgan can mean-mug like nobody's business. )

That might be an improvement, cuz I think I look like shit.

( He shifts, realizes his right knee feels suspiciously wobbly, and manages to set the plate and fork down before he can drop it- and settles gracelessly back in the grass with a tired huff. Whew, that took more out of him than he was willing to admit. )

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven hesitates a moment, and then finally emerges fully from the tent. No offense to Tony - she observes the way he has to sit back hard, and deems him harmless. Her threat assessment isn't very skilled, but she sees no gun, only hurt, and therefore has decreed him not dangerous.

Now that she's out of the fort, he might notice that she's drowning in a leather jacket - and if he has caught sight of Bucky on the station, he might recognize the jacket as belonging to that very man. Or perhaps not anymore. And perhaps Tony will even spot something on her neck, like faded bruising, a day or two old. ]

Pretty shitty.

[ It's a casual confirmation, not unkind but not especially tactful either. There's something strange to the way she says the words - shitty in particular is pronounced just a little off, both words sounded out more than they roll casually off the tongue.

She picks up the plate and fork, uses the fork to big up the entire waffle, and takes a large bite from it, chipmunk cheeks and all, even while her wide brown eyes stay on him. ]

Did. A bad man hurt you?

[arc_reactor]

( The bruising concerns him– you get strangled a few times by enemies and allies alike and you know what the aftermath looks and feels like –so his gaze strays there briefly. Tony glances up, and smiles ruefully at her assessment. Bless the bald honesty of kids. Yeah, he's not winning any beauty contests any time soon. )

Yeah. ( How do you explain to a child, that isn't your own, that you made the choice to hurt yourself so the Big Bad wouldn't hurt others? You don't, actually. Her assumption is close enough to leave it at that. He wonders a little at her halting cadence, the unsure quality to her voice. ESL? )

He was pretty bad. Big, ( Tony stretches his good arm over his head, then out to his side, indicating the dimensions of Thanos in relation to himself, ) Ugly purple guy, like an angry prune. What about yours?

( It's with a light tone that he asks, letting his fingers stray to his own throat, before they fall into his lap. Open-ended, room so she can pretend he's not ask for specifics, or ignore or rebuff him as she's most comfortable. )

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven's nose wrinkles at the description, trying to picture his monster and deciding that it must have been ugly. Prunes are gross, so the prune monster must have been gross, too.

It would surprise Tony that Eleven, of all people, would fully understand his sacrifice. It's one she's made before. It's one she intends to make again. ]

Billy.

[ She scratches at her neck idly, face darkening. It makes her look older than she is, the expression, because it's of a child not unused to pain. ]

He's Flayed.

[ She weighs her head side to side for a moment, then offers, as if she feels like she should: ]

I don't like Billy. But. It's not his fault. He's not free. He was crying, too. The Mindflayer is in him, and in a lot of others.