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One remourseful vampire that couldn't control it's hunger and a hoard of graveyard zombies later, Tony Stark just isn't quite sure where he is. "I thought Pete took a left," but maybe he took a right instead? Instead, Stark is quite lost in a large grove of trees or whatever this fern gully place is. He makes a face. His mind is took quiet, it was painful at first to get used to. Now, he is exhausted after fighting for his life, a bit jittery after laughing maniacally as he killed undead, and quite disturbed at losing his own piece of sanity in this very insane place a.k.a. Pete Wisdom.
Gore clings to his clothes and Stark is concerned about forgetting his backpack someplace...he has to find that damn house again! Not to met, the pointy wooden fence stick he holds has seen better days and he is glad he is more enduring that he used to be...imagine the splinters in his hand! "I need a hot shower," he grumbles. Yep, he's mad and stressed again.
There's a loud singing sound, "A horse is a horse, of course of course!" And dancing out comes a man as.. If any zombies or vampires would be after Tony now, they would be pausing in their tracks, and sweeping down and low in revergence to their lord, of a sort then. And then, to face Tony, a kindly man who in his state, of anger, of anguish, of loss, might remind him fo his father.
"What be this thing/in which has cast/adrift?"
Ya, Stark pauses, but he isn't so much reminding of his father right now with dancing and singing. His father was not very silly around his son, though he have heard stories about him at the Hellfire Club. Oh boy, the stories. "Ummm...." Yep, he's totally staring, and then tilts his head slightly to one side. How do you get regality and silliness together? Does he come off like that when he's drunk? The things Tony thinks!
Still, after a few moments, he finally shakes his head to get rid of the cobwebs, and gathers up his diginity...what was left of it anyway. "Tony Stark," and moves to step forward to shake hands, but pauses mid-motion as he looks at his hand covered in nasty smelling blood clots and a pointy stick. The stick his tossed away and hands hidden behind his lower back guilty.
Oberon gives a low bow, "A pleasure." Oberon extends a hand. In this state, noticing (or perhaps not) the goat legs may be easier or more difficult then. "Oberon, Consort of Titannia." He went into a pirouette, "And King-Lord of the Fae and the Pleasures. What brings you to this realm? You come with an ill wing clinging to your soul."
The pirouette is what really draws attention to it. Stark then holds his hand out, "Well, if you don't mind gore," and will shake hands if Oberon is fine with it. He is watching the hooves. "You don't eat people, right?" The Otherworld is a dangerous place..., "Afraid I haven't read much about you Oberon, except in Midsummer's Night Dream. Which by the way, was comical." He grins at that, then it fades away, "Please don't give me an ass's head." But on to the serious stuff!
"Oh, ummm, was fighting off a hungry vampire and a hoard of former victim zombies. I sorta lost my friend during the escape. Likely not the best thing to loose your compass, but shit, life always likes to shit on you. You kinda get used to it." Stark rolls his eyes, but there is bitterness in his tone.
Oberon smiles, "It seems wit has not fled you, Sir Stark." He twirls around, "And an ass is something I have been called. And I have called many. And I shall not give you the head of one should you not prove deserving of it." An amused look over in his eyes, "However, I shall be the one who decides what manner would be befitting to then grace you of one."
Oberon gestures, "For your escape.. You flee from your own torments, or perhaps you have lost more than just your compass."
Stark actually laughs at Oberon's words. "You know...I really shouldn't be laughing, you could likely really do it." But he still finds it funny as hell. But as for fleeing from his own torments, he shrugs, pain his in his eyes as he struggles to suppress them. "Hell, not the first time I lost someone important to me." Not the first time to lose a girlfriend...but the first time one died protecting him. He swallows hard to keep the bile down. "You know...any chance there a place I can clean up someone? I think I smell worse than an ass stall, and love to fix that good Oberon." Yep, there he goes, shying away from it.
Oberon nods over, "Come with me. And of an ass you shall not smell for now. Of an ass.. I am sure you shall smell again. For such things are inevitable." Oberon gestures over at Tony now, and his fingers flicker then over as a magical spring draws forth. "For I think the lady loved ye, smelling of an ass and all. Perhaps even when you wore the ass's head upon you, time and time again."
A chuckle at that, "You know me so well...I mean, not the smelling part, but the ass's head part." Stark knows himself, he knows he can be one. He just tries not to be, and sometimes fails miserably. As for the lady loving him? He doesn't comment on it, quieting down as he moves toward the spring. He starts to clean himself up, but is careful not to drink any right now. He really will need to find his backpack later...or he could use some liquor right now, not that he can drink anything in this world anyway. Damn. Life sucks. "Where is your own lady love?" He is just making conversation, and being polite..and perhaps a little curious.
Oberon smiles, "Titannia watches me at all times." he goes on, "Especially when she is not watching. For she always enjoys her times to try and catch me to put upon me that asses head. As much as I endeavor to not be caught by her watching. It is a game, for she and I. For us, it makes the time go by. And she is as much a part of me, though we might fight ourselves for eternity."
That causes Stark to chuckle, "You get that put on you? Damn, and I thought humans had it tough with their women." He gets the worse of it off his hands and arms, the sleeves of his shirt wet. He splashes water on his face and slicks his hair back, making sure his hair is mostly clean. He sits by the water and tries to water off the worse of the globs on his pants. "So, what are you trying not to get caught doing right now?"
Oberon smiles, "Poor Titannia has put far worse on me, but not in jest." He goes on, "And I think your love, now lost to you, loved for she saw the best in you." Oberon teases now, "For twas her love that tamed the shrew." Oberon goes on, "For now, I escape nothing of her." He grins, "But she thinks I escape her, and this shall drive her to greater torments to find what I am escaping from her whence I do nothing."
Stark winces, "I'm not sure I'm that shrewish...normally." He has been lately. He then snorts, "Basically, you like to drive her crazy by making her think you are doing things you aren't supposed to be, when you really aren't?" He then grins as he actually manages to translate that, and wonders how much you have been drinking. But he then returns to cleaning off his water resistant boots, the smile fading away as he thinks about the entire damn reason he wanted to escape and do some soul searching. He isn't sure how much soul he has find yet.
Oberon is always drinking! It's his dalliance as King of the Fey. He grins over at you, "Exactly. Nothing I could ever do, would vex dear Titannia that she could so construe." He looks over at Tony an says, softly, "Remember, love lost is never lost. For love is always love. You have loved, she has loved, and she has loved and pledged happily, as have you. Mourn her yes, but mourn her not in jest."
Stark arches an eyebrow at that, "Ummm...ya, and how many girlfriends have you buried man?" He runs another hand through his hair and wipes his face where some water dripped. He bites the inside of his cheek, silently scolding himself to watch his mouth; yet that doesn't stop the anger and grief from rising up.
Oberon looks softly over at Tony, and sadly, "Before dearest Titannia, more than the whimsical lord of the Greeks had ever dearned imagine he could pass his seed over to."
Oberon continues softly, "And bury more shall I have to yet, even those I have not yet met." He continues, melodically, "Even if but to vex dear Titannia for those I have yet met."
"Ah," Stark says. "Something to do with your immortality?" He is finished cleaning up best he can without a dunk/shower and some soap. He remains seated, forearms resting on his knees with his legs being slightly bent, soles of his hiking boots resting flat against the ground. This causes him to lean forward a bit. Just talking, just talking, that is what Stark keeps thinking in circles. All the time dancing around the real issue. But he does like speaking with Oberon, the man seems to have the confidence and finesse of his father, but with the compassion and gentleness as Jarvis, and the humor of one wicked ass...which is something Stark can really appreciate/admire.
Oberon finally smiles, "Perhaps, in jest. Perhaps, in so. But that is the way our lives must go. And for if not, we would not enjoy them so." He teases over, "And for you, dear Tony, I shall grant a riddle. And we shall see if you are fit to fiddle." He goes on, and smiles, "For you and I, this is not our first time in jest. It is the next. But for us both it is the first. Tell me then, what is this question for which I thirst?" Dangling out to Tony a riddle.
"..." Tony looks at Oberon blankly. Riddles are not his strong point, puzzles is more like it. He appears thoughtful however, as it is something to think upon. "Not our first time joking with one another, but the next so...second, but it is our first meeting." Yes, he is trying to translate it into English he better understands. "Question you thirst for?" He doesn't get that one! "Ummmm, not sure how it can be our first meeting, and yet our second, or what you this has to do with providing you something to dri...oh, umm...thirst for, I guess please you if you had the right question or answer given to you?"
Oberon grins, "I speak not in jest. For some things have not happened yet. But perhaps we are still well met." That hint would probably give more of it away then, for it is not a true riddle in the sense, it is more a way of getting Tony to focus then over and to garner his attention then, to try and bring his mind up from it's otherwise stupor.
Stark laughs then, "Maybe you don't know which you speak, but maybe we will meet again." He shakes his head, not sure what to think about this. He is out of his element, but for some reason, Oberon is getting him to relax. "Work...I would throw myself into work or saving people, anything to not think about what has happened or how I failed," he ends very quietly. "But it endlessly repeats, the fact I froze and /failed/ her." He shakes his head at himself. "Logically, I think...I'll move on, I'll move on, and on....but right now, it's like the world ended." He laughs then, a self-mocking sound. "So I thought maybe Pete could jerk me out of it, before I do something insanely stupid. I already stopped caring about my company like I should...I knew I was going to fail it too, so I gave it to Pepper. She will protect it, I can trust her." He runs his fingers through his wet hair.
"You...shit, you likely don't really want to hear about my whiny woes." Stark snorts at himself. "Trusting in myself...it is just....it's more than losing /her/...I /failed/ her. It wasn't a damn falling building that I couldn't have foresaw. I saw...the grenades and I froze, and I didn't even see the other danger. I was nearsighted...I couldn't stop an entire building from falling, but I could stop one damn tiny ice pick dagger," his tone angry at himself. He is thinking of the first girlfriend he had to bury...and how he managed to eventually move on. But Sawyer? How can he trust himself to move on?
Oberon looks over at Tony softly, "Mourn her. Know that she would wish you to move on, but also understand. Such things come. You have loved, and you have lost, but you have loved. And you have not failed her. For you have loved her. And I can see in your eyes that you loved her as no man had ever loved her. And you gave her that which she would never have had had you not loved her. And I think should she be given the question of her fate, for her to continue on and have not have loved her, she would have happily chosen to have loved her." Oberon's words are whimsy but wise. "We will always mourn. For those as old as I, to those as young for life but a twinkle in the sky." Oberon draws his fingers into the water, making a swirl then of the glowing stars.
"It is right to mourn her. It is right to remember her. One does not have to move on immediately. One does not have to leap to love. But I think she would be happy that in time you would heal, and always treasure your love, and perhaps to have the joy of loving again."
Oberon leans back, softly, and he says, "Even one as aged as I, cannot imagine life without it. It makes the time fly. It makes the stars shine in the sky. It makes Dear Titannia wish to make me cry." He goes on, softly, "Mourn her, and always see her in the stars. Do not forget, remember the scars. But in time they will heal. But she will never lose her appeal." He goes on, "Remember now, to be in love, is the most blessed thing from above." He goes on, "Whether it is a twinkle in the stars.." A light grin, "Or something of whence the asses head smashes us and leaves the door ajars."
Stark takes his sleeve, one of its cleaner pieces and rubs it against his nose which is so messily dripping. Of course it is. He's crying. And his palm to wipe at the tears on his cheeks. "I miss her....we were both so busy, we...barely got to see each other. She was often on my mind though. I have so many regrets." Great, more tears. He is really shaming himself, he swallows hard. "So stupid. I loved her so much, and I kept her at a distance...and dead is dead. Didn't damn well matter." He palms at his face again to remove tears. "She was so damn forgiving too. Ironically, I know she wouldn't be mad at me or have any regrets then not taking more time to be with me. How insanely stupid is that? Guess...love just do that to you. Make you stupid that is."
Stark wipes at his face yet again and at his nose with his sleeve a number of times. I totally don't think this is helping me with my commitment issues." Having her die, that is. But he laughs again. "The stars huh? Maybe I should go rock climbing with those damn ropes." That is something Sawyer loved doing. But Stark is listening to Oberon, he's taking the satyr's words to heart. He's finally talking at least to /someone/ about how he feels other than just a failure, which he only admitted to Pete other than Oberon. "Thank you," he says quietly and hoarsely, as his throat feels very sore and tight from his crying. He knows exactly what Oberon did, and though it scares him to let a chunk of his anger go, he knows it is for the best.
Oberon smiles softly, "Remember, friend Tony. She is the first to forgive you. For her love is never lost. Now, the second must forgive you. And that is yourself." Oberon give a bow, softly, "Remember her for her sparkle. Remember her for her life. Remember that she did not go gentle into that good night. For her, never surrender, and always be there to fight. For, in your own way, you stand up for what is right." Oberon gives a low bow. "And remember, she will always be a part of you, for you will always treasure what she brought you to do. The pain will always be a part, but always treasure her in your heart."
You never forget pain like that, /never/. Stark knows that well. But he nods at Oberon's words, "I...really want to go home," he admits. He looks and sounds so very tired right now. Between Pete and Oberon though, someone got through his thick skull. He closes his eyes and sighs deeply, thinking of Pepper and the apology he owes her. Of the apology he owes Jarvis for worrying the man sick.
And Oberon smiles, "Why dear Tony, all you had to do was ask." There is a flicker of fingers then. And the exhausted Tony would find himself back over in his own stateroom, in his own bed.
Stark suddenly feels like he is laying on something soft rather than sitting on grassy ground and snaps his eyes open. He said he wanted to...and lifts his head. Yep, Oberon did. Why...why was he so..., and Stark swallows hard to hold the tears back once more. But he moves to sit up and get off the bed, the clean sheets are now wet and a little dirty from his clot blood stained clothes and whatever else the zombies deposed that dripping stream water on did not clean off. He glances about his penthouse.
It only takes perhaps a minute of two of standing there dumbfounded before he starts to run out of his bedroom, down the hallway and skipping the steps as he just leaps down to the first floor of his penthouse. He then runs toward the elevator, pushing it excitedly. It takes a few moments to reach him as he fidgets unhappily.
When the elevator doors slide open, he slips inside and pushes the button to floor 20, where now Pepper's office is located. He tries to take steadily breathes, but it doesn't work. He is on an emotion high or is that low? He doesn't know anymore. When the doors slide open once more after halting on the correct floor, Stark darts out of it and pauses. Same office, three secretaries, and no Pepper. Door is closed...does he care? It doesn't even cross his mind that he should.
Looking wet, and like he has been through a war, Stark stalks at a very fast speed toward the impressive doors of the CEO office. He puts his hands on the handles and takes a deep, shaking breath as he moves to throw them open.
The secretary just stares over at Tony. Covered in blood. She's a young girl, somewhat new to the company, and is trying to figure out just why the head of the board is running through the halls.. And god why didn't her training handbook have a section on dealing with this!?
When Tony Stark makes his grand entrance, Pepper was already on the phone with security, who let her know. Pepper was glad that Tony was safe after not having heard from him in so much time. Though... they didn't tell her he was a bloody mess. "He's here ..." then blinks as she sees Tony enter in the state that he's in. "Oh my god.... Tony... what the hell..." She comes out from behind the desk (she was already standing), and heads over to him quickly. "Tony what the hell happened to you?" She looks at the overwhelmed secretary. "Phoebe, go outside and close the door okay?" She pauses. "And can you get someone from medical up here with a first aid kid or something?" She looks at Tony with concern. "Tony are you okay?" Then says a little angrily, "Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?"
Course they couldn't tell Pepper, they didn't have time. They barely noticed him by the time the elevator door opened on the 20th floor, and only then because they noticed the penthouse being accessed for some reason. They have no idea how Stark got inside the building. To matter matters worse, oh ya.
Stark says, "I'm not hurt," and in his smelly and disgusting miss, he moves to hug poor Pepper in her very expensive business suit. And he hugs hard. His voice sounds choked when he speaks, "I'm sorry Pepper. I'm so sorry I made you worry." Alright, is this a Skrull? Secret Security didn't contact Pepper with a warning!
The secretary stares over at Pepper, "Yes, Miss Potts." She goes over to quickly head to the phone, going to call some of the EMT's on standby.. Probably another improvement established by the eternally ready Miss Potts.
Pepper Potts pauses and hugs back a bit, then the smell sort of hits her. "Oh god... um..." She pauses. "One second Tony..." She heads back to her desk to pull up something on the computer while intercom-ing the secretary again. "And a change of clothes." But why she really went to the desk is to pull up anything on determining if someone is or is not a Skrull. She then looks back up at where Tony is. "Tony.... what happened? Security said you just got into the elevator and came down here. But no one saw you come into the building. Not even from the rooftop access."
"I have a penthouse upstairs where I can shower and change Pepper. You don't need to babysit me anymore, /you/ are the CEO," as if needing to remind the woman. But Stark then laughs, a strange sound from him...and that's cause he's fighting to keep his emotions in check. "A vampire and a hoard of zombies. Pete's fault...which reminds me, I think he's still in the Otherworld." A smirk at that, "Serves the bastard right dragging me there." But it did him a lot of good. Though his heart feels like it clenches, which is strange, case it is artificial. "Ah...right, the smell." He then sighs and looks really tired.
"I'm really sorry Pepper. I just...I still don't know if I can forgive myself yet." Maybe one day he can. "I'm supposed to be the hero, I'm supposed to be the one that saves everyone, not freezes up...not gets saved at the cost of his own girlfriend's life." He raises a hand and rubs at his face. "And the shittest part? She would forgive me. How fucked up is that? So Oberon," yes, Oberon, "he said I had to forgive myself. I don't think I'm very self-forgiving...I kinda just try to ignore my regrets and bury my head into some new project. And now I dumped the company on you, cause I can't even deal with my own damn issues." Then very quietly, "Sorry."
Alright...wow, Oberon needs to come visit more often, right? Stark is talking about his FEELINGS!
Pepper Potts pauses. "Wait... what?" Okay, pretty sure this is Tony, because only Tony can say something that makes her so readily think 'What the hell?!' "You were on another world? Oberon?" She takes a moment and walks back over to Tony and heads with him to some chairs. "Could you wind this back a little bit to explain the parts I don't understand before you get to the parts where I do know what you're talking about? Please?"
"Oh...ya. Alright, you know how some people in the UK believe and some don't, that magic really existence and so do vampires and werewolves and fairies? Anyway, they do, in a form. I'm sure I could figure it out with the right scientific equipment and time to resear...anyway, not the point! It is like a parallel dimension, connected and yet separate. Anyway, you know of Oberon from Midsummer's Night Dream? He exists. And we talked. After the vampire and zombies, and almost getting ran over by a carriage while I was busy punching Pete." Yes, a carriage, one with /horses/.
"And...well, we talked about Sawyer. And it was like he /really/ knew her, and how I felt, and...I don't know, he was like...," his voice quiets, "I guess like my dad, but cooler, like he had Jarvis and a bit of me mixed into him. And he was a Satyr, which you kinda get used to talking to guys with hooves after almost being drowned by a woman in the water which turned into a horse trying to eat you. A keplie I think? I didn't even get to meet King Arthur! I got jipped." Yep, crazy talk...unless Pepper ever reviewed those Excalibur files that Stark stole a few years back...or is that copied?
Pepper Potts pauses and watches Tony. "You talked to the king of the fairies after fighting vampires and zombies." She looks at Tony with concern. Yes, she knows that there are a lot of amazing and supernatural things in the universe. Though she's concerned about if this may have been the result of actual supernatural phenomenon ... or a weeks-long drinking binge with Pete Wisdom, whom she makes a mental note to read the riot act if it is. Still, she listens further as Tony goes on.
And then Tony starts talking about how Oberon was a Satyr-like version of an amalgam of Jarvis and Howard Stark. She still tries to keep an open mind. Even when Tony starts talking about the woman who turns into a carnivorous horse. Then King Arthur. And yes, she's read the files. She knows all that stuff is possible. Though... the drinking binge is seeming more and more likely. The only thing still being that he 'appeared' in the building. "Okay... Tony. Lets assume for the moment that all that happened." She pauses. "Where's Pete again?" Because maybe he'll be able to either confirm this or explain what really happened.
"Oh, we got seperated while fighting the vampire and zombie hoard and I got lost in this grove of trees, and then Oberon showed up. And after we talked, I wished I was home, and then I woke up in my bed. It's a mess now," and Stark makes a bit of a face. "So I think Pete is still in the Otherworld. Sucks to be him, especially since he doesn't know I got out. But no idea how to contact him. I'm sure he will figure it out, it's Pete."
Pepper Potts rubs her temples a bit. "O...kay." She makes a note to maybe try to contact someone with supernatural mojo just to see if anything Tony's saying may have really happened. Maybe Stephen Strange? "How did you GET to er... Otherworld?"
"Oh gawd, that was gross. He made this circle of power or what, and added salt and put cat's brains on both of us. I didn't know what he was going to do with the stuff when we bought it at some little occult shop." Stark makes this disgusted expression. "Poor feline." But that isn't why he is here, to talk about what happened. Instead he moves toward Pepper once more and reaches out for her hands. "That's not important though," he says with surprising seriousness perhaps.
Stark looks intensely into Pepper's face. "I honestly do owe you an apology, and...I just wanted you to know how amazing I think you are." He takes a deep breath. "And thank you. Thank you for giving a shit about me, when I was thinking that I wished it was me that died instead." He still sometimes think that, but he doesn't dare say that out loud.
Pepper Potts looks a bit grossed out when you start saying the stuff about cat brains. Then Tony takes her hands and gets all serious. "I... an apology for what?" She then says, "Of course I care about you. I'll always be here for you - you know that." And puts her other hand on his hands, on her hand.
"I know," Stark says with his voice thick. "I know...as long as I don't push you too far away...I know." He smiles a bit tensely. "And thank you." He then leans down to kiss your forehead gently. "I guess...I should go get a shower and get some sleep. I don't even remember the last time I slept," he admits. "In the Otherworld I know, but the strange /sounds/...no technology." He closes his eyes and blesses the static in his head. He sighs in pleasure. "It's good to be home."
Pepper Potts smiles as she gets the kiss to the forehead. "I'm glad to have you home too. And yeah... shower and get some sleep." She pauses. "Especially.... especially shower."
Stark nods, and starts to head for the large office doors. He pauses though and turns around toward you. "You know, I left my jet in London. I thought to let you know." He then turns about again, and heads on out.
The EMT's approach, now that the scary Miss Potts has finished, and they approach over towards Mister Stark then to give him, if he doesn't look at them frighteningly, a quick checkup and drag towards the medical facilities. While...he goes from Mr. Positive to Grumpy Old Man really quickly. And a full check-up? Not quite, half way through he ends up escaping before the needles get brought out, and they miss on the tackle. They note to selves to bring restraints next time.
Pepper Potts watches Tony leave, then gets on her phone. "Um... get someone to London to get the Stark jet, get Stephen Strange's contact information... and after the EMTs are done giving Mr. Stark his -mandatory- checkup, make sure he gets showered and gets some sleep." She pauses then adds, "I'm taking the rest of the day off."