Tony Stark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
highprofilerichkid) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ioduanlogs2019-01-27 02:26 am
highprofilerichkid) wrote in ioduanlogs2019-01-27 02:26 am
Entry tags:
questions of science, science and progress
Characters: Tony and Valdis
Date: Late January
Location: Valdis' apartment
Situation: Valdis has some information that Tony might be interested in, and a decision she wants his input on.
Warnings/Rating: none yet
When Tony receives a vague message from Valdis asking for a meeting, he assumes it's not a social call. Valdis can be melodramatic (like someone else he knows... not pointing any fingers or anything, Gene), but she's usually pretty straightforward about simple stuff, so he doesn't think she'd be cryptic about setting up a coffee date. If she's being evasive, it's probably for a good reason.
So he agrees, and shows up at her place at the requested time. He knocks. "Hey, Valdis. It's Tony."
Date: Late January
Location: Valdis' apartment
Situation: Valdis has some information that Tony might be interested in, and a decision she wants his input on.
Warnings/Rating: none yet
When Tony receives a vague message from Valdis asking for a meeting, he assumes it's not a social call. Valdis can be melodramatic (like someone else he knows... not pointing any fingers or anything, Gene), but she's usually pretty straightforward about simple stuff, so he doesn't think she'd be cryptic about setting up a coffee date. If she's being evasive, it's probably for a good reason.
So he agrees, and shows up at her place at the requested time. He knocks. "Hey, Valdis. It's Tony."
no subject
Tony settles himself into the offered seat, mug nestled in his hands. He's relaxed and curious: he'd been a little bit concerned by the message, because when things go wrong with Valdis they tend to go wrong spectacularly, but so far she hasn't given off the vibe that she thinks something catastrophic is about to happen.
"Yeah?" he prompts, taking a sip of his coffee.
no subject
She took a drink of the coffee, if Tony had mentioned how thankful he was about the coffee beans, she'd agree.
"I believe it's a natural extension of Soul Walking, but what I saw involved the members of the crew. The animal was sacrificed, but the story obviously doesn't end there. I found out where the Sentry was keeping the crew and met a scientist from the Aisling Tower."
She sent him a serious glance, "All of this needs to be kept secret, for the sake of her job and of course the truth behind my magic. You can't even tell Gene."
no subject
His brow wrinkles and he takes a thoughtful sip of his coffee. "So what's the big deal about this? Yeah, animal sacrifice is horrible, but the Narrakra crew seemed pretty, you know... out of it, when they got back. If they were really gone as long as it looked like they were, they probably started coming up with some pretty crazy ideas about how to get themselves home. I can see putting blood sacrifice on the table, after being trapped in a time warp bubble for a few years."
Frankly, Tony thinks, it's just lucky the crew stuck with animals, and didn't upgrade their superstitious brainstorming to sacrificing people.
"Do you think the sacrifice... do you think it actually did something? Why is the Aisling Tower interested in this?"
no subject
She took another drink, seeming quite calm considering what she was telling him.
"And the Aisling Tower knows nothing, only my contact. I told her what I saw, and how I saw it. I also related my empathetic abilities. Though I didn't offer my suspicions."
Now for the more complex part.
"She wants me to come to the Tower for tests, she wants to know how the Dreaming affects my powers. I refused. Being attached to all four planes, I cannot predict how those tests might go, or what my contact might discover. I'm sure you can see the predicament."
no subject
"Alright, well, what do you think it did, exactly? I get not wanting someone to mess around with your powers," on account of their potential to go wrong on an apocalyptic scale, "but why not tell her what you know, if you have a hunch about what's going on? A ship full of people getting sucked into a dimensional rift for a decade... I think we should be pooling as much information as we can."
no subject
"I think it got them home," she replied, setting the coffee down to pick up her yimo to show him some posts she had found, "During the storm, in the liminal rifts, people saw mist, a dark jungle, other strange places. And then there's these," she handed him her yimo, a blurry photo of what appeared to be some sort of goat grazing on underbrush. "I think this is what was on the Narrakra. This animal, one that I haven't seen anywhere else. I think this storm is connected to whatever took those people, and it needed death in order to give them back."
no subject
Tony sets his mug down on the coffee table so he can flip through the other network posts about the rifts. "I think you need to tell your Aisling contact about this, Valdis. I know death magic is a big no-no, but if these rifts keep showing up and they're able to swallow stuff as big as a whole cargo ship, there's nothing to say something like the Narrakra won't happen again. And if there's really only one way back... people need to know about it."
no subject
Valdis paused, trying to word it in a way that Tony might understand.
"If you found some new technology that you didn't understand, what would you do with it? How would you approach it? How would you interact with it? And if you discovered it to be dangerous, to be some sort of weapon, what would you do about it?"
no subject
Also, are you sure that's the best choice of analogy here, Valdis? You remember who you're talking to, right? "And if I found a weird, dangerous technology that I didn't understand, I'd probably mess around with it until it blew up in my face, and incorporate it into my armor if it didn't," he says, with humor in his voice. "But I'm guessing that's not the point you're trying to make."
(What is the point she's trying to make, actually? Is he Valdis in this scenario, and the new tech is death magic? Or is he the Aisling scientists and... Valdis is the new tech? Or... God, he's bad at metaphors.)
He swaps the yimo for his coffee mug and takes another sip before continuing in a more serious tone. "What kind of questions are you actually worried about them asking, Valdis? I mean, I get why you play your cards pretty close to your chest, but your powers give you some pretty unique... access? insight? into the planar magic here. You might help a lot of people."
no subject
"My powers can also kill on a massive scale, Tony," she replied, "People fear what they do not know, but I'd rather be feared than played with. Thank you for bringing that up."
She took another drink, still fairly calm.
"It's less that I don't want to help and more...fear of what might be unleashed if scientists start messing around with the magic of the planes , fear of what they might discover."
Valdis swirled the coffee around her mug, thinking, "Has anyone ever ripped your heart out of your chest for the sake of science," she asked casually.
no subject
Tony is little confused by that tack, so he grapples with one of the other points instead.
"Look, Valdis: Aisling, or someone else, is going to keep messing around with the planes no matter what you do. That's what scientists do. If they can't figure out something from one angle, they'll just try another angle. So if you think the planar magic might be dangerous, and you think you know something about it that they don't, everyone's going to be a lot safer if you work with them instead of trying to hide it from them and hoping that they drop it."
Valdis likes figurative devices, and though that's obviously not Tony's strong suit, he attempts one of his own. "Anybody can weld, but you're not going to know to wear polarized goggles unless someone tells you that a welding arc emits UV. It's better to learn about something dangerous ahead of time than find out that it's dangerous the hard way."
CW: Mentions of Violence
"Ok, Tony," she said finally, "Do you remember what I did to Gene? That was mere play, cat versus mouse, compared to what I am capable of. I am dangerous. I can walk through the souls of the living, and apparently I can walk in the souls of the dead now too. I wield death in ways that no one else can, not even in my world. My kind are called reapers for a reason. I have ties to all four planes." She took a breath, "And you want me to walk into the tower where they study the planes and submit to tests on my abilities."
She calmly took a drink from her mug, trying to decide if she should continue.
"Aside from that, I'm fairly certain those medical professionals didn't break open your rib cage with their bare hands and tear your still beating heart out of your chest. Luckily for me, I woke up in Konryu." And not on some lab table.