video; stark

[inebriety]

[Tony has the Iron Man helmet with face plate up and one of the gauntlets on which he uses to wave at the camera. He's smiling brightly, but there are bags under his eyes and the flush to his cheeks are from more than just excitement.]

Some of you might remember a certain someone's offer to trade junk into something better. Please be sure to get the right guy because I don't work for scraps. If you have trouble telling us apart, other me is highly strung and a little sensitive.

[He taps his fingers against his chin.]

Perhaps we should change names as well. I was already thinking of rebranding Iron Man and getting a new paint job. And he can be... do you think he'd mind if I called him Greg? Or is that a little too morbid using a dead man's name? He'd have to dye his hair too, we look terrible in white otherwise...

[He picks up a bottle with his uncovered hand and takes a drink.]

Okay, it probably is. This silly event has got me maudlin I see.

Comments

[inebriety]

[He's never really had the chance to talk about him, their relationship had deteriorated early on despite Tony's efforts.]

He's twenty minutes older and never let me forget it. I think that's why he hated the thought of losing to me. If I did something, he had to do it better. I saved the world so he had to control it.

[They were in college before they hit double digits and it made for a lonely childhood. Their silly rivalry was the only way he could get his brother to give him the time of day and then it became the only thing between them.]

I know he had to be stopped, but I didn't think Thor would do that.

[divulsion]

[It sounds like a far different relationship than the one Wanda shared with Pietro, and while she feels sympathy for this version of Tony, that emotion quickly turns to muted horror as she seems to grasp just what he's implied.]

Thor...is the Thor of your world responsible for your brother's death?

[inebriety]

[There's a wane smile hiding behind the Iron Man helmet.]

I should have seen it coming, Thor's signature move is lightning after all.

[And he doesn't know if he would have done something else even if he did know what Thor was going to do. There wasn't a lot of options at the time.]

[divulsion]

[There aren't words for what Wanda feels right now. The empathy or shock at what he's revealed. It was hard enough for her to fight against the very people who had become a surrogate family to her after Pietro's death, but if one of them had actually killed him? She's not sure how she would have responded.]

I'm so very sorry, Tony. I...I lost Pietro in my world. I understand how deep the pain of that loss can go.

[She's not trying to make this about her, not in the least, but she doesn't know a better way to make it clear to him that her sympathy isn't without a real understanding of what he's been through.]

[inebriety]

[Oh, that makes a lot of sense. The Wanda of his world may have been unfamiliar to their experiences, but Pietro was a whole different matter.]

I barely spoke to him since he moved out, I wouldn't presume to compare my situation to yours.

[It seems disingenuous of him to let her offer her condolences when he knows their relationship would have been a lot closer and loving. Their relationship had deteriorated due to inaction on their parts, the tragedy was of their own making while Wanda was a victim of circumstance.]

[divulsion]

[Wanda gently shakes her head.]

Just because you weren't getting along at the time of his death, just because the nature of your relationship was different doesn't mean that you have less to mourn. I don't just miss Pietro but...I grieve for everything that could have been that can't happen now. I imagine it could be the same for you...

[Maybe he and Gregory weren't on good terms, but it doesn't mean that Tony can't grieve for everything he didn't have. Can't grieve for all of the time spent on opposite sides when it could have been different.]

[inebriety]

I never liked dwelling on the what ifs.

[He found it pointless to think about what didn't happen because it was far too easy to sink into despair over all the ways things could have been better.]

I've been told it's bad for my mental health.

[divulsion]

That's true. I doubt it's good for anyone.

[Not that it stopped her, or Pietro, but then again lingering on the past is exactly what brought the twins to Hydra so there's something to be said for his point.]

In the meantime, if you're not working for scraps what are you doing during your time here?