fatemarked_logs | meet-and-greet

Tony attempts a smile - it probably comes off a little sour. "Yeah, being kidnapped is my favorite. Especially when it's to another universe." No Rhodey to remote-pilot his armor to him and stage a rescue, this time. "But hey, at least there are oreos." Too bitter, Tony. Pull it back.

He shrugs. "I guess it's only for a year, right?" He doesn't sound convinced: for an eighteen-year-old kid who until recently hadn't expected to make it out of his thirties, a year is basically forever.

"You seem pretty happy to be here." Tony notes. That's a little surprising, and he wonders if the other... person (he still hasn't figured out if they're a man or a woman, and that isn't helping the awkwardness of the situation) is faking it or if their normal life was shitty enough that the 'Double-F' is a step up.

Alex snorts at Tony's dry humor, enjoying the sarcasm. "Without the Oreos I might consider the whole thing a bit much, really... I mean at least the food is familiar and we're not being offered energy cubes or blue pudding?" Alex's tone is light, but his smile slips just a bit as Tony continues.

"Well, at least you got the limited time engagement on your contract... they hooked me into the Celine Dion at Caesar's, long term plan..." Yeah the humor has slipped with his smile, and he chews on the inside of his cheek for a beat, tongue poking at his pronounced canines. The last draws a half shrug and when he smiles it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'm stuck for now..." Not forever; he wasn't quite ready to accept that, yet. "Might as well make the best of it... Although..." He casts his gaze around the room. "I can't say I'm thrilled about being locked in underground... Going to have to talk to someone about that before end of month rolls around."

He doesn't understand that reference, Alex.

Nevertheless, Tony catches the meaning, and looks sympathetic. "You're a Fatemarked?"

Then he nods at the complaint about being stuck underground. "They can't keep us in here forever, right? Maybe they just don't want us running around the city till we've settled in." Or 'accepted our fate,' depending on your perspective. "What happens at the end of the month?"

That's okay, Tony. There would be plenty of time for less obscure references; as long as the general meaning translates, it's all good. At the first question, Alex nods, lifting his hand to flash his marked palm. "Yeah... not sure how I really feel about it yet."

It was an honest remark. Alex wasn't sure if he was better off here or back home. He knew there wasn't a choice to be had, but he kept in mind that this was still very much an adaption period.

"Hopefully just until we've settled," Alex agrees, gaze moving to the door they'd arrived through. "Though I worry they'll want some training behind you Sentinels first. You know... to keep us safe?" There might be just a touch of bitterness there, but not because he was going to get a keeper. No, it all centered on what Tony asks next.

"I'm a Wereleopard... I can shift whenever I like, as frequently as I like, but when the full moon comes around I have to shift. And I become a bloodthirsty murder machine until sunup." He says it in such a way that he's making light of it, but it's clearly apparent from both posture and tone that this bothers Alex a lot.

Do you have a Hulk in your world, Tony? It's like that... only with pointier teeth.

"If I can't get away outside, then they need someplace secure to hold me down here... I don't want to hurt anyone." Or kill.

"Uh." Tony takes a little time to process that. "Seriously? A were— leopard?" From his tone it's pretty clear that he's about to call bullshit, but after a moment of consideration he shakes his head and says instead, "...I know a guy who transforms into a huge rage monster and a guy who communes with a panther god. Why am I even surprised?"

It's less ridiculous than plenty of the other weird shit he's seen. It's probably just this person's universe's version of a really hardcore mutant power.

"So you leopard out once a month. That's not that bad. They've got to have bunkers around here or something. Just lock you in one of those with some tranq-doped tuna and you should be fine, right?" Tony had meant that to come off reassuring, but realizes now that he's said it that it probably sounded more like 'flippant.' Oops. He attempts to soften it with a sympathetic smile. "They seem pretty well-prepared to protect you from... whatever they're protecting you from. And there have to be other Fatemarked with dangerous powers. They must have... protocols for that kind of thing."

Alex nods at Tony's assessment, though it seems the confession gives the other young man a beat or two of consideration where it seems he might call bullshit. However, his words earn a brow lift from Alex, and then a laugh. "Seems they decided to draw from a rather eclectic group at that..." Who was Alex to question anything he heard, honestly? In a world where all supernatural beings had just suddenly proven their existence, it seemed silly to question others about their own experiences.

Again a nod, though his until reply to Tony's flippant quip is bland. "Pretty much... I feel bad for whoever gets stuck with litter pan cleanup, though..." Then he waves off Tony's tone, offering a half smile again as he shakes his head. "That's what I was thinking too, actually... I just haven't had the chance to ask anyone or to poke around as much as I might like to." He gives a half shrug and then finally extends a hand in introduction. "Alexander Marsters... Call me Alex."

Alex is fully aware that people sometimes don't know what exactly to make of him, so he'll let you off the hook, Tony.

Fortunately, the man (Tony's relieved he introduced himself with the full 'Alexander' and not just the gender-neutral Alex, or he'd still be uncertain) doesn't get offended, and Tony relaxes enough to laugh at his joke.

He takes the offered hand and shakes it. "Tony Stark. Hey, if you want to do some exploring, I haven't had a chance to take a look around this place, either. I'd like to check out our new hamster cage." He grins. "Maybe we'll find something they don't want us to."

That's definitely what he'll be looking for. He doesn't trust the Governors. Not yet, anyway. ~~And he never passes up an opportunity to cause trouble.~~

Alex's smile warms as Tony seems to relax, shaking his hand as his canines flash.

"Though I'd perhaps not be inclined to piss off anyone just yet... I think we could argue it was really for our own benefit to know where everything is and if there are things everyone else should know about." Because, let's be real, what was the likelihood that they were being told everything by the Govenors.

"As much as I'd love to believe this is all 'for our sake', I have some concerns," he continues, and though his volume has dropped, his posture continues to read relaxed. No need to pay any attention to young men plotting in the corner. Alex's intentions weren't to cause trouble, but to find some more answers... if that just happened to cause a problem, was that really their fault? He could argue that if they'd been told, they wouldn't have had to go poking around.

Alex purses his lips, "We could always use that we're looking for a cat cage if they ask..."

Tony likes the cut of your jib, Alex. He grins a little wider.

"We'd better gather all the intel we can before we've been here for too long to play dumb, you mean." If the Starks had a family motto, it might be: it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

Now, see... Alex always tried to be the responsible one, but here he was with a Sentinel in training that was supposed to keep and eye on him. What was he to do?! And we're they really hurting anything by poking around where they weren't necessarily supposed to? (Yes, Alex. Clearly you both are in the wrong here. :| )

His grin matches Tony's and he adds the very thought going trough his partner-in-crime's mind. "Easier to ask forgiveness than permission, huh?" Alex's peers had taught him that one a good long while ago, but this time maybe it was spot on.

"When?"

Honestly, who let Tony be a Sentinel? He's a terrible influence. (And more likely to get his Fatemarked into trouble than out of it.)

Tony almost says 'right now,' but that would definitely look suspicious. After a moment of thought, he says instead, "Tonight. After dinner. We can meet up in the cafeteria and leave together after we've eaten. It'll look like we just got to know each other and decided to hang out."

It's a little risky to be seen leaving together, but Tony thinks that's less likely to arouse suspicion that they're up to no good than them slinking into each other's rooms. If there are hidden security cameras, it's better to act normal and maintain plausible deniability for as long as possible.

Edited 2016-01-12 20:28 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Alex wasn't the decision maker and at the present time, he was right there with Tony's way of thinking. While it might not be exactly what the Govenors were wanting of their Sentinels and Fatemarked, this is what they had. Sorry, Govenors!!

Alex had almost expected the 'right now,' but he's well aware that they were invited here to mingle and meet their fellow recruits; leaving early would certainly be cause for suspicion for anyone watching for such. A gradual build of friendship would make Tony's plan of after dinner snooping more believable. You meet a friend at a party and get to know them better later...

Although Alex 'getting to know' an attractive young man had always had entirely different connotations. The thought brings a grin to his lips, but he nods at the plan.

"Sounds as doable as any other option..." A beat, brow rising. "How are you with computers and he like?"

Because if this was even remotely like it was in the movies, they'd need someone capable of hacking the system and getting doors open. Yes, Alex could do a certain amount of physical forcing of doors, but it would look far less innocent than the door opening on its own.

Tony chuckles. "I'm as good as it gets," he replies, looking incredibly smug. "I'm kind of a supergenius." Not actually an exaggeration. "Technology and engineering is my thing. They gave us all laptops - I should have a pretty good idea what kind of system I'm dealing with by tonight."

Alex's brows raise mightily at that, but he's laughing as well, nose wrinkling. "All that and humble too!" His tone is clearly teasing, his smile warming his entire expression. However, there isn't a lot of doubt in Alex in regards to the proclamation. While many people liked to claim they knew a good deal more than they actually did, he figured Tony was brought in as a Sentinel for a reason and that his brains were as much a likelihood as anything else.

"I'm going to leave my crap in my room... If you can manage all of that, you can likely scramble any sort of tracker they've implanted. I'd rather not take the risk, as the best I can manage is torrenting new movies without getting flagged by the MPAA." He grins wryly. "I'd rather not give them anything additional to track us down with."

It was already bad enough that there would likely be cameras and God knew what else alerting their snooping.

Edited 2016-01-14 20:53 (UTC)

It's not bragging if it's true, Alex!

"Well, not all of us can turn into giant were-cats," Tony teases back. "We've got to find other ways to get by."

Then they're back to the more serious discussion of their snooping excursion. "Do you think we should try to disable the trackers?" Tony sure as hell doesn't like the idea of implanted tracking devices, but if they're playing innocent, maybe they don't want to be screwing around with too many of the governor's security protocols.

"I bet they have failsafe systems set up to detect when the trackers are deactivated or out of range or whatever. They might notice that faster than they'd catch us on the security cameras."

Damn, if only he had his suit... He could scramble the tracker and stealth up, and snoop to his heart's content.

"Oh sure, blame the guy with super aggressive PMS," Alex retorts back. Then he offers a brief shake of his head. "No. I think if we do too much it will just have the adverse effect of them paying closer attention and noticing us sooner." He nods in agreement with Tony's reasoning, figuring they didn't need to do anything to make the Govenor's work easier in this regard.

He sighs, folding his arms. "I'll be prepared to get fuzzy if I need to... Though, I'm hoping that won't be necessary... what with us being kidnapped for our own protection, and all."

Tony laughs at Alex's description of his wereleopardism as 'super aggressive PMS.' (That was supposed to be a joke, right? Alex isn't actually offended? Tony definitely doesn't know the social etiquette for talking about lycanthropy. ...zooanthropy?)

"Yeah, I hope not," Tony says, on 'getting fuzzy.' "I don't think I want to find out what law enforcement looks like around here. It's a little early in the game to start staging prison breaks." Not that he won't do it, if it comes to that. It'll just be complicated, probably. ~~Extremely complicated, Tony.~~

meet-and-greet | January 2016

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject