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[ingeniar]

WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK

USERNAME: STARK

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[rehandle]

Maybe it's your realism that needs some work.

[ But there's a twitch to his smile as he looks up at the drone again, and an instant later Tony's flying blind. Or not flying, rather, Garfunkel plucked right out of the air by somebody's trusty companion.

There's the sound of muffled noise, butt-dial nothingness, deep-sea rustling like a call from the inside of a bag, a drone's little blades whacking uselessly against obstruction. And then light again, though nothing to really see but the top of a bookshelf from an odd angle. Stephen's voice is mostly clear, close by but off screen. ]

Responsibili-key. Nice.

[ingeniar]

[ Okay, now he's just going to call, breaking in as soon as Stephen picks up: ]

Two against one is cheating, by the way. You'd better not have harmed a single rotor on that little drone's head.

[rehandle]

[ Smug mirth in his voice if not quite laughter - ]

He's fine. Probably. I don't know, we've enacted the privacy protocol.

[ Which is to say Garfunkel's in Cloak jail until further notice. ]

[ingeniar]

[ The drone buzzes a few times, experimentally, then subsides. Clearly it's not worth the risk. ]

And I had a whole plan for asking you to strip for me. You're the one missing out here.

[rehandle]

Sorry. I think I'm contractually obligated to charge for a show.

[ Movement, Stephen wandering away from where the Cloak swallows the drone back into darkness again, the sound of metal on wood as he sets the key carefully down on his desk. ]

Did you have a spare hanging around?

[ingeniar]

Had to ask one of the staff.

[ Over a week ago, when they'd first returned. Just in case. ]

It was a whole big deal.

[rehandle]

Yeah? Guess I owe you, then.

[ One free show, maybe. But not right now. ]

Hey - Tony?

[ingeniar]

[ A little distracted, hunting around for the pouch of freeze-dried blueberries he literally just put down somewhere. ]

Yeah?

[rehandle]

[ With something small wound tight in his chest and spinning, spinning, spinning: ]

It's not that I don't want to be there. It's not - it's not a distance thing. I'll be there plenty. And you're both welcome here.

[ingeniar]

[ A brief pause on the line. ]

Sure. I mean, I get it. You're used to doing your lonely wizard stuck in the tower deal. Not trying to stop you doing that when you need to. We all need that sometimes. Just -- I used to be like that, too. Still am sometimes. And then I found out what I'd been missing this whole time. And.. I remember how you looked when we were all, you know, cohabiting for a while back there. Like you'd got to put down something heavy. And I think you deserve to have that too, you know? Even if it means.. getting out of your comfort zone a little.

[rehandle]

[ He's glad he blinded the drone. Glad the only real tell of the moment he needs is the silence on the line. It's not quite enough to save him from you deserve to have that too, but he does his best to keep the time it takes him to properly refill his lungs at below five seconds. ]

... Yeah. Yeah, okay. Heard.

[ Like he's just been scolded, instead of seen. There's a smile in there somewhere, softening resignation into gratitude, even if he's not sure it's made it onto his face. ]

Thanks, Tony.

[ For saying all that. For bearing with him anyway. ]