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tamingthemuseTitle: Room for Improvement (extra)
Fandom: the Avengers/ Exalted
Prompt: in flagrante delicto
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: After coming home Exalted, Tony has plans and ideas all but pouring out of his ears. Back in Creation, there was magic everywhere, and a little hard work wasn’t going to stop him from finding those wells of magic in his own world.
Iron Dust knocked Bruce's hand away from the star chart, replacing his pointing finger with his own. He traced the full length of the star's path over the paper before running his fingers over the chalk, ruining it.
"You want answers to questions about your past. Not the past you lived, but the one you lived before this life."
Tony stared at where his fingers still rested in the chalk and somehow felt that he had been caught in flagrante delicto, knowing that Iron Dust knew all his secrets from just that one trace of the star chart.
Hell, he probably knew everything long ago. He wouldn't have put it past him to have read up on Tony the moment they met.
Which, really, was quite an invasion of privacy. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
"From your current life, I can tell little about your past life. Despite sharing the same shard of Essence, the two lives lived have nothing to do with one another." His finger swirled around the quickly fading chalk outline, and Tony's eyes were drawn to it. "The mistakes you made in this life, reflect nothing of your past. The actions of your past matter naught to this life. Do you understand?"
Tony nodded, silent. He had learned long ago that silence earned him more words from Iron Dust rather than chatting him up. He could feel Bruce's disbelieving eyes on him and chose to ignore him.
He could always chat him up later and reinforce his charm on him then.
Once the black paper was nothing more than a grey smudge, Iron Dust picked up the chalk and began drawing a new star chart. Tony could still see the faint lines of his own star under the new chart, and something twisted in his stomach at the sight. He licked his suddenly dry lips. He felt like he was looking back in time despite his inability to read the astrology laid out before him. If he leaned a bit father over the paper, pressed his nose closer...
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and, fingers flying over the keyboard, commanded JARVIS to photograph the chart and save it to his personal servers. He would, maybe, like to study it in his own time.
Bruce leaned forward and pushed his glasses up his nose. "This is different than what you taught me."
"Yes," Iron Dust said, focused on his creation. "This is my speciality. This is a skill only those of Celestial Blessings may learn."
Bruce gave him a disgruntled look. "A bit pompous, don't you think?"
Iron Dust glanced up, startled. Tony smirked.
"And you said I didn't know my own arrogance?"
"I meant no offense," Iron Dust offered.
"I am learning that," Bruce said with an indulgent smile.
Iron Dust studied him for a long moment, and Tony realized that Iron Dust spent an enormous effort in keeping the good will of the Avengers. He put himself out, trying to understand the human’s ignorance of, not only the religion the exalted knew for truth, but also of the role humans played in an exalt’s life.
“A human is unable to learn this skill, for this skill is blessed upon the Celestial Exalts alone. Not even Iron Man can learn this skill.”
Tony touched a hand to his chest, assumed a hurt expression. “You told me I could do whatever I could dream up.”
Iron Dust arched a fine brow in his direction. “Do you dream of reading star charts and learning what fate has in store for all that abide by Heaven’s laws?”
Tony wrinkled his nose. “No.”
Iron Dust tipped his head in a way that clearly stated that that was settled. He sniffed delicately and finally finished the chart, very clearly different than the ones Bruce had drawn before.
“Shall we begin?”
Tony took a deep, steadying breath. The emotions that had him doubting his own stability were still there, still warning him that something was off, if not inside him, then somewhere in his past. In the past life he had lived. The silence stretched on, Iron Dust’s eyes steady on him, and Bruce a quite support he hadn’t realized he needed. His eyes slipped closed, and he nodded.
“Begin.”
“Your name, back then, had been The Most Gifted One.”
Fandom: the Avengers/ Exalted
Prompt: in flagrante delicto
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: After coming home Exalted, Tony has plans and ideas all but pouring out of his ears. Back in Creation, there was magic everywhere, and a little hard work wasn’t going to stop him from finding those wells of magic in his own world.
Iron Dust knocked Bruce's hand away from the star chart, replacing his pointing finger with his own. He traced the full length of the star's path over the paper before running his fingers over the chalk, ruining it.
"You want answers to questions about your past. Not the past you lived, but the one you lived before this life."
Tony stared at where his fingers still rested in the chalk and somehow felt that he had been caught in flagrante delicto, knowing that Iron Dust knew all his secrets from just that one trace of the star chart.
Hell, he probably knew everything long ago. He wouldn't have put it past him to have read up on Tony the moment they met.
Which, really, was quite an invasion of privacy. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
"From your current life, I can tell little about your past life. Despite sharing the same shard of Essence, the two lives lived have nothing to do with one another." His finger swirled around the quickly fading chalk outline, and Tony's eyes were drawn to it. "The mistakes you made in this life, reflect nothing of your past. The actions of your past matter naught to this life. Do you understand?"
Tony nodded, silent. He had learned long ago that silence earned him more words from Iron Dust rather than chatting him up. He could feel Bruce's disbelieving eyes on him and chose to ignore him.
He could always chat him up later and reinforce his charm on him then.
Once the black paper was nothing more than a grey smudge, Iron Dust picked up the chalk and began drawing a new star chart. Tony could still see the faint lines of his own star under the new chart, and something twisted in his stomach at the sight. He licked his suddenly dry lips. He felt like he was looking back in time despite his inability to read the astrology laid out before him. If he leaned a bit father over the paper, pressed his nose closer...
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and, fingers flying over the keyboard, commanded JARVIS to photograph the chart and save it to his personal servers. He would, maybe, like to study it in his own time.
Bruce leaned forward and pushed his glasses up his nose. "This is different than what you taught me."
"Yes," Iron Dust said, focused on his creation. "This is my speciality. This is a skill only those of Celestial Blessings may learn."
Bruce gave him a disgruntled look. "A bit pompous, don't you think?"
Iron Dust glanced up, startled. Tony smirked.
"And you said I didn't know my own arrogance?"
"I meant no offense," Iron Dust offered.
"I am learning that," Bruce said with an indulgent smile.
Iron Dust studied him for a long moment, and Tony realized that Iron Dust spent an enormous effort in keeping the good will of the Avengers. He put himself out, trying to understand the human’s ignorance of, not only the religion the exalted knew for truth, but also of the role humans played in an exalt’s life.
“A human is unable to learn this skill, for this skill is blessed upon the Celestial Exalts alone. Not even Iron Man can learn this skill.”
Tony touched a hand to his chest, assumed a hurt expression. “You told me I could do whatever I could dream up.”
Iron Dust arched a fine brow in his direction. “Do you dream of reading star charts and learning what fate has in store for all that abide by Heaven’s laws?”
Tony wrinkled his nose. “No.”
Iron Dust tipped his head in a way that clearly stated that that was settled. He sniffed delicately and finally finished the chart, very clearly different than the ones Bruce had drawn before.
“Shall we begin?”
Tony took a deep, steadying breath. The emotions that had him doubting his own stability were still there, still warning him that something was off, if not inside him, then somewhere in his past. In the past life he had lived. The silence stretched on, Iron Dust’s eyes steady on him, and Bruce a quite support he hadn’t realized he needed. His eyes slipped closed, and he nodded.
“Begin.”
“Your name, back then, had been The Most Gifted One.”
