closed.

[propulsion]

WHO: Tony Macaroni Stark, Dickdickerson
WHAT: Bros being pals (pejorative)
WHEN: Late Drakonis
WHERE: Free Marches
NOTES: Unbridled sexual tension

It only isn't raining because it has just finished raining. The clouds above are taking a big deep breath before the next deluge, and kids, that's just science.

And it's a Free Marches special, being somehow both cold as well as muggy, the air heavy with moisture while layering a chill over everything. When Tony catches a trickle of wet down the side of his neck, he is not entirely sure if he secreted it on his own or not, banishing it with a broad rub of his hand, before returning to his task.

They're not so far outside of Kirkwall. Northwards, but out of reach from the main body of significant Imperial presence, still sheltered in the southern-side of the Vimmarks, within the heavy blanket of forested foothills. Half a day's worth of travel more and they'll be there, investigating whatever triggered the signal it had sent back. For now, the sun is scooting fast for the horizon. Tony had said something like I know a spot, hopefully safe from flooding and landslides.

Appears to be. But everything is wet. Tony had done his part on his way in, ferreting out some kindling-sized pieces of dry wood out the bottom of a splintered tree, sized variously and sitting in a pile next to him while he frays down a likely piece into little thread-y fibres, being a little precious about the prospect of splinters in the doing as he frets at it with a small knife.

"Do you have ghosts or ghost stories, where you're from?"

It is spoken as a binary, the question being one or the other, rather than multi-choice.

Comments

[propulsion]

"We must," has an uptick of drama to it, a big sigh out accordingly. Richard's life is very hard under the yoke of Tony Stark's tyrannical rule.

In a controlled roll of motion, Tony sits back out of his crouch, feet wide apart to permit the fire situation as he continues to feed it little scraps of wood. It's easy to become fond of a fire, this way, like a small animal prone to biting and hissing, ungrateful in the way it takes food from your fingers, but yours all the same.

And also if he looks too closely at what Dick's doing to that rabbit, he's gonna lose his appetite about it.

"What do you know about mass blood sacrifice used to power a magical ritual, like say, closing or opening a portal? Like, is it much?"

[nonvenomous]

A beat’s pause, a fluttering adjustment of sticky fingers around meat. Not entirely unlike the aforementioned animal prone to biting and hissing, he shoots a glance across the fire to gauge the intent behind Tony’s reach. Prickling, suspicious.

His brow furrows as he goes back to skewering.

“It would be inefficient given we have other means,” he says.

The glowing sliver in his palm shows sickly green through a sheen of gore.

“Less so if the sacrifices suffer.”

[propulsion]

"Obviously we'll be looking into alternatives. We're a small organisation."

Only so many throats to slit.

Foray into dark humour is (the twist at his mouth says) perfectly characteristic, a glance to bat aside suspicion and prickle, or absorb it.

"How do we measure how much power is represented by a dozen dead elves and all the blood in 'em?"

[nonvenomous]

“Hmm.”

What a curiously pointed series of hypotheticals to think about.

Richard spears the last haunch and tightens his focus in on the fire struggling to root itself in scrap wood between them. Not quite substantial enough yet for cooking, but plenty to keep the wrinkles in his monkey brain occupied while he considers their respective positions.

“Why not humans?”