003.

[propulsion]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Tony Stark
RECIPIENT: All
NOTES: n/a

Listen up. Few items.

You see someone with a green glowy thing in their hand, they may be capable of more than just a sick rave party. Well documented abilities include offensive energy expulsions and flash-shields, and a couple shard-bearers able to close rifts at a time. New documented abilities include those things, but more, and the ability to close a rift on their lonesome.

And if you also notice a rifter capable of phasing through solid objects, distorting time, blasting green lightning, ask yourself: is that rifter extremely handsome, well groomed, articulate, witty, smells nice, killer biceps? If those things apply, don't freak out, it's on purpose, and not a demon.

Second thing — if you find a rift you weren't expecting, take out a little piece of paper, or write on the back of your hand, the day and time you discovered it, and the day and time it was closed. And the day and time it opened, if you catch that, but we'll settle for the license plate. Forward all notes to Wysteria Poppell.

[ Shuffle shuffle paper sounds. ]

Last thing, uh. Hey, the world is round. Like it's a giant sphere, floating in space. Okay, that's all. Bye now.

Comments

[propulsion]

Well. There're theories. You might not love them.

[ Not his first rodeo. ]

[acreage]

[ he breathes out. ]

I've heard some things. Don't love a single damn one of them.

[propulsion]

[ Makes an 'eh' sound. Yeah. ]

We don't know enough about rifts to out of hand dismiss the idea they aren't a direct A-to-B from our dimension to this one, but the evidence is stacked against it. If advanced tech comes through, it'll come out altered or bricked beyond repair. Whole people've also changed physical form, if they were something that doesn't exist here. It's an argument against our worlds existing at all.

But maybe something transformational happens in between. We're still in data collection, but we're in a good spot to start making some best guesses. Mine is that when a rift opens, it's a one way ticket, but that little glowing thingy in your hand can close them. Maybe it can do other stuff to it too.

[acreage]

[ his attention catches on if advanced tech comes through, it'll come out altered or bricked beyond repair. thinks how frustrating that is, how that bodes for the possibility of, say, a spacecraft coming through one day.

then he realizes he already knew that; the evidence glimmering blue from the device beneath his skin. huh.

but the thought doesn't overly distract him from the rest of that explanation, so what he says aloud is, ]

Like creating a gateway?

[propulsion]

Sure.

[ Not condescending, just speculative. ]

I mean, that's the dream.

[acreage]

[ hums in acknowledgement. that'd be nice, wouldn't it? ]

What kind of data are you collecting?

[propulsion]

Well, right now, I'm trying to figure out when and where and why rifts open when they open. Me and a team do routine treks out to rifts to close them, take down energy read-outs. No modern tech, before you ask, we got our mitts on a little device that basically reads magical energy called a 'thaumoscope'. It's as adorable as it sounds.

[acreage]

Let me guess, it runs on magic gemstones.

[propulsion]

One magical gemstone. Gives off a vibration in range of Fade-iation fields [ a thing he says with an unblinking lack of irony ] and then the instrument itself is mechanical, gives off numeric readings based on the acceleration. Wind up dials, stuff like that.

Very shiny, very delicate. [ They basically have to do repairs on it every time they leave the field. ] Some academic's science fair project.

[acreage]

[ he doesn't say, god, i hate this place, but. it's implied in the sound he makes before answering. ]

Amos is the best mechanic I've ever seen, [ is what he actually says aloud, maybe sounding like a non sequitur at first, ] There's no question he'll be an asset to you. But if there's anything I can do to help, too, let me know.

[ he is, at least, motivated ]

[propulsion]

[ Tony pauses over that. Like he has to measure the worth of this offer as well as its value, instead of just dismissing it, moving on. He thinks about the way people talked to him in his early days, when the expectation was that he could vanish in any number of weeks later.

He says; ] 'Kay, [ and means it. He also says; ] Pachinko first.

[acreage]

We'll see what we can do.

[ apparently, he has a blacksmith to romance ]