thisavrou_log | june intro log overflow

[ Tony does take a moment - long enough to turn his back to her and down his entire drink in one stiff movement - before turning and following her from the bar. He's gonna end up needing that buzz, he suspects.

So it is that he follows her out into the humid air. This particular bar happened to sit across from one of the many stretches of beach, which is both a blessing and a curse; it means even the streets are oppressively crowded. But it's also easier to have a private conversation in a crowd than a silent room, as it were. ]

So, [ He clears his throat, awkwardly, and pockets his hands. ] You're gonna tell me I was here before, right? Which is how you know who I am.

[She doesn't know how long it will take for him to join her, and she's pleased it isn't too terribly long. She's waiting just outside the entrance, and once he's there, she begins to move towards the beach.]

I suppose you've already heard, then. [She's not surprised. She doubted she was the first one to run into him, after all.]

But yes, that's correct. I met the you that was here previously. Though I doubt you would have told me who you really were, it was Dr. Banner than shared that with me.

[ He chortles a little under his breath, watching his feet as they walk. He hates being off-balance like this, but how else do you react in this situation? His usual dickish bravado isn't gonna get him far this time. ]

Yeah? No kidding. [ Knowing himself - and he thinks he does, thank you very much - he definitely would not have told her. Would probably have played it off as a suspiciously similar name and likeness and called it a day. ] I mean, how do you even start that conversation? "Hi, I'm your buddy's progeny from half a dozen decades in the future, how are you?"

[As if that would have fooled her. He wouldn't be giving her enough credit if he actually thought that would work. But that was neither here nor there, as it didn't even come to play.

His rambles actually get a laugh out of her, but there's a sense of heaviness for half a moment, of lingering thoughts of a friend she missed dearly.] I can't promise I wouldn't've slapped you for blasphemy. [but hey, at least she wouldn't have broken her hand on his face if she had, like she did the last time her fist made contact with someone's face.]

[ Tony snorts, ostensibly in amusement, but there's something uncharitable about it. It's probably not directed at Peggy, either. ]

Yeah, yeah. Really that hard to believe, huh?

[ It's no surprise that Howard having a kid would seem ridiculous to his closest friends. Even Tony thinks it's ridiculous some days, if his fantastically shitty parenting was any indication of his dedication to parenthood. ]

From the time I know him? Most definitely. But people change. [At least, she would hope. The Howard she knew was a womanizer, and when he wasn't entertaining ladies, he was absorbed in his work. She wonders how many of his habits carried on over the years.

But judging by that snort, she's not entirely convinced he got much better. She doesn't want to think negative of her friend, but just because he had a child didn't mean he was a good father.]

Maybe.

[ If he didn't genuinely believe that people could change, well... that would be tough shit for him, wouldn't it? He knows that she's right.

But Tony also wonders whether Howard didn't change for the worse once he came along, or if he was always so - the way he was. Or if, had he not gotten in that car accident, he might've eventually been better than constantly closed doors and harsh words. It's not like Tony'll ever get know. ]

What do you remember about him?

If he isn't working, he's throwing a party. [sound familiar? She makes a point not to say 'entertaining ladies', but that subtext is there. She doesn't know how much Tony knows about what a ladies' man his father was, so she doesn't want to outright say it.]

Or crashing one, at the very least. He's obnoxious, arrogant, and loves being the center of attention, but he's one of the most loyal friends I have.

[though he made some very poor choices recently, and she still harbors some frustrations at him for what he put her through, but that's neither here nor there.]

Yeah, sounds about right. [ Unspoken subtext included. You don't spend years obsessed with the mythos of Howard Stark without hearing a thing or two. ] Probably hard to believe, but I think he forgot how to have fun at some point.

[ The picture she paints - one he's heard about more than once, read about, seen the occasional film reel of - is so far-removed from anything he remembers of his father that he almost wants to laugh. But it's not really funny. ]

[Howard Stark, forgetting to have fun? Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable. Sometimes fun was all he ever seemed to have.]

I know he wasn't the same after the war, but none of us were. [Losing Steve was one of the hardest parts, but there was plenty more traumatic events in those days. She's seen Howard hardened and at his lowest, and while it would have to be a lot to make him lose his sense of fun, the more she thinks about it, the more it may not be so unbelievable after all.] I won't pretend to know what happened, because he's still very flamboyant as I know him, but I can see how he might have hardened over the years.

[Which is a shame. She hates to think of Howard changing that significantly.]

Well, you'd probably know better than I would.

[ It's not said out of bitterness, exactly, because he doesn't think he could muster a single bitter feeling towards Peggy Carter if he tried. It's just a cold, hard, nasty fact. Peggy knew Howard Stark as a person the way his own son never really did.

He'd really rather not dwell too long on that. ]

Y'know, you used to come around every now and then, when I was younger. Whenever you were in the country, I guess. My mother had me calling you 'Aunt Peggy.'

[ Talking to someone about their future probably isn't good form, but he figures he ought to assuage any concerns she might have about where she would eventually stand in her best friend's life. Especially following a 'by the way, he turned into a giant hardass' reveal. ]

I'm so sorry, Anthony. You deserved better. [She doesn't know how bad of a father Howard actually was, but the implications just from what he has said is bad enough. It infuriates her, to think he would act so badly to his own child.]

I do hope I punched him for you, at the very least. [Because if she had even the slightest idea that Howard wasn't being a good father, she doesn't doubt for a second she would have had words with him.

But she's glad he at least shifted the subject. She hadn't realized how she was frowning until the 'Aunt Peggy' comment made her smile again.]

Are you quite sure it wasn't Jarvis that started that? It sounds like something he would say. [...if Jarvis was still working for Howard, come Tony's time. But Jarvis was so loyal to Howard, she couldn't see him going anywhere. And she still has a lot of questions about this mysterious woman Howard married, but those could wait.]

[ There's a ghost of a genuine smile at the mental image of Aunt Peggy decking Howard a good one - she very well may have, for all he knows, because she's way too smart to have ever done it anywhere Tony could see.

But it's the latter comment that earns the actual smile, and he's more than happy to not dwell on his father any longer than necessary, even if it involves elaborate fantasy sequences of Peggy Carter putting him in his place. ]

Hey, you never heard me say Jarvis was innocent in all this...

[ She'll at least be glad to know that her assumptions are correct, what with how Jarvis stuck with that job until the day he died. ]

[While Peggy hasn't yet met Anna and seen her incur the injuries that would keep her from ever having children, she's well aware Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis have no children as of her time. So she hoped they were good to him, in Howard's miserable presence. But given the genuine smile that came across Tony's face just now, she knew they were.]

I would've been more surprised if you said he actually was. [She wonders, if Tony knows the extent of trouble her and Jarvis had gotten into together. But this is also reassuring to her, that he doesn't end up getting himself killed while following her into trouble like he so fondly did.]

Did he ever tell you about working with me for a time? Mr. Jarvis, I mean.

june intro log overflow

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