13245/A Rousing Good Time

A Rousing Good Time
Date of Scene:	01 November 2022
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Felicia gains some glasses, and Clint wrangles the kids with Happy.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Felicia Hardy, Pepper Potts

---

Tony Stark has posed:
"Hey. Felicia." It's a young male voice, which may not immediately make any sense to Felicia. Also the strange place, may also be confusing and disorienting, if she was napping. "We need your opinion," Tony's saying. He's dressed simply, comfortably in tee, shorts, sneakers. With his weird necklace-item that houses a temporary arc-reactor corded through a connection into the shirt. But that's less the thing to look at, and more that he has some scissors.

Not to worry, he didn't cut Felicia's hair. Well, not yet. "Pepper got a haircut," Tony says, proudly. "We need a girl-opinion if it's too short. Also, we're getting pizza, and balloons. My rocket boots aren't done fabricating yet."

Lots of information for Felicia all at once, as Tony turns to check and see if Pepper followed him.

Clint Barton has posed:
This was suppose to be a three hour tour and now Clint completely understands how Gilligans Island went so pear-shaped. His own kids are one thing, he contributed to their birth, but this is entirely something else... For a spell, he managed, but now he feels like the hen has fully escaped the coup.

Sitting on th eedge of the couch with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. "Laura, I need your help, seriously. I'm sending a Quinjet to pick you and the kids up... I'm struggling, babe.. These are not normal children. One of them could build a nuclear reactor out of a box of legos, the other could make the box of legos admit that it's bag of donuts by staring at it..."

"They scare me. Send help."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Felicia didn't fight getting back in the car, as her emotions were in over drive and having last talked to Clea, and felt like she was given a THIRD chance at life and to do good, the young thief crawled in and quickly fell asleep.

    Hours later, Tony's young voice in her ear causes the girl to frown and try to roll over away from the voice, but accidently into the light. This causes her to open her blue eyes and groans. The young woman doesn't want to be awake and the hormones in her body telling her she needs to sleep so her growth spurt can resume. "Can I sleep more instead?" The white haired girl asks before she blinks again and rubs at her eyes. Forgetting that she's about a foot shorter and physically almost 20 years younger.

    Her blurry eyes, squint and she fumbles around "Where's my glasses?" She asks, trying to find Tony. "I can't look at Pepper without my eyes." She says, starting to well up tears in her eyes again.

    Clint requesting help causes Felicia to turn her head and with a tense of her shoulders, little tiny kitten claws extend from her fingers and she frowns. "Who's that?! Who's there?!"

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Happy said he'd blow up some balloons for us." Probably isn't counting on a couple of hundred, however, so hoping his lungs are in order! Pepper wants the entire sunken living area covered in balloons. That's not to mention the long thin balloons that she/they are going to put in front of Clint to make animals out of. Then, of course, an entire story must be made out of them! So many things can be made, from swords to snakes and puppies and parrots on swings...

Pepper sticks her head in behind Tony, her straight locks shorn back to something obviously not really done by a licensed professional, if the scissors in Tony's hand is any indication. "Felicia? It's Ginny. That's Clint out there. He's watching us.. well, Tony." Because the boy of the group needs to be watched closer, right? "We're getting pizza for dinner. C'mon and get up."

Clint's supplication doesn't quite reach the redhead; at least he couldn't be talking about them, right?

Tony Stark has posed:
"Yes. I am being watched," Tony deadpans as Pepper clarifies, but there isn't sarcasm or argument in it. He IS being watched. For SOME reason. Maybe those connected to that he's the one with all the Ideas, such as the one that came with the scissors now.

Felicia lost her glasses, and that's yet another problem that Tony can solve! "Okay, glasses. We'll find them. When did you last have them?" Tony asks, approaching Felicia with some care, and looking down, making sure he's not going to STEP on any if they fell on the floor.

"What color are they?" He asks. As if there'd be other pairs of glasses around in this room. Tony's unaware of Clint's issues for the moment, focused on Felicia's debacle.

Clint Barton has posed:
All of this responsibility, Clint is not wearing it well.

He peers up over the tips of his fingers at the trio of children who use to be adults, but are now magically children, and by extention way more terrifying. "If you don't ever see me again, tell the kids I love them." He taps a finger to his ear to disconnect the call and pushes up from his seat with both hands on his knees.

Happy, the poor sod, is over there blowing up a couple hundred balloons and... let's be honest that puts everything into perspective. It can always be worse. Like when it's his turn to create a Damn story out of all the balloon animals he'll be forced to make, complete with a balloon draw-bridge and little balloon subjects.

Clint lays a hand on Happy's shoulder as he passes, "Rock, paper, scissors for which of us tells them we're not doing this?"

All hope drains when he sees the broken look in the former boxers eyes.

"Right, I'll order pizza."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    "They're black with paper on them. I don't remember anything after getting in the car..." Felicia reports and with her bad vision is unable to see her glasses on the table next to the couch she was sleeping on. Her eyes are that bad. Plus it's an entirely alien place and she's ... in her kid self again. A small panic is washing over the white haired girl.

    "Pizza?" Felicia asks, pausing as she frowns, and her silent weeping stops and she turns in the direction of the archer and rubs at her eyes with the bottom of her black sleeve. The silly string canister lost somewhere between attacking Amora and waking up here, but she's not concerned about that. "Who's Ginny?" She does ask softly and then looks around more feebly. "What kind of pizza mister Clint?" She asks, not sure why she said mister.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Pizza." Once Felicia gets her eyes on, she'll be able to see her, right? Twisting around to look at Clint in the living room, Pepper calls out, "Thank you!" before looking back in on the other little girl. "C'mon."

Pepper does take pity on Felicia and enters the room fully, her barefooted steps careful so as not to step on anything. "We brought you back to Stark Tower. Couldn't leave you alone out there. Not with, well.. everything." She offers a smile, and while Felicia may not see it immediately, she'll hear it. "It'll be okay." In a habit born of many, many years working with Tony, in their adult lives anyway, she glances over to him and her gaze lingers before returning to Felicia. "Can't say no to balloon animals."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Yeah. Ginny is Pepper. I'm Tony Stark. Pepper's my girlfriend." Tony pauses, sort of taking in his own statement. It's a little WEIRD to say, to have a girlfriend? But it doesn't really carry any problem, exactly, that his young mind can identify either. She's his girlfriend and that's fine. It has a child's meaning, right now. Moving on...?

"But first --- why did you put paper on your glasses...? Or whatever this is? Second, I see them, here we goooo," Tony says, actively climbing half OVER Felicia to get them. Ten year olds don't have personal space awareness so much when there's something else to focus on. He plucks them up, and looks at them. "Ack. They're //wrecked//, Felicia," Tony reports, sadly. "You need new ones."

Tony brightens, though. Mr. Helpful. "C'mon, I can make those. Come on come on come ON," Tony says, trying to drag Felicia with him by the hand, while commanding to the ceiling: "HOMER, remember those goggles we made for whats-his-face who had astigmatism, for SHIELD?"

"Yes. Pattern BAAB-12," HOMER answers.

"Right; Blind-as-a-Bat, mark 12. Prioritize those over the rocket shoes. We're coming to the lab, they'll auto-correct to her eyeballs. Those are a quick fabricate. Start them now... kid-sized."

Tony pulls at Felicia. "Right? We're going to the lab?" Oh, she's blind. "Just hang onto me. There's some stairs. But it's a cool secret lab hideout. ...when you can see it. And then you can see the balloon animals too." Tony then offers Pepper the scissors. It's FAMILIAR, Tony just 'hands' things to Pepper a lot. One small, very familiar thing, from adult life. But it also comes with a silent 'Right?' question at her in his dark brown eyes.

Clint Barton has posed:
"Pizza." Clint repeats to Pepper, nodding. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and glances over at Felicia finally coming around, "Whatever kind you want." Because he found a black card that he's absolutely using to feed these little monsters. Ten year olds will eat you out of house and home, unless there's billions of dollar monies to cover the tab.

"You know what, I'll just get one of all the things."

Maybe they'll eat so much they fall into a food coma and then him and Happy can have a beer, laugh about this (very quietly so as not to wake them up), and watch the rest of the game (very quietly, so as not to wake them up).

"Don't worry bud, I'm calling Steve soon as the pizza gets here. If we have to blow up balloon animals, I'll be danged if Mister Stars and Bars isn't going to give'em a little twenty first century rendition of Star Spangled Man."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    "Yeah. I stepped on them and then... Clea fixed them for me. What's wrong with the paper. It matched my costume. I ... I don't know." Felicia mumbles as she is then being pulled to her feet and without really complaining, "C-careful I don't know where I am and it's hard to see." THUNK!

    Felicia's hand hit the door frame and caught her off guard before she turns towards she last heard Clint. "Can I get pineapple on my pizza?" Even though she's already leaving the room and making it down the hallway. "That's neat you have a girlfriend." Felicia says in a weird little compliment as her knobby knees shuffle down the stairs and she keeps a hand on the rail and one held by the sleeve by Tony. "Did mister Clint say Steve was coming? Who's Steve? Mister Rogers?" Felicia is full of questions and is full on confused and curious as a kitten in this great big world.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The reason for the name 'Pepper' is rapidly losing meaning, and it's becoming just something she's called. A nickname that everyone seems to know. So, she goes with it, for the most part. It's familiar without her knowing its origin. The explanation of who she is (and ultimately why she's there also) gains another look, though this one is a little shyer, and she looks away again. Yup, if there was any question as to the truth of Tony's statement, there it is. It's totally honest and very, very innocent.

Pepper nods quickly at Tony in agreement, encouragingly. It's a nice thing to do! Taking the scissors as they're handed to her, she backs up so Tony can lead Felicia, getting out of their way. "I'll make sure Clint gets the right soda."

A couple of steps are taken backwards to do, and then to the side, green eyes glancing back out to the living room. The balloon level in the sunken living area is growing, but slowly. Poor Happy is catching his breath, perhaps looking a little paler than is his usual. "Is Steve coming over?" Pepper sounds happy about that!

Tony Stark has posed:
"Um, Captain America, right," Tony says. He's quick, his mental acuity is still here, but just the reference points are lacking, as is some things related to memory. And PRIORITIES. "Yeah okay, like-- just trust me," Tony says, a little frustrated with Felicia's blindness and slow quality. Still, he can get her there without too much incident.

"We'll be right back," Tony yells at Clint and Pepper/Ginny. The lab does have security to wade through - not that Felicia will see any of it, just a blurry series of flashy things and doors, until Tony parks her at a chair. "Okay, that's a chair." No kidding.

Tony lets go of her, to cross the lab, and check on his devices. "Almost done. Glasses are quick," Tony announces, as if she were deaf as well as having vision problems.

Clint Barton has posed:
"That's right, Mister Rogers. I'm calling him right now." Clint looks at his phone, "No, I'm going to text him." Clint looks at Happy, "No, I'm going to go over and pick him up... you've got this right?" Happy, bless his sweet heart, glances up at Clint with a look that practically screams please don't leave me alone, and for a moment? For a brief episodic moment in time? Clint considers it.

With teeth clinched, he sucks in a breath through them.

"Yeah, looks like Steve needs a ride. Shame really, I was looking forward to whatever is about to happen down there in the lab... certainly nothing crazy. Not like an ADULT Tony ever blew anything up, amirite?" He slaps Happy on the shoulder, "You're the Captain now." A few steps backwards, "Twenty, thirty hours, I'll be back. Hold down the fort. Numbers are on the fridge."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Standing at the chair, but not sitting down, because she was told there was a chair, not shown. So she starts by bending her knees slightly and feeling around with her lanky arms until a wrist bumps into the back of it. She gropes around feeling it out before she nods "Ah." And sits.

    Legs trying to swing but they're long enough to touch the floor so she stops quickly and puts her hands on her lap. "What are you making?" She asks, finally getting to that question. "How are you making them?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper watches the two head downstairs before she walks fully back out into the living area to set the scissors down. That strawberry blonde hair is cut to different lengths, where the shortest is about just past her shoulders where it had been down her back, past her shoulder blades. Definitely will have to grow out! Stepping down into the living area, the fireplace (obviously) isn't on, so Pepper takes hold of a blanket to toss over her, just to keep away the chill. Green eyes turn towards Clint as he offers up his final (final?) goodbyes to Happy and ostensibly to either get Steve or just leave the poor security chief/bodyguard/trainer/chauffeur to watch 3 ten year olds. How cruel?

Still, snuggled under the blanket does cause a little sleepiness, and the moment she closes her eyes, she's out.

Tony Stark has posed:
"YOU are in the secret, amazing lab of Stark Industries, where all things Iron Man get made. And awesome robots. And rocket boots." Just to name the major things that are important. Not things like arc reactors. The 'kid' highlights.

"So there's robot fabricator things that make things out of plastic and metal. Like ... million dollar 3D printers." Tony is trying to clue her in, he's not trying to be secretive, but his own words are getting jumbled on his tongue too. There's a lot here that he made but also can't parse due to his current age? It's weird.

"Anyway I'm printing glasses. They should adjust to your vision, but like... I forget how they work exactly," Tony says, frustrated, but willing to trust his old self, or the machines, or ... just don't think too hard about it.

"I think these are also heat and night vision, you can toggle. It's fun!" Tony stands over by the machinery, willing it to hurry up. He can't show off things in the lab when she's blind, so it's just kind of awkward now. And it's causing him to sense his mental loss, the //change//, and it's disconcerting. Tony looks to the machine to distract him. "Percentage?" Tony prompts it.

"93 percent," HOMER's disembodied voice says.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Felicia sits there quietly as she listens to the hums of the machinery and electronics surrounding her. "That sounds really cool. I can't wait to see it all." She says. Feeling bad still, and still very much wanting to go to sleep, and STILL wanting to eat all the pizza in the world. Or two slices. Which ever.

    After hearing the last command from Tony, Felicia notes. "Dad would-" And she stops. That mental feedback look triggers again. Her young mind remembers her dad still being alive. Her adult mind KNOWS he's gone. This is very tricky. "PERCENTAGE?" She repeats Tony's last words, expecting the room to respond, becuase that's cool as anything else she's ever seen.

Tony Stark has posed:
The room ignores Felicia. Of course. Until Tony says, "You can answer her, HOMER," to the AI. Young Tony is less security-tight than older one. It's more important to young Tony to get along with others, impress them, share some fun with them.

"One-Hundred percent," HOMER says, after a pause. The machinery stops whirring, and Tony crosses with a skip in his step to open one of the long fabricator chambers, and rescue the item. He doesn't just hand them over, he tests them first, putting them to his own face and flipping through the settings.

"Okay, reset them now," Tony says to HOMER. Reset off of Tony's vision parameters. He comes over, and puts them in Felicia's hands. They are, as they were made for a SHIELD agent, some rather sleek black glasses, though they are somewhat goggle-like due to some vision settings. "On the right-- here," Tony tries to move her hand to show her where, "There's the toggle. Night, and Heat vision. Don't do Heat in here, it's a little kaleidescope, to warn you."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    "Thank you Tony!" Felicia says as she/he turns the goggles on and she can see for the first time since she bounced off the hood of the car last night. And without warning she leans forward and wraps her arms around the small tiny genius. "That is very sweet." She says and then stands up and lets the hug go and blushes softly. "I'm... uh... gonna go help with the balloons." She says and without warning, darts. And not really runs, but shuffles awkwardly away until she's out of sight and then the gymnist SPRINTS up the stairs and out of the room.

    She shouldn't have hugged him. She's going to upset Ginny and she's starting to feel the emotions welling up behind her eyes again.

Tony Stark has posed:
Felicia missed Tony turning a bright awkward blush shade, as he didn't expect that response either. That Felicia darted fast means she easily outpaces him -- Tony didn't move at all, he's in Boy Stunned mode.

"I--- yes," Tony says, as she says he's sweet. Adult Tony would have some sass, flirt, SOMETHING. Young one doesn't. Not at all.

But the balloons comment triggered a little thing for Tony. "HOMER," Tony asks, "Can any of the current bots blow up balloons REALLY FAST...?"

"Yes," HOMER answers.

And Tony brightens. Yes, this lab is going to do nicely....

With that information, Tony follows after Felicia back to the penthouse living quarters.