Mark I - [action + video]

[gold_titanium_man]

(please refer to his third-person sample for what's happened immediately before this.)

[he woke up a second time. It was unexpected, but extremely welcome. He expected to feel little pieces of metal stabbing away at his heart since his arc reactor was missing. But strangely, he didn't feel any different than normal. Just groggy.

Deciding to take advantage of this reprieve from death's embrace, Tony flipped open the little communication's device and activated the video function. As an after thought he grabbed the little card]

So, this is a new one, kidnapped by insane cosplay enthusiasts? Your jokes can use some work, though. Really, the Tin Man? Is that the best you could come up with? What do ya want, anyways? Money? Weapons? My armor? I'll tell you where to shove it, but you won't listen until I have a better microphone.

And who is this... [he mouths Yaldabaoth, trying to figure out the pronunciation, gives up and continues] Who is this Yogi Bear character with a name that looks like it belongs to something Lovecraft invented? I'm not living with a tentacle monster, am I? [he looks really unsure about that]

Is there anyone who happens to know where I can get 1.5 grams of palladium and a few other odds and ends? [even though it was a bad design, he would be more comfortable with his Mark I reactor in his chest than a great gaping hole]

Comments

[madeinneochina]

I have a name, y'know. And it's not Tarzan.

[But, Sai does hop down pretty easily, and stride on in.]

Huh. All the houses must be the same, this is what mine looks like.

[gold_titanium_man]

Can't really use your name if I don't know it.

[he rolls his eyes and shuts the door behind the kid]

Can't image that the people who made this town had much creativity considering everything is painted the same five colors and the districts are named for those colors.

[madeinneochina]

It's Sai Saici.

[Well la-tee-da. He's just going to find a comfortable flat spot to sit on, and sit cross-legged on it. Never mind that it's actually supposed to be an endtable.]

I guess it makes things easier, in some ways. [A pause.] You got any roommates, mister?

[gold_titanium_man]

[he snorts, yep, that gave him the perfect nickname for you, kid]

Apparently. Haven't met them, yet. They're name, though, seems to fit better with Japanese porn.

[he takes a seat in an armchair]

[madeinneochina]

[So he doesn't like sitting in chairs much. That doesn't mean it's weird to sit on flat surfaces.]

I've got two - my bro, and a girl named Sora. She seems nice enough, I guess.

[After another moment, he pulls out his compact and tosses it over to Tony.]

So what're you gonna do with it? Can I watch?

[gold_titanium_man]

If you're quiet. [he looks closer at the small object, there really didn't appear to be any seams on it]

Nano-engineering? Doesn't appear this place would have the technology.

[madeinneochina]

Of course I can be quiet!

[And quiet he is, watching Tony mess with it for a while... though he's kind of having to lean to the side to see. He still is pretty short.]

It definitely shouldn't. There's not even any electricity on the island, except the stuff in these houses. It's almost like these houses are the exception...

[gold_titanium_man]

[he makes a noise that indicates he heard] I could make something like this in my workshop back home.

[madeinneochina]

Where's home for you?

[gold_titanium_man]

Malibu, California. [he's now running a piece of metal that resembles a tooth pick along the device]

[madeinneochina]

Dunno where that is. [He gives a little shrug. Hey, can you blame him, he's lived in only two temples for as long as he can remember. Also, one is in space.]

[gold_titanium_man]

On the west-coast of America. [he isn't finding any cracks to try to lever the little tool into]

What about you? [he said no talking, but here he is making conversation as he opens the compact to look at the screens and whether he could pry one off]

[madeinneochina]

And is it... nice there? [He didn't want to say "unpolluted" or "intact" because then he'd have to get into the whole discussion he had with Sora all over again.]

Well, I'm from N... [Don't say Neo, don't say Neo] China. The, uh, Chicolin Temple and the Shaolin Temple are where I spent most of my time growing up.

[gold_titanium_man]

Almost always sunny, highs tend to be in the mid-70s. I have a house on a cliff with my own private beach. Ever surfed? [he does love the Malibu house]

I've heard of the Shaolin Temple, some sort of place for martial arts monks, right? You a monk? [somethings were cross-universal constants]

[madeinneochina]

That sounds really nice. Nowhere near what it's like back home [He pauses.] What's surfing?

Hehe, yeah, I guess it was still well known back then, huh?

[Then Sai sort of realizes what he just said, and decides to quickly change topics.] W-well, no, but I've trained there almost my whole life. I'm just a Gundam Fighter, like my Grandfather was. But Zuisen and Keiun, they raised me, and they're monks!

[gold_titanium_man]

You don't know what surfing is?

Back then? You're from the future? The temporal anomalies associated with this place... [he's considering them serious, you didn't change the subject fast enough for him]

A Gundam Fighter?

[madeinneochina]

Chibodee talks about it all the time, but I've never thought to ask him what it was.

[But since this man seems to not be surprised about Sai being from, well, the future... Sai thinks it's okay to give away a little more to this guy.] Well it seems like people are from a lot of different times and places. Nobody's heard of space colonies, except Domon and me.

... guess you haven't ever heard of what a Gundam is either, huh. It's a big robot for military purposes. Every colony and even some of the earth nations have 'em.

[Then he motions to the compact again.] How's that going?

[gold_titanium_man]

Surfing, a large board and waves. If we're here long enough I'll make a board and show you how.

[he listens to the things about the future, space colonies? That sounded a bit like sci-fi going into sci-fact] Let me guess, the space colonies exist at the Le Grange points and are city sized space stations?

[but the description of Gundams actually makes him drop the compact. Large robots for military purposes? Sounded an awful lot like his suit... or more like Obie's]

1/2

[madeinneochina]

Oh! Yeah, I've seen Chibodee do that a couple times. It looks kinda like fun.

[But he shakes his head as Tony starts describing what he thinks the colonies look like.]

Nah, it's nothing like that. They're way bigger than cities - like Japan's, it really is the size of Japan. Maybe bigger! And all the colonies are like that. They hold a lot of people.

2/2

[madeinneochina]

[Sai Saici's eyes widen a bit when he sees the compact drop.]

Woah-!

[And he quickly scampers to retrieve it, and manages to catch it before it hits the ground.]

Ha! Got it!

[gold_titanium_man]

[he completely forgets the rest of the conversation and focuses on Gundams]

Who... who designed the technology the Gundams are based off of?

[he's almost afraid of the answer]

[madeinneochina]

Huh?

[Have a very confused look, Tony.]

Well, I guess all the scientists in the space colonies, back during the Earth Chaos War. They were making military mobile suits way back then for each of their own colonies, so... Gundams just sorta happened out of that. And then the Gundam Fight was proposed and it's been that way ever since.

[gold_titanium_man]

That's it, I'm making sure Iron Man is destroyed when I die.

[madeinneochina]

... what's an Iron Man?

[gold_titanium_man]

I am. Iron Man is my powered armor which I use to be a superhero.