( video )

[warmachine]

[ Rhodes has picked up a cat. One that's hissing at him, granted, but he's holding it up with one hand and scratching its ears with the other, unconcerned. He's also clearly mid-sentence when the device clicks on. ] — went home. And made me CEO, what did he think.

[ A sigh, and he doesn't say anything for a moment; the cat hisses again and swats at him. ] Guess I might as well take you along, get you fed a little.

[ And then he notices that his device is on. Rather than immediately turning it off, though, he turns to it. ] Tony Stark's left the City. Howard, Rogers, do you have a moment?

[ And then it clicks off. ]

Comments

video;

[boutant]

[ Instead of a cat, Ariadne has a bird on her shoulder. ]

He's gone? [ Waffle -- that's the bird -- promptly squawks "FUCK". ]

video;

[warmachine]

Hey. [ The bird gets what passes for a smile right now. ] Yeah, he's gone.

video;

[boutant]

[ Waffle squawks again and preens. ] Great. First Dawn, now Tony. Sephiroth's gone, too, so we're down a person in engineering, and Percy's had time off to focus on the joke shop.

video;

[warmachine]

I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. He made me CEO.

video;

[boutant]

I can keep Engineering running. [ She always does, that's her job. ] Focus on the rest.

video;

[warmachine]

You do that, and I'll buy you a drink or something. Won't be that party we talked about, though. [ He really doesn't feel like partying right now. ]

video;

[boutant]

Just use Tony's stash. He's let me have some before. [ Waffle gets the top of his head stroked with two fingers. ] If you need anything, just let me know.

video;

[warmachine]

Done and done. [ A beat, and he musters a somewhat more convincing smile. ] Thanks.

video;

[boutant]

No problem. [ More pets for the bird. ] I'll be in tomorrow, probably in my office while I try to shuffle things around to work all of this in.

video;

[warmachine]

I might drop by. Or send you a message. Tony's left quite detailed instructions on some stuff.

video;

[boutant]

JARVIS knows how to find me.

[ Pause. ]

... Are you okay?

video;

[warmachine]

I will be. [ Right now, he's just a little overwhelmed and his best friend is gone and, well. He's allowed a moment of just wanting to cuddle this cat, right?

Except the cat is still hissing and angry. ]

video;

[boutant]

[ Yeah. She gets that.

... Although... ] Try catnip.

video;

[warmachine]

Thanks.

[ He'll just... go now. And take that cat home. And take care of it, because Tony's gone and Rhodey might be projecting. But Tony's not here to take care of and the cat is and, well, how much of that is the curse and how much is just Rhodey dealing relatively well but not that well, who knows. ]