Dog Days 2: The Doggening

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The moment his fiancé entered with a plate that reeked of sharp cheddar and spiced meats, it was all Tony could do to hold himself back from darting out from under the red couch and consummating his demands. He still had his superego past all the screaming canine id.

“For me?” His suit sounded off as it welcomed Thor in in his own voice.

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[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Both Tony's paused in their nonverbal communication to regard Thor a perplexed look. "...Yes?" The AI paused for the dog to make some sort of statement, though that was a silly thing to do. "Eventually."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor was thinking more immediately, but he's not going to push the not-quite Tony Stark for answers.

Even though he wants to.

"All creatures die," he says. "Even I will die someday, though I'm not sure when." Provided he found Thanos and survived that and survived using the stones. He knew now that there was still plenty to lose. He just wish he realized that before his last encounter with the Titan.

Maybe then things would have ended differently.

"I think it's something you need to accept." You in general, not the AI or the cute dog Tony, either.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The Tony Stark made of light and data cupped his chin thoughtfully while the Tony Stark of flesh and fur simply sat at its feet, gazing silently back at the god.

"I could play obtuse and ask, 'and what of it?' I'll acknowledge your point and respectfully add, 'not dying with unfinished business.' If I can help it. And I can. So I will."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor hums at that. For an Asgardian whose lifespan is thousands upon thousands of years old and whose longevity is further augmented by the powers he inherited from his father upon his death, he has spent a lot of time thinking of death. Perhaps it was because he'd been on the battlefield since he was fourteen years old; as hard as Asgardians were to perish, he had seen plenty of people die in the glory of battle before they were ready to. Sure, Valhalla itself promised a glorious afterlife, but what of the people you left behind, who may or may not join you at the great hall? What of the things you wanted to do or for those people? All that opportunity was gone; all you had was what you had done and nothing more.

But truthfully, Thor hadn't given death all that much thought until he showed up on Midgard a decade before. He had known before Coulson was stabbed by his brother how fragile and short-lived humans were in comparison to the Asgardians Thor had grown up with. But Coulson's death made the reality of it settle in:

These humans would die long before he did. Any human he made friends afterwards, too.

Coulson's death seemed to trigger a long series of deaths. Friends and family died one after another. Coulson, his mother, his brother (he thought), his father, the Warriors Three, much of Asgard, Heimdall, his brother (for real), the Guardians he had befriended in space, Vision and Wanda, half of what remained of Asgard, and half again of what remained of Asgard afterward.

Half the universe, all with unfinished business. All who had things they still wanted to do. Dead and gone with no way to finish them.

"Will you ever be finished? Will any of us?"

Thor leans forward and stretches out an arm to scratch the dog Tony on the head; his attention is there on the pup now as he speaks to the Tony AI. "If you live until you've done everything you want to do, you'll never stop living."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Maybe not.” The hologram took a seat beside Thor, seeing no reason not to, spreading out his arms and legs to own his space be it physical or no. “We’ve all got our ways of chasing our legacy.”

Tony’s tail wagged sluggishly, but it did. He whined softly, approaching Thor to sit on his feet.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor reaches down to pick up the Tony dog and settle him down on his lap. He runs his hand across the length of the creature's back. He finds it relaxing. He can understand why so many people kept pets.

"And what is your legacy?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Not dying to the Giant Purple People Eater, for one." Tony Stark's essence replied coolly, passing a hand through the Stark pup, earning a little huff from him.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor gives Tonypup an affectionate scratch at the back of the ears at the creature's huff.

"What about for two?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Scum-sucking war profiteer. Then that got mostly-overshadowed by the destructive savior schtick." Tony smirked as his original became easily placated by Thor's clever fingers. "Teammate. Father. Husband--in here, out there if fate's kind."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I really thought you were dead then, you know," Thor says, as if the destructive savior schtick remark had suddenly reminded him of it. "When I flipped you over and ripped off your faceplate."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"After I fell out of the big eye in the sky?" Though the AI recognized Thor's meaning instantly, Tony himself had to take a moment. He hadn't been conscious for that moment, after all. His small body stiffened, and he lowered his head onto his paws. "Thanos put my name in his little black book for that one."

You're not the only one cursed with knowledge.

"I was pretty sure I was dead, too. Remember the pathological aftermath of the Halloween dance with Tyrone? Microcosm of every year since." The dog eyed his creation silently while he went on. 'Wanna broadcast my daddy issues while you're feeling so goddamn candid, Me?'

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks down as his feels the Starkpup's body stiffen. He frowns, brow furrowed, and strokes his back. He had been told before that dogs could be quite empathetic. Was this all just animal instinct kicking in?

"You earned my respect then," Thor says. It's true; before then, he hadn't thought much of the man who had stolen his brother and mocked him within moments of their first meeting. That had changed after Tony took that missile through the portal. "On Asgard, the greatest glory is to fall in combat in the protection of others."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony's dark eyes floated closed, huffing again as he willed his body to relax. What else was there to do? His ears stayed poised and alert.

"Still time to earn my Valhallan keep." The projection, as objective as he'd been, smirked in a melancholic way. "I can boast Never Say Die attitude, but denying the possibility's just disingenuous. That's where contingencies like me come in. My physical body goes but my will stays."

[st_ormbreaker]

"My opinion on that has changed since then." Asgardian belief or not, his opinion on that started to change after the Titan attacked his ship. "I would rather have a cowardly, selfish living brother than a dead one, just as I would rather have a Tony Stark who values his life instead of one so eager to die for the cause that he conjures an AI to replace him."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Alright, he couldn't help it. Tony's doggy eye peeked open to read his projection's face. There was a high element of unpredictability due to recentness of the AI's existence as well as being modeled after Tony himself.

"I wouldn't say eager." He made a sort of face as he searched for the word. "Realistic? Realistic."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor feels a tinge of irritation at the AI's response, though he somehow manages to keep it from seeping into his voice.

"Not realistic if you know your limits and act within them. I'm sure you can confirm that both of you are aware of those limits."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I'm a futurist. I look at trends. Each and every time I've had to exceed my limits for the greater good." He explained, gesticulating his immaterial hand. For better or worse, his AI was hitting his thoughts, beat for beat, but there was a definite reckless disregard for Thor's nature in there. Tony covered his snout with his paws, grumbling into Thor's lap.

"Pile-driving a nuke through a wormhole. Disintegrating a landmass 2 kilometers across. Taking on a man armed with artifacts powered by the building blocks of the universe itself. By the law of serial escalation, whatever comes next..."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Right," Thor says in a tone of voice that suggests that he understands, but doesn't care very much for the answer.

"You aren't the only person that can protect Earth, you know." Thor idly itches the pup's back.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony didn't take his eyes off his other self, putting aside the eeriness of himself in full motion but still other. The AI was no less observant than the original in the way he simply studied Thor with his keen brown eyes, and he could practically hear the responses that went unsaid.

Blessedly, it remained silent, but then Tony remembered he hated silence. Thor's fingers dug in a bit more roughly, and he let out an exaggerated whine of discomfort to break the tension.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor stops petting dog Tony long enough to pick him up and plant a kiss to the top of his head.

"It's okay," he tells him. He wonders if the AI Tony is going to repeat this conversation to the actual Tony when he is no longer in this guise. Thor isn't sure he would want him to.

He gently sets the dog back down into his lap, stroking him long enough that Thor does indeed feel himself calming. After a minute or two has passed, he opens his mouth to speak again.

"You know I care about you," he says. "You've already said that you'll come with me if we aren't able to put a stop to it. Why won't you allow anyone to support you in the same way?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I do things my own way. Always have." The projection turned his head with a sigh, relaxing his chin into his palm. "And now, with this many unknowns...I don't know what I can count on what I can't. It's nothing against you. I'm scared. That's when all my best work happens--or my dumbest decisions."

'Was that necessary?' Tony's ears laid flat against his head, but made no move to interject.

"I'll own that."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Just because you have done things one way doesn't mean you have to continue to do so," he says. "Humans are adaptable. They change. They become something greater far more easily than almost any species I've ever known." Asgardians included. Had Thor not been summarily cast down to Earth, he doubts he ever would have changed his ways. He had humans to thank for helping him to change them.

"You can't keep using that as an excuse."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"You're right." The AI agreed with startling ease. The anticipation of each response was getting exhausting, and Tony's small head lolled.

"We're pretty adaptable. So I'll ask this." He cast a look at his original, noting his response, and looked back to Thor. "What are you asking of me?"

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's not of you," he says, though maybe someday, if the original Tony dies, it might be. "He is headstrong. I can no sooner stop him from doing whatever he wishes than I can stop Loki." Loki, who was determined to throw his life away even now after seeing what their mother had shown him.

"I just want him to stay alive as long as he can. I don't want him to throw his life away. We can do it without him dying if he knows his limits." He scratches the pup right where neck meets back. "I just want him to believe it, too."

Because if he believed, maybe he wouldn't do something foolish that will get him killed.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

There were plenty of times that Tony Stark, inhabiting the body of a small dog, let the physical feedback loop take over simply because it was easier. Now, he was caught in the ultimate temptation to do so, but his human mind was possessed by emotion he wasn't prepared to face anytime soon. He simply remained where he was connected to Thor, burying his cheek into his warmth. Whatever expression his AI was making, he could no longer see.

"...You know." He heard his voice begin, and there was a flicker of light from the corner of his eye as the projection of his body stood. "I am Tony Stark. But I'm not the Tony Stark--if you wanna go there, anyway. I can only help as far as I'm allowed." He glanced at the dog once more and back again, as if seeking input. "But can I just say one thing? I've got my own will. It really sucks watching the man I love grieve without having a physical body to comfort him."

That was a bit unexpected. Tony nuzzled into Thor's thigh to make up for the fact his creation couldn't.

Satisfied with that much, the AI lingered before the helmet responsible for making his image, running a hand through his incorporeal hair. "I can't control what happens next. All I can do is hope I don't become a necessity."