[dated to the 11th]

[notawastedlife]

Tony was late for his own party, or at least the part of it that involved other people. The drinking and the merrymaking, he'd made advances on on his own, although he was having to work hard at the first one to get the second one to take

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[blondrussianspy]

Natalya had not spent a lot of time on boats. Boats were not her area of expertise. In fact, the only positive thing she could say for boats was at least they weren't goddamn trains. She'd found some tall, very tall, taupe boots and a short grey jersey dress that left a short but crucial span of leg bare.

She'd left the sniper rifle at home.

Tony's behavior was vexing. For as long as she'd been acquainted with the man, he'd been plenty drunk and perfectly feckless, but his behavior had never been colored with what she could only describe as desperation.

Also, the suit was impressive but seemed a bit unnecessary. She sipped her vodka and tried to angle herself away from the most crowded part of the boat's deck.

[notawastedlife]

"It's red for- well, like a hot rod," Tony informed her, "not for the motherland, but we could pretend."

[blondrussianspy]

Natalya wasn't exactly startled, but she straightened up when the crowd shifted and there was Tony Stark.

"Is very thought having gesture," she said, looking it over with more interest than wariness, gaze settling on and being illuminated by the arc reactor.

"How is it... works?"

[notawastedlife]

"The reactor?" Tony said, looking down at himself. "You've seen that before. Arcs. Palladium. Science. It's boring. Ever danced with a man wearing a tank?"

[blondrussianspy]

"Nyet," she admitted, frowning.

"But this be- is part of you, yes? Is your self is powering tank?" She absently set her drink down as she spoke. She'd understood what the reactor did, she thought, but seeing it interact with the armor made her feel both wildly uneasy and very much like a spy again, because Zevya in the intel lab would have shit herself if she'd seen this.

[notawastedlife]

"Yes. I am the- tank is the wrong word, let's say jet," Tony said, "it's me."

[blondrussianspy]

She made an impressed face, because drunk or not, feeling of uneasiness or no, it was damn impressive.

"And I was think rubber bullets for rifle were good. You are single-man Cold War deterrent."

[notawastedlife]

"That was the plan," Tony said, raising one gauntletted hand in the peace symbol. "Convince everyone to switch to rubber bullets. Since, hey, what good are real ones when I'm around?" He tapped the armor and made a pew sound.

[blondrussianspy]

She shook her head ruefully, amused and knowing she probably shouldn't be.

"But this, is party. There is no need for carrying weight of world on shoulders here, da?" That desperation she'd suspected was making itself more and more concrete, proportionate to how casual and easy going Tony was. She was fairly certain that as a guest, it wasn't her place to fight him on it.