and I knew it complete

[toblameforit]

He worries about Sherry.

If you'd asked him, before he moved to the other corner of the continent, he wouldn't even have thought of the possibility. Worry? About Sherlock Holmes? What about him, exactly

Comments

[thefirstexpert]

"Look at you."

He's standing in a corner, partially obscured in shadow.

(Should the shadow be falling quite like that? Never mind.)

"Three thousand miles away and he's still messing with your head."

[toblameforit]

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

He shoves his chair back from the desk and scrambles to his feet. By the time it has even fully occurred to him to wonder how the hell Obie got here, he is already most of the way across the room, intent on either hugging the crap out of him or punching him in the face. He'll figure it out.

In the event, hugs win.

[thefirstexpert]

He holds up his hands, warding Tony off.

"Hang on there, kiddo," he says. "I'm not all the way back yet."

He reaches over as if to pat Tony's shoulder, the way he's done hundreds of times before, but his hand, of course, passes right through.

"I've figured out a way to fix that, but I'm gonna need some help."

[toblameforit]

...that is weird. That is really very weird.

(Also, 'kiddo'? Obie hasn't called him that in-)

"What kind of help?"

Naturally he is immediately on board. Because naturally he hasn't even considered the possibility that this might not be Obie, or that the help might be something he wouldn't want to do. Or something he couldn't.

[thefirstexpert]

"There's a book. The Habakuk Compendium. It's basically a guided tour of the multiverse. It'll show you how to snake a spell right through the Hellmouth without turning this dimension inside out."

(Or at least, it would if it existed.)

[toblameforit]

"Okay," he says. "I'll call Sherry."

His hand rises, as though he's going to try to touch Obie again; then he remembers, and turns away to find his phone instead.

[thefirstexpert]

"No need," he says. "There's a copy right here in town."

Isn't that convenient?

[toblameforit]

"...okay," he repeats, stopping halfway to the desk and looking back. "Like where?"

Because Tony is pretty sure that wherever this is going, Sherry is going to figure into it eventually.

[thefirstexpert]

His face is unreadable.

"Barker," he says. "You'd be amazed at how often advanced magic is mistaken for advanced science."

(By sheer coincidence, that last bit is more true than it sounds.)

[toblameforit]

Tony snorts.

"No I wouldn't," he says. "Okay, so I get the book. What do I do with the book?"

[thefirstexpert]

"Most people start by reading them."

The words are very much like Obadiah Stane.

The tone almost is.

[toblameforit]

His look of fond impatience turns confused halfway through.

[thefirstexpert]

The answering bland look is nothing like Obadiah at all.

[toblameforit]

He takes the two remaining steps to the desk and picks up his phone.

[thefirstexpert]

No great fanfare, or flicker of image. Just Obadiah one second and Howard Stark the next.

"What, you're not even going to look? Some Stark you are."

[toblameforit]

"...get the fuck out of my room," he says, with surprising calm under the circumstances, as he picks up the phone and speed-dials Jarvis.