Capítulo 55: Ch55. Science stuff
Natasha lounged on a table in Tony's workshop, watching him work.
A few months passed since the party and their first time and since then, she couldn't really complain about her life. She had everything she had ever wanted.
Somebody she could wholeheartedly consider her family.
But as of late, she was starting to get worried about Tony. He seemed to be so immersed in his research around Extremis and it started affecting his eating habits.
She would have never allowed his sleeping habits to change so that was fine. She had her ways to lure him to bed. But nowadays she had to drag him to eat.
Natasha was working up the courage to put her foot down for quite some time because...
She really had no idea why. Why it was so hard. Usually, she would just center herself, calm her emotions, and go do what she thought was required of her. But whenever it came to Tony, she just couldn't.
The only days Tony took a break from his research were her birthday, for which she was really grateful because he put into it some serious effort, and Christmas.
For her birthday Tony made a small pin that slightly altered their appearances, something extremely useful for blending in, and they spent the day having a date in an amusement park as if they were teenagers again.
It was childish, it was funny, and it was absolutely marvelous. Natasha loved every second of it. She didn't think she would have enjoyed it so much when he proposed it... But it turned out to be one of the best days of her life.
The other day Tony took off, Christmas, he spent with her, Rhodes, Pepper, and Happy at Hogan's place. It was a nice evening. Peaceful and calm, and they cuddled most of it on the couch so Natasha enjoyed it quite a bit.
Except for that, Tony did not even celebrate the New Year! Natasha tried to get him to come with her to Bartons for the night but he refused, wishing her a good time as he continued pouring over magic tomes he borrowed from Kamar Taj.
In the end, the situation dragged on with Natasha being indecisive and worried.
But today would be different! She promised that to herself.
Natashas slowly stood up from her, and yes, by now the table was her personal lounging spot, table and slowly walked towards Tony, battling her nervous mind that was telling her to turn around with each step.
Natasha relished these feelings of anxiety and uncertainty born of love and affection. They were a novelty for her. Even after months of feeling them, she simply couldn't get enough of them. That was also the reason why it was so hard for her to muster the courage to be strict with Tony or even talk this new behavior of his out with him.
She indulged in the feelings it was giving her far too much.
As she tried to win the mental battle between herself and her emotions, Natasha lost herself in it and came back to reality only to find herself already standing behind Tony.
'You are already here, girl. No turning back now.' She mentally hyped herself up and awkwardly lowered her upper body on Tony's back, embracing him around his neck from behind while putting her chin on his shoulder.
"Still working on Extremis?" Natasha asked, not a hint of nervousness or awkwardness in her tone. She was far too good at hiding them.
Tony was genuinely startled when Natasha approached him. So much so he had no idea how to react. She was usually content with watching and even when she wanted something from him, she would initiate their interaction verbally when he was inventing.
Any other time and the bets were off and his girl was very touchy-feely but when he was working, Natasha as if refused to disturb him.
So, this came as a surprise to Tony.
"I..." Tony started only to stop himself before taking a deep breath to chase away the remnants of the shock, "Yes."
Natasha hummed, "Are you close at least? You work on it non-stop for months."
Tony furrowed his eyebrows, briefly wondering why she was asking him this. She never bothered with what he was working on.
He then shrugged it off, deciding to take it as a momentary curiosity.
"Actually... no. I am nowhere near close." Tony sullenly admitted.
Natasha blinked at that. Months of work and he was not even close to finishing?
"You must really like this project." She noncommittally asked, trying to fish for a reason why this was so important to him. "You are giving it so much time and focus, I mean." She added when Tony half-turned towards her with a weird gaze, forcing her to loosen her embrace.
"I can't help it, Nat." An excited smile spread on Tony's face. "It is so exciting! I have a way to connect humans to a dimension in front of me. To make them capable of being directly powered up by dimensional energies!" Tony spoke, his tone like a kid who just received a much-awaited toy.
Natasha wasn't the scientific type but she did understand what was Tony's goal at least, "You want to create someone like Danvers?" She asked in shock.
It made sense. Danvers could go toe to toe with Thanos. If there were more humans like her, the war would be much easier. But Natasha wasn't naive enough to not know there were many problems with that kind of solution too.
"And? What is the problem?" She asked.
"The problem is, being directly connected to such a vast reservoir of energy would be in most cases definitely lethal. I really wonder how Danvers survived such a thing. I am trying to find a way for months now but it seems as if there was none!" Tony bitterly exclaimed, "I am sorry. It is just... so frustrating. More frustrating than Pepper during her period."
Natasha chuckled. Trust Tony to make levels for frustrating and include his previous personal assistant during her day of the month as a part of that scaling. She wondered if she held some kind of spot on one of Tony's rankings.
"It's fine, Tony." Natasha kissed his cheek to calm him down. "I just want you to stop overworking yourself. This might be important but give it time. Thinking about it while tired and hungry won't help you."
"You may be right. Emphasis on the word 'may'." Tony nodded, not really pleased with the suggestion. He knew he was getting too much into his work and it was affecting him.
Natasha rolled her eyes, "As long as you stop ignoring food, sleep, and give me more Tony-time I don't care how long you spend in your workshop. I am not trying to make you stop your research. Just loosen up a bit. Refresh your mind and stuff."
Tony reluctantly nodded. She was right. He knew it. She knew it. But he wouldn't speak these words. Again, both of them knew it.
"Fine. I think having more Natasha-time couldn't go amiss." Tony quipped, pulling her arms away from his neck which caused her to take a step back and release her hold on him before he spun on his chair and came face-to-face with Natasha.
Natasha didn't waste a second and quickly relocated on Tony's lap, pecking him on the lips in the process.
"Thank you." She said, pleased with the result. "Aren't we, the Sorcerers, already drawing energy from dimensions though? Can't you use that as a reference?"
She really couldn't care less but a talk with somebody else about it might spark something in Tony's mind and who knows? Maybe he would find the solution he was seeking. It was her way of trying to help.
"Nope. I can't. We are just a medium. We never make a permanent connection to a dimension. That could be corrupting."
Tony wasn't about to call out that she was well aware of this. He knew what she was doing and appreciated it.
Since she decided to go through with this, Tony thought broadening her horizons with some advanced knowledge in nutshell can be his repayment.
"Strictly speaking, we don't use our bodies and determination to draw the energy. If that was the case, everybody could do it. We use our mind after the Ancient One sends our astral form on a little dimensional adventure. Our mind can then perceive dimensions much more easily. That still doesn't make Mystic Arts easy."
Tony droned on to Natasha who was quietly listening while laying her head on his shoulder.
"The Sorcerers first learn to manipulate mystical energy through the portal-creation with their Sling Rings. The Sling Ring is an incredible learning crutch for that and most likely the only reason why Sorcery as we know it is even learnable for humans. We are directly working with the energy of an infinity stone which makes us more attuned to other dimensional energies we can then perceive and with some luck and shitton of practice, even manipulate to a small degree. But we don't do it through our bodies. We do it through our minds and subconsciously redirect the energy through our souls because they are more durable and can withstand, in some cases even store the energy-"
Tony suddenly stopped talking, blankly blinking before gaining a look of sudden understanding.
Natasha furrowed her eyebrows and pulled back a little, just enough to see Tony's expression of utter wonder.
"Holy shit." He whispered. "I know what I am missing, Nat! The soul is a dimension too!"
Before Natasha could even register what was going on, Tony gently pushed her off his lap and returned to his work, leaving her standing behind him with a bewildered look.
'Did he really have to have an epiphany when I felt so nice?' She mentally grumbled and walked back towards her table, knowing there will be no way to get Tony's attention now.
If she could slap science, it would have been a purple swelling mess before she is done with it!
Status de energia semanal
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