He stayed put on the couch, watching as Stephen’s expression shifted with the conversation, his own… remaining somewhat uneasy, lines showing at the crease between his eyebrows still. There was no need to answer his previous question, despite it not being a rhetorical one (and, truthfully, Stephen’s reaction was enough for him to read the situation), and when Stephen spoke up again, Tony was quick to find a distraction in the complexity of the situation; might as well help ease some of Stephen’s worries.
“–The other five wands, you have access to them, right? Can I see them?” Already leaning up in his seat, stretching an arm out and - as if on cue - the gauntlet of his armor- still standing in the corner- detached from the suit and flew over to fit itself on Tony’s hand and wrist. “I could probably try to scan their, err... magic signatures and see if we can find a common ground between the five. Ideally, if we manage to find a repeating pattern in the wands already in the Sanctum, it should make tracking the sixth one easier, assuming it’d have the same similarity the others might share- or anything that resembled it, at the very least.” There was a hologram projection already showing from where his repulsor was, formulas and numbers and analytical data showing at Tony’s eye-level.
“I could have FRIDAY set up a full-scan in search after anything that might fit afterwards; not sure how your magic-y things work, but I feel like this might quicken the process. Thoughts?”
it was a comfort that tony almost immediately jumped to his aid in his concern, as the sorcerer visibly relaxed a touch in relief. he had the world upon his shoulders — and he wasn’t exactly as young as he used to be, that much was for certain. but.. now was not the time to worry about such things, as he knew that the sanctum likely swallowed it up with the complexity of it’s ever-changing halls. he’ll have wong search for it tomorrow — he wanted it found, just in case anything happened — in case someone found it, instead of him.
“ i apologize for scaring you with my.. outburst, ” stephen cleared his throat, a hesitant smile to attempt at calming tony down from his jump to aid. “ i’ve been.. out of sorts lately, misplacing things every bloody hour it seems. it’s liking hiding some place in the sanctum sanctorum, i’ll have wong take a look for it. ” he almost felt bad for wong, the man having to put up with his apparent bloody dementia for misplacing things. “ —-if you wanted, i could show you the wands, just in case you wanted to scan to the thing — make it a touch easier for wong to find? just.. try not to be drawn too much into their energies, they have a property that makes them almost irresistible, make you want to hold them, use them. they’ve not been used by anyone other than myself in centuries more than likely, and magical artifacts are quite touchy when they’re in disuse. ”
with this he’d quirk an eyebrow, a mischievous smirk. “ kind of like the rings of power in the lord of the rings, if it helps you get a better understanding. ”