didknowthat | appt. 1: video

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appt. 1: video

[Well hello there, residents of this fine barge. What you'll find on your screens, is a rather tiffed redhead, looking only just a little like she might be trying to bite her tongue. Without actually puncturing herself.]

Hi- Hello. My name is Virginia Potts, and I've been asked to come and .. work on this ship. [It's only a partial lie. She'd sought it out herself.] That being said, I've come as a warden, and am here to help.

[There's a moment of hesitance, her mouth opening to continue. But then it shuts. ... And she tries again.]

Is there a Tony Stark on the barge?

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[That... was the right answer. The answer she needed to get Tony leaning in again for another kiss, one hand against the small of her back, the other cupping gently against the side of her face, fingers stroking gently against her cheek. A reassuring gesture, one she'd no doubt seen him do on countless shy women he was coaxing into his bed. But this... this was the first time he'd done it without the intention of sex. That he'd done it simply for the sake of calming her down.

Because while it was what he wanted to hear, something was still wrong. He might not be the best when it comes to relationships, to emotions, hell even to friendships, but he did know Pepper. And he could practically feel something dark and unsaid wrapping around her.]

You never give me above a B-. And definitely not without notes. [Translation: something's wrong, Pepper. I just don't know how to ask what.]

[That was the right response, Anthony Stark. Letting her calm down again, reassuring her that he was there, intentionally or not. So she lets her eyes linger shut a few moments longer, lips tightening as he weaseled his way into asking without actually using a question. At least she can speak Stark.]

There was a nuke coming towards the city. You grabbed it and flew it into the portal. And then it closed. [And you were gone.]

[A language only three people fully understand. And out of those three, only Pepper could write the dictionary for it. She speaks Stark even better than Tony does, sometimes.

But Tony's still, now, both of his hands on Pepper's hips by the time she finishes the short, pained explanation. And he's just... standing there. Thinking. Staring at her face, her expression, letting the words sink in, lining them up with what Steve had said.

He'd done something stupid, that much they'd been over. But he'd saved the whole damn world, and while Captain America had said they'd gone for shawarma after... maybe that was because Pepper had come here, worked for Tony's life. And that result was what Steve had gotten.

Or maybe the lies had gone past omission.]

They were nuking Manhattan?

[There's a sense of ironic fucking justice in that, he'll give them that much.]

[She just nods, stiff and tight, still leaning into his hold that, gratefully, doesn't seem to be moving away.]

Whoever 'they' is. The government, I'd assume. ..The place was in ruins, and it didn't look like anything was going to stop it.

[No offense to the Avengers. Not that anyone knew they were called the Avengers at the time.]

I can think of a few assholes who'd have something to do with that.

[He pauses for a long moment, just breathing, concentrating on that first, the feel of Pepper in his arms second, and actually forcing himself to calm down third.

It's the only order that seems to be doing anything.]

So I, what. Died? [And there it is, the laugh. The roll of his eyes, the way he's stepping back and rubbing his hand against the arc reactor, reaching for his communicator, just to have something in his hands, something to distract himself, even a little.] That... sucks. I mean... fuck. On the one hand, awesome death. Saved the lives of everyone in New York. Iron Man, national hero.

But... come on. Nuke through a portal? You probably couldn't even see the explosion. And my armor's just floating through space, now. Not mounted in some museum dedica- [He's turning back to Pepper again, trying to look distracted, nonchalant.] Yeah, uh, you better make that happen. Dad can have his video and the expo. I want a whole goddamn museum.

Edited 2012-07-10 13:03 (UTC)

[Trust Tony to be able to joke about his own goddamn death. Pepper might have killed him if it didn't completely defeat the purpose of her being here. Maybe that was why he was from the past. He couldn't have been from her time because she hadn't saved him yet. Did that make sense? Sure, let's go with that.

So despite the rather irritated look she's giving him, she's pulling away again. ... Just to sit on the edge of his probably fairly unused bed. ... Or at least unused in the sense of it's actual purpose. Yes, she means sleep.]

I'm not making you a museum. You're not going to stay dead. That's why I'm here. We don't even know if you are dead- you're just .. Somewhere else in the universe. [Or dead.] So I'm here. The deal is if I work, you get to come back, alive and well.

[He barely sleeps, here. There's not much to do, and lab time is mostly monitored, but most of the time he either drinks until he passes out, or sketches, makes notes, does long-hand calculations, writes out lines of code, tweaks them until he finds himself waking up, streaked in ink, paper stuck to his cheek.

And Pepper... if he didn't joke, didn't make light of it... Well.]

The suit can only withstand a vacuum for a minute, at most. Less, if it's been damaged. [He's picking up a notebook, bending down and feeling behind his desk, coming up with one of his pens and starting in on sketching out the outline of his suit] C'mon, Pepper, think about it. Tony Stark: The Experience.

Actually, scrap the museum. Make it a theme park.

[Oh she knows. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. He's only hearing about it. Pepper wants to be selfish and say that's not the same, or nearly as bad, as having to live through losing him.]

Then it's a good thing I'm here, isn't it?

[Because he's all she has. And of course she'd do anything to get him back. Even if she'd never thought it possible before ... There just was no other option. And now, she even had him here with her. Regardless of whether he was from the wrong time. It was still Tony.]

I'm not making you anything. You're getting out of this alive.

[It's hard. Hearing it. Hearing that you die, even if you go out in a bang. Saving everyone. A real hero. It's never easy to hear that everything ends. On a certain date, at a certain time, no matter what... everything ends. That he's leaving everyone he cares about behind. Pepper, on a plane somewhere, watching him die on TV. That he'll be doing that to her. And he'll know it.]

It's been boring. [That's all he's saying. But the way he's moving over, sitting down so his shoulder is bumping against hers, hands tilting the sketchbook, flipping through some pages of suit designs, schematics. The breakdown of gauntlets, boots, chest-piece. There's even a new arc reactor design in there, key parts left out, of course.]

Yeah, no. Tony Stark theme park is happening. Let's put it in Kansas or something. Make it the new Las Vegas. They could sell those little bobble heads you said no on. We still have like two hundred thousand prototypes in storage.

[Shoulder to shoulder is nice. Nice enough that she's actually leaning against him, temple propped just lightly against his shoulder bone, eyes drawn down to watch him sketch or review old sketches or show her or whatever it is he's doing.

She's only half paying attention as it is.]

No bobbleheads. [Or maybe more than that.] How long have you been here?

Two months on the seventeenth. [He pauses, shifting just slightly to try and give her a bit comfier of a resting place.

Normally, he'd tease her. He'd feel uncomfortable. Try to lie down and sleep with her instead of just.. letting her prop herself up against him. But after what she'd said, with everything rolling around in his head...]

It's July ninth, now. And okay, fine. Bobbleheads are out. [He pauses, tapping his pen against the paper for a moment] Stark brand thongs?

[Such a gentleman. Letting her stay comfortable while he goes about his business. Even if ... the next suggestion is making her smile creep back onto her face. Briefly.

Should she?]

I have one of those. [Yes she should.]

[He manages to laugh at that, even if its a bit more subdued than it would have been otherwise.]

Seriously? I'm still paying for that one, aren't I? [He means favor-wise. He must have had to do a lot to get her to willingly put those on.]

Definitely still paying it off. [She's just as tiredly amused as he's coming across. Which isn't a lot, but it's something.]

You've met quite a few people while you've been here.

[Most people that had met him had even seemed .. alright with him. He hadn't caused any fusses, made any huge messes... It was almost odd.]

What can I say, I'm a people person.

[Can't you just feel the sarcasm hanging thick in the air? Can't you practically taste it? No?

... Yeah, he thought that was just him.]

It gets boring, I only have a set number of lab hours. Entertainment has to be found. [And thus he bugs people. And is forever weirded out that they seem more amused by it than anything]

[She hums a thoughtful noise.]

A lot of restrictions on the inmates, I guess. [Which sounds normal, ngl.] But I'm glad it's with people. You have a bad habit of secluding yourself, remember?

I'm working on getting JARVIS back, actually. And my sold folding bot is pretty much finished.

[AKA god he'd rather deal with AIs and bots. They're so much easier to deal with than people, Pepper. You have no idea.

No. Idea.]

Folding bot?

[That's curious. But hey, she's not a bot. Would you prefer she was? ... She kind of works like one, anyway. Except for the occasional cold.]

[Why would he want her to be a bot? She's soft and Peppery and... and Pepper.]

I needed something to do that can't be turned into some sort of psychotic weapon. It'll be like the chihuahua of helper bots.

[...A chihuahua of helper bots. Pepper is actually snickering and yes, she is quite Peppery and soft. She just .. you know, acts like a bot.]

I'm not sure if I should be more worried about you making tiny domesticated robots or the fact that there are people imprisoned here that could .. turn them into psychotic weapons.

Probably both.

[He turns, then, jostling her slightly, having worked himself out of the instant bite of betrayal at least long enough to at least kind of act normally.]

Did I tell you about the zombies, yet?

[Hey whoa, this is her room, be nice Tony. No bitterness in here, mkay.]

... Zombies. No, no you didn't tell me about any zombies- There are zombies? Why are there zombies?

[He'll be bitter all he wants okay. And nope. No longer your room, Pepper.

He's claiming half custody of this room, since he's pretty sure Pepper will be taking over his, too.]

Zombies, Pepper. Actual crawl out of the ground, glowing eyed, rotting skin zombies. Does it look like I know why there were zombies? I've honestly given up making sense of half of the crap around here, because it doesn't make sense.

It was a while ago, when we disembarked for a few days. Hasn't happened since then.

Edited 2012-07-23 21:52 (UTC)

[Oh she knows his room is half hers and vice a versa. At least that's more than normal for her back in her timeline, by now.]

Disembarked? And then .. they were suddenly on the ship? [Is she turning a little green? Maybe. Just a little.]

[If she is doing her best lime imitation, he's totally not noticing]

What? No. The ship? Why would they be on the ship? They were in some crazy city attacking a building. I built a suit out of a Best Buy.

Edited 2012-07-26 09:59 (UTC)

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didknowthat - 2012-07-27 00:34 (UTC) - Expand

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aggravating - 2012-07-29 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

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appt. 1: video

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[spam] Fuck I meant sock.

[spam] sold sock SHES STILL WONDERING MANG

[spam] Mange is bad, Pepper

[spam] She got it from you.

[spam] stfu he gets tested every year you ass

[spam] mhmm

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