Pepper Potts (
handing) wrote in
entranceway2014-10-16 03:56 pm
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video (action is fine if you'd like that too!)
[She isn't unused to waking up alone; Tony had always kept odd hours, even before Wonderland, or the winter season back home. So when she rises on her own Thursday morning, there's no real reason for alarm. Things still aren't perfect, but they're better than they have been. She's two days past an emergecy infusion to stabilize Extremis with none of the lingering anxiety or panic--at least nothing like what she had been feeling. She's possibly found something to work on that she truly enjoys, and for Pepper, it seems like she might actually be getting a handle on her life again--but later, part of her almost thinks she should've known better.
She doesn't realize anything's wrong until she goes down to the lab, coffee in hand for both herself and Tony. They need to talk through some things--when don't they--but she's in a better mood than she has been for days, weeks. At least until she realizes that the clutter she's so used to, that once bit at her nerves but she's learned to tolerate along with so many eccentrisities, is no longer there. Parts and pieces that should be scattered on Tony's workbench aren't, nor are the tools he's claimed as his own. There's no whir of Dummy's mechanical arm, or insistent chirpping when Pepper walks in. No suits, no scraps, no future bits of Mark Fifteen or whatever it was come to haunt her.
It's just all gone.
She doesn't make the announcement at first. Not before she checks with JARVIS (that, at least, she still has, the program on her phone and in the lab itself), confirms that Tony isn't anywhere to be found. Or at least his phone isn't. But neither is anything else she looks for, the bits and pieces that existed outside the lab just as absent as the ones within. The last attempt is a message, a single word sent to nowhere, but she still has to try. So she speaks his name into the phone, only to be met with silence.
Later, when she's given herself time to gather her thoughts (and it's hardly the first occasion which she's had to do so), Pepper sends a message out over the network.]
For those who know him, Tony Stark has gone back home.
[She says it calmly, as she would any other announcement; as she has, when she's pushed through bad news in the past. And though she's tired, always feels tired these days, Pepper still continues with her original intention. She doesn't want to drift back down into that same darkness she's fought so hard to struggle out of. So she glances down for a moment, then looks back to the phone, quietly determined to get out the rest before the inevitable replies from their friends.]
I was wondering if someone was taking care of the art gallery these days. I know Lord Buckingham had originally run it, but I haven't seen him in quite some time. If no one minds, I'd like to take up the mantle. I have experience curating art collections from back home, and I think it'd be worthwhile to maintain the one here.
[To give herself purpose, and focus. Something from her old sense of normality to fold into the new. She needs that, and more importantly, now she's ready to take it on.]
Thank you for your time.
[The feed ends there, though of course she's listening for replies. Pepper's planning on spending a fair amount of time in the gallery that afternoon, to get a feeling for how things were set up and what she might want to change in the future.]
She doesn't realize anything's wrong until she goes down to the lab, coffee in hand for both herself and Tony. They need to talk through some things--when don't they--but she's in a better mood than she has been for days, weeks. At least until she realizes that the clutter she's so used to, that once bit at her nerves but she's learned to tolerate along with so many eccentrisities, is no longer there. Parts and pieces that should be scattered on Tony's workbench aren't, nor are the tools he's claimed as his own. There's no whir of Dummy's mechanical arm, or insistent chirpping when Pepper walks in. No suits, no scraps, no future bits of Mark Fifteen or whatever it was come to haunt her.
It's just all gone.
She doesn't make the announcement at first. Not before she checks with JARVIS (that, at least, she still has, the program on her phone and in the lab itself), confirms that Tony isn't anywhere to be found. Or at least his phone isn't. But neither is anything else she looks for, the bits and pieces that existed outside the lab just as absent as the ones within. The last attempt is a message, a single word sent to nowhere, but she still has to try. So she speaks his name into the phone, only to be met with silence.
Later, when she's given herself time to gather her thoughts (and it's hardly the first occasion which she's had to do so), Pepper sends a message out over the network.]
For those who know him, Tony Stark has gone back home.
[She says it calmly, as she would any other announcement; as she has, when she's pushed through bad news in the past. And though she's tired, always feels tired these days, Pepper still continues with her original intention. She doesn't want to drift back down into that same darkness she's fought so hard to struggle out of. So she glances down for a moment, then looks back to the phone, quietly determined to get out the rest before the inevitable replies from their friends.]
I was wondering if someone was taking care of the art gallery these days. I know Lord Buckingham had originally run it, but I haven't seen him in quite some time. If no one minds, I'd like to take up the mantle. I have experience curating art collections from back home, and I think it'd be worthwhile to maintain the one here.
[To give herself purpose, and focus. Something from her old sense of normality to fold into the new. She needs that, and more importantly, now she's ready to take it on.]
Thank you for your time.
[The feed ends there, though of course she's listening for replies. Pepper's planning on spending a fair amount of time in the gallery that afternoon, to get a feeling for how things were set up and what she might want to change in the future.]
[Action]
When she finds her, she steps inside with an understanding look, knowing exactly what Pepper is trying to do here. ]
Pepper.
Re: [Action]
Hello, Natasha. [The tablet in hand is set aside, although Pepper doesn't really know what she should do. She's relied on Natasha any number of times lately, told her things only Tony himself knew about. The list of people she feels safe to break down for is short, and Natasha very likely holds the top place on it.
Yet oddly, Pepper doesn't feel that close to falling apart. She suspects its simply shock, the newness of this channeled into the work she can create for herself in the gallery. But for the moment, Pepper thinks she's more okay than she should be, or numb enough not to recognize the difference.]
Would you like to sit down?
Re: [Action]
No, I'm fine being upright, I think.
[ She casts a curious glance around the gallery, taking a moment in visible observation to ponder what she'd seen of the other woman. ]
Huh. I had no idea this was here.
Re: [Action]
Thankfully Natasha herself diverts from that, turning her attention to their surroundings.] It has been for awhile, actually. I was fortunate enough to catch one of the announcements by the previous owner. [She moves closer, eyeing one of the Georgia O'Keefe replicas for a moment. It's a safe place to look.]
He was proud of it, but he didn't advertise much.
Re: [Action]
[ Natasha's perhaps a bit too observant for her own good, but she says the words gently while casting Pepper a sideways glance, understanding that need all too well. ]
Re: [Action]
It's a far better fate, she thinks, than the works being stored away or donated to scouting organizations.
But Natasha doesn't mean the words as Pepper chooses to take them, and she's well aware of it. She smiles briefly over at the other woman before glancing down, her hands lightly clasped in front of her now.] I'm tired of doing nothing. When I came back here, both times, I couldn't handle myself. [Not after having Extremis forced upon her, nor having to rely on that same compound to save her. She'd locked herself away, and the temptation is there again. To hide from it, and everyone else around her, until she feels some semblance of togetherness. But isolating herself to drive away her own loneliness isn't at all a solution, even if it means building stronger walls around her heart and risking them falling.]
Now Tony's gone, and I know it's never going to stop.
[Action]
Doing nothing can get aggravating quickly, especially to those of us who are used to being proactive about things. [ Something she understands all too well. ] So you're trying something different.
Re: [Action]
Natasha knows about them too; the way she watches, Pepper thinks she might be able to see them.]
It's not that different. I curated our collection back home. [Tony's and hers, made official when they'd become a couple. Yet even before that, she considered herself part owner because of her dedication to it.] It seemed like a good place to make use of my skills.
Re: [Action]
Re: [Action]
[Along with so many other things, including seeds of jealousy that hadn't been necessary. Natasha turns her eyes away, but now Pepper is the one watching her, caught up in thoughts of the past and present alike.]
I don't think so; I'm just organizing at this point. [It's work she knows how to delegate, yes, but that Pepper doesn't particularly want to. At the moment it remains ignored, a small grin ghosting over Pepper's lips.] You know, I've always been a terrible liar, but around you, I feel exceptionally bad at it.