+ some wonderlands are kind

[It’s the sort of announcement no one desires to make, even if it’s not the worst brand of broadcast to be sent out over the network. Still, Pepper has to take a moment even after she turns on the feed, showing her along with Bucky standing just behind her. There’s no avoiding it, in the same way that there are no right words to temper the impact of what she has to say, what it could potentially mean for those still in Wonderland.

She just has to hope that the circumstances themselves offer enough hope to make the wait less of a weary one.]

Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff both have gone back home, although their possessions are still here. [Meaning that in a week’s time, the two should return. She tries not to think of what they might be coming back from, since all of them tend to be drawn from around the time of some major catastrophe back home.] We know they had taken on some responsibilities around the mansion, so…

[Now she glances back at Bucky, shifting the phone so the focus switches to him. Yet she’s watchful, ready to continue her thought should he need her to; after all, she can’t remember him making an announcement over the network like this since he came back from his own trip home.]


[ James schools his expression into something neutral the moment she begins the broadcast. He isn’t going to broadcast any uncertainties he might have over the network. He takes the phone from her hand when she’s finished, so he doesn’t need to loom over her shoulder. ]

So we think they’d want to see those responsibilities fulfilled, at least partly, even while they’re gone.

[ They may be gone for as little as a week, but there’s no telling what kind of shape they’ll come back in, if they come back at all. He takes a breath. ]

My name is Bucky Barnes. If you were taking combat lessons from Steve or Natasha and you’d like to continue through the week, feel free to contact me. If you were taking lessons from me several months ago and you’d like to start again, we can talk about that too.

My skillset is pretty specific, but I’ll do what I can to help with anything else.

[ He glances briefly at Pepper, and the broadcast ends there. ]



{{ooc: replies will come from Pepper and Bucky both!}}

When Pepper wakes on the 21st, she feels--lighter than she has in quite some time. Not that she can place the reason, but it's almost as if some nagging worry just isn't there anymore, somehow having resolved itself or even vanished while she slept. Whatever the reason for it, she tries to adhere as much to her normal routine as possible. Going to the gallery remains out of the question; a quick look on the third floor reveals that it's still a rundown hospital. But other things, like a morning workout or going to the library, or just checking in on friends to make sure the event hasn't harmed them, all those she can manage.

There's just one odd thing about it--or rather, odd and not already accounted for by what's happening in Wonderland. If anyone tries to get her attention by calling her nickname, they won't succeed. No, she's only answering to Virginia at the moment, and why wouldn't she? That's what she's been called her whole life.

==

Within a day or two, it's clear that something more has gone wrong than initially thought. It's almost an event within an event, but this is far more invasive than transformed rooms and objects falling from the sky. There is undeniable proof that she's forgotten things, crucial parts to her identity, and that terrifies her enough. Yet the more she thinks on certain events in her past, speaks to others, the more Pepper realizes that memories she thinks of as hers simply don't fit. So not only has part of herself been stolen, it’s also seemingly been replaced with bits from someone else. Luckily, she knows enough to piece together where to start, contacting James Potter just to confirm her suspicions. Of course, even after he directs her to Remus, she's not sure what she can actually do to fix this. Like so many other things that happen in Wonderland, this may just be something they have to endure until its end.

Still, she needs to speak to him, just to be certain she isn't wrong. And maybe it will help him too, to know for sure that his memories aren't lost--just temporarily misplaced.

==

Once they figure out just how to fix things, she'll spend the rest of her time seeking out the person who has her memories, but not without some hesitation. Of course she wants to get back those pieces of who she is; after days feeling like she doesn't even know her name, how could she not? But part of her can't help but dread what else she might discover. Wonderland hasn't taken only good memories, and not for the first time she looks down at her hands, normal colored flesh no one would think could glow as it had. What had it taken to turn her into such a thing, and is it something Virginia—Pepper, she reminds herself, could go through reliving?

Yet that's the very reason why she has to find whoever it is; no matter the details, no one else should be forced to carry their weight. So, a few days after the mansion has discovered the switching of memories, she makes an announcement over her journal:

“This may sound strange, but does remember being given a nickname that they—haven’t?”

There. One detail, not too personal, just to start her search. Hopefully someone answers and agrees to meet in person so she can discover the rest, or at least has some idea of whom she should be trying to find.