13277/Worst case, there's a pool

Worst case, there's a pool
Date of Scene:	05 November 2022
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Back Yard
Synopsis:	Pepper and Tony play with rocket boots, and Steve supervises very well.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers

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Tony Stark has posed:
"It's fine. There's a pool. If you freak out, just aim for that. Splash landing," Tony chatters at Pepper as he attempts to fully outfit her in protective gear.

There's a helmet that looks appropriate for roller-skating, elbow pads, knees. Tony himself lacks almost all of that protective gear personally: he just has the new rocket boots on himself, plus his red HUD goggles on his forehead. The boots are a bit large and stocky, but they are in a few colors. Pepper's are yellow, Tony's are red. There's another pair nearby, dumped in the grass, in a green color. Child sized.

Clearly the best idea today is flying rocket boots. It was necessary to do before it started to be even less of a good idea...

Because currently, the pair are still 10 years old, and thats' where the best adventures are made. By kid brains.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The 10 yr old Ginny is getting the equipment on, but it's obvious that her little fingers aren't used to the buckles and straps of such protective gear. Roller derby, er.. roller skating with purpose apparently wasn't her thing. A helmet, however? She's used to those from riding horses, competing from the time she was very young. A proper fit is important.

The pool isn't too far away, but the concrete that surrounds the water is a little daunting. Not so much in the 'you're going to get hurt and go to the hospital' sort of daunting, but more the 'if I run, I can trip and skin my knee' category. She does have the boots on, it's gotten that far, but Ginny is looking absolutely dubious. "I don't know," she begins. "What happens if-" The words are cut off in the face of Tony's enthusiasm and optimism.

"You sure?" Slowly, there's a smile that begins to creep as she warms up to the idea.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Around the side of the house, Steve Rogers comes striding. "What exactly do you mean by 'something that might require my attention, JARVIS?" he is saying aloud as his boots walk across the finely manicured lawns of the mansion.

Steve passes by some bushes that had hidden from his view where Pepper and Tony, and the aforementioned Rocket Boots can be found. He looks over and sees them, an eyebrow going up and just a bit of concern showing. "Right, that kind of something," he says as he quickens his step over towards the ten year old versions of Tony and Pepper that resulted from the ambush by Amora the Enchantress on Halloween night.

"Hey guys," Steve says in a genial voice as he approaches them. "What are you up to?" he asks, as if the exhaust nozzles on the boots were not indicative enough.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Hey," Tony says, non-chalantly, with a tip of a few fingers at Steve. It's remarkably adult. Or ... more accurately, it's a habit Tony did as a kid that got amplified into the style of jaunty rock and roll it is in adulthood.

"Some flight. Easy easy," Tony answers, similarly confident, as before. "Took WAY too long to alter a suit, but boots were great." Logic line is sound. Most fun, easiest.

"Honestly I think it's MORE fun to shoot up over the pool and then just drop. Cannonball," Tony suggests to Pepper, starting to try to drag her towards the edge of the water. "There's correctors on them. You can't slam into the ground. Just don't belly flop on the water, that might be ugly."

Tony has sensed Pepper's worry. He's still fully dressed--- because he was thinking rocket boots, not swim clothes-- but suddenly leaps towards the pool, triggering the boots. There's a SPLASH, and then a WHEEEEE as he shoots up a few feet... and flips over and falls in the water again, face first.

He's fine, there's laughing as he reorients, now in the pool.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper allows herself to be led, but is that a slightly guilty look on her face; the sort that says 'this might not be okay'? Still, as Tony flies up and into the air, only to land in the water.. and again, up.. and into the water once more, she pulls back instinctively so as not to get splashed. It's a natural reaction, complete with the *squeak* as spray hits her.

"How do I.." turn them on? She's watching Tony, and is trying to suss it all out at the same time. Another *squeak* rises from her, and her arms splay out the moment she lifts a couple of inches off the ground, trying to catch her balance. What concentration a ten year old has is basically nil, particularly when met with something new, watching someone else have fun, and then.. the appearance of a trusted grown up.

*splash*

Instead of coming out of the water again under boot power, the drenched strawberry blonde (whose hair is chopped in different lengths!) climbs out slowly, her dress clinging to her frame.

"Hi, Steve.." she greets in a low tone.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers is looking at those rocket boots. He's not quite sure how much of their adult selves have been maintained. Their demeanors suggest not a lot, but then the others seemed to at least show some knowledge and skills when they fought, from what he's been filled in on.

Does that mean Tony remembers enough not to make boots that will explode. "Oh Howard, why do I feel like I'm going to get a taste of your life," Steve murmurs to himself as he hurries towards the pool.

His intent is to catch them, especially Pepper, should either of them be heading towards a destination a little harder than water. Thankfully that doesn't happen. Though it does mean Steve is near enough by to get drenched by the dual splashes from their rocket propelled bodies.

He wipes at water from his face. "Hi, Pepper," he replies back. "Are you sure that those are... what's the word that people today would use?" he asks.

"Safe?"

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony has experience with his, but some of that just doesn't relate to a youthened, lighter body. Still, it isn't the zero experience that Pepper has. So Tony's able to jet up out of the water, and then hover about six feet above it. He uses his hands to help with balance, but it's not an easy thing: there's a bunch of tensing and adjusting, to hold that hover.

"What?" Tony asks. He'd been splashing, and wasn't sure if Steve was asking HIM that question, or asking Pepper.

It looks ... really dangerous, without Tony having ANY safety equipment on. At least Pepper has some protective gear. Tony looks more like an arrogant little skateboarder, expecting to live forever and never make a mistake.

"I didn't hear; what?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Thankfully there is a ladder nearby to get out of the pool, and she really looks like a red-headed drowned rat. The moment she hits air, her teeth start to chatter, and she looks around for a towel. Yet one more thing forgotten.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she nods. "Tony said they were." Twisting around, she looks back and in the water where the ring-leader is enjoying himself. Her attention comes back around face front, and she begins trying to undo the buckles and braces and the like. "They're fun." Does she perhaps sound a little uncertain as to that particular definition? Maybe. Still, she does underscore with a smile, possibly to suggest that she did, in fact, have fun. Or, perhaps more to the point. Tony'd made them for her. Doesn't matter there's a spare. These? These are hers.

"Tony, Steve wanted to know if they were safe. I said that you said they were." Logic, thy name is Ginny.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers manages what could be called a long-suffering expression, even if the reversion in Tony's age is more recent. But really, it's not like he didn't have some of that ten year old in him at his real age, didn't he?

"Maybe this would be the best place to test drive them," Steve suggests. He moves over as Pepper is coming out of the pool, reaching down to help her out. Also so if the rocket boots fire as she is getting out he can keep her tethered to the ground.

When she moves to start taking them off, Steve moves to help her with the buckles. "Maybe working things that explode and combust might be better to wait until we've found a way to undo Amora's spell?" he suggests to Tony, hoping he's going to come land soon. He'd rather not have to jump and grab him out of the air. Though it probably wouldn't be the first time, at that.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony did really well with his boots, but now he's wet and FREEZING. But... there's ego here. And he's focusing on pretending he's not cold, and trying not to chatter teeth. But there's shivering he can't control.

Tony instead does a deliberate flip over, and drops down into the water once again, more intentionally. It's a warmed pool, and far better than hovering in the air while super wet.

A bit later he brings his head to the surface. "Boots are fine. I didn't make any /weapons/," Tony says, indignant. This line of commentary isn't different than adult. Not really. Perhaps in a lot of ways, Tony's outside persona as an adult pulls from this juvenile place?

But there's more complexity usually: this is a bit simpler in drives. However, Steve will notice the showiness ends when Pepper isn't witnessing it. There's another design at work here: //impressing the girl//.

"She could have flown fine," Tony points out, bolstering Pepper.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The deft fingers of an adult working at the buckles and braces are obviously a lot faster and a lot more capable than little fingers, and finally she's free of the safeties. Ginny remembers where the spare towels are, and with chattering teeth, she pulls one free to wrap it around herself, and then a second one. For Tony.

Turning about, she's got the oversized towel in hand for when he emerges from the water. "I know." There's a gleam in those green eyes of hers when she looks across at the youth in the pool. She's absolutely going to try it again. Maybe if he holds her hands and steadies her?

"Amora." Swinging around, there's a touch of lucidity in those eyes of hers. "Was that her name?" The voice rings in that ten-year old's head, and the words she said sound distant, but there. "'Thor has gone and gotten himself killed'," is murmured, and she turns her face up to America's hero. "Is it true?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve decides to use the cold November air to his advantage, hopefully. "Tony, if you want to dry off, I imagine we can get some hot chocolate from the kitchen. I think the staff is about, can probably get them to make some with condensed milk and real chocolate shavings."

Not like they'd just do Swiss Miss if called on to prepare it, no matter how much of it Clint keeps stocked in the cupboards!

Finishing with helping Pepper out of the boots and protective gear, Steve sets them aside, trying to distract from a second attempt. And Pepper's question is just the ticket for doing that.

He lets out a soft sigh. "I don't know for sure Pepper. I just know this. There hasn't been anything that we've faced that Thor hasn't been equal to. No matter how much larger his opponents, or how numerous, he has come out on top. And I'm not going to bet against him this time either. We just need to locate him," he tells her encouragingly.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I want a //drink//, but I don't. It's a weird feeling," Tony says, after a strannnnge, odd pause. The old self in there, the alcoholic, woke up, and it was really disorienting. Tony comes down out of the air, strangely quiet, strangely reserved. He accepts the towel and rolls up in it. His dark brown eyes have looked inside in a strange way, into this weird internal demon that didn't exist in this age. Yet is still there.

Is there no getting rid of that, even the past is tainted by it?

Tony listens to the talk about Thor, but has entirely stopped engaging verbally.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper had her own look at the world through adult eyes the other night, and once the shock was overcome, she was both afraid and certain that there would be a way back. In childhood, there are echoes of the woman she had been, will be again in the form of her concern and her unwavering loyalty to that dark-eyed young man beside her.

"Steve said we can get hot chocolate, Tony." Does that sound like 'adult' Pepper offering an alternative, a way to distract. "I think that'd be fine." That bit is offered out into the universe, but she's certain that Steve, at the very least, will pick it up.

Her towel is wrapped about her, strawberry-blonde hair sticks to the sides of her head, though when toweled in an attempt to dry it, she looks tousled.. and very childlike with her freckles. Her words, however, are in earnest, "I hope you're right, Steve." She's beside Tony, lending, at the very least, her presence, "And I'm sure we could do something, at least? I hate sitting around and hoping." And worrying.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve seems glad that Pepper has seized on the hot chocolate idea. "It'll taste far better," he agrees to try to draw Tony's thought further towards that particular beverage. "Come on let's head inside. I'll have someone bring down some warm robes for you to change into," he says.

He straightens up again and says, "We're doing what we can to find him. There is a belief there was a ring that caused things to happen as they did. We went to Alfheim, the land of the light elves, to try to find out the history of the ring. Though unfortunately the search is going to have to continue to find it," he tells them, trying to bolster their thoughts with the knowledge that people are working to find Thor.

"So Tony, I found myself wondering if you had any of your old things stored away that you've dug back into?" Steve asks. "Any old favorite clothes that fit again that were boxed up somewhere?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"Old...? No. All of that stuff is gone," Tony says, with a motion of hand. A lot of that past was thrown away, discarded. "I didn't keep old clothes, things that didn't fit," Tony explains, with an aloof indifference. It's slightly defensive, and may also not entirely be true. But for some reason Tony is pushing forward with this indifference about the past. Putting it in a box.

"All that stuff has to do with like, my mom, or... I don't want to think about it, alright?" Tony says more sharply. Adult Tony would have finessed that more. Young one lacks the full range to correctly pivot without things closing up in his throat a little.

"Thor's probably fine, joyriding the stars without us. Big battles," Tony says, in an abrupt change of topic. "I'm gonna change, this stuff's all wet." Another abrupt turn. He starts to briskly walk back inside: once again, an island unto himself, regardless of how old he is.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is the one with the solid, good family. Tony? Not so much. Intuitively, she's not asked for her mom in his presence. Actually, she's not cried in front of anyone either, but she has indeed cried. Every night, putting herself to sleep to be honest.

As Steve offers his thoughts on the matter, Pepper humors him with a smile and a quick nod of her head. "I'm sure it'll be okay. I bet the light elves will be more helpful soon enough." How she takes all that in stride?

It's faith.

Tony's turn towards the more taciturn gains her attention, and it can be seen so plainly in those eyes of hers. She hurts for him, and there isn't a thing she can do. Sometimes just 'being there' isn't enough. When he heads into the mansion, the place that had been his home the first time around, a sigh escapes from the little girl. "I don't know, Steve.." is whispered, "I wish I did." Knew the answer? Knew how to help?

"I think marshmallows would go perfectly." There, there emerges the 10 yr old once again. "With an extra squeeze of chocolate syrup."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers's eyes follow Tony inside as well, even as he's walking Pepper in. He's not sure how to best help Tony along in the moment either. For now then he focuses just on helping Pepper to feel better as the topic has seemed to bring up concerns and worries.

"I want to say someone was baking something in there too. At least that's what my nose told me as I went past. Hopefully something they left out for the sharing," he says as he holds the door for Pepper and walks her to the kitchen.

Within one of the chefs is working. There's the main part of the kitchen where the team often cook for themselves, and have their refrigerators and pantry, not to mention that many of them have small kitchenettes in their rooms that were converted to suites. But there's a larger kitchen through the doors for the staff.

"Ah, looks like... I think that might be some kind of banana bread? Or pumpkin bread?" he says as he spies a loaf of something sitting out. "Want to cut us a couple of slices. If it's on the counter like that it's fair game for everyone. I'll order the hot chocolate," he says, sticking his head through the door in back to talk to the cooks.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper's got the towel wrapped about her, and her hair is a mess, but her mannerisms and way she speaks is definitely an echo of the woman she was/will be again. And that includes her affections for Tony, childish though they may be at this age. If there was a question if they were actually soulmates?

"It smells amazing," she enthuses, and with the warmth coming from the kitchens, she can release the tight hold she's got on the towel. Nodding quickly and decisively, the towel is soon cast to the side, and while she's in wet clothes, they won't cause her to catch cold. "The heels are the best part. Chewy and warm," is called out. "It looks like pumpkin bread." Just in case Steve wanted to know. "Probably from the pumpkins I brought before?" She remembers that?

With the promise of hot chocolate, there is another thought that Pepper latches on to, and she calls out again, hopefully when Steve is done ordering the warm drinks, "Can you call my mom and tell her I'm okay? Tell her.. something. Anything." She'll listen to Captain America.. absolutely she would. Who wouldn't?

Steve Rogers has posed:
The order placed, Steve returns his attention to Pepper and the pumpkin bread. "Wonder who made it. Wanda possibly. Though she usually makes something a bit spicy and with a name that I have to say three times before I get it right," he says in a joking tone. "Clint can surprise at times with things like this too though," he comments.

He gets a couple of plates and slices the bread, putting them on the plates. Then into the microwave for just a few seconds to warm it back up a little more. Pepper gets the heel when it comes out.

The cook comes out, carrying three mugs of hot chocolate. There are plenty of marshmallows melted on top, and they are warm enough they can just be seen faintly steaming. "Be careful you don't burn your mouth at first," he says as he sets the tray down and receives Steve's thanks.

Steve breaks off a piece of the pumpkin bread, "Sure I'd be happy to call her," he says, though looks thoughtful as he takes a bite of the bread and seems to be debating what to say. "I'm not sure what would sound like a good reason I'd be the one calling her," he admits as he gives it more thought.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I have an idea," Tony says, coming into the room abruptly and without warning. "I can //easily// make a voice modification that can let you talk to her yourself without worrying her. It's not like I don't have a bajillion samples of your voice." Tony's changed into warm clothes and left the boots... someplace. JARVIS no doubt knows where.

His clothes fit, and look modern enough-- so not an old thing. More likely something JARVIS handled, or maybe Vision, when Tony clearly wasn't paying attention to clothes or other general items. "Will that work?" Tony asks her, claiming his cup and sitting down right next to her. At first he was touching her side, but some youthful awkwards happen, and he gives her more space instead.

"I mean, until this is fixed."

Pepper Potts has posed:
At the mention of Clint's name, Pepper sighs softly. "He's nice, and he was very patient." It sounds an apologetic note which, of course, begs the question as to //why// she mentions it. Not telling, however, and she nods quickly. "I bet he can."

With the little bit of heat put on the sweet bread, there's no cause to put anything else on; not butter, not honey. It's absolutely sweet enough, with a little bit of nuts, and the earthy tone of molasses.

The hot chocolate arrives, and green eyes go wide for a moment. There is zero hint of 'health conscious' Pepper, what with the helping of cake and hot chocolate with a coating of marshmallow-y goodness. She looks a little disappointed then, and she, too, shakes her head. "I don't know. I'm just worried about her."

Tony's arrival brings Pepper out of her childish slump, and shifting her spot, she looks from the cake and chocolate, back and forth. Her face says it all, however--

Isn't he cute?

"It might?" Though, there in her heart of hearts, if Tony can rig it, it'll work. She catches the contact and looks away quickly, and when he moves, she looks back at him and smiles, tipping her hot chocolate over just a little bit for that tentative first sip. The result? A little marshmallow 'mustache'.

"It'll get fixed."