14151/I believe it's Magic

I believe it's Magic
Date of Scene:	16 February 2023
Location:	Stark Tower: Offices
Synopsis:	Magical ward tripped in Stark Tower!
Cast of Characters:	Loki, Pepper Potts

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Loki has posed:
While magic isn't specifically something that can be sensed in traditional, technical ways... there are still some ways to pick up on the use. Sometimes that is through a ward, or other technological solutions.

Today, in the offices of HR in Stark Tower, magic is present. A subtle use of it, though it's unclear exactly what sort of magical spectrum it is. There are no visual effects in the area it was sensed in: just in some general performance reviews room. Video shows absolutely nothing, just standard interviews of some various members of HR. Perhaps it is nothing....

Or perhaps the HR reviewer is accidentally doing something? Or intentionally? Many questions arise with magic...

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper works where she's best suited for a task at hand. It seems that she splits her time mostly between the Penthouse and her office; today is her office, with the comings and goings of staff in order to solidify meetings, to discuss tactics, and to finish the quarterly tasks before profits are filed with the SEC. When she works, then, she's got her full attention to the task at hand, which means that when an announcement is made to the redhead, it takes her a couple of heartbeats to actually fully comprehend what it is she's being told.

"Miss Potts. There is an anomalous reading within the building." Such words should be taken with a little more attention than a nod of distracted acknowledgement, so the AI that is responsible for most of Stark Industries' operations continues, pressing the point, "Sensors indicate that Miss Sefton's magical warding has given off an energy reading such that it could be picked up by my scanners."

That. That gains Pepper's attention, and it brings her sitting up straight from that lean of attention at her tablet, green eyes refocusing with that new bit of attention. Suddenly the work in Georgia isn't quite as important as it had been a few moments ago. "What?"

"There is a subtle but detectable energy surge that has been read as magical in origin as per the instruction given by Miss Sefton. Working to narrow it's location."

This brings Pepper to her feet, and once slipping on those high heels once again (she never wears them while seated and working), she's letting the information filter down a little more. "I need to know exactly where, please."

The calm, even voice of HOMER responds easily, "Yes, ma'am. It appears to be on the Human Resources floor."

Taking hold of her suit jacket, Pepper pulls it on and begins to make her way to the door and beyond, "Okay, thank you."

Loki has posed:
On the HR floor, there appears to be some sort of meeting going on. No, not a meeting ...It's someone's birthday. "Happy Biiiirthday, dear Amy. Happy Biiiiiirthday to you," sings the group, for intern Amy, who is embarrassed but happy about her cake among her coworkers in HR.

The group starts to disperse, then, after claiming slices of cake that one of the other workers is cutting. It's all extremely normal looking in this area, they're having a good little break to eat the cake and be friendly with each other. Two of the managers are nearby, one is enjoying cake and the other headed back to work in one of the offices.

The room where the ward went off is empty now, though the AI will have no problem looking at the meeting room schedule of who was present during the event itself. A progress review, between the manager L. Vallen, and employee K. Westerson.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The elevator door opens, revealing to Pepper the tableau of normalcy; office parties are de rigour here. (How can they NOT be?) Stepping off the elevator, the doors close behind her, and now, rather than having the overhead discussion with the AI, Pepper's got an innocuous earbud that serves double, triple duty in terms of communication. It's over this that HOMER continues his explanation as to time, event, location; all the who, what, where, when, why and how to the best of his situational ability.

Pepper smiles at the others, the employees who are filtering out; nods given, murmurs of 'Ms Potts' in recognition, and in turn, she too recognizes most of the faces of her managers. The ones that had borne the brunt of more than a few 'fires' in years past, and now serve as savvy headhunters to help keep the company ahead of others in its various fields. The redhead looks as if she knows where she's going, where she needs to be, so no one stops her other than in quick greetings, brief moments of 'how are you?' that expect nothing more than the casual, shallow, 'Fine, and you?', with the same expected response.

Once reaching the room where the anomaly occurred, Pepper opens the door to find--

Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. As in, no monsters, no dragons, no fiery temporal holes ripped out of the fabric of reality. Nothing but the remnants of a birthday party, complete with cake, the coffee station has its coffee pots in various states of filled, and a few people that still populate the room. Well, one, two.. and she pauses at the door, hand on the threshold. She looks briefly puzzled before shifting into a different mode, and the professional yet genuine smile rises in briefest apology, "I'm sorry, I'm interrupting. I'd heard about Carol's birthday, and wanted to add my well wishes."

HOMER, there's nothing here.

Loki has posed:
One of the managers gently clears his throat at Pepper, and leans in to aside, "Amy's birthday, Ms. Potts," he says, helpful to assist in that, indicating the worker whose birthday it is, Amy Sullivan.

"Huh? What?" Amy asks, hearing her name. She gets an 'it's nothing' signal from the manager, though, and returns to the cake. It's chocolate, but a smaller one to the side is gluten-free. Stacy is gluten free, and the office cares about everyone here. The vibe is pleasant.

Amy offers Pepper a slice of the cake, though. Everyone knows who Pepper is, of course, here!

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper has the grace and ability to take the aid where given, and she is able to amend her words without seeming too distracted. She does try to make a point of trying to remember names and faces in key positions in important departments; let's face it, HR is important! "Amy," she amends, and she glances and acknowledges the rescue quickly before entering the room fully. Maybe it's just a blip, a bad read on HOMER's part; she'll have to have Tony do a check later. For the time being, she's now partially invested in being in the room.

"Oh, thank you," Pepper reaches out to take the slice, and one of those silver-toned plastic forks is set on the side of the plate, tines into the cake to keep it from falling to the ground. "You do know that birthdays are paid days off, right?" It's meant to be a joke; Amy IS Human Resources, after all. "Tell me you took it off."

Pepper's elevated alert status is dropping once more; there's nothing here, and HOMER hasn't tagged anything as being 'off', nor has he repeated his warning regarding the readings.

Loki has posed:
"Technically my birthday is on Saturday, but everyone is so nice to celebrate it anyway today," Amy explains when asked about the day off. Cake is still had for the pleasant HR intern.

"Yes, this way she got to blow out a candle for a magic wish," agrees the manager, finishing his cake and throwing it away. Since Pepper hasn't claimed to have any further business here, though, it looks like things are just going along normally. Was it all just a bit of nothing...?

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper nods at the response in regards to the birthday celebration, "That's very nice of them," she agrees pleasantly. It's pretty typical for office parties to run like that, after all. Getting everyone together, plus the birthday target is an art. Taking up the fork, she takes a light, gentle stab at the cake. Full calorie; she'd hit yoga earlier, so the cake is fine!

"I hope-" And it's in the words, the manner in which they're spoken, offhandedly, but it gains the redhead's attention immediately. She turns to follow the manager's path with her eyes, and she cants her head slightly, "A magical wish?" is repeated slowly. Still, she doesn't want to alarm anyone, and she swallows anything more she wants to say before getting a little more information. "Are those still bound by the rules of 'can't tell what you wish for'? I've never heard of those." Pepper' tones take a certain lightness, but someone adept might hear that undertone of fishing for more. Maybe something, maybe nothing.

HOMER's alert of 'subtle' returns to her, and she looks around the room again, her gaze moving back to the birthday girl, Amy. Her? No.. maybe? No.. The decision is made for no other reason but a gut feeling. Mr Vallen then? Any of the others that may have been here and now gone? She'll have HOMER do a quick keycard scan of those on the floor, in the rooms at the time of the anamoly. When she gets back to her office, that is.

Loki has posed:
"Always a secret. Might have been for a good review - but she didn't need to waste it on that," remarks the manager. The workers are now getting back to work, and there seems to be nothing further here.

Maybe there's no magic after all...

Or worse, there was, and there's no trace of what happened remaining...