2744/Relief

Relief
Date of Scene:	02 August 2020
Location:	Relief tents outside Bushwick
Synopsis:	Relief comes in many different forms. Amanda and Pepper have a quick girl chat in those moments before relief mobilization into the restored Bushwick.
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Amanda Sefton

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Pepper Potts has posed:
Today is the day, the long awaited day that was set for the return of the neighborhood locally known as Mutant Town. While heroes fuss, fight, maneuver, discuss and all around-tech, there are others that are doing the more mundane and just as important jobs; that is, prepping the boxed groceries, making sure, via coms, that emergency crews are standing by, that all the city's stakeholders (ConEd, public works, etc.) are able to be reached. That is not to say that one Virginia Potts is the one coordinating, but she has her hand in the pie, with all the civic duty that is part of Stark Industries in the city.

Pepper is at the medical tent, her attire, for her, is dressed down but still ultimately professional. She has an earbud in one ear, showing through her pulled back red hair. Green eyes search for a friend, and she is found... though her attention is briefly pulled by the appearance in the sky of a red figure. She stops, watches, and as the red blur dips down again out of sight, she shifts and offers something of a pressed-lip determined looking smile.

"Hey," she begins, "You got the count, right?" It's only moments after the dropping in of the blocks, and they just are waiting for the all-clear.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda doesn't even need to turn around to guess what may have caught Pepper's eye, that green gaze drifting skyward. "I got the count," the blue-eyed blonde assures her friend, moving briskly between tables to pass a small clipboard over for Pepper's perusal. "We're good to go, Gin."

She steps around a small hand truck, her own attire utilitarian but not likely to embarass her friend. "A soon as we get the okay, six trucks will roll from here. That'll be our clue to move in."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper takes the clipboard with a quick nod and a smile before she looks back at the gathered. The City's gotten better in their responses since, well, Loki, and it's nice to see. The trucks are, indeed, ready to roll, and with the incoming communication, she gets that 'middle distance' stare for the half a second before she nods again, her smile relighting.

"Good to go. They've opened it up." Now, the work really begins. "There's going to be a lot of need." But, the nice part of it?

They're prepared this time.

Handing the clipboard back, Pep looks as if she's not going in on that first surge. Someone needs to be back to help with the families of those in there. There are multiple truck containers of groceries collected from across the country, vouchers for stays in the local hotels...

Lots of logistics. And Pep looks ready for the task at hand.

Always looking out for her closest, however, there's a gleam in those eyes as brows rise. "You good for the next 48 hours?" There's a quick flicker back to the makeshift 'hotel' a block away, and she continues, "Not the view we're used to, but it'll do."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
At least, they think they're prepared. They hope they are. Amanda has learned not to count on anything in her short life -- especially when it comes to emergency situations. That said, if anyone's prepared for continencies, it's Stark Industries. Or, more accurately: Virginia "Pepper" Potts acting on behalf of SI.

She laughs at the query directed her way. "Of course, I am," she says. Since the city's soul has been healed, and its flesh is slowly being knit back together, she's actually been in much better form than she was even when she first arrived. Her attunement issues have been resolved, her meditations are deeper and more restful, more fulfilling. She's found a new energy, as a result.

"Besides, I've seen a hell of a lot worse." The hellscape in which she and Alex helped to fight the corruption taking over the citysoul comes to mind as a more recent example.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper fades back a little, but there is the look in the sky once more to see if anything can be seen. It's when things are truly shifting into cruising speed that she's not worried about anything that might be going on elsewhere and she settles in for the continuation of the shift.

There's a soft, genuine chuckle as the dressed down PA shakes her head, her expression bemused, "I'll have nightmares for weeks about those meetings to get this done. I think //next time//, and there will be, right? Next time, I'll do a 'Sorry, can't. Busy.'" She gives what could be a passable imitation of Tony in a rush, but it's obvious that it's done with great affection, along with a tinge of frustration, if that's a thing. There's no changing that... and she's not looking like she's too terribly upset by it.

Still, there was that bit about her best friend seeing a lot worse, and not trying to make things seem.. less, she reaches out to give her friend that quick squeeze on the arm. Brows rise, her head dips a little, adding, "You okay, though? Ready for all this?" Now that it's here, that is.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda barks a brief laugh, falling in beside Pepper as she moves. "Sure you will," she says, disbelief clear in her voice. "But, yes. There wll always be a next time." That's the sad part.

She smirks, "Now, see, I think Tony needs to build you your own suit. Not so you can fight, but so you can be in sixteen places at once and get to the seventeenth without having to wait for traffic or air traffic control." Or, you know, a teleporter or portal maker like her.

She smiles as Pepper squeezes her arm, patting her hand in return. "I'm good," she assures her. "Honest. New York's healing, Ginny. I've seen that, too. We're doing good work."

Pepper Potts has posed:
There's that squeeze in return and Pep retrieves her hand with a brighter smile in the news about the city. That... checks all the boxes now, as far as she's concerned. In the last little while, she's learned a great deal more than she'd ever dreamed about NYC, about it's heart, soul and communities, and this really is her home. Before, she'd gotten a little homesick for Connecticut, going so far as to having pictures of the homestead in her office as well as apartment. Those in the office are gone, replaced with bits of fine art that typifies the city's energy.

A barked laugh rises at the suggestion, and Pepper is shaking her head even as she forms a response, "No." It's the easiest word in her vocabulary. "There is no way I want to fly without an airplane around me." She's been 'flown' before, and the sensation of the air leaving her lungs at speed, the feeling of not having any footing.. "Or," she conceeds, "with you. I'll sit in traffic with Happy."

There is that moment after the argument, however, but it's not consideration, it's.. clarification. "Not that I don't trust him to build something amazing." And she honestly does. "I guess part of it is not wanting him to disappear into the lab for days as he works out what would be 'perfect' for me." There's that affectionate eyeroll. "Then there would be the upgrades," because even the cleaning bots get those! "And that means I'd have to bring him dinner in the lab, remind him to sleep.." Which, from the sound of the way her voice trails off, may not be //that// bad?

Pep brings herself back to the here and now with something of an embarrassed smile. "Right." As if that ends any lingering thoughts. "Uh.. city."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda laughs outright at the litany of gripes Pepper comes up with against Tony. "You know, you could just make both your lives easier and set up a queen murphy bed in the corner, or something." Yes. She's teasing. Entirely.

But, hey, if the mattress works...

Nevermind.

"City," she says abruptly, then, blue eyes still twinkling. It's so easy to get Pepper's goat, sometimes.

She moves with a bit more purpose, now. "Let's get our tails out there and start doing what we came here for, shall we?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper actually pinkens at the cheeks at the comment regarding the mattress. She knows she's being teased, and she returns with that self-conscious eye-roll, coupled with the surruptitious glance around to see if anyone is within close earshot. "I'm glad you like him," she begins again. "But, we might be a little farther away from //that//.." Sleeping! Right! "I almost kissed him," and she pauses with that confession before that same, airy chuffed embarrassed laugh rises again, "That was a disaster." She shakes her head, "I don't know."

City! After that grenade?

Turning around again, Pepper touches the side of her head, ostensibly the earpiece as she makes a quick call, "Have the vouchers set up on the north and south side. Easier to access." As she puts her hand down to close the connection, there's a little vibration of her phone to alert her to an incoming message. If Amanda is looking over, the picture attached to the contact is obvious. With a deft motion of a thumb, there.. a message with nothing but a selfie:

Iron man and a very, very stoked young man next to him. She stares at the picture for several heartbeats, and there's that shift of her expression again. She's a woman obviously gone, and it'd be a hard struggle back. Possible, but hard.

In the next second, she's back to the present, and with another laughed smile, Pepper nods her head. "Let's do this."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Of course, Amanda is circumspect enough to ensure there's no one around who can hear. She's not cruel. However, when Pepper drops a bombshell of her own. "Are you kidding me?!" Amanda's eyes are wide, her brows receded up into her hairline.

And then her friend as the temerity to turn away and turn on her earpiece.

The witch waits with veiled patience while Pepper makes herself 'busy'.

And then promptly goes all googly-eyed over a superhero selfie.

"Oh, my god," Amanda groans, rolling her eyes and snatching the phone and brazenly swiping through at least three or four pictures before Pepper can snatch it back. "You are *so* smitten!" she laughs.

Her hand comes up and makes an odd gesture. Sound around them becomes dampened for a moment. Or more accurately, sound from them becomes inaudible to those around them. "Good gods, Ginny. I haven't seen you like this since that bloke from Cambridge caught your eye." A beat. She cants her head and then side-eyes her friend wikckedly. "Come to think of it, he was a 'Bad Boy', too, wasn't he?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper //knows// she's dropped a grenade, and with anyone else, she'd have gotten out of //that// blast area reasonably quickly and unscathed. There are those who call her 'Pepper' simply because that's what Tony calls her. There is, wait for it, only //one// person (outside her parents) that calls her 'Gin' or 'Ginny'. That's the one that she really can't run from. Though, to be fair, there's rarely (read: never) when it's truly needed.

What she should have done is have this talk over a glass of wine, on the balcony. But, things being what they are, it's a 'bottled up' thing, and she's learned there's never a //great// time for really anything.

Turning about again, the phone is quickly snatched, and Pepper jumps in order to retrieve it. There's only one person, okay, two.. who can do that to her without receiving her wrath. "Hey.. hey! There's.." well, it's her work phone. Schedules, appointments, phone numbers.. and pictures. There are a few, though not many candid shots. One, two of the pair dressed for some benefit, but there aren't rolls and rolls. And then the 'pleased' Iron Man shot with the over-the-moon kid.

Pep makes for that grab, and once returned, sets it back in her pocket. Dammit. There is another laugh in the recollection, and she can't help but have that lingering smile, "He was cute. And smart. And made everyone laugh." Though... oh so much of a bad boy.

Pepper exhales as she looks ready to start work again, and her tones almost sound a defeat. "When all this is done, things will get back to normal. I know the email is filled with young, attractive women trying to get his attention." Though, truth be told, the frequency of parties have abated, as has his parade of women through the Penthouse. There's that game face that she sets into place, and she gives a single nod to set a period to it. "It was an almost. We were both tired, and he was being sympathetic. And... nothing happened." (Unlike with that boy at Cambridge!)

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda relinquishes the phone quickly, having had no intention of playing keepaway. "Uh-huh," she says, not quite believing the 'almost'. But, she hears the defeat in her friend's tone and puts a hand on her shoulder. She moves her head until she's got Pepper's green gaze with her blue. "You want I should beat him up for you?" she grins. "I could conjure a spell. Make every woman he sees hideous." A beat. "Or make them look like you." Her blue eyes are sparkling because she's completely not serious. She's looking for a laugh.

Though, really, she'd totally hex Tony if he did something to hurt Pepper. There's not even a question of that.

"Life will never be normal, Pepper. You know that. You left normal behind back with Mr. Cambridge." She smiles. "But, we *will* find a night to down at least two bottles of wine and a two sacks of crisps... and probably more besides. And you will tell me every. single. detail." She lets her hand drop. "And then you'll go back to work the next morning with a fist full of Advil, a bottle of my hangover cure, and return to your regularly scheduled program."

/Then/, life will be normal. Pepper's normal, that is.

She claps her hands smartly. "But, that's for later. Right now?" She gestures.

"City."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper actually does laugh at the pronouncements, even if she has a 'don't you dare!' expression after that. "Don't.. really," but she's smiling, with it easily echoing in her eyes, lighting up her face. There's a hesitation there, but only for a couple of heartbeats before she finds her footing once more. "I think I may figure something out." There's a beat before, "Eventually."

There's relief in her manner as the offer is made for not only the wine, but the hangover cure for the morning. "That.. sounds amazing. And," she shakes her head with no little bemusement, "There is. Only, I can't tell anyone about it." To soften it alittle, the PA adds, "You, I can tell most of it." There's the trust, right there. "But, I think ice cream needs to be added. I actually saw an icecream place a few blocks from the apartment add .. crisps," that's for you, 'Mands, "to their cone."

But, for the right now? Pepper looks ready to take on the world, though in this case, it's only a neighborhood and city resources.

"City."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"Deal." Amanda says decisively, her curiosity simultaneously piqued and swallowed. She wiggles her fingers briefly and her spell collapses. Her next gesture is self-explanatory. They have work to do. Because...

City.