℗ oo2. a headache the size of stark towers

[quits]

[Needless to say, Pepper did not have a very good first day in Paradisa. She spent most of her day in the elevator convinced she'd wake up at some point, then found out her friend was killed, and then spent the rest of the night drinking. Once again proving to herself that she cannot keep up with Tony Stark when it comes to alcohol.

Now she is miserable.]

So -- this much is clear. I'm not dreaming. I'm from before the time that Tony's here from and a bunch of stuff happened. [Her fingers press to her temple... ow.]

Wishes, the journal, the castle -- all magic, which is real. There are places that you end up sometimes, because the castle brings everyone there. People die, but then come back because the castle... fixes it. I've lost something and it's not just the memory of being here before -- which is also the same case for Tony, even though neither of us remember.

[She has a glass of ice water, which you can hear clink when she raises it to press to her temple.]

Is there anything else I should know? [Other than the whole Loki thing, which she is not even going to say his name, because she wants him to hurt for what he did.]

Oh, and for those I didn't weird out the other day in the elevator while I was still thinking this is all a dream - I'm Pepper Potts.

I also could really use some aspirin. [But she can handle that one.]

Comments

[quits]

Monsters? [That got skipped too...]

[molotov]

Oh, they did not tell you about the monsters? Well, sometimes there are some. Usually no one dies. And even when they do, they just pop back up in a few weeks.

[quits]

I heard about a mirror place where two people died, but I didn't realize that things came here too.

[molotov]

Occasionally. I had been here for a week when we had to go to that high school infested with aliens that wanted to kill us. There was the monster that kidnapped all the children and made the trees bleed. There was some kind of giant robot or something once. Probably others that I am forgetting. It is not an everyday thing, if that is what you are worried about.

[quits]

[Holy... that is a lot of things to be hit with. Even if it isn't an every day thing, hearing it all stacked like that is ... a lot.]

That sounds horrible.

[molotov]

Did someone tell you that it would be fun to live in a giant magical castle? But it is not always so bad. Most of the time, it is more like living in a giant magical waiting room. And we do occasionally get good things. For Christmas, the world changed to be Paris.

[quits]

No one told me it'd be fun, no. I also didn't expect to ever live in a magic castle, either.

[The waiting room makes it seem... a bit more logical. Like that movie with Keanu.]

Paris? With no aliens trying to kill you, right?

[molotov]

Normal, modern Paris. No pirates or pokemon or forced Victorian clothing.

[quits]

But those things have all happened? [a beat] What's a pokey-mon? [She's picturing something Jamaica themed.]

[molotov]

Da, all of those things have happened. Pokemon are creatures from another world we went to. They are animals that the people of that world catch, train and force to battle. Everybody got one. Some of them came back with us -- mine lives on the bear reserve, with my polar bear.

[quits]

You have a polar bear? [Pepper is just... you are a plethora of information!]

[molotov]

I have a polar bear, a baby black bear, three sun bears, a dozen grizzlies, a few prehistoric bears... it is about thirty in all. Plus Chihanchka, my pokemon.

[quits]

Where did you get all of them?

[molotov]

I wished for them, and the castle would not send them away. So I built them a home.

[quits]

Why did you wish for them in the first place?

[molotov]

I was going to wish for a bearskin rug, but I wanted to be specific.

[quits]

[So... she wished for that many bears?]

How many rugs did you need?

/threadjack with an ironic character

[builds]

This place does pirates?

That sounds pretty fun. Saw a movie about them once.

\o/ welcome back, Tony!

[molotov]

Da, it "does pirates". A whole world where we were forced to be them.

[She thinks for a moment about that world, and about this voice...] Weren't you there?

:3c

[builds]

I've been here for less than a day. Buuut I hear that I was around before. Something about magic castles making you forget things.

So if I was, I don't remember.

[molotov]

I think you were. You were the "bad guy", as it were, if you are who I am thinking of. I will have to go through my old journal and check.

Just something to know.

[builds]

I'm not used to playing the bad guy. I'm cast as the hero nowadays.

[molotov]

The castle has a funny sense of humor.

[builds]

No, I have a funny sense of humor. That's more of a Shakespearean sense of humor.

[molotov]

Does that really matter? Nitpicking does not get you very far in Paradisa.