Things are getting shaky

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Raine Sage, Skulduggery Pleasant, Yami Bakura + Others
Date: Throughout July
Location: Throughout Keeliai
Situation: Pepper out and about probably not arresting things
Warnings/Rating: None initially, but subject to change.


A. Midnight Hotel | July 13 | Closed to Skul

Pepper has been working on and off with Skulduggery, but most of it has been training thus far. It's kind of like homework, except that it's a lot more fun and she gets to spend time wandering around solving mysteries with a skeleton detective. So it's not at all like homework, actually. If she's being honest, though, she really wants to get to the 'smashing down doors and arresting people' part, but Skul keeps reminding her that isn't what detectives spend most of their time doing.

Even without the Miami Heat reenactments, she's really having a great time, so she doesn't delay getting to the Midnight Hotel to meet him. It will be a welcome distraction from the gloom that has settled over many of the Foreigners.

B. Earth Sector | Mid-July | Closed to Raine

Following an accidental conversation that didn't actually happen, Pepper has suited up and is flying over to the Earth Sector to meet Raine. Apparently she wants to go flying, and given everything that's happened recently, Pepper is more than willing to spend some time just goofing off. She's hardly used the Rescue armor since arriving in Keeliai, and it's nice that she's getting to use it for something other than fighting for once. That does mean, of course, that she won't really get the chance to show off everything the suit can do, but it'll probably be impressive enough on its own.

She touches down outside Raine's building, retracting her faceplate and heading to the apartment she shares with Solomon. She knocks gently and waits.

C. Wood Sector - Jade Dojo | Late July | Gene and Bakura

Gene said he would teach Pepper how to fight. Granted, he said it with caution and she's apparently supposed to listen to every word he says, which will definitely happen. Definitely. Really. She promises.

Needless to say, she's dragging him along to the dojo early in the morning to get started.

D. Water Sector | July 15 | Closed to Jackie

At first, Pepper had hidden out at home following the vision. She didn't feel like going out much, and when she did people were usually a little diminished. After a week, though, she wants to get out and about. She hasn't seen much of the Water Sector, but it seems like a really cool place. It's one of the places in Keeliai that reminds her, quite strongly, that she is in an alien world - but here, for some reason, it doesn't bother her so much. It's calming, and given that it's very near her home, she really ought to spend more time there.

At the moment, she's finding herself engrossed in watching a particularly intricate fountain, and practicing letting her mind go blank. Iiiiiiit's not going so well.

E. Wood Secter - Jade Dojo | A few days after the vision | Closed to Bakura

Pepper has been meaning to drop by and bother Bakura for a while - they haven't managed to run into each other out in the city much, so she's going to stop waiting around and go see him. Gene has also promised to teach her how to fight, and she wants to see the dojo before that happens so she's at least a little familiar with her surroundings. Plus, she still hadn't figured out Bakura - what is his deal, exactly?

She's spent very little time in the Wood sector, but it's nice. She hasn't been to a dojo before and her concept of martial arts is based on super-basic self-defense training and Bruce Lee movies, so despite the pleasant surroundings she's a bit uncertain. Once she reaches the entrance, Pepper hesitates,  feeling a bit sheepish about this whole thing, and wonders if she should just turn around and go home. Curiosity, as per usual, wins the day, and she steps inside.

F. Around Keeliai | Throughout July | Open

Pepper spends most of her time close to the house - the vision rattled her, which isn't exactly easy. The house isn't home yet, but it does mean safety. She wanders around some of the newly built stores and stalls, taking as much interest in those run by kedan as by Foreigners. She takes comfort in shopping, even if its just to get groceries, but she's a little jumpy and only relaxes when she's with others.

G. House Iron Dragon | July 4-5th | Tony and then Raine

After Pepper gets off the console with Raine, she heads towards Tony's lab in the basement. He spends most of his time there when he's home, so it's a pretty good bet that she'll find him. Unlike Gene, Pepper has not compunctions about marching into Tony's lab whenever she feels like it. She is, however, a little more careful about entering, since the basement lab is a lot smaller than the armory, which means getting outside of a blast radius is a lot harder.

She listens for a moment, and, satisfied that she won't get her face blown up, knocks and opens the door without waiting for a response.

"Hi Tony. Are you going to be around tomorrow?"

---

OOC Note: If you want another starter let me know at Sealrat! I am up for most everything.

Comments

A | I'M SORRY I'M SO LATE TO THIS I AM UNWORTHY

[skeletonenigma]

Pepper is, in many ways, astonishingly similar to Valkyrie. She learns quickly. She has an insatiable curiosity. She doesn't stop asking why they haven't gotten to the fun parts yet. In fact, Skulduggery's had to catch himself from calling her 'Valkyrie' at least twice.

When he gets home - if he gets home, the chances of which are essentially nil - Skulduggery's already decided to find and watch the Iron Man movies. If nothing else, maybe they can help him gain a little insight. And Valkyrie's face when she hears the idea is sure to be priceless.

When Pepper arrives, Skulduggery doesn't mention the turtles. From his cheerful demeanour, you wouldn't think anything strange had happened to the Foreigners at all. "Good morning," he says with a short tip of his hat. "Sleep well?"

/pets 's all good :)

[lasergrenades]

Pepper grins when she sees Skul. This won't ever not be awesome. When she stops walking, she still bounces on her feet a bit, ready to run at the drop of a hat.

"Eh, well enough. But I got used to not sleeping much after I found out Tony was Iron Man." Although it was usually crime fighting, and not nightmares, that kept her awake. Still, she wasn't one to let that keep her from doing what she loved. "So, what are we doing today? Invading the Snakes mansion? Combing the sewers? Ooh, ooh can we do that flying thing again?"

She could fly, too, but flying with magic was a whole different kind of animal. The uber mega special kind.

[skeletonenigma]

"Nothing quite so grandiose, I'm afraid," Skulduggery says, replacing the hat on his head. "I've combed the sewers multiple times, and whoever ordered the soul gem muggings did a very good job of covering their tracks. Today, we're going to try approaching them from a different angle. If the muggings themselves are a dead end, what do you think our next move should be?"

Never let it be said that Skulduggery allowed a teaching opportunity to pass him by unnoticed.

[lasergrenades]

While Pepper is mildly disappointed by the lack of invasions, she's not so upset about keeping out of the sewers. Sewers are gross, and doubly so when explored without good reason or good results.

She thinks for a moment about Skul's query.

"Weeeeell, I suppose you turn around and go back when you hit a dead end, sooo... Go talk to the people who were mugged?" She frowns slightly. "I don't suppose you have a whiteboard or a ton of Post-its, do you? And maybe some string?"

It's too bad they don't have Tony's cool holographic setup - it would make her idea a lot easier.

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery dips a hand into one of his pockets and comes out with a small coiled-up piece of thread. "I have some string," he says, offering it to her. "But that's it."

For all the kedan advancements in the last couple of years, Skulduggery suspects whiteboards are still a touch beyond most kedan families.

"We could go talk to the people who were mugged," he agrees. "But there's a group of people who might know more than they do. Why would someone want to steal the Foreigners' soul gems, Pepper?"

[lasergrenades]

The corners of Pepper's mouth turn up, but she declines the offered thread. "I meant, you know, at the Hotel or something. Why do you have that in your pocket?"

Her brain is working through the logic at speed, but as Skulduggery keeps instructing her, she tries to slow it down and look at each piece a little closer.

"Probably a lot of reasons. It could be to kill them, but everyone has gotten their gem back in the nick of time. And most of them have come back damaged or changed, somehow, which sounds like evil scientist territory," she replies, ticking off the possibilities. "Or just science territory. And as Anton keeps telling me, most magic is science that science now just can't capture yet. So, someone is trying to figure out whatever science-magic creates the mandatory accessories, and got far enough to replicate them, but then those kedan vanished." She puts her hand to her chin. "And if they can do that to the kedan, they might be able to do that to the Foreigners. Get rid of us or at least send us home. Meaning it's either someone who wants to help us, or send us away forever, no matter the cost." Her eyes widen slightly. "Or go to our worlds. That seems bad."

[skeletonenigma]

"I don't think Anton has a whiteboard," said Skulduggery. "But he probably has string." He put the thread back in his pocket and shrugged. "I don't remember why it's in my pocket, but I probably needed it for something. And whatever I needed it for, it was probably spectacular."

It must have worked, in other words, or the thread wouldn't still be in Skulduggery's pocket.

"There you go," Skulduggery said, sounding pleased. "You're starting to think like a detective. Now, those are all valid theories, but right away, which one can you safely dismiss?" He paused. "Actually, you can probably safely dismiss a couple. If someone was trying to help us, for example, why haven't they made that obvious? Why haven't they simply asked to see volunteers' soul gems? You're leaving a possibility out, as well - there's every chance the perpetrator didn't mean for the kedan to vanish. That could be an unintended side effect. Knowing all of that, what group of people should we be questioning?"

[lasergrenades]

"I can do the crime board somewhere else then," Pepper says. "Ah, yes, spectacular sewing of Skulduggery Pleasant. Solve crimes, look fantastic. You could start an Etsy page."

She beams when he approves of her thought process.

"They might not have asked because the risk involved would be offputting for most and considered a threat by other people here. We're not all friendly neighborhood Foreigners," she points out. "But it's probably not that."

Pepper thinks for a moment, looking down to concentrate (Skul's being a skeleton was still distracting at times). He's testing her and she's not quite sure where to go next. So much for no oral exams. Who did you go talk to when someone disappeared? What kind of people ended up on the crime boards in all the shows she's seen? Who was the first person you talked to when someone was murdered, or just assaulted? She had done this before. Witnesses, but there hadn't been -

Ah. Oh, it's so simple, but that has to be it, and she's kicking herself for not seeing it earlier. She was thinking a single group of people, like a gang or one of the Guilds. No, it's a group with particular kinds of relationships to each individual kedan that disappeared, or to Foreigners who had been mugged, but not necessarily with a relationship to each other. At least not an obvious one.

"Friends. Family. People they lived and worked with." Pepper looks back up. "People who would know the routines of the victims, and would probably know where they were at any given time."

[skeletonenigma]

"I already look fantastic," Skulduggery argues, straightening his tie and tilting the hat on his head at a jaunty angle. "I don't know what an Etsy page is, but I doubt it can do better than a crisp suit and a new hat."

It's easy to see, in moments like this, exactly why Pepper is so proud of her experience with law enforcement. She's good. Even without the use of her standard equipment, she makes the right connections. Skulduggery recognises in her the same potential he recognised in Valkyrie, and is fully aware of why - or at least, what psychologists would say why. He still chooses to ignore it.

"Friends, family, and acquaintances," he agrees. "People who might remember what ties our kedan victims together. Places they all frequented. Traits they all had in common. A clinic they all visited. As I said, it's not very glamourous, but it is necessary. Are you ready to go?"

[lasergrenades]

"That was my point," she teases. "And an Etsy page is - never mind. Not important. I mean, it is, but not right now."

Pepper is spectacularly pleased that she figured it out, although she wishes she'd gotten it faster. She grins at Skulduggery, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet.

"Yep!" The fact that he mentions a clinic is a little odd, if only because it's the single specific location he mentions, and there aren't that many in the city. Hm. Something to think on. "Where to first?"