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

C

[wrathfulkhan]

Well...at least she's eager?

Gene's letting himself be dragged along to the dojo, even though he could lead the way. Pepper stomping along in front, rushing headlong to the next fun thing...it's almost like old times.

Not like he won't tease her about it, though.

"Wow, I'd think you were almost excited to learn from me."

[lasergrenades]

Eager might be an understatement. She is pumped. This is probably because she has no understanding of how one becomes a Twelfth Level Golden Tiger or whatever it is that Gene calls himself, namely lots and lots of practice.

"I'm excited to learn how to kick some serious butt. It's just really convenient that you're here to teach me, since you're already used to me." She grins and marches on. They're close to the dojo, and she's getting ready to storm the gates, so to speak.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Convenient's one word for it," he says, and laughs a little. It's almost like old times, only with the difference that he's actually open to the friendship, and not humoring her begrudgingly.

"Just take it easy your first lesson. Don't bite off more than you can chew. You're my friend, but I won't hesitate to knock you on your ass if you don't listen."

[lasergrenades]

Pepper is about to tell him off for his good advice, but instead she stops short and stares at him for a moment. She looks like she's just been slapped.

Friend.

"Okay." She nods, recovering slightly and starts to move again. "But Bakura said if you don't take me seriously he's going to hit you again."

[wrathfulkhan]

That makes Gene laugh a bit - surely Pepper doesn't know why Bakura had hit him, or how much he'd deserved it in the first place.

But he does notice her faltering, and says, in a slightly more sober tone, "Is it something I said?"

He knew 'friend' had been a bit of a reach when he'd said it, but...he wants to count her as a friend again. It's been years for him, but it's probably still too raw for her to even think about it.

[lasergrenades]

She doesn't know yet, but she is determined to figure it out.

"No, no, nothing," Pepper replies quickly. She's surprised that he would call her that, but not in a bad way. Once again it's like she's staring at two different people, and its hard to reconcile.

"You've just always said you didn't want to fight me before, even when you had zero problem beating up Tony," she adds. It's a reasonable cover.

[wrathfulkhan]

Pepper. No. Do yourself a favor and don't poke your nose into his business. Still, he should probably tell her. When Tony's present. And when she's trusting him more again, and more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He remembers the disaster that telling Tony had been.

He shrugs. "I don't want to fight you - on the battlefield, anyway. This is just practice."

[lasergrenades]

You'll probably want to bring earplugs, too.

"Fine, but it had better not have been because I'm a girl." Pepper had never been clear on why Gene had any hesitation to fight her. It wasn't like he couldn't kick her butt once he tried.

[wrathfulkhan]

"It wasn't because you were a girl," Gene says, and stops, shaking his head. "It was because I actually liked you. Rhodes and I never saw eye to eye, and Tony was...it's always been weird, with me and Tony." He'd either loved him or hated him, when it came down to the wire. But that was the way of it with passion.

[lasergrenades]

Pepper stops when Gene does, the conversation turning serious somewhat suddenly. This is supposed to be fun and she wants to keep it that way.

"Well, good." She elbows him playfully. "Because if it was I would have turned your room pink. And then told Bakura." She smiles at him, tugging at his arm toward the dojo. "C'mon, I wanna learn how to be a ninja!"

[wrathfulkhan]

He laughs again when she elbows him. "Okay, okay," he says, letting himself be tugged along again. "But I can't teach you how to be a ninja. They're Japanese. I can teach you wushu. Unarmed drills first."

[lasergrenades]

"Oh, come on, they have to have ninjas. Weren't the Tong all ninjas? Or were they just calling themselves that to avoid damaging an American stereotype?"

Soon enough the dojo is visible.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter what it's called. I wanna punch things! Woo!" She releases Gene and bounds up the steps, waiting for him impatiently.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Oh my God, let's not even talk about the Tong," Gene mutters. 'Cause like...no.

"That can definitely be arranged," he says, and ascends the stairs at a more sedate pace, pretty much solely to annoy her.

[lasergrenades]

"Fine, fine, grumpy, we can stop talking about the ninjas," Pepper says, elongating the syllables slightly for maximum effect.

She puts her hands on her hips and taps her foot until he's level with her.

"Sweet!" She reaches to open the door, and hesitates for a moment. What if she makes a fool of herself in front of Bakura?

It's probably unlikely. She's brilliant. So she slides the door open, once again crackling with enthusiasm.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene just stares at her with a 'you done?' kind of look, and resolutely remains one step below her for a few purposefully irritating seconds before reaching the top.

"I should probably demonstrate for you first, then have you follow along." Don't think he's gonna teach you the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique on the first day, Pepper.

[lasergrenades]

If Pepper were not a grown up, very mature young woman, she would stick her tongue out at Gene. Instead, she just makes a face at him. Very mature indeed.

"Soooo, not straight to punching things, then?" she asks as she steps inside. "You're just like Tony. But at least you don't have to build me armor to teach me things." Tony always insisted on practice, and Pepper always insisted that she learned best by doing, particularly under pressure.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Not unless you want to break your hand," he says, quite matter-of-factly. "You do know the right way to punch, right? Not the John Wayne style of doing a big windup and slamming your fist into a side of meat."

He...may have mixed his references there, but as far as he's concerned John Wayne and Rocky Balboa are interchangeable.

[lasergrenades]

"Yes. You can ask Rhona's face sometime if you need a reference," Pepper says, enjoying the memory. "And Tony's, for that matter." It's a less funny memory, but still a satisfying one.

Pepper giggles at Gene's mix of references, trotting over the the practice mat.

"That's Rocky. John Wayne did Westerns. And there was that one Eastern, but we pretend that didn't happen." She finally stops moving, but she's still bouncing on her feet a little. "Okay, now what?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"...I'm not going to ask."

Don't tell him about The Conqueror, Pepper, unless you want to see him punch through a real wall.

"Okay. Show me how you punch. Slowly. Do it a couple of times."

[lasergrenades]

"It's probably better that way." It had been a bad day.

She rolls her eyes at him, but does as he says. Standing with her feet about shoulder-width apart, Pepper raises her arms to a guard and keeps her chin down. Slowly, although not as slowly as Gene probably wants, she punches at the air, keeping her arm level with her shoulders, pretending Rhona's face is at the end of her fist again.

She stops after a few and then turns to Gene.

"Professional opinion, sensei?" she asks cheekily.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Call me 'sensei' again and I'll assign you four laps of the dojo," Gene says.

He'd been watching her form, making notes of where she needed to improve - technique was a little sloppy but follow-through was excellent.

"Okay, do it again, slowly, and I'll adjust your form. I think I see what we're working with. Not bad, though."

[lasergrenades]

Pepper wonders if it isn't worth the laps to call him sensei, but she also knows he's serious. Not that the dojo is huge or anything but it would be very annoying. She opts for a slightly immature facial expression instead.

"Fine, but no tickling or your are so completely dead," she huffs.

At what seems a glacial pace to her, but is actually just a reasonably slow speed for form correction, she repeats her punch into Rhona's invisible face, pretending she's in an action movie and it's time for some slo-mo.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Please," Gene scoffs, "I am a professional." Although, now that you mention it...

Gene resists the urge to poke her and instead works on correcting her form. She's got a good base to it, but it's not precise - he adjusts her arm closer in, nudges the positioning of her feet to support her center of gravity better.

"Try now."

[lasergrenades]

"That's true. You're getting paid to teach, not tickle. I think Bakura would frown on tickling," Pepper muses as Gene corrects her form.

With her feet where they are now, she does feel a tad more stable, although pulling her arm closer in feels a little weird. She repeats the slow punch as instructed, trying to remember to keep her arm where Gene moved it. She can tell her arms want to fall back into her original positioning, but it starts to feel more natural after a few more tries.

"How's that? I should probably try using my other arm more, I never use that arm. Do you have a dominant side, or is that something you lose when you're a wushu master?"

[wrathfulkhan]

At least she's not fighting him on this.

That's both a relief and slightly troubling. He'd come in here ready to argue with her about everything, but she's actually...listening to him. Weird.

"Never hurts to do both sides. Switch positions, and see if you can mimic what I changed."