While all around you the buildings sway | August Catchall

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you! Many open starters
Date: Throughout August
Location: KPD, the beach (everyone come have fun in the sun!), and around Keeliai
Situation: It's hot, Pepper is planning beach parties, and Devin is avoiding people
Warnings/Rating: None


A. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout August | Open

There is, thankfully, less to do at work this month. Unfortunately, it's also incredibly hot. The police headquarters doesn't have the best cooling system, so there are a lot of fans set up to keep the air moving, but Pepper still feels like she's melting for the first half of the month. The second half is better, at least, but it seems like the heat is keeping pretty much everyone from making trouble. Pepper is rarely seen in the armor at work this month, instead favoring to patrol in her street clothing.

B. [Pepper] Night Markets | Throughout August | Open

It's considerably cooler at night, although still quite warm. The markets that open up at night are not only pretty but fun, and they remind her of street fairs that sometimes popped up in New York City. She does some regular shopping here, but she also goes just for fun, occasionally dragging along friends with her. Finding her there will be easy enough, if anyone else is shopping.

C. [Pepper] The Beach | Early August | Open

It's hot, and there are few better ways to beat the heat than to go swimming. Pepper's been to the edge of the shell before, but only when it was colder during the turtle move, so this is awesome. On a few of her days off, she gathers up snacks and towels and a bunch of water along with Tony and Gene, and herds them towards the shell's edge in the morning before it gets sweltering, grinning most of the way. There's an open invitation for any of their friends to join them, and it seems like a lot of the kedan have a similar idea, and there are even a few trips organized by one of the Guilds.

Pepper hasn't had the chance to swim much since coming to Keeliai, but it's hard to forget how, and almost as soon as they reach the water she divests herself of anything that shouldn't get wet and runs into the shallows. She hasn't forgotten about Gene potentially not being able to swim, so after some time just to splash around, she'll make sure to drag him out there, probably with Tony, to see how he does.

There will also be sandcastles, or at least sand sculptures of some kind or another. It's not a competition but... it may also be a competition.

D. [Devin] Water Sector | Throughout August | Open

Being naturally a few degrees cooler than the average human, the heat doesn't both Devin as much as it might some people. He continues his 'hobby' of learning the city, mapping and memorizing the streets. Most of the time, he's in Water Sector this month, both because he can find an easy place to cool off if he wants to, and because he's assuming that a certain someone will be less inclined to spend time near water, given her pyrokinetic abilities. If approached, he might talk, but he seems a bit more irritable than last month.

Comments

B

[de_evilise]

What with the heat lately, Marinette's found that doing the shopping is SO much easier and cooler. She also needed to pick out the best quality fabrics, and she could do that with a lot of the shops that opened up now. She needed to get a specific color - but when she saw a certain redhead, she nearly lost her shit, "PEPPER!!" fkjL:G SHE HAS THINGS TO TELL YOU ANd she is zooming over and practically tripping over her own feet in her haste to run over and dish.

:D

[lasergrenades]

Pepper is wandering without a specific goal in mind through the markets, half the time just enjoying the scenery rather than actually looking for anything. She turns when she hears Marinette's voice, grinning at the younger girl's evident enthusiasm. Clearly, something exciting has happened.

"Hey! What's up? You look like you're being chased by a herd of buffalo," Pepper laughs, holding her arms up both to slow Marinette down and catch her if she stumbles.

[de_evilise]

Thankfully Marinette does not crash into Pepper, though she does stumble. Pepper's assistance is appreciated! She puts her hands on Pepper's shoulders, "Ooutaskedmehedwhatyesteredaynetwork!"

Thank you, Yoda. Marinette took a few breaths, tried that again, flailing her arms, "ME A OUT ASKED DATE HE ON!" "KING ILLEGAL FOREST TO PIG WILD KILL IN IT A IS!"

[lasergrenades]

"Uh." Good thing for Marinatte, Pepper a) knows about her crush, and b) speaks fluent speed-jumble. Her eyes light up. "Adrien asked you out on a date? Aaaah that's awesome, yay!"

The redhead gathers her up in a tight hug, bouncing up and down. This is fabulous. "Oh my gosh, we should totally celebrate! What did he ask you out to, the ball or just dinner or coffee or something? We should think about what you're wearing - if it's the ball, d'you think he'll go for color matching? 'Course he will, it's Adrien, he has fashion sense," she rattles off, holding Marinette out at arm's length and squealing happily.

Ugh, headaches suck :(

[de_evilise]

A VERY good thing - though even when Pepper puts the words together in the correct order and bounciehugs Marinette, the other girl is still freaking out and refuses to let go over Pepper, in the midst of "OHGOISHGwagha" panic attacks. "B.. but what do I do! What do I say!?? What if..." She's caught off guard by the question of attire, and erms as Pepper holds her at arms length, "I-I 'm actually making a dress for the ball!" AGH WHAT DO

agreed

[lasergrenades]

"Okay, first off, maybe you should breathe," Pepper suggests, giggling. She doesn't let go of Marinette in the event of her tipping over with excitement. "As for what you say... I mean, just be yourself, right? He likes you for you, so just be you and everything should be fin," she advises. "But maybe we should work on keeping word order straight," she adds, teasing.

[de_evilise]

"Breathing, Breathing..!!" Marinette breathed in short puffs of air, "Y.. yeah, just... but..." She paused, "What if he likes Before Me more than Now Me? I don't know what Before Me said before Me Now came here, so ... uh..." Oh yeah, good advice, "Right, right, word straight keeping now." Pause. "Keeping straight words now." .... She raised a hand and promptly slapped herself. "OW." ... that ...may have helped.

[lasergrenades]

The self-slapping is not a technique Pepper would have recommended, but if it worked for Marinette, sure, why not? The action pulled a startled noise from Pepper, though still amused.

"Before You was also still you," she points out slowly, her smile fond. "And I'm at least ninety-five percent sure that he liked you before you came to Keeliai either time, so I don't think you have anything to worry about except maybe hyperventilating."

[de_evilise]

That was a higher percentage than Marinette thought. "He never showed it," she said, a little doubtfully, "And that's still five percent!"

Still Pepper had a point, and Marinette gave a long sigh, ".. okay, Okay. okayokayokayokay." ... "Okay. I'm fine, I'm good. I'm .. I'm calm." This 'calm' is not going to last.

[lasergrenades]

"Well, for reference, I didn't tell my boyfriend I liked him for an entire year," Pepper offers. "And I wouldn't have if something weird hadn't happened. Turns out explaining your feelings for someone isn't all that easy."

She squeezes Marinette's shoulders. "Okay, now say it like you believe it," she jokes. "You know, he probably thinks you're adorable when you're like this."

[de_evilise]

"No kidding..." Marinette sighed, glancing up only when Pepper squeezed her shoulders, smiling a bit weakly.

"I'm calm.. really I am." Now. She gave her friend a skeptical look, "Adorable? When I'm a spaz that can't even speak properly?"

[lasergrenades]

Ah, good, normal breathing was happening. Better.

Pepper nodded. "Yup. It's definitely part of your charm," she said sagely. "The babble-inducing-giddiness will probably wear off a little the more you spend time with each other, and then you'll have normal giddiness. Just have fun, that's totally the most important part."

[de_evilise]

Marinette was going to be her own worst enemy. "Y-yeah, I guess so..." She facepalmed, "I haven't been dancing in forever though -- the last time I went to a dance was when I was like, SIX and I was standing on my dad's feet."

[lasergrenades]

"Well, that one I can help with. Sort of. I know, like, a super basic waltz," Pepper said, laughter still in her tone. "But Valdis knows how to dance pretty well; if she's got time in between organizing, she'd be happy to give you a lesson or two. You don't have to be an expert, though," she added, just in case Marinette took dancing as a new challenge she needed to defeat in the next two weeks.

[de_evilise]

Marinette smiled a little weakly, "I might look her up then." Or she might ask Tikki if she knew anything about dances. Her kwami might not have any suggestions though. "You're right.. I'm being a little silly." Her nerves were going to end up sabotaging her date better than anything else.

[lasergrenades]

"Come by the KPD headquarters or ask for her at the Hotel, if you decide to ask," Pepper advised. "And there is absolutely nothing wrong with being silly. This is definitely the right time to be silly. Oh, hey, you said you were making your dress? What's it gonna look like?"

[de_evilise]

At mention of the dress, she clapped a hand to her forehead, "My dress! Oh gosh I have to hurry up and finish it!" She grinned at Pepper though, "Well, it's going to be kind of Chinese motif, red on top, with roses at the upper left and lower right side, with a black skirt."

[lasergrenades]

"Ooooh, that sounds really pretty! I'll bet you'll look great in those colors, too. I'm not making mine, but I managed to convince my boyfriend to do just a little color coordinating. He's not big on parties, but he likes to people-watch," Pepper replied, grinning back. "This totally makes up for not having prom."

[de_evilise]

"If I had a camera, I'd ask Adrien to take pictures. But you can always come by when it's done, after the dance, and I'll show you what it looked like~!" She laughs a little, "People watching is definitely just as fun - I don't think some people appreciate the benefits of it." She's gotten some of her best ideas just watching people.