A Proper Family Reunion

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Team Spicy Iron Dragon and their fourth wall guests
Date: April 15-30
Location: Keeliai, and House Spicy Iron Dragon
Situation: Dads. Dads everywhere. Also shitty stepdads. Gene losing his goddamned mind.
Warnings/Rating: "Father-in-law" tension, mentions of child abuse, very likely violence, complete and utter mental breakdowns, potential self-injurious behavior, gaslighting, and Actual Well-Adjusted Families. Gross.

The booms of the college's salt explosion echo through Keeliai, and with each boom more and more people appear.

The first is benevolent, and he's been here before.

The second is benevolent, and he has no clue where he is.

The third is malevolent...and he will take this city by storm, one way or another.

Comments

[virgilant]

Virgil tenses when he sees the armor fly over in his peripheral vision - he's still not used to it - and he has very little time to react when it lands in front of him and his daughter bursts out, and even if he's worried as hell about her, honestly, it's just good to see a familiar face.

"Hey, kiddo," he says, giving her a hug once he's steadied himself on his feet. "You got any idea where we are? At least you have your armor with you."

[lasergrenades]

This doesn't seem real, and Pepper hugs him more tightly just to make sure he won't disappear. She's missed him so much it hurts and all she can do is laugh, a mix of joy and relief.

"Keeliai. The city's called Keeliai," she tells him. "We're a really long way from home. What's the last thing you remember?"

If he recognizes the armor, he must have come from a similar time to her.

[virgilant]

"Oof...Pepper...not so tight," he says, sounding a little strained.

"It's the day after the Makluan invasion. How did I get here?"

[lasergrenades]

"Oh. Right. Sorry, I just really, really missed you," she replies, finally, and reluctantly, letting go of him. The day after the invasion - he's ahead of her then. "Um. Well, it's kind of crazy, but long story short there used to be an emperor here that recruited people from... all over the place to fight an evil being called Malicant. They're both dead now, but we keep showing up. The natives call us Foreigners."

Pepper isn't sure how to explain magic to him right now, but she'll have to eventually.

"Dad... I've been here for almost a year."

[virgilant]

Virgil looks surprised, and a little concerned. "Almost a year? But I didn't notice you were gone. You aren't gone. How did this happen? How have you been here so long and I'm only here now?"

And then the rest catches up to him. "None of that makes sense."

[lasergrenades]

"It's..." Beating around the bush is probably not going to help at all here. "It's magic, dad. It's a spell that brings us here - time kind of freezes back home for each of us, so we go back to the exact same time and place, and we don't remember being here at all."

She smiles nervously. Her dad is one of the most grounded people she knows, so magic and monsters doesn't exactly fit into his world view.

"I know it sounds totally impossible, like, mega super weird, but it's also totally true. I promise. I wouldn't make this up," Pepper assures him. She does sometimes wax fantastical but this was way beyond anything she'd have envisioned. "Why don't we go find somewhere to sit - there's a nice cafe around the corner, or we could go back to the house?"

As usual, the plan is to ply him with tea in the hopes of making this discussion easier, just as Gene and Tony had done with her.

[virgilant]

Virgil shakes his head. "Magic...well, a few days ago I'd say you were crazy, but a few days ago I hadn't seen aliens, so I believe you. Even if it's hard to believe."

He blinks. "The house? You have a house?" Pepper's living on her own? The thought makes him shudder. It is a little terrifying. He wonders how many times she's blown up the place.

[lasergrenades]

"You'll probably see magic soon enough." Seeing was really believing, right? "It's super cool, actually. And people have all different kinds of magic, too."

She stops herself before she starts to ramble; being here was overwhelming enough without throwing Skul, the Shadow Realm, artes, and elementals at him. Right now Pepper is just happy that he's here, and not much else matters.

"Not on my own, I live with Tony and Gene. They built it about a year ago. Well, Gene mostly built it," Pepper explains. "It's nice - they let me decorate a lot of it."