ArchivedLogs:Ten Minutes
| Ten Minutes | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia
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2015-03-13 A chance encounter and a bit of luck brings Domino one step closer to her goal of finding Tony Stark. |
| Location
<NYC> Midtown East | |
Midtown Manhattan after a spate of actually warm, sunny weather. The snows of last weekend are gone, with it the memory of a grey winter. Gardeners of private companies dot their bits of dirt with spring flowers of greenhouse grown pansies, tulips and daffodils, adding color to the burgeoning life as NY natives begin their rumble from hibernation. Now the crowds are beginning to come out in force to shop, to socialize, and otherwise live a much happier life under the rays. This means an uptick of traffic as well as people begin to come into the city for the weekend's festivities a day early. It's in all the papers; Friday to Tuesday, the City is under the mantle of GREEN. Not yet willing to lose her winter's coat in the chill of the morning, Pepper Potts *click*click*clicks* down the busy thoroughfare's sidewalk within the heart of NYC itself. She sports a green scarf at the very least so she won't be targeted by the always-present 'Irish for a day' hecklers. With sunglasses upon her face to darken the delightful rays of Spring, the Personal Assistant to Mr. Tony Stark has only recently departed a small 501(c)3 business whose business it seems to be Ecological in nature. Green Energy. Green environment. Now, the always busy Pepper is on her way to yet another appointment, eschewing a limo (for appearances' sake. Prada doesn't do well across several blocks!) and instead taking the walk. Avoiding puddles on the way, the crosswalk across the streets have fewer than 'normal' pedestrians, and like every New Yorker, Pepper is taking the corner at the red, walking a little quicker across, just in case. Some people just seem to have an aura about them which cannot be fully ignored. Even in an ever-shifting crowd of pedestrians there are some souls who are their own beacon of light. The opposite is also true. There are some who are more chameleon than beacon, drifting beneath the notice of so many other people until they're virtually invisible to the rest of society. Domino fits the latter part, which is a damn good trick given her peculiar appearance. Maybe it's that people simply don't -want- to see her that she can drift along beneath the global radar, a speck of unknown which otherwise taints what the rest of the world wants to see as a pure and whole place. Sometimes this makes it more difficult to be noticed when she wants to be, though making a lot of noise tends to do the trick just fine. Today the stars align in a most peculiar fashion. The albino notices the redhead as she crosses the street, though she also notices the taxi which is about to run the red. (Light, that is.) Maybe he's messing with his radio, or the meter, or the heater, but he's not looking where he's going. Rather, he seems to think that he's still following the rest of traffic. What the lights at the intersection happen to say is an afterthought at best. It's one of those moments where she reacts without thinking about it. In a heartbeat she's springing forward, shoving another guy out of her way so hard that he has to catch himself on a mailbox with a startled "Hey--!" Then she's out in the street, throwing herself right between the taxi and the other woman. Arms are held up and wide as if she's about to catch the taxi rather than just stop it, though where a word of warning should come there's instead nothing but a wide-eyed stare as the yellow car comes barreling right..for..them both... Then there's a screeching of tires, the taxi plunging forward as it comes to a very abrupt halt. The front bumper's less than an inch away from the albino's legs. For a second the driver and the patch-eyed woman remain utterly still, staring at one another. Then the driver opens his door enough to start yelling at her, as if it's all -her- fault that he had to stop. Dom's mouth opens slightly, trying to form some manner of response. Yet..she can't. (What the hell just happened..?) To Pepper's benefit, she's not got her head down and engrossed in a chat conversation on her cellphone. (Nope, she's got an earbud and is talking into it for notes regarding the just-finished meeting regarding California and their distinct //lack// of water. As if Stark Industries can make it rain? Even Tony isn't that good of a dancer.) She'll 'fess up to a little distraction, but not enough to take the full brunt of blame, and yellow taxicab front bumper. The squealing of tire as the driver makes his turn a little sharply and a little quickly (he probably almost missed his turn, too!) gains the glorified secretary's attention, but her positioning in the street doesn't give her a whole lot of options other than to, "Oh dear god, no!" Pepper takes one, two steps to the side, her ability remarkable give the heels, and is more than ready for impact when there's another that comes barreling out and by some quirk of fate, the driver actually mashes down the //correct// pedal on the floor of the taxi. The shouting match that ensues is but a buzz in Pepper's ears for a long breath before she realizes it's the one she's holding, and she lets it go slowly, a hand reaching to the expertly tied scarf knot tucked at her throat. "Oh god.." can perhaps be heard over the tumult of the driver's heavily accented English. A casualty of the City's move away from requiring their taxis to know city streets in favor of GPSs in each cab. (The guy is lucky that he hasn't yet been directed into the East River!) //What the hell just happened?// turns into, "Oh god, thank you." It takes a moment for the words to sink in, both the 'thank you' and the string of curses. Domino blinks twice then lets her hands drop to her sides, the commotion already drawing some attention to the intersection. She's already known about her X-Gene to some extent, but not..quite to this level... This is something altogether new to her. Why the hell did she lunge out into traffic in the first place? A few seconds later she finds enough of herself to respond to the enraged cabbie in the only way that she can think of. She kicks the car's grill with a steel-capped boot. An instant later there's a *Bam!* as the driver's airbag goes off in the guy's face. Argument's over! A couple of bystanders even start to clap. "Yeah..welcome," she stupidly replies while passing a puzzled look back to the redhead. Soon enough this puzzlement gives way to surprise, starting to say "You're--" before she quickly reaches out for Pepper's arm, intent on dragging them both back to the sidewalk before the conversation happens to go any further. "You're Pepper Potts," she finishes the previous thought, this time in a thoughtfully lower tone of voice. If it hadn't been for the recent dream of the future, of Dom working for Tony Stark, she wouldn't have done any research into Stark Industries. She wouldn't know the woman she had just saved. Maybe she wouldn't have even saved Pepper in the first place. This all has to be tied together somehow, but -how-..? Stunned Pepper, unable to parry. The boot to the grill and the subsequent air bag deployment actually gains a smile, reaching those green eyes of hers before she looks back to the one who apparently saved her from a fate of, at best, a hospital stay, and at worst? Unleashing Tony Stark onto the world without someone to mitigate him somewhat. Before she can fully regain her composure, she's being grabbed and dragged, but it's not a bad thing, even if she stumbles briefly with a step into one of those never-disappearing potholes. Once on the curb, and she's nominally released, Pepper gets a good look at the woman who saved her. Albino. Black spot... what? "Okay," comes warily and she exhales in a soft breath as she begins again, "Thank you for that. I'm not sure how you knew, or why you-" This is New York, after all! "I am." Pepper follows it smoothly with, "And you are...?" Another soundless stare follows, icy blue eyes to bright green eyes. Is this even something she should be doing..? Is this a conversation which she wants to be having? Or does she want to throw herself headlong into the matter like she just had with the cab? That seemed to work out alright, anyway... "Domino," comes the level-pitched response, finally releasing the other woman's arm. "As chance would have it I've been needing to catch up with Stark, too. He's expecting me." The latter's not..entirely true, but she's willing to bet that once he sees her he'll want to have a chat with her as much as she does with him. The longer they wait the more questions may arise, like where had Pepper been during this dream of the future? Before anything else is said she notices the earpiece in Pepper's ear, dipping her head once toward the device. These two still have an audience, which doesn't make Dom terribly comfortable. Especially not after she had already given out her name. Maybe she said it in a low enough tone that the mic didn't pick up the word..?
"Pepper? Miss Potts? Are you alright?" "Oh," and it's not to Domino that she speaks as her eyes lift briefly. "I'll call you back when I get to the office. Yes, yes, I'm fine." A hand rises to push a button on the earpiece to close the connection before she turns her full attention onto Domino. "'Catch up'?" Now in Personal Assistant mode, Pepper nods in the direction of the offices, but not before giving the albino a long look, a touch of a wry smile rising now. "Old friend? New friend?" And she's ready to make the walk once again on re-steadied, designer-shoed feet. This time there's barely any perceptable pause as Domino falls back into her own form of 'work mode.' "I've done some work for him." (Will do..whatever.) She could run with this opportunity or she could attempt to explain how in a supposed future scenario she's working for Stark somewhere within five years from now. The latter excuse will probably see her being redirected to the nearest psychologist. She doesn't bother to ask Pepper if she's alright after the near-miss. From what the albino can see and hear she's doing just fine! So, continuing right along both in conversation and in physical motion, she says "Though apparently not well enough to have a quick and easy means of getting hold of the guy in his ivory tower. I'm not used to having to make an appointment." For whatever good it may or may not do. 'I've done some work for him,' earns the woman a sidelong glance from Pepper as they skillfully maneuver through the crowds like, well, natives. Easy peasy. Dropping the 'If you don't mind my asking' part of, "What sort of work do you do?" exits the redhead, now keeping her eyes on the prize, the looming Stark Industries tower in the middle distance. There's a blessed anonymity that comes from NYC streets, where even the rich and famous can walk without fear of fans rushing. As far as Pepper is concerned, the same easily goes with conversations. Snippets born across a hundred, a thousand people as they pass is almost as secure as a 'cone of silence'. Some of that is answered, however, when Domino explains that she doesn't necessarily have access to the upper floors. Pepper would know. She even knows who goes up that back elevator, even if Tony may not think she does! Perfume will tell, and each has an individual owner. There's a bit of tension that escapes the redhead; everyone claims to 'be best buddies' with her employer, and Tony has that distinct ability to make people feel that way, it's true. But the admission goes a long way, and 'truth' is felt. She actually chuckles and inclines her head in a nod. "He's difficult in the best of times, when he's actually //in// the office. It's the lucky few that find him at the right time in the right place." "Private security," Dom once again replies without giving the question much thought. In her mind it's one of the more 'acceptable' labels for what she does. Mercenaries get -such- a bad rep, and hey..! Five years from now she's going to be working as his bodyguard! It all works, in a 'chronologically displaced paradox' sort of way. Not once does it cross her mind that Pepper might be interpreting all of this in a completely different fashion. A quick glance over her shoulder follows, looking back to where the cab had been. Where Pepper had almost contributed a bit more red to the world around her. "I guess everyone's luck runs out eventually," she then deadpans. "I don't even know if he's still in the country these days." And she's tired of waiting, darnit! "If you can help me pin him down for ten minutes, that'd be great." "Yours or his?" comes from the redhead. "We do have an entire department for that, and if you're considering applying, a stop by HR wouldn't go amiss." But isn't Pepper also a walking Human Resources department? And PR. And.. and.. and.. As the pair pass the steel, granite and glass edifaces, Pepper tempers her tones slightly as she admits quietly, "Tony does have special needs at times, and privately hired security isn't always a bad direction to go." Is it Pepper, then, who actually //hired// Domino in the future to help her boss? "It has an added layer of security all its own due to the fact that it's unpredictable. Corporate security has its tells." Not stupid, that secretary. Pepper's own attention is eyes front as her office becomes that much closer. "He is, actually. And if he's not, he can be reached." By a select few. "I may be able to give you at least five, but I'd love to know why I'm doing so." Domino has to stop from rolling her eyes. "I'm not trying to corner him about getting a job here, Potts. I need to ..go over a few details from the last time I had worked for him." (And stop asking so many questions, dammit!) 'Special needs at t--' The albino stops short, turning to -stare- at the other woman. Regardless if Pepper just keeps on walking without her. That's -so- not what... Two options present themselves. Dom could run with Pepper's belief that 'private security' means 'time spent undersheets' and take a hit to her dignity, or she could stick with the -actual- definition of the term. ..Or she could just take Pepper hostage, but that just gets messy. Right back to walking alongside the other woman, she says "I have some critical information regarding the future of Stark Tech. And his collection of Scotch." Because 'business' and 'booze' should be just as important to the man as 'boobs.' It's Pepper's job to ask the questions for her employer. It's how Tony stays in business some days, and in others, it's how he stays out of paternity suits. (Just kidding!) "Last time you worked for him," and she lets her voice trail off as if expecting something to fill in that void. She doesn't give the other woman much time before, "I'm going to assume it's not about a W2, or a question regarding payment or other means would probably be taken. Debriefing and update, perhaps?" Pepper doesn't appear to notice Domino's sudden and immediate halt but rather continues. At least she doesn't appear to. Who knows? It's Pepper's turn, however, to stop in her tracks. If Domino thought she was finding a way to Tony, she's also found a way to Pepper, the pitbull of Stark Industries. "Future of Stark Tech," is repeated. "Booze is a good addition." She's not paused for long before the *click*click* of heels begins once again. "I'll see if I can't get you 10." | |
