[Action]

[ms_potts]

Who: Pepper Potts and YOU
When: Now
Where: Outside the Elevator
Style: Whatever takes your fancy
Status: Open!

Portland's not really that far if you think about it...

[Pepper's voice fades as she steps out of the elevator, realizing something is VERY amiss. This is most certainly NOT the first floor of Stark Tower. It's not even New York. What the hell? She realizes that someone is no longer walking beside her and she frowns, whirling around]

Phil? [she pauses, her voice getting more frantic] Tony?!

[Her luggage forgotten, she spins, searching the area and seeing nothing that strikes her as familiar whatsoever. Okay. Okay. It's just... just... a hallucination? No... maybe someone new out to get Tony? But how... none of this makes any sense whatsoever. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart when her gaze falls on the welcome basket.]

What the heck is going on, here?

[She looks around wide eyed as she tries to make SOME sense out of what she's stepped into]

Comments

[aim_exorable]

[Darkleer had meant to go up to the island just to practice his shooting some more and let Dural stretch her wings a bit. The large pure white bird on his shoulder is always relieved to have the opportunity, he knows, so he tries to put her at ease, especially with all the renovations going on at his hive.]

[However, it appears that such a thing will have to wait when he spots the confused and alarmed woman outside the elevator. Oblivious at the moment to the fact that being seven feet tall and built like a tank with sharp teeth might be a bit frightening, he decides to approach.]

Madam, are you alright?

[ms_potts]

[Seven feet tall... teeth... Her eyes widen further still and she gasps, taking a step backwards]

I... No. No I am not alright. I am remarkably, astoundingly not alright.

[aim_exorable]

[The large bird on his shoulder gives a coo and leans forward, but Darkleer shooshes her so he can give the woman his full attention.]

Do you need to sit down, then? Vatheon tends to have such an effect.

[ms_potts]

Vatheon? [She shakes her head, confused. For the moment the tall man with the bird aren't a priority. More importantly she has to figure out where she is and what's going on.]

Is that what this place is called?

[aim_exorable]

Yes. This will be somewhat difficult to believe, so please be patient, but Vatheon is a city which draws in various individuals from different worlds and different places in the timeline of their lives. It is believed that we are part of some experiment which has to do with the energy that the coral produces, as far as any of us can surmise.

[ms_potts]

We're part of an experiment?! Who's? Who brought us here? And how?

[aim_exorable]

Scientists are to blame, but they have been very careful in not letting themselves be seen or contacted. We have found evidence of their existence through things they have left behind, however. The only one we can contact is one Carol, who seems to be considerably lower on the work spectrum.

As for 'how', well, if we knew that, I doubt many would still be here.

[needsmoregreen]

[As Bianca goes out to find a place to walk her pokemon, she couldn't help but notice a familiar sight. It looks like there was going to be new people coming in. With that, she quickly walks over to Pepper's side.]

Um...do you need some help there?

[ms_potts]

[Not having noticed the girl approach, Pepper jumps at the voice. She takes a breath, closing her eyes for a moment before replying]

Yes. Yes I do, thank you. Could you tell me, please, where I am?

[ms_potts]

[She takes a slow breath, smoothing the hair back from her face as she tries to work through the facts being given to her from the very strange gray man... thing...

The fact that she was even listening to this man was really evidence of how desperate she was to find out where she was and, more importantly, how to get home.]

Okay. Okay so you're telling me that some unknown scientists kidnapped us to use us as their own personal guinea pigs in some experiment? You do realize how completely outlandish that sounds, don't you? And the whole different worlds different timelines... thing... I don't... I can't... [She stops, closing her eyes and trying so very hard to stay calm] That's just not even logical let alone possible. You really expect me to believe that we've all been taken here from, what? Different dimensions?

[aim_exorable]

I hardly expect you to believe it, Madam. I am simply telling you the truth. You'll come to believe it in your own time, hopefully, as the rest of us do.

What other explanation would you offer for your current change of location?

[He's honestly quite curious to hear what she can come up with, waiting patiently while scratching his bird's throat.]

[needsmoregreen]

That's easy, you're in Vatheon!

[And then she plays around with the SFC for a bit. After a couple of minutes, there appears to be a map on the screen]

Ah, there we go! There's a map so if there's anywhere you need to find some more information, you can look at this!

[rockstark]

Pepper?!

[now THERE was a voice he had not expected to hear in this particular context. his communicator is already half-demolished, but Tony looks up from scanning the community feeds for the millionth time and dives across his couch to retrieve it. it's surprise in his voice, not panic. no, really. he's not worried at all. we're all fine here, how are you?]

You're late. Where are you?

[ms_potts]

Tony?!

[Finally a familiar voice! She whirls around again, looking for the familiar face to go along with it. It takes her a minute to realize the voice is coming from the basket at her feet. Crouching, she picks up the only thing that looks like it could be a communications device of some kind. This is just getting weirder...

She frowns at its face.]

Late? To what? I was on my way to the airport. [She stands again, looking around.] it looks like I'm on the edge of some city. By an elevator.

[ms_potts]

What explanation? [She frowns, thinking.]

I... I don't know. Drugs pumped into the elevator, some ill conceived kidnapping attempt, brain tumor.... I don't know... Something other than being taken to a different world. Although given the surroundings something hallicinogenic seems by far the more likely explanation.

[She puts a hand to her head, feeling for a temperature... Not that she would have one if this was some fever dream... Oh shit up she's had a rough day!]

You said "the rest of us." How many of you are there?

[ms_potts]

Vatheon? I've never heard of it. I was just in New York, how did I get here?

[She looks over the strange device. Amazingly it's not the weirdest piece of technology she's come across in her life. She frowns at it, looking over the map.]

What is this?

[aim_exorable]

All adequate explanations, although still not the truth. Touch can be tricked by drugs and illnesses of the brain, after all.

[Pulling his SFC out from one of the pouches on his belt, he begins to flip through it until he arrives at the list of names. He holds it out to her.]

This is the list of all the foreigners who are trapped within the city. We are all given these communication devices upon arrival. If you look through your baggage, you should find one.

[needsmoregreen]

New York? What's that?

[It's just like castelia city, Bianca!]

Oh, it's like a communicator! You can talk to other people through video, voice, or you can even text them! And you can leave them messages too so it's really nice to talk to everyone like that!

[likethetragedy]

[Elektra has a lot of time for walks since her kidnapping. Apparently this is a time she'll find something interesting like a woman wandering around confused.]

... I'm still working on that. [She frowns. Despite what Elektra likes to tell herself she does have a softer side. She may just feel a little sympathy for the other woman.]

Would you like my coat? It's cold out here and I don't really mind it all that much.

[rockstark]

Elevator, yeahuh ... [he swipes up the communicator, even though it's nearly in two pieces at this point, quickly starting to cobble it back together, grabbing a roll of electrical tape on his way out the door. shoes? who needs shoes, he is totally padding out into the street barefoot, in the clothes he wears under the suit.

no, he hasn't changed since he arrived. there was a shower, but other than that, please. science is important.

he might've been doing not much else BUT science.]

Be there in a few. I'm kind of on foot right now.

[ms_potts]

On foot? Tony...

[She sighs, running a hand over her face -carefully so as not to smear her makeup. Please, she may be panicking but that's no reason to look a mess. This is really just bringing up more questions than it's answering. Where and how being top of the list she also can't help but wonder about the who and why as well. She feels very exposed as she stands in this unfamiliar place waiting for Tony to find her...

Overall the fact that she feels so lost is an altogether disquieting one.]

[ms_potts]

[Pepper turns to look at the woman speaking at her. She looks normal enough. Maybe she'll be able to help. She smiles.]

No, I couldn't impose. Thank you. Right now I'm mostly trying to figure out where I am and how I got here.

[ms_potts]

We all get one of these? That's... Useful, I suppose.

[She hesitates for a moment before taking the device to take a look through that list. She scrolls down, eyes widening at the multitude of names.]

How often is this updated?

[ms_potts]

It's one of the largest cities in the country. [Silly, Pepper, you're not in the US anymore.

She raises her eyes to look at the girl. Really. Someone her age should know about New York.]

So it's like a cell phone.

[aim_exorable]

The very second a new arrival is brought into the city. Our captors are nothing if not... efficient, I suppose. Generally, new arrivals come during the end of a month, and in the very beginning of the next. It can deviate from the pattern, but that is rather uncommon.

...Are you sure you do not need to sit down? We are not far from the plaza.