[action - tropical island day 2, during the afternoon storm]

[onehotpepper]

[it's a minute or two into the rainstorm, and Pepper is standing in the rain with her face to the clouds. she left her suit jacket somewhere safe, somewhere she can go to if the lightning gets too bad. until it does, though, she's happy here, where the rain cools the air and the wind feels almost cold against her damp skin and clothes. it's a comfort that the water isn't sizzling off her when it touches her skin, like she thinks it might if she were upset or losing control.]

[this is probably the happiest she's felt since Christmas, and definitely the happiest since this mess of waking up in strange places started.]

Comments

[langsyne]

Wow.

[not a bad wow, just a 'wow, the world is kind of small' wow. except that this is tony they're talking about and tony's met nearly every beautiful and competent woman on the planet so....scott's not exactly sure why he's surprised by all this.

mostly he just feels bad, because if pepper's important enough to tony to be living with him, scott should know. and then, because he realizes that 'wow' doesn't actually mean anything to pepper, scott laughs sheepishly and explains.]

Tony used to be my boss, a long time ago. He was kind enough to give me a job when [i'd finally been released from prison] things were looking--not so great for me and my family.

[onehotpepper]

[what a relief! too many times lately, people who remember Tony tend to have bad enough memories of him that they try to kill him.] that was very good of him to do. I hope things are better for you now. Not the immediate now. [gesturing generally to the island] Just, you know, in more normal terms.

[langsyne]

[He's smiling at that, but it's something of a pained smile, one that doesn't quite reach his eyes.]

Not really, but thanks for the sentiment.

[Scott doesn't look at her as he says it, choosing instead to focus his gaze back out at the ocean, currently being pelted by raindrops. For moment, there's silence, and then he decides to change the subject.]

So if you guys are living together, does that make you his [insert some vague hand gesturing] girlfriend?

[onehotpepper]

[offers him a sympathetic smile. if they were more than recent acquaintances, she'd set a hand on his arm, something like that.]

[correcting gently, brushing her bangs out of her eyes] Fiancée.

[langsyne]

[he appreciates the sentiment either way, though he doesn't really have time to dwell on that because he's too busy being surprised at 'fiancee'.]

Wow.

[again. (sometimes Scott is not the most eloquent of men.) Tony's love life had never really been something Scott had felt comfortable poking his nose into and he'd kind of drifted away from Tony after all of the craziness but...to not know about this at all?

honestly, Scott feels really bad. still, he manages to shake it off and give Pepper a genuine smile.]

Congratulations. You guys picked out a wedding date yet?

[onehotpepper]

Thank you. [she can sort of see it there, just a little bit, but she knows nothing of the situation and can offer no comfort]

We were working on that, but... well, right now all we know is it's been indefinitely post-poned.

[langsyne]

Oh, I don't know, a tropical island sounds like a pretty nice place to get married. Or maybe have an early honeymoon.

[he was smiling, but now he frowns.]

Although I probably just jinxed it and now we're gonna have some sort of volcano explosion or something.

[onehotpepper]

[wrinkling her nose] That wouldn't really bode well. [not that fire hasn't been a theme in their lives lately, but still] Besides, I'm not sure there's anyone here who can officiate.

[langsyne]

[Surprisingly, he smiles at that.]

You never know. Maybe if you ask around enough, you'll find someone with a bunch of crazy life experiences. Though, before you ask, no, I'm not volunteering.

[onehotpepper]

[chuckling]That's a shame. Now I have to go around and interview everyone.