InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You can't drink a pint of Bovr"

Pepper Potts has (8011_things) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-08-23 02:17:00

Entry tags:

!dice, lily evans, {pepper potts

Who: Pepper & Lily Evans
What: Pepper organizes the baggage car.
Where: The Baggage Car
When: Morning/Afternoon-ish
Rating/warnings: None
Status: Dice, Closed, Completed.

There wasn't much to do on the train and Pepper hated being idle. Organization was what she did for a living, but it seemed like things were at the stage where she didn't need to do much. Someone had suggested organizing the baggage car and although folding clothes wasn't exactly up her alley, it would be helpful for the occupants of the train. With that, at least, as her motivation, Pepper woke up relatively early and made her way to the front of the train. Her initial opinion was that the room was a bit of a mess. Clothes and a wide assortment of items were all over the place, not to mention the laundry area needed to get straightened out as well. It took the better part of a few hours before she was comfortable enough with taking a break, but already the car looked much neater.

She had all of the clothes sorted and folded along one side, with mens clothes on the right and womens on the left. Everything was in size order, either from the tag or in her best estimation. There were a few items that looked like they needed a good washing, so she ran them through the washer and drier before adding them to the racks of clothing. All of the odds and ends items were on the other side, organized as best she could from tools to accessories to arts and crafts supplies. Anything that was too big to put on the racks, she set up on the floor beneath the lowest rack. All in all, she thought she'd done a pretty good job. She still wanted to sweep the floors and give the laundry area a good wipe down, but that could happen in a few minutes. For now, she just wanted to sit back and enjoy how nice and organized the baggage car looked.

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-23 12:03 pm UTC (link)

Lily wasn't nearly as rattled as she thought she might have been by James' presence. It had been awkward, the first few days, but he seemed content enough to keep to himself, and she was more or less content to do the same. Part of her wanted to poke at it, to at least try to make an effort to be friends, but she guessed if that would come at all, it would come in its own time.

Besides that, he seemed to have no problem at all making friends. He'd be fine. He always was.

While she'd been in the kitchen cleaning up lunch messes (so many people were in the habit of leaving wrappers and dots of condiments out on the counters), she'd been aware of the foot traffic in and out of the area. Most people came to the kitchen, got their food, and retreated to elsewhere on the train. Some people ate in the kitchen, if they were interested in her company -- or were eating quickly and didn't want to bother having a seat.

Some of course ventured into the baggage car to dredge through what supplies were still there. And come to that, Lily thought she'd seen a woman disappear in there a bit ago and not yet come out. Well, perhaps she was doing laundry or had gotten distracted by a book. It was none of her business, and she was content enough to keep up with her self-appointed task of tidying up the kitchen.

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8011_things
2012-08-23 07:23 pm UTC (link)

After taking a few minutes to catch her breath, Pepper decided she'd get something to drink and see if there were any cleaning supplies in the kitchen. She noticed the other woman almost immediately, but Pepper only gave her a smile before going about her own business. A glass was found, and then she let the tap water run until it was fairly cold before filling up the glass. She leaned back against the sink and took a long drink, glad for a bit of refreshment.

It was then that she realized the woman was cleaning and that led her to ask, "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know if we have any cleaning supplies on board? I know there aren't any in the baggage car, but the laundry area needs a good wipe down."

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-24 12:02 am UTC (link)

"The extras should have been in there," Lily reflected. Unless they'd shuffled them to the infirmary. She knew a few things had been moved around after the train's expansion. "If there weren't any left in there, all we've got is what's there," she said with a flick of her fingers toward the under sink cabinets. The doors popped open with a little help from her magic, revealing the hodge-podge of solutions, sponges, and other cleaning miscellany.

Still,she could have sworn someone had said they were putting them above the washers. But that might have been a bit ago; calendars aside, time meant remarkably little on the train. And even if they had, there was nothing to say they hadn't run out of them, or ... relocated them.

She also nearly said Pepper didn't have to do that, but ... well, the place was high traffic and so few people did clean up after themselves, it certainly couldn't hurt of that was her way of keeping busy.

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8011_things
2012-08-24 10:37 pm UTC (link)

Pepper hummed thoughtfully, trying to recall if she'd missed something. She didn't think so, considering she'd checked, but perhaps whatever cleaning supplies there were just weren't labelled with what she was expecting. When the woman gestured to the cabinets under the sink, Pepper turned and then looked back at the red-head when the doors opened seemingly of their own accord. "Nifty. Thanks," she said with a smile, before kneeling down to rifle through the supplies. She took out a sponge and what appeared to be an all-purpose cleaner before shutting the cabinets and getting back to her feet.

Pepper smiled again and shifted the items into one hand so that she could old out the other for the redhead. "I'm Pepper," she introduced warmly.

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-25 04:07 am UTC (link)

"Lily Evans," she replied as she shook the offered hand. Her granddaughter made such a fuss about distinguishing themselves that she was starting to include her last name in her introductions. She, however, felt no compulsion to add any notions of clarifying beyond that.

She was moderately amused that her magic had been referred to as nifty, and she reasoned Pepper must be familiar with magic -- or had been here for a while.

"Have you been here long?" She inquired. Well, it followed her particular train of thought, and it was one of the standard 'I just met you' questions -- what's your name, have you been here long, when are you from, and so on and so forth.

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8011_things
2012-08-25 11:20 pm UTC (link)

"Nice to meet you," she replied, shaking the other redhead's hand. "I think someone on the network mentioned you. Jaime, it was." Her memory was one of her best assets, and it certainly came in handy now. "I hope you don't mind my organizing the baggage car. Jaime mentioned you were the one in charge of keeping things organized." Not that she really believed that the other woman would have a problem with it, but it was always good to not step on toes. Particularly in close quarters like they had.

"Oh, not very long. A week or so? I'm trying to get more familiar with things and keep myself busy. I'm so used to running around and doing fifty million things at once. It's a bit of an adjustment, honestly. More so than the space-time runaway train bit." It was probably an odd thing to hear, but that didn't make it any less true. "Have you been here long?"

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-26 03:02 am UTC (link)

"Ah," Lily replied, but there was no surprise there. "She points people at me, often enough. I don't ... check the network very much. Only if it makes the noise about a private message, or Jaime yells through the wall I should look at something."

Lily shook her head slightly. "Not that sort of organizing. I think I've been meaning to, but ..." She frowned. "Well, the kitchen is more my area. I mostly ... organize supply runs." Though lately she hadn't even been doing much of that. Jaime had been the one making the posts about things. Granted, sometimes it was Lily's idea, but ... Jaime was becoming the more prominent figurehead.

Not that she minded. She'd only stepped up in the first place because ... well, because of what had happened to the other leader sorts.

"Going on nine months," Lily admitted. "I was one of the first people on board." And she knew she was part of an ever-shrinking group who could claim that. What would happen, she wondered, if she was the only one who could say that?

It wasn't anything that bore consideration -- it would mean a lot of people she truly cared for were gone. "What do you think of it so far?" She asked, curious to hear what a newcomer's take was.

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8011_things
2012-08-26 04:49 am UTC (link)

"She mentioned that. I'm a...or I was, I suppose, a personal assistant turned CEO before I found myself here. It's been a bit of a challenge, going from being endlessly busy to just adjusting to my surroundings. There's been a few interesting people and I've got some friends here too." Well, one of them was more than just a friend, but he was also her former boss sort of, so Pepper didn't think she needed to get into that with someone she'd just met.

Nine months was a long time to be on the train and the corners of her lips turned down ever so slightly at the thought of being stuck on the train for that long. "It's not terrible? My roommate, Harry, was filling me in even though he arrived not that much earlier then myself. I'm a bit worried about some of the things that might happen, but I figure I can't do anything about it so it's not worth stressing over just yet."

Pepper offered Lily a friendly smile. "How've you managed it thus far?"

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-26 05:19 am UTC (link)

"You still are," Lily assured her. Tenses, she knew, were tricky on the train. "Somewhere, some version of you is doing just that," she continued with a slight smile. She also had the niggling suspicion she'd met this woman once before -- or at least seen her around -- but with how people came and went, it was hard to say for sure.

"It can be," Lily admitted honestly. "Some days are easier than others, and some days are nightmares." Some days, of course, it was perfectly pleasant if one could disregard the fact they were kidnapped onto a train. Lily did smile slightly at the oh so very familiar name. "Unless there's another Harry on board, I imagine that's my son." Well, wasn't that an ironic little twist? Lily chuckled softly, but she did nod in agreement to Pepper's last statement. It wasn't worth stressing over -- but some people (herself included) did so anyway.

"Support," Lily answered honestly. "There were things I wouldn't have pulled through as well without friends. But ... reminding yourself, over and over, that it's only temporary helps, too, for the more dire things."

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8011_things
2012-08-26 06:07 am UTC (link)

Pepper was glad to know that she was still back home, still taking care of the Tony that was there. "That's good to know. It seems like the train can be a bit of a blank slate then." That was certainly good to know. Maybe she should just treat this as a well deserved vacation and just relax. Pep promised herself she'd give it a try after she finished in the baggage car.

"Oh! Harry's told me quite a bit about you," she said, giving her head a little shake. "I didn't put two and two together, I'm sorry. He's very kind, and he's certainly made the living arrangement less awkward." Harry had explained briefly that his mother had died when he was very young and that now he was much further along in their timeline than she was. "I hope the nightmare days are few and far between."

It was a bit interesting to hear Lily say that the train was only temporary when she'd been a passenger for nine months, but time was relative. "I'm lucky then, that I have some friends that I know I can rely on. It must have been tough when you first arrived. Do you ever really adjust to the train?"

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-26 02:11 pm UTC (link)

Lily couldn't exactly argue with that. Especially now. Not with James here, and her still with Severus. It was a bit like starting a new life, or ... taking a divergent path from her old one.

"You can ... you don't have to stay in the room, if you'd rather. If there's an empty, you're more than welcome to crash in it. There's no promise you won't get a roommate, but ... enough people have done it over the months. Sooner or later, most people find someone to room with, and ... usually, eventually, the train moves your name to your chosen room."

A faint smile crossed her lips. "They usually ... come in groups. There will be something horrific for a week or two, and then something that's merely an annoyance in comparison." The stops though ... the stops were starting to genuinely concern her. If things didn't pick up in that department, Lily was afraid they were going to hit the same situation they had just prior to the resort.

"I suppose that's subjective," Lily murmured. "You ... get to a point where things happen, and you grit your teeth and know the train is up to tricks again. But you know the tricks are fleeting, and they'll pass in a month at most, and usually less than that. So ... perhaps you don't get used to it so much as you learn new ways to cope with it."

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8011_things
2012-08-26 03:10 pm UTC (link)

"It's nice to know that we can actually do that. I wasn't 100% sure, but my...boyfriend?" Pepper made a face at the word. Labels were never really her thing and she doubted that Tony would be interested in being tied down like that. She waved away the awkwardness as best she could and continued on. "We were thinking about getting a room together. At the very least, we're both used to having a larger bed." Pep had to smile at that, but she quickly changed topics so as not to make either one of them uncomfortable.

"Ah, so it's enough to keep everything in perspective then? That's...creative, for a train. If you've managed to survive this long, I imagine it's not impossible. Is there a high turnover?" She supposed she was really asking if there was a high chance that she or Tony might be sent packing and if anyone would have a clue, it would be someone who'd been there long enough.

"That's good, I think, though I can't imagine what you've been through to get to that point." Pepper had a feeling that things would be rough trying to get to the point that Lily was at, but maybe things would work out. "Well, hopefully the tricks continue to be fleeting for you." It wasn't the best sentiment she'd ever given, but it was somewhat appropriate for the train.

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-26 05:03 pm UTC (link)

"Yes," Lily replied. "We've worked out that the names reflect the 'official' assignments as designated by the train, but if you never sleep in your assigned room ... nothing bad happens. Logan tends to spend most of his time in the touring car -- you'll notice, if you've passed through, the embroidery on one of the doors? -- and I don't think he really sleeps often in his assigned room. It's been like that for him since the beginning, so ..." Lily trailed off and shrugged as if to say that was evidence enough for her.

"Relatively," Lily replied. "It's ... difficult to pin down a pattern on it. Some people are here for a week. Others are here for months. Some people have been here a number of times -- my son's been here three times, now -- and some people barely make an impression on the population they're here so briefly. Honestly, it's ... difficult to say. We just ... hope the train doesn't make the mistake of taking the wrong person." And yes, there were 'wrong' people for it to take. Lily dreaded the idea of the train taking Ray, if only because she knew just how badly it would break Jaime -- and just how badly Jaime would break the train. There were others, she was sure, in very similar positions. She knew Logan had destroyed his compartment in the touring car when Maxine had been killed.

It also made her realize just how much of her life was on the train now. The friends not of her world, the responsibilities she'd taken on herself.

Shaking out of those thoughts, she focused again on Pepper. "Some days were rougher than others," she admitted. She could recall a few turning points -- when she'd been depressed in Nebraska so her and Jaime's roles had shifted, and the older witch had started taking on more responsibility. Lily didn't think the roles had ever changed back after that. "I imagine if you're here that long, you'll work out your own way of dealing with everything the train does." Mostly though, Lily hoped that everyone who wanted to go home made it home -- and that those who wanted to stay, did.

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8011_things
2012-08-26 10:14 pm UTC (link)

"I have noticed, yes. There's one on another door as well, with another name. The embroidery is beautiful," Pepper complimented, though she didn't think the redhead had done it. "That's good to know. I'll be sure to pass that along." She paused for a moment and then asked, "Is it difficult? Having to explain everything to the new comers?" Pepper was certain it got monotonous after awhile though it was quite lovely of Lily to continue doing it.

"Three times? That must have been difficult." She wanted to say that she hoped he would stay around, but she didn't think that it was an appropriate sentiment after she'd explained the bad days the train had. "Harry's adjusting...well, for the most part. At least, as far as I can tell. The first night was a bit awkward because we discovered that he talks in his sleep, but it hasn't been a problem." It was kind of cute, actually. "Hopefully you and yours will be safe from the train's whims."

Pepper tucked some hair behind her ear before nodding. "I'm sure I will. Well, in any case, the laundry room wont clean itself," she said with a smile, taking a step toward the baggage car.

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emerald_eyes
2012-08-26 11:37 pm UTC (link)

Lily nodded. "Marian made those," she murmured. It was only fair to give credit where credit was due, even if Pepper never would get a chance to meet Marian. Well, not unless the girl showed up again, which she supposed was possible. "She was sent home a few weeks ago," Lily continued. Or perhaps it was a bit over a month now; time was screwy on the train. "I wouldn't say difficult," she decided. "It does get to a point where you hear the same questions often enough that you sort of start answering them before they're asked. Most people are concerned with getting home or finding a way off. Nearly everyone wants to try their hand at finding a way to break through the one door, or to hack into the intercom, and you can tell them it won't work but ... they have to try, and you just have to let them."

Lily nodded. "It ... wasn't easy. The first two times he was about my age. This time though he's ... well." Lily smiled; Pepper knew perfectly well how old Harry was if she was rooming with him. "Does he?" A slightly amused smile tugged her lips when she heard her son talked in his sleep. She wondered what about, but thought it impolite to ask.

"Well, it might," Lily quipped playfully. It was part of the train, after all, and it would probably clean itself eventually -- like the next time they stopped at a resort, or the train locked them all out -- but she also wasn't going to distract Pepper from her work, either. "If you need anything, just holler. I'll be in here for a bit more."

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8011_things
2012-08-27 07:10 pm UTC (link)

For a nineteen year old, Lily seemed wise beyond her years. Pepper found her company to be refreshing and she knew she'd do her best to be friends with the redhead. "He does. I actually thought he was awake at first," she admitted with a smile. It was harmless though, and she was glad things weren't very complicated.

"Thanks, Lily. I'm sure I'll see you around sometime." With that, Pepper slipped back into the baggage car with the cleaning supplies and got back to work.

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