Pepper didn't understand how she let herself be talked into these things. He'd dolled her up, whisked her out, and dumped her in a room full of strangers without rhyme or reason. She adjusted her mask, lifting her skirt so it didn't drag and making her way through the crowd, smiling softly, grabbing a drink from the nearest waiter and downing a good two-thirds of it to steel her nerves. This was far from the oddest thing Tony had thrust her into, she could handle this.