Resilient

do you remember what i told you last time?

have you been doing well since i saw you?

that's not what you told me back then.

when was the last time i saw you?

you were shorter then.

i'm picking the restaurant this time.

we've known each other since we were children.

always knew i could count on you.

that time was different. this is worse.

you're not going to let me live that down, are you?

i seem to remember a conversation we had back then.

so you changed your mind about it?

do you remember our encounter in paris?

you should know me by now.

am i the only one that knows the truth?

we had a lot of help back then.

your mom told me to look out for you.

you just love bringing that back up to annoy me.

maybe don't mention my past indescretions?

this was never going to work out between us.

i told you not to get attached.

i know more about you than you think.

i was there, remember?

i'm not about to forget all the shit you put me through.

you told me you were going to try and make this work.

remember what i said to you?

the last time i saw you, things were good between us.

you never mentioned this before.

that was the longest flight of my life, and you made it worse.

can i still trust you after all that?

at least we tried to make something work.

we never discussed what happened between us.

okay, but i'm driving the car this time.

i haven't forgotten what you said last week.

i'm still thinking about your comment.

i didn't realize it was you when i first saw you.

you seem to make a lot of enemies around here.

there's not much for us to talk about.

we worked it out last time.

i know you far better than you know yourself.

we have a long history.

is that the shirt you were wearing last time?

what don't i know about you?

i haven't told them about us.

you were the only person i could go to.

you know me.

this is bigger than both of us.

i can't stand your driving.

are you taking me to the place we had dinner last time?

that's not at all what you said.

didn't we agree on that?

i thought i made it very clear where i stand.

are these the same people that came after you last time?

are you still going on about it?

can we talk about it?

staying silent about it won't help.

you're the only person who knows the real me.

"Oh, I believe he's positively alarmed, to be honest." Though he's been kind enough to Manfred, despite the fact that he's been obviously discomforted by the entire situation. Emmrich will at least give him tat much credit, and in truth, he supposes he cann't entirely blame him for being unnerved. He's sure their lot sees plenty of fantastical things in their line of work, but as he understands it, the things that go bump in the night, as her dear Mr. Stark has put it, aren't on that list often enough to desensitize. "Though I won't hold it against him, I imagine this is as unwanted a situation for him as it is for me."

He is not, after all, a superhero. Nor has he ever considered himself the type to contemplate such a drastic career change. It's as she's said: Captain Rogers simply has a way with words that leave one unable to say no.

"Tell me, Ms. Potts, if you would...Do these sorts of gatherings happen often?" After all, a quick glance around the room is a veritable who's who of the superhero world; one would have to willfully avoid all news media outlets entirely - and he nearly does for the most part, being more concerned with both forms of work - to not be able to put names to at least some of the faces and costumes filling to the corners of the large room. There, for one, is the scurrilous Hawkeye, a man seemingly determined to start off every interaction he has with another living (or unliving, as the case may be) being on the back foot. There, Captain Marvel, in deep conversation with a woman in red and yellow he fails to recognize. A man with the most intriguing metal arm whose name rests on the tip of his tongue, refusing to form completely. Spider-Man, a familiar figure whether one wishes him to be or not. Stephen Strange and Clea, both of whom he knows personally, as well as Wanda Maximoff.

It's a truly colorful cacophony of costumes and noise, each one like the plumage of a fantastical bird, but the mood teeters on the edge of grim with nerves. That is what's made him ask what's probably such a silly question.

It doesn't exactly leave him feeling confident this is simply an informational visit, and that his role in this is destined to be...More involved than he's initially hoped.

❝ So will you. ❞ Emmrich may not want to be here, Pepper didn't do things anymore either, yet she knew the Avengers would take care of them. Since from what she's gathering, Emmrich is civilian, and they wouldn't put him any danger they couldn't protect a civilian from.

Pepper follows Emmrich's glance around the room, wondering how many people that he did recognize since they were all public figures. She'll dispel any myths if he asks or share names and things to know if asked. ❝ Gatherings this big? Not often, at least not without specific causes. That would be your world-saving emergency calls or the chairman and founders of the Avengers are making changes that avengers of all status should hear. ❞ As Emmrich and her were not Avengers, she can only assume it was the first. Unless this was their indoctrination to the Avengers, as decided by chair or found, and she will ring Tony's neck out if that is the case.

She would say that the Avengers use to have parties, and some still happened but she knows that with this size and certain events of Avengers history has ended the holiday parties. ❝ I use to assist Janet Van Dyne and the lovely Mr. Edwin Jarvis, if you'd had been graced to meet either, with holiday cards when the Avengers were much smaller in number and festive gathering was common. ❞ That thought took her back years when the gentleman had called the Stark offices asking if he could bother Pepper that he was under the weather one winter and if she could assist him with holiday cards since he knew she already did that as her secretary duties for Stark.

❝ Only active members are required to attend the regular business meetings, once a week, and reserves are only required to attend at least once per year though may at their discretion attend any meeting. ❞ Pepper does not know what it says about her that she does know the Avenger by-laws by memory quite well given her lack of being one.

random things / always accepting

Truth be told, he's not much of a coffee drinker; he prefers a nice strong cup of tea, which is apparently an idea anathema to the Avengers ethos in such a way as to be nearly taboo. His somewhat low estimations have drifted ever lower through the depths of dwindling expectation, seeking a bottom he's not entirely sure they'll find. But it's nice to have something to do with his hands, feeling entirely out of sorts among the brightly costumed inhabitants of the space; he is, after all, hardly a superhero, only a man (un)lucky enough to have been born with a unique gift that has, (un)fortunately, attracted what he will certainly call the wrong sort of attention to what has otherwise been a fairly orderly existence.

His sigh at her query is near imperceptible: Who, indeed. "That would be Captain Rogers, I'm afraid." And his looming robotic shadow in Iron Man, though the latter has been far less eager to drag him along - for less than philanthopic reasons - into the fray. He's not known either of them very long, but he has come under the understanding that Steve Rogers is a man who often gets his way, undoubtedly through a combination of set-jawed stubbornness and sheer force of personality. After all, Emmrich himself is standing here, isn't he?

The gentleman she's picked for conservation was particularly green in this company. Others had more lost looks in there eyes, mixed with wonder, and he looked... like he knew exactly why he was here and exasperated by the fact. ❝ Steve is known to have a way with words. Leaves a tingle in your chest some do say. ❞ That would explain everything. Many were known to fall victim to Captain America and his awe-inspiring conscience.

Pepper indicates with her hands towards Iron Man however, ❝ Tony's why I'm here. ❞ His way with words were not awe-inspiring, but still effective since she is here.

A smile graces her lips as he finds the need to make up for a lack of formal introduction first. The Avengers could afford to learn some manners. ❝ Virginia Potts, though Pepper is more familiar name of mine this point in my life. ❞ Pepper can't actually remember the last time she's used her first name versus the nickname that's been stuck to her curtesey of Tony Stark, twenty odd years later. She doesn't feel particularly in need of introducing what she does. It's a little big of everything at this point in her life.

❝ I see, leave it to Steve. ❞ to find an idea that Tony hates. She muses to herself, ❝ Iron Man, Tony, is why I am here today and I can't imagine he's enthaustiac enough about your work. I apologize for him, now and in advance. ❞ Pepper's not alarmed by the necromancer part, she's figured out long ago that the less she is bothered by when it comes to all this, the smoother this will go.