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She was ordered out of the office. Actually ORDERED OUT! That Tony wouldn't let her work any more. And Pepper was going crazy in the hotel room, while she waited for her apartment to finish being renovated from the fire. So, while she told herself she didn't feel like going out, she's out. In a newish green dress (half her wardrobe was destroyed) and a black winter coat. She looks half sleepless and a little pale under this morning's long faded make up job, but she's trying. She creeps almost too quietly into the club, looking around with tired eyes, trying to decide if she's actually staying or not. But, she got out. Finally.
*
Beni is holding court in the Black Cat on a Tuesday night — it's nearly literal. She's ensconced in her purple velvet booth on the slightly raised level that runs along the far wall of the bar, laughing and chatting with several very well-dressed young men. Her usual pair of enormous bouncers — part-troll, if you must know — stand like pillars on either side of the booth and her tiny gargoyle chauffeur is up at the bar, flirting shamelessly with the bartender. It takes all kinds.
"Right on the dance floor," Beni says to one of her young men. "I couldn't believe it. Scandalous!"
"What did you do, Beni?" They all lean in, breathless.
"I couldn't be rude, darlings. Of course, I joined him!" The laughter at the notion rises to the ceiling. "I still don't know what happened to that dress. I never found it again," Beni adds, gesturing with her cigarette.
When she spots Pepper, she takes in the entire pitiful story at a glance. "Out!" she orders, and the young men scatter. Beni rises and sweepts down toward the door like a coming storm. "There you are," she purrs, as though she's been waiting all this time.
*
In a board room? Pepper is a tidal wave of confidence, a true force to be reckoned with? At a club or on a dance floor? The redhead looks like she is a tiny little mouse ready to scurry back in her hole and hide. This is not her place. She doesn't even have her muscly, quiet man with her right now. She looks rather more fragile that her usual self, but seeing Beni puts a bit of an earnest smile on her mostly plain lips. She didn't even think to reapply lipstick. The horror.
"…Beni, I…I didn't mean to interrupt. You… you looked like you were having fun. I'm sorry. I…I should go. But… Mr. Stark told me to go home and I can't… really go home. It's still a mess. Just… just didn't feel like sitting in the hotel tonight, you know? Still, you were having fun. C-call them back. I… I can go." Part of her knows that's never going to be allowed, but it's polite, and she does look wary and guilty for having interrupted.
*
"You are never interrupting." Beni takes Pepper gently by the shoulders and kisses each of Pepper's cheeks lightly in greeting. Beni smells wonderful, like spice and sunlight. "Come. I would love to have you join me." She offers Pepper her arm. "I'm so sorry about your apartment, dear one. You look worn. I can help with that. You need cheering up and you need to tell Beni all your troubles. It will help. And so will the champagne we're going to drink tonight."
*
The kisses are returned as naturally and warm as any socialite knows. Pepper isn't *exactly* a socialite, but she's learned over her time in big business and she does learn quickly. Pepper smells like, well… She put on perfume when she started her day. But there's been a lot of coffee, cigarettes, some interviewee's cigar and ink between then and now. She smells like a woman who has been working all day. She gives a little laugh at the comment about the champange, shaking her head, "Oh…goodness, I…I shouldn't drink that much, I do have to go back to work tomorrow. And no…you need to tell me about all your fun in life… I don't want to bring the mood down." She takes the woman's arm, allowing herself to be escorted back to the table, at least.
*
"You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to talk to me, you know how I am. I love a good story — and who's to say it won't have a happy ending, Pepper. The fairy godmother doesn't show up until the middle of things, at the earliest." Beni settles Pepper in the warm embrace of the velvet booth, then slides in to sit close to her. There's gilt cigarette boxes on the low table before them, crystal ashtrays, a decanter of shimmering amber whiskey…staff quickly whisk away old glasses, wipe up any ash, set a champagne bucket with a bottle in ice before the women, and then set down two crystal champagne flutes before retreating.
"Now." Beni opens the champagne with a practiced twist. The pop is loud but she doesn't lose the cork; white fizz trickles down over her fingers as she fills their glasses. "It's not just the apartment, is it, or you'd be staying with your young man." She hands the glass to Pepper, looking sympathetically into Pepper's eyes.
"You want to tell Beni everything," Beni says, and there's something about her tone that makes it ring true. Like magic.
*
While Pepper initially protested, there is always something about Beni which both relaxes her and just makes her tongue flow. Be it business, friendship, girl talk… That's how the pair got to be friends in the first place, after all. She gives a half tired laugh at the comment about the fairy god mother, shaking her head slowly, "My parents didn't believe in fairies. We were proper business people. Only luck in the world is the luck you make yourself." She states in a half gruff voice, probably quoting her father.
But then the champange is twisted and Pepper actually winces like a scared cat at the sound. That pop. It echoes other sounds, gunshots, that damn night playing over and over in her head. SHe suddenly is reaching for the glass a bit too quickly and she knocks back a heavy gulp of the stuff. She needs a drink. Once Beni refills her glass, Pepper just starts talking. It's like she can't help herself.
"…J-jack…he… He's some sort of… psycho killer, or something. I think he's sick. It…it didn't seem like him. But one minute we were talking, and the next he tossed me across the lobby like… like I was nothing, and he pulled a gun and tried to shoot down some old lady who was coming to visit Tony. He… He managed to *PULL* down an elevator. Maybe he's a mutant or something. He escaped up the shaft, somehow, went to my apartment. I guess he had weapons stashed there. Threw some sort of bomb in there to put people off his tracks… disappeared. But the whole floor caught fire, and all the elevators are ruined… god… It's such a mess, Beni. I… I don't know how he could do that…"
*
"Oh, sugar." Beni holds out a hand and someone puts a handkerchief in it, which she passes to Pepper — just in case. "Some folks have strange things hidden in them. Maybe it wasn't all him. He threw you, but did he hurt you?" She doesn't seem bored or upset. She's rapt, listening to Pepper's adventure, as tragic as it was. "Did he kill the woman he was after?"
*
The kerchief is taken, but Pepper doesn't quite need to use it yet. Either she's all cried out, or she's still in such shock she hasn't found the heart to cry. It all seems entirely too surreal. But she clutches the cloth like some sort of life line, shaking her head slowly, "N-no…he…He missed, somehow. It was so weird. And she had a lot of dangerous people with her… there was so much gun fire… bullets everywhere." Pepper shivers at the thought. She's not a combat kind of person, this really has shaken her to the bone. "…I…I was a bit bruised, but… not hurt. I think he wanted me out of the way, so if they shot back…"
*
"I've known — and hung — some mad types in my day but you'd think a man with that much skill and preparation wouldn't miss." Beni's not saying, you know. But she's saying. She tops off their glasses with champagne and gestures for some food to be brought to the table. Strawberries — hard to find this late in the year in New York City. "How long have you known this Jack? He seemed smitten with you. It's been ages since I wanted a man to look at me like that."
*
"…Six months? Maybe a little less? He… we met… well, he saved me from some muggers, over the summer. I knew he could fight… Really, really well, but he said he was in the war. That's where he lost his arm. He… he had a metal one. The government gave him a prototype, for his service, you see… So maybe he's just…just sick in the head? Maybe he didn't want to do it. I don't know… It… it didn't seem like him." Oh, here threaten the tears. Pepper's been trying not to do it but it's just so easy with Beni at her side, and the delicious drinks in front of her. The strawberries. She actually feels like she can relax here. "…he…he was staying at the VA… I got him a job with Stark so… so he could get his own place. Get back on his feet, you know?"
*
Beni is no fool. She knows a potential setup when she sees one — but she's not about to blame the poor guy with a magical — okay, it's technology but it might as well be magic — arm given to him by nameless forces. There's myths about this kind of thing.
"I know a little about tricks that twist the mind," she says soothingly, reaching over to pat Pepper's shoulder comfortingly. "There's something to be said for the fact that he missed. Did you know he could this kind of thing before? I mean, the fighting and such?"
*
The redhead's eyes slightly drop, a brush of shame across her pale face, "…Yeah…I guess. Yeah. I mean, I knew he had some…special guns. When… when that vampire took me, he came to get me with… with more weapons than I'd ever seen before. I figured he just had lots of special training, from Korea or something…" It's so hard to lie to Beni. Beni was her friend and, in truth, Beni just seemed to understand when so few others did. "…I should have thought it was weird but… didn't want to push him too much. He had such bad dreams sometimes… And he'd come home… all bloody. Really hurt sometimes. I had to pull a bullet out of him once…"
*
"Everyone loves a bad man with a good heart, Pepper," Beni says gently. She's loved her share of outlaws and pirates and killers. "Whatever he gave you, it was worth overlooking the rest to be with him. You're not the first to make that choice, to be blind to your lover's true story."
"The dreams…our truth comes out in our dreams. We walk other worlds where we can't hide from ourselves or our pasts." Beni's speech takes on that strange quality again, as though there's a bell rung with each word she speaks. "If he had nightmares, maybe there was something important in them. Did he ever say anything?"
*
A slow shake of her head. "…No. Nothing. Just… panic. Fear. God… I miss him. He's a psycho killer who burned down my apartment and I MISS him? I must be nuts, Beni…really, truly nuts." Pepper admits with a hiccuping little laugh as she knocks back another deep slug of her champange. She's trying so hard to keep up appearances, but it's hard. SHe's not quite succeeding. A touch more dampness crosses her lash lines and she finally does use that kerchief to dab at her eyes gently.
*
"Psycho killers are far less discreet," Beni says briskly. "What you have your hands on there, sugar, sounds a bit more like an assassin. If he was just a murderer, he'd have been out doing it for fun. But instead he was working as a janitor." She exhales sharply and tosses her golden curls. "He might have gone mad from boredom but I don't think he's completely insane." Who amongst us has not gone on a killing spree? It happens.
*
Another slightly strained laugh comes, and Pepper finishes off her second glass of champange. She probably did need a night to drink herself silly, which was going to happen very quickly on a mostly empty stomach. She reaches one hand over to wrap across Beni's and give the smallest of squeezes, thankful and taking reassurance at the same moment. "…I… I guess. Yeah. He seemed to have a target, that woman… 'Aunt Peggy', Tony called her… some government lady. So… assassin. I don't know if that's any better. Means he lied to me. A lot."
*
Beni can make a man take a long walk off a short pier if she tries hard enough, so she's not sure about that lying business.
"There are as many ways to lie as there are people, Pepper," she says gently. "Maybe what he had with you was the truth. I lived a life with a man once that was…none of it was true in the end but it was true when it was happening. We lived on a green isle and it was perfect every day and I wore violets in my hair. When we were living it, it was true. My heart was true, and his heart was true, and we wanted it all to be true so much — who can say it wasn't?"
Beni shakes off her memories to give Pepper a smile. "Do you want to find him? At least to have some satisfaction? Answers?"
*
The tale is beautiful. Whether it's 'true' or not… It's beautiful. Pepper didn't expect that sort of confirmation from the beautiful, strange, almost too perfect woman at her side. Pepper blinks, a few other tears cutting down her cheeks, taking what little of her mascara is left with them. She tries to brush them away without smearing too much, but she's a hopeless wreck of make up by now. She breathes in raggedly, "…Oh…Beni, I…I'm sorry… that sounds beautiful. Why did you…why did it end? I'm so sorry…" Then the question comes about finding him and Pepper blinks. She gives a tired, eager nod, "…Y-yes…just to… talk. I wouldn't turn him over. They could arrest me for it. I…I don't care."
*
"It ended because we went our separate ways." Beni takes a napkin to wipe away a sooty tear that Pepper missed. "I kept living and he…went on. As mortals do. Sometimes you can pack a lifetime into a dream. And sometimes you get to actually live it. I have people on the street, in the gutters, in the places no one wants to go. I'll get them to look out for Jack, try to find him for you. You deserve to know if you were the only one dreaming or if it was both of you. And, if it was both, perhaps it might come true, your dream. That's what fairy godmothers do, after all."
*
"…Mortals… do…" Pepper blinks a bit, looking back to a few of the other guards. While Pepper had never straight out ASKED Beni what she was, it seemed rude, Pepper is also not dumb. She's probably one of the smartest women in New York City, at least when it comes to business. She turns teary eyed back to Beni, leaning slightly into that touch, so trustingly, as the woman wipes away her last tear. "…Beni… w-what…what are you? If you… aren't mortal? You talk like you…aren't? And your people are… weird. What are you?" Pepper asks softly, not accusing, just curious. Just a bit enamoured with the thought of it all.
*
"I'm your fairy godmother, Pepper." Beni's laughter is like bells. "Whoever told you we weren't real just didn't have their facts straight." She cups her hand and a little white wisp appears there. Nothing more than a soft little ball of light, it circles her palm before bounding off to dance around Pepper's head, giggling and trailing a little white curling tail of magic.
"There are all kinds in the world, Pepper. We try to blend in with yours. Live quietly — or loudly — among you. But don't worry." The wisp bounces back to hide in Beni's hair. "I want to help you. Mostly because it amuses me, and partly because I think it would ruin the plans of people I don't think I'd like very much." She winks conspiratorially at Pepper. "I love to be trouble. Especially the right kind."
*
At first, Pepper laughs. The outright, half drunk laugh of someone who thinks she's being teased. She shakes her head to Beni, really about to ask for the truth. Then there is a little ball of white light and the amusement falls away from Pepper's face. She looks quietly shocked, staring up and around her, tracing that light with her fingertips "…What…?" She breathes out, shocked and confsued.
Suddenly, she's thinking Beni might not be joking after all.
She turns pale eyes back up to the beautiful woman across from her, studying a few shocked heartbeats. "…Fairy. You… you really mean that. You're… a fairy. God… Mutants…aliens.. Now…Fairies… what the hell is happening in this world?" Pepper doesn't exactly seem scared, but she definitely is still surprised. A touch wary, perhaps. "…d-don't you have better things to do than…Than help *me*? I'm certainly not Cinderella."
*
"Oh, us." Beni rolls her eyes, then snaps her fingers for more champagne. "We've been around forever. Those stories about us are all based in real things that have happened since…since the beginning. All this new business? Mutants. Aliens." She doesn't really count Asgardians as aliens but that's another story for another time. "We're just as bothered as you are, I promise. I'm also a businesswoman waiting for her nightclub to be renovated."
Beni opens the new champagne that's delivered to her and pours before she goes on. "Why does anyone help anyone else? You'll owe me a little favour, yes, but you'd have done one for me anyway because you're kind and you like to help. I'm not as decent as you," Beni says honestly, giving Pepper a little shrug. "But I like to make a difference. I dislike that someone shot some old woman and then set your apartment on fire. That's horrible, Pepper. But, more than that, I hate that it's made you question yourself. I hate that you were in love and now you don't know if it was ever real. I…it sounds ridiculous but I think love is not to be trifled with. And someone trifled with yours. I'm offended on your behalf and I want to help."
*
More champange? Pepper should be careful or she won't even REMEMBER this in the morning, but she does take her refilled glass. She needs to drink. To relax. To actually let it all out in a place where she feels like she can, and Beni has been entirely the first person she felt comfortable doing that around. As strange as it is. She takes another long sip of the fresh glass and gives a fluttery little strange smile to her friend. Her *fairy god mother*… friend. "…Of…of course I'd help you, Beni. Any time. You know that." She doesn't quite comprehend what making deals with fairies means, but there, she's made it. "…but…if you could find him, yeah… I…I'd like a chance just… to talk. But he might get real scared. He was real paranoid, even before… I thought it was just after effects of the war… Shell shock, yanno?"
*
"I'll do my best. With luck, we can help him not to be too fearful. Better I find him than one of the people he shot at, no?" Beni is looking thoughtful, already making plans for how she's going to make this work. This will keep her busy for days and she might get a good scrap or two out of it along the way. Exciting! The idea of stealing — and, yes, it is stealing — this Jack out from under those who'd use him or interrogate him is a hell of a heist. Not that she hasn't stolen a person before, but not recently, and not in New York.
"And, in the meantime, you just let Beni take care of you." Beni smooths back a straggling strand of Pepper's hair and looks her over. "We'll get you a manicure before the week is out. Maybe we'll go shopping — I'm afraid conjuring dresses wasn't in my education but I can do wonders with a couturier and a stack of cash. Don't you worry. You'll have answers before you know it, Pepper."
*
The comb of the woman's fingertips through Pepper's hair is rather immediately soothing. Maybe it's magic. Maybe it's just that something in Pepper still very desperately need a mom figure, now more than ever. A fairy god mother will just have to do. She lets a faint, earnest smile trickle across her lips and nods with a tight throat, "…Thanks, Beni…you… you really are too good to me. Thank you." And with that, Pepper sinks to the side, leaning a bit closer against the woman and falling quiet to just relax. Champange. Food. Pepper will probably end up half asleep in a cab not too much later, but feeling far better for it and with a plan of action in place. Probably one that involves her retrieving something of Jack's to bring back to Beni, which she willingly agrees to do.
*