Catching Up Partisan Style

Summary:
January 25, 2015: Partisan contacts Pepper seemingly out of the blue, and invites her for dinner and conversation.

New York City


Characters

NPCs

  • None

Mood Music:
[*None]


Well, so what if it's like ten years old it's new to the Partisan right? That white 05' M5 slips up to the curb, before she reaches over to pop the passenger side door open. "Hey Pepper, you ready to go?" And no, no it's not the same woman Pepper saw last time. Tall, blue eyed, blonde haired and decidedly atheletic. No shit if she wasn't dressed in a beat to fuck faded as hell Algerian field coat, and an appropriately ancient "Stark Defense" ballcap she might pass as a model or something. Seriously, where the fuck did she get that hat it's got to be like thirty years old! "Sorry it took so long, You wanted to do dinner first right?"

~

Pepper Potts doesn't bat an eyelash at the 'new' car, and despite the new face, she can tell it's the Partisan by the clothing. She gets in the car, then frowns ever so faintly at the state of the coat that the driver is wearing. "Have you owned that coat since it was first made?" She buckles in promptly.

~

Partisan slips the BMW into first and eases the saloon away, ducking into traffic with practiced ease. "Well yes, infact I have. I scored a M-65 in tiger stripe, but I got into a fight with voodoo vikings and that much blood just doesnt ever wash out of duck canvas. It was a real bummer, you have any idea how rare an M-65 in tiger stripe is in the first place? Had that thing for a -day-, before they cut it to ribbons."Grumbling some as she snags second gear, and hauls the M5 through a gap in traffic and towards the freeway. "I didn't have anything else out with the right pockets, I can't exactly just buy off the rack you know. It's a real pain."

~

Pepper Potts hms faintly, reaching over to touch the fabric of the jacket when Partisan is driving in a straight line. Heavy weight military-grade cotton canvas. That's easy. Custom print work, very doable. Recreating this cut… she'll have to get photos and measurements and won't have JARVIS to help. Still, not impossible. "Do you still have the damaged jacket?"

~

Partisan raises a brow, before thumbing to a duffle bag in the back seat. "Well yeah, I havent had a chance to rip out all my E and E kit from it yet. Need to see if I can save that shoulder flash too, but I expect I'll end up having to just find a guy for that. I hear they have like, printers for making patches now. One of the guys I was training had all these neat like, raised rubber sort've patch things. I meant to ask him where he found them, but I should probably just gargle it."Well this is the Partisan kids, gargle=google obviously.

~

Pepper Potts smiles a bit. "Good. I think I might be able to get you a suitable replacement, if you'll let me take the original." She then looks out at the road and asks a bit idly, "So where are we going?" She seems untoubled, merely curious as to their destination.

~

Partisan blinks quietly for a moment "That, would be very awesome of you pepper. Finding combat gear in a womens sizing is, well not much fun you know, it's seen as something of a man's trade. So yes, absolutely you can have the original."Slipping that BMW through another gap, under an overpass and well where the hell is she going? "I found this awesome little Chinese joint, this Degar guy I knew in 'nam owns the place. His kids are running it these days, but the old man rubbed off on his kids in a good way. You ever met a Degar before, they called them Montagnard over here during the war I think?"

~

Pepper Potts shakes her head no at the completely unfamiliar terms. "One of the good guys, I'm guessing." And no, she doesn't mean good guy as in which army he fought for. "So Vietnamese, then? I love Vietnamese. Especially the really authentic stuff. Though … the snake cooked seven ways was a bit much for me."

~

Partisan nods softly as she sweeps down a backstreet. "Well they were basically an uncontacted tribe until the fourties, and they really never were terribly interested with conforming to the rest of Vietnam. When the french were calling the shots, they sort've let them do their own thing and everyone was pretty happy. When the NVA rolled down though, they'd just massacre entire villages and were pretty set on straight out ethnic clensing. The French called them Montagnard, which means "mountain person". Well when war kicked off, they allied first with the French but the frogs didn't understand how to really make use of them. So when America stepped in, they were attached to special operations. Mostly SOG, but over at the S-A-D we got a bunch of them too. Very noble folks, they're all very honest and very hardy. Unfortunately when the US pulled out, we just abandoned them to the NVA. So a lot of these guys fled to Cambodia, right into the arms of Pol Pot."Part offers a little sigh. "We got the ones we were close to out, most came to America. Some who'd lost everything, just took arms and walked back into Vietnam alone to get some revenge. "

~

Pepper Potts ohs faintly, and perhaps a bit sadly. "I'm glad you and your colleagues were able to get at least some of them out of there, then." She can't help but think stories like that are what motivated Tony to not let Iron Man be a one-time thing. It makes her almost wish for a TARDIS.

~

Partisan shrugs, sweeping that BMW down an alley and swinging it out back of what promises to be some sort've ethnic Vietnamese grocery story. "Oh I wanted to go after the Khmer Rouge in the worst way, we were using Cambodia as a transit deep into North Vietnam on the sly. So we'd stumble across some really evil shit, these guys built walls out of skulls for fuck's sake. They had professional rapists, had torture on a scale nobody else has ever pulled off."Pausing as she slips out've the car, glancing back towards Pepper as she stuffs her hands in her jacket pockets. "CIA wasn't interested though, and well by that point the agency had be blowing so much coke I wasn't really coherent enough to put up as much protest as I should have."

~

Pepper Potts steps out of the car as well, and looks at Partisan over the roof. "Sounds like you did the best you could with what you had. And at least you weren't on the other side of the fence, right?" She shoulders her bag and closes the M5's door with care. "And now we're here. That's some consolation, right?" She turns to look at the building they've parked the car next to.

~

Partisan shrugs, leading in through an unmarked back door. Inside it's dark, unpainted drywall and partially functional overhead lighting. "I don't know how I feel about a lot of what I've done, I fought a lot of good fights but I worry I missed out on the really important ones. Just the messes in Africa whilst I was stuck in a CIA black site, enough to drive me mad if I think about it too much."Through an unmarked door, and suddenly it's like stepping off into another planet.

Theres no shortage of smoke here, and it's not all from tobacco. The place is filled with old Vietnamese guys, a few of which sport vietnam war themed ballcaps. There are old Vietnamese,French and American flags hung on the walls. Ancient yellowed photographs of young men in tiger stripe Uniforms, some well below eighteen years of age. Theres christmas lights, a game of dominos going on and lord only knows what the fuck that shit playing over the speakers is. Partisan and her guest get a wave from behind the bar, as Part slips to an unoccupied table and slips out of her ratty coat. Needless to say, the 1911 holstered at her hip fails to raise any eyebrows down here. "I'll order for you Pepper, you like Pho? Also you don't want a beer and, I presume you're not going to want any pot?"This, would be Partisan's sort of joint clearly.

~

Pepper Potts looks around curiously, though has taken to breathing shallowly due to all the smoke in the room without really realizing she's done so. "I love Pho, especially in the wintertime. And, you're right, I think I'll stick with water." Ohhh, this outfit is going STRAIGHT to the cleaners tomorrow.

~

Partisan leans back in her chair to shout something in presumably Vietnamese to the bartender, who just nods and slips into the back. "So what've you been up to, sorry I've been so scarce lately. I had some business in Russia, and then I went back to see the family and make sure they were situated."Shrugging some as she gets comfortable. "Some fucking scumbag beat the shit out've my great great great great grand niece, so I had to spend a little time cleaning things up for folks. Sort've complicated, when only a few of the family know who and what I really am. Everyone else just thinks I'm some crazy distant relative, but I got to take in christmas over there. Ate alot've food I can't get over here, got to speak my native tongue and so fourth."

~

Pepper Potts nods a bit. "I've had holidays like that before. Your family is doing well now, though, right?" She … worked through Christmas. Even Tony was so engrossed in his workshop that she didn't see him. But, she's used to that by now, and has made her peace with it. "What did you eat over there? I'm always curious about cuisine."

~

Partisan smiles softly and offers a nod. "Oh yeah, the little shit was trying to conditioner her out to be a prostitute. So I pried the teeth out've his head with a screwdriver and made him gelded him like a horse. I let him know in no uncertain terms that I'd murder his entire family if he didn't play nice, Bulgaria hasn't really faired very well since the fall of communism. Police are, really not very trustworthy. Blood debts keep shit in line, not the law over there."Shrugging casually as Pho shows up, and this is serious business Pho no less. It's a bowl big enough to feed two people, and smells ever so delicately of sour and citrus. It's a miracle really, food like this in this of all places?" Bob Chorba, which is sort've the national dish. Widdin style Bob Chorba is a thick soup of Beans, onions, carrots, spearmint, Potatoes and pork. I make a very good Bob Chorba, but the beans we get here aren't nearly as good. Good Bulgarian bean stock is, buttery and savory and good enough that often times people will dry and then steam them and eat them straight like that. Rakia too, which is sort've like a family moonshine. Every family has a different recipe, it's a fruit brandy basically and the Hoxha recipe is pretty amazing. Same barrels as we used since before I was born, I'll have to make you dinner some time to get you familarized with proper Bulgarian cuisine. It's all a little agragrian by American standards, but very flavorful and relies on the quality and freshness of the stock."

~

Pepper Potts smiles. "That sounds amazing. I'd offer to cook something for you in exchange, but… well, let's just say that I did not inherit the cooking genes in my family. I can put simple things together, but it's often a fifty-fifty chance it'll end up edible." At least she knows where all of the best local farmer's markets set up, so getting truly fresh produce would be no hardship. She tastes the Pho, then sighs. "This is really good." And it's a bonus that the other patrons in the shop didn't so much as bat an eyelash in recognition at her. "Do you think they'd deliver if I asked very nicely?"

~

Partisan tucks in amiably for a few quiet moments, before offering a nod. "If you have somone who can speak vietnamese, if they give you anything wierd just tell them your friends with the dog lady."Shrugging some before leaning in to explain. "Theres no Vietnamese word for wolf, so Cho Soi basically just means angry dog. Anyway, well I can teach you how to cook if you want you know. My mother died when I was bored, so I was raised by the village women. They all loved my mother very much, so they did what they could to see that I'd grow up to make a good wife for somone. I'm a pretty awesome cook, if I do say so myself."

~

Pepper Potts chuckles softly. "Ah the differences in the generations. My mother was more concerned with making sure I had a good education in a discipline that I would want to develop into a career than she was in teaching me to be a good wife." She smiles and shrugs slightly. "I don't think I would have made a good wife regardless. I don't take kindly to treated as inferior simply because my reproductive organs are on the inside of my body."

~

Partisan mmms "Well, thats a pretty American thing really. I mean I was betrothed when I was six years old, and that wasnt so bad. In the home, a Wife is the Queen. In Bulgaria it isn't the grandfather who runs the family, it's the grandmother. Whilst the men worked, or went to war or whatever the women of the house hold were expected to protect the home. A bulgarian home is like, a huge sprawling compound with a few families living in it and all the women are sisters but the men are just husbands. If a man raised his hand to a woman, she was well within her rights to kill him right then and there. Men did the business and the war, Women ran literally everything else."Shrugging some as she eyes Pepper for a moment. "You'd have made an excellent wife Pepper, you would have done marvelously as a Noble woman. Noble women attended to domestic affairs, not like cooking and cleaning. Like, law, economics, education and so fourth. Hell when my mother died, my father's refusal to remarry was primarily out of cultural expectation I imagine. It was sort of an odd case with me, as a man really had no clue how to raise a daughter without his sisters or whatever present. It's why Women literacy has always been very high in Bulgaria."

~

Pepper Potts wows faintly. "I'll have to remember that. If my job with Stark Industries ever falls through, maybe I'll move to Bulgaria." She gives it a valiant effort, but the Pho is a MASSIVE bowl, and there's no way she can eat it all. She tries to hide that the sheer amount of smoke in the room is starting to give her a headache behind a sip of water. "So. What are you plans going forward? Things are kind of crazy all down the eastern seaboard lately."

~

Partisan digs around in her jacket as she pushes an emptied bowl away, good lord where does she put it all? Rising to her boots with a streeeetch and a grin, before snagging that poor jacket of hers. "Well, I need to do some creative accounting with my actual legitimate business. Being as I'm the only employee and I've been like doing shit, I need to see about securing a contract or two. I need to square things away so I can purchase a new helicopter, my little BO-105 is pretty tired and honestly it just needs to be retired. Also, I need to find some new tactical kit. Need a machinist, and I doubt Tony is going to be convinced to make me some guns so thats up in the air."Offering Pepper a hand up, if she fancies. "Also, if you're serious let me know when that day comes. I have plenty of real estate I could part with back in Bulgaria."

~

Jericho opens the door and walks in, clearly looking for so- ah there they are. What? He's got access to the city grid. Finding people who aren't totally off it is usually not a problem for him and Pepper is almost never disconnected. "Hey you two." He says as he walks over. "Catching up?"

~

Pepper Potts is amused by Partisan offering her a hand up from her seat at the table, but she accepts it regardless. She's just settling her bag on her shoulder when Jericho enters the place and she looks only mildly surprised by his arrival. "Hello, Jericho. Yes, and discussing cultural differences."

~

Down beneath a Vietnamese grocery store, down darkened hallways in some god forsaken back room filled with old as Vietnamese men, Vietnam war photos and fairly bad Vietnamese pop music? We find Part and Pepper, just finishing their meal by the looks of things. Part's exposed 1911 doesn't even garner a second glance down here apparently, but Jericho sure as hell does. The conversations die as every head in the place turns to reguard him mutely. Part just, blinks and slips her field jacket back on. "Hey Jerry, wasn't expecting you. Maybe we should continue this outside, yeah?"

~

"Told you we'd catch up later." Jericho grins to Partisan. And gives Pepper a polite nod. "Sorry. I've been catching up with a few contacts since that disaster at the Tri. Apparently our best contact in SHIELD just got benched and I can expect one of their contractors to come find me and pry into a lot of things." The hacker shakes his head. "Ah well. Anyway, how have you guys been?"

~

Pepper Potts nods to Jericho. "It's okay." Her eyes flick across the other patrons, and she looks at the hacker again. "I'm thinking Partisan is right, we ought to go." And getting to some fresh air might help too. She's starting to feel … weird from all the smoke in the room, not all of which is tobacco.

~

Partisan slips her hands into her jacket pockets, and meanders right back outside with a roll of the shoulders. "Ok, I guess. Shot a bunch of dudes, got stabbed a bunch of times, typical girl stuff I guess?"Yeah no, she's not being serious obviously. Dipping her head as she pauses to light a cigarette down wind of Pepper. "Nothing ground breaking Jerry, spent a little time in Bulgaria. Did christmas with the family, came back cuz yaknow it's what I do. I see you and your girlfriend are pretty tight these days."

~

"One way of putting it." Jericho nods. His eyes gleam a little in amusement. "Also she lives at my place so if you come over don't worry that she's sneaking in." Which to say when he himself isn't in Limbo for one reason or another. There are a few. "Family all okay? I was a bit worried but I figured I'd have heard something more definitive if soemthing had happened to you." Partisan isn't invinceible but she is after all, the MFP.

The hacker glances over to Pepper. "Heard about the mess with Tony and Howard. My sympathies. Did that shake out okay?"

~

Pepper Potts takes a few deep breaths once they're out of the building, then smiles and nods to Jericho. "Yes, they finally stopped sniping at each other and talked. I don't know what agreement they came to, but at least they're not bickering anymore, and that's enough for me."

~

"She's living with you, not sure how else I should put it."Part retorts flatly. Puffing casually away at her cigarette "There was a problem, now there isn't. So yes everything is fine with the family, thankyou for asking Jerry. Was there something going down you needed me for, or did you just decide to drop in?"

~

Jericho shakes his head. "No I just hadn't seen you in a while and wanted to catch up is all Part. Not everything I call you for is an emergecny." Only most of them. But Jericho really does think of Partisan as a friend and not an asset. Closest friend he has really.

"Glad to hear it's all sorted anyway Part." Pepper's story gets a wince. "Well… alls well that ends in not feuding, I suppose."

~

"Oh yes," Pepper agrees with Jericho. Having the Stark men at each other's throats was NOT pleasant. "THey're both in Metropolis right now, working to get the power plant restored there. The last of the emergency generators are installed, but they're really just a stopgap, they weren't designed to handle the level of use they're seeing for anything more than short term." She shakes her head, inwardly still amazed that the generators are keeping up at all.

~

Theres a slight tense of the shoulders, but well that may or may not count as adequate warning. "See that's the thing, Jerry. You didn't call, or text or in any way get ahold of me did you? No you tracked my phone, or Peppers phone on a whim so you could drop in on us unannounced."There it comes, as if there wasnt sufficient indication of the Partisan's aggrivation. The dreaded knife hand, comes make things crystal clear. "Now I'm not mad, but I am dissapointed. There are expectations of polite conduct you have failed to meet here, and that's not appreciated. You want to hang out thats fine, but you do not show up unannounced when I'm entertaining a friend. Had there been any measure of contact on your part, I'd have told you myself exactly where we were. Just because you can does not mean it is appropriate to use somone's phone like a radio tracking collar, do you understand me young man? Now I think an apology is in order, so we can move on from this unfortunate lapse in etiquette."

~

Jericho sighs. Oy. Yes, now he remembers. Old World manners. Part and parcel, if one will forgive the pun. Part probably wouldn't right now, so he doesn't say it. "I do apologise if I interrupted anything. And I certainly would have called first had you been at, say, your house or Pepper's office. Now that I know you'd like that extended to public spaces, I'll be sure to check before swinging by to see you." The hacker's eyes glint. "Seriously, if you'd like me to step off it's fine. We can chat later, and I'm sure Pepper's seen enough of me for one week." Since he did drag her to a magical conclave with her faerie friend. That was all kinds of fun.

~

Pepper Potts blinks at Partisan in surprise at first when she starts scolding Jericho, but by the time she cracks out the 'do you understand me, young man?' bit, she's fighting to keep a straight face. 'Cause that right there is just this side of hysterical. It takes her a second to compose herself enough to speak without breaking out into giggles, and then she says, "Please don't leave on my account. We were discussing cooking earlier, and Partisan offered to teach me how to cook."

~

Partisan narrows her gaze ever so subtly "An unlisted vietnamese bar, does not constitute public space and don't get smart with me young man. You are to behave like a gentleman if I have to -beat- it into you, and don't think for a moment that I won't because you damn well know better."Is Jericho part's best friend, well no not really it goes a little beyond that. Part's more wolf than woman, so Jerry's relationship as far as she's concerned? Well he's family, to be both corrected and protected with equal gusto. They've shed blood beside one another far too many times for Jerry to count as anything less. Anyway, after a moment or two worth of "the look" she settles back onto her heels with a puff of her cigarette. "Apology accepted, now. As for cooking, yes I'd be happy to do so Pepper. I've subjected Jericho to more than a few mandatory dinners."

~

"And she could open a restaurant with her food." And probably, the hacker muses, do most of the cooking herself. Jericho knows full well Partisan is his better in a physical fight, but he'd never press it that far with her to begin with. He's just also not six hundred years old with manners to match. Which, also incidentally explains the 'young man'. Despite Part looking five or six years Jericho's junior, nothing could be further from the truth.

~

"Well, then maybe we should start planning to meet once a month or so and have dinner parties, with each of us taking turns doing the cooking. I could very likely get another person or two interested in joining us if you want." Pepper then looks from Partisan to Jericho and back, and realizes that appearance-wise at least, she's hands down the oldest of them. Heck, the Partisan's current face looks young enough to be Pepper's daughter. And if that doesnt' make her feel old…
~

Partisan shrugs "Well, I don't mind inviting you to my home Pepper but you'd be the third person on this planet who knows where my home is. Not just my safe house, but my home. Jerry, Nancy and you'd be the third."Moving to her BMW to pop the back door open, and after a bit of digging she scores that coat. "I only have one photograph left of my husband, and other very important momentos of the good things I've done over the years. I'm not in any rush to jeopardize that."That jacket is, well it's a crime really. That distinctive black, green and brown of actual vietnam issue tiger stripe complete with a subdued "Pericoloso'o Fortuna" shoulder flash which bears the wolf's skull. It's stained and stiff and, well cut to ribbons and caked in blood. She sets the garment gently on the trunk of her BMW and unfastens the neat little button in liner, before grasping the jacket's inner lining and casually ripping it from the jacket shell to reveal…oh shit theres POCKETS in there!

~

Jericho cants his head and leans slightly to look. Pocks in the lining he knows is a trick, though he didn't know this jacket had any. He's really quite curious now to know what she's got in there…

~

Pepper Potts watches Partisan take the jacket out and reveal its nifty little party trick. "Handy. Would you want that same storage capacity in a new one?" She pulls her phone from her bag to try and get photos of the garment.

~

"Well, I'm gonna give this to you in a minute here Pepper but yes that'd be lovely."Two passports, one Latvian and the other Russian. A tiny compass about the size of a button, a fabric map of upstate new york, five hundred bucks in twenties sewn into a neat cheesecloth grid, nylon handcuff key, plastic lock picks, international phone numbers on a cloth ribbon, 4 gold kruggerrands, a little plastic baggy filled with holy shit are those diamonds? Theres a length of kevlar string in there, A thumb knife made out of carbon fiber and thats about it…..oh yeah and then the shit she had in her regular pockets. A delta force challenge coin, a cellphone broken in half, a trio of grenade pull rings, swiss army knife, a roll of hundreds and a nasty looking set of knuckles made of carbon fiber. You can be amazed or dissapointed thats all she cared to sneak into SHIELD HQ, your call.

~

Jericho just grins. Partisan is, indeed, never without kit. Though it's probably a good thing they managed to open up a SHIELD armory and get her a proper set of weaponry. It was close enough to having a werewolf loose in the Tri as it was. He hopes the SHIELD agents who are going to come barking up his tree have the sense to leave her alone. In fact, he's really going to suggest that'd be more healthy when Lance comes along.

~

Pepper Potts waits perfectly patiently as Partisan empties the pockets in that jacket of their contents — heaven knows she's carried some widely varied objects in her shoulder bag, not the least of which is a Leatherman-style multitool made for her by Tony out of the same material as his Iron Man armor. So it looks like it's made of gold.


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