Fandom Island and Town

It was extraordinarily rare for Pepper to be late under any circumstances, but today, everything had seemed to conspire to make that happen. Her hairdryer had died halfway through, so she was letting it air-dry as she ran in. She'd broken a heel on her way out the door, which had put her in a semi-crappy mood. And she'd forgotten her laptop, so halfway to work, she'd had to run back and grab it.

So. It was a little bit of a hectic day when she arrived at work on a sigh and took her spot with her laptop.

[I'm writing a paper today, sigh, so I'll be slowish!]

It was because of Facebook. Stupid, stupid Facebook.

Pepper had set up the account ages and ages ago, mostly as a networking resource, but she hadn't anticipated that every person she'd ever gone to school with would have contacted her. She'd gotten messages from people she hadn't spoken to since elementary school, people she'd worked with in the secretarial pool, even her next-door neighbor from fourteen years ago.

The highlight of the weird ones, though, was her friend request from the guy she'd lost her virginity to. She had refrained from any contact with him since they'd broken up when she was nineteen (all of a month after she'd given it up, too. Sigh.) It'd been extra-awkward, since he was in her accounting class, too. Good times.

She'd denied that request, deciding her social network was wide enough, and had set forth installing a few game applications instead. She'd just discovered the Oregon Trail one.

[I'm aroundish but slow. And #27 was too hilarious to not use.]

Pepper honestly didn't think that much of anyone would need the services of the shop, what with most of the island out of town, including both Tony and Lindsay.

That, however, was ideal for her. And that was why she spent the morning painstakingly rearranging the front and alphabetizing it all, before anyone (like the girl with the poor grammar who worked Fridays) could mess it all up again.

Today was not Pepper's best day, really, all things considered. The weekend had been...not great, and she'd spent most of yesterday trying to pretend that it hadn't happened.

She saw no reason to really change things today, really. So she was keeping busy with whatever she could.

Pepper, honestly, was kind of still waiting for the fallout from those flowers she'd sent. She hadn't exactly approved of it, and the last thing she needed was Tony getting in romantic trouble with someone who could do more than babble to the tabloids or throw the flowers at his head or something.

So, she was just a little anxious as she worked today, though she was keeping her mind off of it. It wasn't really her problem, anyway.

Between the phone calls this weekend, which Pepper had finally figured out were misdirected calls (and was now wondering who had gotten hers), and the snow, which prevented her initial choice of outfit, Pepper was not having the very best day.

She was still wearing her coat inside at her desk, too. Malibu girl and all.

Pepper was doing some very, very important work on her computer today.

Okay, Pepper was shoe-shopping.

Either way.

[I have a small hangover, ish, so I'm going to be slow all day due to icky.]

Pepper, having heard about Tony being a pony, was hard at work on her laptop today.

It's not often one has dual searches on 'pony food' and 'hallucinogenic drugs' on one's browser.

[considering I'm JUST NOW crashing at 4:45, and have a final at 6:30 tonight, it's going to be one of those sporadic AFK days. BUT GUESS WHAT OMFG THIS IS MY LAST FINAL AND THEN I WILL HAVE MY LIFE BACK AGAIN JSKBDJKFBGKJFBGSFBGDF IT CANNOT END SOON ENOUGH.]

When Pepper had come into the bar and noticed that there was only a rather surly-looking young man, she asked him for a martini.

When he brushed her off, she asked to speak to a manager.

When one wasn't available, she asked to speak to another employee.

When she found out there weren't any others, and he had wandered into the back again, she decided to make her own damn drink.

And maybe she could just stay behind the bar tonight. At least until someone competent showed up.

Pepper had not, by any means, meant to be late. She was never late. If anything, she had a habit of being obscenely early.

It was almost as though some outside force had caused her tardiness, though she wasn't about to suggest that to a soul.

In any case, Stark Industries was open, and Pepper was going over the books today. Fascinating.