Stark had tried to lay things out as much as he could, that he'd recently taken the pack, that there had been tension. Stark had introduced her to the pack mates that had been around. He slept better in the Crook now because of Tambourine, but taking over the responsibilities for a puppy still didn't feel natural to him in the slightest. Tambourine did, but, he second guessed everything that he did. Maybe that was natural with parenthood. He didn't know. 

After a couple days of letting her settle Stark decided to go see Pepper and see what her honest thoughts were. She would tell him the honest truth, give him her opinions without letting everything go. She wouldn't reflect it on him so much, but, she'd help him plan what might help the pack itself too. "Pep," He greeted, shoulder bumping hers as he joined her in her walk. "You settling in okay?"  

Pepper didn't seem put off by his appearance at least, and that brought him a bit of comfort. He didn't want to disturb her no matter how much he wanted her opinions and to check on everything that she'd left behind in her pack. There were names, faces, plenty of people he'd cared about but ultimately left behind. Her question brought a little smile to his face and he shrugged. "I didn't pick it. The founder was a male named Warbone - he vanished in the famine that had over run the area. You're seeing things on the mend, thankfully." 

Stark drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I took the pack when the two Alpha Females became incapacitated. One had a badly injured leg, the other... Well. She ran off."  Stark was still bitter, still reeling from that, and hopefully the redhead wouldn't ask too much and pry into that. "I don't think I would have settled here if I'd made my own pack from the start. It can be claustrophobic - but I think most everyone is happy here now." At least happy with the location. He couldn't say they were happy overall. 

It was overwhelming to think how everything had changed in the few months since his arrival. The pack he had known was gone and everything left behind was struggling for stability and it's own identity. 

Pepper asked the hard questions. In reality things were better now in some ways and worse in others. Stark had Banner and Rhodes, Banner was helping run things, and she seemed more happy so that meant Stark was happier. In others, the woman he couldn't stop thinking about was missing and probably hurt and three other pack mates were still lost somewhere. It was a toss up. "I'm exhausted." Stark admitted with a quiet voice. "When I'm not trying to keep things settled here I'm out looking for the Ostregas that are missing... A father and two kids. And then Octavia, too. She's gone, and she left her son - but I've been helping since he was a few days old." 

He was going to blurt it all out - he could feel it, just beneath the surface and it was this terrible sort of secret and no matter what he did he was feeling it like his skin was on fire. "Everything went wrong, Pepper - and... And I've gotta fix it. I can't let them all down." he blurted out finally but his gaze was far beyond her. He refused to look at her, she'd never seen him as anything other than the carefree vagabond she'd met months ago and he couldn't fathom that changing now. She'd still see him as nothing - not the man trying to be everything for everyone. 

"Pepper," He sighed out as she began to tell him to just...just let it go almost. Like he didn't owe them anything. Like there was nothing he was supposed to do that wasn't for himself. "My sister is here - Rhodey is here. I promised them a safe home, and above that - I claimed this pack. It's mine and I can't let them suffer because I realized how much work I was taking on." He understood she wanted him to take care of himself too, but, it was so much more than that. He couldn't just let them suffer. 

"It's broken but I think it can be fixed. And....and I think maybe it deserves that. They never had chance to really get good so now we need to." Stark explained. He didn't expect Pepper to just get it, not right off the bat when she was just coming in to the mess that it was and Stark, Banner, Rhodey, Harlyn - all of them had seen what it was like. They saw where it was, but Stark, ever the visionary, saw where it could go. 

"We're going to be better than they'd ever dreamed." He said. "It'll be hard work, but then it'll be so worth it. Just gotta put in the effort." 

Stark was quiet for a moment - perhaps a testament to his true exhaustion. He offered her a small smile, reaching out to nudge her gently on her cheek. "I'm not asking you to put your search on hold, Pep." He said gently, reminding her of her goal as if she wasn't thinking of him either. Happy was going to be fine though - Stark had confidence in him. Stark expected that their friend was doing just fine in his progress and he could still sleep well knowing that he was doing alright. 

What he couldn't sleep well over was worrying over the Marauders that were missing. Not only was Tambourine missing his mother, Stark was missing Octavia, Silas and Harlyn were missing Mordecai, Larkspur, and Pippin too. Too many were missing - too much had been lost. 

"Right now? I need to plan out what I'm doing." He admitted. "You're usually on stuff like this - I should find other packs, drum up some sort of relationship, yeah?" 

Stark gave a brief shake of his head to her questions about ties and loyalty. "I've only been the head honcho for maybe a week." His priority had been to try and track down their packmates but then it probably made just as much sense to reach out and lay down ties while they were out and about. "I've got a few friends around other packs, but, we're not there quite yet. I know Banner - my sister- has friends in other packs too and I appointed her my Beta." There was certainly pride in his voice when it came to her, and he wanted to continue to see her prosper. 

"It sucks." He said quietly. It was terrifying. There was a lot of options about what might have gone wrong and he was jsut hopeful that nothing had. Maybe they were found and safe and sound by some pack, but, the time just kept dragging on and on. "The previous Alphas wanted this place to be a secret. Neutral, not get involved in others fights or drama. I like the idea, but....I don't think we need to keep information locked down." He admitted. "We've added a couple wolves to our ranks recently, and with the seasons shifting soon I think we'll see more." It was a guess, of course, but the natural way of things. 

"I'm just hoping we get them home before things get bad. The kid would freeze or starve on his own." 

Stark listened to Pepper, head tilted a bit as she offered up her plan. It sounded good and doable and Banner would probably appreciate the efforts of someone else. "Well. I'd like to be involved in actual alliance talks - I figure it's got to go through me after all." Yes, having Banner there meant there was a huge chance he'd go with whatever she said but he still wanted to be involved. Something about being good for his image, maybe good for him to start acting like an Alpha more properly. 

"So a pack disbanded recently, in the ravine nearby. We'd never interacted, even before my time - I think everyone was simply too busy getting all wrapped up in the famine and keeping themselves alive." Stark explained. "We can see about the other packs around here, though, and while we're there, we give them a description for Happy and hopefully we'll kill a few birds with one stone." 

Stark nodded a bit stiffly when she said she should get started. That sounded fine to him, honestly, and he almost wished he could be a fly on the wall just to see Banner's shock when the two met one another. Or. Remet. And realized they both knew him. Maybe it was complicated considering how many of their paths might cross and how he tied so many in together. "Lemme know what Banner thinks." He said with a little chuckle, curious about how she would respond to running into Pepper again.