Raven's Watch A bag full of cats.

This was irritating. It was almost like being back at home and having to keep her wits about her, lest Hogan come traipsing by with one of his witty comments - she had to be prepared for those - or like she was being baited in to a trap, which happened from time to time as he laid out his practical jokes. Impractical, rather, as they often failed -- but, okay, back to the point.

She was being watched, and Pepper hated that.

So with as much finesse as an angry sow, the ruddy girl spun on her heels and began to investigate. Her body was rigid but her head was arched, like a queen, and her tail was raised, with the tip flicking with irritation across her back. She rounded a rocky corner where a series of boulders looked to have crashed down off the mountain, and went so far as to climb partway up their iregularly piled remains, when she spotted a dark figure doing the same thing she was doing. Someone was watching her — or, looking for her.

For a split second Pepper thought it was Hogan. She hadn't seen him in a while and was a little delirious maybe, and a lot mad about all the effort that went in to this entire stupid trip, so she didn't really consider that this might be someone else. Instead of stop and think like she usually would've done, Pepper climbed her way down off the boulder pile and shot out from the mountain's shadow towards the stranger, calling as she went: Hogan if that's you, I swear to god, your... Your ass is -- grass, she was going to say, except that was the moment she came very close to tripping and smacking in to the wolf in question. 

Somehow she didn't, not entirely. Pepper stopped in the nick of time and slid partway, coming to a rest in Stark's face, at which point she was staring wide-eyed at him until realizing who the heck she had just been tailing. And oh, her reaction was both priceless and utterly Pepper: -- grass. Hi. All the pomp and vigor seemed to drain as soon as she realized it was Stark, the big bad, the dude who stole away her best friend. Her voice was rather quiet, and not at all as demanding as she had been moments prior. And part of her, a part she loathed for just a moment, was actually glad to have found him and not an absolute stranger.