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aa_pepperPepper's Task List:
* Deal with board. (Easy.)
* Book a massage for TS and put on schedule? Maybe make sure the masseuse is pretty?
It would be easy to assume from Stark's manners that Stark Industries is one drunken binge away from failure. Let's face it: the company has come close in its past. Secretly, it actually keeps him kind of busy, as you might assume an international business of its caliber would. It even keeps him busy on Sunday. Life is truly hard for Tony Stark.
Exiting a meeting with Marketing and minions, Stark wears an air of faint exasperation. He looks around -- probably for Pepper. He's dressed in a suit with the same air of ease that some men wear jeans and a shirt. High-level executives give him a wide berth on their way to the elevator that will take them back down to their level. Stark heads for a different elevator: the private elevator.
Any good personal assistant knows their boss's schedule, which leaves Pepper there waiting for Tony as he steps out from the meeting, a cup of coffee in each hand though one already bears the markings of faintly pink lipstick. The other is held out towards the head of Stark Industries as she steps gto his side. "They still aren't stuck on the type of Mad Men marketing that they want to do, are they?" she questions with a glance at the retreating executives.
"They're on my case about the company's 'vision'." Stark takes the cup from Pepper without outward expression of gratitude. He just expected her to be awesome enough to have it -- and she was that awesome. His expectation that she anticipates all his desires is kind of like gratitude? No, maybe not really. "I would've thought the Expo was vision enough. Apparently I've been too reclusive. Hello: saving the world, not reclusive. That's an awesome vision, right?" He broods into his coffee as the elevator arrives and he steps on. Funny how he didn't have to push a button, huh?
"Speaking of visions," Pepper starts, her gaze dragging over her boss as she pauses to lift her own coffee back to her lips as she rearranges herself into the elevator without asking. "You had a visitor this morning." She adds, "They mean as the head of Stark Industries, Tony. Not as Iron Man."
Oh, that does make a nice segue, doesn't it? Stark looks faintly frazzled to Pepper's gaze, like a man juggling too many things at once. He twitches a tense smile at her. "We should look into cloning." He isn't serious. One hopes. "Then I can have an Iron Me and a SI Me. Who was the visitor?" He drains the coffee awful quick.
Concern softens Pepper's expression with a faint hint of a frown as she catches that frazzled tension in Tony, saying carefully, "Between SHIELD and this new team, there are only going to be more demands on Iron Man." Shaking her head, she lifts her own coffee back to her lips for a more sedate sip. "He calls himself Vision. I escorted him to one of the rooms with scanning equipment and installed him there with Jarvis."
"Oh, him." Slightly, Stark relaxes. "Good. I prepped Jarvis for dealing with him. Wasn't sure when he would show up." He passes the now-empty coffee cup to Pepper along with a sidelong glance as the elevator opens onto the private floors -- still under ... reconstruction. Lots of fresh air at the moment! "Uh, I told you that Vision would be coming, right?" No.
"I must have missed the memo," Pepper returns, accepting the empty coffee cup only to deposit it a moment later in a trashcan not far off, already filled with drywall and dust and other remnants of the construction crews. "He was a very interesting--man. Another one of your Avengers?"
"Mm. I don't know." Stark prowls the space as he inspects progress. He steps past the glass and out onto the flat terrace containing the Iron Man assembly and disassembly rings, now buried and quiescent. "That's Fury's call, I guess."
"What is your call, Tony? Why do you have him here for brain scans?" The question is light but curious, the assistant drawing after him to step onto the terrace as well as a hand smoothes against the skirt of her black dress. Pepper's lips twitch in a lingering frown as she watches her boss.
"Not brain scans." Slightly, Stark shakes his head. He looks across the terrace and out to the wider city. The turn of thoughts behind his head is fairly opaque; he's thoughtful, but it isn't clear what has his attention. "Reading his programming. He's an AI, like Jarvis, but one that apparently incorporates some element of human intelligence to order its algorithms. Pym built him." He sounds annoyed: Pym, more than capable of outsciencing Stark, has intruded on /sacred ground/.
"Oh." Pepper sounds surprised at that, but it does not take long for pieces to snap together to form a bigger picture. "I see," she says and she truly does, "But, it seems odd for his programming to allow him to be scanned then. Unless Dr. Pym believes that you could not replicate it."
"Has to be. Threat assessment." Stark's words are prompt and a little paranoid. "Don't trust him. Can't, really, not until we know what makes him tick. He's not -- whatever his motivations, they probably aren't the kind of thing where we can throw Natasha at him and have her regurgitate a personality profile with all his strings laid out for SHIELD to pull. He went along with it pretty easily, though, once I promised it was read-only. Pym's never cared much for intellectual property. He'd rather create." And that's why Stark is the businessman and Pym isn't.
"He seemed well-mannered and--nice," Pepper says, stumbling only briefly over giving the descriptor to an AI. "He was rather concerned about his appearance and being underdressed. Not really something that strikes as untrustworthy to me."
Stark scoooffs. "Thor's brother was pretty concerned with appearances. Really knew how to work the whole Asgardian leather and metal thing." He's just jealous he didn't get badass Asgard armor. "Please don't tell me a concern for dressing well makes someone trustworthy. Don't trust this Vision, whatever it is, until we know more."
"I am only saying that he seemed nice." Her brow curved upwards only for a brief second, Pepper does tip her chin in agreement to her boss even as she adds a quieter, "Of course, Tony. Hopefully you will know more soon enough."
"Well. A lot of people /seem/ nice." Stark's lips thin and then he turns to go in. "Not all of them really are nice. You've been in business long enough to know that." He can't help but patronize. It is his default mode.
"And that is why I did not say he was," Pepper counters smoothly, trailing Tony back into the high-rise with that hint of a frown touching back at the corner of her lips. She finally adds as a question, carefully, "What is bothering you?"
Stark has the good grace to look guilty at Pepper's question. He tucks his hands in his pockets and scuffs his feet, shuffling closer to her. "Just a lot on my plate right now. Sure you don't want to be CEO again? I'm pretty sure the board still likes you better. Can't believe Pym built a robot. I worry we're losing our edge because of everything going on."
Pepper draws close as well, though it is ostensibly to straighten his tie as her fingers lift to smooth at the knot and linger there. She says with a quiet breath of humor, "I'm not sure if you remember the last time I took over, but it was a very stressful time in my life. Perhaps I can take over a /few/ things, maybe, and you can focus more on development."
Stark lifts his chin as she goes for his tie, baring his throat without hesitation as the arc generator pulses only inches from her wrist. There are not many people he is this easy with. Maybe, uhm ... one. "I'm not dying this time," he says, and then gets a look on his face like 'wait, maybe i shouldn't reminder her I hid that'. Too late. He breezes hastily onward. "Way less stress!"
"Isn't that what you would say if you were?" Pepper replies with a quirk of a brow, not so prone to distraction as she remembers quite clearly that he LIED to her while he was slowly dying. The tie is as straight as it is ever going to be, but she makes no move to pull away, drawing her fingers over the silk anyways. "I can take over meetings with the board, if you'd like. They will probably have a fit, but they will get over it."
"Good. Keeps them on their toes," Stark says, ruthlessly self-centered. "I think they forgot to be happy when I'm distracted instead of resenting it. Last time I got involved I lost us about half of our sales." He is away too smug for someone who lost billions and billions on a whim.
"56 percent," Pepper corrects without missing a beat, for all that her lips pull into a smile. "And I will remind them." Her fingers finally fall away from his tie as she steps back, running an appreciative look over Stark before suggesting, "Jarvis should have that data for you by now. Go do what you do best and I will deal with the board."
Stark catches her hands as they fall away to bring to his lips in a mock-chivalrous, but not mock-mocking kiss. "You're the best, Pepper." There is the gratitude that was earlier missing. He steps back on the next beat, turning away to go investigate the new toys. The rest he leaves in Pepper's very capable hands.
Tony and Pepper discuss Vision and visions.
* Deal with board. (Easy.)
* Book a massage for TS and put on schedule? Maybe make sure the masseuse is pretty?
It would be easy to assume from Stark's manners that Stark Industries is one drunken binge away from failure. Let's face it: the company has come close in its past. Secretly, it actually keeps him kind of busy, as you might assume an international business of its caliber would. It even keeps him busy on Sunday. Life is truly hard for Tony Stark.
Exiting a meeting with Marketing and minions, Stark wears an air of faint exasperation. He looks around -- probably for Pepper. He's dressed in a suit with the same air of ease that some men wear jeans and a shirt. High-level executives give him a wide berth on their way to the elevator that will take them back down to their level. Stark heads for a different elevator: the private elevator.
Any good personal assistant knows their boss's schedule, which leaves Pepper there waiting for Tony as he steps out from the meeting, a cup of coffee in each hand though one already bears the markings of faintly pink lipstick. The other is held out towards the head of Stark Industries as she steps gto his side. "They still aren't stuck on the type of Mad Men marketing that they want to do, are they?" she questions with a glance at the retreating executives.
"They're on my case about the company's 'vision'." Stark takes the cup from Pepper without outward expression of gratitude. He just expected her to be awesome enough to have it -- and she was that awesome. His expectation that she anticipates all his desires is kind of like gratitude? No, maybe not really. "I would've thought the Expo was vision enough. Apparently I've been too reclusive. Hello: saving the world, not reclusive. That's an awesome vision, right?" He broods into his coffee as the elevator arrives and he steps on. Funny how he didn't have to push a button, huh?
"Speaking of visions," Pepper starts, her gaze dragging over her boss as she pauses to lift her own coffee back to her lips as she rearranges herself into the elevator without asking. "You had a visitor this morning." She adds, "They mean as the head of Stark Industries, Tony. Not as Iron Man."
Oh, that does make a nice segue, doesn't it? Stark looks faintly frazzled to Pepper's gaze, like a man juggling too many things at once. He twitches a tense smile at her. "We should look into cloning." He isn't serious. One hopes. "Then I can have an Iron Me and a SI Me. Who was the visitor?" He drains the coffee awful quick.
Concern softens Pepper's expression with a faint hint of a frown as she catches that frazzled tension in Tony, saying carefully, "Between SHIELD and this new team, there are only going to be more demands on Iron Man." Shaking her head, she lifts her own coffee back to her lips for a more sedate sip. "He calls himself Vision. I escorted him to one of the rooms with scanning equipment and installed him there with Jarvis."
"Oh, him." Slightly, Stark relaxes. "Good. I prepped Jarvis for dealing with him. Wasn't sure when he would show up." He passes the now-empty coffee cup to Pepper along with a sidelong glance as the elevator opens onto the private floors -- still under ... reconstruction. Lots of fresh air at the moment! "Uh, I told you that Vision would be coming, right?" No.
"I must have missed the memo," Pepper returns, accepting the empty coffee cup only to deposit it a moment later in a trashcan not far off, already filled with drywall and dust and other remnants of the construction crews. "He was a very interesting--man. Another one of your Avengers?"
"Mm. I don't know." Stark prowls the space as he inspects progress. He steps past the glass and out onto the flat terrace containing the Iron Man assembly and disassembly rings, now buried and quiescent. "That's Fury's call, I guess."
"What is your call, Tony? Why do you have him here for brain scans?" The question is light but curious, the assistant drawing after him to step onto the terrace as well as a hand smoothes against the skirt of her black dress. Pepper's lips twitch in a lingering frown as she watches her boss.
"Not brain scans." Slightly, Stark shakes his head. He looks across the terrace and out to the wider city. The turn of thoughts behind his head is fairly opaque; he's thoughtful, but it isn't clear what has his attention. "Reading his programming. He's an AI, like Jarvis, but one that apparently incorporates some element of human intelligence to order its algorithms. Pym built him." He sounds annoyed: Pym, more than capable of outsciencing Stark, has intruded on /sacred ground/.
"Oh." Pepper sounds surprised at that, but it does not take long for pieces to snap together to form a bigger picture. "I see," she says and she truly does, "But, it seems odd for his programming to allow him to be scanned then. Unless Dr. Pym believes that you could not replicate it."
"Has to be. Threat assessment." Stark's words are prompt and a little paranoid. "Don't trust him. Can't, really, not until we know what makes him tick. He's not -- whatever his motivations, they probably aren't the kind of thing where we can throw Natasha at him and have her regurgitate a personality profile with all his strings laid out for SHIELD to pull. He went along with it pretty easily, though, once I promised it was read-only. Pym's never cared much for intellectual property. He'd rather create." And that's why Stark is the businessman and Pym isn't.
"He seemed well-mannered and--nice," Pepper says, stumbling only briefly over giving the descriptor to an AI. "He was rather concerned about his appearance and being underdressed. Not really something that strikes as untrustworthy to me."
Stark scoooffs. "Thor's brother was pretty concerned with appearances. Really knew how to work the whole Asgardian leather and metal thing." He's just jealous he didn't get badass Asgard armor. "Please don't tell me a concern for dressing well makes someone trustworthy. Don't trust this Vision, whatever it is, until we know more."
"I am only saying that he seemed nice." Her brow curved upwards only for a brief second, Pepper does tip her chin in agreement to her boss even as she adds a quieter, "Of course, Tony. Hopefully you will know more soon enough."
"Well. A lot of people /seem/ nice." Stark's lips thin and then he turns to go in. "Not all of them really are nice. You've been in business long enough to know that." He can't help but patronize. It is his default mode.
"And that is why I did not say he was," Pepper counters smoothly, trailing Tony back into the high-rise with that hint of a frown touching back at the corner of her lips. She finally adds as a question, carefully, "What is bothering you?"
Stark has the good grace to look guilty at Pepper's question. He tucks his hands in his pockets and scuffs his feet, shuffling closer to her. "Just a lot on my plate right now. Sure you don't want to be CEO again? I'm pretty sure the board still likes you better. Can't believe Pym built a robot. I worry we're losing our edge because of everything going on."
Pepper draws close as well, though it is ostensibly to straighten his tie as her fingers lift to smooth at the knot and linger there. She says with a quiet breath of humor, "I'm not sure if you remember the last time I took over, but it was a very stressful time in my life. Perhaps I can take over a /few/ things, maybe, and you can focus more on development."
Stark lifts his chin as she goes for his tie, baring his throat without hesitation as the arc generator pulses only inches from her wrist. There are not many people he is this easy with. Maybe, uhm ... one. "I'm not dying this time," he says, and then gets a look on his face like 'wait, maybe i shouldn't reminder her I hid that'. Too late. He breezes hastily onward. "Way less stress!"
"Isn't that what you would say if you were?" Pepper replies with a quirk of a brow, not so prone to distraction as she remembers quite clearly that he LIED to her while he was slowly dying. The tie is as straight as it is ever going to be, but she makes no move to pull away, drawing her fingers over the silk anyways. "I can take over meetings with the board, if you'd like. They will probably have a fit, but they will get over it."
"Good. Keeps them on their toes," Stark says, ruthlessly self-centered. "I think they forgot to be happy when I'm distracted instead of resenting it. Last time I got involved I lost us about half of our sales." He is away too smug for someone who lost billions and billions on a whim.
"56 percent," Pepper corrects without missing a beat, for all that her lips pull into a smile. "And I will remind them." Her fingers finally fall away from his tie as she steps back, running an appreciative look over Stark before suggesting, "Jarvis should have that data for you by now. Go do what you do best and I will deal with the board."
Stark catches her hands as they fall away to bring to his lips in a mock-chivalrous, but not mock-mocking kiss. "You're the best, Pepper." There is the gratitude that was earlier missing. He steps back on the next beat, turning away to go investigate the new toys. The rest he leaves in Pepper's very capable hands.
Tony and Pepper discuss Vision and visions.