| The Ultimate Executive Shoulder Bag | |||||
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| What: Tony gives Pepper a gift he's designed specifically for her. It's ... way more than she was expecting. | |||||
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It's been a few days since Tony told Pepper flat out that he hated her bag. And, really, in the grand scheme of things it's a really minor thing. But, for him to notice something as trivial as what bag she carries.... it's been bothering her since. She KNOWS that that seemingly offhand comment meant something, but she's not yet had a chance to find out WHAT. But, now she has the time. After checking with JARVIS, she goes to Tony's workshop to corner him and ask what the heck he meant.
Tony Stark is down in his lab working on what he has started calling Project Pale Horse. When JARVIS informs Tony Pepper is coming, even though she said she would be there to help him bear it's huge burden, he shuts it down entirely. Instead. He pulls what seems to be a Bronze and Teal coach handbag out from under the workspace and sets it down. He even slaps a bow on it, and waits.
Pepper Potts stops at the doors to Tony's lab and keys in her entry code before stepping inside. The conspicuous lack of virtual workspace is as obvious as hiding dirty magazines under sofa cushions, but she's learned to not question it. And besides, there's a ... teal bag with a bow on it in front of Tony. "Wow, did someone send that to you? I'm not sure if it matches your shoes."
Tony Stark blinks, "Uhhh..no. Remember how I said I hated your bag? Here's it's replacement. I notched a deal with Coach to mass produce these because they're about to be all the rage when you're seen with yours."
Pepper Potts stops at that, looking from the bag to Tony skeptically. "You designed a bag? Why do I get the feeling that that's kind of a trick question?" The bag IS really nice, though, from the looks of it.
Tony Stark sits back, "Of course I designed it. That's what I do. I design things. Thing is..your bag is a one off. The rest won't be as..robust as this one. Slip it over your shoulder."
Pepper Potts still looks a bit skeptical as she carefully sets her bag down on the floor next to Tony's seat and reaches for the teal bag. "Wow, it's... heavier than it looks." She, of course, looks inside the bag first thing, checking each and every pocket, closure, hinge, and so on.
Tony Stark grins, "See the charm on the front?" he says, watching her look it over. "Hit that, and watch the fun."
Pepper Potts looks at the round medallion stitched to the front of the bag for a moment, then looks at Tony and asks half-playing, "It's not going to squirt water in my face, is it?" Then, before he gets impatient, she taps the round medallion on the bag and expects... something. A small joy-buzzerish shock, some silly little prank. Instead...
The bag starts opening out, expanding from many very cleverly placed internal baffles in a manner very reminiscent of Iron Man's briefcase armor, but as Pepper was holding the bag on one arm, it starts by covering her arm and spreads. For her part, Pepper's eyes go wide and she gasps in surprise, her initial reaction to try and make it stop doing, whatever it's doing. Of course, the bag-turned-armor is very fast and efficient, so by the time she's starting to protest it's already covered her entire left arm and leg and most of her torso. The armor even accomodates the black pencil skirt she's wearing as well as her heels, and as the teal and bronze armor finishes closing up around her right hand and the faceplate dropping closed to conceal her face, she stumbles back a step or two in complete disorientation. She looks about ready to fall on her rear. A decidedly undignified way to break in a new suit.
From inside, information starts laying itself out on the HUD in a manner consistent with Pepper's tablet. JARVIS' cheery voice is in her ears, "Welcome to the family, Miss Potts."
Tony Stark watches you and smiles, stifling a chuckle when she stumbles. He did very much the same thing. "It's as powerful as any suit I have, and you have all the telemetry and data uplinks I have. Basically, this thing is ready to take on any of my suits are. Up to and including pushy Gotham vigilantes."
Pepper Potts takes another stumbling step inside the armor and finally manages to regain her balance, then blinks and squints at the HUD readouts as if they were focused to be as close to her face as the mask physically rests. Of course, there's no way her eyes can focus on something that close, so it's really disconcerting. "Wait, what? Tony, what's going on?" She has no idea if her voice is transmitting outside or not, though she heard the comment about pushy Gotham vigilantes perfectly clearly. "How do I?" The armored hands reach up toward the helmet as if to try and remove it.
Tony Stark watches carefully and steps over, "You don't want to force it off. Think it. It'll make it easier. You can adjust things how you want. JARVIS will work with you to lay out things that are intuitive to you. Don't like something? You can change it. Your eyes can select information or you can call it out to JARVIS. Blinking's like clicking in the suit. You won't inadveertantly do anything by blinking, so you have to focus your eyes on what you want to do. It'll take some time to get used to, but I think it's ready for you."
Pepper Potts struggles to get all of the little symbols in front of her eyes to focus (closer than they really are), but then when Tony steps closer she instinctively focuses on him and everything around suddenly snaps into clarity. It's so abrupt that she recoils from all of the symbols suddenly and clearly superimposed over Tony and the workshop, not only detailing her boss, but the bots in the background and all sorts of other things as well. "This is ... it's too much." She means the amount of data being displayed all at once, but it could easily be misinterpreted.
Tony Stark waves a hand, "Are you kidding? This is the least I could do. I never want you to feel out of control or in danger again. Especially because of me." he says, putting a hand on her now armored shoulder.
Pepper Potts feels the pressure of the hand on her shoulder and reaches to put her hand on Tony's arm for balance. "What? Oh, no, I mean, all these little circles and lines and dots and... is this what you look at every day? I think I'm going to get motion sick."
Tony Stark keeps his arm there so Pepper can find her feet and says, "You can switch from a tactical view to a practical view. It'll give you things more slowly and with less desktop than tacticl will. When you're in a fight, though, you have to have to tactical. However, with so much going on, it'll look like your practical view." he says "Just go slow. Feel it. You can get used to it."
Pepper Potts is much more quickly able to find her equilibrium once she has Tony's arm as an anchor, and keeping her grip (hopefully not too heavy a grip) as a lifeline, she starts looking around the workshop again, trying to become accustomed to the display items that really do remind her of her tablet and ...
"Dummy, no! I don't... smoothies don't need Neosporin in them!"
Tony Stark points to Dummy with his freehand, "Dummy - no! Go back to your corner, we're good here." he looks back to Pepper, "Okay, remember, JARVIS can do everything he does out of the suit for you, and more than that."
Pepper Potts returns her focus to Tony, all the little bits of information already starting to become a little easier to deal with. "Really. Like what?" She all of a sudden really really hopes that this suit can't shoot things like Tony's can. She'd feel really bad if she accidentally put a hole in a wall or something.
Tony Stark shrugs, "Well--"
JARVIS takes over, "Miss Potts, whereas Mister Stark prefers micromanagement in his suits and pouring over every detail, I can simplify that end of things by automatically doing things for you. Including autopiloting tactical systems until you grow accustomed to run them yourself. I can also do anything you might require, you've only to make a request."
"Please do that, JARVIS. And, could you...?" Her free hand reaches for the helmet's faceplate again, though this time more to indicate it than to try and open it. Once the face plate is open and she's not looking at Tony though a spiderweb of data, she has to take a moment to look down at herself. "This is... wow, Tony. I would say that you've outdone yourself, but I know better." She offers him a smile of both appreciation and understanding. She knows WHY he made this suit, and is very much aware of all of the thought and consideration he put into building it. "Thank you."
Tony Stark smiles one of those gentle, genuine smiles he's capable of. "Don't mention it, Miss Potts. Consider it preventative health care. It'll cut down on our premiums." he clears his throat, "I don't ever want you in the position you were in ever again. Someone even looks at you crosseyed, you put this on and blast them. Do it in front of Natasha and get me a pic of her face the first time she sees this, and I'll double your salary for the year."
Pepper Potts becomes a little more serious at that. "I'm not going to begrudge the protection, Tony, but I don't know if I can 'blast' people. That's very... violent."
Tony Stark sighs, "It's very simple. Do you remember how you felt when you were trapped on that rooftop? After? You don't have to ever feel that way again."
"But..." The kicker is, Tony has a point and Pepper can't really argue. "All right, Tony. I'll try." She finally feels steady enough on her feet to let go of his arm. "Now, how do I take this off again?"
Tony Stark gamely offers an old school can opener.