16393/Herding the Stray Cat

Herding the Stray Cat
Date of Scene:	28 June 2024
Location:	Penthouse - Stark Tower
Synopsis:	Pepper tries to get Tony to focus but he's distracted with his newest random genius thought And a need to purchase a new old car. Or something like that.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Pepper Potts

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Iron Man has posed:
    "Read those numbers back to me, but give me the inverse with a declination degree of..." Tony leans back in his chair, the springs squeeeaking and creaking as he spreads his hands outwards, as if gesturing to the heavens to provide him inspiration, his eyes widening. "1.837 converging." He extends a hand, fingers twiddling as if trying to grasp somemthing persnickety then pointing with that same hand. "Compare to the third generation ARC reactor's conversion rate. What are we looking at, JARVs?"
    The office chair he had been sitting in suddenly was propelled to the side, rollers whirring as he skates across the surface of his secondary work area on the outer edge of the bunker, where assembly and compilation are handled. He swipes his hand through the holographic displaying sending the motes of light into a tizzy of swirling only for them to recoalesce in the shape of a downward spiral. Several markers flicker into being next to the display.
    "Toot, toot..." Tony ticks off one, then another marker. "Toot toot." Two more. Then he seems to hover a hand over the fifth. Shrugs to himself and says with finality, "Toot."
    The holographic display twists and moves through a fundamentmal paradigm shift, displayiing a cone heading downwards which has Tony looking thoughtful.
    "Hmmm," He taps a finger against his chin.
    << Were you expecting to see something else, sir? >>
    "Yes. No. A bit. Of both."
    Then he calls out, "Where are the wheatcakes I ordered? I ordered some like 800 minutes ago." Then lower voiced, "Jarvis, I ordered wheatcakes, right?"
    << You did not, sir. >>
    "Correction, I need wheatcakes!"

Pepper Potts has posed:
"He wants what, Jarvis?"

Those were the words from one Pepper Potts. She was just stepping off the private elevator into the penthouse itself, glancing around in an attempt to locate where Tony might be. Only to find he wasn't in that main room. Which began the quest for him as she looked back down at the folders cradled in her left arm along with the tablet at the top of the pile. She began to tap-tap at the screen as she walked, the heels of her pumps making a lovely sound on the hard floors. She was dressed in a lovely tan business suit with a pale pink blouse beneath. The skirt fell to just below her knees. Her red hair was pulled up into a bun at the nape of her neck, keeping it out of the way as she worked.

<<Wheatcakes.>>

"Since when does he eat wheatcakes?" she pondered aloud even as she pulled up the right app on her tablet and sent through the order for wheatcakes. "Does he want anything with them? Or just wheatcakes? I mean the name sounds healthier so does he want butter and syrup with them?"

But before Jarvis had the chance to relay the question, she stopped in the doorway to that anteroom that lead to the bunker. "Seriously? Wheatcakes? What podcast did you hear about those on this week?" she asked out of curiosity as she remained right where she was. When he was in this sort of a mood, it was better not to block his roll. Figuratively and literally since he tended to move around a lot.

Iron Man has posed:
    "Do not blame me for my cravings, I am but a victim of my circumstance." Tony's voice is heard, filtering out from behind the bank of displays and holographic images as he looks up and _over_ them to espy the redheaded Pepper Potts. He points at her, "Though really, should blame that Parker kid."
    He hops up out of his chair and starts the small journey around the exterior work area from the 'forge'. His tennis shoes squeaking slightly as he walks. He scoops up an old granola bar wrapper and side shots it toward the garbage can, it goes in. For once. "Swish."
    Then Stark looks back to Pepper, "Agenda today. It's clear right, completely free. Smooth sailing. There's this antigue road show..." He pauses, "Not like, _the_ Antique Road Show. It's a show with old cars. You get what I'm saying though."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Did you want anything with your wheatcakes?" she asks, focusing on that before following him off into the weeds. He seemed happiest in the weeds but it was a far cry from her very perfectly aligned schedule. That had been one of her biggest challenges upon becoming the assistant for Tony Stark. He was brilliant but if he had a thought, he followed it. And thus keeping him on track was a lot like trying to herd a cat--that had dementia and kept forgetting where it was supposed to go.

Once all of that was complete, Pepper moved to point two. "Sadly no, your agenda is far from clear today." She lifted her left arm. "These are the documents I need you to look over before we go to the office for several meetings." She stressed the 'we' in that sentence, in the hopes it might make it through to him. The likelihood was slim to none admittedly.

Which led directly into point number three. "Likely for the best though as I do not believe you have any more room in any of your garages for any new automotive acquisitions. I believe I told you that the last one you purchased and we had to move something outside instead of inside which led to much drama from Happy. And since you have not had me complete any paperwork on construction or purchase of a new garage, you can't have any more cars. Trucks. Motorcycles. Helicopters. Planes. Hoverboats. So forth and so on. I do believe you have two slips available at the harbor if you would prefer to purchase a boat though?"

Iron Man has posed:
    "Indeed, I would like all of the... needed 'accoutrements'." He says, adding the little hint of a French accent at the last there, though he draws up short as he stands next to the spiral display, frowning a little as it reaches a tapering point low on the image. Hiis brow furrows slightly as he says distractedly, "JARVIS are you sure that's right?"
    << I'm afraid so, sir. You did not seem to care for it when I generated random results for you, so I try to avoid doing so. Mostly. >>
    "Good, good. Keep me on my toes." Though he still seems somewhat distracted as Pepper speaks to him about his agenda. Which after the span of several heart beats has him looking back to her, giving her that look that he does when he's 'remembering' she's there.
    "Ah. Documents." That last word said with some finality. He worries at the corner of his mouth and it's clear part of his brain is still on the display he was looking at.
    Then proving that he was paying attention he adds, "We could get a houseboat and put cars on it?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper opened her mouth then paused and closed it before uttering a sound. A silent count of six this time and she attempted to tackle that suggestion. Even as she moved to put the small pile of folders on a table nearby, well out of his way but where he did have to work typically when he was in this room thus they shouldn't be ignored entirely. Then she moved back closer to the door for the continued safety reasons of not wanting to get hit by a rolling chair when he got a sudden change of thought thus leading to a change of direction.

"That is possible but since houseboats do not retain their value as well as real estate, I would suggest perhaps looking into expanding the garage a few more levels at your home outside the city? Or you could purchase a parking garage here in the city nearby. I believe there are three within walking distance of the tower. Though I'm not sure that the population of Manhattan would appreciate you making such a purchase unless you wished to rent some of the levels out for use to the city?"

Iron Man has posed:
    Leaning against the edge of the holo-table, Tony looks distracted again as he extends a hand into the display and shifts the focus up several degrees, changing the shape of the downward spiral to more of a hooking curve inward, almost like a corkscrew. He chews on the inside of his cheek, but is at the least nodding along with some of the things that Pepper is saying.
    "Could always get Pym, have him loan me some particles. Make myself a car carrying suitcase." Then he looks back at the hologram and frowns, "But that's no fun."
    He then turns and asks abruptly, "How much do you weigh, Peps?" Just out there, blunt and kaboom and in her face he asks.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"It would be effective though to miniaturize your collection when not in use. Perhaps that is something we could consider, even though it feels like a misuse of something as special as Pym particles. We could then house all your vehicles in a single room. Bring out the ones you wish to use at the appopriate time and size them back to normal."

She gave a demure little smile as she considered. "We could get you one of those Hot Wheels carrying cases."

But then he went and asked a question that literally had nothing to do with the conversation. She was used to it. Thus, her answer was immediate despite being caught off guard. "I weigh exactly noneofyourbusiness."

Iron Man has posed:
    "You like that? Peps? It's my new thing. Everyone is a plural of the first syllable of their first name." He says that with what passes for a deadpan tone of voice for Tony, though he still looks a little distracted. For a moment, however, he seems ever so briefly inclined to push down the conversational trail of the weight question, but then seeing the expression on her face he gives a nod.
    "JARVIS, remind me to make a manipulator drone exactly 104 pounds in weight with a full sextet of digits." He shoots a glance back at Pepper then says, "Always good to have an extra finger." He bites his lower lip for an instant, seemingly expecting a particular reactiion to those words...
    But then walking back down the way. "Ok, documents, no new cars, possible meetings, anything else I need to shirk before I run off to my car show and ignore my responsibilities?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
For a half a second, there was a smile on her face. Right when he said 104. Because having one's weight lowballed as a woman was always a pleasant thing. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't matter. Yet, she wasn't living in a fantasy and knew all too well that it did. But the mention of needing an extra finger had the smile disappear as she tried to ponder what he could mean by that. Since nothing was coming to mind and she feared her mind my take a turn into a dark alley way and straight to the gutter, she quickly put it out of her head and focused.

A faint sigh as he admitted he would be shirking his duties to go to a car show. "What time is the show? So I know what will be shirked. Three folders, the papers inside need signatures on the red tabs and initials on the yellow. The fourth folder has four invitations in it for various philanthropic groups that would love to have a few Stark dollars added to their coffers. Each has an event and each would like your attendance if possible, should you choose to grace them with your presence." With anyone else, a phrase like that would sound snarky. Yet for Tony Stark, it was literal. It's how people felt getting him to show up, even if he was just there a few minutes. The power of celebrity. "I noted on a post it with each what other events they might conflict with so you can decide what you prefer to attend. If any."

Then she gave a terse nod. "We have two meetings this morning. One with Mr. Fox from Wayne Enterprises and one with Hank Pym. Which may work out with your need for condensed vehicular storage."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Oh it's on now, technically. Started yesterday. See how good I'm being? I'm not already there." His eyebrows rose as if oh so proud of himself. He turned and swooped his jacket off the back of his chair and swings it over his shoulders, sliding one arm into the sleeve.
    He gestures to the side, swiping the data displays clean with the gesture as JARVIS starts to close down the imagery, "Three folders, red tab signatures, initials on the yellows."
    He starts to walk back in Pepper's direction, "Thanks, Peps. You spoil me." He gives her a thumbs up as he steps past her, then she mentions the meetings and that stops him in his tracks.
    "Ugh."
    A beat and his head tilts left, then right. He heaves a sigh. "Reroute Hank to Krieger in R&D, tell him I got sucked into a thing with the Wayne Enterprises guy. Which is technically true. Then... we'll play it by ear."
    With that he heads toward the elevator.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Of course, sir," came the response from Pepper as she tapped a few keys on her tablet to make the necessary meeting changes. Pym was added to Krieger's schedule, which thankfully was open in the same time slot. That would give Tony an hour free after his own meeting with Fox. It wasn't that unusual really. She had to modify his schedule almost daily depending on his whims.

She was trailing along with him toward the elevator, even as she kept her eyes on the tablet. Already she had moved on to her next task for the day. For though his schedule was her job, her own schedule was something he never kept up with nor cared about. As it should be.

As for her new nickname? It was something she knew better than to mention. As annoying as it was, it would only become a thousand times worse if she let him know she found it offensive to be reduced to a syllable. Tony liked to play games. Sometimes those games were to see how long he could annoy someone before they broke. Thankfully, she was fully aware and had learned her lesson.

The only way to win was not to play.