| Pepper, Peter and Tony |
| Summary: | No Summary Provided in +scene code |
| Date: | 2016-12-28 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
 .. .. .. |
The lights of a low-flying plane can be seen approaching the tower's neigborhood. Someone particularly astute might notice that the light configuration doesn't really match how standard planes are, and that it isn't on a familiar flight path.
A switchboard somewhere in the building picks up a telephone call. When answered, Peter says to the operator calmly, "Ah, hello this is Peter Quill, inbound from Westchester on the ship designated 'Milano', requesting a landing site convenient to the tower." He tries to sound formal but there's occasional hesitation in the words as if he's making them up as he goes.
"Sir, I am sorry to interrupt, but there is an aircraft calling, requesting permission to land upon the pad. Shall I give him clearance?" JARVIS' close-clipped English tones seem to come from everywhere. "It does not hold a configuration from anything upon this planet, though it does bear a striking resemblance to that craft that those who called themselves 'The Guardians' flew. So, it should have the capacity to land safely. Shall I give him the coordinates?"
Of course, the Artificial Awareness also broadcasts that which Star-Lord had called in through the main switchboard.
What's… wrong with how I look? I worked all day like this!" Pepper huffs out as he says he's not going in public with her dressed like that. She then gives his shoulder a little smack, but she's at least smiling a moment later. She might even look a little excited. Skating. They were going ice skating. "…and I don't know if I could do anything but keep making this company billions. I'd go crazy trying anything else." Pepper admits with a wry half smile. But this wasn't about work, now. This was about skating. She turns to go put her shoes back on, and then her eyes catch plane lights.
The last time Pepper saw lights coming towards any building she and Tony were standing in, it was a missle headed straight for the beach house. Chaos reigned but split seconds afterwards. There have been attacks, planes into buildings, and while this place doesn't seem to be going so fast as to give her a complete heart attack, all thoughts of skating are gone. She grabs Tony's shoulder, trying to jerk him down, "TONY, PLANE!" She screeches, just as JARVIS is speaking. Oh, yes, apparently, plane. Plane that is calling them. Pepper gives a few pants of breath, shocked, swallowing back that panic. She blinks in confuion. "…Peter…Quill? Friend of yours? Well… call him back. Tell him to land. I'm going to go over here and finish this heart attack." She mutters, heading back for the bar.
This time, she does pour out some scotch for herself. This calls for scotch.
"The whole, 'teary thing'. It's supposed to be fun. You'll just go out looking like you just lost a million dollars for the quarter." Tony is teasing, of coures. How could he not? It's Christmastime, right?
The honest, heartfelt scream for his safety makes Tony flinch, but he stays on his feet. Particularly when JARVIS' voice rings through. He trusts JARVIS. If there was any danger, the Artificial Awareness would have noted it and defensive measures would have been brought to bear. But Pepper probably isn't aware of all the upgrades the Tower's received. "It's okay, Pepper.. we've got this.." and he continues in a murmur, "Right JARVIS?" This is the first time, for the record, that he's come face to face with.. uh..
"Yeah.. a friend." Ish. Okay. To that other Tony! But! He's got this.
"Give him the coordinates, JARVIS. And.. uh.. patch me through." Or whatever.
"Hey… buddy. Little busy right now, but the landing protocols should be showing up if they're not there already."
Once done, Tony cuts the message, and *jingles* as he crosses the expanse to the large glass doors. One large pane opens to his presence, and he gestures towards Pepper. Cold out? And he's only in a t-shirt and sweat pants? Bah. At least his feet are warm, snug in elf-slippers.. red trimmed and each adorned with a single jingle bell that tinkles as he walks.
Inside the ship, Peter blinks at the abrupt message, but grins. From the way Kitty has described Tony, it's no surprise.
In the pilot's seat, Peter begins maneuvering the hovering spacecraft according to the incoming instructions.
The ship gracefully moves into place and eases down onto its landing struts once the antigravs turn off. After a few moments, the lower hatch opens to allow its crew to step out. The sounds of "Dream Police" by Cheap Trick escape out of the opening as the captain comes out. Peter has chosen one of those suit jacket and jeans outfits that looks dressy and casual at the same time. He looks over to where Tony and Pepper are waiting.
She was *really* going to have to arrange more meetings ahead of time in the future. Give herself time to read up on how things have been between people, any of the other Pepper's notes. However, Pepper can't let anyone see her sweat. She smiles wide, "Yes, of course… Mr. Quill, how *nice* to…to meet you. You might have a very… Nice coat on…" Well, I mean, if you don't wear designer labels. But surely it was nice.
"But we were just relaxing so why don't we all come inside. Always room for more." She leads them both inside with a gentle wave, "…We just opened a bottle of wine… Do you like French Wine?" The woman gracefully flutters over, back towards the bar, like nothing had ever happened. This is all perfectly normal. She has enough booze for everyone and they entertain visitors from space EVERY NIGHT. That is what Pepper Potts' smile says.
If there's anything unexpected, it's that Peter doesn't seem to think Tony or Pepper look unusual. He says to Tony, "Thank you for having me. I do have some business I'd like to discuss if we can. But no rush." he grins to Pepper, "I can go with wine. Wine's good." he nods a little.
Tony's behind the bar, and once the scotch is stoppered and set back on the high shelf, he looks at Pepper, gives her a tight buy encouraging smile, and pulls the cork on a bottle of wine that she may now recognize. One glass is poured, two, and he carries the two and hands them over, first to the lovely red-head and then to their guest. Only then does he *jingle*jingle* back to the bar to get his drink. "Business… business is good," he begins. "Though," he lifts his glass to take a swallow, pointing out at the ship at the same time, "What's with the ship. Taxi too slow?"
If Tony is getting the wine, Pepper won't stop him. She just returns that smile and steps over to his side, giving a small, encouraging kiss to his cheek. The kiss is a bit awkward, like they don't do it a lot, but she's giving her best try at being a normal couple (see how NORMAL they are?!) so she's tried. Can't take it back now. She accepts the glass of wine he hands her, "Thank you, honey." Honey. Was that normal? Sure. As normal as space ships. Then she's looking back to Peter, "…You can discuss whatever business you like with me here. I'm on a NDA with Stark Industries."
Star-Lord sips from the wine, and says, "Fine by me. Kitty gave me the impression that I'd wind up discussing it with the both of you." He nods towards the spaceship out the window and answers Tony. "I suppose I could have come the easy way, but the Milano is part of the conversation, and I figured what the hell. Might as well make an impression." he grins.
The kiss on his cheek brings a lopsided smile to Tony's face, and when she calls him 'honey', he coughs into his scotch in 'alarm'. A look is given, that is, brows raised and his head quirks. It takes a moment to drag his attention away from her, but he does manage it, echoing her words, mostly. Or at least, paraphrasing. He points, then, in Pepper's direction. "What she said. She's actually the brains of the outfit. I'm just the hired help." Not really, but it sounds good. "Now…
"Milano. Like… the cookie. Chocolate on the inside, between two vanilla sort of wafers, 'Milano'? Or more like the city… Milan." Because either of those would make sense, right? Tony takes a couple of steps, still inside, towards the picture window that has the 'Milano' in its glory. "What's she run on? And can you make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs."
"…What's the Kessel Run?" Pepper asks, looking genuinely confused as she stares out between Tony, the ship outside, and then Peter. Apparently, she's never seen Star Wars, and is trying to wrack her brain for some exotic race course somewhere around the world she doesn't know. She takes a small sip of her wine, but is carefully tempering herself about the wine as she'd rather get through this all sober. She finally heads back to the couch area, settling in to scoop her StarkPad back up in her lap to take notes about it all.
"You boys can sit, you know… it is rather more comfortable. Just ignore me, I'll be taking notes so we all remember what we said in the morning." She flashes them a perfectly proper smile. It's also helpful for her to refresh her memory on the things she's missing. But taking meeting minutes is a good excuse. "And I doubt he named his ship after a cookie, Tony."
Star-Lord glances around a moment as if looking for where might be a good spot to pick, and decides to wait for the other two on that. He chuckles, "I guess it's not that weird of an idea, he's the second person to ask if that's where I got the idea from. And there's only one ship that can make it in twelve parsecs, Mr. Stark." he grins. "Though I'm sure Rocket would love to give it a try if it were real. It's propulsion by ionized plasma, but don't ask me about the hyperdrive."
Tony quickly smiles at Pepper before he lets it drop again, staring at the ship once more, his head quirking, a scowled frown upon his face as he considers. "See? Not the only one, Pepper." Nyah.
He doesn't explain his reference at all, though he grins at Peter as the other man not only gets it, but basically sends it back to him. Another swallow of scotch is taken, though not before he 'salutes' with the almost empty tumbler. "There can be only one." Now, he *jingle*jingles* back towards the couch and flops down gracelessly. "Okay, see.." and he sits forward, "Just because you said that makes me wanna ask about it. Ionized plasma. Child's play at this point. But hyperdrive? The amount of energy that is needed to push into that window.. heck. I'm close, but I'm playing with electromagnetics. To see what is in there, what works?"
There's a moment when Tony zones out, just thinking of all those options, everything that could be. He has to pull himself from that particular reverie, and he smiles tightly, in near apology before, "What was it you wanted.. because I think we could have something of a swap going on." Tony waves his glass-laden hand between himself, Pepper and Peter now, "It's okay. I don't bite."
Pepper is quiet now, but not zoning out. Not like some secretaries. She's quiet because she's concentrating. She's learning every last thing she can about this Peter Quill, through his body language, whatever response he gives to Tony, and other matters. Though something Tony says seems to jog something in her memory and she looks down to the StarkPad, making a few very quick, important notes before she goes back to quietly dissecting the conversation over her glass of ine.
Star-Lord strolls over to the sofa and takes a seat, turning in to continue talking, and even if his words respond to Tony, his body language has Pepper still involved in the chat. "I do hope so, but first I'll finish satisfying your curiosity because it might help us all relate. If I'm quiet on the hyperdrive tech it's because I don't know the first thing about it. Well, probably the first thing, it pokes a hole in space, but I'm sure you have that general idea down. I learned more about a different ship, a similar one, from the universe I slipped into this crazy dimension from." he grins. "I named that one after an actress I crushed on before being kidnapped from Earth, and passed the name along when I… more or less inherited… this ship. Did Kitty say that I was one of those… transfers, or whatever you're calling them?"
"No offense, but I figured you didn't know about the hyperdrive," Tony tries not to make it sound like an insult, but if he fails, well… he IS Tony Stark. There is a certain level of ability that is assumed. He rises from his seat in the next second, headed back to the bar to get a refill on his scotch. "If it's after Betty White, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," is deadpanned.
The glass is refilled, as in filled once again, and he wanders back to stand behind the couch, right behind where Pepper is sitting. "No, she didn't mention it. But we're all pretty quiet about that. I mean, could you imagine finding out that the President of the United States isn't the same one that you thought he was… and the guy has nuke codes at his disposal? What about the Russian President? Hell.. the Avengers. Me." He's not 'fessing up to anything. It's just the hypothetical for the time being. "So.. talk to me. I'm curious. Who's the actress and how'd you get a cookie out of the deal?"
"Transfers. I suppose that is a good a name as any. It's a miracle there hasn't been more panic over the question of them around. But…we've been pretty lucky at Stark Industries so far." Pepper gives a half smile as she says that, perfectly keeping up the ruse that she and Tony are pure originals, even as Tony hints at a hypothetical that he might not be. She doesn't even blink, not daring to give anything away about it. She just takes a sip of wine then sets down the glass so she can prepare to take more notes.
Star-Lord gets a mischevious grin, "I think I'll answer that question with a demonstration, that will make it clear and show off some of Kitty's talents at the same time. Is there a convenient hologram projector up here, and may I interface it to my ship?" he looks around—for all he knows, holos are as common as toasters in expensive high-rise places like this.
Tony nods at Pepper's words, gesture-pointing at her, underscoring her words with the motion. Brows rise at Peter's suggestion, and he straightens and takes another swallow of his scotch before, "Jarvis.. if you would, please."
"Yes, sir." It's the same voice Star-Lord heard in the cockpit of his ship when he'd asked about docking permissions.
"Just let Jarvis know what your interface protocols are and he'll do the rest. Painless, really."
The living room area just in front of the couch begins a holographic display of Star-Lord's ship, rotating around and around. One piece 'breaks' off, and then another, named, catagorized as to what the Artificial Awareness thinks it is.
"Okay, buddy.. you can stop showing off. This is our guest's show. Do as he says, please."
Again, the close-clipped English accented voice that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, responds, "Yes sir." Beat. "Mr. Quill, sir.. if you would be so kind as to give me your parameters."
Silently, Pepper is also piggy backing into whatever signal Quill is going to be patching through to the room, so she can learn a bit more about his technology and record the displays he is giving them both for demonstration. It's just another version of taking notes, right? She smiles at JARVIS' voice, but doesn't cut in otherwise. She's waiting for the light show.
Star-Lord brings out a mobile device that seems basically to be a smartphone. He pokes at the screen a couple of times, and then speaks into it, "Babe, can you prepare for a remote interface, you'll be projecting to a device that will be made available to you presently. I need to tell them what gigawhatsits the signal is, though."
A female voice, sounding a little familiar but still bearing that telltale even tone and precision of a computer's voice interface responds, "4.9 Gigahertz, Peter."
"Cool. You got one too?" Tony's being smart, and the grin on his face tells as much.
"4.9 Gigahertz, yes." Jarvis sounds like a real human being, even if one can't see him. "My signal is coming in now for the interface." There are security protocols on top of security protocols that have to be guarded in order to bring the signal in. Think of it as a single, extruded steel core where there are no chinks, no ways to break out of the tunnel until it reaches its end of the line for presentation. Stark Industries is locked up tighter than the proverbial drum.
Once it's set, Jarvis is ready for the show. It's just a matter of it being guided.
Tony takes another swallow of his scotch, and while the children are setting up for the show and tell, he's setting his glass down on the bar to be picked up and washed later. Soon enough, he's back and leaning next to Pepper, just behind her.
"Okay, she's cute. Jarvis, be home by midnight, and you can borrow the McLaren. But if you get a scratch on it, it's coming out of your allowance."
As the AI is brought up as a holo projection, Pepper actually gives a low groan, half rolling her eyes to the ceiling, "… I highly DOUBT he brought along his AI just to get your AI a hot date, Tony. She's…clearly here for business." Pepper thinks. Hopes. If this was some AI dating service, she really was going to break into Tony's scotch cabinet and finish a bottle tonight.
Star-Lord greets the image with a smile. "Babe," he repeats, but then sounds more businesslike, "I've brought you here to answer technical questions Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts may ask about the ship."
Milano says, "Of course, Peter." and rotates to face the other two.
Peter says, "Ok. Getting down to actual business, I wanted to follow up on that question of shielding tech from the disruptive emanations of a certain remarkable lady whose name I've said too many times already."
"Please. He's sensitive. He's not an AI. He's an AA." Tony lowers his voice theatrically and he 'hisses' at Pepper, "And he's our son." Clearing his throat, he calls out, "Mother didn't mean that, Jarvis."
If an Artificial construct could roll its eyes, Jarvis would be doing that at this very moment. At least, it can easily be heard in the intonation of his words, "I am only supplying the path so she can speak to you, sir." No, no date. No 'getting lucky' in the McLaren.
"That's 'Milano'.. oooooh," Tony nods and he bobs his head, "Okay. Definitely points." He wanders from the back of the couch and around, watching the hologram as she responds to Peter; the movements, the tenor of her voice and how she responds. Seems he's just as interested in her programming as in anything she might have to say about her answers. The date retrieval is child's play. It's this.. this right in front of him that he's interested in. Go figure!
"Yes." Tony points at Peter, nodding, his eyes never leaving the AI. "What is the containment area created out of? What is the alloy, and its properties?"
Scene was left incomplete and two of the players have since been rostered