El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Jul 3, 2015 17:55:55 GMT
The Stark Expo was a big event for Stark Industries. Technology companies from around the world came together to show off their accomplishments. It was a great way to drum up new business and make new connections - and that was just on the corporation side. The people who attended got to meet new people and get a general idea of the direction tomorrow’s technology was moving towards. For Pepper it meant her already busy days just got 10x busier.
Not that she really minded. While it meant more work in the short term their stock usually jumped up during/just after the expo and there was a renewed interest in everything Stark. In short, it was really good for business.There were all sorts of exhibits and performances to keep people entertained for days. Pepper made it a point to not read the schedule any more than she had to, she didn’t particularly want to know all the fun things happening at the Expo because something was bound to catch her eye and when she wound up working through it (usually accidentally) she was going to be upset. No, she much prefered to do what she needed to and catch bits and pieces here and there.
At the moment however she was focused on putting out a fire before it even began. Two of the vendors were squabbling about the set up. Pepper wasn’t entirely sure of the issue, if one of them was supposed to have access to a powerstrip and the other had it, if they’d accidentally switched booths, or if they were just making a fuss over nothing. However she was going to be proactive and pull out the layout chart along with their respective contracts.
Her phone made a quiet pinging noise alerting her to a message. What was it now? Opening her messages Pepper skimmed through the overly wordy text bumping open a door with her hip. Glancing up to make sure she wasn’t about to bump into anyone she was surprised to find she’d unintentionally barged into someone’s dressing room rather than the hallway she had been looking for.
”I’m so sorry,” Pepper apologized profusely slowly backing out of the room. It took a moment but the penny finally dropped and Pepper realized just who’s room she’d barged into. Oh. My. God. It wasn’t horribly often that Pepper became Star Struck but it had gotten her this time. She hoped it was because she hadn’t been expecting rather than suddenly losing all her manners.
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Jul 4, 2015 16:07:22 GMT
Stark paid through the nose to have her and the rest of Bedazzled at the Expo. And the money was nice, but honestly she probably would've done it for a fraction of the price. Even if her smarts was more on the anthropological side since she was really big on history, politics, culture and law, (and math and music, of course--part of composing), a geek was a geek. Being this close to so many shiny, prototype gadgets made her a little weak in the knees. Most of the stuff was beyond her, but thankfully the people at the booths didn't mind explaining the functions and purposes of their goodies for the most part.
The only area she knew her shit on were the cars. There was an entire gallery of prototype cars and new models that were going to premiere soon. Her toes curled as she looked them over. Holy hell! She'd always been a fan of the more classic crap, but man, if any of this shit was indicative of the immediate or imminent future, she'd have to throw in a few modern cars into her collection. A few of these would look real pretty next to that karmann ghia of hers, even if she rarely got to take the poor man's porsche for a spin.
After walking a lot of the expo she went back to the dressing room they'd set up for her. It was still a couple hours shy of the concert, but she really didn't like to wait until last minute. She'd never exactly been uber-femme in her day to day life. Makeup and all that shit was hard as fuck, and she'd only recently come to master the freakin' frustrating art. So the sooner she got the stage crap done, and set the bastard, the better.
The next twenty minutes were spent prepping her outfit. Wriggling into the clothes was easy enough. Putting all the makeup on her face? That was a bitch. Lipstick was easy enough, even with all that multifacted, layered, tonal thing that it had going. The hardest part, as always, was the eye makeup. No matter how many damn times she smeared on a pencil or a gel brush, she wanted to blink and flinch. And considering she had no problem whatsoever when other people did it, it was like she didn't trust her own fucking ability! Which... yeah, okay. Yeah. She wasn't the best at this.
Finishing up the smudged wing of the left eye, she nearly jumped out of her seat when someone barged into the room... and smudged the shadow up into her eyebrow towards her temple. "Son of a [bleep]!" What she said was a word so heinous that it was one of two words to merit an instant r-rating in movies. And it rhymed with 'punt'. Lips setting into a tight line, she jerked the smudge stick away and glowered at whoever it was through the mirror.
Oh. Oh. She knew her. Crap. Okay. She couldn't be all pissed off at Pepper. Well, she could be, and was, but still. But... Pepper was a bit more on the fem and composed side.
"What the hell, I'll let it slide." Ali rolled her shoulders after the other woman apologized. "You got much of a knack for this shit?" She motioned to her face, which became a disaster area in a fraction of a second.
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Jul 15, 2015 5:25:00 GMT
Pepper had been about to gracefully exit the dressing room when she realized just whose room she barged into. While she knew it would be polite for her to turn around and leave the same way she entered she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead she stood there half way in the room, halfway out, holding the door open. Pepper started at the rockstar slightly agog. It didn’t even register with her that the woman had used some choice words at her appearance.
In fact it took Pepper quite a bit longer than she would liked to have admitted to pull herself together. One look at Alison Blaire and all thoughts had simply fled her brain. Pepper wasn’t entirely sure why she had been struck dumb at the sight of the star. It wasn’t as if she didn’t meet high profile people every day. Granted a very small percentage of them were famous musicians - at least once from music she actually recognized - but Pepper was rather embarrassed at just how out of character this was for her.
Giving herself a mental shake Pepper pulled herself together. The middle of the Stark Expo was not the time for her to fall to pieces. Even if it was at the feet of one of her favorite singers. There would be time to fangirl over Bedazzled later - or so she hoped. Realizing she’d been asked a question Pepper stepped fully into the dressing room letting the door shut behind her. ”Ah, I’m a fair hand,” She replied crossing the short distance to where Ms. Blaire was sitting, all thoughts of her previous project forgotten with the prospect of being of assistance.
Pulling up a chair, she positioned herself in front of the younger woman making herself right at home. ”This will be a bit cold” Pepper said tugging a face wipe from a near by packet. Before even waiting for so much as an invitation or how you do, she used a corner of the wet wipe to tackle the disaster area. ”It’s lovely to meet you Ms. Blaire,” She said getting the last of the make up in the affected area. ”My name is Pepper, I’m the CFO for Stark Industries.” Introductions were probably not necessary, but seeing as how they had not formally met before Pepper figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
”I’m a big fan,” She couldn’t help but add, tossing the wipe into the trash. It was something the younger woman probably heard on a daily, if not hourly basis, but Pepper couldn’t help herself. She really wasn’t handling this encounter well was she. ”What effect are you going for?” Pepper asked silently hoping that focusing on the task at hand would prevent her from making an even bigger fool of herself.
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Jul 19, 2015 21:21:58 GMT
For a moment the rockstar just leered at the intruder like she were some kind of giant cockroach. A string of mental swears followed the verbal swears the flooded the room. Buuut as soon as she recognized Pepper she tried to regain her composure. Right. Lady. Super respectable, badass lady who was pretty much the number two at Stark Industries. The people that were paying her and the band to be at the Expo. Yeah. No glowering at your employer. Your very awesome, smart, savvy employer. Even if she fucked up your makeup.
Instead she kinda hoped that the other woman was a bit better with makeup than she was. She wasn't sure she had the patience to apply all that crap again without screaming and throwing something across the room. Yeah, as soon as she asked she realized it was kind of rude to ask, even if she was a little bit flustered and was mostly kidding.
"Shit. Uhm, I mostly meant it as a shitty-ass joke, I didn't actually--" Pepper came over, and Al stared at her for a moment. The closer she got, the prettier she became. Hot damn. She hoped she aged half as well as Pepper did. Maybe if she cut back on the smoking and the drinking... and was better about what she ate. And started applying moisturizers more regularly. Yeah, maybe then. "Second thought, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Thanks." The green-haired actress thanked her genuinely.
As soon as Pepper sat next to her, Ali tried to shake loose any lingering anxiety she had about meeting such an inspirational woman. She didn't want to start geeking out or asking about Stark Industries' recent charitable contributions or anything like that. So she just closed her eyes, ready to begin the cleansing process. Fortunately, having people's hands on her face was something she was used to after all the interviews and music videos and movies. "Yeah--" the rockstar's voice caught in her throat. "I can't believe I'm meetin' you, honestly. You're kinda one of my heroes. Not like a top ten, but top twenty for sure."
It seemed that the geeking out was mutual as Pepper explained that she was a fan, earning a broad grin from the closed-eyed Ali, who had a hard time not flustering and fidgeting at the statement. "Uhm, well, admittedly I'm kinda shit with this. But I was kinda thinkin' matchin' the right side would be good." The singer grinned, trying not to be too much of a smartass despite years and years of practice.
"What brought ya in here, anyway? Or is that confidential?"
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Jul 22, 2015 3:19:29 GMT
”I don’t mind,” Pepper said approaching the table where Ali had been applying her make up. ”It’s the least I could do for ruining it in the first place.” Which she felt really bad about. Makeup could be a pain - there was always more too it then there looked like contouring and shading that made the whole process even more complicated - and she had just barged in and messed it up. Being a fair hand with eyeliner Pepper was certain she could do a decent enough job to not embarrass either Ali or herself.
Grinning at Ali’s comment about not looking a gift horse in the mouth Pepper pulled a seat up.It was quite the surprise to learn that one of her favourite musicians also held her in high regard. That she had not expected. Pepper’s eyes widened slightly at the revelation. Thankfully she wasn’t so dumbstruck that her usual professionalism dropped and she did something unlady like, let staring open mouthed at the younger woman. She was able to leave some of her dignity intact.
Laughing softly Pepper picked up the tube of liquid eyeliner giving it a quick shake.. ”Probably a good idea. While asymetrical hair and clothes are all the rage now days I don’t think the trend has quite made it’s way to eyeliner yet.” Though the little wings at the corner of the eyes were really big now days. If done right they were not noticible but if done incorrectly or even just a little too big they could look a little silly. Squinting at Ali’s right eye Pepper looked over how she had done her make up in the hopes of recreating something similar.
”There is a door that leads to the back of house hallway around here and I’m afraid that I got so caught up on my cellphone that I walked through the wrong door.” She offered up ruefully unscrewing the cap to the eyeliner. ”I’m afraid it’s not anything overly exciting or confidential for that matter.”However she felt the outcome of her mishap was much more exciting than what she had originally planned. Liquid eyeliner looked so much nicer than the pencil but it took a finer hand to apply. Biting her lip she did her best to apply the eyeliner. Sitting back, Pepper closed up the small tube and looked over her handiwork. ”What do you think? Does it pass muster?”[./color]
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Jul 23, 2015 2:24:51 GMT
Even though Pepper said she didn't mind, Al still felt like a putz for bringing it up, joking or not. This woman was one of the biggest names in the international business world. You didn't just corral that kind of woman into fixing your makeup, joking or not. "Still, you probably got... fuck. Like, what? A thousand things t'do? So..." she trailed off, licking her stained lips absentmindedly. Thank god for the invention of lip stains, otherwise the damn makeup would be smudged well before the show. "Well, I guess I'm tryin'a say thanks. I really appreciate it." She kept the gushing to a relative minimum, and thankfully it only kinda registered in her voice.
Then things got quiet. Al kinda wondered if her confession bollocksed everything up. Yeah. Maybe that was awkward. Top twenty heroes thing? Not exactly something she probably should've admitted. How often was Pepper gushed over? Probably not as often as she deserved. It wasn't like she was out there soaking up all the lime light like her boss was. "Shit. Sorry if I made things awkward." The singer grimaced.
Al shook her head. "Hair, I get. A love a good side or under cut. Half considered goin' that way myself. But the clothes?" What was with asymmetrical clothes? "Looks like everyone popped straight out of a JRPG." One full sleeve and a sleeveless side? Yeah, made perfect sense if your left arm was fatter than the right and you were trying to hide that with silhouette. Not that she was exactly the best person when it came to fashion to begin with. Her style was always a little bit more masculine, edgy or laid back. Not exactly the stuff that was seen strutting the run way.
"What, really? No way." Al's eyebrows rose up. "Not unless Tony bought this whole damn convention center an' refurbished part of the interior t'a livin' space." And even then, why would she live out in DC when Stark Industries seemed to be operating out of New York these days? Grinning a bit, she shook her head, figuring Pepper was joking. "Just highly improbable." The younger woman grinned and took the tube of liquid liner back from the pale-skinned red head.
Turning back towards the mirror, Ali looked over her reflection and scrutinized it for a moment. "Yeah, looks great. Might even be better than my side." The style matched pretty solidly, too. Which meant she could go onto the shadow, which she promptly began. "Okay, so, I gotta ask, an' I'm sure you've heard this all the time," the rockstar paused after a flourish of copper shadow. "What's the status on the arc-reactor? Stark Industries likes t'drum itself up as a big name in Green Energy, but I haven't seen a whole lot of ground movement on that."
So, maybe she had a problem not discussing politically geared things. Woops.
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Jul 26, 2015 1:28:33 GMT
There were always a million things that Pepper could be doing. She was a work-a-holic who had a hard time comprehending the concept of downtime. Even when she was at home enjoying a quiet evening in she could often be found poring over some documents she brought home with her or combing through her emails. She had a problem. But despite having a laundry list of things that need to be accomplished at any point in time Pepper became rather good at being able to set them aside for a short period of time – when nothing pressing was going on of course.
[color-blue]”At this point the Expo is pretty much self-sufficient.”[/color] All the major aspects had long since been taken care of. Most of what she had been doing was addressing small concerns before they could balloon into much bigger ones. And with this many people in one spot? It didn’t take much for people to make mountains out of molehills.
Asymmetrical hair wasn’t for her, but that was the joy of beauty. While she might not have any desire to shave part of her head, she could admire the style on others. If done correctly it look really good. She did have to agree there weren’t many good styles in asymmetrical clothes though. ”Do you remember the dresses that were significantly longer in the back then the front? I have never been so happy to see a style go out of fashion before.’ Everyone had looked like they’d decided to wear a cape or like they had forgotten to finish getting dressed. It had been a constant reminder of just how much of a perfectionist she could be. With luck that style would not be making a comeback any time soon.
Pepper couldn’t help but laugh. ”The doors all look very similar and I think I over shot my destination by about two doors.” This is the kind of thing that happened when you didn’t pay attention to your surroundings. Pepper just smiled. There was no doubt that she did all kinds of confidential stuff – there just wasn’t anything at this moment. No matter, if it entertained Ali to imagine Pepper running off to do something uber confidential by all means, she wouldn’t burst the other woman’s bubble.
However she didn’t have to worry much about that as the conversation took a different turn. Ali had question for her. Pepper mentally braced herself. She just knew it was going to be something about the Avengers. Yes she saw her fair share of them, no she didn’t give up information on their daily lives, no she wouldn’t discuss if Tony was naked under his suit, and no she didn’t know if Cap preferred boxers or briefs. Some of the questions people came up with could be really invasive but the ones asking the questions either didn’t realize it or didn’t care.
But the rockstar’s question had nothing to do with the Avengers. Not quite understating the question for a moment Pepper blinked at the other woman. Oh! The arc reactor. That was something she would be more than willing to answer. ”Historically there has been a lot of push back on anything that looks like it could take away profits from the oil mongers. While we have the set up and the technology to mass produce the reactor and met a serious amount of green energy on the grid we’ve opted to take it slow. Right now we’re going a couple of test runs in a few areas and have been trying to perform extensive research on anything concerns that might be used to stop the project once it really it gets going.”
Oddly enough the answer “Well Tony lived with it stuck in his chest for years and he’s fine” was not valid proof about the safety of the product. They had also opted to take things slowly in the hopes of tricking the oil lobbyist into thinking a green energy initiative from a former weapons manufacture was not likely to get off the ground. The hope was that if they played everything close to their chest for the time being they could get all their ducks in a row so when the great reveal came, and they moved to flood the market with green energy, the oil companies will have discovered they did too little too late. The plan didn’t come without risks but if everything went according to plan, they would take the market by storm.
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Jul 28, 2015 4:33:34 GMT
"Right. Should've guessed things'd be runnin' smoother than a fresh shaved set'a legs." It was Stark Industries, after all. And more importantly, Pepper Potts. From what she could tell the woman was the reason that things went as well as they did for the company. Without her Al was damn sure the whole thing would go belly up. How it didn't for the two years she'd been working at Oracle, Inc (now that was something she'd love to talk about), was beyond her. Maybe Pepper managed to hire herself a good replacement.
"Ugh, don't even remind me. Granted, I'm not exactly a fashion icon." In some circles she'd been seen as a sex symbol, in part because of the serious curves she had going for her, but that wasn't exactly the mainstream opinion. It was all the tats--and the gauges. "I mean, a lot'a the time most'a what I bust out don't go over too good with the Red Carpet community. But when lopsided dresses get all the praise, I'm fuckin' glad t'be outta the damn loop." In general she wasn't really one for dresses, though. Sometimes she could manage a skirt... sometimes. But she was more about shorts and pants and things that didn't feel like they'd be snagged on the first loose nail.
Okay. Well, that explanation she could believe, at least. She didn't think the other woman had squirreled away an entire apartment in the middle of the convention center. But overshooting her destination because all the damn doors looked the same? Yeah, that was legit.
"True." The singer nodded at that. "But Tony isn't some poor-ass inventor down on his luck. He's a fuckin' billionaire, an' doesn't have t'worry 'bout his patents bein' snatched up an' buried. An' he an' his company are two'a the richest individuals in the respective fields." The green-haired woman gesticulated. "But yeah, the push back'll be immense. An' waitin' t'see 'bout all the side-effects is good. 'Specially considerin' what the buildin' did in NYC." All things considered, even if it wasn't as ambitious or as quick as she would personally like, she seemed satisfied with the answer.
"I also have heard you've worked for a certain controversial political figure. Feel like havin' some girl talk while we grab a bite?" It seemed like she was running into a lot of people who knew Namor lately. And since politics were her chief interest after music, she'd love to pick Pepper's brain. And maybe try and get some of her stances on the Mutant and Superhuman Registration Act legislation that was working through the system. Someone as powerful as Pepper and Stark could have a lot of leeway with the inherently corrupt field of politics.
Coming to a stand, Al threw herself another glance in the vanity and seemed satisfied that she wasn't a train wreck. Coming to the door, she opened it and locked eyes with Pepper, continuing her thought from before. "My treat."
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Jul 29, 2015 19:02:26 GMT
Pepper had to say she had never heard that comparison before but she rather liked it; but there was something to be said for a freshly shaved pair of legs. Despite shaving being a constant necessity there was still something luxurious about how they felt after a fresh shave. Maybe it had something to do with the shaving cream. Or just the feeling of a job well done. She was going to have to remember that comparison, not that she would probably have the opportunity to use it.
”I don’t know, from what I can tell you have bit of a fashion following yourself.” Imitation was the sincerest form of flattery and it seemed like rock stars were never lacking for people who wished to copy their style. Thankfully that was not something she had to worry about in the business world. Then again she didn’t think there would be many men who would be willing to done a pencil skirt and heels for a board meeting.
”The red carpet community has a very fixed idea of what is fashionably acceptable to wear and if you’re going to deviate away from their pre-agreed standards you have to either have long since established yourself for being eccentric or have enough money that no one cares.” Or both. Pepper rather enjoyed following fashion, it was fascinating how trends changed year after year and how the strangest things could make a comeback. This being said that didn’t mean she adhered to everything the fashion world dictated. Like chevron – it looked good as a pattern on through pillows or the odd chair but she did not want an entire dress made out of the pattern.
”He does have more money than he knows what to do with,” Pepper agreed dryly. ”And unfortunately there’s also a history of people trying to replicate his work without knowing all the specs and wind up creating problems; though hopefully there will be less casualties then there were when the Iron Man suit first started circulating.” Not to mention the fact that people were probably going to attempt to weaponized the reactor. And Pepper could just see that attempt going horribly, horribly wrong.
For a brief moment Pepper wondered who the controversial political figure Ali mentioned was; but given her work history there was only one person it could really be. It couldn’t be AIM, they had done their fair share of controversial work but she had worked for them another life time ago. It wasn’t Tony that was for sure. While he could be controversial at times her association with him was old news. That left one other person – Namor. And this conversation had just taken another turn she hadn’t expected.
”Well since it’s your treat…” Pepper laughed. ”How could I turn down an offer like that? We can order lunch from the staff room it will be a little quieter.” Pepper usually ate her meals either on the go or tucked away with a few other members in one of the room set aside for the use of the staff. It wasn’t the most elegant of settings – a conference room with boxes stashed everywhere – but it was quiet and neither of them would have to worry about people coming up and pressing them for their undivided attention. Plus the hotel delivered the food hot and ready much faster to the room than they did at the restaurant.
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Jul 31, 2015 8:03:34 GMT
"Yeah! Can you fuckin' believe it?" The natural blonde grinned wide, combing back her voluminous green hair with her fingertips so the majority was back over her shoulders. "I mean, I didn't invent the goth, rockabilly or biker slut look, but puttin' 'em together? Might been the first on that. Think they call it 'Grub' which is so damn precious I could pinch the tabloiders right on the cheeks." It had originally been an insult. A lot of those fashion-leaning whatever shit-rags cried 'Goth Rockabilly Biker Slut' to one of her early red carpet appearances. And then another article took to calling it grub and her grubby, and bam! Next thing she knew she had taken to the insult and wore it like a badge of honor.
And the fact that someone looked at her style and went 'hey, I kinda like that' enough to follow it? While that was damn cool. Especially with all the negative press she normally got for her ensemble.
"I'd say more money than God, but the barely-still-Catholic in me would get kinda upset at the comparison," Al grinned, flashing her pearly whites. "Yeah, about that." The rockstar began, locking eyes with the other woman, who was just amazing looking despite her age. Really. The girl-crush in her was threatening to turn into a regular crush. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Pepper wasn't enough of an asshole to appeal to her type. "How is it that they keep gettin' access? I mean, it'd be one thing if some of your engineers or technical whatevers got their hands on it." She shrugged. No real preventing them from looking at the specs, right? "But ya got these weird-ass, basement dwellin', mad-scientist types that somehow get inta your system. I mean, I think your system would be as complicated as your tech itself?" There was more genuine curiosity there than there was anything insulting. She wasn't trying to put the company down, or find a weakness to exploit. She was just genuinely curious.
Letting Pepper lead the way to the staff room, Al situated herself in some of the over plush furniture, which she complimented. Seriously. Place had some pretty nice kicks for being the staff room. A lot of people liked to skimp on the behind-the-scenes areas. But not them. Sitting in one of the armchairs gave her ass just the perfect amount of cushion, and she had a hard time not sinking into it and just disappearing. Fortunately the growl of her stomach reminded her what she was doing, and she'd taken to ordering from a steak delivery place. The staff room had a lot of delivery cards and menus, and steak seemed to be one they could both agree on. Once their orders were made, she twisted back around to Pepper, tucking her legs under herself while she plopped her elbows on the arm chair, one hand cradling her face. In general, she looked like an excited schoolgirl.
A very heavily made up schoolgirl, but an excited one.
"So, while you were over at Oracle, Inc, did you guys talking international relations? Or, uhm! Green energy plans? I know that's a big thing for 'im! Oh! Or civil law in Atlantis? I always wondered how that worked. An' the friggin' political system, for that matter. An absolute monarch with... elections on the lower ends? What the hell is that about?" Before she could continue, the singer seemed to have a sudden realization and looked rather sheepish. "Hahah, whoops. Got carried away there with the... uh, girl talk." Because this was her idea of girl talk.
What did that say about her?
"Uhh, actually, let's skewer that whole... uninterestin'... political stuff. Tell me about you."[/font[
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Aug 21, 2015 5:19:15 GMT
Having one’s style called ‘Grub’ sounded absolutely horrid. Wasn’t that just another word for dirt? And there was nothing dirty about Ali’s appearance in the slightest. While her style was certainly unique, it all looked to be well washed and thoughtfully put together. And while it might not be something Pepper would wear ever it worked just fine for the younger woman and all her followers. Wasn’t that one of the perks of being a rock star? You got to set some outlandish fashion trends? But then again, there was always going to be that one person who tried to bring down the happiness of others.
”I don’t think I’ve ever heard it called Grub before.” To be fair though she had not talked to very many Dazzler fans as their fan base tended to be younger than women in their 40s. Not that there was anything wrong with that; it was more that Pepper was rarely in an environment where 20 somethings could be found. If she had she would have probably long since heard the woman’s distinctive style likened to “Grub”. ”Oh don’t ever let him hear that.” Pepper said pulling a face. ”His ego is already big enough that he should have a hard time entering a building. He doesn’t need to hear his wealth is greater than God’s.” Knowing Tony he would probably have a field day with that.
The woman had a good question about how the particulars kept getting out to the competitors. ”It’s not so much corporate espionage as it is people trying to piece together bits of a puzzle. Now if someone came out with a perfectly working ARC reactor then I’d be concerned that someone at Stark Industries was leaking secrets but since people are getting close but not quite reaching their objective that tells us that they’re pulling whatever information they can possibly get and applying the different combinations until something sticks.” Kind of like a hit a miss. Someone with a mechanical engineering background could look at a bit of technology and get a basic idea as to how it would work, but if they then figured out there was a component they would never have thought to add located inside of it, well it would be easy enough to make the necessary arrangements.
”The biggest issue we’ve been facing is the balance between transparency and corporate secrecy. Obviously since this is a bit of technology the world has never seen before we’re reluctant to give out any information on its specs. However since people are inherently suspicious of green energy we have to give out some information to the public to ensure that it is indeed safe and won’t poison people in their sleep. However that means people who do this for a living then have a clearer idea on how we’re making the reactor. ” Or at least a general direction to start working on. It was frustrating but unfortunately it was all a part of the game.
Securely tucked away in the comforts of the Staff Room and their food on the way, Pepper couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden barrage of questions. They came at her one after the other and she only hoped she could remember them all in order to answer them.
”We didn’t so much discuss International Relations. While it’s fascinating I can’t say that’s where my area of expertise lies.” She also hadn’t wanted to say anything that would show off her ignorance or make her sounds uninformed. Besides she had been hired for the business side of things, not to advise him in how to best rule his country. ”There was some discussion of green energy. As it’s still a relatively young market there’s not a whole lot of completion at the moment and Oracle takes great pride in giving back to the environment.”
What else had Ali asked about? Oh yeah the monarchy. ”It is an absolute monarchy” She agreed. ”But from what I can tell if the monarch starts acting in a way that puts his people into danger then the council is able to step in and force the king to step down.” From what she heard Namor was much stronger than the average Atlantean so while the idea of the multiple members of the council being able to take down a single individual who acted in a manor they didn’t agree with, something told her they would have a hard time ousting Namor if it ever came down to that. But then again maybe she was just biased. Or maybe she had remembered the whole process incorrectly. For all she knew she could have it horribly wrong.
Pepper laughed when Ali mentioned shelving the “uninteresting political stuff.” She wouldn’t have spouted off so many questions one right after the other if she truly found it uninteresting but okay, Pepper would play along. ”There’s not really much to say. I was born in Connecticut, moved to New York as soon as I was able, landed a job at Stark Industries, took a small sabbatical to work for Oracle industries, and now I’m working for Mr. Stark again.” There were a few bits and pieces missing here and there but that was the overall gist of it.
”I’m fairly certain your career is much more interesting. How many platinum albums have you had now?” She teased but then curiosity quickly got the better of her. ”What made you decide you wanted to join the music industry.” It was always interesting learning why people decided to follow their passions as a career vs just a hobby.
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Aug 23, 2015 7:28:10 GMT
"I'm kinda surprised he can fit in already." She sniggered at the thought. "I kinda imagine the roof'a that tower'a yours as bein' on hinges. So it can open right up an' he can be air lifted in, ego an' all." Maybe it wasn't that bad, although from what she'd seen it was pretty bad. Couldn't blame him, though. If she were a billionaire genius she might feel a little good about herself, too. Even if she had a penchant for being a jackass, like he did. Kinda hard to make out what was the truth, though. Press liked to do anything for a story. Maybe he was a sweetiepie--hahaha, couldn't even finish that one. She'd seen too many unedited interviews with the guy.
"That's somethin', at least. Kinda scary they're gettin' so damn close with stabs 'n the dark before the patents become public access." Well, at least as far as she knew no patents for the ARC reactors had been put forth, anyway. And Pepper kinda confirmed that. "Which means schmoes can get their hands on it first 'r somethin' real close an' put forward'a patent t'screw you outta the market." She nodded. "What happened if they managed t'build an' exact replica? 'R did manage t'get their hands on the legit plans? How does international business law work on that if a foreign corporation was responsible?" Admittedly, for as much of a law geek as she was, she wasn't really sure about a lot of corporate law. Or international corporate law. Who got tried where? Could they even be held responsible? And the world was definitely becoming more and more international in the age of rapid communication.
"No international politics at all?" She almost sounded glum. "Eh, can't blame a girl for tryin'." She wasn't really surprised, though. The guy seemed kinda rigid, and maybe he compartmentalized everything to deal. Like a 'ruler of Atlantis' mode and a 'dealing with stupid mortal scum' mode or whatever the hell. "D'you think him an' Tony'll go head t' head over the Green Energy thing? 'R will they cooperate?" The singer's brow arched in curiosity. Neither seemed like the cooperating type, but since the environment was part of King Fish's shtick and Tony was trying to turn a new leaf, maybe they'd back off? Or team up for the greater good?
"That's good. At least they have a safety net in place if he starts actin'... worse than usual." Come to think of it, how bad did King Fish have to act to get the hammer brought down? He'd already invaded the earth once and not a peep. Unless he crushed all resistance back home and no one found out about it. Seemed like a possibility since it wasn't like Atlanteans were coming up to the surface for tea time with humans. But then again, given their position, maybe all of them were on board and rah-rahing over the death of all humanity or some crap.
"How'd you land a job with Stark Industries? Where'd ya start off at?" She followed up, curious to see how far Pepper had risen through the ranks. "Where'd you go t'school?" That seemed like a good place to start the follow ups. She was also curious about who hired her, and what the interview process was like, but that was all small-scale stuff. Al was contemplating future questions after the next round of answers when the conversation turned to her. Oh.
"Uhhh... four? Yeah." Took her a minute. It had been three for a long time before their first album ended up being retroactively bumped up after the success of the others. The next question was a bit trickier, but she decided to honestly follow up. "I always had a lotta pressure on me t'succeed when I was a kid. Music was somethin' I picked up along the way in middle school, an' became a get away. At first, mostly a hobby, then I got more an' more serious'n when the time came t'go t'law school, I decided... screw it. I liked law an' politics, but that was my dad's dream for me. Not mine. So I became full-time with the music thing, an' here I am."
Post by z inactive pepperpotts on Sept 4, 2015 21:36:04 GMT
”He actually does something fairly similar to that.” Pepper said thinking about the helipad that was attached to the penthouse on the tower. While it was primarily used as a landing for his suits it had occasionally ferried him in via helicopter a few times as well. And the penthouse did have vaulted ceilings… The more she thought about it the funnier it got. Not that Tony didn’t have reason to have a big ego, the man was brilliant after all, but sometimes she wanted something to come a long deflate it a bit every now and then. Just when he got truly insufferable.
”Yeah, it can be a little worrisome.” She always hated when a product that was similar to one of their was unveiled. Particularly because if things went horribly, horribly wrong with the knock off it the public would still link that failure to them. Not fair, but that was the way the collective worked. ”We’re not too horribly worried about a company putting out a patent on any of this if they come up with a working prototype for a few different reasons. Even if they do patent a design they will most likely had a different design entirely and all we would have to do is prove there are enough differences between our product and theirs in order to keep marketing it.” Which had been easy enough to do in the past. Stark Industries had revamped many of the smaller components that went into its technology that differed from the industry standard.
”Recently technological companies have stopped using the patent office. While a company could sue another company within the country and get reparations for sealing their patent that doesn’t apply to international countries. Some countries like the UK and France have laws in places for companies within their boarders who get caught and others such as China make their living off corporate espionage. Many countries find it a better use of their time and money to keep the blueprints in house and simply work on better security. It’s not infallible but thankfully instances where technological blueprints have been stolen are few and far between.” Hackers usually went for the easy money - banks, finance companies, or anything regarding finance information.
Pepper nearly couldn’t stop herself from laughing at how crestfallen the other woman looked when she had informed her international politics hadn’t been discussed during her time at Oracle. Who know the rockstar had such a love for politics? Pepper found this side of the younger woman absolutely fascinating. ”While they both might have similar goals in the green energy arena the two of them are going to clash. They’re far too alike to not.” Both of them would have hated to hear that comparison, quite a bit, but it was true. They were both extremely proud men who were well aware of their self worth. They also both had visionary ideas to change the world for the better and the money and power to put those changes into effect.
”I’m not entirely sure what made my resume stand out in what was probably a stack of hundreds of other applications. I was only a year or two out of college at the time, and had virtually no experience, but they took a chance on me. I started off in the accounting department, the position was entry level if I remember correctly, or something close to that.” It had been so long that Pepper couldn’t quite remember what she had been doing in accounting. Maybe billing of some sort. ”As for schooling, I got MBA from Stanford.”
Four platinum records? That was quite impressive! ”The world would be a very different place had you decided to go to law school. Have you decided to champion any causes of your own? With a world wide name like yours I’m sure you could effect some real change if you decided to throw your weight behind some cause or another.”
Post by Z inactive alisonblaire on Sept 6, 2015 6:02:52 GMT
"Yeah?" The rocker replied, genuinely amused. "Color me surprised." Yep, there was nothing genuine in that statement. It kinda dripped sarcasm. Still didn't have a strong opinion of the billionaire one way or the other, but you had to be deaf and blind not to know that Tony had a serious ego thing. One that made her look humble in comparison. And while she wasn't even close to the biggest head in Hollywood, she probably have more self-confidence than most.
"That makes a whole lot of sense." Al replied back. "Especially since the patent laws lately have gotten so bad. Heard you can put somethin' real vague out 'n' do the shotgun effect, 'n' people are makin' a killin' that way even if they don't actually put nothin' forward 'n' just the idea itself." She didn't know how accurate that was, but one of the law blogs she followed suggested that it was a serious problem. Like if you lived in a world devoid of squirt guns, someone could put in 'gun that shoots water' and bring their patent to every squirt gun manufacturer in the country, no matter how varied the designs. The broad-based concept would win the suit in most cases. And yeah, with international laws being what they were... it kind of made sense, she guessed.
At the comparison, the green haired woman nodded. She hadn't met either, so that seemed plenty fair to her. And they certainly... uh... conducted themselves similarly in some regards. "Yeah, can't say I'm surprised. Both of 'em got a hyper inflated sense of self thing goin' for 'em. 'N' both seem pretty damn stubborn. 'N' smart, in their respective ways." Obviously unless Namor was keeping his tech genius to himself. But from what she'd heard of some of his strategies in the war and during his period of invasion, he at least seemed good with tactics. And he was running a company. Both of them seemed to have a mind for business by extension. But yeah, odds were good Tony was definitely the brighter mind in the room.
Child prodigy from a genius and reared in the kind of wealth that could buy the world's finest education a thousand times over.
"Wow. Standford, huh? Not too shabby." And hearing that Pepper worked her way all the way up from accounting was pretty damn impressive. "Gotta say, the fact that ya work your way up all the way from there just makes me like you more." She grinned. Who ever said not to meet your hero? That was a crock of crap. It was paying off great for her.
"Well, I've already been kinda public on the treatment of Mutants. In general I'm more of a social causes, human rights kinda girl. There's a lotta shit that needs fixin', but just gettin' people t'treat each other like fuckin' people would be a good start." Race, sex, mutation, sexual orientation, gender identity. Just getting all of those things addressed would be a big enough undertaking as it was. Did other things need addressing? Absolutely. But that seemed like a good place to start.
And, to her surprise, food showed up. "Wow, that was fast." Taking the food for both of them, she thrust a Benjamin the guy's way, more than covering the bill. "Keep the change." Heading back, she put out the food on the table and dug in. She was gonna be quiet for a good while because she was pretty sure Pepper was enough of a lady that she wouldn't stand for talking with a full mouth. But hey, they were off to a pretty damn good start so far. "Smells good!"
dat political geekery
