16358/Brainstorming

Brainstorming
Date of Scene:	17 November 2023
Location:	Stark Tower: Workshop
Synopsis:	Tony gets some ideas from Pepper. She actually gets him to leave the workshop and eat.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Pepper Potts

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Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony's been in his workshop all day, which is nothing new. If he's not in the penthouse or on TV (as himself or Iron-Man) he can usually be found in his comfortable cocoon of technology. What is a little different is that he's had Homer open up the intercom up to the penthouse and asked Pepper to come down here. When she steps into the workshop, it looks about the same as it usually does, a bit cluttered with tools and materials. There's about four holo images of what look to be mechanical parts, as well as a couple of large drones hovering at the far end of the room.

    Looking over when he hears her come in, he reaches up to tap one of the holos so it stops moving and says "Good, I need to pick your brain. Oh, hang on.. Hi Pepper, how did your day go?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
When Pepper hits the Penthouse for the evening, it's not a given that she's done with working. Having offices all over the world means that meetings and communications can happen at any time, NY time, that is. Makes for happy subsidiaries when they don't have to conform to Eastern time zone.

Tonight, however, Pepper is actually off. No meetings are scheduled, though it's more in advance for the final quarter statement, the yearly statement filings for the Board, the shareholders, and eventually to be published to public record. So, she's dressed comfortably; yoga pants, a comfortably large t-shirt coving her frame. Catching the request, she leans forward to put her glass of green smoothie onto the coffee table, sets her laptop to the side, and acknowledges, "Coming."

Padding down the stairs, she an be seen looking into the workshop, even as she puts in the code for entrance. As the door slides open, brows rise as she approaches. Stopping by the table, she waits as Tony forms his questions, and smirks as he backpedals and starts over.

"Day was good, still going on." He needs encouragement! Now, she leans a hip against that table, and cants her head, "What do you need? About what?"

Tony Stark has posed:
    "I've been thinking about the stuff I was talking about after we collected Doctor Jekyll the other week." He points at the drones. "I've got two models of the light drones set up, one for the Avengers that uses an arc reactor and one for general sale that runs on normal electricity, one from batteries and one from an internal capacitor. I can get the sale ones to last for about 3 hours hovering and at full intensity." He picks up a small remote and hits a button and one of the drones lights up the end of the workshop brightly.

    Turning it back off, he puts the remote down. "You tend to be a little more grounded in the real world than I am, so tell me, what kinds of other things would actually help at scenes like that? I can build about anything, but I have to know what I'm aiming at."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper moves from leaning to a half-sit on the corner of a table, one hand down on tabletop. Red hair hangs down, and at the explanation, she bobs her head as she pulls some of wisps back to tuck behind an ear. Drones flying around the workshop, even the Penthouse, is a pretty common sight. Casting her gaze up, she looks consideringly at them, lips pressed in thought.

"I know they have ground robots for search and rescue, but maybe something that could give an IR picture in the air? So they don't have to rely on helicopters? Maybe something for communications in case people are on different channels? That happens a lot..." It's something she's very aware of when the Avengers are working with people outside the group; communication is key.

She shrugs soon after, and once she offers her piece, her attention comes right back down to her personal, in-house genius. Sliding off the table once more, she walks over and reaches out to put a hand on his arm, "It's hard to predict what's needed. They're very lucky to have you."

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony listens to Pepper's ideas, nodding once or twice. When she walks over to him, he grins and says "Well, be fair, everyone's lucky I'm around. Think what would have happened if I wasn't." He covers her hand with his own then leans in for a quick kiss. "And _I_ am lucky you're around. For many reasons."

    "Ok, I've been in a few spots with no cell signal, so I can see that as a major issue in some places. I can probably build a communication link into any of the drones, that's not something that needs to be big or heavy. And vision is easy, I can drop in an IR and Thermal camera. Probably have those on the market already now that I think about it. But I haven't seen a comms drone for coordinating multiple services, that would be a handy one. Would have helped in Hawaii back in August, I hear there were a number of communication problems that made things way worse."

    He nods his head, "Yeah, that one's a really good idea Pepper. That'll be the next project then." He looks around the workshop then asks, "How long was I in here this time anyway? I think the last time I ate.. " he looks around, then spots a plate with a half eaten sandwich on it. "Well, was a while ago, anyway."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper leans in to the kiss with a soft 'mmm', and lingers for a moment, looking into dark eyes. "Yes, yes you are." Her tones are a soft tease, "Glad I don't have to remind you anymore."

Settling back into the conversation, Pepper can easily follow this. Other topics? Not so much.

"It almost sounds like you need a coordinator in the sky," Pepper muses thoughtfully. She takes a half step back, leaning on a workshop chair. "Public sector, that'd be a 'no go'. For us? JARVIS? Maybe? Because multiple services would need different information on the same scene." Shaking her head, she exhales in a sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly. She's not defeated, just considering. "That would be something that they could use."

As for food? Pepper straightens again, that touch of disapproving that is coupled with concern graces her features. "You need to come up. I'll make something. If you want to come back down and play, you can do it after you eat. Deal?"

Tony Stark has posed:
    "But I just thought... " He visibly pulls himself back from plunging into a new project, fingers already twitching towards the nearest holotable and instead nods, "Sure, I can do that. It'd be nice to sit down for a little dinner and company. No offense HOMER, I mean physical company."

    A disembodied voice replies "None taken sir. Enjoy your meal."

    Tony reaches out to take Pepper's hand and says, "Ok, let's go. You know, you are pure hell on my project turnaround times. But on the plus side, human companionship and fairly regular meals, so I think your side is ahead on points."