184/Thrown Hands

Thrown Hands
Date of Scene:	29 February 2020
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Diana visits Tony to discuss his presidential bid. Fast food is eaten, hands are thrown, and a computer quotes the Simpsons.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Diana Prince

---

Tony Stark has posed:
Since Tony's announcement that he would be running for President, getting a meeting with him has become next to impossible. Hour after hour is spent in discussion with legal experts, campaign strategists, and publicists who all want to hitch their wagon to his star. Only the Daily Planet managed to secure an interview so far, and it was relatively brief.

But there's always room for the Princess of Themyscira. Tony made a point of moving a few things around to ensure there were a couple hours in the middle of his day where Diana could stop by and visit without the rush of campaign helpers flowing about. One whole floor of Stark Tower has been turned into a headquarters for the effort, and already the lobby is (tastefully) plastered with posters of Tony Stark looking like a visionary with the words 'Stark 2020' written beneath.

The penthouse itself is empty, the man himself sitting on the sofa with an Iron Man gauntlet resting on his lap. He pokes at it with a set of thing, metal manipulators and squints critically across at a display screen set up on the coffee table that shows a plethora of rising and falling numbers alongside a bar graph.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana parked her car in the Tower's secure parking facility and she was met by one of Stark's employees who she roamed through the election center level on a small tour with before coming up to where Tony is now in the Penthouse. When she steps out of the elevator she's wearing a black leather jacket with the sleeves unizpped up to her mid forearms. Beneath the jacket she has on a low scooped neckline shirt in white and loose on her torso. Her lower half is wearing a pair of black slim fit jeans and a pair of small wedge healed leather shoes. Her hair tied back into a pony tail the Princess looks rather casual, but still fancy and stylish.

She finds Tony in short order and she pauses across the room from him with her fingertips resting inside the pockets on the hips of her jeans. She smiles at him and his gauntlet. "You look like a man trying to distract himself." The Greek accented woman says across to the man as she starts to walk toward him now, her shoes clicking softly on the hard surface of the floor beneath them. She has a smile on her dark red painted lips, a smile for him. "Are you already regretting your announcement?" She teases.

Tony Stark has posed:
"That's a distraction," Tony gestures towards the television that is running yet another 'Stark 2020' story sandwiched between coverage of the Genosha disaster, "I know exactly what this is. This is focus."

He turns the gauntlet around, slipping his hand into it and watching as the metallic shell seals into a tight fit. He wiggles his fingers then holds it out towards the window, palm flat. The repulsor on the palm glows momentarily then fades away with a dying whir, causing him to frown and pull the thing off. Once again it is placed in his lap, a small circuit board plucked out so he can take to it with the soldering iron.

"I saw your interview on tv," he tells her, only now glancing up from his work, "I was expecting you to take a 'we are pointedly neutral in this election' stance like King Kitten. Hell of a friend, that guy."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana watches the impressive technology work in the hands of its creator. She takes slow steps toward him until she's standing just out of arm's reach. She wonders for a moment what that kind of armor would be like to actually wear and use, or what her people might do with technology that... modern but also so impressive.

Its his words that draw her eyes from the gauntlet back to him and she places her left hand upon her hip while her right just hangs at her side. She grins down at him. "I did not take a neutral stance?" She questions him. "All I said is that you would be dedicated to the protection and preservation of this great country. And you would be."

Diana then turns and sits down on the sofa beside him, a few butt-spaces down though of course. She looks over at him with the ambient light from outside shining on the left side of her face. "I am unable to vote in the election, there for staying who I would vote for seems without point." She shows a slight grin to him then.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I know," Tony tells her, setting the gauntlet down upright on the coffee table so the hand clutches emptily at the air, "I was surprised. I was expecting you to take one. You've got a soft spot for me after all, huh?"

He leans forward on the sofa, elbows resting on his knees as Diana sits down alongside him. His hands clasp before him, the soldering iron and other tools still scattered across the table. He looks towards the television screen for a moment as it turns to celebrity gossip and he rolls his eyes, "HOMER, shut that off."

The television flicks off and he turns his attention back towards Diana: "I'm actually expressing gratitude here. I know it's a bit off-brand for me."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's hands are on the tops of her knees and her forearms resting on top of her thighs. Her eyes go from the shiny gauntlet on the table now over to him as they look to one another and she just provides him with a little soft and friendly smile. Her dark eyebrows raise just a little and then she shakes her head and looks to the tv he'd just commanded to be off.

"I had been... hearing a lot of negative things said about you." She admits. "'Click bait' type things, and I think that they were wearing thin on my nerves some. I wanted to put a message out there, even if a small one, that you are more to this country than most could ever dream of being." She looks back to him. "You are a guardian of this country and you place your life on the line to preserve the safety of it, and those within it, daily. Everyone /knows/ this, but sometimes I think it needs to be spoken."

"Of course, I took some heat for it, but... so be it. I am not a native of this country, all I can do is share my viewpoints as I see them. I stand behind what I said though."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Eh," Tony waves a hand dismissively at the air, as though telling the zeitgeist to go away, "That's how it always is. There hasn't been a 'perfect' president since Washington, and they'll always make sure everyone knows it. One of the campaign goons said it best - you don't eat a salad because it tastes good, you eat it because it's the best option. Speaking of ... "

He leans back behind the couch, stretching an arm down behind it to produce a paper Burger King bag. He deposits it on the table, reaching both hands in to find whatever is inside. A couple of cheeseburgers, once of which he lays out before Diana, and a large fries.

"Breakfast - " he begins, before glancing at the watch on his wrist, "Late lunch of champions. Bon appetite."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's posture is straight and perfect where she's perched on the edge of the sofa. Her eyes go to follow him as he reaches back and produces a fast food bag that just makes a smile form on her lips and then a light laugh as he settles them both a selection of food. "How thoughtful of you!" She says to the eccentric businessman. "Thank you." She reaches a hand out for the burger and sits a little more adjusted to consume the meal. Sampling a French fry first she smiles. "I admittedly do not eat this stuff very often. Though, it is quite delicious..."

After another fry and a sampling of the sandwich Diana reaches for one of the napkins and dabs at her lips before she glances sidelong over to Tony. "Can I ask you something with regard to it?" She doesn't wait for a yes or a no. "I am curious what lead you to do such a thing. I had not ever heard any political aspirations come from you, but I guess ... we haven't spent /that/ much time together either."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Don't give me too much credit," Tony tells her, unwrapping the greasy paper from around the burger he holds in his hands, "They were both for me, but Happy reminded me there's a physical fitness quotient to this whole president thing."

Tony takes a much less refined bite of his own burger, cheeks swelling a little as he chews the contents down while leaning forward on his elbow. His eyes wander to Diana and, finishing the bite, he gestures at her and says: "I didn't think anyone could make B.K. look like a state dinner with the Queen, but here we are."

When he hears the question, he takes another bite of the burger to give himself a little thinking time. He stares thoughtfully towards the window, out past the balcony and the sprawling cityscape of Manhattan below.

"Everyone's asking the same thing," he says finally, "Assuming it's a prank or that I haven't thought this through. I think things through. I have a skill a lot of these people lack - the ability to see the way the wind is blowing. Thirty years ago the idea of aliens was science fiction? Now they live here. Outside of people like you and Rogers, 'super heroes' were cartoons and comic books. Now I look out my window and see kids flying past, swinging from rooftop to rooftop."

He puts the half-eaten burger down on the paper, turning more fully to face Diana: "We're a society moving in a lesser gear. We need a political shift. We need people who know, rather than just think they know. We need to prepare for whatever the next great leap forward is going to be."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana shows him a brief smile as she's enjoying her sandwich and does make it look far too refined a process than anyone should, she practically is one step away from using a fork and knife to eat the burger. After using the napkin again she smiles down at the sandwich after hearing his response. She shakes her head to it.

"I would never presume to think that you had not thought it through." She nods her head toward that gauntlet on the table. "That one singular invention that you have right there before us, is more technologically advanced than arguably any device ever created by man has ever been before." She glances over to him then, a serious expression on her finely sculpted features. "And /you/ made it. Not a team of research and development scientists. Not a 'super computer'. You made that, Anthony Stark. Alone. That... screams about your level of 'thinking things through' to a degree few of us on this planet could comprehend."

She shows a small smile then as her brown eyes glance back down to the burger and she shakes her head. "I can lift an airplane, or toss a tank..." She nods toward the glove again. "I could not make that."

Another fry is raised up to her lips for her to sample upon it and she smiles around it while chewing with her red lips properly sealed. Once she swallows she shakes her head. "My concern for you, however, is that you... from my observations... prefer to work alone. Which is not something Presidents are given much freedom to do. From my understanding at least."

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony reaches up a hand to tap the side of his nose with a finger, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head: "Better off letting everyone think I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Makes people sleep a little easier while I'm up hear wearing one of the country's nuclear deterrents as a dinner suit."

He gestures towards the gauntlet as well, unable to resist picking it up and turning it over in his hands. One of the external pieces is flicked away by his thumb, and he immediately begins to examine the innermost workings of the device.

"And with this I can lift and airplane or toss a tank," he says without looking up from the work, "Maybe that's why we're best friends?"

His own words prompt a half-grin, the corner of his mouth ticking up as he makes another miniature adjustment using nothing more than his hands.

"I've worked with the Avengers," he says, almost too quickly, "Admittedly not always to our mutual satisfaction. But sacrifices have to be made. If I need to explain myself to make up for the slow guy in the back who still isn't convinced the Earth isn't flat, I'll do it. Hold this."

He practically dumps the gauntlet In Diana's lap, climbing up off the sofa and walking to the other side of the room. He gestures back towards her as he goes, holding up a finger: "Stay there."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana shows his initial words a little smile while she puts her gaze back down upon her food. Her eyes raise again though when he gathers up that fancy glove and it makes her smile to watch him as he works with it. But its not until he sets it down in her lap that she sets the half of burger back into its wrapper and then back onto the table. She swipes the napkins at her fingers and then looks over after him where he's going, her long neck turning to let her follow him with her eyes. "Okay." She says then.

Diana's gaze then goes down to the gauntlet and she starts to lift it up to hold it in her palms. "Does this mean I can lift two airplanes and two tanks now?" She quips, likely still within his audible range whatever it is he is up to.

The princess otherwise says there holding the gauntlet now in her right hand while her left raises a French fry up to chomp on the end of it.

Tony Stark has posed:
"You couldn't already? I think we're overselling you on the website," Tony says, taking a spot in front of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and squaring his shoulders, "Don't put that on. It's not calibrated to you. I don't want to have to explain why something I built took Wonder Woman for a joyride across the eastern seaboard."

After a moment he focuses his attention on the gauntlet, eyes narrowing and forehead furrowing. Then, with a flourish, he throws an arm out before him as though he were firing the repulsor - except the glove isn't on his hand. Nothing happens. He rolls his eyes.

"Okay, hold it up a little higher?"

Once it's there, he drops his hand back to his side and repeats the gesture more emphatically. This time the gauntlet reacts! The repulsor at its palm suddenly flares to life and the gauntlets rocks from her hands should she let it go, shooting towards Tony at incredible speed. He ducks just in time as it shoots past him, leaving a neat hole in the glass, and disappearing out over the city.

"Okay, that's not what was meant to happen."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana is holding the glove at what she thinks is a fine height but when he asks for it to be higher she smirks and raises it up to about her forehead height. She looks back over to him then... and just a second later the glove shoots from her grasp and rockets toward him! and past him.

Diana moves to stand up then and walk toward him as well. She starts to cross her arms over her stomach as she steps up to the hole that the gauntlet made in the window and then she looks over to Stark, with the light of the ambient sun outside the building shining on her. "Maybe I should call that television studio and ask for an interview to change what I said about you." She teases the man who'd just unleashed the glove on to the city.

Her eyes look back out toward it. "It will come back, won't it?" She asks then. "I hate to think of something like that... just... 'hitting' someone out there somewhere."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Sure it will," Tony says unconvincingly, tilting his head slightly to look through the hole in the glass as the sound of the city and the breeze filters in.

Then he turns away from the damage, as though this sort of thing happens all the time and the only thing for it is to move on and act like it's no big deal.

"HOMER, let Pepper know it happened again."

He wags a finger at Diana, shaking his head: "You can't take it back now. You've already endorsed me. We're on this slow boat together. I bet T'Challa's looking pretty damn smart right now, huh?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana shows a smile over to the man then and she softly shakes her head. "T'Challa is a very smart man. I would have voted for him if he were running against you." She teases, of course, though is it true? It's hard to say! "How is Pepper?" Diana asks then as she turns away from the window and walks back toward the sofa to clean up the rest of her food and finish off whats left of her sandwich. She gathers it up and remains standing as she puts her weight on her left leg and legs her right stand out to the side just a little. "And why did you name your A.I. Homer? Is it after the Simpsons and not the Odyssey author?" That is another tease from the Princess, she fancies herself as quite the comedian sometimes.

So with sandwich in hand she starts to wander the Penthouse and look around at what is on display. She's been here before, during parties that Tony has hosted and a few social calls, but she's not ever spent much time actually looking the place over on a closer than normal level.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Pepper's busy," Tony offers, wandering past the mention of voting against him without stopping, "More so since I made the announcement. I'll tell her you asked after her, though. She could probably use someone to roll her eyes at about me, and you're probably the one least likely to encourage her to go and work at Wayne Enterprises or something."

He looks up towards the ceiling, as though regarding the AI that is everywhere around them.

"It's an acronym. JARVIS was 'Just A Rather Very Intelligent System' but when the Avengers needed a co-ordinator at the Mansion I decided I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket. So, for the armor, Stark Tower, and anywhere else not associated with the Avengers we have HOMER - or the 'Heuristically Operative Matrix Emulation Rostrum.' Though I did teach him to do this."

"D'oh, sir," says HOMER, in a refined voice not the least bit like the Simpsons character.

"It's a work in progress."

Diana Prince has posed:
With the rest of the burger consumed, Diana listens and just smiles as she shakes her head while wadding up the silver wrapper that it came in and walking over to the kitchen/bar area to place it into the waste bin that she did remember the location of. "Pepper should most certainly stay right here. You have to turn all your credit cards and civilian responsibilities over to someone when you become President, yes?" She asks with a tilt of her head. "She will be in charge of your company, I would assume?"

When the AI does the Homer Simpson impression though, Diana just grins ear to ear. "I used to watch that show when it was on at a children's hospital. I would sit with a few of the children that I was visiting and they would always ask to watch it, though... that was back in the nineties... A simpler time."

She walks back toward Tony then. "I won't take up much more of your time though, Tony. I am glad that you are doing this and I do support you in it. If I were able to vote, I would vote for you." The Princess affords the man a smile as she turns to presumably head back out, knowing full well that he's a very busy man too.

Tony Stark has posed:
"If she'll take it. Honestly, she pretty much runs the place already. I can't think of anyone better to take over."

Tony lifts a hand to point towards Diana as he strides across the room, swooping down to pick up the remainder of his own half-eaten burger: "And I'll thank you for saying when and not if. That's the kind of positive thinking we could use on my campaign. Feel like handing out flyers?"

The kind words do hit their mark, and he nods his head. As much as he prefers to shrug it all off like the world doesn't affect him, kind words from someone like Diana really do have a weight to them.

"I appreciate that," he clears his throat, quickly throwing back on the flippant demeanor, "Any time you want to come over and tell me how great I am, feel free. I'll make time."