6874/Stark, Enchanted

Stark, Enchanted
Date of Scene:	11 July 2021
Location:	Stark Tower: Pepper's Office
Synopsis:	Tony, who is JUST FINE and obviously NOT mind controlled (read: yes, he is) acts very bizarrely to poor Pepper.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Pepper Potts

---

Tony Stark has posed:
"Pepper," Tony announces loudly as he suddenly thrusts his presence into her office.

It has been a very weird three days. Tony has been erratic - and boistrously social, hitting a large number of events and parties. A lot of drinking was amidst that, and flying around the country. With Pepper stuck back doing work, Tony was fending for himself for most of it, though he's always been capable of doing so, particularly with Happy around to assist. But now he's back, and his entry is weird - he needs to trim his cheeks some, for one - but he also has a sort of overly intense brightness to his eyes that's out of character. He doesn't ramp up like that, even when excited over a project. This looks more like he's on some kind of drug that'd make him manic.

"Three things, real quick. I made some important decisions," Tony says, without giving her time - or himself to breathe, really. "We need to focus into our medical facilities and labs. I want to double the company allocation into that area. Buy Lemalin Inc." Lemalin is a big-pharma, but not a bizarre choice.

"Set up a meeting with their CEO, Marion Lemalin. I'll convince her," Tony's still on that same first breath. "And gifts. Pick the best gift. Really impress her. Like we did with .. what's her name. Back in 2010?" Tony is referencing a time in 2010 when he was romantically interested in a lawyer of a tech company they were in talks with.

Approaching Pepper's desk, Tony stops there, setting one hand on the surface of it. There's a lack of expression of ... much of anything, considering they haven't seen each other in days. Tony's dressed neatly, but sleeves rolled up to mid-arm. There's a glittery new expensive watch on one wrist; not STARK tech but something else that reeks of money instead of technology. Strange.

"Second---" Tony's on a roll... ...

Pepper Potts has posed:
It is as it is. Pepper is seated at her desk, hair up in a business bun, her jacket off and hanging off the back of her leather chair. She's dressed in a tailored, well-fitted dress, emerald post earrings that bring out both the delicate features of her face as well as her eyes. Her monitor is set to a powerpoint production, the television is set to the business news channel, and her tablet is set before her on the side by her matcha tea, and it is giving her news from overseas. Politics and finance often go hand in hand, after all.

Tony's entrance to her office has her sitting a little straighter, her brows creasing as he bursts in and in rapidfire, begins with the 'this is what I want' list before he even makes it to her desk. Holding up her hand, and canting her head, she still has that //look//, and even as he announces his 'three things' and 'important decisions', she's interrupting, or trying to,

"Tony, what is.. what? Why?" Not a strange request, not really. Considering they'd not really touched in the pharmaceuticals industry, there has to be something. "Why haven't you mentioned this before?"

The question is undoubtedly lost in the data dump that is Tony's rapidfire instructions, and while she might have simply complied a year ago, two years ago.. she's learned something in the year. "Did you find-"

The mention of her picking out a gift for the CEO, however? That's something she'd done before, but.. now he's ratcheted it up a couple of notches. "Uh... no, Tony. I'll find something, though." Nothing slinky, like for a rendez-vous on the yacht, or in one of the summer houses. Not like then. "Because, really Tony. That's not-"

When he finally finishes the cross of the room, there is something decidedly off. He'd been gone days, and now that he's back? This is the first time he'd seen her since returning, and where are the flowers? The candy? The brief moment taken to breathe usually gives off at least a 'hi, honey'.

But, there's a number 'two', and as he'd said, 'three'.

Tony Stark has posed:
There'd have been something affectionate. He'd have led with that, with coming over to hold her and burrow his nose against her temple, to relax and be himself with her....

But the energy here is all wrong. So is the continuation.

"Why pharmaceuticals? ... Marion is someone to believe in." There's that overly forced energy, again, and it just gets worse:

"I can't live without Marion, so I think we should break up," Tony continues, without much of any inflection. He may as well be telling one of the robots to stop cleaning for a minute. It's disconnected sounding. Lacking in emotion other than the weird manic quality. As if he had no perception of his words causing any issues. "I haven't MET her, but when you know, you know."

Right.

"Third-- ummm. I may have to leave Avengers. To have more time with Marion. We'll just need to see. But it's good to warn them about it. I'm very important, you know." Tony seems to pause, as if to mentally go over what he all just said, to be sure it was all there. But he ends up stopping, in a sort of dead way, like he's having difficulty keeping his thought straight.

Of any of the performance, Tony stopping mentally is perhaps the weirdest of all of it. He doesn't /stop/ thinking, even when barely awake. It suggests he just isn't at the wheel in the first place.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper really had been giving Tony the benefit of the doubt. The single-minded purpose to get what he wanted off his chest first could have been a thing, though, yes.. more often, he'd have led with something affectionate. A kiss, a shoulder-rub, though if she gave it a thought, his approach would have been for the shoulder rub and if business was THAT important, he would have brought it up then.

But this?

The words 'so I think we should break up' gives the redhead pause. She can feel it in the pit of her stomach, but there's something off. Something not right.

Or is she imagining it because she's on the receiving end of the unceremonious dump?

"Wait.. wait.."

Pepper rises from her seat now, her manner and mien looking as if she's about to wade into the fight rather than to accept the odd behavior. Odd even for him.

"Someone you haven't even MET? Tony.." Moving around her desk, she means to stand in front of him, eye to eye, her expression confused and a little annoyed, if not a touch angry. "What? And leave the Avengers? You can't just do that either. You have responsibilities.. you have.."

It's strange, though. It just doesn't seem... right. There's a moment's pause before she reaches out to touch his arm, "Are you okay? Tony.. look at me. What's going on?" After all, it'd only been a few weeks ago they'd flown to Paris for her birthday and had a wonderful time, right?

"Maybe you should see a doctor. You might actually be working too hard.." Did that actually come out of her mouth? She, too, realizes the strangeness in that sentence (though by rights, he does work hard..). "You haven't been back to Wakanda for a check-up since.."

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony doesn't seem to fully hear her. Or it's selective. He turns towards her a little late, looks into her face, but not really into her /eyes/. He smiles warmly anyway, full of charisma and some shadow of what the emotion should have been, as he lifts his hands to set them on her shoulders.

"I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Tony asks, as if he really didn't get why, or see any of it. "Set the negotiations in motion! And let me know when my meeting with her is. You do great work, Pep!" It's all very unaware.

Belatedly, Pepper's phone buzzes with a messages from Happy. < Pepper, I need to warn you - Tony is acting very oddly, obsessed with some strange woman. I'm not sure what to do. It started this morning. He was on and on about it for the whole ride here. > Happy probably did not have time to send the message until now - Tony got to her office faster than he finished parking.

"HOMER!" Tony adds to the ceiling. "Compile everything about the CEO of Lemalin and route it to my office. Every detail, every picture." Tony distractly starts to head out of Pepper's office, following the continuation of the weird obsession and where it's taking him.

At least Tony is't doing actions to obtain the company on his own: he's going through the habitual way: which is to direct his people to do it. So there's some line of defense in place, should Tony be acting out of character...

Pepper Potts has posed:
No, no.. she's not buying it. Not right now. The smile, the charisma isn't directed at //her//. It's a thing, the way he'd always 'conducted business', but there's something missing. Pepper can feel it. Like, it's out of a playbook, but the actions are somewhat unfamiliar.

'Say this.'

'Smile here.'

And he doesn't even look at her. It's as if he's looking past her, and it //feels// wrong to her. Pepper's brows are still beetled, forehead creased as she tries to work through trying to put her finger on what is //wrong//.

The phone buzzes on her desk, and there's a side-step as she reaches across to take the phone. Normally, when she's with him and in conversation, the phone buzzing isn't so much a distraction. But now? She's got green eyes watching Tony, and they glance to the phone and the message. So he's noticed it too..

It's the command to HOMER that brings Pepper's head back around, and she frowns, but doesn't gainsay him. The request isn't dangerous, either to him or to the company. But? She'll be having a chat with JARVIS and try to lock down the company so Tony can't do something stupid like hand over SI as a token of his affection or something.

"Because you're not acting like yourself, that's why.." comes as a rebuff to the question. "I'll.. look into it." After all, it is a path potentially for figuring out what may be going on. Still, too, there's that feeling in the pit of her stomach. She'll be sleeping in The Dakota tonight, most likely. Or on the couch at the Penthouse.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony looks over at her phone belatedly. Usually he'd give some tease about her being popular, or /something/ related to it. But he just doesn't take the bait. He's being pulled by the weird, unnatural obsession.

"I am inspired, is all," Tony decides, upbeat but with a sort of heated intensity. Then he smiles, and gives her a quick thumbs-up ... before disappearing.

A check-in later with HOMER will confirm Tony's just looking at pictures. Nothing dangerous -- yet. Though his actions to try to acquire that company could just be the first wave of problems that can happen when someone with a lot of monetary power is under the influence of someone - or something - else ...