Owner Pose
Tony Stark "Brrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?" asks the little drone near Pepper's left foot. It snuck into the office at some point, certainly, and is inquisitively making a sound at her out of nowhere. Hopefully she doesn't overreact and kick it!

It isn't a cleaning drone, though, it's one of the others that is identified with the code along the top as one that is more for jobs where advanced sensors are needed. But what could it want?
Pepper Potts The skies are grey outside, as seen by the ceiling to floor windows behind Pepper's desk. It makes for something of a dreary NYC day, and to fight off the potential 'blahs', the lights in the office are turned up, making it seem a touch warmer and a touch cheerier within.

Nothing makes some of this work any cheerier, however, and Pepper keeps going back and forth to files consideringly; if she still used pencils, she'd be chewing on the eraser. There is no satisfaction in chewing on a tablet stylus, however, regardless of how natural it feels in hand, so instead.. she's *click*, *click*, *click..

Only to be interrupted by the sound of..

"How did you get in here?" She's most certainly surprised, but not alarmed; it's 'one of theirs', as it were, and it's perhaps trying to get her attention? "When.. how long.."

All those questions, however, will probably not get a suitable answer, other than a couple of mechanical beeps, wrrrrrrs, or some such. Instead,

"What do you need," Pepper begins before she makes a call through her tablet, "Tony?"
Tony Stark "Hi Pep," Tony's voice immediately answers. Sometimes when Pepper makes a call, if HOMER will pick up and relay depending on what's going on. But from this, it's possible to judge that he saw the query come through and immediately attended to it. "What's going on?" Tony asks conversationally, in a way that suggests she has at least half of his attention, though he's definitely doing something else while he answered. The video clips on after a few moments, and he's visible there, resting his cheek on one hand, paging through something off-screen with the other.

"Breeeeee," the robot says, nosing around at her shoes now, and starting to flash with a little red light.
Pepper Potts There is a little surprise, really, when Tony actually picks up. She's so used to having to listen to HOMER explain that Tony's not available for one reason or another. (One day, she'll have to figure out a way to override that!) Or, conversely, the AI will relay, acting like the middleman.

This, of course, prompts the, "Tony?" as in not quite believing that she'd reached him in one. "Um.."

*Breeeeeeeee*

"There's one of your drones in here. Is everything okay?" That last bit is said with a touch of that //tell me the truth, please// underscoring her words. "It's not one of the cleaners." Leaning to the side to look at the robot, Pepper's brows rise and her feet slide into her pumps before she pushes her chair back to gain her feet.

"Why's he here?

"Why're you here?" comes in the next breath, actually addressing the little guy.
Tony Stark "One of the drones? Yeah, let me pull up the controller," Tony agrees, distractedly but not worried yet. Pepper will see his gaze shift across to another monitor and list, as he skims through it, and then finally tilts his head a little bit. That could mean anything - sometimes he reacts very low-key to serious situations, but there's no panic there. Just a sort of 'hm' reaction.

"Oh, it's one of the magic trackers. This may or may not be a false read, but... pulling it up now, I'll show you what it found," Tony says, and her tablet switches as Tony takes control of it to show some interesting, strange blue colored tones around her shoes. "Any idea if you stepped anything magical lately?" Tony quips, but is looking at the data, clearly.
Pepper Potts Pepper's watching both Tony and the drone, her attention flickering from one to the other. Her fingertips touch the top of her desk before reaching to pull her tablet closer to her. "Please," pull up the controller, that is. "You didn't send him?"

'One of the magic trackers'. Wait.. and Pepper does something of a double-take. "Wait, wait.. magic tracker? I thought Amanda did.." or did she? She's not panicking, no, but she does have something of concern in her voice. "Did I step in anything- no, no. Not that I know. How would I know that?"

Looking around now, she's checking, perhaps, if she can see it, get a hing, but nothing is immediately evident. "Tony? Should I stay put?"
Tony Stark "It's probably just a false alarm, but just in case, maybe change your shoes, and yeah, take a seat for a minute. I'll send something down while I sort this out." Tony's sliding out of view on the screen, mostly since he's just shifting to engage with something else... or perhaps to send a command out.

In fact, in what is nearly record time, an entirely non-judgemental bot comes out from the elevator with some fluffy teal slippers, dumping them without ceremony, and immediately leaving.

The magic-sniffer doesn't pay any attention to that, it stays with Pepper's right shoe, continuing to make interested noises at it.

Finally, though, Tony's got something more to say, and reappears. "I've modified the trace it's scanning for; let it have another check over your shoes?"
Pepper Potts "Probably?"

Does Pepper sound a little nervous? Perhaps, but with good cause. This is where she lives now, and works, and.. magic? "Should I call 'Mands? I can," and the patter continues, simply to try and tamp down any fear.

"Sending something would be nice."

Pepper stays still as the little sniffer keeps up its pointer imitation, fixating on that shoe. When the other arrives with the teal fluffy slippers, Pepper actually barks a laugh at the sight. "Okay," and one shoe is taken off, then the other and pushed with a toe slightly away from her. In the next movement, she's taking a couple of steps away, towards the door. "Okay.."
Tony Stark "I'm not entirely sure how to read this, it isn't like the other samples for this trace," Tony chatters, as if this were actually very interesting to him. That doesn't mean it isn't dangerous, though Tony's not the type to ignore a threat to Pepper in favor of just 'interestingness'!

"It's not a magic type I've got in my registry -- or at least, it's not appearing like I thought it would, at any rate. Magic is not really my area, though. But consistent readouts of energy, yes, those I can measure and quantify." SIGH. Magic.

"I'm guessing it's something similar to what's in your apartment. I'm going to upgrade Patrick to look for this signature, but I don't think you've, say, tracked a bomb into the tower, Pep," Tony says kindly.
Pepper Potts "Okay," Pepper begins slowly, "tell me that you're going to do.. something to this room so it won't happen again?" Please? "I'm sure Amanda will appreciate Patrick's upgrade, and I'm doubly sure Patrick will as well," her tones are forced even, trying to keep herself from getting too upset. It's nothing she can't handle... after the fact.

"No bomb is good. HOMER could see .. or.. sense something too, right?"
Tony Stark "Which won't happen again? --- Well, once we get to the bottom of what exactly the robot is sensing, then yes, I'd upgrade security across the board. But it may be nothing, too. If it's just some sparkles from Amanda, I don't want to call the cavalry every time there's a bit of glitter attached to you, either." Tony grins a little bit directly towards the screen, but seems to otherwise be working on the situation.

"I'm going through where the robot first encountered this, so... I think you're fine to just give it the shoe, to be on the safe side, and we'll make sure it is the sole -- ha ha -- issue."
Pepper Potts "I'm sure it's not Amanda," Pepper begins again. "I haven't seen her in a little bit." Much to her disappointment, but time is scarce, and work hasn't really slowed down since, well.. since moving in and having a huge life change.

Still, she watches the little bot as he sniffs at the shoe and glances around her office. "Maybe a blanket? Because.. do you think I have to sleep in here tonight?" There's a moment where she pauses, before she brings her arms up to cross across her chest, green eyes rolling. "Sole issue? Tony." At least it's allowing her to move past the fear, and head to 'it's time to continue on to fix this'.
Tony Stark "We just tripped over that joke, I know. A blanket? No no. I'm saying leave the /shoe/ in the bot's custody. You're free to come up and infect me with whatever you've got," Tony teases her, with a bemused tone. He's not concerned SHE has something on her, in other words.

"I did have HOMER run some of our other scans in there. Really this seems like nothing. Until I work some of the kinks out of this scanning system it's had a lot of misread phenomena. So there's no reason to panic yet." Tony pauses. "So you're still on deck for deciding dinner tonight."
Pepper Potts Relief fills Pepper's expression, and her shoulders lose some of that tightness, her tones echoing and underscoring it all. "Oh, god, Tony. Don't do that to me again." As if he did it? "Okay," and she manages to laugh, again with that stress-releasing sound. "I did not want to sleep on my couch tonight. I've slept on it too many times." Too many times over the years.

Now, in her fluffy teal slippers, she starts to slip out, her tones sounding even happier. "I thought it was your turn?" She's more than happy to allow the bot to worry over her shoes.
Tony Stark "Cheeseburgers it is," Tony says smoothly, as if he MIGHT have planned that a little. But a comfort food now and then is probably a welcome item. Pepper has to live with some cheeseburgers with this particular selection of boyfriend.

"Why do you still have a couch in there, anyway? I'll replace that. Maybe with a pool table," Tony jokes with her, with a languid gesture of hand and quirk of nose.
Pepper Potts There is a great deal that Pepper lives with in this particular choice of boyfriends. And if one was to ask her, she wouldn't have it any other way. She's more than happy to leave her tablet behind as the door closes behind her.

"I'll have a salad," Pepper reminds. "If I have to, I'll just eat your lettuce and tomato." And maybe bacon. Maybe.

"I have a couch in my office because there were times I had to sleep there because of work. Remember, our international subsidiaries?" She didn't sleep upstairs in the Penthouse! Wasn't her place. Not then. But now?

Make sure the fireplace is lit."
Tony Stark "But not my bacon." No maybe!

"You can warm your fuzzy feet in front of it," Tony chuckles, and with a quick nod and smile, ends the video call. The robots are still active, making a crime scene around her magical shoe -- but that can be a problem for later...