2013.08.22 - NOT Like Falling Off a Log

Several days ago, Tony asked Pepper to block out some time to 'get acquainted' with her teal armor/shoulder bag, and since then she's been kind of a little bit dreading what was to come. That's not to say she's not been practicing on her own, working to make having the thing snake out from a normal bag into armor not knock her off balance as well as getting accustomed to walking around while wearing it. She thinks she's got that well enough in hand, and that's why she's kind of afraid of what's on the docket -- it's probably going to include flying. And probably something violent.
Tony Stark is waiting in one of his armors, sipping a coffee. It's a rather surreal sight to see, the combination of something so high tech versus something as pedestrian as coffee. "Well, Miss Potts. Glad to see you could make it to class today. Feeling good? Feeling limber?" he asks, as if it's an every day question.
Pepper Potts has her bag over her shoulder, looking incongruous against her current very decidedly NOT work attire consisting of dark grey yoga pants over a pale pink ballet-type leotard and lightweight white sneakers. She's even taken the precaution of braiding her hair so there's no chance of it getting snagged by the armor. Maybe that's happened already? "Um... feeling a bit out of my depth."
Tony Stark smiles, "Well, not after today. I don't want either of us to leave today without you feeling utterly comfortable with you using Rescue in /any/ circumstances." there seems to be a renewed urgency in Pepper learning the ins and outs of the armor he designed for her, but he's trying to conceal it as much as he can.
Pepper Potts blinks. "Rescue?" When did he name the armor? "All right. So," she hesitates for a moment, then remembers she doesn't even have to empty the bag first. Kinda convenient, that. "Here goes." A tap on the Coach bag's round medallion, and about eight seconds later Rescue is ready, the faceplate's closing *clunk* somehow a bit more delicate sounding than Iron Man's.
Tony Stark watches, "Well, that's what I called it while I was building it. I assume you could call it whatever you want." he says, watching the armor enclose around her and activate. "Okay, we're gonna start with flying." - he activates his own repulsors and hovers several feet in the air, "Just do it like this..nice and easy until you get used to it. The control surfaces will help you move the way you want to move."
Pepper Potts has seen Tony's armor fly using those repulsors so many times it SEEMS like it should be easy. Mimicking the feet together and palms pointed toward the floor posture, she lets JARVIS control the repulsors themselves and soon enough Rescue is rising to hover level with Iron Man, though still clearly wobbling some. It's the weirdest sensation having the armor compensating on its own for her inexpert attempts to maintain her balance.
Tony Stark watches and smiles and lowers himself. "Okay, again, along with me." - he lowers himself slowly and gracefully down. Waiting for you to do the same, as soon as Pepper lands he goes up again.
Pepper Potts overcompensates a little as Rescue returns to the floor, wobbling a lot briefly before her feet are fully settled. But, she gamely takes a step or two to settle herself then the repulsors fire again. She reminds herself about how walking in the suit became so much easier when she stopped TRYING, and on this attempt tries simply trusting the repulsors to be as stable under her feet as a floor. It works... kind of. Rescue hovers smoothly for a moment, then wobbles again and nearly falls as she forgets that her hands are part of the flight controls. Whoops.
Tony Stark pops again, then lowers. "You're on the right track. Don't think about flying. Think of it like running an app. You turn it on, it works, and you use it." he rises even higher. "C'mon, Pepper. Up here."
Pepper Potts looks up and the Rescue suit follows, rising to catch up with Tony. The less she concentrates on the actual flight, the easier it seems to be and the less the teal armor wobbles in mid-air. Even with the HUD at absolute bare minimum, it's amazing how much the systems inside the suit respond to the even the most minute movements of her eyes and head. "What's up here?" She's looking around at the cars, the spaces waiting for other suits to fill them, the chairs over there...
Tony Stark chuckles, and he hasn't even lowered his faceplate yet. Here, he doesn't worry about it so much. He starts to move in a circle, "We are..and now you're going to follow me. I do a move, you do the same move, got it?" he's moving slow and emphasizes his point doing a lazy barrel roll.
"Wait, what?" Pepper reflexively leans a tiny bit toward Tony, the armor taking the slight motion and moving to follow its red and gold counterpart... well, not the barrel roll. The first attempt at that is disconcerting at best, and Pepper can't help it. She closes her eyes. Thank god she's not prone to motion sickness.
Tony Stark shakes his head, "You can do this, you know you can. You just got to get used to knowing you can. Think of it like swimming. Same principals, different physics." he does it again, slowly.
Pepper Potts is talking mostly to herself, but Tony is undoubtedly hearing every last bit of it. "Like swimming." She thinks back to high school, and trying out for the swim team. She's a moderately good swimmer, maybe that'll help here. "Maybe like snorkeling?" Again without consciously realizing it, her body language changing cues the Rescue armor to speed up. Kind of a lot. When the wall chooses to do an abrupt extreme close-up ala Wayne's World, she yelps in surprise and recoils as if trying to not run face first into a swimming pool wall. Good brakes. Pepper is amazed anew at the suit responding exactly correctly so that she stops and hovers just a few feet short of the wall.
Tony Stark smiles appreciatively, "Nice save!" he calls out, hopefully being encouraging. He's not good at the encouraging thing, but he's trying. "Now, try it again this time following me and not the wall." he moves in circles. He doesn't let on how difficult it is to do tight patterns like this. His logic if she can get this down, the rest is cake.
Turning to look at Tony again, Rescue's movements now much more visibly resembling those of a swimmer as Pepper starts using that to make controlling the suit mid-air easier to parse mentally. A slight imitation of a kick, and the teal and bronze armor accelerates to catch up with the red and gold before slowing again. "This is starting to feel like kind of too small a space for this." But, follow she will as best she can. It's like demanding a new driver to follow an F1 driver's lines precisely, but at least she's trying.
Tony Stark grins, "It seems like that now, but if you can maneuver in this tight space, you can maneuver in the not so tight spaces." he barrel rolls again. "Try that. Slow, controlled movements until you get the feel down."
Kind of like swimming laps in a residential pool. "That makes sense. I just... keep imagining myself slamming into the walls like a cartoon character. And that's just not dignified." Keeping with the whole swim aspect of the movements, she's able to complete the barrel roll this time, though it's still disconcerting as she keeps wanting to hold her breath and having to remind herself to breathe.
Tony Stark moves a little faster, and executes the roll a little tighter. "Okay Pepper - you got the basics, time for level two."
Pepper Potts practically squeaks. "Level ... two?"
Tony Stark grins, "Yup. Move with me. Kick the thrust up a bit to match mine and think ballerina when you do your barrel roll." he does it again to demonstrate. "I know it's asking a lot but I need you to get these basics down before we get down to live fire exercises."
Pepper Potts takes a deep breath. "Okay... but I warn you, when I took ballet in elementary school, the instructor told my parents to pull me from the class because she was afraid I'd injure myself." Nevertheless, she tries to keep up with Tony right up until her mental DVR rewinds a bit. "Live fire? Um... Does getting shot at already count?" She's honestly a little afraid to tell him that it was Coulson, considering how Tony's already reacted to Batman's behavior.
Tony Stark looks over his shoulder, "You've been shot at? By who?" he asks, flipping over himself to hover in front of Pepper, but control surfaces and the slight angle of his feet keeping him moving in a circle. It's like being on a carousel.
Pepper Potts hesitates. Like, really hesitates. "... if it helps, Natasha glared." She keeps following Tony for a moment, then remembers something from swim class and considers peeling off to try the turn and launch off the swimming pool wall maneuver. Maybe later when she feels less likely to abruptly belly flop on the floor.
Tony Stark crosses his hands in front of his chest, "Pepper, WHO did Natasha glare at?"
Pepper Potts stops and hovers in mid-air. "Coulson?" Yes, she makes it sound questioning. Please don't try to kill him, he's like ... nice, when he's not shooting at her or antagonizing Tony with file folders.
Tony Stark does not. look. surprised. "Coulson shot at you? Agent. Coulson. -- How could the vacuum of charisma shoot at you? Wasn't he trained at birth to be a SHIELD agent?"
Pepper Potts shrugs. "I think he was testing the armor? I have no idea. Nearly knocked me on my rear, though, because I still hadn't figured how to not fight against this suit while walking." She's doing the mid-air equivalent of treading water now, kind of.
Tony Stark hmms, thinks about that. "There he goes, making sense again." he resumes his circling. "I just wish he'd tell someone first."
Pepper Potts resumes following. "That would have been nice, yes. I think if I'd known what happened it would have scared me. As it was, when it happened I honestly had no idea what hit me." Okay, now tempted to try kicking off of a wall.
Tony Stark shrugs, "Well, you shouldn't have felt anything. I've taken entire banana clips and now it barely chips the paint." -- he looks over his shoulder, "Are you going to get serious about this now, or are we going to have to talk about Coulson some more?"
Is that a challenge? "What do you mean, GET serious?" Pepper's eyes focus on the far wall and she shoots past Tony with a sudden burst of speed before reaching the far end of the gigantic room and turning in mid-air to plant her feet against the wall to push off again. It's a bit clumsy and off balance, but recognizably the technique used by competition swimmers when turning to do another lap. She scoots past the red and gold armor again, and turns to do a neat pirou... oop. Not quite.
Tony Stark reaches out and steadies Pepper before she gets too off kilter. "I mean get serious, just like a said. Okay? Now. Don't just follow me. Keep up with me." he moves in a tighter circle, moving a little faster.
Pepper Potts looks at the face of the Iron Man suit for a moment through her own helmet, then nods and moves to follow, and after a moment longer moves up alongside Tony doing her best to match his every movement. Okay, this isn't so bad. Yet. She knows he's about to start making things more difficult.
Tony Stark is ratcheting it up, steadily though carefully. His moves and speed increasing. "You can't think it too much, you've got to just let it happen." he advises as he moves.
Pepper Potts is indeed overthinking as she gradually struggles more and more to keep up. Maybe this flying thing doesn't come to her as naturally and she shouldn't try. "Just let it...? I don't know." She's trying, though. She's honestly trying.
Tony Stark watches Pepper flounder and sighs. "Okay, time to take your mind off of flying so you'll actually fly." -- He speeds up, flipping around and starts firing at Pepper. Nothing hard or heavy, but just enough to get her attention.
Pepper Potts yelps in surprise when Tony fires at her, her initial surprise nearly enough to make her fall out of the air. But JARVIS makes sure she doesn't, and maybe that's part of the problem. She's relying rather heavily on the AI to help her control the suit. "Tony!"
Tony Stark continues throwing low level blasts at Pepper, and calls out over the whine of the repulsors "Stop trying to fly and just fly!"
Pepper Potts keeps having to resist the instinct to throw a hand up to shield her face from the repeated blasts, and it's making her flight path even more erratic. "I'm not a BIRD, Tony, this isn't exactly something that I can do automatically!" When JARVIS has to keep Rescue from falling for a third time (and yes, each time he takes over that much control it's probably something the AI is sharing with Tony), Pepper pulls to a stop and hovers in mid-air. "Can we maybe take a break? Please?"
Tony Stark pauses and turns around. It's a tense moment, but he relaxes. "Yeah, we can take a break."
Pepper Potts takes a deep breath and does NOT sigh in relief. She does not. Really. The teal armor looks down to make sure she's not going to land on something flammable or delicate, then settles to the floor. And she does NOT let her knees buckle. Even though it's a close thing. "Thank you."
Tony Stark walks over, and puts a hand on Pepper's shoulder. "Look, I know it's hard to get the hang of. I know I'm pushing you hard, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't think you were absolutely up for it. I also wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was so damn important..I just." he pauses a second, thinking. "I just don't want you to ever be in the situation you were in. Ever. Again."
Pepper Potts looks at Tony, for once kind of hating the way the suit distorts his voice. "I know, Tony. I know. I don't either. I just... you know how clumsy I can be sometimes." The heels were very definitely an acquired skill. She wants to rest her head against Tony's shoulder, but she's worried that that'll send all kinds of wrong messages, and for crying out loud, he's her BOSS.
Category:Log