OOC: App

[behisgirlfriday]

PLAYER
NAME: Kitty
JOURNAL: quipquipquip
IM: urlatinsux
E-MAIL: iwillactuallycheckthisATgmailDOTcom

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Virginia "Pepper" Potts
FANDOM: Marvel 616
CHRONOLOGY: Directly after Iron Man vol 2 issue 58, a.k.a. she just lost a baby thanks to one of Tony's enemies roughing her up considerably

BACKGROUND:
Once upon a time, there was a brilliant young businessman named Tony Stark. He was, as any good brilliant young businessman is, as egotistical and good looking as he was wealthy. He rarely made mistakes, but when he did they were usually caught up in the jaws of the media and lauded around like a head on top of a pike. Though he was a technical genius, Tony made a mistake in his financial tallyings that would have lost his company a great deal of money---a mistake that a low-ladder-rung employee named Virginia Potts caught and brought to his attention, thereby adverting disaster.

Impressed with her abilities, Tony offered her a position as his personal secretary. Virginia accepted, and it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship of her keeping her alcoholic employer afloat and in line. It was never easy, since she had the luck of having a boss who moonlighted as a superhero, but she took it relatively in-stride and didn't threaten to quit more than once or twice a week.

Eventually, Pepper found herself in a sort of triangle romance between Tony and another one of his employees, Happy Hogan. She married Happy, but still carried something of an implied flame for Stark as well. Hers was a complex life, full of fourteen hour days of babysitting her boss-cum-hero, but it was a good one despite the things that Tony did to himself. Between finding that her husband was cheating on her (or so she thought), one of Tony's suits of armor gaining sentience and then giving him a mechanical heart, and dealing with Tony's crazy Asian girlfriend/plethora of enemies, Pepper was always on her toes.

Just before the point I pulled her from, she had lost the only child she had ever conceived due to one of Tony's enemies beating her within an inch of her life. She had recently reconciled with her ex-husband, and had yet to tell him. She and Tony share a burden of guilt as a result.

PERSONALITY:
Pepper Potts will not take any of your guff. That is the core of her personality: she is smart, capable, stable, and she knows it. She can fix mistakes in Tony Stark's accounting (no, really), pull incriminating shots from a two-page spread about whatever Tony's done this week, talk down even the ballsiest papaprazzo, and do it all in two inch heels. Multitasking as the long-suffering secretary of Tony Stark and Iron Man's best friend, she has had her work cut out for her for years. She may be working in a man's world, but she has never had any intention of being stepped on by anyone.

There are two people in Pepper's life who have shaped it. Her relationships with the incorrigible playboy Tony Stark has monopolized most of her adult life; she started out working for Stark as a nobody, but he quickly pulled her out of the line as somebody to him---but never defined exactly what. She has worked---and overworked---herself for years, part out of maternal obligation to a man so obviously incapable of lasting relationships and part out of love. She is just that kind of woman. Her loyalty and stubbornness know no bounds, but she is nothing if not practical. Instead of going for the rich boy, she went for the tough-luck ex-prize-fighter, Happy Hogan. The gyrating relationship of friendship and attraction between the three of them has built Pepper into being the woman she is today.

CLASS: Heroic secretary
SUPERHERO NAME: N/A
ALTER EGO: Pepper Potts, Best Secretary Ever
POWER: > Non-canon: Tonyhoming. No matter where Tony Stark is, Pepper can find him. WIth permission from Jill, she has a Tony-related sixth sense. He can never hide again.

COMMUNITY POST SAMPLE:
I know that I should be more panicked about this than I am, but really? The universe has done stranger by me. I'm mostly just annoyed that it took my palm pilot. I have numbers on it; important numbers, and if someone decided to use my contact list for evil they more than likely could.

So. Okay. [ a deep breath, then a sigh ]

Tony Stark, I know you're here somewhere. I don't know how I know that, but it figures. I'm pretty seriously underwhelmed at the concept of dimensional travel, and I blame you.

Also?

I get overtime for this. That's not even an argument we're going to have.

THIRD PERSON:
Sometimes, she wondered why she did it. There were no fewer than ten different answers to that, each ringing with their own level of truth. When she was in a teasing mood, she said that she worked for Tony Stark because he was the only one rich enough to support her addiction to strappy Italian shoes she'd only wear once. That was true; when she had off days, or even off hours, she'd click mindlessly around the internet in search of her next true solemate. When she was in a sour mood, she said that she did it because she didn't want to have to look for another job. That was true; when he'd had one of his many near-death experiences, she'd thought this might be it in a rush of horrible finality, only to find that he'd written her a letter of recommendation that was one part love letter and one part business. She'd cried until her nose had gotten stupidly red and known then that there wouldn't be another job for her, with or without Tony.

When she was in one of those moods that demanded absolute truth, though, she said that she did it out of love. It wasn't romance, and it wasn't the kind of thing that kept her pining. It did keep her up at night, wondering about him and what dangerously asinine thing he was doing today and in which third world country. She cared about him, and she knew that she was one of the few that truly did. That was a position of power in the world of Tony Stark, and it was one that had a certain kind of responsibility to it.

She was Pepper Potts, Secretary. Pepper Potts, who made sure his suits were ready. Pepper Potts, who always had a plane ready for him. Pepper Potts, who made excuses when he was too drunk to string together sentences and looked so goddamn sad. Pepper Potts, who always checked in on him when he was working too hard and too long.

Pepper pursed her lips, an old ache pressing against her ribcage. Soundlessly, she spread a blanket over him at his desk, tucking it in at his sides. He'd fallen asleep mid-project, yet again.

Stupid Tony Stark.