Virginia "Pepper" Potts

how is my driving? Let me know what I need to fix or what I am doing right. Constructive crit is more than welcome!

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PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Alex
OOC Journal: ravynstoneabbey
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: nope
Email + IM: ravynstone.abbey@gmail.com / aim: ravynabbey
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Ratchet and Jane Foster

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Virginia "Pepper" Potts
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Post IM2
Number: random

Setting:
Marvel is a confusing world. Between comics and movies, it is a muddled mess. But then again anything related to superheroes can be messy. The names may be the same, but the personalities and backgrounds may differ, which makes things interesting, to say the least.

For sanity of both the reader and writer, we shall concentrate on the movies and their Earth, which is numbered Earth-19999. Why that is so is a mystery. Something to do with the multiverse, likely. But in any case, that world encompasses a group of closely related movies, namely Iron Man 1, 2, and 3, Thor 1 & 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers.

We shall touch on all of the movies briefly as they are all related, with the keystone being the The Avengers movie. But our main area of interest will be the Iron Man movies.

Iron Man is the story of Anthony Edward Stark in his journey from billionaire playboy to hero in race car red and gold-titanium alloy and a heart that glows. Miss Virginia "Pepper" Potts is his loyal assistant and runs his entire life. of course this isn't just about them, but as Tony is a piece of the puzzle that makes up the Avengers, a motley group of heroes with egos that may or may not mesh well together, but with a common goal: to protect Earth.

This endeavor requires a demi-god from another dimension, a man who wears armor and flies, a super soldier, a one man smashing party when he's angry and green, a wise ass marksman who prefers arrows and a femme fatale. Interesting group, wouldn't you say? But Marvel likes to have a motley group to keep things interesting.

Tony is the man in armor, the genius engineer who built an arc reactor and a suit of armor in a cave with a box of scraps. He's also a bit of a dick, but likeable enough. He stands for Technology in this little puzzle of superheroes.

Thor is the Myth in this bunch, being from Asgard, a realm not on this Earth, yet still guarding it from those who would take it. Norse mythology was a result of his father's epic battle to save Earth from the Ice Giants in 965 AD. He's very attached to his hammer. He comes to Earth as an exile for his arrogance and redeems himself, proving himself worthy of wielding Mjolnir.

Captain America aka Steve Rogers is the Super Soldier, time displaced from the 1940s where he fought HYDRA and the Red Skull who were looking for a way to utilize the power of a glowing cube that gave near godlike powers to those who could harness the energy. He really likes his shield. Tony is a fanboy of Cap, thanks to comics. Honestly. They had Captain America comics in the movie. If that isn't crossing the streams, I don't know what is. The cube is of interest to Loki in the modern times after it is recovered which is one of the main points of the Avengers movie that we know of.

Bruce Banner is the Hulk, thanks to an experiment gone wrong with gamma radiation (from Stark tech) and the super solidier serum that made Cap. You really don't want to make him angry. He kinda breaks things when he's angry. Otherwise, tries to not get angry and do all the science!

Hawkeye is Clint Barton, a smartass who is a whiz with a bow and arrow, serving as support, and the court jester.

Natasha Romanov is the Black Widow, a leather clad femme fatale who serves as the rogue of the bunch.

We return to Tony, and his particular slice of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as this is how we meet Pepper. As said before, she is his loyal assistant and budding love interest, ever efficient and a refreshing contrast to his playboy side. Pepper is very important to Tony, as without her, he really would not be the man he is now.

History:
Tired of being just another pretty face, one among many, Virginia Potts left a modeling career and sought a position with Stark Industries. Using her BS in Accounting, Virginia accepted a low level administrative position. All was fine, until while going over a financial forecast, she noticed a glaring mathematical error. She attempted to bring it to her supervisor's attention, but was brushed off. Determined, and armed with moral rightness and bravado, Virginia took her concerns clear to Tony Stark, head of the company, despite being told she was fired by the general manager. She stood up to security and in doing so, drew Tony's attention, and gained a new name, Pepper, so called because she attempted to bluff security with possession of pepper spray, despite not actually having it on her person.

Tony Stark offered her the position of personal assistant, for two reasons: her inability to lie convincingly and her attention to details. She accepted it, seeing in it a much better working environment, where what she did was important. All was normal after that, or as normal as working for Tony Stark can be, until the day Tony disappeared in Afghanistan. She held herself and the company together, only breaking down twice, once with Rhodey in the early days of Tony's kidnapping, and on the day he finally returned to California. He returned home, a changed man, one who swore off making weapons, and creating a media firestorm, making Pepper's job even more difficult. But she weathered that difficulty with aplomb, and learned what had had changed Tony so much, approving of the changes. She assisted him with the replacement of his arc reactor, the device that kept him alive by preventing the deadly barbs from entering his heart, despite her squeamishness and awkwardness, things that went against her carefully constructed professional demeanor. Despite Tony's objections, Pepper preserved the first arc reactor, which would prove crucial in the final battle with Stane.

Pepper, despite her objections to Tony's plan, not wishing for him to endanger himself, but persuaded by his simple statement that he could not complete his goals without her, gathered crucial information linking Obadiah Stane with Tony's kidnapping and the black market arms dealings of Stark Industries weaponry, with the assistance of Agent Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. Then despite the risk to herself, Pepper helped Tony defeat Stane by overloading the arc reactor at Stark Industries, which enabled Tony to win, despite great injuries.

After the battle, determined to protect herself and Tony, Pepper rejected his offer of a relationship, considering his plans to continue being Iron Man. But that meant a new way of working with him, knowing he wanted her yet still wanted to be Iron Man. Pepper dealt with this by acting as if nothing had changed, bantering with Tony like usual, yet carefully, knowing he could take what she meant as a sign she returned his interest, which she did, but did this in an attempt to save her heart from being broken, given his track record with women.

This state of affairs lasted for six months until the second movie, changing everything. Between Tony nearly dying thanks to the arc reactor poisoning him while it kept him alive, and his erratic behavior (I mean, really, nearly seven hundred million dollars worth of modern art donated to the Boy Scouts? Sitting in a giant donut after a drag out fight with your best friend?) Let us not forget that Tony metaphorically yanks the rug out from underneath Pepper by choosing her to run Stark Industries officially, since she had been doing it anyways.

Enter Natalie Rushman, from Legal, to notarize the transfer of ownership. Tony is dazzled, much to Pepper's ill concealed consternation, while Happy is flummoxed.

Things seem to be fine for a few days until the Monaco Historical Gran Prix, one of Tony's favorite things. He decides to race his company's entry, leaving Pepper to deal with Natalie who has become her new personal assistant and inadvertently shows her up by anticipating her every need much like what Pepper does with Tony.

It would have just been a normal race if it hadn't been for the fact that Ivan Vanko crashed the race, targeting Tony and taking out anyone who was in his way as well, using an RT powered set of plasma whips. Luckily, Tony had developed a portable version of the Iron Man suit, stored in a race car red briefcase, able to build the suit around Tony in the case of emergency, which this certainly qualified. Pepper risked her neck to take the suitcase suit to Tony along with Happy and was successful, though Tony did have a bit of a fight on his hands.

But not even Pepper's skills were enough to salvage Tony's birthday party where he became drunk and had a knock down drag out fight with Rhodey who was wearing the Mark II armor. After the battle, Rhodey left wearing the suit.

After a scene where Tony remembers Pepper is allergic to strawberries only after buying a carton and presenting them to her, Pepper kicks Tony out of the office much to his dismay, but that triggers a realization there is a key bit of information hidden in the mock-up of the first Stark Expo.

Pepper isn't seen again until the Hammer Industries presentation of the drones and the War Machine suit worn by Rhodey over his objection which is controlled by Vanko go berserk in an attempt to target Tony as Iron Man, causing much collateral damage.

Pepper nearly escapes, but is nearly killed by the detonation of the disabled drones, but luckily is rescued by Tony who arrives from his final battle with Whiplash just in time, where he whisks her away to a nearby roof. They kiss and Pepper quits as CEO, going back to being Tony's assistant, though Rhodey makes a very smart comment about watching mom and dad kiss.

Personality:
Virginia "Pepper" Potts, is at first glance the perfect professional woman, independent and successful.

That isn't all to her of course, but it does form the basis to how she sees herself. Pepper has worked for what she has gotten, from her degree to her job. She is driven, dedicated to being the best she can be, preferring the shadows outside of the limelight, believing that is the way to Get Things Done. You can't exactly run a business when you spend all your time doing flashy things such as jumping out of planes and fighting crime. But running a business is what Tony hired Pepper for, and she is the dependable one, who will get what needs done, done. Hard work and dependability is what got Pepper as far as she has, from her early days of modeling which helped pay for her degree to her current spot in Stark Industries.

Pepper's loyalty is another pillar, as she is careful who gets her loyalty, and the lucky person will have Pepper for as long as they are still worthy of that very precious and rare thing. Pepper is careful with her relationships, both working and personal, and knows that in order for her to be successful at anything, she needs to be very discerning with who she associates with, and as such, whomever earns her trust, has her loyalty for life. Of course one would wonder why she is loyal to Tony, considering his general behavior and personality, but she sees something good in him, the proverbial heart of gold, though technically that is now an arc reactor. Pepper knows that deep down, Tony is a good person and worthy of her respect, something that also is rarely given, as she's learned that most people are concerned only in what will help *them*. She does not deal well with selfish people, which included Tony for a while when he was dealing with the palladium poisoning incident. Pepper knows she can be selfish, yet does not tolerate others exhibiting the same behavior. Touch hypocritical, but then we can't all be perfect.

Her dedication ties into her loyalty. She will do anything within reason for those she is loyal to, to help them with their goals as well as serving her own. In her years of service with Stark Industries, Pepper has worked hard and with an eye for detail, another key part of her personality, to help the company succeed, going so far as to help uncover illegal arms dealing and doing whatever Tony Stark asks of her, which could even be taking out the trash which in her eyes could possibly be the women he brings home for his one night stands, something she disapproves of, yet tolerates (barely) for her job. Pepper has firm ideas about how men should treat women and using them for a momentary spot of pleasure is Not Okay with her. So she is a bit of a romantic, but that little bit is hidden deep under her fitted suits and We Never Speak of it. Of course that romanticism is tinged with realism, as frankly she is practical, knowing that if she allows her heart to lead her, Bad Things will happen or in other words she will get hurt, and having had a bad experience in college with an ex-boyfriend who saw only the surface of her, Pepper is wary of what her heart says versus her brain. Brain says being in love with the boss is a very bad idea, especially when he embarks on a quest to be a knight in shining armor though the heart squeals in joy at the idea.

Pepper's professionalism helps in this endeavor, allowing her to do what she can to help Tony, yet letting her maintain a safe distance, which allows her to be nearly unflappable when things go pear-shaped, which sadly is common with Tony after his kidnapping which tries her proverbial patience. Patience is key to dealing with a genius, and a sharp wit, both of which Pepper has in spades.

Yet Pepper isn't just the Girl Friday, professional and polished. That surface polish hides the softer side, the romantic side and a darker edge, one where she treads dangerously close to being utterly dependent on Tony and his wellbeing. She does not like this part of her, where she soaks up the attention Tony gives her like one of those needy women she is forever fending off and babysitting. Pepper sees herself as a professional woman, one who does not need a man to complete her and to learn she is susceptible to the Stark charm is a very lowering idea. She loves Tony but that is tempered by the fact she's known him for years and is very aware of his issues regarding relationships. Her stubbornness comes into play here, as well, with her determination that she will not become one of Those Women, another notch on the bedpost, a trophy.

Tony is her Kryptonite, as he is the one person in the world capable of making her lose her control, something she has worked for years to perfect and here comes someone who can break that control, that facade with a single word, or act. Pepper does not appreciate that, yet a small part of her enjoys the game, of how much she will let Tony get away with before she lets loose her temper and sharp tongue. It does not help that she can never lie convincingly to him, something he appreciates but it makes her life just a tiny bit more difficult. Well more difficult than it became after the time she bluffed her way into Tony's office, armed with nothing but righteous indignation and a formidable temper.

Pepper will forever deny that she still has dreams of being rescued by a knight in race car red armor, though the color is a recent addition to the fantasy she's had since childhood. That flight of fancy does not quite fit with the image she wishes to project, of the professional, polished, independent woman who is the driving force behind Anthony Stark and briefly as CEO of Stark Industries. Pepper has worked hard to maintain that image, being very private and not willing to step into the limelight as she is afraid her mask will not stand up to extended scrutiny by the public. Pepper is practical and knows her limits and boundaries, unlike some we know. But that enables her to stop when she cannot go on anymore, to step back and find her touchstone as shown when she stepped down as CEO after only a week or so, citing stress. Pepper may not be truly honest about some of her motivations, but she can be honest about when she cannot do something anymore.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Abilities: Tony-wrangling skills, other than that, a normal human female. Well organized, professional, with a degree in accounting.

Weaknesses: Human, Tony Stark

Inventory: Her laptop (with charger and case with her iPod, headphones, and the charger for that

Appearance: Tall (5'9") and slender with killer legs. She has shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, and blue eyes. Prefers Louboutin heels and either skirt suits or dresses in simple, tailored shapes. Or Gwyneth Paltrow with strawberry blonde hair.

Age: Early to mid Thirties

AU Clarification: NA

SAMPLES
Log Sample:
Dammit. I fell asleep in the tub again. Wait. This isn't my tub. Pepper thrashed, startled by the tube in her throat, and the feeling she was definitely not in New York or Malibu.

Landing in a very undignified heap, Pepper coughed, still reacting from a tube in her throat of all things. Shoving her damp hair out of her eyes, she looked around the room she found herself in, then inspected herself from head to toe, eyes widening in horror at the tattoo engraved in her arm. Oh my god. Oh my god. What the hell? Where am I?

Scrambling up onto shaky legs, Pepper looked for anything, really, a towel, something to cover herself. It was getting chilly with that liquid drying on her skin. She rubbed at that tattoo, hoping against hope that it was just a figment of her imagination, but that was a false hope as it was permanently inked in her skin. She sucked in air, trying not to panic. Just a lucid dream. That's all. Come on Pepper, girl, clothes. Then you can wake up.

Pepper moved, looking everywhere for something to wear. Distracted by something out of the corner of her eye, she ran into a metal table, sending it clattering to the floor. She stood, staring in disbelief. This wasn't a dream after all. She really was someplace strange, naked and wet.

Not a dream, then. Okay. We can handle this. Clothes, then answers. Determined, Pepper moved with more caution and purpose, finding a room filled with lockers. Curious, she approached. Numbers were the only identification on them. She looked at her arm, then at the lockers. Not one for hunches, but desperate, Pepper searched for the one matching her arm. That leap of faith was rewarded with clothing, albeit a very plain jumpsuit, and her laptop case as well as a small device that looked a bit higher tech than her phone. Pepper hurriedly dressed, relieved. One goal accomplished. Next one was answers. She left the locker room, carrying her case and the device, hoping that it wouldn't take much longer to accomplish the second goal.

Comms Sample:

[Video]

[a pretty redheaded woman, her hair damp, and a very irritated look on her face appears]

Not exactly the way I wanted to wake up. I take it this isn't some horror movie and we are really stuck on a space ship?

PLAYER
» Journal:  ravynstoneabbey
» Birthdate/Age:  January 21, 1980/31
» Characters Played:   Ratchet & Gracia Hughes

CHARACTER
» Name:  Virginia "Pepper" Potts
» Series: Iron Man (Movies)
» Reference:  Marvel Wiki
» Canon Point:  Post IM2, directly after the scene on the rooftop at the Expo.
» Gender:  Female
» Age: Mid-thirties
» Orientation:  Shown to be primarily heterosexual in canon, but does notice the attractiveness of other women. Pepper has kissed Tony Stark and is in love with him but noted Natalie's attractiveness, mostly in acknowledgement that Tony had basis for his attraction.
» Personality: Pepper is cool, calm and unflappable, valuable traits in an assistant to a genius like Anthony Stark. She is the epitome of professionalism, not letting her personal feelings for Tony be publicly known. She even turned down his offer of a relationship just before the press conference in order to protect Tony, knowing that if they did have a relationship and he kept on fighting crime, she would be a target and that would harm Tony even more than her telling him no.

Pepper is well aware that she is the only one there for Tony, and is privileged to be so trusted. She has dedicated her life to being there for him, to make his life easier in every way she can. As she said to Christine Everhart, "I will do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires, including taking out the trash." This is shown by her assistance to help him replace his Mark I reactor despite squeamishness and awkwardness, then helping him hack into his own company's servers to find out the full story of Obadiah's arms dealing and even despite the danger to Tony and herself, overloading the arc reactor to help defeat Stane in the Iron Monger suit.

Tony is the only person in the world who can make Pepper lose her mask of calmness and professionalism. This mask of professionalism is also a wall, helping Pepper keep things between her and Tony to a level where she can deal with him and her feelings for him. Pepper respects Tony enough to keep her nose out of anything not directly tied to her position as his personal secretary, which also serves as a way to protect herself from being emotionally hurt by Tony.

Making Pepper lose the mask is something Tony is very good at doing, much to her irritation, such his small infatuation with Natalie Rushman from Legal and  his falling out with Rhodey over the Iron Man suit and last, but not least, Tony's strange behavior while he was suffering the effects of palladium poisoning from his arc reactor which included giving away his entire art collection to the Boy Scouts and even giving his company to her.

Pepper adjusted well enough on the surface, trying her best to run Stark Industries despite Tony's odd behavior, something she believed was still side-effects from his captivity, and not a direct result of his impending demise from palladium poisoning. Underneath though, Pepper was unhappy with the turn of events, becoming more brusque and not willing to truly listen to Tony when he needed her to be there for him. This was not her best moment, to put it mildly. Pepper was never one to be in the spotlight, preferring the background, and this coupled with the fact that Tony is behaving oddly, it makes Pepper off-kilter, something that her detail oriented mindset cannot cope with.

But Pepper knows when she cannot do something to the best of her ability, and so gracefully steps back when she is given the chance. Pepper is stubborn, but that is tempered by the fact that she is well aware of her limitations, and so she knows when it is a good idea to give up, unless it directly affects Tony's health, and so she willingly gives up being CEO, going back to a familiar position which enables her to be a better help to Tony in his new role as Iron Man which is something she approves of despite the obvious danger to Tony, preferring this to his pre-captivity ways.
» Appearance:  Pepper has shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and is slender with killer legs. Prefers Louboutin heels and either skirt suits or dresses in simple, tailored shapes.
» Suitability: N/A

( Samples )

CHARACTER NAME: Pepper Potts
CHARACTER SERIES: Iron Man (Movies)

[OOC]

Backtagging: YES
Threadjacking: yes unless locked
Fourthwalling: Knock yourself out
Is there anything offensive to you that we should be mindful of? Nope

[IC]

Hugging, kissing, touching, flirting with this character? Flirting & such is okay, but be wary of Tony Stark. >.>
Fighting, injuring, and killing this character? Erm. Discussion first please!
Any other info? Nope!

Your name: Alex
Your LJ: ravynstoneabbey 
Your email: ravynstone.abbey@gmail.com
Your AIM, MSN, or Yahoo handle: AIM: ravynabbey

Character's name: Pepper Potts
Character's LJ: ms_pepperpotts 
Character's canon: Iron Man 2008 movie with background from the movie novel
Brief (around 300 words) personality outline of your character:

Pepper is cool, calm and unflappable, valuable traits in an assistant to a genius like Anthony Stark. She is the epitome of professionalism, not letting her secret love for Tony be publicly known, though Lt. James Rhodes had an idea of her feelings shortly after Tony's kidnapping. She even turned down his offer of a relationship just before the press conference in order to protect Tony, knowing that if they did have a relationship and he kept on fighting crime, she would be a target and that would harm Tony even more than her telling him no.

She kept things together, helping to keep his company running during his absence, something most assistants would not even dream of doing. She is ever loyal to Tony, doing things that would make most people refuse: helping him replace his upgraded arc reactor, despite squeamishness and awkwardness, even spy on his own company after Stane attempted to take it over. She, despite a few misgivings, even adjusted to the idea that Tony decided to fight evil wearing only a suit of armor, albeit a high tech one powered by his arc reactor.

Pepper is well aware that she is the only one there for Tony, and is privileged to be so trusted. She has dedicated her life to being there for him, to make his life easier in every way she can.

Pepper is the Girl Friday, in killer heels and sleek suits, playing the outward part of a subservient woman, following behind her man, yet she subverts it by having the uncanny ability to make herself heard, and by not putting up with anyone else's shenanigans, and keeping her identity separate from her job, though she did gracefully give in to being called Pepper by everyone she works with.

Brief (around 500 words) history and background of your character OR link to a really good wiki page with their history. In either case, explain where they cut off from the timeline:

Tired of being just another pretty face, one among many, Virginia Potts left a modeling career and sought a position with Stark Industries. Using her BA in Accounting, Virginia accepted a low level administrative position. All was fine, until while going over a financial forecast, she noticed a glaring mathematical error. She attempted to bring it to her supervisor's attention, but was brushed off. Determined, and armed with moral rightness and bravado, Virginia took her concerns clear to Tony Stark, head of the company, despite being told she was fired by the general manager. She stood up to security and in doing so, drew Tony's attention, and gained a new name, Pepper, so called because she attempted to bluff security with possession of pepper spray, despite not actually having it on her person.

Tony Stark offered her the position of personal assistant, for two reasons: her inability to lie convincingly and her attention to details. She accepted it, seeing in it a much better working environment, where what she did was important. All was normal after that, or as normal as working for Tony Stark can be, until the day Tony disappeared in Afghanistan. She held herself and the company together, only breaking down twice, once with Rhodey in the early days of Tony's kidnapping, and on the day he finally returned to California. He returned home, a changed man, one who swore off making weapons, and creating a media firestorm, making Pepper's job even more difficult. But she weathered that difficulty with aplomb, and learned what had had changed Tony so much. She assisted him with the replacement of his arc reactor, the device that kept him alive by preventing the deadly barbs from entering his heart, despite her squeamishness and awkwardness, things that went against her carefully constructed professional demeanor. Despite Tony's objections, Pepper preserved the first arc reactor, which would prove crucial in the final battle with Stane.

Pepper, despite her objections to Tony's plan, not wishing for him to endanger himself, but persuaded by his simple statement that he could not complete his goals without her, gathered crucial information linking Obadiah Stane with Tony's kidnapping and the black market arms dealings of Stark Industries weaponry.
Despite the risk to herself, Pepper helped Tony defeat Stane by overloading the arc reactor at Stark Industries, which enabled Tony to win, despite great injuries.
After the battle, determined to protect herself and Tony, Pepper rejected his offer of a relationship, considering his plans to continue being Iron Man.

Source: Wiki Article [Though I am using movieverse only characterization based on the movie and movie novel and her article was edited to focus more on her comicsverse appearance.] | Movie Article | Archived Wikipedia Article just in case!

Sample post (just a general, everyday, puttering-around-the-ship post; please include a snippet of dialogue):

Pepper was a busy girl. She had several places to be yesterday and Stacy was not so nice as to make a few copies of her. Something that, come to think of it, really was possible, judging from the other Tonys.

But that idea made her head hurt, and she didn't have time for a headache. Not when she was on a mission from Tony.

Pepper struck gold when she turned the corner, and saw one of her targets well within reach.

"Ah! Mr. Huffnor. Just the man I'm looking for. I have a proposition for you."

If the character has magic, mutant, or otherwise metahuman abilities, please explain what they are and outline EXACTLY how they function, as their powers may not work due to the nature of the ship or may need to be limited somehow: Just a human~

Non-superhuman special abilities of note (Is your character a master ventriloquist? A naturally-occurring super-genius? The best martial artist in the world? Say so here): The perfect assistant. Savvy with all facets of managing a busy CEO's life, with an eye for art, and a willingness to do whatever is required of her.