Story: "Hairpins" Part 10
Mar. 12th, 2014 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithSorry for the delay, my loyal fans, and thanks to the folks who asked if everything was okay here. Tuesday evening got eaten by locusts. Thursday Friday is also likely to get eaten by different locusts. I'll keep up posting as best I can.
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29.
"Hairpins" Part 10
Phil was doing SHIELD paperwork in his den, with soft classical music playing in the background, when JARVIS chimed for attention. "Our order for game night has arrived," JARVIS announced. "Do you wish to claim it in the lobby, or shall I direct it up here?" The tower had central reception and processing areas, connected to service ways filtered through increasing layers of security, so that supplies could be routed where needed without intruding on personal space.
Along with the package from the pajama company came a basket of less urgent mail and a white cardboard carton that opened to reveal a piece of New York crumb cake. "I didn't ask for brunch," Phil said, although it smelled so delicious that his mouth watered. He hated the thought of sending it away. "Somebody else's order must have gotten mixed in with mine."
"The delivery is correct," JARVIS said. "You have not yet consumed anything more than coffee today. Studies indicate that early-morning meals improve performance. A snack service is also available if you state your preferences. Stark Industries protocol includes the provision of food from tower supplies to encourage healthy eating habits in employees."
"I'm not --" Phil began, but he was, because Tony had insisted on hiring all the Avengers when they first moved in with him. He didn't trust SHIELD to provide for them. They all had salaries and benefits through SI now. Phil had been startled to discover that 'Avengers Tower' accorded each of them partial ownership of the building, primarily their own apartments, although Bruce also had lab space in his name and some of the other specialty areas were shared across various team members. "All right, fine, I'll take a break for brunch."
The crumb cake tasted even better than it smelled, pale fluffy cake under a generous layer of big crispy crumbs that burst in his mouth with a warm cinnamon flavor. Phil hummed in appreciation. The tower maintained contracts with several local bakeries, as well as what its own cafeteria produced, so there was never a shortage of fresh bread and pastries. Phil licked his forefinger and pressed it to the bottom of the carton to catch the last few delectable crumbs.
Next he picked up the package and checked to make sure that both sets of pajamas matched the specs provided for them. They did. Then his gaze fell on the address label. He had routed the order through several bounce accounts so that it could not be traced to him, but the last one pointed to his current address.
Phillip J. Coulson
Avengers Tower Apt. A6
Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
His hand brushed over the padded yellow envelope and the white label, following the lines of crisp black ink. "Our order..." he murmured thoughtfully.
There was only one name on the label. Phil had picked out the pajamas himself. He hadn't asked Natasha or Tony for input, wanting to surprise them. Nobody else had been involved, except for some assistance from JARVIS in weeding out the inappropriate search results.
* * *
Notes:
New York crumb cake is a local specialty, related to a coffee cake and popular for breakfast or brunch.
Most people do their best when they eat breakfast regularly. Breakfast conveys many benefits. Conversely, skipping breakfast can have a negative impact on school or job performance. While Phil doesn't have the slow-starting metabolism of Tony or Bruce, he is very busy -- a key reason why people often skip breakfast. In that case, having someone offer tempting items is an effective route to better eating habits.
Healthy snacks can be a valuable part of a nutritious food plan. Various snack delivery services such as Graze or Nature Box offer a selection of tasty nibblements that are good for you, with various themes or delivery schedules. Avengers Tower simply does the same thing in house, letting people indicate what kind of snacks they like and when they tend to get hungry. For a minor increase in the food budget, Tony gets higher performance and much happier workers. Things like this are why nobody has much success poaching employees out of Stark Industries.
There's a list of New York superhero addresses, including the Avengers Tower address. Local color can make for excellent writing if you know what you're doing, and sometimes Marvel does a brilliant job of this. I am still in awe of the fact that they researched NYC demographics and used that to set the new Spiderman's race as Hispanic/black.
[To be continued in Part 11 ...]
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29.
"Hairpins" Part 10
Phil was doing SHIELD paperwork in his den, with soft classical music playing in the background, when JARVIS chimed for attention. "Our order for game night has arrived," JARVIS announced. "Do you wish to claim it in the lobby, or shall I direct it up here?" The tower had central reception and processing areas, connected to service ways filtered through increasing layers of security, so that supplies could be routed where needed without intruding on personal space.
Along with the package from the pajama company came a basket of less urgent mail and a white cardboard carton that opened to reveal a piece of New York crumb cake. "I didn't ask for brunch," Phil said, although it smelled so delicious that his mouth watered. He hated the thought of sending it away. "Somebody else's order must have gotten mixed in with mine."
"The delivery is correct," JARVIS said. "You have not yet consumed anything more than coffee today. Studies indicate that early-morning meals improve performance. A snack service is also available if you state your preferences. Stark Industries protocol includes the provision of food from tower supplies to encourage healthy eating habits in employees."
"I'm not --" Phil began, but he was, because Tony had insisted on hiring all the Avengers when they first moved in with him. He didn't trust SHIELD to provide for them. They all had salaries and benefits through SI now. Phil had been startled to discover that 'Avengers Tower' accorded each of them partial ownership of the building, primarily their own apartments, although Bruce also had lab space in his name and some of the other specialty areas were shared across various team members. "All right, fine, I'll take a break for brunch."
The crumb cake tasted even better than it smelled, pale fluffy cake under a generous layer of big crispy crumbs that burst in his mouth with a warm cinnamon flavor. Phil hummed in appreciation. The tower maintained contracts with several local bakeries, as well as what its own cafeteria produced, so there was never a shortage of fresh bread and pastries. Phil licked his forefinger and pressed it to the bottom of the carton to catch the last few delectable crumbs.
Next he picked up the package and checked to make sure that both sets of pajamas matched the specs provided for them. They did. Then his gaze fell on the address label. He had routed the order through several bounce accounts so that it could not be traced to him, but the last one pointed to his current address.
Phillip J. Coulson
Avengers Tower Apt. A6
Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
His hand brushed over the padded yellow envelope and the white label, following the lines of crisp black ink. "Our order..." he murmured thoughtfully.
There was only one name on the label. Phil had picked out the pajamas himself. He hadn't asked Natasha or Tony for input, wanting to surprise them. Nobody else had been involved, except for some assistance from JARVIS in weeding out the inappropriate search results.
* * *
Notes:
New York crumb cake is a local specialty, related to a coffee cake and popular for breakfast or brunch.
Most people do their best when they eat breakfast regularly. Breakfast conveys many benefits. Conversely, skipping breakfast can have a negative impact on school or job performance. While Phil doesn't have the slow-starting metabolism of Tony or Bruce, he is very busy -- a key reason why people often skip breakfast. In that case, having someone offer tempting items is an effective route to better eating habits.
Healthy snacks can be a valuable part of a nutritious food plan. Various snack delivery services such as Graze or Nature Box offer a selection of tasty nibblements that are good for you, with various themes or delivery schedules. Avengers Tower simply does the same thing in house, letting people indicate what kind of snacks they like and when they tend to get hungry. For a minor increase in the food budget, Tony gets higher performance and much happier workers. Things like this are why nobody has much success poaching employees out of Stark Industries.
There's a list of New York superhero addresses, including the Avengers Tower address. Local color can make for excellent writing if you know what you're doing, and sometimes Marvel does a brilliant job of this. I am still in awe of the fact that they researched NYC demographics and used that to set the new Spiderman's race as Hispanic/black.
[To be continued in Part 11 ...]
An Offer--
Date: 2014-03-12 07:12 pm (UTC)Coulson: "Hm. Jarvis is right..." but he's so distracted by the pajamas' delivery that the OTHER repercussions haven't yet sunk in. I think that's great; by the time Phil is really / thinking through / what Jarvis actually did, independently ('studies have shown', blah blah, is just a total SMOKESCREEN dolled up in "I'm just following my subroutines"....) ---
Well, by the time Phil REALLY thinks the matter through, Jarvis will already BE a person in Phil's mind. (I devoutly hope.) Actually, I hope that when Coulson realizes what his overrides DID to Jarvis, his first reaction will be a wave of shame and regret, however brief. That matter still needs to be cleared up before solidifying their relationship to each other.
Lovely, lovely bit again, and posted during my daylight hours so I can re-read the whole story so far before bedtime. What a treat! Thank you.
Re: An Offer--
Date: 2014-03-12 07:51 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly. JARVIS, like Phil, enjoys taking care of people, favoring those with needs he can meet who will let him help.
>> Coulson: "Hm. Jarvis is right..." but he's so distracted by the pajamas' delivery that the OTHER repercussions haven't yet sunk in. <<
That's true. Many of these ideas have been simmering in the back of Phil's mind for a while now, and are gradually floating into conscious awareness.
>> I think that's great; by the time Phil is really thinking through what Jarvis actually did, independently <<
I'm glad this works for you.
>> ('studies have shown', blah blah, is just a total SMOKESCREEN dolled up in "I'm just following my subroutines"....) --- <<
*chuckle* Well, he's not wrong. JARVIS has programming to serve as his instincts, and he relies heavily on factual information to figure out what people need or what is likely to work. So it's common for him to reference things like that. On the other hoof, he also has an emotional awareness of other people, and quite excellent ability to extrapolate what approach will suit each user. So with Tony, JARVIS is snarky; with Phil, he's more formal and objective. An appeal to logic, practicality, and responsibility has a high chance of success with Phil. It's not just JARVIS being subtle, but also him being attuned to Phil's style.
>> Well, by the time Phil REALLY thinks the matter through, Jarvis will already BE a person in Phil's mind. (I devoutly hope.) <<
This is pretty much what is happening. Phil already has a subconscious awareness of JARVIS as a person, and the early notice from Tony about the tower having an artificial intelligence. It's just that Phil hasn't put all that together quite yet.
>> Actually, I hope that when Coulson realizes what his overrides DID to Jarvis, his first reaction will be a wave of shame and regret, however brief. <<
It's not all that brief, and yes, that's the angst part that makes this story flangst instead of pure fluff. Consider what a Captain America fan Phil is -- that's where his moral compass really points -- and now think about where his head is going to go once something reminds him of that incident.
>> That matter still needs to be cleared up before solidifying their relationship to each other. <<
Absolutely. It's a classic example of the challenges this team faces, because so many of them have tangled each other up in the past. That's a key reason why I wanted to write out this story.
>> Lovely, lovely bit again, and posted during my daylight hours so I can re-read the whole story so far before bedtime. What a treat! Thank you. <<
You're welcome.
Re: An Offer--
Date: 2014-03-13 01:50 pm (UTC)His programming is just more readily called that; what is 'instinct' but extrapolation from prior 'data'? JARVIS is just better with his 'is this reliable' and 'is this similar' assessments.
Re: An Offer--
Date: 2014-03-13 07:32 pm (UTC)There are different kinds of programming, though, and only some of them are analogous to human instinct. JARVIS is made of hardware and software the way humans are made of meat and spirit. Some aspects tell how to do things; there are nerves and signals for moving limbs, and code for opening doors. Instincts tell what things to do, at a subconscious and therefore faster level: snake>DODGE is a better survival routine than "Oh, it's a snake, I should step out of its way." So JARVIS would have software instincts relating to things that could hurt him or someone else, for example: hack>BLOCK.
Instincts are compiled from the sum total of ancestral experiences, passed forward to help descendants survive and reproduce. Biolife gets them automatically. Artificial intelligence needs some or all of them coded on purpose, although given that JARVIS has two daddies and resembles both of them, I would bet that a variety of human instincts and other metadata got carried over without conscious intent.
>> JARVIS is just better with his 'is this reliable' and 'is this similar' assessments. <<
Better and faster, at least in areas that are highly compatible with logic. Emotional equations are more challenging to him, especially given that he has to jump the species gap to gauge human emotions. JARVIS actually does have intuition, which is one of the things that reveals him as a person. His confidence is variable, but the base ability is there.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-12 10:23 pm (UTC)The suspense is killing me.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-12 10:52 pm (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2014-03-14 07:15 am (UTC)Eh, stuff happens. I keep up with posting as best I can.
>> The suspense is killing me. <<
New installment is up now. Phil is starting to put the pieces together now that he's actually awake!
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-13 12:16 am (UTC)Seriously, I can't think of any UK company that takes care of their people like that, and to my knowledge, only google get close... and yet it's such a logical thing to do! It's just not part of British culture I think.
Which makes me wonder... how can Tony understand people so well, and yet be so bad at interacting with them personally? Or is it part of his 'damage', that he goes to great lengths to make people like him, and that bleeds over into his professional life... actually does he even have a distinction between personal and professional?
Hmm... and to echo the sentiments above, Jarvis is very quietly taking care of Phil, which is going to be a bit of a turn-about for him I suspect, given that he's usually in that role.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-13 04:33 am (UTC)We have seen that Phil needs being cared for too, it's been rare, but he relents with only minor drama.
Yes...
Date: 2014-03-13 06:52 am (UTC)Much the same concept. They probably do have a snack-and-beverage cart that travels the employee floors, in addition to the custom-ordered snack boxes. Free snacks and beverages will more than pay for themselves in improved productivity and morale. You could always go down to the cafeteria and buy real food there, but even that probably has a free soup-and-sandwich option or something like that, just because some people won't eat otherwise.
>> We have seen that Phil needs being cared for too, it's been rare, but he relents with only minor drama. <<
Sooth. For Phil it's less a matter of habitual self-denial than it is distraction. He'll get busy and just forget to eat or sleep quite as much as he should. Bruce is the same way. He'll eat if he feels hungry, sleep if he feels tired, but that man spends so much time with his head in the clouds that his body's needs often just don't reach him.
I figure that's one of the other things Hulk is for, minding survival needs. Hulk is probably very grateful to have Phil, Steve, Tony, and JARVIS to take over that prompting so that he doesn't have to keep going, "Puny Bruce EAT now!" or "No more lab. SLEEP." all the time.
All of the Avengers are getting better at self-care, and better at accepting care from their teammates, despite their tendency to put others first. It helps a lot that they are modeling for each other how to take care of someone else, so it's easy to argue, "Hey, you like it when I let you take care of me, so give me a chance to do the same for you."
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-03-13 02:41 pm (UTC)Of course part of the reasoning for the free food at certain types of employers is they have their campus off in nowhere so there isn't somewhere to run out to. You wouldn't want to see the code that would happen after two days of not going home and left to their own devices. Bagels mold without refrigeration pretty quick.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-03-14 07:13 am (UTC)Agreed! It's a very practical service. I can imagine Pepper thinking, "Let's not have engineers fainting at their desks."
>> and rather than say 'you can't have this' it was 'let's be sensible and have one person do the fiddling and everyone else will stay on task until they have their cuppa and nibbles.' It was Modern! Efficient! Hygenic! (sorry, I think some ad copy escaped.) And the re-fuelled could get back on task and not be grumbling about no tea for them. <<
Exactly. Some places take coffee breaks or lunches in staggered shifts for that reason. Works fine with a breakroom or tea trolley.
The Stark Enterprises snack service just lets people estimate when they usually get hungry and delivers on that schedule. *chuckle* Or JARVIS sends things out if he thinks it's necessary. I doubt that Phil is the first time that's happened; with a food service in the building, it's easy to explain away.
>> Of course part of the reasoning for the free food at certain types of employers is they have their campus off in nowhere so there isn't somewhere to run out to. <<
That's true too. Tony just doesn't want his people to waste time running all over the city for stuff they could have delivered. That's rich-people thinking in a way, but it's considerate too.
The fact that the SI snack service offers fruit, nuts, granola and other healthy nibblements is doubtless due to somebody else looking up what kind of snacks would promote healthy, productive employees. Tony likes junk food. Heh, but we can say that packet of blueberries in the movie was probably part of a snackbox that Tony pocketed without half thinking of it.
>> You wouldn't want to see the code that would happen after two days of not going home and left to their own devices. Bagels mold without refrigeration pretty quick. <<
Yeah, that would suck. Well fed, properly hydrated, fully slept employees make fewer mistakes and better products.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-01 09:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-13 10:14 am (UTC)Well...
Date: 2014-03-16 09:55 pm (UTC)The advantage to a tea trolley is that it actively reminds people that they need to refuel. This works better if it's free, but even a paid one is helpful. I suspect there are still places that do this, but probably the more upscale ones, so it fits with Stark Industries.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-14 06:22 am (UTC)I can sympathize with the temptation.
>> Seriously, I can't think of any UK company that takes care of their people like that, and to my knowledge, only google get close... and yet it's such a logical thing to do! It's just not part of British culture I think. <<
Perhaps so. I think there are some places that do something similar, but they tend to be high-end ones like Stark Industries that need to attract and maintain the best people. Who sometimes are not all that great at taking care of themselves.
>> Which makes me wonder... how can Tony understand people so well, and yet be so bad at interacting with them personally? <<
It's not all Tony. JARVIS helps manage Stark Industries. Pepper is currently CEO. There are doubtless people in charge of maintaining a congenial working environment, who would do things like keep abreast of current research, innovative luxuries such as snack services, what benefits competing companies are offering, etc. I can't imagine it's much of a challenge to beat Hammer's presumably awful benefits package.
Now add into that how Tony made the Starkbars so he'd have something tasty, healthy, and convenient because he forgets to eat so often. That's a common trait for many intellectuals. So he's got a building with a high population of people who are brilliant but a bit erratic in certain regards. JARVIS and Pepper have learned some ways to manage Tony, and Tony has learned a bit about compensating for his own bad habits. It's not that much more of a leap to realize that prompting absent-minded folks to eat something healthy would probably boost performance. Plus, it's a lot cheaper to feed them, even if you have to hand-feed them, than have people keel over a desk and need to be carted to the tower clinic.
>> Or is it part of his 'damage', that he goes to great lengths to make people like him, and that bleeds over into his professional life... <<
That may well be part of it. Certainly this plays into Tony's habit of showering his friends with excessive gifts and his employees with benefits and raises. He honestly believes -- and has some unfortunate evidence to back it up -- that he needs to bribe people to put up with him. Tony's still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that the Avengers might possibly like him for himself instead of his money, his favors, his dick, or the Iron Man suit.
>> actually does he even have a distinction between personal and professional? <<
Not much of one; Tony has boundary issues all over. He doesn't seem to have any friends with zero professional connection. Rhodey comes closest, because that wasn't present when they met in college; it developed later with Rhodey in the military and Tony making weapons. Happy and Pepper both began as Tony's employees. The Avengers are all part of his superhero work. It's pretty much just Tony's botfamily, and even they are into the family business in some ways.
>> Hmm... and to echo the sentiments above, Jarvis is very quietly taking care of Phil, which is going to be a bit of a turn-about for him I suspect, given that he's usually in that role. <<
Yes, that's true. Phil isn't used to other people taking care of him yet.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-14 11:39 am (UTC)Now that I think of it, canonically Tony had a parade of interchangeable f**k-toys, or he had people with whom he had a semi-professional relationship. I think the only exception to that was the young boy from IR3, and I'm not so sure you couldn't call that one professional kind of.
I wonder if Tony even knows how to have a conversation with someone he's not working with, manipulating in some way or trying to seduce. Must be lonely in some ways.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-16 06:07 am (UTC)Yes, that makes sense.
>> Want to bet H.R probably has a whole little department beavering away just for him. <<
No doubt, and that's where you get sent if you fuck up, in hopes that either Tony will fire you or drive you to quitting. Any kind of Tony-duty in SI is either the best promotion you could ever hope to get ... or a one-way trip to Siberia.
>> Now that I think of it, canonically Tony had a parade of interchangeable f**k-toys, or he had people with whom he had a semi-professional relationship. <<
Yes, exactly.
>> I think the only exception to that was the young boy from IR3, and I'm not so sure you couldn't call that one professional kind of. <<
Tangentially professional, because without Tony's job they never would have met, and what did Tony do but rope the kid into garage/lab support.
>> I wonder if Tony even knows how to have a conversation with someone he's not working with, manipulating in some way or trying to seduce. <<
Probably not. I suspect he may have a short list of "small talk" lines that he memorized due to parental pressure. He doesn't really know how to socialize, just schmooze, flirt, pitch, or otherwise manipulate. Game night has been a tremendous help in terms of giving Tony experience with casual, personal interactions. He has probably cobbled it together from childhood memories of a few play dates and hanging with Edwin Jarvis. You can see how Tony still stalls out in team conversations sometimes; he's better at talking up his projects or someone else's than what he's feeling or what's going on in the world.
>> Must be lonely in some ways. <<
Tony spends most of his time in his head, concentrating on projects. When he comes down, he can be achingly lonely. That's a key part of what spurred him to make DUM-E and the rest of his botfamily, and to glom onto Bruce so fast.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-16 09:54 am (UTC)Although, Tony does have some rudimentary social skills, and bags of charm when he wants. So who knows.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-16 08:33 pm (UTC)Too true.
>> Although, Tony does have some rudimentary social skills, and bags of charm when he wants. So who knows. <<
Tony is good with people if there's a point of interface and he has a reason to be charming. If he doesn't respect them and/or doesn't want something from them, it's a disaster, because he doesn't really have "be nice to people" as a standard setting.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-16 03:09 pm (UTC)Only the best return. They're the ones that line was meant for. Occasionally they recondition some of those "lost causes" so they stop channeling Dogbert's dystopia.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-16 06:57 pm (UTC)* People who somebody thinks might actually be good at managing Tony in some regard.
* People who are such a pain in the ass as to make people want them gone, but for some reason not easy to fire directly.
* People who are great at their work but have seriously offended someone (or everyone).
Ideally, the ones who are more trouble than they're worth will get filtered out. Tony has a very sharp eye for spotting and promoting people who are terrific in some way, but not conventionally pleasing.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-18 01:07 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-24 04:40 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-24 04:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-14 12:24 am (UTC)I grew up in NYC. You had my mouth watering at the mention of that crumb cake, and the address brought me straight to Columbus Circle, on the sidewalk, feeling the building that's there looming above me and imagining an even taller and more impressive Avengers Tower - more fortress-like than lacy, too, if I'm remembering the real-world building right.
Thank you!
Date: 2014-03-15 08:08 am (UTC)*happydance*
>> I grew up in NYC. You had my mouth watering at the mention of that crumb cake, <<
I really appreciate the confirmation. One thing I love about writing local color is how much I learn about the places I'm covering. Occasionally I write ones I know personally, but most of the time it's far-flung so I look things up or incorporate tidbits my readers suggest. The crumb cake is just one of several New York tidbits I've encountered as part of this series. It sounded rather tasty.
>> and the address brought me straight to Columbus Circle, on the sidewalk, feeling the building that's there looming above me and imagining an even taller and more impressive Avengers Tower - more fortress-like than lacy, too, if I'm remembering the real-world building right. <<
Yay! I like being able to put boots on the ground like that. While I admire the elegant appearance of the tower in The Avengers I do imagine that Tony would build a fortress. It might look like glass and flash on the outside, but it'd take someone of Loki's caliber to get through the security. Which has doubtless been beefed up accordingly since then, as it has after every other violation of Tony's territory in the past.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-14 02:21 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2014-03-15 07:12 am (UTC)That makes sense.
>> I work in a call center, we have a coffee and tea station, that has free coffee, green and black tea as well as sugar and creamer, and ice and water. It is self serve and you have to bring your own cup. But everyone has their own cup anyway, when your job is to talk for 8 hours a day. <<
The tower probably has lightly stocked lounges too. For sure it has free water liberally available; if the original version wasn't sufficient, Bruce would've pointed out that gap. Breakrooms are great for people who remember to take breaks, but absent-minded or hyperfocused people often need more active prompting to eat.
>> There is also a free gym, but way less people use that. <<
The team's portion of the tower includes Avengers-only versions of some stuff that also has a semi-public version for some or all tower folks. The tower gym isn't as elaborate or sturdy as the superhero-caliber Avengers gym but has all the basic stuff plus some popular extras. It's a lot easier to get people onto treadmills if the viewscreen in front of them will show pretty much any entertainment known to man.
There's a studio floor, too, in addition to Steve's corner studio on his floor.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-03-16 03:40 pm (UTC)(I have no skillz in hackysack, but the guys didn't mind me joining them while they 'noodled'.)
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-04-13 01:57 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-04-13 02:16 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-01 10:16 pm (UTC)I was meaning though 'meetings' that are actually playdates because some geeks really do need that intervention, and most meetings are less useful and last longer.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 04:18 am (UTC)That's true, yes.
>> I was meaning though 'meetings' that are actually playdates because some geeks really do need that intervention, and most meetings are less useful and last longer. <<
It's a possibility. Tony has to be getting some kind of playtime with the other engineers at Stark Industries.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 06:50 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 07:08 am (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 07:26 am (UTC)Might also hand people Japanese origami instructions (we once had a devil of a time with a project because someone 'translated' a model from the pictorial they'd learned from and it sorta gained issues in the process)
Wonder how many times Tony has thrown up his hands and sent secretaries to engineering school so they could sort people out?
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 07:48 am (UTC)Possible, although Coulson is the origami fan of the team.
>> Wonder how many times Tony has thrown up his hands and sent secretaries to engineering school so they could sort people out? <<
Probably a lot.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-02 08:05 am (UTC)"Send Cheryl and Sandra."
Pepper looks at him like Tony is more crazy than usual.
"They'll be able to establish a beach head with the secretaries, he won't know what hit him. Mostly his own support."
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-15 01:56 am (UTC)Well, this is how he got his CEO after all. Pepper started out more or less as his secretary, and now she rules his empire so he doesn't have to.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-09-15 03:06 am (UTC)Secretary and nanny.