tushanshu | [Console] Video;

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[Console] Video;

[When the screen comes on there is a face just a little too close to the camera; it’s got freckles and red hair. The figure scoots back a bit, and a young woman in her late teens appears, grinning nervously.]

Uh, hiiii. I’m Pepper. Pepper Potts. I come from a city called New York which some of you have probably heard of and if you haven’t you should because its awesome. Or, it was awesome before a bunch of aliens came and tried to destroy the planet, which they might still do, I got here before we blew up the ship when I got teleported, so it might not be so awesome when you go visit. [She pauses, catching herself.] Er. If, I guess. Sorry, I talk a lot when I’m nervous, apparently, that’s what everyone always tells me. Actually they say I talk too much all the time, not just when I'm nervous. Especially Tony and Rhodey and Gene. Oh! Yeah, I'm from the same place as Tony and Gene. Well, not exactly, we came here from different places, or something, which I don't really understand yet.

[She takes a deep breath and tries to slow down the torrent of words.] Anyway. I hear there’s some big bad running around and since I’m kind of used to fighting supervillains I’m totally there if you need someone to help with butt-kicking. Probably.

[Pepper sags a little bit.]

I could use some help figuring out what to do here. I’m supposed to get a job and all I ever wanted to be is a SHIELD agent. I could help...organize...things? Unless someone needs a personal shopper, in which case I am so there.

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[Hal Jordan was very big on the stories.]

I have been informed that the timbre and pitch of my voice can be considered soothing on occasion, yes.

I didn't just mean your tone. I mean, that's part of it, sure, but it's also just what you're saying. It might seem a little...technical, maybe, but it's.. Oh, what's the word...grounding! Yeah, grounding.

[Basically, Aya would probably make a good therapist, is what Pepper is trying to say.]

I could probably even tackle chemistry if you kept me from throwing the textbook away.

[Grounding. Perhaps an ironic compliment, given that she was highly capable of flight, and--in fact--spent the majority of her first year of life traveling through the deep recesses of space. But a compliment all the same.]

Chemistry is the science of studying the compositions, structures, properties, and constant changes of matter. Why would you require a textbook to learn about such things when it would prove far more beneficial to simply observe them for yourself?

Well, we sometimes did experiments at school, but most of what we learned was taught out of a textbook. That's how most things get taught, actually. Books and lectures and practice sheets and other really boring methods.

Edited 2015-05-25 20:12 (UTC)

That sounds...counterproductive to the learning process.

Yeah, pretty much. It explains why some people don't know how to find their own country on a map.

[That earned a very, very raised eyebrow. Aya was well aware that there were many individuals with a lower intelligence than she possessed...but, for a being who could map out all of Guardian Space in seconds, the concept of not being able to find a single country on a single planet, particularly if it was one's primary residence...]

Is this what is commonly referred to as...a hyperbole?

[Aya is looking at Pepper like she's crazy. To her, she must sound like it.]

I wish. It's really sad, but also really true. Fortunately it's not most people, but enough to be a little bit scary.

[Pepper realizes she can almost sympathize with Gene's goals, to rule Earth in order to bring it prosperity - to save it. Almost. Not enough to condone what he did, but enough to really start forgiving him.]

[So...not a hyperbole, then.]

My apologies.

I did not realize that there were still parts of your world that were so...primitive. [It was not meant to be an insult, per say; those few cultures that Aya had ever encountered possessing such minimal knowledge and awareness of their surroundings were always not yet mature. They would need time to develop and evolve into more intelligent beings, as did any culture throughout the universe.] As I have never been to Earth, myself, I can only relate through second-hand accounts shared with me by those who resided there.

[Nope. Actual factual.]

In more ways than one. You should see Tony's room back home.

A lot of it has to do with politicians, but I don't pay that much attention since I can't vote yet.

[ Not that navigating high school and taking down corrupt corporations didn't involves certain kind of politics.]

Why would I be interested in seeing Tony's room?

He is far from primitive. In fact, I would argue that he is one of the most intelligent human beings I have had the pleasure of encountering.

[Pepper laughs a little. Aya might actually be interested for investigative purposes.]

Yeah, Tony is really intelligent, but when it comes to cleaning up after himself he's not very smart. [She remembers when Tony would spend three days in the lab without showering, and Pepper and Rhodey would come back to a mess of take-out wrappers and metal scraps. Her nose wrinkles at the thought.] It's probably the caveman in him.

[Pepper has yet to see Tony's room, so she has no idea that it is, indeed, quite clean at the behest of a certain someone. They're still trying to figure out how to tell her.]

[Pepper's choice of words...did not entirely translate properly into Oan, leading to a momentary bout of confusion. The difference between intelligence and smarts, for example, sounded entirely synonymous. Nor did caveman sound like an insult or anything other than a purposeful reference.]

[One which Aya had to momentary look up in her vast resources on Earth's species, past and present.]

I do not understand. He does not appear to show any physical similarities with the Neanderthals in Earth's records. Nor is his cranial structure or mental capacity in any way comparable.

[Congratulations, Pepper, you have just gotten your first hint at precisely how literal Aya often took things.]

[Pepper can do literal. She's never been one to mince words, and she's got no problem with being painfully blunt, too.]

He's really messy, hardly ever picks up after himself and has no idea what it means to eat or sleep on any kind of schedule. He's brilliant at some things and primitive at others, basically.

...oh.

I was under the impression that was a trait shared by most human males.

[At least, the ones she knew personally; Kyle, in particular, had resided in dwellings that looked like the aftermath of a tornado. On a good day.]

[Pepper does her best not to snort with laughter - she likes Aya already.]

You're not wrong there. Teenagers especially, although I suspect Tony will never grow out of it.

Is it a potentially detrimental trait?

[Should she be concerned?]

Not really. At least not to him - the rest of us will want to watch out when he goes on an idea-building spree.

[And probably get a nose plug.]

[Fortunately, Aya did not possess olfactory senses.]

I have seen him create ideas and, at times, enact those ideas. They are not quite as bad as you are insinuating.

Well, it's not like he starts destroying things, [-although some of the things Tony invented did go terribly awry-], at least not on purpose, but he does tend to leave a mess wherever he goes.

[That also tends to apply to whenever he's in the armor.]

And since he has a tendency to forget basic personal hygiene, he gets...[Pepper wants to keep using metaphors and colloquialisms but that hasn't been working well thus far in the conversation.] He stinks sometimes, honestly. But most of the time whatever he comes up with is worth it.

[...again, emphasis on Aya's lack of olfactory senses.]

I had not noticed previously.

Should I remind him the next time we speak? Or, perhaps, inform Gene to keep better watch over Tony's bathing habits?

[Lucky Aya.]

Nah, he's been told before and he hasn't changed. Tony always needs to make up his mind on his own to do something - it's hard to convince him to shift when he's decided to do something, even if it's monumentally stupid.

Very well.

If you insist that he will be alright, then I will say nothing.

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