open + closed.

[propulsion]

WHO: Tony Stark, Loxley, Marcus Rowntree, Florent Vascarelle
WHAT: Various activities!
WHEN: Throughout Guardian and Drakonis
WHERE: All around. Training spaces, griffon eyrie, late night kitchen, Kirkwall streets, and so on.
NOTES: Open prompts for all four in comment headers below, also a place for me to just stash some closed stuff. If you want to RP with me any which way, hit me up here or in plork.

Comments

[youwonscience]

"Yeah," she says, not hesitating but thoughtful. "Yeah, I'm game. Someone native on the diplomacy side could be helpful, and I should probably talk to Strange about an approach, we haven't done a ton of collaborating yet. He's an MD, right? Surgeon?" She feels briefly guilty that she hasn't already reached out more directly; there's not so many people in research, they all probably deserve more than a vague good morning even when their work isn't directly overlapping.

[propulsion]

"Among other stuff."

Tony says, over a sip of coffee. That'll be fun for them, he's sure. He sets the coffee cup down, sets the scroll case aside, claps hands together once.

"Okay, that was pitch one. Here's pitch two, ready?" He opens his hands. "Help me."

[youwonscience]

It gets a small smile from her. "Gonna have to be a little more specific on that one."

[propulsion]

"Please help me," Tony elaborates.

Holds up his hands. Okay.

"I'm, uh, not dying, drowning? It's hard to. Listen, I've never had to do this before, because I've had people for this part too, so, I'm gonna start with saying there's a signing bonus, and also: help. I need an assistant. It's not a cool job, it's boring, but you know? I'm doing it, me, now, at the moment it's just me, with my calendar and notes and filing? And people will just walk into my office and make appointments with me and then I have to figure that out, and help me please."

There, that's the pitch.

[youwonscience]

"Oh, shit, right." She tucks up her other leg, so she's now perched on the chair with one knee bent up toward her chest and the other along the seat, parallel to the floor. It's clear that he's surprised her a bit more with the second proposition than the first one.

"Just to be clear, this is like ... in addition to what I'm already working on, right? Like, it's not my ego, we're all doing our parts even when they're not sexy, I helped muck out some stables when we first moved to Kirkwall," it would have been more fun with fewer bloodstains to scrub out, frankly, "but I don't feel like I'm best used only keeping track of your calendar." She doesn't sound offended. She's just trying to work through what help looks like.

[propulsion]

"Additional, hence the bonus," Tony says, and that edge of desperation seems to withdraw.

Somewhat. Tentatively.

"My office time is mornings, so I'm thinking like a four mornings a week kind of schedule for report sifting and letters and stuff, you know, give or take emergency meetings, and subordinate to assignments, emergency research, whatever. Most people are pretty rude and dial me direct anyway, but you might still be fielding some stuff ad hoc. Otherwise, business as normal. And I'll fix the lattes, I'm picky."

[youwonscience]

That gets the quiet laugh she assumes it was designed to elicit. "Shit, better than the last guy I TA-ed for." She folds her hands on her knee, truly thinking it over. "...yeah, OK. I know Flint has an assistant, it makes a lot of sense. And who knows, maybe I'll see something in a report that'll shake me out of this rut, I feel like half the time I'm just staring at lyrium samples and going in circles these days."

It's an exaggeration, but not one without a small foundation in the truth.

"As long as you think I'm the right fit."

[propulsion]

"Well, levering the next Robert Koch into disproving miasma science should keep you excited," Tony says. "But, uh. Yeah, I can't promise that there won't be reports that'll both ruin and improve your day."

In his experience.

"And yeah, you'd be great. You will be great. Congratulations," and he offers out the scroll to her. In it is a very earth-like sounding employment agreement, including bonus, which he has written in larger letters than the rest.

When she takes it, he adds, "To me, mainly. Super psyched for myself."

[youwonscience]

She laughs as she takes the scroll. "Hey, I'm not saying no to the raise. One day I may even save up enough for a backup pair of glasses." She's definitely had one too many close calls to want to rely on a pair anywhere close to her prescription falling out of a rift.

She glances over the agreement, nodding lightly at the details. "You know, first time it was here, it was really galling to know so much more about modern medicine than nearly everyone and then have to march down to the infirmary twice a month to get spirit healing. Spirit healed? Whatever, anyway, not ungrateful for it, but embarrassing."

[propulsion]

"Yeah. Hey, if we put Dickerson outta the job, he might thank us."

That's a joke. He will take a wizard with magic healing hands over a surgeon should his insides ever become outsides, but there has to be some kind of potential for exponential growth when the two things are paired. And at the very least, the average Joe does not have word class mage medicine.

Tony levers himself off the table, onto his feet.

"It's a bonus, not a raise," just, by the way, as he starts making his way out of the room, "but I'll see what I can do, vis-à-vis eyeballs. I need them for stuff."

[youwonscience]

"Noted re the money." Still better than the last guy she TA-ed for, presumably.

(She's not saying no to a backup pair of glasses; she's had too many close calls.)

As he goes, a last thought: "You want me to start tomorrow morning, or do you need to like ... get some ducks in a row first?"