"I'm used to working with abbreviated timeframes," Pepper assures, looking up from where she's just caught herself worrying at her right thumb's cuticle with the left's nail. "And I appreciate you coming in for more than just the physiological oversight. I--"
She stops, lips pursing as she shapes the words of an admission of weakness, unfamiliar and rarely allowed outside closed doors. Bruce may have had Tony self appoint himself as a BFF, right down to juvenile pranks that would have prompted a response in kind from Rhodey in the right mood, but Pepper barely knew Dr. Banner beyond a brief meeting, a more informative classified file she totally didn't just read anyway, and the glowing praise of one Anthony Edward Stark. Admitting weakness was blood in the water in her world, with her gender, and even having Tony to open up to didn't help, given that it usually evoked a desperate need to fix everything. And yet here was Dr. Bruce Banner, alias the Hulk. And here was Pepper Potts, part time walking incendiary as Tony held back on injecting his fix until he was sure it would work. (Untested experimentation was good for the gander, but apparently made him go twitchy at the thought of applying it to the goose. Given the risk of fatality, it was... fair.)
"I," she tries again. "It's all about emotional regulation as much as the physical, apparently. My favourite coping mechanism of just dealing until I explode would be pretty literal. I never managed to keep a therapist long enough to learn other ones, which I'm sure surprises you."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-08-06 11:55 pm (UTC)She stops, lips pursing as she shapes the words of an admission of weakness, unfamiliar and rarely allowed outside closed doors. Bruce may have had Tony self appoint himself as a BFF, right down to juvenile pranks that would have prompted a response in kind from Rhodey in the right mood, but Pepper barely knew Dr. Banner beyond a brief meeting, a more informative classified file she totally didn't just read anyway, and the glowing praise of one Anthony Edward Stark. Admitting weakness was blood in the water in her world, with her gender, and even having Tony to open up to didn't help, given that it usually evoked a desperate need to fix everything. And yet here was Dr. Bruce Banner, alias the Hulk. And here was Pepper Potts, part time walking incendiary as Tony held back on injecting his fix until he was sure it would work. (Untested experimentation was good for the gander, but apparently made him go twitchy at the thought of applying it to the goose. Given the risk of fatality, it was... fair.)
"I," she tries again. "It's all about emotional regulation as much as the physical, apparently. My favourite coping mechanism of just dealing until I explode would be pretty literal. I never managed to keep a therapist long enough to learn other ones, which I'm sure surprises you."