(no subject)

[redheadpepper]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Svelte, I suppose. Petite, skinny, about 5'4", 110 pounds.

2. How old is she? 34.

3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch? The clothes she wears pretty much force her into good posture. It's tough to slouch in designer clothes, even if she was inclined to. She carries herself with confidence.

4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Nothing of note. Pepper works out, mostly to keep her figure. She's not an athlete by any means, but she's healthy.

5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? Usually quite graceful. She had some ballet lessons as a child, and, again, she knows how to move in form-fitting designer skirts and walk in stilettos.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror? Attractive, but in a girl-next-door kind of way. She has very nice legs, but she's neither a beach-bottle-blonde nor some kind of exotic cover girl model beauty. She doesn't really think too much about her own physical attractiveness, though she is meticulous about her clothes, hair and makeup. She's not usually trying to be sexy, she's trying to be attractive but professional.

7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? She's got the standard redhead complexion - very pale, she burns easily, and she has lots of freckles.

8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style. Red. She takes very good care of her hair; she doesn't color it or use lots of harmful chemicals, but it's usually styled to within an inch of its life. She prefers variations on the chignon when she's working, though once in a while she'll let it down.

9. What color are her eyes? Blue.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Not really.

11. What are her chief tension centers? The small of her back, and her feet.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit? Pepper is incredibly picky about what she wears, and she's very careful about the image she presents to the public. The look she goes for is pricey, but tasteful, very professional and not ostentatious. Her closet is almost entirely designer labels, favoring pencil skirts and blouses. Colors are usually black/white or navy blue.

13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them? Again, she takes great care with her clothes. So yes, they fit her well (some of them were made for her) and she is very comfortable in them. It's her persona.

14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences? Pretty much. Pepper doesn't have much of what most people consider free time. Her job is basically her life. As Tony's right hand woman for almost a decade, and now the CEO of Stark Industries, every time she leaves home Pepper is in the spotlight and on the job. She is very aware of this at all times.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? That is no one's business.



Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? Uh, she's a girl? It's not gratingly high-pitched, it's about normal for a woman, maybe a little on the high side.

2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate? Quick, very quick. Pepper is a smart person, and has a quick wit. Medium volume, though she knows how to raise her voice when necessary (Tony is intimately familiar with her when she's angry). Her voice is about like the rest of her - very no-nonsense.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? Not really. Her voice is maybe borderline-nasally (she's from the midwest originally), but otherwise she doesn't have a discernible accent.

4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency? English, with a working knowledge of French, Spanish and Italian.

5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations? Not really. She pretty much speaks English.

6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words? She's pretty quick-witted, and she's good at giving "sound bites" to the press. So yeah, in general she's a pretty good impromptu speaker - she has to be, in order to be effective at cleaning up Tony's messes.

7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Generally pretty eloquent, in the sense that she's good at getting her meaning across in an intelligent, concise way under most circumstances. Tony is about the only person regularly capable of leaving her speechless (and not usually in a good way).



Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart? Pretty damn smart. She is a math whiz, originally starting out as an accountant at Stark Industries. Her number crunching is nearly unmatched. She's also incredibly savvy at navigating the world of big business. She knows her stuff in that arena. Her organizational skills are unparalleled, and she is very good at adapting to changing situations - a very handy trait when dealing with someone as unpredictable (nice people call it 'eccentric') as Tony Stark.

2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate? If she couldn't think on her feet, she wouldn't be doing the job she's doing. Her job is predicated on her ability to think on her feet and adapt.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? She's pretty logical - again, she has to be, in order to counter the utter absurdity that is Tony Stark's life. But she also has to be intuitive quite a bit, with an ability to anticipate some of the crazy shit he pulls.

4. What kind of education has the character had? She got her MBA from UCLA, and she also minored in Art History.

5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about? Number crunching, scheduling mastermind, mistress of PR, and she knows a hell of a lot about art, too.

6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Extrovert. Again, she just wouldn't be able to survive her profession if she wasn't.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? She has the patience of Job, though she's perennially exasperated. Usually, she gives off an air of energy and professional competency.

8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? She tends towards suspicious. She's a skeptic by nature, and she is used to saying no when Tony springs his wilder ideas on her.

9. Is she more likely to act, or to react? Her entire job is sort of based on reacting to things. She's rescheduling, cleaning up after the latest mess Tony's gotten himself into, dealing with the media when he's done something crazy again.

10. Which is her default: fight or flight? She's pro-active, but when faced with a bad guy, she's usually gonna be a runner.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? Heavily sarcastic.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them? Not really. Maybe co-dependence, to some degree.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person? Aside from the stuff that usually defines a person (i.e. the way they are raised, what kind of parents they have), Pepper's defining moments in adulthood mostly all center around Tony. She was working as an accountant for Stark Industries when she discovered a simple math mistake that was costing the company a lot of money. Tony heard about it, insisted on meeting her, and almost before she could say "it's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark", he'd hired her as his personal assistant.

From that point on, her life has more or less revolved around Tony Stark - it's just the kind of person he is, he draws everyone into his orbit and then it's difficult to break free. Pepper knows exactly the kind of person Tony is, and she still stuck around. Because he is a good person.

One of the other defining moments was his disappearance in the Afghani desert. Even for someone as prone to shaking things up as Tony, the experience of possibly losing him shocked Pepper. She didn't realize just how much she genuinely cared for the guy until he was quite possibly dead. It was around that time that Pepper finally admitted to herself that she was more than a little in love with her boss. Not that it was something she would admit to anyone else.

14. What does she fear? Losing control completely. That this... tenuous thing she has will fall apart and things will blow up in her face. That Tony will kill himself, either through drinking or by getting that suit into a situation he can't get out of again.

15. What are her hopes or aspirations? Pepper isn't really ambitious. In fact, before that whole debacle in Afghanistan happened, she was perfectly happy with the status quo and would've been willing to go on like that indefinitely. She liked the way things were.

Not that she doesn't entirely dislike the way things are going, but it's discomfiting.

16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her? That she's not as in-control as she seems. That she's really a scared, vulnerable little girl who hardly knows which end is up anymore.



Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents. It was pretty good. Her parents were very bohemian and liberal.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? Nope, she's a pampered only child.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand? She doesn't have any immediate family living. Her parents are dead and they were both only children too.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them? Her family is basically Tony, Happy, Rhodey and a couple of others.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Tony. I explained their meeting above, but yeah, Tony is probably her best friend. She has a few friends outside of work, mostly people she's kept in touch with professionally after college, but Tony is really the center of her life.

6. Does she have other close friends? She's pretty good buds with Happy and Rhodey.

7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people? It's not so much a lack of social skills as it is a completely impossible schedule that prevents her from having a lot of friends outside her job.

8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends? Her friends are her family; she has no living relatives.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once? Perennially single. Do you really think she has time for a love life when she's a glorified babysitter for one of the most irresponsible people in the world?

10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? As of the end of Iron Man 2, she's embarking on a romantic relationship with Tony. She's probably out of her mind, but that's nothing new.

11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest? I'm sure her first crush was a totally mundane, everyday sort of thing, a boy at school around age thirteen or fourteen. Her latest crush is Tony. There's no way not to be completely charmed by the guy.

12. What does she look for in a romantic partner? Apparently she looks for egotistical billionaire playboys with hero complexes and more daddy issues than you can shake a fist at. But he genuinely cares for her, that much she knows.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any? No, and uh. Probably not anytime soon.

14. Does she have any rivals or enemies? Anyone who hates Tony Stark? And that's a fair amount of people.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale? Straight.

16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her? She doesn't set much store by it. Not that it can't be fun and good and all that, but it's far less important to her than, say, actually being able to get along with her partner.

17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? ...egotistical billionaire playboys with hero complexes and more daddy issues than you can shake a stick at?



Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type?

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life? I don't think Pepper has ever really thought about religion. She wasn't raised to be religious and it's not something she thinks about.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? She kind of does. She's one of the most morally ambiguous characters I play, actually. She didn't have a problem being a highly-payed secretary/babysitter for someone given the nickname "merchant of death". And when he donned that superhero suit, she was more worried for his safety than anything else. She's hardly a bad person, just privileged, and not used to looking far beyond that privilege - the system she's part of has given her a lot, so she won't examine it too closely, though she's not without compassion. She gives a lot to charity, both in her own name and in Tony's name.

4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? She's a pretty tolerant person, but it's not really her job to pass judgment on others. Her job is to run Stark Industries and make sure Tony isn't going to get himself killed in the near future.

5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them? She's suspicious of anyone who is a member of the press or is involved with a rival company. I'd say those prejudices are very well-founded. Big business is incredibly cutthroat, she's learning to play with the big boys.



Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? She's quite well off. She's not a billionaire, or as financially independent as Tony, but she is used to luxury and money.

2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? Very high. As of right now, she is the CEO of Stark Industries. She has a lot of power, she's no longer the person standing behind the seat of power. She's in it.

3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others? She has a condo in Malibu, but she spends more time at Tony's place or at the office than she does at home. She has some art, but it's not very lived-in.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on? Designer shoes. Most of her money gets spent on clothes, otherwise she doesn't have many toys of her own - she doesn't have time for hobbies, generally.

5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else? ...Currently, she's CEO of Stark Industries. She's still quite new at this particular job, though she'd been doing it more or less unofficially for a couple of years. Now she's the public face of the company, and while it's intimidating and stressful, she definitely wants to be doing it.

6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time? Again, not a lot of free time to speak of. When she does get some down time, she usually breaks out her PJs and watches a romantic movie or reads a novel.

7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? She's pretty much always eating out, or on the go. At parties, social events, and functions, she's usually eating, you know, gourmet stuff. She doesn't really have any particular eating quirks, though for booze she prefers dry vodka martinis. And she's deathly allergic to strawberries.



Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:

1. Color? Navy blue.
2. Smell? Designer perfume - tasteful, not overdone.
3. Time of day? The wee hours of the morning. Before dawn.
4. Season? Autumn.
5. Book? Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
6. Music? Fur Elise.
7. Place? Malibu.
8. Substance? Sushi.
9. Plant? Palm tree.
10. Animal?


END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}