(no subject)

[deadkord]

WHO: Ted Kord and Karen Starr
WHERE: A fancy restaurant in De Chima
WHEN: Some night in early August
WHAT: Dinner!
WARNINGS: Ted Kord.

[ Karen has probably seen surprisingly little of Ted the last several weeks, despite the fact that he's practically been sleeping at Starrware. So it may come as a surprise when he sends her an invitation to dinner, and even more surprising is how nice the restaurant is. Suspicious minds might think he's up to something, especially suspicious minds who have known him as long as Karen has, and haven't exactly been kept in the loop on what project he's been pouring all his time into lately. You'd think, given that Karen is his boss, Ted would've kept her apprised of what he's been working on, but other than some particularly heinous expense reports for materials, he's actually kept things pretty close to his chest. But now that his project is finished and ready to launch, he figures he should probably fill her in on the details. It is her company he's about to release his huge technological advance under, after all.

The fact that he's actually at the restaurant before her, smartly dressed, and with flowers in hand (which he promptly hands over to her as he pulls out her chair) probably doesn't do much to allay any suspicions. ]

Karen, thanks for coming.

Comments

[boobwindow]

[ Everything is suspiciously nice.

Karen gives people their space when they need it, but the less she's seen of Ted at Starrware the more wary she had grown, her suspicions only heightening when she's invited to dinner. Nothing has exploded or been set on fire at work, however, so she can rule out Ted trying to apologize for property damage.

When she arrives, dressed in a maxi skirt and chiffon blouse, her suspicions are visible in her eyes.

However, she is impressed by the choice of dining tonight. It's nice to go out every now and then. ]

You don't get fancy this often. Should I be worried?

[deadkord]

[ Ted can't help but laugh as he takes his seat. He was expecting some suspicion, and, honestly, looking forward to it, to an extent. He likes keeping people on their toes! ]

Nothing's on fire, nobody is any deader than usual, nothing like that, I promise. No, we're celebrating!

[boobwindow]

Okay, I can work with that.

[ She takes a seat at the table, crossing her ankles and tucking them slightly underneath her chair. ]

What are we celebrating?

[deadkord]

[ He's got a thick folder on the corner of the table beside his elbow, but he's gesturing at the menu sat in front of her, instead. ]

Let's order first. I hear their salmon is great.

[boobwindow]

Salmon sounds good.

[ She goes through her own menu, looking for something to drink. A red wine sounds nice right about now, too. ]

Can you afford this? I pay you enough that you should be able to.

[deadkord]

Trust me, I'm not worried about my finances right now.

[ He waves the waiter over and orders for both of them—porterhouse steak for himself, the salmon for her—including a nice bottle of wine of the sommelier's choice. ]

[boobwindow]

Okay...

[ The good mood is contagious, but she still can't help the inkling of suspicion in the back of her mind. ]

What's going on, Ted? Did you win the lottery or something? Although if that's the case we could be dining someplace even fancier.

[deadkord]

Ha, if only. This is all the result of hard work, not luck.

[ He passes the folder at his elbow across the table to her. Inside are designs and details of the complex solar paneling for vehicles and a completely redesigned hover engine, all green energy and significantly more energy-efficient than anything currently on the market. ]

[boobwindow]

[ She doesn't waste a moment pulling the folder closer, spreading it open and taking a thorough look at the sheets. The deeper she gets into it, the higher her brows raise in a delighted surprise. Her eyes flick from the paper to meet Ted's gaze for a moment, fingers tracing the designs on the paper. ]

Ted, this is incredibly detailed. [ Should she even be surprised? Ted was never actually an idiot, even if she's called him one lord knows how many times. ] Is this what you've been working on this whole time?

FORGIVE THE ICON my account died

[deadkord]

[ He's grinning when she looks up, incredibly pleased with himself. He knows it's good work, and he knows she knows it, too. ]

Since the day you hired me, give or take. It was slow to start, but I had a breakthrough with the honeycomb design on the solar panels several weeks ago. Now I have the prototype running on the new Bug and it works great. It's basically market-ready.

[boobwindow]

I wish you had told me sooner!

[ But even in Starrware they have chatterboxes, so word might have gotten out if this was to be kept hush-hush until completion. ]

We should test-run the prototype in a more official capacity, though I'm itching to see it in person myself now.

[deadkord]

[ He at least looks a little sheepish. ]

I got a little caught up in working on it, and I didn't want to jinx anything. I moved the Bug out of my lab, and it's in storage in a warehouse not too far from here, if you wanna see the tech on it after dinner.

[boobwindow]

[ The waiter returns with their drink and glasses, letting them know their dinner will be ready in another fifteen minutes before he takes off to serve other guests. ]

Definitely.

[ She puts all the papers back together, sliding them into the folder. ]

This is going to push Starrware forward, I just know it. We're not doing terribly, but we can do better.

[ But they are a small firm in comparison to StarkTech, so they've got real competition. ]

[deadkord]

[ Tony Stark can bring it, his last big release has been a flop so far. ]

I figure, between the imPort craze and the call for local development and manufacturing, it should bring in more than enough to expand our R&D department substantially.

[boobwindow]

And when that happens again I'm throwing the whole office a party.

[ God knows they all deserve it.

She takes her glass by the stem, bringing it to her lips. ]

Anyone else know about this or have you been keeping it a secret this whole time?

[deadkord]

[ He leans back in his chair, swirling the wine around in the glass before taking a sip. ]

Jaime's helped out in the workshop with the Bug construction, so he's seen some of it, but other than that, no. I've kept it pretty close to my chest.

[boobwindow]

[ It gives them an edge, which is all the more exciting, honestly. ]

I don't mean any offense by this, but I'm glad then you came to work with Starrware. I don't doubt you could build a great company of your own, but it is nice to have someone from home who's intelligent and capable with us.

[deadkord]

[ He waves off any idea of offense in her statement. ]

I could've, sure, but I've never enjoyed the company-building part of business. I think that was always the root of my problems with Kord Industries. I always wanted to be in the lab instead of my office. So this works out better for both of us.

[boobwindow]

[ She's really glad he wasn't making a robot that might have gone rogue on them... looks at Tony. ]

I really wish you had been here from when Starrware started out. I think we would have made some leaps by now.

De Chima's been a competitive place since before I moved out here.

[deadkord]

[ He's trying to rent Doc Venture's robot, so don't rule the idea of him making one himself out entirely. ]

Well, we can certainly start making leaps now. Especially if this launch winds up big enough to poach some of StarkTech's engineers.

[ He grins. That's not the kind of business practice he's ever been particularly good at, but he does love annoying other people. ]

[boobwindow]

[ Damn it, Ted, you were doing so well. ]

Stark nabs the brightest every time. I swear, he's got some kind of radar.

[ She's only a little bit jealous... ]

[deadkord]

Well, not every time.

[ He beams. What a self-satisfied jerk. ]

[boobwindow]

I would have personally killed you if you had gone to work for Tony Stark.

[ Never betray her. ]

[deadkord]

I'm sure there's less you'd kill me over.

[ He's so fond when he says it. ]

[boobwindow]

You know me so well.

[ She makes a quiet, delighted sound as the waiter makes his way to their table, dishes in hand. He sets them neatly before each guest and remarks if they need anything else they can call for him.

Karen drags her chair closer to the table, reaching for her fork. ]

This smells fantastic.

[deadkord]

This place is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in De Chima. It looks like it's going to live up to its reputation.

[ He digs into his steak. He's been good, he hasn't had steak in forever, but he deserves to treat himself! ]

[boobwindow]

There was a pretty nice place John and I went to a while back. You and I should go there sometime, too.

[ The steak is just as good, something Ted would probably appreciate. ]

[deadkord]

Oh yeah? What's it called? I'm always up for trying something new that isn't cooked in a microwave, or delivered to my apartment in a styrofoam container.