Unfinished Gems

Iron Maiden - 13

"Pepper, seriously, enough is enough. There is being professional and then there's just being plain petty," snapped Jazz.

Pepper paused and stared at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"The number of lists you keep shoving onto me. Even Dad never had to deal with this sort of thing, and you keep forcing me to handle party details that any idiot could do en masse! I don't care about what color the curtains have to be or what sort of food is served so long as it's edible and they don't clash! For the love of the gods, narrow it down to a more reasonable amount!" said Jazz hotly.

Loki, having walked in hearing that, had an odd look in his eye. He could tell his 'girlfriend' was very stressed out and her father's personal assistant wasn't helping in the least.

He knew that humans had a much looser definition of courtship, and to be honest he was getting very frustrated with how things were progressing.

Odds were Tony wouldn't care if they moved to a more physical relationship, so long as he did the honorable thing if something happened. If anything, it would help her relax.

Tony had a rather knowing look when he saw where Loki was taking his daughter. He was all for it...Jazz was entirely too tense and from he could tell the (God? Demigod?) would be good for her.

Sure, he was too old for her...but then again Loki was several hundred years old. He was too old by anyone's standards.

Jazz came to work two days later with a limp and was less likely to snap at people.

To be fair, even Tony had to admit that the amount of work Pepper was trying to shove on her because she was far more responsible was somewhat ridiculous. They were inventors, what did they care about the tiny little details so long as things got done and didn't get screwed up in the long term?

As the deadline drew closer, Jazz grew more and more frazzled until the date was finally on them.

Loki took her out on a proper date, made sure she actually slept properly, and then waited patiently in the front row for the 'grand entrance/opening' of the expo, which would be going on for a full week.

He had to admit, she looked glorious when she flew down with her new armor.

She was tired of being openly compared to her father, so she had opted to have the armor made of a more silver colored metal rather than the gold he used, and the rest of it was a rather delightful shade of dark blue like the night sky.

It was far more 'toned down' than Tony's garish red and gold ensemble, and her armor was styled more after the images of the Valkyries from Asgard, making it very easy to distinguish herself from Ironman.

He found it amusing to see younger girls and a few teens wearing 'masks' identical to her own, as well as masks much like Tony's.

"Welcome one and all to the Stark Expo!" said Jazz, once her armor was off. She was in a rather delightful dress that accentuated the curves she had while being tasteful enough not to reveal too much skin.

Loki had found some of the more exposed outfits he caught human girls wearing a complete turn off. It was as if they were trying to make up for their lack of 'appealing' qualities by lowering their standards.

Loki had heard the entire speech already. How Stark Industries was trying to create the 'world of the future' that so many dreamed about, but never got around to making. Things like the 'flying craft' that wasn't dependent on fossil fuels and new designs for medical equipment to save lives, defensive technology to make the world safer and so on.