Who: Trish and Tony What: Lunch and ideas for furthering Trish's career When: The day after this Rating/Warnings: Green
Trish was still not in a good mood after yesterday. It was insulting that even with the breakthroughs she had made for the show, even bringing Tony Stark into it, the higher ups were still clamoring for her to get back to the lifestyle format. It had taken all her strength not to quit in a fit of rage and then have a drink out of frustration.
Lunch with Tony Stark seemed like a good alternative. She had left the plans up to him last night, and all she had to do was follow them now. Which was just as well considering her mood. It was hard enough to roll out of bed and make herself presentable for a public outing with the likes of Tony Stark, of all people.
Arriving at the restaurant, she put on a smile and asked the hostess where Tony was; to be safe, Trish had arrived three minutes late. She had no idea whether that was fashionable or not, but it spared her from the embarrassment of arriving first. As she was lead to Tony’s table, Trish broadened the smile.
“Tony, hi!” She greeted, extending a hand towards him.
-- It was a nice corner table, best in the restaurant, well away from everyone else. It afforded them some relative privacy, and very few onlookers. Whatever was going on, Tony didn't think that someone like Trish wanted gawkers or people listening in.
"Hey, you." He stood up and shook her hand, with a big grin on his face. He liked Trish. She was easy to talk to and had the same sort of straightforward driving force to barrel ahead that he possessed. It was easy to spot. Sort of like recognizing a kindred spirit, of sorts. "Have a seat. Let's eat, drink, and bitch about stuff. Because clearly? Hi. You need to bitch about something. What's up?"
After motioning to the chair the waiter had pulled out for her, he sat back down.
-- Trish did as Tony bade her, sighing once she was settled. She thanked the waiter and ordered a sparkling water to start.
“Yeah I guess I do. I’ll pass on the drinking though.” The last thing she needed was to relapse because of a lunch date. “But not on the bitching. They want me to go back to lifestyle even after all the shows I’ve done on much more important subjects. They’re afraid to lose the core audience.”
She watched bitterly as the waiter came back with the water and opened it for her, pouring it into a glass that had a lemon wedge on the rim. Saying thanks once again, Trish took a sip. “Cowards.”
-- Tony nodded and ordered the same, since Patsy in Rehab had been a whole tabloid thing that Tony could only sympathize with. Having been on a few tabloid covers, himself. An experience he could only describe as raging unfun.
But when she let him know what happened at work, he made a face like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tony had been burning the midnight oil a lot lately, so he was trying to filter an expression of sarcastic disbelief past a whole lot of sleep deprivation. He somehow made it work.
"...the hell?" Tony summarized, leaving out the 'what' part of that equation. "I know a few news panels were pitching a bitch about me in that interview, so that's surprising considering some of the press it got. You have a bad boss. Do you want me to buy the radio station? I mean, I could, but that'd be winning by cheating. More satisfying to stick it to 'em. You're one of the few people actually talking about any of this crap going on. And that matters more than someone's book tour about knitting, or making cheese. I don't know. That's boring and it's not important. It's like...."
Tony began waving a hand as if he was shooing away a pesky fly, and the waiter mistakenly took it as him being ready to order. Ooops. He ordered some sort of veggie plate thing. LIterally said 'veggie plate thing' and the waiter nodded so they seemed to understand. There. That seemed vaguely health-like and lifestyle-ish. Probably a good idea, after the mass amounts of random crap he'd been eating for the past two weeks.
-- It made no sense. But on the other hand, it was because it was clear that ratings dropped dramatically about a week after she had a big superhero-related break; it had happened before. “I can’t always deliver on stuff like your interview, and they want consistent ratings. They rise, then drop dramatically once I have nothing else to present but it’s… it’s impossible.”
She snickered when Tony asked whether she wanted him to buy the station, and almost said yes. Friends in high places were a very good thing to have, especially if they weren’t twenty years older than you and inherited from your mom. “I’m tired, honestly. This is not… It’s not enough anymore.”
Trish also ordered the veggie plate, albeit surprised by the sudden appearance of the waiter.
-- If there was one thing that Tony understood, it was a drive to keep moving forward and pushing yourself to be better. So as the waiter left, he leaned in against the table and took a hard look at Trish like he was studying her under a microscope.
"I don't know crap about radio or ratings. I usually do whatever I want, and we both know how that goes," he joked, flashing her a smile. "What do you want to do? Where do you want to go with it? Seriously. Do you want to stay in the radio thing, and not get stuck with cookbooks and yoga retreats? Then you're going to have to sink your teeth into bigger things. There's got to be something out there that you can cover, right?"
-- “They wanted me to keep delivering on what brings in the big ratings - Luke Cage, Kilgrave before that, you… But that’s not how these things work and so they’re angry.” Trish sighed. “They’re out of touch and only care about the money.”
Trish flashed him a smile right back, then sighed again. “No, I want my own show on television talking about the things that matter. Not just superpowers, but civil rights in general, human rights, world politics, the state of reality. I want to help change along. We need it.”
But Tony had a point, and it wasn’t like Trish had the advantage of an education in journalism to help her get a foot in. But she had a name, a brand, and it wasn’t a sad child pop star anymore. “I cover what I can, we plan the shows in advance. I wanted Madeleine Albright once and the producer straight up told me ‘no’.”
-- "I've got no room to talk, because I like money. And having done a couple of sit down dinner things at the White House in the nineties? Albright's ok but she's snoozy to listen to the longer she goes on. We had a ton of government contracts back then. I got paraded around a lot. If it's a brief interview, then awesome. Otherwise, less is more."
It was true, because Stark Industries had worked with several administrations, Democratic or Republican, when Tony was let off his leash to make appearances as the golden trophy boy of weapons making. Tony made a playful wince face at Trish while shaking his head, and one of those 'cut it out' neck slashy motions with one hand.
But he did get where Trish was coming from and if there was one - of several - things that Tony was good at, it was brainstorming. Stupidly optimistic and over-achieving brainstorm sessions were his speciality. If Tony was tasked with hitting the moon, he'd ask why only the moon and set his sights on Pluto. And if there was a brick wall in his way, he busted his way through it, even if he had to headbutt himself bloody to do it.
"All right, here goes," he pointed over at Trish for a second. "They're angry. Boo freakin' hoo. Don't put up with that shit. You know what you need? Get off the radio. Like, entirely. Sure, there's that whole self-startup podcast thing going on. But screw that too. Get on a cable news channel or Netflix. Live stream a talk show. Whatever. You're better than what your boss wants you to do. You've got your name. You know what you want to do. Hire a better agent, get our concept out there, and be your own boss."
Their veggie platters arrived and Tony said thanks to the waiter, before stabbing into a spear of broccolini with his fork and eating it like it was a grudge match. Damn, Trish's bosses were made of stupid. That had been a good interview. Dumbasses.
-- While Trish smiled at the Albright insight, she did so with sadness in her eyes. She had had a lot of guests who talked way too much, often about nothing of import, and she’d have taken Albright over any of them. When Tony pointed at her, Trish blinked, straightening up on her chair.
The idea at first made her snicker in disbelief as if that was the craziest thing she’d ever heard, but it wasn’t like she’d be out on the street if she quit the show. She had money. Her eyes lost focus for a while as she imagined the planning that would go into transitioning from one thing to the other, however. Because there was no margin of staying home resting on the laurels of all she’d been through as a child. It was almost like that money was for emergencies only, because it hadn’t been earned all that willingly, despite her deserving every penny.
“I need to plan this. I can’t just quit, much as I’d like to.” She looked at the table, eyes traveling from left to right. “I need a story, I need something to hold onto and present when I’m looking for the TV spot.”
She took a sip of water. The only idea she was having was practically exploitative and it had to do with the origin of Jessica’s powers. It would be great to blow the cover off of whoever had done that, whatever was going on there, but it wouldn’t be easy and if Jessica didn’t approve, probably not even feasible. “That’ll take time.”
-- He noticed she looked sad about that, and obviously she had her sights set on a pretty high pedestal that she might need some boosts to reach the top of. That was why Tony was mulling over helping Trish out if she needed it. Because he did that for everyone he liked, and wanted to help out people that he knew had the drive and determination to do what was right. Sure, there might be some mess ups or complications. He knew all about those. But it could also be something really great if it worked out well, and because Trish seemed to want to do more and do things that were important. He knew all about that, too.
Then again, he didn't know if Trish would appreciate it or if word might get out and she might be somehow crucified by the media. New freindsies or not, she seemed like she might take the high road on having money thrown at her from a billionaire. Even if Tony's first instinct was to throw money at a problem, like a billionaire.
"Okey dokey. So take the time and brainstorm it out," Tony replied, scooting some carrots off to one side so it formed it's own little log jam of carrot sticks away from all of the other good stuff. Not a fan. Blech. "Don't quit right now, but I wouldn't let them push you away either. Do you have any story ideas? There's that reporter lady from The Bulletin on the network. She seems kinda quiet. Maybe ask her for a lead."
-- Trish nodded at Tony’s reinforcement of her carefulness, chewing on her vegetables like a nervous rabbit of some sort. She could get intense when her attention got grabbed like this, even eating. She continued eating even after Tony asked whether she had ideas, wondering whether to trust him with her only one so far or not. Either way, sharing credit was out of the question if she went with Jessica’s powers; not just because she wanted her name to be the only one allied to this whole conspiracy be uncovered, but because it involved Jessica. “I might have something but it’s somewhat personal. I’ll need to… it’s not my story exactly. I need to check if it’s alright.”
-- Tony had his own cloak and dagger secret super weapons thing going on, and as much as he wanted to blurt it out to the entire world, even he wasn't dumb enough to do that. He really wanted to. Because crooked stuff like that really got his blood boiling, harkening back to when Stane made under the table deals to give Stark weapons to terrorist groups. Stuck in a cave hooked up to a car battery while faking that they were making a Jericho missile was not the sort of five star vacation experience that Tony would ever recommend.
He was looking thoughtful himself, as he intensely ate his veggies. Look at him, remembering to do healthful things. He lined up a boxing match with Happy after this, with the promise to kick ass and take names. But that was for later, and Tony's gaze was sharp and focused on his new friend sitting across from him.
"Do it." There wasn't any hesitation there, at all. "Sure, it might not be your story, but what's the harm in asking around first? If it's ok, then dive on in and get it out there. It could lead to something bigger and better."
Famous last words, courtesy of Tony Stark.
Tony, Trish decided, was right. He was absolutely right. And she wouldn’t just be getting her own story, she would be uncovering the truth about Jessica’s powers. Doing something good for her best friend in the world while working on an exposé that would bring her all the attention and “ratings” she deserved.
“I’m going to do it.” Trish declared, downing the rest of her water to swallow yet more broccoli. “It’s not my story but I’m the best positioned to uncover it. Jessica wasn’t born the way she is, a lot more people weren’t, maybe it’s connected. Maybe it’s to do with the same hospital. If you think about it, maybe people need to know.”
And maybe, it wasn’t selfish if it was framed as a public service. Which, in Trish’s mind, this would be.
-- "Good. Do it."
Tony blinked a few times, letting that sink in. The thought that if someone went to a hospital one way and walked out with the ability to bend metal bars into pretzels wasn't exactly sitting well with Tony. Not because he didn't appreciate some good metal sculpture from time to time, but that it seemed shady as hell that someone was out there, doing illegal genetic experimentation.
"Wait. So you mean there's some shady secret hospital thing going on, where they're enhancing people? Uncool. Scary and uncool. No wonder Jones is perpetually pissed off. Does she know who it was?"
-- Trish was afraid of having revealed too much, but then again this was a friend and not someone who would use this information stupidly despite his perceived impulsiveness. However, she really didn’t have answers for him, so she shrugged. “That’s what I aim to find out. All we know is that she had a serious accident, went into the hospital, and came out like that. She says she doesn’t remember this happening before the accident.”
And then there was the experimentation she knew they did to soldiers. “I’m not sure if you know about this or not but there are secret military cells experimenting with super-soldier drugs, too. I met a man who was in one such cell. The side effects are incredibly dangerous. I don’t know how, but maybe they’re connected. That’s all I need to find out.”
There and then, she had an idea. “So if I can’t do one I’ll follow up on the other. Thanks Tony. It’s good to have a believer.”
-- Tony didn't like the sound of the whole super soldier thing, since he knew that there were probably a lot of secret experiments to make super soldiers. But getting the word out about that wasn't something he was opposed to. It was the reason that Bruce turned into a big green rage monster. Not awesome. Sounded dangerous to delve into, but Tony wasn't about to go preaching to what appeared to be the choir about diving into danger.
"Sounds like you got your game plan. And, guess what? Sometimes I'm not absolute crap at pep talks," Tony said, toasting Trish with a stick of red bell pepper. "So whenever you need one, I got your back."