maskormenacelogs | Hey, Mind reader

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Hey, Mind reader

WHO: TONY STARK and CHARLES XAVIER
WHERE: starktech
WHEN: Uhhh March 6th?
WHAT: talking about big shit and also jobs??
WARNINGS: n/a

Starktech, in all its polished, pristine glory, was the kind of place that just oozed control. In all the odd ways that spoke a lot about the owner of the company. In the hallways, in the lobby, there wasn't a thing out of place. Security patrolled regularly, like clockwork -- cameras were full-360 deals, hidden in plain sight, and others were hidden, which meant there was always an eye on everything. Then again, considering the owner, and the type of person he was, it wasn't surprising. Even the meeting rooms were pristine. Minimalist, but there was always a touch of dark wood -- something to ground and humanize an otherwise sterile environment. Leather chairs in the meeting room were comfortable, and there was even a tray with pastries and coffee brought in.

Stark only indulged in coffee -- he didn't often eat so much, too wrapped up in everything else to bother with food.

But it was more of a courtesy to Xavier, who he knew would probably want something to eat. Maybe.

After all, things had been a touch... rough. Lately. He'd seen it all before, of course, and he wondered if he should talk about that -- the reality that was being an import, but...

Well, right now he thought he'd focus on his meeting. He'd told Charles he'd have openings, and while the assistant had brought coffee and food in, he thought it'd be appropriate to talk about something that wouldn't matter in the long run -- like jobs. His smile was bland, when he explained the kind of work he did -- and even more important, how he often didn't have assisstants available who were... quite so good at getting the sense of the room.

"But, I know it's something of an... issue for most people," he plunged on, mid conversation, about the sort of work he'd really like -- no need to let Charles know he'd compromise and find him something yet -- "So let's start with what you'd like to do here."

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Though Charles was making his best effort to keep to a low profile, after the chaos of the prior month and in fact was being something of a homebody, he'd pulled himself together for this meeting. Going so far as to invest in a proper suit and tie, though he wasn't quite to the point of adopting the trademarks three piece suits of his older (balder) self.

Though the leather chairs may have been comfortable, Charles chose to remain in his wheelchair; it was simply more easy than doing multiple transfers. Though he did have a question for Tony, one that could wait until later in the conversation.

Smiling politely, he took the coffee offered to him, shaking his head to politely refuse the pastry. Maybe later.

"That is a broad offer," he remarked, taking a sip from his coffee before he continued. "I will admit that the whole hair situation has given me something of a taste for R&D, particularly theory. I don't suppose you need idea people?"

Despite all the subtle signs (the cameras, the guards) of this building being every inch Tony Stark's, Charles was still cautious. Much as he had during dinner that one night, he maintained a professional, above board verbal patter, while speaking to more weighty subjects across his telepathy.

You realize, all I have to do is be in the building to afford you a 'sense' of any room, yes?

There was a pause, another sip of coffee and then.

How much exposure did you have to Cerebro?

Enough.

He responds automatically. It's still eerie -- not right to communicate like this. It's not that Tony Stark needs to move his mouth to talk. He can speak through any speaker, phone, anything he needs to speak through. It's the fact that it leaves him exposed -- and while Emma had shown him enough -- he also knew that Charles Xavier was a far more powerful than Emma was.

Which meant that every thought had to be buried, wrapped in near-alien code, something that Charles Xavier would likely not be able to pick apart. Even so, he couldn't completely erase his humanity, despite what some may think. It was always his flaw. ]

I suspect you could be buildings down. Then again, you don't sound that upset that I considered it.

It boded well, at least in Tony Stark's eyes.

"I think ideas are important -- I'm sure we could work something like that out. Keep my inventors on their toes while they start building whatever you can dream up."

After days spent under Soviet scrutiny, Charles was defaulting back to his telepathy as a matter of course. It was what he was comfortable with, rather than an active desire to go spelunking in Tony's mind.

Not that Stark made it easy. Charles could see the code, wrapped like brilliant Christmas paper around the promise of gifts. It was tempting to test himself against that code but Xavier stamped down the desire. He had no reason to push, other than ego and his ego could just sit this one out for the time being.

Taking another sip of coffee, he considered his next words for a breath, before just laying it out there.

"Could they build Cerebro?" Might as well get into the heart of the conversation, rather than dancing around. "When we took down the psychic blockers, even if that measure wasn't 100% effective, it was effective enough to give me a chance to look into some of the Soviets' minds."

Not that he'd found overly much but enough to give him a taste for more.

"With Cerebro, it's possible I could reach ... well, further than I can at the moment."

As for what Stark had suggested, Charles shifted in his seat, before he shrugged.

I'm not interested in telling you if your employees are stealing reams of paper from the copy room. But what is that old saying, 'forewarned is to be forearmed'?

"Hm," he thought, his voice soft in the quiet of the room. They could, with the right plans. Tony hadn't exactly had a hand in that -- and it was a touch close to the idea of giving someone else power over people -- and not only that, but it was close to giving Charles Xavier an edge. They hadn't always agreed, as their time in the Illuminati had proven, but...

Charles was an ally.

And allies should probably get things that they needed to operate.

And beyond that, it was still a machine. Tony could always best a machine. Particularly one he had a hand in creating.

"I think we could work something out with that. It would take work -- I'd have to experiment, since I wasn't exactly allowed around that whenever I visited the mansion."

Nobody wanted Tony Stark near their dangerous, superhuman-focused technology for a reason.

I wasn't exactly interested in tracking that. More like making sure I don't get the raw end of the deal in business meetings. Everyone always thinks they can decide to change the deal after things are dealt with. It's more trouble than its worth.

Not quite as... unscrupulous as he'd asked Edward Nygma to do, but... Different strokes.

' since I wasn't exactly allowed around that whenever I visited the mansion.'

Well that wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Perhaps his older self wasn't quite as trusting of Stark as he wanted to believe and they always say older is wiser. It probably was a risk to let Stark near a machine like Cerebro but even as he sat there considering it, Charles quickly weighed his current situation against the circumstances back home.

Back home, he had full access to his telepathy, including his more offensive abilities, as well as a substantial fortune, to grease palms and the X-men as well as the mansion at his back.

Or so it sounded.

Here, his powers were restricted to the more defensive abilities, he had a stipend and while Erik was definitely a powerful presence, the other man had his own concerns and priorities when the shit hit the fan.

Perhaps allowing Stark that close to Cerebro wasn't the best of choices but it appeared to be the best of bad choices.

I think I can cover that and still sleep soundly at night. Hell the truth was Charles made some of his own financial decisions on the back of what he'd picked up from trolling through the minds of his business partners. Not like he was in a position to scold Tony over a similar practice.

"It was originally Hank's design but when we rebuilt it I worked closely with him and reviewed all the specs." If Tony knew him, then Stark also would understand that Charles' eidetic memory would be at play here. "I can start working on the schematics, if you have drafting paper?"

It would probably involve a computer but occasionally Charles was old fashion.

"Now another product line, if you're interested?" He sat forward, coffee mug cradled in his hand. "While this chair has served it's purpose since I arrived, I have to admit I'm missing my one from back home."

The one that was motorized, infinitely more comfortable and had a high back so he could rest his head from time to time.

"But I was thinking. Would Stark Tech have any interest in developing a line of medical assisting equipment, like my chair and other technology, which could then be offered to both imPorts and natives?"

"I'm sure I can dig some out, I'm used to..." he waved a hand, toward the monitors with no PCs hooked up to them, displays for board meetings, as if they needed to be seen by people other than Stark. Really, he didn't even need them, honestly, it was for the humans, the people who weren't like them. Like imports. Charles had likely put enough together to get that Stark wasn't...

Well, certainly not normal. As much as he wanted to pretend he was, he wasn't. It showed, in the slight pause, like instead of looking, he thought -- running through categories and directories of stored memories like a computer, before he finally turned, opened a drawer on a nearby stand, and pulled out paper and pens. For those that forgot to bring notetaking materials.

"There we go. Whenever you want, we can get to work," and he paused, his mind turning now, to the other subject at hand. Medical technology. It was more of a Rand thing, but without all those businesses around and established, there was certainly a hole -- one that he could fill, and make a profit on.

And wasn't that what business was about?

"Well, as long as the "X" wheels are a one-of-a-kind design, I think we could look into that as a business model. What are you thinking, beyond just wheelchairs?"

"The "X" wheels are definitely a one of a kind," Charles agreed; hey he still had some of his vanities.

At the question, his lips twitched upwards because he'd been thinking quite a bit on this next piece.

"Quite a lot actually," he admitted and he began to run down a list of medical devices, diagnostic tools, quality of life aids (hearing aids, etc), just off the top of his head.

"And depending upon how far flung your current business models are, also humanitarian infrastructure advances," he added on, clean water, etc.

When he finished reeling off some of his initial ideas, he paused and finished his coffee, reaching forward to set the mug down on the table.

"This next bit, from a business perspective I understand you're might be less than engaged but hear me out. I'd like to reach out to the international community, to communities in need of some of these advances and offer them. I'd like to show to the international community that imPorts are more than just destructive forces."

He set his hands in his lap and watched Tony, giving the other man a chance to digest what he'd just thrown out there.

Surprisingly, and he knew it was surprising much of the time, Tony Stark was something of a philanthropist. Now, normally that was through the Maria Stark Foundation, something that Tony didn't have a direct hand in. Pepper had, actually, and Happy -- before... well. Before things had gone so sour. Something he didn't like to think about -- the way he'd...Well.

No reason to dwell on the fate of one Happy Hogan, as much as the thought wanted to hit free. More human than the rest of them -- but his grin was easy, and casual.

Very Tony Stark.

"Actually, I think it's a good idea. Because, at the end of the day, we're going to need to rely on our international partners to assist us. Look at what happened with Russia, right? It was only due to us reaching out to people who were willing to help, that we were even successful at having a place to go."

His shoulder lifted in a shrug. "I don't know if anyone told you, but in the world we were in before -- before Heropa, in the City? We had something called Vulcanus. More global, more like terrorists, but they had some of the same ideas, and it's probably because we didn't reach out that we had such a problem."

Charles was always an attentive conversationalist, even if he was mentally surfing other minds in the immediate area; he could multi-task with the best of them. But as Tony started to talk about the past, Charles' focus sharpened and he sat forward slightly, brows furrowing.

"No, I haven't had time to catch up on much of the deeper history of the world before this one. I am right in that assumption, yes? It was an entirely different world?"

While his experience with Logan had opened his mind to the possibilities of sliding timelines and alternate futures (and even pasts for that matter) Charles was still working to get his head around the whole of it.

"What ultimately happened with Vulcanus?"

"Vulcanus..." he sighed, and shook his head.

"They were with us to the bitter end of the world," he rolled a shoulder, trying to play it casual but... living through the end of the world, unable to stop it. He'd saved the world time and time again, over and over -- stopped it from wars, from alien invasions, from disasters and everything else known to man. He and the Avengers had done the impossible more times than he could count.

And then being in a place where they didn't? the one time it mattered?

It was still a black mark on his record. Still something that shamed him.

"They never moved to the new world, as far as we've been able to tell. It took the end of the world to take care of them."

There was no need to be mentally intrusive, when Stark's body language was vivid enough to paint the uncomfortable picture. Charles briefly tried to imagine the end of the world, oddly enough he didn't have to imagine too much; the images he'd seen when he'd traveled forwards through Logan's mind, replaying themselves now.

Still, he'd been an observer to that darkness, rather than living through it. He could appreciate it from an academic standpoint, envision it even but that didn't mean he felt it in the same way.

"That is an extreme we should do everything in our power to avoid," he agreed. "Like what happened, back in my future timeline, perhaps this is a case where we need to stop it before events begin to start, rather than try to combat it after the fact."

"I agree," he admitted, his voice level, while he considered what Charles said. It was obvious, of course, that they should do everything they could to avoid that kind of future. They had to, because there was no guarantee that just behaving would get anywhere.

One show of power was all it took, and he knew that one all too well. Look what had happened at Stamford? And how hard had it been for superhumans to wrap their heads around the idea of not being trusted? Imagine imports, some of whom had never lived a day in their lives without being trusted. The wouldn't be able to cope, he just knew it.

"The biggest problem with that is how is it going to happen. That's oging to take actual effort on the part of people the community consider leaders."

AKA: them.

Drumming his fingers on the edge of his mug Charles was quiet for a moment as he considered his next words.

"When I was over in France, speaking on behalf of the US and imPorts after the kidnappings, one of the many things that struck me, was their impression of us."

And an impression it had made.

"They had all the negative press at their fingertips but almost none of the positive work. I can remember them taking notes as Edgeworth, Fraser and I spoke of initiatives like Kitty Jones, the institute and others, notes to follow up on.

Afterwards, as I thought about it, I realized it made sense. Negative press sells, of course it sells. It's louder and often times more flashy so of course it makes it from here to other countries. But the good work being done in the US, rarely makes it outside these borders."

It was simply a fact of human (and imPort) nature. The need to rubberneck at a trainwreck, vs paying attention to the good work done right beside you.

"So ... what if we start to reach out, beyond the US borders. Put that good work, right in front of them. It won't completely negate the negative that is done from time to time but at least it will be in their view."

"Huh," he said out loud, and leaned back in his seat.

It was something that he hadn't really thought too much about, if he were honest. He could offer tech solutions, and there were plenty of things that StarkTech was starting to do, business and soft power, a consolidated base to start moving things forward. Something that he thought was important, and that was going to make a world of difference in the future.

But Charles? Charles had a point. A good one. He rocked in his chair a bit, trying to consider it, fingers curled around the hot mug, before he tapped it, in thought.

"I think it's a good idea," he finally said. "Soft power's the way to get changes made."

As Tony rocked, Charles leaned back and sipped from his own mug. A small part of him envied the other man’s ability to rock slightly in the chair; it was those small physical ways to expressive pensive thought or sometimes to bleed off tension, which Charles missed from time to time. He was learning new ways to manage but just then he would have enjoyed having a chair to rock.

When Stark commented on the idea, the corners of Charles’ mouth curled upwards in a smile and he nodded. It didn’t surprise him that the other man picked up on his own line of reasoning; it was something that had drawn him to Stark since the start. They may have some fundamental differences in approach but the core ideas ran along similar lines.

“Exactly,” he said with a nod. “I’ve been observing our situation, since I arrived here and I don’t see where any one grand gesture is going to resolve it all on its own. A lot of people are taking positive actions, if we can encourage more of that, show genuine investment in this world that could give those who advocate for us, as well as our own voice, more weight.”

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Hey, Mind reader

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