xp_logs | Log: Matt & Forge

~~Wandering~~ Exploring the basement of the chapel, Forge runs into one of the basement dwellers. Discussion of accommodation ensues. And patents.

Shinedown was probably not considered 'business appropriate,' but then neither were the ripped jeans and henley that Matt wore as he worked, the music playing from his computer speakers as he worked on his computer, bluetooth headphones in his ears for his screen reader and voice to text functionality. When it was just him in the office, he liked background music, it gave him the illusion of privacy.

He had a suite in the basement of the chapel that housed Excalibur, a small front room where Meggan worked, a larger room to store any physical documents and acted as a shared workspace when needed and then his own office. At the moment, all the lights were off as he worked, unconcerned about whatever was going on elsewhere.

Clint had basically pointed him to this facility - something called eXcal HQ - and told him to go wander with Very Firm instructions to stay out of the portal chamber. So a-wandering he was going. Looked more like a business complex than a place holding the deep secrets of the universe, but that was clearly a clever ruse on someone's part. Can't have any bozo off the street wandering into an interdimensional portal. So he was poking his head into various rooms, and just his luck, he happened to run into one that was occupied. "Oop. Sorry." he said by way of an apology. "New guy, just exploring. I'm Forge." he told the redhead at the computer. "Lights were off, thought nobody's be in."

Clicking the music off, Matt moved away from his computer on his rolling chair, "Bad habit," he replied, "The switch is by the door if you want. I'm Matt," he stood, taking a step or two closer, offering his hand.

Forge took it without thinking, using his artificial hand in its glove. "Pleasure." he said as he groped for, found, and activated the light switch with his other hand. "So. What do you do here, if you don't mind me asking?"

Prosthetic. That explained the slight metallic scent around Forge and the faint shifting of metal. Deciphering what his senses gave him was often a challenge when combined with other mutants and their powers. He was routinely stumped when he encountered something new until it was blindingly obvious. "Lawyer. I was overseeing most of the institute's needs, but now I'm doing more work with Excalibur specifically as we run into new territory with patents, technology and the nature of the team in general. What about yourself?"

'Inventor. I make stuff.' he said with a grin, but then noticed that Matt's eyes weren't exactly tracking his location. It was subtle but when you could see the math, even the subtle could be obvious. "Patent law, huh? We may need to sit down at some point and have a lengthy conversation, assuming I could come close to affording your fees."

"Yeah, sure," Matt agreed easily. "You can afford me, because you don't pay me. I'm paid through the Institute. Assuming you're sticking around and all that. You've met Clint, if he's letting you wander here."

"Good to know." he said with another grin. "Yeah, I met Clint. I'm under very strict instructions to avoid the scary portal room for now. Which sucks, I understand it's wired for sound and I was looking to see what I could do to make it better." he mused. "But there's time still. For now I'm just meeting people, getting settled. Already got hit up to make something for someone but it's a small thing, pretty easily done."

"It is, partially for me," Matt gestured vaguely around his eyes, "It's pretty cool though. What are you making?" he was certain they needed plenty, so Forge joining was pretty opportune.

"Audio blockers for a nice young lady with super-hearing." he said. "Easy assignment, I'll have it done as soon as I find a place to work." he added. "And unless I'm very much missing my guess you have trouble with your eyesight and that's the kind of thing a rework of the sensor net around the portal can accommodate. It would really suck if the Overfiend forced its way through Mister Portal and because all the alerts are visual you missed it. That's some bullshit and the kind of thing that can be fixed pretty easily.''

"Ah, yeah," not something he wanted, because while he sometimes needed it, he would rather not limit himself like that. "I'm blind. Clint's already put in audio alerts and we've tied my braille reader into the system when I take monitor duty, but if you can improve it? I'm willing to do whatever to help," he grinned, "It's not a huge problem most of the time though since we both have irregular vision. Clint knows what my accommodations are."

"Good. I haven't inspected it for myself yet so ..." he said, and then let his voice trail off. "Understand it's pretty important and when it's safe I'm sure Clint or somebody will give me the full grand tour and I can get started." he added. "Accessibility got a lot more important to me since I lost a couple of limbs." he added lamely.

"Not just the hand?" Matt asked, curious and not ashamed of the question. "I'm full NLP and Clint is extremely colour blind. To our dad's dismay."

"Right leg, right hand, and fucked up everything in-between, but lost the leg and the hand entirely." he said. He was getting tempted to write a FAQ at this point. "Long story, not relevant right now. So, Matt Esquire, I should let you get back to your work." he said. "I'm just exploring a little bit anyway."

He should get back to work. Should. "Well. That sounds like a shit ton of PT," he agreed without any pity. He'd done an the OT and PT himself back in the day. "Good to meet you, Forge. Try to stay in one piece, yeah? Oh, and get the light? I'll forget and leave it on." He headed back to his desk.