ArchivedLogs:Practicalities

Practicalities
Dramatis Personae Lucien, Theo	2017-09-19 "The problem is that to one degree or another, we're all broken wretched creatures."
Location <NYC> Effective Staffing - Lower East Side
The office is still sparse. The equipment is new. The server room has been set up to communicate with the Michigan office. There are a few couches in the front reception area, and presently there is no one at the front desk. Some modern looking art decorates the wall in a sufficient, but hardly developed welcoming manner. All in all, it is well done, though the location clearly looks to be temporary. Down the hallway, a few people can be heard talking in casual tones. There are a few cubicles that can be seen from the entry room, but from this angle it's hard to tell if anyone is sitting at them. There are the sounds of clicking keyboards and a printer, all in all a fairly standard collection of office sounds. It's two minutes before his scheduled meeting that Lucien -- doesn't quite come /in/, though he does arrive, headset tucked into his ear and a conversation in rapidfire Japanese carried on with someone on the other side. He is dressed sharply, today, a well-tailored grey suit and neatly tied tie; it is precisely On Time that he ties up his conversation, ends his call, actually enters the reception area with only the smallest hint of a frown. He checks the time on his phone before slipping it into his pocket, long fingers tenting lightly on the empty front desk. The red-toned girl from the other night is not more than 15 seconds behind Lucien's arrival, carrying some freshly printed . "I'm so sorry," she apologizes. "I hope you weren't waiting long. You must be Mr. Tessier, is that right?" she asks as she order the pages in her hand and places them on the desk. They appear to be some sort of statistics reporting. Lucien's smile is quick, polite despite a very faint tightening at the corners of his eyes at the apology. "I am. I have an appointment with Mr. Fegenbush. And it's no trouble at all, I only just arrived." Still standing, the young lady picks up the phone and punches an extension. "Theo? Mr. Tessier is here. Okay, I'll let him know." She hands the phone up, and then looks back to Lucien. "He is on his way up right now," she says, though it seems that it is not necessary, for Theo can be seen exiting the office at the end of the hall and coming forward, and he has made his way to the front before the girl sits down. "Mr. Tessier," he offers with a hand to meet the greeting, "It's good of you to come, please, come on back to my office. Can I get you a water, tea, coffee?" "Ah! Bonjour, it is good to see you again." Lucien's handshake is brief, firm; the whisper of happy contentment that accompanies it is an infinitely subtle thing. "Just some water would be fine, merci. Summer is determined to cling to its last few days." His hands fold behind his back as he follows Theo to his office. “Likewise,” Theo says with what seems to be a genuinely content smile. He leads Lucien to his office, which is clean enough to eat off any surface. Things are clean and orderly. He pulls two bottles of water from a minifridge below the desk, and gives one to Lucien. “Ice?” he asks. He taps his water bottle firmly on the desk, and inside the water it immediately it forms a block of ice in his own. “Please, have a seat,” He indicates to a comfortable looking chair to the side of the desk. "This is quite alright." Lucien uncaps his bottle, taking a small sip as he seats himself. "I understand Effective Staffing is having a bit of an image problem. Steve thinks you could use a hand integrating into the city. I'm interested to know what you think." “I agree that the move to New York City has been challenging.” The young business owner takes a seat in a similar seat, placing them not on opposite sides of the desk. “Things have changed since I left. I feel that I have come back to a very different city than I left. The tension is much higher here.” Theo takes a sip from the iced water. “You of course were there at the early exchange at the fair. I have a difficult line to walk. This city is divided on the issue of mutants. I have to find a way to bring some cooperation between the two sides, not simply to have a successful business, but to be a presence that brings a possibility for a happy future between the two halves. Unfortunately, that is a very long road, and I have never been that good as a people person.” "Do you know of a city that is not? I know a fair few people who should dearly like to move there." There's a warm amusement in Lucien's gentle voice, though his expression is quite staid. "That is quite a lofty goal. Is that what you see yourself doing? Bridging the divide between mutants and humans? Do you think such a future exists?" There's no censure in his tone -- just open curiosity. “True, no cities have that fantastic a relationship between the two groups, but some are tenser than others.” Theo considers the question posed to him, and he takes a few seconds before answering, weighing what he wants to say. “Bridging the divide would be fantastic. I don’t know that it will be seen in our lifetime. That doesn’t mean that we can’t make movement that will be positive in that direction. There will likely be tension for many generations to come, but I don’t expect the world to be better, I just hope it to be better in this regard.” He opens his hands, “I will be direct with you. I am of the belief that mutants are grossly mistreated in many instances. They are kept down from being able to pursue their goals, whether consciously or unconsciously. This drives resentment. This drives some of them to lash out, and others to quietly harbor bitterness. I my primary goal is to give them opportunities and help them to feel less powerless in their own skin,” He pauses. “However, humans have their own concerns, and I do not want to neglect those, or else everything I am trying to do will simply be pushed against by companies that are human owned. I need to become all things to all people, so to speak.” "What do you think those concerns are?" One slim black eyebrow raises. "How do you intend to address them?" Lucien's fingers curl loosely around his water bottle, resting it lightly on the arm of his chair. "And what do you think have been your biggest stumbling blocks so far in trying to achieve your goals, here?" "You will likely think me a cynic on humanity and wonder why I bother at all," Theo says with a slight laugh. "But since you asked. A lot of people say that humans are afraid of mutants because mutants are different. I think humans are afraid of mutants because we are not. Everyone has the potential to become a villain, if only the right button is pressed. Humans are afraid that if that button is pressed with certain mutants, they won't be able to stop them. For some humans, that is their button. The problem is that to one degree or another, we're all broken wretched creatures." He quickly arches his brow and lowers it again, leaning back in the seat and patting the arms. "Sounds very defeatest, I know. The way you overcome that fear, is that you make interacting with a threat commonplace. My father worked on railroad engines. He had a fear of heights, and sometimes he had to climb up on the outside of the engine to get to what needed to be fixed." He smiles. "He used the harness at first, the way that you are supposed to by regulation. Over time, he became more comfortable climbing around the engine. Eventually he climbed around it without any safety precautions at all. The danger was not different, he was just simply more accustomed to being around it. Humans need to become more familiar with mutants before they will become less afraid. They need to be working alongside each other, they need to be doing life together. To begin with, they need to be treated with kid gloves. Hell, some mutants need to be treated with kid gloves, too. The biggest stumbling blocks? Really, it seems like more of a tug of war between whose fears you are trying to lessen. There is a reaction negatively whichever direction I try to cater." "Mmm." Lucien's expression hasn't changed much, through this, save that his raised eyebrow has lowered again. His eyes stay fixed on Theo thoughtfully, forefinger tapping slowly against the side of the water bottle. "Do you," he queries mildly, "have any idea what your company might have been doing to garner those reactions?" Theo sighs. “Well, the only thing that I’ve seen that has been overly distinct is that the company’s neutral stance during the event at the fair was not well received by those who were there. They felt that I was betraying the mutant community by telling both sides that I did not want to see trouble, instead of just the human that was what I now understand to be the initiator. Really, it seemed to be poorly received by the mutants and humans both who were there.” He leans forward again, resting his elbows on his knees. “Beside that, I know that a few felt they were concerned that mutants without special abilities would be left out, which I assured was not the case. Those who did not have abilities seemed less concerned about this, so that was an interesting paradox, they were happy that we paid attention to them without making a fuss about their mutant traits. Often I can come across as a little overly utilitarian. Call it a personality flaw if you like. I tend to see what the most practical solution is, and then seek to achieve it. Not everyone is like that I know. You are the consultant, perhaps you could answer that question better than I can.” Lucien uncaps his water bottle again, sips at it slowly as Theo speaks. Screws the cap back on, slowly as well. "You seem like an exceptionally smart man, Mr. Fegenbush." His voice is quiet, a very slight tilt to his head. "No doubt a genius in your own field. It would be very convenient for your company if intelligences were transitive, non? If an adeptness with robots just -- carried over to an understanding of human nature?" His hand turns upward, fingers spreading. "Both at the job fair and again now, you demonstrate a quite fundamental lack of understanding of the community you intend to come into. I can help you understand New York, certainly. I can help you understand /people/. But only if you are willing to learn." His hand drops back to his knee, fingers splaying lightly against his slacks. "Having spoken to a number of others -- having spoken, now, to you? People do not want to be condescended to. They do not want an outsider coming in and /telling/ them how they need to be helped. If I may be quite frank? A good deal of your image problem is you." The shrug of Lucien's shoulder is slight. "Are you willing to work with that?" Theo is silent for a few seconds, though not defensively so. “You are not the first to say that,” he says. “I’m quite aware that I have trouble with other people. I appreciate the observation.” He takes another drink from his water, and rests an ankle on his opposite knee. “Your acting prowess seems to speak to your ability to know how to work with people. Does your schedule have room for taking on such a task as myself? And what do you feel that you bring in regard to the professional challenge of helping develop a strategy to reach both groups? Other than, of course, helping me not be an insufferable ass.” This draws a chuckle from Lucien, his head briefly tipping downward. "Oh, I assure you, compared to some of the guests I deal with at the Hellfire Club you are positively charming." His smile is easier here, anyway, as he settles back in his chair. "I wouldn't have taken this meeting if my schedule didn't allow for the work. As to my qualifications -- you are no doubt aware of the work I do for Captain Rogers. I handle similar services for Ryan Black but -- also have in the past assisted the Mayor's office when she wanted to garner support for instituting a mutant division of the NYPD, and Evolve Cafe when they were planning their Evolympics. Currently I handle /some/," lightly, with only a faint press of lips, "of the press for Oscorp around their Sentinel division." It is perhaps /excessively/ mild, the conclusion: "I have some small experience with outreach across these divisions." Theo nods as if he hadn't already researched some of these things, but then some of it is new as well. "I appreciate that. I think we can do business. How many hours per week do you think you would be available to work with me and Effective Staffing?" He seems to be somewhat easier moving into the nuts and bolts section of the conversation. "Excellent." Lucien's head inclines slightly. "The stage has most of my evenings, but we should be able to work around that easily." He's taking his phone back out of his pocket, now, opening up a -- seemingly impossibly packed-full calendar to add in new appointments. "I'd like to start with scheduling some times to meet with community groups. Actually do some proper outreach. We can move on from there, hm?" Theo nods. "That sounds like a good idea." He brings out his own phone, and scans for similar time slots between the two calendars. His own is fairly busy, but given that he is the business owner, some of those can be moved. "I would really like meeting with those groups, I had already been trying to determine who to meet with first. I have a meeting with a potential new hire this week as well. She has had an idea to help the mutants who have arrived in the city, or those who may have recently come into their powers so that they can get connected with those who can help them with the rather rough transition." "I would be interested to hear her ideas." Offhand, as Lucien pencils in a few upcoming work days. "I'll see about getting some meetings set up --" Though here his smile cuts a little thinner. "Perhaps /after/ a briefing with you on, ah, proper etiquette with all of them first. Hopefully in future we can avoid --" Lucien's eyes are only briefly! Honest! darting to Theo's jaw, "-- well. Not all meetings will be quite so exciting, non?"