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Front Page News

WHO: Cobb Vanth & Others
WHERE: The newspaper offices
WHAT: General work day activities and banter.
WHEN: One day.
WARNINGS: Possible swears.

Every day, almost without fail, Cobb made it to the office at 8:30 am.

"Morning Charlie," he said to the security guard as he walked through the lobby, the sound of his cane echoing off the marble floors and slate ceilings. There were a few others around, judging by the echoing footsteps. The building was never quiet but it wasn't a madhouse just yet.

He could smell some fresh flowers and a vanilla chia latte with two shots of expresso as he passed the reception desk which told him who was manning the phones this early. "Morning Jo."

"Morning Mr. Vanth," answered the young African-American woman. He couldn't see her. He couldn't see anything but she had told him once when he commented on how it sounded like she had beads in her hair. She wore her hair in dreadlocks with beads. Cobb 'saw' the world through sound and sense most of the time.

"You're gonna call me Cobb one of these days," he teased playfully on his way to the elevators.

"Of course I will, Mr. Vanth," she replied dryly without looking his way.

He chuckled, cane still leading the way. When it bumped the wall for the elevator bank he reached his hand forward, running his fingers along it until it went from wood paneling to metal. A little swipe of his fingers and he found the buttons to call the elevator. Luckily, those buttons never changed. And this early there was no one offering to get the buttons for him either.

They meant well but he was perfectly capable of handling elevator buttons by himself.

The elevator pinged and he stepped in. Another search with his fingers reading the braille off to the side of the buttons he found the right floor, pushed, and then waited for the familiar sensation of the elevator moving. He went over a few story ideas in his head while the elevator went up. When it stopped and the door opened he stepped off.

He walked into the office, enveloped in familiar scents and sensations. He could walk around the desks here without needing his cane. The layout was imprinted into his mind. It blazed in his senses as well but he didn't rely on that when he was in a familiar place. He could go to his desk but he went to the little breakroom and made coffee first.

With his heightened sense of smell he could brew it without burning the grounds. Unlike some of the people in this newsroom who always, always burned it without fail whenever they made a pot.

With fresh coffee he made his way to his desk and settled in. Time to start the work day.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hmm." Cobb stroked his beard, which he still kept maintained thanks to frequent trips to the barber shop. "You know, we could work on your interview skills a little. I want to go bother Stark about this new project I've heard rumors about. You should come with."

Cal was a good editor and not bad with details. He might make a good reporter if they could sharpen his interview skills. "Let me talk to the boss. I bet I can get you to ride shotgun with me."

It'd be good to get out of the office and into the field. Cobb also always enjoyed the chance to bother Stark about what he was working on.

Who wouldn't jump at the chance to meet Tony Stark? That aside, this was an exciting opportunity, being able not only to accompany but to observe Cobb in action. Although the man couldn't see Cal's face, it wasn't difficult to glean his expression from the brightening of his tone. The intern just barely managed to keep himself from saying 'sir' again.

"Really?" He quickly swallowed down a bit of that excitement, clearing his throat. Keep it professional, Kestis. "I'd sure appreciate some pointers." He didn't mind getting out of the office either, although he was left to wonder about who was driving, given that comment.

Cal's obvious excitement made Cobb smile. The intern was always eager to help but this was clearly more than his usual eager response.

"Yeah, really. I wouldn't offer if I didn't mean it." Cobb didn't take it easy on the interns when it came to work so if he was inviting Cal along it was because he thought the young man could handle it. "You can be my eyes."

He wiggled his eyebrows because he always thought that blind jokes were funny. Now, if people made fun of him it was different but he could make the jokes about himself endlessly.

That made the intern chuckle a bit, even though he shook his head. "I'll do my best, Cobb." Not that he thought the man needed anyone for that. He was always strangely, if not perhaps a little disturbingly, aware of his surroundings that it was sometimes easy to forget that Cobb couldn't see.

"I'll get this stuff put away in the meantime," Cal said. He was sure that he and Cobb weren't the only ones sick of hearing the shredder running either way.

It was a little unsettling how aware he was of his surroundings but no one seemed to really think it that suspicious.

"I'm doing this for me." He reached out and patted Cal's shoulder. "I'll go tell the boss."

He stood up and made his way to the boss' office. Cobb spent just a minute to let him know he was talking Cal for a field trip to harass Stark for another interview. The boss didn't look impressed but he didn't reign in Cobb's urge. He was too good of a reporter.

"Alright, kid, grab your coat. We're off to Stark's." He went back to his desk for his coat, and his cane.

"Yess," Cal said under his breath, permitting himself a tiny fistpump. He made sure his desk was in order before grabbing his jacket to slip on. Then he slung his small messenger bag over his head, stuffing his phone into the front pocket.

"Ready when you are, Cobb."

Cobb shrugged on his suit coat and picked up the cane leaning against his desk. He made sure his phone was in his pocket before he motioned for Cal to follow him to the elevators.

"What do you know about Stark?" he asked while they waited. "When it comes to a good interview you do your research on the person and their business first before you start writing your questions to ask them. Rule number one of interviews."

In a way a reporter had to know the person as well as a friend or family member. He had interviewed Stark before and hadn't forgotten the guy's personality and ability to dodge questions.

"Mostly what's already been reported or printed," Cal admitted, even as he resisted the urge to take notes, feeling like he was supposed to. This was practical enough information to keep in his head, at least. "His um...colorful? personality, the massive, fancy events he throws here and there, his technical achievements..."

He was beginning to feel he was vastly unprepared for this foray, but then Cobb was taking him along to get some experience. Still, Cal hardly wanted to disappoint.

"Not a bad place to start. That's where I'd begin." Cobb led him onto the elevator and left the button pressing to Cal. "Read everything you can written about him and then consider who wrote it."

Cal probably was unprepared but Cobb always felt it was better to jump right in instead of learning all the theories and such about how to do this job.

"Tony Stark is a genius and probably a little insane but he is a surprisingly decent man." And had some sort of heart trouble from what Cobb could hear but that was another issue. "Most of what he says is for show. You'll have to learn to pick out the truth."

That was an approach Cal was perfectly fine with. Sometimes it was easier just to dive headfirst into things. There were definite differences to reading up on things to learn them and to actually do them.

Leaning back against the elevator wall, Cal remained respectfully quiet as he waited and then listened to what more Cobb offered on the way down. "How long have you known him?" he asked. It sounded like the man was fairly acquainted with Tony Stark.

"I've interviewed him a few times over the years. We're friendly but Tony is friendly with a lot of people." Cobb preferred to interview Din who was more honest with him but that was a different relationship. There was nothing wrong interviewing Tony though.

"He might not have time for us. I told him I wanted an interview and he just said yes, never gave me a time." Which was somewhat typical of Tony. He probably should've called one of his assistants. "We'll see what happens."

The intern's expression faltered a little at that admission, if only briefly. He breathed out a laugh, running a hand through his hair. Unbelievable. But that seemed to fit with the things he knew about Tony Stark.

"Guess we will," he said. Should be interesting either way.

"If we can't talk to the man himself I can swing us a tour if you want to look around." Cobb wouldn't take Cal out for nothing. They could looked around the place at the least. Maybe grab some lunch on the way back.

The elevator stopped and Cobb got out first. He walked through the more crowded lobby to the front of the building and signaled for a cab.

"What question would you ask Stark if we do get to talk to him?" He asked Cal, hoping he had thought of something on the elevator ride or maybe before he had ever started interning at the paper.

"I wouldn't mind that. Most I've seen of Stark Industries is the outside in passing."

Cal pushed away from the wall and after Cobb once they'd reached the main floor, offering a few waves and nods to some familiar coworkers on the way out. He rolled his shoulders as he stood there beside the man, waiting for a cab to pull up.

It was a question that he'd anticipated on the way down. You didn't just figure on having a free day and playing an audience while the professionals were at work, after all.

"I'd ask him if he'd still be following through with his work if he'd never had the recognition for his accomplishments and the status that came with it," he said after considering how to word his thoughts. "...although I wouldn't be surprised if it's something someone's asked him before."

"Eh, ugly building," Cobb said with a little smirk. Even with his heightened senses he only had a vague idea of what the building looked like. He liked to make blind jokes whenever possible.

When the cab pulled up Cobb got in, neatly folded his cane and tucked it into his suit jacket. "Maybe he's been asked the question before but he might answer it a different way when you ask it. His mood, the way you ask it, you being a kid, all that influences how people talk to you."

He told the cab driver to take them to Stark Tower and settled back for the ride. "People talk to me differently because I'm blind. They'll talk to you differently because you're young. You'll figure out how to read a person with some practice."

Settling into the cab, Cal nodded thoughtfully at Cobb's words. It made sense. "I see," he said. It'd be a lot of trial and error, but you clearly didn't just blurt out anything that came to mind. Not that Cal needed to be told that.

"So how much do you let on to people about what you pick up?" he asked, his smile quirking a little.

"Most blind people pick up more than sighted people think." Cobb drummed his fingers against his thigh for a moment. There were a lot of ways he could explain how he "saw" but he never gave away too much.

"I can hear really well so I can pick up a lot just by listening. The sound of my voice comes back different when it hits a hard wall versus hitting a soft curtain." He turned towards Cal with a little smile of his own. "Hits different when I talk to people too."

Hearing was pretty reliable. People accept that answer easily.

"I've noticed," Cal chuckled. It was hard not to study the man a little as he went about things in the office sometimes. Even with the layout memorized, that didn't account for the bodies that moved through it, or the misplacement of a chair or a stool.

Difference in sounds. That made sense. He nodded thoughtfully. "That's really interesting. And I guess it's not really anything new, just things you take for granted unless it's all you have to go by."

Cobb was comfortable in the office. He didn't often walk around with his cane. Everyone knew he was blind and often moved out of way, unless they weren't paying attention. They were very apologetic when they did bump into them.

"There are a lot of different ways to sense the world. You can close your eyes and try it. You'll notice your sense of balance a lot more. And the difference in warmth between where the sun is and isn't. How strong this driver's cologne is." Cobb really hated strong perfumes but there wasn't much he could do about it inside this cab. "Even the slight dip and rise in the seat with us sitting here. All different ways to see, kid."

And none of them the vibrant glow of the world in his strange heightened senses. But that was how he knew how to describe it to sighted people. If he started talking about seeing the way he did people tended to think he was crazy.

These were simple, obvious things. But you didn't let yourself think about them. They were just there. Cal considered, closing his eyes. There wasn't much to be doing as they rode anyway.

He could feel when the cab passed under the shade of a building or a tree, although in that sense he felt like he was still cheating because he could still see the light through his eyelids. But being more aware of the temperature shifts did make them more apparent. He could hear the grinding tires on the road, the subtle bump and metal thunk as the cab rolled over a manhole cover. He wrinkled his nose as he settled back against his seat and opened his eyes again.

"...that cologne really is strong," he murmured, his lips twisting in a lopsided smile.

"Glad you noticed." Cobb was actually really pleased that Cal tried it. Some people didn't. They just dismissed him as a crazy blind man. Didn't seem like Cal was the type to dismiss the words and experiences of other people.

When they pulled up at Stark Tower and Cobb was glad to get out of the cab and away from that cloud of cologne.

It was very busy outside the building. Cobb "saw" the crowd as a blur passing by him. He unfolded his cane and began to slowly make his way through. Most people got out of the way once they saw him coming. "Get the door for me?" he asked Cal.

Experience was nothing to brush off, and neither was considering things from the perspectives of other people. Cal was also very much someone who learned better by doing, but he usually caught on quick for it.

Once they were out of the car, he took a moment to look around the place. It was always busy around here, it seemed, but then a lot seemed to always be happening at Stark Industries. He didn't take long to catch up with Cobb.

"On it," he said, starting past him at the man's request.

"Thanks." It was easier if Cal got the door for him and luckily when they were in the lobby things calmed down a little bit. There wasn't too much of a crowd once they were inside.

Cobb tapped his way to the reception desk. When his cane hit the desk he stopped and smiled at the receptionist. "Hi there, Cobb Vanth." He felt around his suit jacket pockets until he found his press badge and showed it to her. Well, in her general direction.

"This is my assistant, Cal Kestis. We're hoping Tony Stark might have a few minutes to answer some questions." He clipped the press badge on and leaned on his cane a little.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Nope. But he likes me." Cobb's tone and grin turned charming. It usually worked on most people.

It was certainly a different atmosphere than outside, but no less overwhelming for where they were. Cal kept in step with Cobb, finding it easier to focus on getting to the reception desk than let his eyes wander too much. They were professionals here.

As introductions were dispensed, Cal nodded at the receptionist. He couldn't help but grin a little at Cobb's response.

"One moment please."

Cobb listened to the receptionist and the other end of the phone call. It wasn't Stark's voice on the other end but probably another receptionist. She mentioned him and... well it didn't sound like he was getting to talk to Stark today.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark is in a meeting right now. You should come back another day. When you have an appointment," the receptionist said politely but was clearly also saying "fuck you".

He glanced over at Cal. "Do you want to wait and see if he stops being in a meeting?"

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