[He didn't want to one-up Charles. He was... well. It was more an offer of a more hidden thing, in exchange for the issue that was, sorry to say, so glaringly obvious with his warden. An uncommon show of trust and friendship from Tony, really. Not even Rhodey knew that much about the arc reactor, the actual pain that came with hefting it around inside his chest every day. The difficulty that could come just from breathing sometimes.
Charles' weakness was there for everyone to see. Everyone knew it, and everyone silently judged because of it. Tip toed around it, avoided using words like "walk" or "run" or anything like that. Almost painfully so. Tony'd seen it, had even had a fleeting thought to do it himself. But more than that? He'd felt the bitterness that welled up when people caught themselves the second after it left their mouth. Or better yet, the apology on their face when Tony brought it up for them. Just to see what would happen. His time in the chair had been short-lived, sure. But it was enough to open his eyes.
And it was enough for him to realize that while he wouldn't be making cracks like finding some stairs to avoid Charles, he wasn't going to treat him like some sort of invalid and baby him by censoring any sort of ~offensive reminder~ out of his every day speech. If there was one thing that was worse than having to live with an experience, it was the way people handled you with kid gloves afterwards.
He'd hated it with Afghanistan, and he'd hated it with the chair, too. For the few days he'd been in it.]
Lose one mode of transport, and you gain another. And trust me, flying beats out everything else. [He's actually thoughtful as he says that, mind already focused in on another project. You can practically see the equations running through his mind, numbers flashing in the corners of his eyes] ... You know, I already have a basic exoskeleton designed. I used a modified version for the suit, but it's also used in deep sea diving, to compensate for pressure change.
[And, honestly, it would take a bit of tweaking and a few prototypes and tests, but... he might be able to modify it to mimic natural movement, to respond to muscle cues in the lower back and help move the legs according to that.
He was always calling his suit a high tech prosthesis. Might as well try and live up to that.]
[Private/Backdated]
Charles' weakness was there for everyone to see. Everyone knew it, and everyone silently judged because of it. Tip toed around it, avoided using words like "walk" or "run" or anything like that. Almost painfully so. Tony'd seen it, had even had a fleeting thought to do it himself. But more than that? He'd felt the bitterness that welled up when people caught themselves the second after it left their mouth. Or better yet, the apology on their face when Tony brought it up for them. Just to see what would happen. His time in the chair had been short-lived, sure. But it was enough to open his eyes.
And it was enough for him to realize that while he wouldn't be making cracks like finding some stairs to avoid Charles, he wasn't going to treat him like some sort of invalid and baby him by censoring any sort of ~offensive reminder~ out of his every day speech. If there was one thing that was worse than having to live with an experience, it was the way people handled you with kid gloves afterwards.
He'd hated it with Afghanistan, and he'd hated it with the chair, too. For the few days he'd been in it.]
Lose one mode of transport, and you gain another. And trust me, flying beats out everything else. [He's actually thoughtful as he says that, mind already focused in on another project. You can practically see the equations running through his mind, numbers flashing in the corners of his eyes] ... You know, I already have a basic exoskeleton designed. I used a modified version for the suit, but it's also used in deep sea diving, to compensate for pressure change.
[And, honestly, it would take a bit of tweaking and a few prototypes and tests, but... he might be able to modify it to mimic natural movement, to respond to muscle cues in the lower back and help move the legs according to that.
He was always calling his suit a high tech prosthesis. Might as well try and live up to that.]