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 Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:14 am
On my way.
Three words, then the call dropped. Nines would be by within half an hour, dressed true to form in his standard street apparel. There was little ceremony about it all; he left his bike in the garage, and entered from there to the main house. Apart from a few nods towards familiar faces, he kept quietly to himself; he was here on business and was making for Roan's chambers.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:19 am
The door was open, and within, Roan sat her desk with three glasses and a pitcher of vitae by her desk. She was tapping away at her laptop as Nines entered, and waved him to a seat, glancing him over, looking for signs of harm.
"Thank-you for coming. How are you?"
Her tone was cautiously non-existant. Neutral. As if she wasn't quite sure if he'd explode if she moved too fast. The clipped response to her call hadn't help disabuse her of this.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:24 am
The first thing Nines' eyes locked upon as he entered was the laptop; the screen was not facing where he could see what was on it, though, which led to a swift shift in focus. Three glasses...his senses stretched to encompass the room around him, trying to detect any third person within. He didn't see nor hear anyone but the two of them, which he found unsettling.
All this happened within the first few moments of his entrance to the room; the brief flickerings of attention to different facets of the room abruptly pulled towards Roan as she spoke. Neutrality was expected, and returned in kind; Nines maintained a professional lack of emotive response as he answered.
The same as ever. You?
Politely he eased into the chair he had been offered, and crossed his right leg over the left. Slouching forward, he rested his elbow upon his knee and watched Roan intently.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:32 am
His reponse, or more the lack thereof, caused a barrier to come down in the Lady's eyes... one which she then struggled to raise again, resisting her natural passive aggressive response.
"That doesn't answer my question, or help, and you know it. I wish to assist you, Nines, and while the vehicle with which I would extend an olive branch to you was something I picked up for my own ends, I believe I have a way of solving a number of problems all at once. Or at least trying to.
In light of that... do you think you could possibly try to be a little bit more human and little but less automaton towards me?
For the record, I am well, though somewhat fatigued and perplexed. I appear to be experiencing emotions I am neither confident with nor entirely certain I'm pleased to see. While this is somewhat concerning to me, I do not believe I am in imminent danger and with people in the house all the time now... I believe I am actually fairly happy."
She leant forwards and poured two glasses of vitae, though she didn't push one towards himn, leaving it up to him to decide whether he'd drink or not.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:40 am
Biting back the knee-jerk reaction to take a snarky potshot at her, Nines instead cleared his throat to buy a second to restrain himself, and shrugged.
Just being honest; things really haven't gone anywhere since we last talked. Hard to go out and do things when one is worried that skipping town will bring the wrath of god on one's shoulders, y'know?
It was far more polite than he'd have been otherwise, and Nines internally had his fingers crossed that it didn't bite him in the tail for it. Thus, he opted to try and move the conversation forward to avoid any more awkward small talk.
You wanted to speak with me, then?
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:53 am
"He's not a god. He just plays at it. NEVER... never... think of him as such. He is a cursed thing that was once human. And there will be a time he is no more than ash."
She spoke quietly, but vehemently. It will ill-advised to have said such, of course, but nevertheless.
She too accepted the attempt to move on however, and spun her laptop around, revealing the same screen she had shown Corbin a day before.
"The place I wished to send you to check out no longer needs it. The operation IS a drug centre, but I am now in contact with someone who knows all about it. Therefore, I have another task in mind for you of mutual benefit. Or at least, I hope it will be. Firstly though, have you heard of the DeSeer Foundation?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:11 pm
Again, Nines had to exercise a degree of self restraint; his tongue would have gotten the better of him had the ride to the mansion not been spent reinforcing the need to not inflame the relationship between the two of them to openly antagonistic all over again.
Keeping quiet, he let the subject change peaceably, and chose not to speak until questioned. Then, with a slow shake of his head,
Nope. Should I have?
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:19 pm
"My pride says yes, you should, but I'm not that surprised that you don't.
The Foundation is one of my pet projects. Its a combination of school, laboratory, money laundering operation and eccentric philanthropic charity.
I set it up years ago, to help me hide the fact I'm practically immortal and to help me stay legitimately filthy rich. I hire gifted scientists of all fields to lecture there and carry out researches relevant to my interests, while also picking up gifted pupils for them to teach, who otherwise could not afford this kind of education. As a result, I get shares in their successes and stay rich, on top of the current scientific thinking, and get my fingers into many useful pies such as weapons R&D, biometric processing, and the technology that went into building the training room.
For reasons I will not discuss, it has become relevant to me to employ a very talented geneticist, and to make him aware of Kindred existence. There is something I wish him to do for me, but he also wishes to understand the Kindred condition. To him, we are a strange illness, and he believes there must be a way of reversing whatever has happened to us."
She paused here, to watch Nines for any reaction. Professor Lithfeld had been fascinated with a single drop of her blood the previous night when she had given it to him at the Foundation meeting, and she'd left him still studying it under a microscope and taking tiny samples and diluting them at around 4am.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:29 pm
Where he was sitting, Nines was hearing one part ego stroking, one part explanation, and one part kick in the pants. He remained neutral at first, but the as Roan began explaining the important reasons for why she was bringing this up, Nines couldn't hide the combination of acute interest and minor disdain for the research.
I'll avoid the argument I know this is going to start and get to the point...is he awakened, at all? I suspect not, if he didn't know or at least suspect about other unnatural creatures...and if he isn't, I don't see how this is going to go anywhere.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:35 pm
"I find it hilarious I was born hundreds of years before science was recognised and yet trust in it more than magic, while you prefer magic to science and have been dead less time than you lived.
Very well Nines. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
She stood up calmly, took her glass with her and went out onto her veranda. When the boy had said nothing hand changed with him, it would seem he had meant it. He was as infuriating and difficult as ever, something for which she had no time now. Not with other concerns also on her plate. While the olive branch had not worked, seeing it in flames still rectified things for her. There would be no regrets.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:45 pm
That ended far more poorly than anticipated. Nines flinched at the sudden shutdown of conversation, and hastily tried to think of how to salvage the situation.
I'm not saying this isn't a good thing, just that it's a big problem to tackle. You told me that yourself when we first argued about it. Only reason I'm saying what I'm saying is the stonewalls the last scientist I spoke with ran into, and he was trying a mixed approach of both...aw ******** it, nevermind. I'll...I'll just go now.
What started as a mad attempt to try and not come across as a complete s**t ended in a sigh of resignation. She had already shut him down, he had the feeling that keeping this up was just going to make things worse. With a hung head he turned for the door.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:59 pm
"You are the worlds biggest hypocrit, Nines. And your own worst enemy. You rant and shout and stamp your feet about what YOU want, and what SHOULD have been, then you shut down any offered aid held out to you because it doesn't fit in with YOUR vision of things or how you wanted your answers to come.
There is no magic wand. There is no do-over. There is no save file, no new game to start.
WHEN you have grown up enough to understand the world neither revolves around you, nor is full of benevolent deities to grant you three wishes, perhaps you will be fortunate enough to find someone who will offer you all I have alongside the means to fund it. Assuming you survive long enough to learn those lessons, of course.
I have tried to help you, and all you have done since square one is throw my assistance back in my face because it wasn't getting you exactly what you wanted how you wanted instantly. This was my final attempt to reach you. I said I did not employ this man out of sole concern for you, but I DID stop to think about what I was doing, and realise a potential outlet for you. One that could also have been used to your advantage in other ways.
But, once again, you not only look a gift horse in the mouth, you shoot it before it even gets to you. All because it didn't come up to you in a pointy hat covered in stars and the word 'Wizard' inscribed on its saddle. I am aware, of course, that I am stretching the metaphor here, but you get my point.
Truthfully, you were never my responsibility to begin with. But I did care about what happened to you. I will not, however, stand for repeated attempts to reach you and help you being turned down forever. I have other concerns besides yourself, and this was my last attempt before I leave you to your own fate without remorse.
What we have become is more than just a big problem. But do you think the Romans worked out aqueducts overnight? Do you think man flew in a day? Do you think the curiosity rover would have ever left the ground if man had looked at Mars and simply gone 'Nope, that's a big problem to tackle, not worth the resources.'?
You are not stupid, Nines, but you are incredibly dense, and naive. I have led you to water many times. I will no longer wait for you to drink."
The worst of it was she didn't get angry. She didn't shout, She didn't even tone her voice to condescend or reprimand. If anything, she sounded tired when she spoke, made more so by the fact she stayed at the balcony, one hand clutching her glass, the other the rail, looking out over the moonlit garden. In his case at least, she was at her wits end, and ready to let it go.
"May grace smile upon you, and Lady Luck also. I fear you will need both."
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:05 pm
He paused long enough to hear her rant, and weathered it without comment. With a final nod to her back, he turned to leave.
Good fortune to you. I hope that happiness you mentioned lasts.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:12 pm
"Please leave the PDA and weapons you acquired from me with Jan. Goodnight, Nines."
This was all she said out loud to the man as he turned to leave, her resolve already set, even if she was saddened by the man's choices.
.: Well that went as well as could be expected. :.
.: Prehaps. I had hoped for better. :.
.: Optimist. The man's a broken wreck who doesn't even know it. No wonder Kuni is interested in him. He has no bark, let alone bite. :.
.: Indeed. I was hoping for either enough insight that he'd ask me to explain the full offer I was trying to make to him, or enough anger to be worth another look. I feel the meekness is put on, of course, but that's the problem. He doesn't understand anyone save himself. He holds back when he should shout, and talks when he should be silent. :.
.: What will you do? :.
.: Nothing. IF he changes his mind and develops the balls to seek me out in the future... I will not turn him away. I don't think he'll live that long though. Ice is not a forgiving master. :.
After he had gone, her final act would be send to send a text to the mans' mobile phone, with the name and address of the Giovanni she had researched based on the life history he had given her. To the best of her knowledge, the man listed was either in contact with those most connected to Nines' sorry condition, or knew people who were.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:17 pm
A fair enough request. Nines would need to make a brief venture back to town to do it, but he wasn't going to just make off with her hardware, all things considered. This was passed on to Jan, informing him that he'd be back in an hour to return the equipment, shortly before he mounted up and rolled out.
About an hour and a half later, Nines was back. This time he had a duffel slung over his back, and the PDA in his hands. He met with Jan, asking polite permission to return the equipment to the armory. It gave him the chance to enter and begin returning the weapons and unspent ammunition to where he had garnered them from. As he did so, his eyes drifted to the back of the room, where the locked display cases had been. These spaces were now vacant, leaving him feeling a mixture of apprehension and relief. He was glad to not have to put up with the incessant whispers causing further distress while he tended to his business. He considered asking about the blades, but given the nature of his relations with the household in general, he thought it best to leave it be. Instead, he set about inspecting his charges, preferring to leave clean weapons on the shelves.
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