Unexpected Business (Valerius, Inodar)

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on November 15th, 2013, 10:12 am

Throughout his conversation with Inoadar Valerius occasionally looked at Amolina, wondering if she had something to say. The actress seemed disinterested though, and when she made a comment, it was usually a very generic one even though she had been the one who had come up with the idea for their research project.

He wondered what was going through her mind. Was she not interested in increasing their power and their wealth? Or was she simply getting tired? No, that couldn’t be. An actress like her didn’t have a particularly busy life, unlike him who worked at the Kelvic Research Institution and had certain duties to his family. Very well, if she didn’t want to participate in the conversation, then he would talk to Mister Parnell alone.

He turned away from her and focused his entire attention on the poisoner. As Mister Parnell described that kind of equipment he needed, the Nitrozian furrowed his brow a bit. „That will be expensive, Mister Parnell“, he informed him. „I hope that the money I’m going to invest in you – in both of you – will be worth it. I assume that you will be able to procure at least a few minor tools as well as whatever ingredients you need for your poisons yourself if I provide a fully furnished laboratory?“

He looked at the poisoner questioningly, accepted the list and looked it over. Some of the items he mentioned on it were familiar to him due to his work with both Doctor Alzelin and his aunt Amanda, but he wasn’t sure what a few other ones were used for. No matter, he would just give the list to the appropriate merchant. Having decided that, he asked, „Is there anything else we should discuss, Mister Parnell? Do you have any questions?“

He finally glanced at Amolina again. „Miss Moletta, are you still with us? Did we forget anything?“

by **Amolina** on November 15th, 2013, 1:01 pm

OOCI was feeling drained ... But now it seemed like there was after all a few more things I ought to write.

Oh my … Valerius had turned to her with a question … she had to answer now

She felt so tired that she was dangerously near to revealing it, but she didn’t dare to say it. Not after all the things her business partners had said about despisable weakness in opposite to their own superior strength. Oh no, never.

She tried to think clearly, but she felt groggy. But somebody needed to make a business deal of this. At the moment it seemed to her like it was more like charity.

“I believe we need to explain to Mr Parnell that this project is strictly secret”.

She looked at the poisoner : “Officially it’s called The Nitrozian-Moletta Sanitary Station and the purpose is disease control… the official purpose is only to prevent diseases from spreading in the city. In return for all the investements Mr Nitrozian is making and in return for letting you into the project we require… your silence and loyalty. Can you promise that Mr Parnell? And also, all research results that are achieved in the project will belong to the project. Which is right now…Mr Nitrozian, as he’s the one financing it. “

Parnell didn’t answer at once so she had time to think a bit more and add : “Your work title in the Sanitary Station will be … Lab Assistant."

The poisoner seemed to still be a wee bit speechless and Amolina had time for yet another comment, but now to both of them. “We need to plan our first experiment and find a suitable test subject for it. We could perhaps use that kelvic shift posion, I’m wondering if it really only affects kelvics or if it’s enough that somebody has one kelvic parent or so …have you tried it out on many subjects Mr Parnell? In practice I mean.“

She leaned back in the chair, If Valerius went on asking her questions she feared she would faint…and what would happen then… she didn’t want to think about it, she just couldn't fall on the floor, it wasn't done, so she wouldn't do it. She had felt perfectly fit at the start of the meeting. It was only after they started to speak about the used nuit brains she had started to feel …tired, she was only feeling tired.

“Yes” she said distractedly. ”That kelvic poison thing could sell well, if it could be developed to make people shift the way kelvics do … people would perhaps be so curious that they wanted to try it to see what they would shift into … only one problem, because some people wouldn’t like to become for instance a shabby rat or so … I mean, if you'd shift at all you'd want to shift into something better than that ... “

Had she said this? She needed to shape up! “Well Mr Parnell” she said. “Do you promise to keep the research in this project secret, do you agree that all the results will be property of the project, and do you accept the position as Lab Assistant? “

by **Inoadar** on November 17th, 2013, 1:54 am

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Inoadar responded to Amolina, "I had assumed I was going to be the only one working in the actual lab." He worried that this may have sounded more belligerent than he meant it, so he raised both hands in the classic attitude of disarmed neutrality. "Don't get me wrong, I mean no complaint. I have no problem with working beside anyone. I can only say that if someone has credentials that make it clear that I should defer to him, I will do so with no compunction whatsoever. And if that makes me an "assistant", so be it."

He felt pleased with this response. It left hinted at, but unspoken, that the reverse should also be true. If his credentials were of deeper extent in some particular area, he would expect deferment to his view on that line, and would likewise accept no compunction, "assistant" or not.

He restrained a scowl at Moletta as she asked for the amount of post-production testing he had done. 'Confound the woman!' He groused to himself. He thought about the number of trials and errors it had taken to realize that the serum had required not only the presence of the arboreal discharge catalyzed by the fungal enzyme, but the actual mycellial tendrils themselves, to form the proper pasty compound. She could never understand the degree of free ranging creativity and willingness to pursue bizarre and esoteric possibilities that were required.

"A good question, I'm afraid." he answered, pretending to appreciate the spot she'd put him in. "Though I CAN say that I have had four tests, with four complete successes, I had not had the means to determine the purity of the Kelvic bloodlines on my subjects. So many of these creatures don't even know their own parents that asking them has only resulted in blank looks and shrugs." he sighed. But then he turned a hopeful look between his two would-be partners. "I confess this is another reason that this collaboration is so attractive to me. I know that the KRI will have documented pedigrees on their subjects, so this question can be answered once and for all."

He thought he'd saved himself pretty well, but was taken aback somewhat by Amolina's continuing onslaught of piercing questions. He had hoped not be nailed down so thoroughly. He supposed though, that if he was stricken with an unbearable urge to seize full and singular credit for something, he could always disappear into the night and reestablish himself in another city, Sunberth, perhaps. He doubted that these two could really understand his notes and clinical descriptions of his findings. But for now, compliance was in order, but he would look false if he didn't inject a bit of hesitation.

"Now, there is the issue of my already established business. You can surely see that it would be counter productive to be in competition with myself. So let me offer this concession...Discoveries of a purely toxic nature, when achieved by my own individual experimentation, will not be obliged to be surrendered to this endeavor. But any development beyond this stricture will be held as the discovery of the Nitrozian-Moletta Sanitation Station." He felt this to be entirely fair and waited to see how they would react.

"As for my promise of secrecy, it is doubtful that there is any single thing that you can be more assured of. Such matters and skills have always been, are now, and ever shall be, my lifeblood. I give you my word, on pain of death, I shall reveal nothing of what we have discussed here." Again, he felt the display of a backbone was now in order. "Will you now do the same?"

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on November 19th, 2013, 6:06 pm

„Yes, I think we should explain that to him“, Valerius agreed with Amolina. He was glad that the actress had regained her ability to speak and hadn’t just passed out or fallen asleep. He had already begun to wonder how much use she would really be. Since she seemed so intent on it, he let her tell Inoadar more about the supposed nature of their business. As she stated that he would be financing it, he inclined his head, and even smiled – more or less. He didn’t expect Inoadar to disagree too much. Without House Nitrozian the research project wouldn’t even exist and Inoadar would be making a lot less money.

„You will be the only one working in the lab, most of the time“, he informed Inoadar as the man seemed to be a little confused. If Valerius had been familiar with working in a lab and brewing poisons and potions, there would have been no need to involve Inoadar in the research project. „Miss Moletta’s duty will mostly be to welcome the test subjects and make sure that they behave and are as comfortable as they can be given the nature of our research, and I will conduct various medical procedures. You have the most experience with poisons. If you do not like being called an assistant, the name can be changed, although it won’t have any influence on what you are doing. We have mostly decided on those job titles for the sake of our test subjects and customers.“

Valerius wasn’t as keen on the kelvic shift poison as the other two. He had absolutely no intention to turn into some kind of dirty animal. He preferred his human body. But he was intelligent enough to realize that such a poison would bring them a lot of money – if they managed to successfully create it. „The Kelvic Research Institution has documentation on most of its creatures“, he informed Inoadar. „Some have even been born there. I would be willing to help you in that regard.“ He fell silent as Amolina posed her last question and awaited Inoadar’s reply. Would the poisoner agree to their terms?

„Of course we wouldn’t want you to be in competition with yourself“, he told him. „You may keep these particular discoveries, as long as you surrender everything else to us.“ He looked at Amolina, wondering if she agreed before he turned back to Inoadar. „I will of course do the same. I will reveal nothing of what we have discussed here. Sharing that information with somebody else would not be beneficial to my goals as it is.“

by **Amolina** on November 20th, 2013, 10:53 am

They seemed to have a deal.

Amolina watched her two business partners and wondered how the research was going to turn out. Many interesting things had been mentioned but Parnell had also said that they were very far from being able to make reality of it. Lots of hard work remained.

“I don’t have anything more to ask about now” she said. “I believe we have discussed everything. Well … that is… one thing … it would be … I’d like to inform you Mr Parnell, that in the future I’ll buy a share in the project. Mr Nitrozian and I have an agreement on that already. ”

She found it best to say this as she didn’t want Parnell to believe she didn’t have any power … he’d better understand that she was a future owner (however small her share was likely to be) and not a servant.

A matching pair of business suits, she thought, still watching them. And inside the suits? One of them was a spoiled beauty and the other one a scarred beast, you could say. Valerius had seemed to be tough enough in this meeting. But if they really went on with the nuit brains they had been speaking about, how would he react in practice ? It’s one thing to just speak, and a completely other thing to do things in practice ...

And the other things? Making people shift like they were kelvics? Rare magic things like invisibility and being able to move to other places by taking a drug? And this would be invented and created by that poisoner Nolan Parnell? Was this only impossible visions ? Overconfident shykespeak again? Or was the man really able?

Time would tell.

But now they had a deal and she turned to Valerius.
“Is there anything more you want of me in this meeting Mr Nitrozian ?”

by **Inoadar** on November 21st, 2013, 5:26 am

Inoadar listened to Valerius outline the duties and roles of the three of them. It was pretty much how he would have delegated it himself. He nodded along with all the perks the young man described, the connections, the available Kelvic resources, the already claimed building. But mostly the understanding that the lab was to be primarily his domain. That went a long way towards enabling him to shed the humiliating memories of his initial apprenticeship in Sunberth.

"Well, the last time I was called an "assistant", my creative energies were curtailed to the point of being completely stifled. I was not encouraged to speak, let alone theorize. But it looks as if I will be given free reign here, so frankly, I don't care what you call me. If it serves decorum to call me "assistant", so be it." And he thought Amolina would be well suited to serve in the capacity of nurse/caretaker. She seemed like a softy, but he could well imagine her bullying a patient into restraints.

And the final understanding that the developments of pure toxins would be credited to 'Ino Vations', and only the exotics would fall under the discovery umbrella of the NMSS, clinched the deal. Besides, that was only fair, since Mr. Nitrozian here was making the research equipment available to him. He'd been saving his mizas, but was undecided on what to put it towards. He still had a sizable debt to the city, but was handling the payments easily enough. He'd considered making a larger payment to the city, but had delayed, thinking he might go for the more elaborate lab to outfit his shop.

Now, not only did he appear to have pending access to that very thing, the thought of it had his mind reaching for a variety of related fields of lab work and equipment. There had been times that Philtering equipment had been sorely missed. And his work on anatomical tests had been blunted by simplistic substitutes for true "surgical" gear. Paying off his shop seemed to be less of a pressing issue now. He would settle for simply making his payments on schedule and putting funds into this instead.

He saw now that Amolina had anticipated this very thing. Her remark about buying a share of the project showed that she too wanted to be a full partner. She could probably read the ambition on his face. 'Score one for feminine intuition.' he thought with respect as he gave her a nod of understanding.

He agreed that this meeting seemed to have accomplished all that could be expected. "I believe that we have come to an agreement, then...Mr. Nitrozian, Miss Moletta, I look forward to a three-way partnership then. And an exciting future. You may reach me at the shop most days. When I am out, you may leave a discrete message for me with my assistant, Ariella."

He looked back and forth between them. "So, unless there is something else, I believe we are finished." Unless more was proposed, he would shake hands, bow respectfully and take his leave.

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on November 21st, 2013, 3:08 pm

Valerius cast a meaningful glance at Amolina as she informed Inoadar in a very matter of fact tone that she would buy a share of the project. Apparently she was worried that the poisoner wouldn’t take her seriously otherwise. She was not a doctor, she did not know much about poisons and did not come from an influencial family either. How big her share of the project would be remained to be seen though. She was a poor actress and still had to work off a debt. She would likely only be able to afford so little that he would still control the majority of the business.

Content with that, he turned to Inoadar again. „Trust me, Mister Parnell, neither Miss Moletta nor I have any intention of stiffling your creativity or forbid you to speak. On the contrary, I would appreciate it if you would share any ideas you might have with us.“

As Inoadar informed him where and how he could reach him, he nodded. „I will do that, Mister Parnell.“ With that he fell silent for a few moments as he wondered if there was anything else they needed to discuss before they concluded the meeting. He couldn’t think of anything though, and thus he informed the poisoner, „That is all, I believe. If something comes up, Miss Moletta or I will let you know.“ With that he stood up and extended his hand for Inoadar to shake it – with a small amount of hesitation. Physical contact was not something that the Nitrozian enjoyed particularly, but unfortunately it was a necessity sometimes.

„I’m looking forward to our collaboration. I can of course be reached at either the Kelvic Research Institution or here at the Nitrozian Estate if there is something that you urgently need to talk about to me.“

by **Amolina** on November 21st, 2013, 7:00 pm

Amolina noticed how Valerius looked at her when she said she was going to buy a share. He was looking satisfied with what she said, wasn’t he … as an actress she ought to be able to observe facial expressions and understand what they meant, it was part of the performer job.

She studied the poisoner too. It had been so easy to recruit him, and now it started to worry her. It was actually like he had jumped at the opportunity, albeit he had managed to conceal that, until now. Now when the deal was made, the satisfied expression on the poison maker’s face made her feel wary.

And now Valerius was saying her own duties as a nurse would mostly be to welcome the test subjects … and make sure they would behave?

Behave ? What did he mean, she wondered … but this wasn’t a good time to ask for more details about the ‘make them behave part’ of her tasks. The same for making sure they would be as comfortable as they can be given the nature of the research … what did he mean, comfortable, she was really clueless, what the petch was she expected to do at the job … she had no idea … she would have to improvise and act the role as nurse like she imagined it.

She wasn’t sure it was such a good idea of Valerius to promise Parnell “free reign” - that was quite a lot to promise. Wasn’t Valerius oddly lenient ? Indulgent even. Every tiny thing Parnell asked for, he seemed to be granted at once. She hoped Valerius knew what he was doing. To her he had said that he didn’t want to relinquish control. She wasn’t so sure he was thinking that way anymore. She had no idea why, but Valerius seemed to be easy prey in business all of a sudden, just like Nolan Parnell made him forget business and just want to shower the man in free gifts.

“Free Reign” she said, still impersonating the fortune teller, wearing the woman’s obliging facial expression and speaking extremely softly. “I believe that is to go a wee bit too far Mr Parnell, as you can’t expect your business associates to totally relinquish control. But I’m sure you didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

She smiled at the poisoner. She didn’t feel sure he hadn’t meant it the way it had come out. She was already starting to worry he had meant exactly what it had sounded like. But she could hardly start their newborn cooperation by picking a quarrel about hypothetical threats. Instead she smiled at him and shook his hand and even said something well-behaved about looking forward to the cooperation too - she could hardly believe it was happening - but it was.

They were colleagues.

Parnell took his leave very politely after telling them they could reach him in his shop or leave a message to his shop assistant. Amolina lingered for a few chimes in order to discuss the ongoing decorations of the new research location with Valerius. After this she took her leave too and left the Nitrozian Estate.

by **Vanari** on December 14th, 2013, 6:52 am

Amolina

Observation	+5 XP
Disguise	+1 XP
Composure	+4 XP
Rhetoric	+5 XP
Listening	+4 XP
Interrogation	+1 XP
Negotiation	+1 XP
Philosophy	+3 XP
Intelligence	+4 XP
Impersonation	+4 XP

Lores :

Inoadar

Observation	+5 XP
Composure	+1 XP
Rhetoric	+3 XP
Listening	+4 XP
Tactic	+1 XP
Negotation	+1 XP
Persuasion	+1 XP
Subterfuge	+3 XP
Intelligence	+4 XP

Lores :

Valerius

Observation	+5 XP
Socialization	+1 XP
Composure	+1 XP
Leadership	+2 XP
Negotiation	+1 XP
Listening	+4 XP
Rhetoric	+4 XP
Intelligence	+3 XP
Interrogation	+3 XP

Lores :

Notes :

Closed Unexpected Business (Valerius, Inodar)