Snippet #1512373

Joshua had caught Atalanza's under-the-breath utterance, and a sardonic smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. He'd thought so too- still did most of the time, as a matter of fact. But his bitterness had long ago subsided into a dull sensation that bothered him only infrequently. He had hermited himself here in Marchfield, much as the old man who mentored him. Though he had both a private residence and a family, he saw them much less frequently than he probably should, one of the first things his sharp-tongued niece had so helpfully pointed out to him when she had petitioned him to allow his younger son to be adopted by another.

Giacomo Vernazza, one of the few scientists allowed to come and go through here essentially as he pleased, entered rather suddenly, speaking about his air purification engine. A rather impressive accomplishment, and one that had earned the man respect from fewer people than it should have. Joshua personally had known the man for a number of years and was glad of his efforts, not that that was worth a great deal. He was opening his mouth to point out that because there had initially been only one conceivable purpose for The Cure in the beginning, they had not bothered to consider that anyone would want to hoard it when Atalanza saved him the trouble, and he inclined his head in agreement.

"Still," he pointed out thoughtfully, "the idea of moving production underground is appealing. The problem is, I know of nobody with that kind of capability who would be willing to assist us. It's not something that could be produced in the necessary quantities in a lab setting without more funding than out department gets in a year."

Prometheus's eyes lit up when his younger assistant mentioned bettering the formula. "Yes, yes, a new formula, a new patent. Try and figure a way to reduce side-effects... Have to find a willing mage test subject. I wonder where Pandora is these days? Ah, but it will take so much more time... time, time, do we have enough time...?" The old man shuffled over to one of his many stacks of notes and began flipping through them, muttering to himself. Those who knew him well recognized this state; he was fully immersed in his own thoughts and would probably only give terse replies to any questions directed at him.

He seemed to snap out of it just long enough to remember he was not alone. "Well, what are you waiting for? We attack on multiple fronts! The three of you go see the Queen, and I'll get to work!" He seemed to forget for a moment that Giacomo was not actually involved on this project, but at least Joshua didn't.

"Congratulations on your success, Giacomo. You are of course not obligated to come, though am I not correct in saying that you receive funding directly from the Crown? Perhaps your assistance would be more valuable than mine for this." He shot a glance at Atalanza and shrugged as if to say 'might as well' and opened the laboratory door, allowing both of the others to pass before he shut it behind him, leaving the mad genius to his notes and his calculations. Prometheus wouldn't fail them, and he for one had no intention of failing Prometheus.

---

Seth Gilgamesh, his father's heir and perhaps more importantly his unpaid labor, was presently trying to coordinate where in the considerable state to store the shipments of The Cure that were coming in. The cellar was probably the best place for concealment purposes, but he had no desire to inhibit anyone's passage to the substantial quantities of drink to be found therein, least of all his father or himself. His father because frankly a sober David Gilgamesh was even more dangerous than a drunken one, in many senses of the term, and himself because sometimes a life spent covering up evidence of such a man's methods of persuasion was enough to warrant a stiff liquor or three.

"Just... in the dungeon for now, I suppose," he told the waiting courier from one of his sire's factories. Technically, those were supposed to be sealed off; personal dungeons in noble houses had been outlawed by the Queen and Parliament alike a number of years ago, after all, but well... Seth had no doubt at least that the ones beneath the palace no longer existed, but he would not presume to lay good money on anyone else having actually regarded the ordinance.

There was still a mountain of documents to be sorted through, and Seth had the intense desire to burn all of them for a moment, which signaled that it was probably a good time to take a break. He spent a few moments deciding what to do before he thought it might be best to take breakfast with his step-mother. The term was rather ludicrous; she was hardly five years his senior, but then this wasn't necessarily so uncommon. Especially not with second spouses. It didn't change anything, either, not really. Seth almost felt sorry for the poor woman, but his pity would be wasted there, and he certainly didn't have a whole lot of it to go around.

Emerging from his office, he directed a passing maid to inform the chef of where he'd be taking his meal, and made his way to the east wing, knocking on the door to Imogene's receiving room. Despite the public nature of his father's career, neither Seth nor the lady of the house left it much- he was too busy doing his father's office work, and she... well, any inclination she'd had to leave would probably have vanished with his half-sister, he supposed. The two of them didn't converse because they much cared about each other, he thought, but rather because there was simply no other outlet for mutual frustration. He had probably already told Imogene more than she should properly know of her husband's career and character, but he'd spared her the worst of it.

---

To say that she felt awkward being hugged about the waist by her little cousin was to do a disservice to the sheer level of discomfort that Loki was experiencing, but she handled it with as much grace as possible, patting him somewhat stiffly on the back. People did not regularly touch her, to say the least, but then children didn't really have the same boundaries as adults, now did they? On some level, it was nice to know she wasn't quite so stony as to prevent Siri from doing so.

Actually, she'd softened a great deal in the past year, in certain ways. It was almost amusing, actually; what most took to be an increasing resemblance to her mother was actually quite different: a growth more in the direction of Amon, who was able to be both expressive and still inscrutable at the same time. Her expressions were not overt, certainly not bombastic, but they were there, a small sign that perhaps everyone really was capable of change.

She smiled at the boy's recounting of his experiences here, and she knew she'd done something right by arranging it. A moment later, a much-improved-looking Lord Caelin Taylor appeared, and she echoed his warmth- if not in degree, than at least in intent. "Surely we can dispense with the formalities in our own residences, Caelin?" She was ushered into the parlor and took the offered seat, observing that in here at least, simplicity predominated over opulence. Something easily-appreciated and quite befitting of present company.

Sipping her tea and finding it pleasantly-flavored, she contemplated her answer for a moment. "Truthfully, I came for a number of reasons, mostly to see how you fared. I'm glad to see that the cure has already done you much good." She had stumbled upon knowledge of his illness in a rather unfortunate scenario that had involved a meeting (thankfully only with allies) in which he'd had a coughing fit. When the episode had left blood on the table, Loki had seen red in more than one sense. She'd been rather upset to say the least at the fact that he had not told her of something with such important implications, but once she'd had a chance to cool off, she'd realized that it really hadn't been any of her business and had never mentioned it again, at least not until she'd been informed of just what it was that occupied Prometheus Vanderbilt's time of late.

"I also came to check if you were aware of the... other implications of it." She referred of course to the discovered side-effects as well as what had been uncovered about its effect on magi.