A Suitable Place for Secret Science (Valerius)

by **Amolina** on November 4th, 2013, 9:54 am

”As you may have guessed already, as I’m working off one huge bill from the Nitrozian family as your volunteer assistant at KRI …”

Amolina felt seriously UPSET !

She wasn’t sure if Valerius was just pointing out that she was a pauper in comparison with him, or if he was demanding that she would pay half of the cost - for a project built mostly on her ideas and meant to promote his career ! And he had made her come up with the ideas by manhandling, scaring and threatening her too, that evening in KRI ! And now this!

She was really, really, really UPSET, but she didn’t want to show it, because she felt looked down upon for not being of the rich elite, and this taunted her and made her want to…Oh, she would SHOW him!

He knew very well that she wasn’t rich. And he even said he took it she wasn’t able to pay anything and it would be all on him, so all she needed to do now was confirm that and Valerius would pay…but he had said it in a way that reminded her that she was totally and embarrassingly dependent on him and his money and protection. It felt like that inferior status was what she really would be confirming, if she accepted his statement that she wasn’t able to put in any money, no matter how true his words were.

Well - she HAD taken it for granted that Valerius would take care of the financial side of things singlehanded, but this ……she HAD to counter.

“I believe it would reflect badly on the Nitrozian name if you would let a commoner like me own as much as half of the business” she said. “It could look like you aren’t in a position to take the decisions without getting them approved by me. This would of cause not be the case, but you know how people are…there’s always people that are envious of a man like you… they could start to spread rumors about you being hen-pecked, you know.”

She elaborated a bit on this and told him some people could even go as far as to say he was being lorded over by a commoner woman - not that this could ever happen - but if he had a few enemies, like most brilliant men had, she was sure they would lie and say things like that, sooner or later. They could even insinuate that he was a Nitrozian of lesser importance and not able to raise the funds on his own…like as if his own family didn’t believe in his capacity. That kind of slander could damage the whole business seriously, Valerius own reputation and image, and also his family's name.

So she told him …now when he had associated his name with hers and the business was about to be established… she was definitely prepared to buy a share, for the best of the business, Valerius, and the Nitrozian name. If she only had owned the money she would have been happy to pay upfront, but she wasn’t rich - yet.

“You said earlier today that you want to keep all control in your own hands and not even involve the authorities. I agree with this … and I would say control also means you ought to only allow other people to buy minority shares. That will make it clear to all Ravok who is the owner, director, doctor and the man in charge."

She explained to him that for the best of everybody she thought they ought to make an arrangement similar to the one with KRI. Valerius could lend her the money to buy a share, and she would work it off, eventually. That way she would own a share and he wouldn’t risk being thought to have bad sense of business, but he would own the lion’s part and wouldn’t come off as hen-pecked either.

After a brief pause she added. “That lab-rat person we spoke about hiring could be required to buy a share too, to show she or he is serious about the task.”

She watched Valerius’ face, but it revealed nothing, as usual. She WAS totally dependent on Valerius and his power and money and if he changed his mind she would lose everything and be back to the old mix of theater dreams, temporary jobs and sort of debt-slavery at KRI.

Feeling that her future was at stake and really nervous, she waited for his answer. Nearly waited, that was … she was too nervous to only wait, so she added that she would like very much to buy the house and proceed with the preparations.

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on November 4th, 2013, 1:10 pm

„Ah yes, the bill. How stupid of me to forget it“, Valerius remarked. „How much do you owe my family again?“ Unlike Amolina he was not upset at all. He was hardly ever upset because all those emotions just weren’t worth the trouble and unpleasant on top of it. And thus, while the actress was busy being upset and thinking about how poor she was, he just looked at her coldly and waited for her to say something at least mildly interesting.

While he did that it occured to him that he could probably easily pay the debt for her – or at least persuade Doctor Alzelin to lower the amount she had to pay somewhat because she was such a talented young woman and wouldn’t it be a shame if she ended up having to beg on the streets because of a disease that hadn’t even been her fault when she could become famous?

But no, he wasn’t that nice. He had already allowed her to associate herself with him, accepted her business ideas and given her the chance at a scientific career. She’d have to do a little bit herself. „You are of course right, Miss Moletta“, he replied. „It would not be good to let a commoner like you own half the business, at least not until you have proven yourself. We wouldn’t want the people of Ravok to believe that I’m being …“ He paused and made a face. „… hen-pecked. No, we definitely wouldn’t want that.“

He had to admit, Miss Moletta was astonishingly creative when it came to coming up with reasons why she couldn’t pay anything. And she was also closer to the truth than he wanted to admit. He currently was a Nitrozian of lesser importance, and while he could easily pay for this house, his funds were not endless. His grandfather was the rich man in the family.

„I will buy everything with my own money, you just need to work here and conduct the research with me. You are right again, Miss Moletta. Letting you buy a share and relinquising control would be a bad idea. How kind of you to remind me. I don’t want to add to your current debt though. We can talk about such an arrangement again when you have finished paying off your debt to the KRI. You never know what will happen. I don’t want you to end up completely broke.“

„As for the lab rat, we will talk about whether they will be allowed to buy anything when we have made sure they are trustworthy. I don’t want to give a complete stranger control over anything.“

by **Amolina** on November 5th, 2013, 2:07 pm

“A splendid decision. Thanks Mr Nitrozian. Perhaps you’ll allow me to buy a share in the project later on then.”

She thought about the debt. “Well, as I didn’t have the financial means to pay the debt Doctor Alzelin said he’d not ask me to pay it in mizas but let me work it off, so he simply stated that the debt was equal to one year of volunteer work. So…I owe the working hours he set, the volunteer work for this fall and winter and for spring 514 … I guess that in money that would be …” She wasn’t sure what it would be.

She had been in bad shape at the time and Alzelin had made her accept the deal saying it meant she wouldn’t need to worry about any financial consequences as long as she turned up as agreed. That had seemed great at the time, as she had not even known if she would ever be healthy enough to work at all.

Now…she felt embarrassed because she wasn’t able to answer Valerius question. To her own annoyment she felt that she actually started blushing, like some silly, stupid, petching … she turned to look at the new location, while she said “Some of it has been worked off during summer and I don’t recall exactly how much it would be in mizas today Mr Nitrozian, I will check it up with doctor Alzelin when he has time…”

She put her hand on her brow but pretended she was just making sure her hair was in order. She had started to feel just a tiny bit unstable. Valerius knew of course that her “disease” was not a disease, but had been caused by poison. She had told him that evening they had searched Alzelin’s desk. And he knew that her sometimes fits of weakness were lingering symptoms of either this or the experimental medical treatment that had happened to save her life, or a combination of them. It had been in Alzelin’s notes. However, it didn’t mean the Nitrozian appreciated displays of weakness, and Amolina didn't like to show it either. So as usual she did what she could to conceal it, just like she always did when the two of them worked at KRI.

“Well, then …” she said tentatively and left it up to Valerius to either end their investigation of the location and dismiss her, or … discuss or do whatever more might be on his mind this day. He was the director. The polite thing to do was to wait...

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on November 8th, 2013, 2:43 pm

„Later perhaps“, Valerius replied and nodded, even though he had secretly decided that he would like to keep complete control of the project after all. He didn’t trust anybody but himself. As she tried to calculate how big her debt was, he looked at her expectantly, but of course she wasn’t able to give him an exact sum. Of course she was bad at maths. He would probably have to take care of the financial side of their research project all by himself. „Please do so, Miss Moletta. You should know how much you owe the KRI.“

As she put her hand on her brow, as if she were feeling weak, the Nitrozian looked at her questioningly. Was she going to faint now? Had the mention of that terrible thing called money been too much for her? Had their been traces of some dangerous substance in the air? Was she completely healthy or were traces of her former illness, of the treatment doctor Alzelin had used to save her life still lingering? He sincerely hoped that „Nurse“ Moletta wouldn’t faint when their test subjects were nearby. That would be bad for business!

Since he didn’t appreciate that somewhat awakward silence that had descend upon the room and the way Miss Moletta was standing there, stupidly looking at him, he informed her, „I think we are done here, Miss Moletta. You can go. I will arrange the purchase of the building and have it cleaned up a little. If there is anything you need or if you have any suggestions for our research project, feel free to contact me though. You know where you can reach me. Otherwise I wish you a pleasant day, Miss Moletta.“

With that he gestured towards the door. He wanted Amolina to leave so that he could lock the laboratory. She was dismissed.

by **Amolina** on November 8th, 2013, 4:13 pm

And that was that ... Amolina felt pretty satisfied with the financial arrangements. It was not like a share in the project would have meant control or power for her, it would only have meant she had to pay...because this was Ravok.

Continues in Unexpexted Business

by **Vanari** on December 2nd, 2013, 9:01 pm

Amolina

Observation	+3 XP
Impersonation	+2 XP
Composure	+3 XP
Planning	+5 XP
Rhetoric	+5 XP
Intelligence	+2 XP

Lores :

Valerius

Observation	+1 XP
Composure	+1 XP
Socialization	+1 XP
Rhetoric	+5 XP
Planning	+5 XP
Intimidation	+1 XP
Leadership	+2 XP

Lores :

Loot :

Notes :

Completed A Suitable Place for Secret Science (Valerius)