Completed A Suitable Place for Secret Science (Valerius)

[Amolina]

~ Amolina Moletta ~ ~ 5 th Day of Fall 513 AV ~ Continued from Attempted Assistance at KRI From outside, seen from the ravonsala that moved slowly but steadily over the water in The Noble District, the Nitrozian estate was immensely impressive and beautiful. The golden sunlight of fall embellished the three buildings - in particular the biggest one, with the white, decorated façade, which Amolina knew was where the true Nitrozian’s lived, the blooded members of the family. This was where she was heading this pleasant, sunny day in early Fall. Never before had Amolina Moletta visited one of the grand estates of the most powerful and wealthy families of Ravok. Amolina was a fisherwoman’s foster daughter, born in The Docks, She had made her way to an own apartment in an NHC complex by hard work and dedication. She had started with two empty hands and …she still had two pretty empty hands, to be honest, but her dreams and plans were great. Her dreams of success on the stage had not yet come true. She was now 25 years old and albeit she had not given up about acting, she was realistic. The life of the performers might seem glamorous but behind the enchanting façade it was temporary contracts, insecure incomes, hard work, odd working hours and sometimes daft roles that did nothing to promote the career. And she feared it wouldn’t become easier to get roles … But in summer, chance had opened a brand new opportunity for her. To start out as research assistant to the promising young scientist Valerius Nitrozian, work with him and learn from him and eventually establish herself in the scientific part of society…an impossible dream? Not anymore ! She had been working as a “volunteer” in KRI during the summer (working off a debt, actually) and there she had met Valerius at work. After a somewhat complicated start, they had ended up copying Gaius Alzelin’s secret research notes, aiming to set up an new own secret project outside KRI. Summer had passed, full of important things that had kept them busy and left them little time for moving on with the plans, but now it seemed to be time to take next step. Yesterday she had received a letter from Valerius Nitrozian, inviting her to a meeting with him at the Nitrozian estate. They were going to discuss and plan and the letter had said he might have something new to show her…he was going to tell her more when they could speak face to face. A man like Valerius Nitrozian had chosen to associate himself with her and introduce her to science ! Amolina was feeling greatly exited. For her this could be a major turning point in her life and career. The ravonsala arrived and she stepped up on the platform and went to show the invitation letter to a lackey standing at the door where other visitors to the estate was on their way in or out. The lackey snapped his fingers and told a small boy in immaculate livery to take her to Valerius. She followed the silent child through beautiful rooms and corridors. Her dark brown hair was braided and put up. Her make up was perhaps a bit more dramatic and colourful than professional, but in Amolina’s opinion it was discreet. Her violet dress of elegant design but cheap silk rustled silently when she moved. She would soon arrive to the room where Valerius would hold the meeting. OOCI hope the timestamp is alright, otherwise I can change it

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Valerius Nitrozian did not like Amolina Moletta. He had come to appreciate some of her traits and ideas during the night they had spent locked up in the KRI and realized that she was not a total failure, but he did not like her. There were very few people in this world that he allowed himself to like, apart from himself. Between their first fateful meeting and now the aspiring actress of questionable talent had managed to convince him that associating with her might be beneficial to him, but it remained to be seen how beneficial it would be. Their collaboration was still in its beginning stages, and it remained to be seen if anything would come of their research. He had offered to look for a building where they could set up their business as he was much better connected than she was. There were some aspects of Amolina’s big plan that he was still unsure about, but he didn’t want to dismiss it entirely. It had some potential, it just needed a lot of work. He wanted to step out of his aunt’s shadow and do something of his own. He didn’t know if this would be the big breakthrough that Amolina thought, but it might be a beginning, if they were lucky. He awaited Amolina in his suite. One of his slaves, a dark skinned girl of eighteen or nineteen opened the door and guided her to a table in the middle of the room where he was sitting. He was as always dressed elegantly, in black and silver this time. His copper had recently been cut, and he was clean shaven. He looked as if he were about to meet with somebody of similar wealth and social station and not a poor commoner that had been forced to clean Kelvic cages to pay off a debt. „Miss Moletta.“ He rose to his feet as he noticed her entrance and inclined his head before he turned to his slave. „Tuuli, you can go. I wish to talk to Miss Moletta alone.“ Once the slave was out of sight, he turned to Amolina again and gestured for her to take a seat. „I might have found a suitable location“, he revealed. „Would you like a drink before I tell you the details?“ She could see that a bottle of fine red wine and two crystal goblets were standing on the table. For a man like Valerius Nitrozian only the best was good enough.

[Amolina]

Valerius Nitrozian sat in the beautiful room like a jewel in a luxurious jewel-case. Everything with this man was extremely stylish, his clean shaven face and well brushed hair, the immaculate way he dressed and the polite and well mannered way he spoke. Even to the dark skinned slave girl he spoke in a polite way, using her name, Tuuli. Amolina looked after the girl when she silently and obediently left the room. A slave, only ? Or something more ? Amolina didn’t ask but she wondered how it was to live like this, with slaves to serve him all the time. Amolina had however mostly seen other sides of Valerius, at work at KRI. He was always very nicely dressed at work too, but there he had an air of energy, competence and interest. He worked on at a good pace and wanted everything done correctly, completely and perfectly. In her experience he could also be terribly determined and didn’t shy away from using violence in order to get things his way – at least not against someone who was weaker than him. She was a commoner of limited financial means, but she was also an actress. She did what she could to behave like she felt reasonably at home and not too intimidated by the wealth that was showed off everywhere around her. When Valerius offered her a glass of vine she found it best to say yes very politely. It seemed proper to try to match his style and fit in. Polite. Besides, despite how arrogant Valerius could be to her, she admired his fashionable style. She liked the elegant black and silver clothing, the perfect hairstyle and the very clean look of his clean-shaven face. When she received the glass of wine she decided to impersonate a very ladylike fortune teller she had met in summer. Well, she actually just tried to hold the glass the same way that woman had held her glass of tea when they sat in the café. Amolina moved her hand in the same very graceful way the fortune teller had moved her hands, when she cautiously took the glass and watched it like it pleased her to study it, before she cautiously tasted the content. She let a slight, pleasant smiling expression play over her face, similar to the fortune teller’s expression. “Splendid” she said. Spendid seemed to be a good word to use right now. Now when Valerius Nitrozian had decided to collaborate with her for a while, she didn't want to seem awkward. But she felt out of her depth here in the Nitrozian estate. “So you have found a location? What is your plan?”

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Amolina Moletta, he observed as she sat down and tried the wine, wore a dress of very cheap silk, and the way she held the glass was just wrong. She was not used to being in such surroundings and looked fairly out of place. He did of course not tell her that though. Valerius Nitrozian was arrogant, he thought that he was better than others, but he was not rude, at least not unless he was locked up with a wannabe actress in the KRI for a whole night. He just smiled somewhat wryly and poured a glass of wine for himself. Of course he sat with his back completely straight and looked quite elegant and like a proper gentleman as he lifted the glass to his lips and took a slow sip. “The bottle is from my grandfather’s wine cellar”, he explained. “A most excellent vintage, from 510 AV. I was still studying in Zeltiva then.” Having that said, he turned to answer her question. “I did indeed”, he confirmed. “I might have found a building not too far from here.” “It used the laboratory of a scientist. He died. I don’t know why. Maybe he got in trouble with the Ebonstryfe or maybe it was just old age. Anyway, the building is up for sale. It has a total of three rooms in addition to the laboratory itself.” “Now my questions is, Miss Moletta, how much of what we do do we want to become public knowledge? Do we even want people to know that Amolina Moletta and Valerius Nitrozian are behind this venture? And how much do you think we should pay our …” He made a short pause and cast a meaningful glance at her. “… test subjects?” “I have of course already thought about it, but I would like to hear your opinion nevertheless seeing as we are going to be …” Another short pause. “… partners in this.”

[Amolina]

Amolina silently observed the way Valerius held his glass and quickly started to hold her own glass the same way. She also copied the way he sat, very straight. As she didn’t know how to answer his comment about the wine she pretended once again to be the fortune teller and just kept the expression on her face pleasant. She didn’t want to miss out on becoming a partner in this project ! “A building not far from here? I take it this means it’s in The Noble District.” She paused, but only briefly. “Three rooms and a laboratory…this sounds very useful.” Three rooms! To Amolina who was used to living in a one-room apartment in an NHC complex it was an unexpectedly big and expensive building ! But she didn’t want to say that to Valerius. So she just nodded and said she was looking forward to having a closer look at the place. “I have actually given this some thought Mr Nitrozian. And now, hearing that you have a location in the better parts of the city, I can see several options. I believe the payment can depend on which way we are going to do this…so we need to decide this first.” She went on to explain the details of how she was thinking. One option was to go for keeping it totally secret what was going on and who were involved. This could entail things like keeping the location closed in days and only working with the research after dark. The pro would be that Valerius aunt and doctor Alzelin wouldn’t know anything. The con would be that they wouldn’t get any publicity to advance their careers. A second option was to openly start a research institute and declare that Valerius Nitrozian was behind it because he wanted to improve the sanitary control in Ravok. They could say that he was going to study the health of people, and introduce a totally new approach to science. This would give them lots of publicity, but would also mean that the KRI people would know. And if they didn’t succeed it would be a public failure. A third option was to create an innocent façade that made it possible to operate openly, but keep the true goals hidden. They could make it known that Valerius had started a quite fashionable and trendy new health studio, in order to support the well being of the people in Ravok. Only open sometimes and in evenings, for exclusive customers who required privacy. The pro would be that they would get publicity, but still keep the research secret, “It’s all about if you want publicity or not. When it comes to me I can be mentioned as assistant, I guess. Would any of these ideas appeal to you Mr Nitrozian? Or do you want to propose something else? “ She sipped on wine and waited.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„Of course it is in the Noble District“, Valerius replied. „It is on the edge of it though, a used building. I wouldn’t want to conduct some kind of semi secret research right next to the Larks and all the other rich and important families. The sight of our test subjects might offend them, and they might ask questions.“ While three rooms seemed positively gigantic to Amolina, Valerius thought that the building was tiny. „I know that it is not particularly big“, he thus remarked. „I could probably have found us something bigger, but it would have cost us more. And seeing as we don’t know how successful our business will be yet, I thought it unwise to invest a larger amount of money.“ As she told him that she had already given the matter some thought, Valerius arched an eyebrow. He wasn’t sure how useful her suggestions would be, but he decided to listen to them anyway. He didn’t feel like insulting her right now. „Your first suggestion, that we keep our business completely secret and only conduct our research at night won’t work. I don’t know about you, but I have a demanding day job at the Kelvic Research Institutin and several other obligations besides that. By the time I arrived at our laboratory I would be sleepy and unable to concentrate. No, I don’t think we should work at night, Miss Moletta. Sleep is important as well.“ He looked at her disapprovingly. „I’m also not sure about disguising our research facility as a health studio. You suggested pretending that it is only open to exclusive customers, but I doubt that our test subjects will resemble such exclusive customers in any way. They’ll more likely be people that are desperate for money, dirty people, sick people. No, let us pretend that I want to improve the sanitary control in Ravok. It is will known that I care about such things.“ „As for publicity …“ He paused for a moment and looked at her, noticing how she tried to imitate his posture, how she was almost trying too hard. „I doubt that Doctor Alzelin and my aunt will care very much if I want to make the citizens of Ravok a little healthier and cleaner – as long as it doesn’t interfer with my work at the Kelvic Research Institution.“

[Amolina]

Amolina nodded. Having lived all her life in Ravok she didn’t expect the elite to treat the commoners as equals. In her way of thinking, Valerius Nitrozian had invited her to the estate and was being very kind to her. This rich and handsome, highly intelligent man (also her sometimes manager at KRI) had received her in his luxurious and beautiful home, offered her excellent wine and asked for her opinions and ideas. Wonderful. The pro with her thorough understanding of the officially denied but in practice very clear social difference between them, was that she didn’t expect anything more than she got. She had no dreams, no imaginations, no secret hopes – to her Valerius Nitrozian was what he was, a child of this city, just like she was. Ravok itself was linking them together, their different social roles and standings parts of a bigger picture where they both had their place. Ravok, the lake and the depths beneath. She was part of this and so was he. “Sanitary Control is a very respectable and noble mission” she said. “And if it’s true that your aunt and doctor Alzelin doesn’t care about what you are doing, I would say they are underestimating you.” She watched him over the rim of her glass. “But I agree that it’s wise to start out in a small scale.” She told him that her opinion was that if the city’s authorities would be interested in better sanitary control and take on to pay the test objects and recruit them via The Spot…they could let the authorities decide how much to pay people for the job. But if people turned directly to the research project, the payment could not be too much... “I’m very exited to see the place you have chosen Mr Nitrozian. Have you already thought of a suitable name for it?”

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„For now being underestimated suits me“, Valerius replied.„Let people think that all I care about are luxury and making dirty beggars a little less dirty. This way they won’t ask too many questions. As for involving the authorities …“ He furrowed his brow very lightly and paused for a moment. „No, we won’t. It might be a little easier if we got our test subjects through The Spot and let them decide their payments,but I’d rather have it all in my own hands.“ „I want to be able to decide who comes to us when. Independence is always preferrable.“ „As for the name …“ He made another short pause. If there was one thing that Valerius Nitrozian was not good at, then it was coming up with good names. In fact he had numbered his pets and his slaves when he had been younger so that he didn’t have to come up with unique names for them. But of course he did not let Miss Moletta that as he didn’t want her to make fun of him. „I have of course already given the matter some thought, but I’d like to hear your suggestions as well. It is going to be our research project after all, is it not?“

[Amolina]

Amolina agreed with Valerius that it was best be independent and only recruit test subjects directly to the project. ”You are right, it’s much more practical to run this ourselves.” The name of the location was worth thinking of thoroughly. Valerius was obviously serious about it and seemed to have given it lots of thought. Amolina tried to not show how nervous this made her. What if she came up with name ideas he found bad? After hesitating a bit she came up with the following ideas: Nitrozian-Moletta Sanitary Station. This name isn’t particularly flashy and some would even call it boring, but the name has a trustworthy and traditional style and is informative. It would likely soon be abbreviated to NMSS. Sanitary Labs. This name is pretty anonymous and would perhaps also give people an impression that they know exactly what’s going on in a place like that. People might vaguely imagine scientists doing a few chemical tests of water quality and other harmless things like that. Likely to be called "The Lab". Zanity Research. A name with a somewhat more advanced intriguing feeling to it. Perhaps. For instance, that poison shop in the docks wasn’t named Parnell’s Poisons, it was named InoVations. A businesslike name, it was perhaps good for business...then again, they weren’t going to sell things in the research location - or were they? Eventually? Amolina’s creativity ended there and she gazed at Valerius and waited for him to pass judgement on her ideas. Would he settle for one of those names, or would he dismiss all of them and launch something totally else ? ”Would any of those three names appeal to you Mr Nitrozian? Or do you have other ideas? ”

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„I’m glad that we have an understanding“, Valerius remarked as Amolina agreed that it would be more practical if they ran the business themselves. Once he had said that, he waited for Amolina’s name suggestions. He sincerely hoped that she possessed at least a small amount of common sense and creativity. Fortunately it seemed as if she did - although not all three suggestions were acceptable. „I don’t like ‚Zanity Research‘“, he informed her. „It reminds me of ‚Sanity Research‘, of a strange place where even stranger people research mental illness and occasionally drive their patients insane. It sounds suspicious Besides, it contains a spelling error. I’m afraid that I don’t find the name intriguing at all, Miss Moletta, unlike you.“ „I prefer ‚Sanitary Labs‘. It is a neutral name - although it might be a little too neutral. As far as people are concerned – and to some extent they are right – I’m an arrogant man who wants to see his name plastered across everything. Let us call it the ‚Nitrozian-Moletta Sanitary Station‘.“ „I hope that you will behave now that I have agreed to connect my name with yours. Be aware that, if you will do anything that will reflect badly on House Nitrozian, there will be consequences.“ He looked directly into her eyes, hoping that she understood. „Now then, Miss Moletta, shall we take a look at what might be the future location of our business or is there anything else you think we should discuss beforehand?“