The Pale Fox, tag: Capper, Tori?

[Lex]

ooc: Hi guys, I'm Accalia! Ski poked me really hard and now...here I am. And really excited.

Several days previous...

“I want” Lex began confidently, pausing as if to make a dramatic point, “to build a flying machine.” He looked up, his gaze having fallen to the floor, in order to judge his boss’s reaction. He didn’t know what Capper would think—what anyone would think really. A flying machine seemed both laughable and non-pragmatic, and thinking non-scientifically was something Lex didn’t really want to be accused of, at least not in a work setting. This is what he was like for the Caedo—practical, calm, brilliant. He cracked each finger on his left hand, which protruded from his forearm at an awkward, crippled, angle before he willed it back into place with a nudge that was neither gentle nor unkind, but more like an afterthought. The flexibility that came with his frequent joint dislocations seemed a fair trade. Lex wondered what Capper would think of him after this. He had waited until he was sure Capper liked him, but now that he wasn’t all shiny and new, well, maybe he had waited too long. Telling of his intentions to use Caedo resources for his own project—one that he’d uncharacteristically already started before asking for permission—well, that was scary. He felt dumb.

With Draconians and Phoenixes both possessing the power of flight, and both well-represented in the Caedo, the project was entirely redundant for Caedo purposes, but Lex could no longer fund his work out-of-pocket, and from what he’d seen of Capper’s piano collection, which was impressive enough to give any musical genius a metaphorical boner, the Caedo had a lot of money to throw around. Lex had prepared a reason for his interest—nothing as passionate or true as the “I want so badly to fly” that haunted him most days—but he was none-the-less prepared. Any scientist would be ashamed not to be, and in all his failed attempts at activism, Lex had learned that science was the most predictable, indeed the most righteous, path. It was beautiful, the way that the stars reliably assumed their positions every night, how liars almost always smiled without moving their eyes, even how well his own body fought its futile battle with hardly any input at all—when cells in his lungs failed, others took on the burden—no medication could inspire such camaraderie.
Lex’s obsession with flying troubled him because he couldn’t analyze it. He wasn’t ashamed of being a hybrid, and he didn’t want to be a phoenix, not entirely. But that’s what he would have said to any other troubled phoenix hybrid like him--that they didn’t want to fly—they wanted to be a phoenix. Sometimes he was ashamed because of this, but most of the time, well, hey, it was something to live for. It didn’t entirely make him happy-- that’s what engineering and music were for--but it gave him a purpose.

Lex drummed his fingers against his thigh and waited for an answer.

[Capperon]

Ooc: gaaaaah Accalia, you make me so happy Truly brilliant intro post. And I love your mom's cookie bars nomnomnom.


Capper lit another cigarette and smoked it casually for a moment as he waited for Lex to speak. With most visitors, he would not have been so patient.

At last, he sighed and pulled the cigarette free from his lips between his fingers. He let out a long stream of smoke before stubbing out the ember in the ash tray. “Look kid, I like you. I like you a lot. Every day I congratulate myself for having the excellent judgment to invest in your intellect. Ever since I made you head of the Caedo science department we’ve finally had a chance at competing technologically with those Insurgi eggheads.” He leaned forward on the white, super-intimidating curved desk. His leaning forward hopefully made it super-super-intimidating.

“A flying machine,” he repeated, with a small smile. “Tori, do we have the budget for that?” This Lex kid was a fucking genius, this was the first time he’d ever proposed a project that Capper couldn’t immediately see the merit of. It seemed like a completely worthless use of Caedo resources; with vampiric speed, and phoenix and draconian natural flight ability, a flight-aiding device seemed entirely useless. Except perhaps to equally useless humans, and unfortunate hybrids like Lex.

Their first meeting had gone something like this:
“Hello, Mr. Stryker. I’m Alexei Vos-Pallida. I’d like to join your organization.”
“And what can you do for the Caedo, exactly, Mr. Vos-Pallida?”
“I’m an ex-Insurgi engineer.”
“Oh, you’re a scientist! Marvelous! So you could head my new science department.”
“Uh, well that depends on what sort of-“
“Oh, you know, chemists and biologists and physicists and that sort of thing. You know. Science.”
“Actually, I’m really only trained in engineering. I think you’re a bit confused about how science works.”
“Yes yes, I’m sure you can explain all the finer points later. Welcome to the Caedo, Mr. Science.”

Lex proved not only to be a brilliant engineer (and ‘scientist’, managing to whip the chemists into shape despite his lack of experience in this department) but also a musical prodigy. From the moment Capperon let him have free reign of his secret piano room for an afternoon, he was convinced that letting the hybrid and his freaky fingers into his office had been a brilliant idea.

He sighed. He normally considered insanity a positive trait, but Alexei seemed to have gone over the deep end a bit. “I’ve had a long day, you know, I have more important business on my mind and I was hoping when you requested a private meeting that you were bringing me good news, not tales of your unhelpful burning through Caedo funds.” Poor, long-suffering Capper massaged his temples with forefinger and thumb. He was feeling too tired and grumpy to chastise Lex properly.

“Tell you what: you take care of a problem for me, I’ll give you funds for your idiotic flying machine. Which reminds me…” he swiveled his red leather chair to face Tori’s desk for a moment, “I owe you a drink, Tori. You were right about those secret Insurgi labs – Elkyone labs, they’re called.” He thought he noticed Lex startle at that. How very interesting.

He pressed on. “My Insurgi insider today informed me that several more test subjects escaped the labs, a draconian and two humans. Interrogation of another test subject led the Insurgi to send officer patrols to the Venus Fly in Cri when they found that the escapees were seeking out – get this – an escaped phoenix test subject. I could have eaten my hat. And I really like this hat.” He took off the aforementioned hat and spent the next several moments petting it lovingly. His eyes stayed on Lex. The tiny cogs in his well-oiled mind were visibly turning. “It would please me tremendously if we could get our hands on those escapees before the Surgs do. They’re probably still chock-full of Insurgi drugs, and if we can get blood samples I believe your talented team of chemists could extract the formulas for our own use. They may also have a serious grudge against their captors and some useful insights into the layout of those labs. See where I’m going with all of this?”

He offered Lex a cigarette, still eying him curiously. “As for how you’re going to get those blood samples: I don’t know, you’re the fecking scientist, you figure it out. All of the Caedo’s resources are at your disposal, including any extra muscle you need. You get those lab rats and their blood into my office, and I’ll fund your damn project. And any endeavors to build gold-plated submersible ice-cream-makers you have plans for, to boot.”


ooc: Ahh, Capper is fun. Be sure to wipe the insanity off your shoes on the way out.
EDIT: btw, here's the hat. It's a good hat:

[Lex]

Ooc: Ahhh Ski! You make me happy. You hang up first! No really, you hang up first. Ahem, anyways.

Capper leaned over the table in a menacing way. Lex took a step back. The intensity with which Capper stared was a bit intimidating, but mostly, he was afraid that Capper would lose his balance and fall forward onto him. Lex grinned. Capper had a funny way of complimenting him by praising himself. Lex was a good engineer; he admitted it. That other stuff—“head of the science department”—well, he managed. Though an engineer by training, he actually had more fun playing with chemicals than he’d care to explain, really. He had dreamed of joining the Caedo, and now he had what he wanted, but the Caedo was still an organization, and organizations didn’t take too well to rouge terrorists building secret bombs in their workshops. “Thanks,” Lex managed, a little loudly. He felt as though he needed to speak above Capper’s tongue-in-cheek. “I’m enjoying this a lot, you know. In fact, I was thinking about exploring a new idea in the chemistry department.” Now was probably not the time to play with explosives. Hah, play with explosives--real explosives, Cappper. Math was his forte, but Lex couldn’t help but enjoy puns. People didn’t seem to mind; it made him endearing. “But first, I would like to get this project underway.”

Capper looked weary at the news, a little old even, though Lex didn’t let himself even think this above a whisper. He prepared to justify his experiment. It was clear that Capper knew nothing about science when he’d made Lex head of the department, naively believing that all science was the same. Really, Capper? Lex knew what a plant was, but his knowledge of biology didn’t stretch much further. And he was in no way a maniacal chemist or a dreary physicist. But he could play the parts, and he could certainly use Capper’s naivety to his advantage. “Well, let me explain lift to you,” he began. “You see, because of the downwash over a phoenix’s wings—“

Capper cut him off before he could continue. He had no idea he would bore Capper into submission so quickly. He smiled slightly to himself. But as Capper began to speak, it was clear that that wasn’t what this was. It was a compromise of sorts. A problem, huh? He supposed he could manage. He was a little hurt when Capper called his flying machine idiotic, but he could deal with berating if it would make this happen. He waited for Capper to suggest that he perform some outrageous feat of genetic engineering. He wasn’t prepared at all for what his boss actually said next.
Elkyone labs? Lex clamped his mouth shut, hard. It was all he could do from yelling “Holy Shit!” But he couldn’t yell it. Couldn’t say it, even. Was yelling “Holy Shit” in front of Capper acceptable? He hadn’t quite figured the vampire out yet. Even so, he hoped that Capper would interpret the surprised look that he couldn’t quite hide as shock at the audacity of a phoenix escaping from Elkyone labs. Lex felt his heart pounding and hoped he didn’t look too shell-shocked. He hardly noticed Capper caressing his hat, though it normally would have made him laugh. It was a nice hat. It had to be Dice that had escaped. Lex was proud of him. He had sure had enough practice in captivity to figure out what was what by then, considering that Lex had, essentially, kept him under arrest in order to quell his drug habit. He hoped that Dice wasn’t using again, but he couldn’t blame him if he was. Being captured by the Insurgi. Lex shuddered. He hated the Insurgi more than anything—this was the reason he had joined the Caedo, and he let Capper know it. “I see where you’re going, and I’ll do it,” he said without hesitation. “This is why I joined the Caedo--to get revenge on those Insurgi bastards.”

Lex had briefly informed Capper of his interests, though his boss hadn’t seemed to particularly care what Lex’s grudge with those species-ist fuckups was as long as it existed. And oh how it existed. As far as Capper knew, however, the Pale Fox had worked alone. He had never mentioned his best friend and partner in crime to anyone, and he wasn’t going to start now. But he was conflicted as to what to do. He hoped Capper couldn’t sense this, and that his quick “yes” was enough to evade any suspicions. This was the first hint he’d heard of Dicen since he had disappeared. There was a while when, if someone were to say “there are mice living in the walls” or “I heard he has lice” (people around here were quick to gossip), Lex would have turned around so quickly that he nearly gave himself whiplash. But, though he never stopped caring, it became too much after a while, and Lex steadily let Dice go. He had assumed that he was dead or worse, had been brought to Malum prison. Where was he now? Where did he stand? How had he escaped? He would surely remember Lex, surely still care about him, right? It was too much to think about. He needed a painkiller.

Okay. What had Capper just said? Blood samples. Blood samples?

“What do you want me to do again? Bring back the escapees with blood samples? I was too busy laughing inside at a phoenix escaping top-secret Insurgi labs.” He hoped he didn’t annoy Capper any more with his inattention. Maybe he could offer to compose something for him. Really, he couldn’t screw this up. He needed the Caedo just as much as they needed him for this.
“Anyways, I’ll take Hank.” It was like picking teams in gym class. Lex had hated physical activity. Which reminded him. “And a carriage,” he added. “And anything else you can offer. This sounds like a big job.” Lex would get his flying machine, and he would get Dice back too. And then Dice could join the Caedo. Capper would love him. Lex smiled. “Whenever you need me, I’m ready.”

[Capperon]

Ooc: No YOU hang up first.
“I heard he has lice”, teehee.


“Really, my lad, I wish you would stop grinning. It suggests that you find me comical.” Was Capper really losing his capacity to intimidate at the tender age of nine-hundred and twenty? He clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he rummaged through a stack of files in search of the latest report he’d received from VPSEL (that’s Vos-Pallida/Stryker Engineering Labs, if you were wondering. Capper insisted on all of the new science facilities bearing his name, similarly resulting in ‘Sisberk’ or CSBRC – The Capperon Stryker Biological Research Center – and ‘Clitubec’ or CCLITUEBC – Caedo Chemical Laboratories Ingeniously Thought Up Entirely By Capper. He insisted on the latter because it managed to have the word ‘clit’ in it.) He rifled through the file with a critical scowl, his eyes moving too fast for him to actually be reading. “I like this new technology of yours, the injectable capsules. You should find a more practical way of inserting them. Couldn’t you jerry-rig a tranquilizer pistol to do that sort of thing?”

The trouble with Lex was that he knew just how to get on Capp’s good side, ingeniously weaving allusions to future projects into his argument. “Good,” he said, spinning his chair 360 degrees. “I like what you’ve been doing with the chemists, I fail to understand why you aren’t investing less time in flying machines and more in biological warfare.” He spun around again. “The people I pay to read your gibberish progress reports tell me you’ve developed some ‘interesting new compounds’. What’s this I hear about a drug that retards draconian regeneration ability? Oh oh, and the one that erases memory while it’s in effect, that sounds fascinating!” He bounced and spun around in his leather chair like a kid on Christmas full of sugar. Capper was nothing if not passionate. The chair kept spinning long after the momentum Capper provided with his feet had expired. He didn’t understand a word of scientific jargon, but he enjoyed the products of scientific endeavor tremendously. Especially this little motor Lex had installed in his swivel-chair.

Capper registered Lex’s exaggerated reaction to the mention of Elkyone Labs with a chuckle. “So you’re familiar with the place. How marvelous. I’m so glad to have your cooperation in this matter, I would have hated to be forced to start breaking fingers.” He grinned amiably at Lex, but it was a Cheshire smile, daunting and sadistic, leaving it wholly unclear whether or not he was joking. “In my experience, vengeance is a powerful motivator. As long as the Insurgi remain my enemy – and I assure you that is unlikely to change any time soon - I feel confident that you will remain a friend of the Caedo.”

Young Alexei’s inattentiveness – which is to say, his failure to take the usual underling approach of hanging on Capper’s every word as if his life depended on it – was grating on his nerves. “You. Lab rat escapees. Blood samples. My desk. Before the Surgs get them,” he summarized through clenched teeth. He didn’t intend to give Lex any kind of precise time limit, Capper generally didn’t work that way except with assassination jobs. But he felt he should impress upon the space-cadet the importance of actually doing the job rather than sitting in a lab for endless hours coming up with devices to aid in its completion.

“Whatever you need. I’ll have Becca inform Hank that he and his thugs are under your orders for the next few weeks. I warn you though, don’t ask him to do anything intellectual. He’s a good Koro, but he’s all muscles and no brains. You two should compliment one another nicely.” He eyed Lex’s scrawny arms smugly. Capper took great pride in the buff appearance he maintained from his Changing day. “I’ll have a two-horse carriage and a driver sent to your apartment this evening. I can also offer you physical descriptions of the runaways as provided by interrogation, and a list of Caedo operatives and informants in Cri,” he said pushing a small black ledger across the desk towards Lex. “They will be told to contact you if they discover any information pertinent to your assignment. Other than that, you’re on your own. I hope you agree I’m being more than generous.”

With that, business concluded, as though Lex had abruptly ceased to exist, Capper leaned back, put his feet up on the desk, and lit another cigarette. His gaze wandered around the room and he hummed a little tune to himself under his breath. A moment later, he seemed to remember Lex’s presence and sat up a bit straighter, cigarette dangling from his lip. He gave Lex a pointed look, as if to say ‘oh, are you still here?’

[Torindra]

ooc: Can I butt in? Just maybe for a post or two.

[Lex]

Ooc: Definitely!

[Torindra]

Tori snorted. "A flying machine..." Lex was nice, in his own way, but Torindra never really was the social type and felt no particular kinship toward Lex, hybrid, phoenix or no. Also there was that issue when he had pointedly-casually asked about her withdrawal symptoms that one day. Tori didn't like anyone even commenting on her personal life, and only tolerated Capper because to ask him to do anything else would be just not himself, which was impossible. Her eyes unfocused as she thought about numbers and snorted again.

Yes, poor, long-suffering Capperon. Never mind that she was grumpy as hell after enduring three days of withdrawals after the weekend just so that she could be ultra-steady today for the "important business" that Capper was talking about. There were some big names that Capper had put out for hit recently, to help close up some issues that he'd been having in the local brothel market.

Still too bad about Aurélie, even if she was a petite pain in the ass. Capper had raged for a full week.

"Yes, you do. And of course I was. I want something old that's going to knock me off my feet for a full weekend. We'll go get trashed together and you can foot the bill. I like that plan. Just you and me, this office, and a score of bottles. ...Hell, that plan doesn't even need you." My, she was in a mood today.

The Insurgi. Tori was not very fond of them, for obviously good reasons. She was already in college by the time the eugenics program was under way. And it had been vindictive victory when she had been proven right about the labs, but it was still scary to have your paranoid conclusions confirmed.

She went back to scribbling in the ledgers, cigarette clenched tightly between thin lips. As far as she was concerned, Lex was already out of the room. Flying machines, pah.

[Lex]

Lex looked down at Tori for a moment. She seemed awfully twitchy, though asking her if she was okay might be pushing the boundaries of their relationship, which didn’t go much further than semi-friendly hellos. Lex’s expectations had eroded soon after he met her. He had been excited—another hybrid—they’d surely get along. Not only that, but she liked math, or numbers at least. Though Lex was more abstract in his thinking, it was hard not to like someone who liked math. Tori made it a little easier. Lex hadn’t been able to replace Dice (not that he tried or even really wanted to), but he had friends. Despite his sometimes-cynicism (if you asked him about his attitude towards life, that’s how he would describe it), he generally liked people, and they generally liked him back. But Tori hadn’t seemed very pleased to meet him. It didn’t quite seem like the right time, but maybe his concern would soften her. “Are you okay?” he asked. He would try again to get on her good side before he would suggest that he was head of the chemistry department, and this meant that he was in charge of making all of those fancy drugs that kept her, well, not perky, exactly, but somewhat sane.

Lex turned his attention back to Capper. He could live with annoying one person for the time being, but he didn’t want Capper upset with him, too. “Sure, I can rig something up. That’s a great idea.” “A more practical idea, huh? Sure, Lex had proposed injections, but he had mentioned the alternative, slightly more messy method that Capper had just suggested, too. He wondered if Capper had read his report at all, or if he had actually come up with the idea on his own. His eyes seemed to be moving too quickly to be doing anything than scanning the documents for important words (though Lex was surprised Capper’s gaze hadn’t immediately fallen to “gun”), and Capper was occasionally brilliant. The more he thought about it, the more he was starting to like Capper’s latest plan for him. The science may have been shaky, but Capper was an idea man, at least when it came to crime. Anyways, it didn’t matter really whether Capper had independently come up with the idea of altering a tranq gun to inject the capsules or not. He had better congratulate him on it. Lex would give Capper what he wanted if Lex got what he wanted. It seemed fair enough.

Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned his flying machine so soon. But no, he may have momentarily annoyed Capper, but he’d make it up to him. He had been developing quite a few interesting chemicals, but that’s what he thought of them as, really. Lex was more academic than he sometimes cared to admit. Yes, he saw the practical uses of a drug that erased memory, but that chemical was probably fascinating to him in a different way than it was to Capper. Developing an artificial neurotransmitter that targeted the hippocampus really was breakthrough science. Lex grinned. He was proud of himself for that one, and he was glad that Capper had noticed it. He was also finally glad he’d installed that motor in Capper’s chair. His boss seemed to enjoy it. He hadn’t yet told Capper what had happened when he was installing it though. Once he had finished, it had whirred out of control, sending the chair flying across the room. A bolt must have been loose. Capper had chosen that moment to check on his progress, however, and as soon as he saw that the chair was moving, had declared it finished and opened a bottle of booze. There was really no telling him otherwise. So far, it hadn’t acted up again, but it made Lex perpetually nervous whenever Capper used the motor.

So okay. Lab rat escapees. Blood samples. Capper’s desk. Before the Surgs got them. Lex nodded. “As soon as I can.” He would have liked some time to prepare, but maybe Capper was intimidating after all. Like that way he smirked while looking Lex up and down. From anyone else, this might have been creepy, but Lex knew exactly what Capper was thinking. So, he was weak and sickly. Yawn. Lex took the ledger that Capper pushed across the desk, but hesitated before tucking it inside his jacket. He would look soon, but he needed time to formulate a plan. The coach would arrive tonight.

“I was thinking about finding the phoenix first,” he proposed. “I think he’ll be the key to our operation. Since he escaped first and alone, he will most likely be more difficult to track down, and will probably provide the most useful information.” He kept a neutral expression. “Although it may seem as though he would be less useful in terms of blood samples, I think that the information provided about the labs may be even more valuable than any individual sample. Also, being a phoenix, there must have been a very good reason for him to have ended up at Elkyone, and he may be a valuable asset to us. Plus, those Insurgi drugs stay in the system for a while—I would know.” He looked away. He hoped he wasn’t pushing too hard to make his case. He wasn’t lying—he did think that Dice would be most valuable to the Caedo. He was merely…omitting some information.

It was time to leave now, before Capper could question him. He nodded at Tori and then turned to leave, stepping back and giving Capper a quick wave on the way out.

[Capperon]

Capper watched Lex’s back as it left his office and the door closed behind it. He switched off the motor and leaned back in the now-stationary leather chair, lacing his fingers together and still staring at the door. “I do believe that boy is hiding something from me,” he suggested to Torindra. Alexei had been working much too hard to justify his intention to pursue the phoenix escapee first. ‘A valuable asset’, huh? Capper was silent a moment, deep in thought. “As long as he delivers the goods. Well, if those lab guinea pigs hate their captors a sufficient amount I intend to welcome them into the Caedo with open arms, but I’m going to be left in a fiddly situation if they don’t want to join our organization.” Eh, if they were opposed to the idea of cooperating, Capper would do what he always did: torture the information he sought out of them and have them shot in the head at earliest convenience.

He had noticed the derision with which Tori uttered the words ‘flying machine’. Indeed, it was hard to miss. “You don’t hold Mr. Vos-Pallida in very high regard, do you, Tori? I would have thought you’d feel some kinship with him – fellow hybrid, outcast, mathematical, phoenix heritage. No?” He was teasing her, of course. Tori didn’t feel ‘kinship’ with anyone, except perhaps those individuals in her acquaintance with a few screws loose. Capper felt kinship with other vampires, other criminals, other men, other lunatics…it didn’t take much similarity for Capp to take a liking to a person. But a feeling of kinship from Capper was as much of an insurance policy as a parasol against a hive of bees.

The Sa’yun was confident that his chief scientist would succeed, thanks primarily to superior Caedo technology, but he was still in a foul mood. “I reserve the right to confiscate, for my own consumtion, any alcohol you bring into this office. It’s in your contract.” It probably wasn’t, but maybe Tori didn’t know that. Either way, he needed a drink. He opened a drawer and withdrew his flask of Capped Jugular, taking a lengthy swig. “First our little miss Aurelie turns tail, right when I could use her help clearing up some of this sordid whorehouse business I might add,” Tori had already had to endure Capper’s very verbal frustration on this topic, “and now I’m having doubts about the intentions of my science department. To top it all off, my head thief’s gone missing. Carth never does know where it’s safe to stick his paws. I fail to see how my week could get much worse.” He took another swallow. Capper’s little kingdom was on shaky legs lately, and it left him ill-at-ease.