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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 14, 2003 17:31:33 GMT -4
Christine walked into the resteraunt, brushing a stray lock of chocolate hair out of her face. She handed the invitation to the waiter on duty, and tilted her head.
The waiter took the invite and glanced at it. A faint smile appeared and he quietly lead Christine to the table where J. W. Garde was waiting for her.
"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting," she said politely. "I was in the midst of an exam and nearly lost track of the time."
She blushed shyly as he pulled the chair out for her and pushed it in when she sat down. "Why, thank you," she whispered softly. It seemed chivarly wasn't as dead as she had believed - at least two men still practiced it - Kurt and this mystery gentleman. Silently, she began to wonder why she didn't ask if she could have Kurt come with her.
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 12:08:31 GMT -4
As the young lady approached, the man currenly calling himself "J.W. Garde" - which was only a half-hearted attempt at concealing his true name; his ego wouldn't allow more - smiled mysteriously and gave her his hand as he gallantly assisted her into her chair.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. McTaggert.", he said. His voice was low and pleasant. He had a cultured British accent.
He sat in a chair next to hers and he studied her face. Or was it only her eyes? His were a very uncommon color - a light brown, almost copper and they were somehow hard to avoid staring at.
He was athletic and very handsome, looking vaguely like one of the men on some reality show she had seen. Maybe Joe Millionaire or The Bachelor.
"I have been looking forward to discussing your... research.", he said to her - and motioned to a passing waiter that they needed drinks.
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 12:16:04 GMT -4
She smiled slightly. "Yes, I admit I was a bit amazed that someone was interested in my research," she said, blushing. She found it very hard to escape his eyes. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as they waited for their drinks to come.
"What exactly did you want to discuss - you were a bit vague in the invite..."
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 13:22:27 GMT -4
"It turns out that your...interests...", he began - speaking thoughtfully, "coincide with some of my own."
"In the relatively recent past, it has become clear through the emergence of sheer numbers that mutants", he paused on that word and his eyes seemed to sparkle,"are not a contemporary phenomenon."
"I have long been interested in - shall we say - 'beings of power'. Your....somewhat archaeological evidence may point to some interesting revelations as to how such power may be....um, excuse me....I mean to say 'how such power was obtained'."
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 14:18:17 GMT -4
Her eyebrow arched on the words may be before he corrected himself, but she said nothing on that note. She sipped her wine slowly, thoughtfully. She looked up at him and spoke softly. "Exactly which aspect - which mutant of power are you interested in?" She could feel a chill getting ready to run down her back and she didn't understand why.
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 22:02:18 GMT -4
"Well", he began, " despite what the popular media would have us believe, I think that mutants are no different than any of the more ...conventional... varieties of humanity."
He watched her over his glass as he took a very practiced and reserved taste of his drink.
"It is their 'power' that sets them apart", he continued, "and that is the aspect that interests me. They all have their....fascination."
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 22:07:33 GMT -4
"Fascination?" Christine repeated quietly. "I suppose. Is there a particular aspect of their gifts that holds your fascination - or is it the whole idea of there being mutants that you find fascinating?"
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 22:54:26 GMT -4
The man appeared to be searching for words.
"It's the notion, really....", he told her in his quiet, cultured voice, "the romance of it, I suppose. To have some ability...some power that so many others do not have. It must be...exciting. Intoxicating..."
Somehow, the last word was a fitting description of his gaze.
"My studies are about all of that...and about effectively unlocking the abilities in those who have them."
He sat back just a little slouched in his chair, his clasped hands holding his wine glass just beneath his nose. He breathed the scent of the wine and watched her intently.
"I think that some of your research and translations may hold clues to that last bit.", he said. "I have long believed that there is much we might learn from past ...experts... in this kind of knowledge."
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 22:58:57 GMT -4
The little voice Phoenix had was yelling at the top of her cute little lungs that this was possibly a bad guy and to get the hell out of there before he did some damage. However, even the wise ones are ignored.
"Perhaps," Christine said. Her eyes fluttered gold - almost as if he had dragged that aspect of Phoenix up and into the open just by his gaze.
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 23:12:04 GMT -4
A wry smile crossed the man's handsome features. His eyes grew suddenly intense. He knew the girl's lineage. How could he not? Her mother was prominent among researchers in his particular ....area of interest... and he suspected many things about her ability and the material she studied.
What he had just become privy to, however, was an unexpected and ...alluring... surprise. If powers, or power, fascinated the man sitting before the young woman in her smart blue outfit...then he was certainly more intrigued with his dinner guest than he had been when she first arrived.
Intrigued. As well as aroused.
He motioned to the maître d' that more refreshments were in order, then turned the intensity of his watchful gaze back to young Ms. McTaggert.
"So...", he said with great interest...and growing influence, "tell me about yourself."
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 23:19:04 GMT -4
Christine closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them, finding to her regret that they were still the golden color of the Phoenix's. But somehow - Phoenix wasn't protesting as loudly as before, and the man did seem to grow increasingly familiar, therefore she had no trouble telling him about herself.
She started with her childhood, somehow paying careful attention to her powers, noting that how at age ten she learned of her telepathic gifts, which happened when her elder brother died. At age fourteen, her corporal intangibility came into play. Finally, at age sixteen, how she was chosen by Phoenix to be her host. She paused a moment to sip her refilled goblet of wine.
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 21, 2003 23:44:53 GMT -4
The man listened to her tell her story, interjecting comments and reactions as she went that were subtly manipulating her. He listened intently, laughed in all the right places, wiped a tear as her story turned to her father.....again when she told about her brother. He implanted words within her mind.
Words that hid in her subconscious and could be activated at his whim. Words of power - that could make her more ...receptive... - that could cause her to forget. For even as he drove her onward to learn more about this Phoenix and the energies and abilities the girl controlled he knew he would leave her with no memory of their interaction other than a casual, studious discussion of her work with an admiring colleague...that, and a subconscious predilection to his more common persona.
He would leave her with an unconscious ...need... for Jason Wyngarde.
He asked her about the men influential in her life. Learned of her father, of her brother. He learned of the young man named Kurt. When next she saw him, he would begin chiseling his own features into an amalgamation of theirs....becoming at once familiar and attractive to her. The better to dominate her mind.
But for now...he wanted to know more about it...
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 21, 2003 23:55:13 GMT -4
Christine felt her control slip and she continued to tell him about Phoenix - about her origin and how much power she was able to wield.
The all too familiar flames of Phoenix danced within her eyes - as she was unwilling to let the flames come out and surround her properly.
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Post by Mastermind on Dec 22, 2003 0:45:48 GMT -4
For hours of dinner and drink he let her ...made her... speak about herself and the power at her fingertips. They ate an exquisite meal and drank expensive wine.
The man had thought he might find something useful in the girl's studies but instead he had found what he was looking for without even knowing what it was.
The Key.
The Price.
If he could tame the elemental flame and command its power then the Hellfire Club must accept him as an equal. As more than equal. The Inner Circle would be his to command.
For the Inner Circle worshipped Power above all else. And Power was within his grasp.
The maître d' approached and filled their glasses. He bowed to the man and asked about the quality of their meal.
" Delicious", the man said. But his eyes never left the girl who sat before him. He watched her almost....hungrily.
"...but next time..., I think I'll try the lamb", he added with a smile and an ominous tone.
When they were again alone he said to her, "My dear...I cannot wait to see you....unleashed."
He laughed an almost maniacal laughter as she rose from the table and with a dazed expression left the room. For his final word was an instruction. One that would work its way deeply into her mind. But for now, it left her on the street a few blocks away...happily remembering the kind words of a studious admirer. Somehow not remembering much about the man himself at all.
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Post by Christine MacTaggart on Dec 22, 2003 8:47:34 GMT -4
Christine shook her head, trying to clear it. She felt a tad dazed and didn't quite recall the meeting. However, Phoenix had caught the double meaning in his last sentence - about the lamb - and it chilled *her* to the core. But since the child didn't ask for her opinion, well, she wasn't about to give it.
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