The Manners Estate

[Faultline]

"Certainly." she grins.

[Domina]

"Oh good! I do so love a good game." Domina exclaimed, smiling like a teenage girl.

"Let's see. If you and your little helper manage to jump that fence, I will give you the names and addresses of the people you're looking for. If you fail, you get nothing.

"Now if I fail to jump the fence, I only get what's in the briefcase, regardless of how you finished. But if I succeed... you throw in one of your little friends there as well. The boy or the girl, your choice."

[Faultline]

Sara leans forward along the head of her 'horse' to whisper into Will's ear. "You better not screw this up or you're the one I'm handing over."

[Legion]

HorseWill set himself, took a few steps back...and then ran, jumped, clearing the fence with EASE.

[Domina]

Domina clapped her hands together once the pair had landed, laughing softly. "Wonderful! Oh, I never thought I'd see a guest ride their assistant in a steeplechase."

[Faultline]

"Really? And here I thought these mansions were built just for that kind of depravity." she smirks.

[Domina]

"Hardly. A lady of my standing wouldn't permit such acts." Domina said with her nose raised. She maneuvered the horse a bit further back, standing in the saddle as she commanded it to gallop toward the fence. The black steed neared the gate, lept....

*clunk*

The top pole of the fence was knocked to the ground, Domina's horse snorting while stomping the earth erratically as she worked to calm it down.

"Oh hush Modok, hush. You did your best. We just need more practice." She showed a lot more care and compassion for the beast than she did anyone on her staff.

[Faultline]

"Well well, I believe we have a deal then."

[Domina]

"Indeed. I am a lady of my word. Mr. Templeton will provide you with the information you desire before you leave."

[Faultline]

"Shall we then? I believe my end of the bargain is still sitting on your back porch." she says, directing Will around the obstacle and back towards the mansion.

[Legion]

Will might have had the TINIEST of smug looks on his face...hard to tell on a horse.

[Domina]

"We shall." Domina agreed, regaining control of the horse and guiding it back toward where the riding circle met the back courtyard of the mansion.

[Faultline]

After they make it back and another convenient change of clothes the two sit down at a patio table, Sara with the suitcase in front of her.

"Here you go then." she snaps open the case and pushes it across the table to Domina. Inside it are several large vials mounted into the top and the bottom.

[Domina]

"Ooh, I do so love how professional and alluring they look, don't you?" Domina cooed, brushing her fingers over the glass. "Like something out of a movie. Please, tell me more about them."

[Faultline]

"I don't. Quite. Remember. Was that part of our deal? Maybe you should tell me what I want to know and I'll explain what they are."

[Domina]

Domina didn't look up from the glass vials in the case, gazing like a child in a coffee shop.

"Ahem."

A man with a thin, bony face and short blonde haircut stood behind Faultline and her pets, dressed in the standard grey suits that most of the males in the manor seemed to wear.

"This flash drive contains the names, addresses, contact information and workplaces of everyone who has in the past or is currently investigating the trans-dimensional rift you have expressed an interest in." He said, holding out a tiny black device scarcely large enough to be seen as anything other than an antennae for a wireless mouse.

[Faultline]

"Thank you." she says, pocketing the drive and otherwise ignoring the servant.

"And you have a couple of things there. That one is a shifting inducer. In shapeshifters it forces them to change shapes, though they may retain some control over it depending on their skill. In everyone else... Well the effect isn't pretty. Rarely fatal, though maybe not an upside for the subject..." she smirks. "The purple one repairs cellular aging. But don't overdo it. Too high dosages can cause vestigial growths like metastatic teratocarcinoma or even fetus in fetu. Parasitic twin syndrome."

She goes on, pointing at the corresponding vials. "Petrification of the skin through sclerema. Gradual liquification of organs. Cancerous skeletal growth. Rapid muscle atrophy. Cerebral degeneration. Oh and that one is just a pheromone concentrate you can add to perfumes."

[Domina]

"Ooh, how positively cruel and sinister." Domina coo'd softly. "I will have to keep a couple of these separate from the rest, I certainly don't want to get them confused."

She couldn't help but giggle at the mention of pheromones. "Oh, how droll." A woman with an entire estate fawning over her probably didn't need the help, but she accepted it anyway.

[Faultline]

"Like I said. Just some... side-products." she smirks.

[Domina]

"Well, if these are the by-products of your research then please let me say that I would be most happy to take in your cast-offs at any time." Domina said as she closed the case. "Just as I would be pleased to do business with you again in the future."

"Tell me, is there anything else you need? Or want perhaps?" She asked, glancing at the pair of Wills.

[Legion]

FemaleWill stroked HorseWill's mane.

[Faultline]

"Well I can always use more supplies without having to liberate them from somewhere else."

[Domina]

"Do make up a list, Doctor, and I will see what I can do." Domina said. "... is there a chance that they are triplets?"

[Faultline]

"Now now, no need to get greedy." she smirks.

[Domina]

Domina placed her hand upon her chest. "I merely mean to suggest that I wouldn't dare to ask for one of what are obviously your two favorite assistants." She said, in almost a pout.

[Faultline]

"You mean you wouldn't dare ask for one of them again?"

[Domina]

"Oh, that? I wouldn't have taken one darling. That was just a little test." Domina grinned, obviously lying and knowing full well that Faultline was aware of it.

[Faultline]

"Yes, I'm sure. Still, either of them is worth more than avoiding a little inconvenience."

[Domina]

"And what, pray-tell, are they worth?" Domina asked.

A servant carefully closed and removed the briefcase from the table, replacing it with a silver tea set along with a few finger sandwiches and cookies with jam in the middle.

[Faultline]

"Honestly, there is nothing I immediately need. Make me an interesting offer and I'll think about it."

[Domina]

"I have considerable resources at my disposal. Facilities, equipment, that sort of thing. It is also possible to obtain materials that would be considered difficult through other channels. Hazardous and sensitive material, diseases, test subjects...." Domina said all this with a delicate china teacup between her fingers, taking a small sip from it.

"There is no rush, Dr. Faultline, this is far from a limited time offer. I am anything if not patient. You know how to contact me, that much has been demonstrated already."

[Domina]

Code: Select all

An undetermined amount of time later.

"Mistress! They've done it!"

The attendants at the manor's spa were still. Every feature of the room, from the tiles to the lighting fixtures was white, the women dressed in stark white as well and staring at the young man who had burst through the door. He was dressed as a porter, clutching a mass of papers in his hands. He started to shake as he regretted his unprofessional entrance.

"Have they?" Came the woman's voice from the massage table, laying face-down.

"Y-yes Mistress. Well, almost. The General's research team has created a stable, controllable portal entrance, one that is theirs to demand. It does not yet have a stable sister elsewhere, but..."

"But it will soon enough. Thank you." Domina was raised from the table by the hands of her attendants, her body almost instantly wrapped in the plushest and whitest of spa robes. "The time to act is now, before someone else fouls up a golden opportunity. Get me the general on the phone."

"The General? But no one can just -"

"No, silly, not that general. Get me the private line of General Begum at the Sir John Moore Barracks in Folkestone."

Asking for the task to be done was merely a formality. Before the words had even left her lips one of the attendants was already dialing a number, another passing her the cordless handset.

"Major General Begum? Why I am doing well, it is so sweet of you to ask. It's good to finally talk to you again. I trust you've enjoyed yourself at our little gatherings? Oh, don't worry your little head about that, I assure you she merely looked fourteen. Now Scooter, you know very well that discretion is a quality I value greatly, there is no need for anyone other than us to know about that.

"Though that does lead me to why I have called. I'm cashing in that favor. I need a few boys and toys for a little run into London. Why of course, nothing but the best will do, will it? I thought not. Five minutes ago. Think of it as a training exercise. Now don't you worry your little head about that, I will take care of everything, just as I always do. That's my boy.

"Oh, and Begum? I do hope you secured the... oh, you're such a sweetheart. Send a car to meet me and we will get under way."

Domina handed the phone to an attendant, slippers slipped onto her perfectly manicured feet as she stepped toward one of her changing rooms. There seemed to be one adjoined onto every room in the manor.

"Porter, go fetch my riding crop from the stables. This outfit simply would not work without it."

"Yes Mistress." The young man bowed before backing out of the room, his brisk pace turning into a run as soon as he was out of earshot.