he said leave the politics to mad men.

[mightyfallen]

Who: Jack Benjamin, Nuala, Lex Luthor, and Adrian Veidt.
What: Jack meeting with each of the above, separately.
Where: Sobek Croix, Coin's End, and Spit Hearth, respectively.
When: Backdated to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Givdi, Veerdi, and Sukkardi of last week, while fogspedition was gone.
Notes: In the interests of not spamming the comm, I'll be posting starter-comments to this post for each of the logs that need starting. IF ANYONE ELSE WOULD LIKE A JACK LOG, PLZ PM ME. :D
Warnings: Politicking?

It could be said that Jack is in a bit of a mood. The volunteer he snaps at on Mistdi would say more than that, given the chance, as would the barista who has the misfortune of putting too much cream in his Coardi-morning coffee. Those more familiar with his habits keep an intelligent distance – which he notices sometime Coardi afternoon and decides enough is enough. He has more important things to do than succumb to his own emotions. There's business to attend to, after all.

Comments

[defenestration]

In Adrian's opinion, although being admired is certainly his main goal in dressing, simply being looked at will suffice. You can't make any kind of impression by blending into the background where no one notices you.

"Likewise, Mr. Benjamin." After shaking hands, he steps aside to allow Jack to lead the way to the table, taking his seat with an approving glance at his surroundings. "You have excellent taste. I count myself lucky to have had the pleasure of your invitation."

Not just because of the restaurant.

[mightyfallen]

Jack, by contrast, has never needed to do much more than step out his front door to make the papers, and even in Baedal where that is no longer the case, his fashion choices speak more to the fact that he forgets everyone isn't paying attention to him already. The way he handles their hostess evidences tendency, perhaps – how he simply assumes she'll interrupt whatever she's doing and seat them immediately. (It helps that he's been here before and tips very, very well.)

When they're settled, he gives Adrian a wry smile. "Please, flattery and I are too well acquainted." It's said kindly – he sees you there, sir – but he's too cynical for that. "I stumbled upon it some months ago, and was frankly relieved to find a diverse menu that didn't spoil the appetite." Gagh is a little beyond his tolerance for experimentation, okay.

"But there are more interesting topics than food at hand. Tell me, how have you been since last we spoke?"

[defenestration]

Adrian appreciates talking to someone who can see past the flattery and empty compliments, and his smile deepens, as he gives the other man a nod of acknowledgment. "Not being used to cooking for myself, it's good to know where I can kind places with good menus." Maybe he and Lex will need to employ a cook. Adrian makes a mental note to look into that possibility.

"Thankfully, I can say I've been busy. I've secured a job and a place to live, although the latter is requiring some renovations. And I've made a few contacts, we'll see whether any of them prove useful." Sadly, making friends has never really been on Adrian's to-do list. "And what about you? Filling your time with other things besides providing newcomers with light in the darkness, I hope?"

[mightyfallen]

Jack nods, amused but sympathetic, to the first. Cooking is one thing he is actually independent about, but since his standards are ridiculous and he's not motivated enough to put that much effort into it daily, restaurants see a lot of him, too.

"Of course. Helping new arrivals is only a small part of my work with the IF; most of my efforts go toward campaign strategy for their various candidates, which means a lot of lunch meetings and charity events." About which he sounds fairly bored, but not unhappily so. Rolling elections every six months in a large party simply makes for a lot of campaigning. "Can I ask what the job is?"

[defenestration]

"I bet you meet a lot of very interesting people that way." Adrian's quite serious about that -- he may not have gone into politics, but lunch meetings and charity events are as numerous on his schedule as magazine interviews and press conferences.

He orders himself a glass of wine when the opportunity presents itself, only barely taking his attention off Jack long enough to do so. "I'm working with the Energy Authority, developing alternative sources for powering the city. It actually fits well with some of the work I was doing at home, so I'm very pleased to be able to continue my research here."

[mightyfallen]

"I meet a few very interesting people, and a great number of uninteresting but well-funded ones," he responds to the first bit. (And he hasn't even had his first drink yet. He will, though – a whiskey, because he's a bit of a lush.)

That accomplished, he leans in, propping an elbow on the table to listen to Adrian. "Fascinating. We tried to harness the wind in my kingdom once, but it was not to be." ...So his technology level may be a little skewed. "With fuel as scarce as it is here, however, there's certainly need."

[defenestration]

"And sometimes the latter are the more useful of the two." His tone is dry but amused -- there are plenty of things business and politics have in common, and the need to make friends with deep pockets is one of them. Even if it's only to be sure they aren't taking their interest to the competition.

Smiling at the attention, Adrian toys absently with his glass. "My focus tends more toward molecular energy -- after all, the abundant form of energy that exists can be found within the very building blocks of the universe. Properly harnessed, we can be looking at a power source that's clean, inexpensive and limitless." It's very clear from his delivery that this is a topic that goes beyond simply a means of employment, that it's something Adrian is truly passionate about.

[mightyfallen]

The details elude him – nuclear power is no more commonplace in Gilboa than nuclear bombs, which is why they're still fighting wars with tanks, battling from trenches and across fields of barbed wire. Molecular power is a step removed from what he's even passingly familiar with. But the details aren't what interest him anyway, so much as the passion behind them, and that is very interesting.

"And you would offer it inexpensively?" he asks with a curve of a smile, ever the skeptic, altruism having never seemed to him so plausible a motive as profit. (Admirable, yes; believable, no.)

[defenestration]

The details of Adrian's energy research elude most people even in his own world, although the threat of nuclear annihilation is the constant threat that drives much of what Adrian does.

"Here, I'm afraid I would have little control over that, although I should hope those who do would be capable of seeing the benefits of providing their people with safe and affordable energy. At home?" His gaze moves away from Jack's for a moment, as he visualized all the work left undone in his absence, and the dream that motivates that work. "At home, Mr. Benjamin, it will be available for free. And that will be the key to society finally breaking the shackles of corporate interests, the key to ridding the world of poverty, of the nuclear threat, of the need for war."

[mightyfallen]

It's notable that, for all Jack seemed immune to Adrian's charms a moment ago, this dream of a perfect world draws him in infinitely more effectively – and reluctantly. His expression softens, but it's brief and quickly hidden again behind his usual façade, which is, in itself, more telling than he means it. (Why hide something inconsequential?)

"The day mankind runs out of reasons to kill one another, I will be truly surprised," he quips, but kindly. "But you may find more support here than you think."

From him, perhaps.

[defenestration]

Adrian has made a practice of reading facial tics and body language of, a useful skill in both the corporate and the criminal worlds, and Jack's momentary reaction doesn't go unnoticed. Neither does the fact that he seems to feel the need to hide that reaction. For now, Adrian doesn't know how to interpret either, but he won't forget them.

"I have hopes that once we no longer have any need for violence, we'll turn our energy to better things. A better society, perhaps even our own evolution." He smiles at the encouragement. "I'd be very grateful for whatever support might come my way. Ideally, with the right kind of support, not only can I make things better for the people of Baedal, but perhaps someday the research done here can be applied to what I've already accomplished at home."

[mightyfallen]

"I look forward to seeing what you come up with." That much sounds sincere, maybe more than anything else he has said (or will say) tonight. Sincerity doesn't suit him except in these fleeting moments between masks, and then he's off to bigger and brighter ideas.

"Where did you get your funding, before? Public, private, corporate, personal...?" There's a touch of slyness in his voice with that last option. Adrian isn't difficult to peg as the well-moneyed type, no more than himself, and as self-proclaimed king of the over-privileged, Jack feels he's allowed to tease.

[defenestration]

"I look forward to showing it to you," Adrian replies. His tone is utterly restrained and professional, but there's the slightest quirk of a smile on his lips.

The way Jack asks his question makes Adrian grin, and he gives a tilt of his head in acknowledgment of the fact that he makes no effort to hide his wealth. "Technically, it would be corporate funding, but the corporation bringing in the money belongs to me, Veidt Enterprises. Mostly it's our marketing branch that pays for the research." Marketing isn't all that Veidt Enterprises does these days, but since some of the pies Adrian has fingers in aren't precisely legal ones, he can be forgiven for being a bit vague.