It's the enlightenment that started it all

[liverletdie]

WHO: Evil Illuminati incorporated
WHERE: The Hotel Castile
WHEN: Sometime the first week of July
WHAT: A bunch of morally dubious people
WARNINGS: TBD



Hotels were often the scenes of a meeting.

This one, in particular, seemed rather well suited for the task, considering it was owned by one of the people attending. Alcohol -- paid for handsomly by Stark -- was presented, as well as coffee and finger foods. Nothing but the best, it seemed, for the group.

There weren't many of them. Seven, in fact. Each one hand picked for one reason or another. Octopus because of his predictability. Raina for her wit and guile. Chilton with his brain and ability to predict. Walker for his apparent tenaciousness and industrial spirit. March for his... dubiousness and success. Venture for... well, they needed a punching bag. And of course, Stark was there, because every group needed an organizer.

And the world needed a guiding hand. Not that he hadn't already done plenty to shape things in a way he'd wanted. He had, but that had both been him and not, last year, when the metahumans were created by the 4.0 virus. But that hadn't really been him, just a shade of himself, but it was an excellent lesson to learn. Sometimes, one needed support, and support wouldn't be found without reaching out and supporting others. You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.

When Stark arrived, it was with the usual pomp of a fighterjet landing on the lawn -- just like the man to show up in his suit -- but when he walked in the meeting room, it wasn't the red and gold but Chrome that he arrived in, before he poured himself a drink, drank it, and set it down. He'd timed it to be the last to arrive. "Welcome," he said, as if he weren't the one who just walked in. "Glad to see you all could make it. If you will have a seat, we can get started," a pause, and he looked around the room. "I think we'll have a great deal to discuss, before we come to a good, working consensus."

As if there were such a thing.

[ There's no posting order, and feel free to start threads as you please -- and of course, thread jack! This will be pretty free form as things go, you can log arrivals, getting to know one another, etc. SIM will likely get around to what he wants in a bit! ]

Comments

[doctopussy]

When Doctor Octopus made his arrival, he was wearing his currently-signature white suit with black undershirt. His arms were there but un-extended, casually undulating at about six feet. When he took a glass of white wine he grabbed it delicately with one of the metal claws rather than his hand, however.

Soon, and indeed, throughout the meeting, he would watch them all carefully from behind his sunglasses.

Even if Otto decided this was against his best interests and broke off from this group Stark was forming, it was worth coming if only to see who Stark considered "the best" -- or at least a potential ally of his. He also recognized that there had been a change, and as Otto barely understood that change, observation was needed.

Keep your enemies close, as they say.

[flowerette]

So it seemed Raina wasn't the only one to bleed over into this from the Constellation. And like him, she too was here to see whether or not this would be in her best interests. But that also included mingling. With Chilton's eyes here, Raina would be respectful and wouldn't flirt her way into information too much, but it was difficult to turn off that initial charming smile.

"Doctor. I don't believe we've met." She extended her hand for him. "I'm Raina." She eyed his appendages appraisingly -- not necessarily afraid of them, but trying to get an up close an personal view of how they worked or how he could control them.

[doctopussy]

It would be a good tactic; Otto has several weaknesses but nice women are definitely one of them. He was a bit more on guard than he normally would be, though, since he knew that anyone Stark would have invited to this little gathering would be someone to watch. Still, his response is more cordial than he normally would be.

He took her hand in a firm shake. "I don't think we have, though you seem to be familiar enough with me."

She had called him Doctor, it was an easy enough guess. But thanks to Stark mentioning some names and Otto's subsequent check through the network, he recognized her from her video posts. He decided to downplay that.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Ms...?"

While he was talking to her his arms stilled and curled protectively around him, other than the one holding the wineglass. He made no apparent movement or pressed any buttons to allow them to do so. The suit he was wearing was tailored well to hide the harness the arms were attached to, though a sharp eye might catch that the fabric moves differently around his waist. There were other little things about them that would be less obvious to the untrained eye - that he'd modified them with adamantium, for example.

[liverletdie]

It's after the meeting that Stark actually approached Octopus. Oh, sure, he could think of him in his real name, but that was too much legitimacy for the man. Instead, he waited, listened during the meeting, waited to see if he could figure out what his goals were going to be during the entire experience. After all, he didn't trust any of them as far as he could throw them, but Octopus half as much.

"Dr. Octavius!" he greeted, the smile on his face borderline of slimy and slightly indulgent in how he approached him, hand outstretched, drink in hand.

"Delighted to see you again. How did you feel about the meeting?"

[doctopussy]

"It was certainly… intriguing."

This was going to be his least favourite part, he already knew. The only thing that kept his smile on his face was all the potential for future humiliation he can visit upon the man. Later.

"Now that I've met your best I admit I'm curious as to your reasoning for their inclusion now that I have some context to illuminate your thought process."

[musclemothers]

"So. What's all that about, then?"

Rusty gestures loosely at Otto's arms, and while that may not be the best thing to say to someone you've just met, he gathers that the man wouldn't very well be wearing them if he didn't want people to comment on them. He probably wants people to be impressed with them, Rusty thinks. A power play. Bah! If he knew they were playing at that game, he would have brought Helper instead of leaving him outside as a glorified coat rack!

...or maybe not. Helper is not his family's finest creation. He cocks his hip and takes a sip of his drink (whiskey right now; it's due to get more flamboyant as the evening grows old), looking Otto up and down. "One of your own inventions, I assume. There'd hardly be any point in bringing them otherwise."

[doctopussy]

Otto takes a drink from his own glass, the robot arm tipping it perfectly. He smiles in a way that couldn't be described as pleasant if you tried.

"One of my earliest and best efforts. But you've made a miscalculation -- my arms are almost always with me, this meeting is no particular exception. I would no sooner leave them behind than I'd abandon my own hand."

He flexes the fingers of one of his hands as he says this, and in tandem one of his arms mirrors that movement with its claws perfectly.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Champagne glass in hand, Chilton watched the room. Raina was already schmoozing -- networking came to her like breathing, and while Chilton himself was no slouch in that department he hadn't her je ne sais quoi. She catapulted to the center of the universe, and he kept a respectable outer orbit. Watching.

The stir of wind through the trees, beating against the window as Stark made his entrance. The murmurs, the glint of bright and shiny chrome. The sheer spectacle of it all.

Elements were different, Chilton knew that. Stark touted a different periodic table in his demeanor. But it didn't make Chilton uneasy, not as he was standing on the right side of the impending chasm -- Stark's side.

[liverletdie]

"Doctor," he greeted, at some point. His smile was too confident, too assured in everything that he did. Certainly, he suspected that Raina and Chilton would be the ones to pick up on it readily -- considering their history with who he'd become -- or rather: who he'd re-become again. He slid next to him, and raised an eyebrow, as if he were both questioning and mocking him all at once.

Perhaps it was the nature of his sharp, white smile.

"I hope you've had a good week," he greeted, and leaned against the table, somehow the armor didn't break it. It was honestly a miracle in some form or fashion. "How do you think our motley little crew will fare?"

[slightlyoffchilt]

A quick glance cast around at that motley crew, pieces all on an elegant chessboard. But at least, thought Chilton, they were the knights and bishops -- better to be that than any sort of pawn. His casual glance was now drawn back at Stark, a rapier on the defense.

"A diverse portfolio," he said, relishing the financial lingo. "Even if one fails, the others can compensate."

He assumed that was the general strategy, anyway.

"Have you rubbed elbows with Venture, yet?" Chilton tended to drop the honorific doctor before Rusty's name. Out of spite. "I thought he might be the hors d'oeuvres attendant, at first."

[flowerette]

William Walker. It was the only thing Raina could think about when she had been given Tony's list. A sort of one of these things just doesn't belong here. And to hear that Chilton of all people had volunteered him....well. Raina had seen the man, of course. He was the only one there she hadn't known. And she kept an eye on him, deciding to approach him only after she spoke to Chilton about it first. So only after conversing with Octavius did Raina return to her fiance's side as she would always do, a meaningful look toward James Patrick March -- hoping they could utilize this opportunity of coming together to help feed Chilton's darker ambitions all the more.

But more pressing on her mind, as she tenderly pressed a new glass into his hand and whispered sweetly into his ear: "William Walker, really?" She pulled back with a light laugh to give the impression that all she was uttering were sweet nothings in case Walker was watching. And he probably was, given his obsession with Chilton's....everything. Only Chilton would be able to see the grit of Raina's teeth in her pristine smile. Only Chilton would be able to hear the strain of anger broiling around the edges of her words. He was the only one who knew her tempestuous nature.

[slightlyoffchilt]

"Now, dear," he cautioned. A soft murmur, held beneath his breath like the gentlest of breezes -- silken, soothing, costly. "He would be thrilled to catch even a whiff of your disdain."

William Walker seemed to thrive on the drama, and the more anguished the better. Behind that brittle disdain, Chilton knew, was a glacial shelf of insecurity anchored to her perception of their relationship. Practically soul food for Walker to feast upon.

"Might be best for you to keep your distance, mm? Charm Stark, enchant that Otto fellow. Do what you do best."

[blackhat]

Walker’s foregone champagne in favor of harder stuff -- lean and mean as splintered bone in a suit tailored close to the gun concealed at the small of his back. He’s older than most of the others here -- hard in the face, flinty sharp in the eyes -- and as apt to size his contemporaries up from a sour distance as he is to walk over and strike up a conversation.

No cowboy hat, today. No cowboy boots, or cowboy knife.

He just looks wealthy, and compact -- more attitude than his wingspan should afford him in eye contact and the slant of his hip.

With Ock and March to set the tempo, Stark’s late arrival finally invokes the inevitable, “Hell, if I’d known it was a costume party, I’d’ve dressed up,” while he pours himself another.

[flowerette]

"I thought this was your costume." And there is Raina, pretty as a picture right beside William Walker, arch nemesis for Chilton's attention. Her fingers are wrapped like a vine around the stem of a champagne glass. There are definitely still a whole lot of hard feelings for the kidnapping Chilton and playing cowboy with him when he was supposed to come get her from De Chima. There are even more hard feelings about that naked oil painting.

(And resentment because....damnit, the painting was really good.)

"Dressing up in suits. Playing as a business owner. That's not who you are inside, is it?" Her eyes glint slyly as she tips her glass to her lips, drawing in a sip.

[blackhat]

“So much for doctor-patient confidentiality.”

He turns at the hip, glass like a lead weight in his hand while he gives her a once over, sly glint and all, more business than pleasure. A wedding band gleams under his glass when he passes it from his right hand to his left, and for all intents and purposes, he acts like it.

“Congratulations on your engagement.” Really, truly. “I would’ve bought you a painting to match, but I didn’t want to cross a line.”

His drawl hangs on the emphasis, brow puckered with earnest contrition, and he lifts his glass to drink.

[liverletdie]

It's later, that Stark slides in next to him, his own drink in hand -- whiskey, double -- but the suit, that chrome-plated monstrosity melted off of him like seeping water, do disappear into...somewhere else. Held somewhere that it wouldn't be found, and he grinned, now in his usual suit.

"I heard you were feeling a little out of place, this better?" he asked, before he indicated with his glass.

"I wanted to get a feel for your thoughts. Since we're all into this together, I'd like to get a sense for what you would like to get out of our little gathering."

[blackhat]

“Feels less like a discoteca.”

So they’re moving in the right direction.

This late in the game, ol’ William has put away enough of that whiskey to give very few fucks indeed. But broken glass is still sharp when it’s soused, and he looks sidelong at Tony like one of those naked cats, all edges, folds and exposed ego.

“Money and power too obvious an answer?” he asks, his interest in either dusty dry for its absence.

“I’m just here to see what happens next.”

[idesof]

Wherever Willy Walky is looking, March is in easy reach of his sight. Until the moment he isn't, of course, because he's suddenly ghosted over to the man's side, all wealthy in look as well, holding a small goblet of absinthe aloft with his pinkie finger extended.

"What do you make of it, old boy? My castle here." He gestures out with his free hand while his eyes stay fixated on his buddy — a bit too much, maybe. It's possible something more sinister than him being overly eager can be caught in those wide eyes. "I'd love to give you a tour after, if you'd like. Show you her secrets."

Piles of sexy corpses.

[musclemothers]

As the only person that Rusty hasn't already been acquainted with, he spends some time watching him from across the room and being none too subtle about it too. It's no huge surprise that there's someone here that he doesn't know, but what he's been trying to figure out is why he was invited; the fellow is a good deal less ostentatious than the rest of the... let's say big personalities that congregate in groups such as these.

It occurs to him to be intimidated - this gentleman's face certainly invites it - but Rusty rather considers himself to be well-acquainted with hardboiled types by now. He spends the evening circling around, and once he gets closer, he's relieved that Walker speaks first.

"Yes, well. People such as these tend to appreciate making a bit of a splash. It takes some doing to be noticed in a place like this." He turns to Walker, raising a brow at him. "What would you have dressed in, exactly?"

[idesof]

Tux with coattails, the cravat a matching black silk, March acted a bit more host than guest. He made sure there was appropriate room for that wonderful alcohol to flow, met staff at the door to take it from them, acted as an appropriate buffer so none without invitation got an earful they didn't deserve. As such, he wasn't drinking.

Quick to fill in on any questions about the art or decor or hotel itself, and definitely ready to provide a touch of the green fairy if anyone were to ask. No offense to Tony Stark but. Absinthe was the best.

Whether or not he's ever met them before, March greets each member with a hearty shake (an arm pat for the friends!) and a warm smile, like each and every one of them are old friends — or exactly the type he wants to make an old friend. Except the Man in Black. He greets him like they've never met before because of course he does. Venture will be asked after his robotics; Raina, of course, shall be granted an adoring kiss on the hand. Chilton has earned a shoulder pat. Octopus, well! Probably not gonna kiss eight hands there, fella.

[liverletdie]

Stark was still confused as to why Chilton had suggested March. An unknown factor, Stark had spent considerable brain and processing power to watching the man, tracking through his history, and all around playing cyberstalker, before this meeting. While...disconcerting as a person, he still wasn't quite sure why he was here.

Other than to play host, at least.

He approached, glass in hand. "Mr. March, thank you for letting us use your space," he greeted, hand out for a shake. Familiarity wasn't something he was interested in -- at least for March to see. He wanted to know him, know everything about him, so he knew what made him tick. Walker was easy to puzzle out, similar enough to himself, but March? Not sure.

[doctopussy]

"This hotel is your establishment, correct?"

Once Dr. Octavius had introduced himself they were certain niceties to get to. March was something of an unknown; there was no particular reason for him to be on Otto's radar and hadn't been one of the ones mentioned by Stark so Otto hadn't done his due diligence on the man. But he was here and that meant something.

All this to say he's regarding March with a certain cautious curiosity.

[musclemothers]

"Mr. March! So good to see you!" Rusty exclaims, reaching out to heartily shake March's hand. This would normally transfer to a firm handshake, but from someone like Rusty, it just means that his handshake does not resemble a dead fish. "And here I was, worried that our good host wouldn't invite anyone without any taste. I'm more than happy to be proven wrong."

It's an old habit, shmoozing with people who have something to offer, enterprising men of business and of good, old money, the kinds of people that Rusty tends to make lucrative deals with. If nothing else, he hopes to make some deals out of this whole, strange affair.

"Why did he invite you, anyway? For your business sense, I presume?"

"

strolls in late with starbucks

[musclemothers]

Rusty has absolutely no idea what to expect from this whole ordeal. He doesn't trust Stark as far as he can throw him, and considering that the man is in disgustingly good shape for being some genius locked away in his lab all day and Rusty has the approximate upper body strength of a very fit toddler, that means he doesn't trust him at all. His ego is nevertheless significant enough to push him into coming, and even if his ego had no part in it, sheer boredom would push him to it anyway. He very briefly considers attending in his speedsuit before eventually deciding upon a black suit - tame for him, but he knows his audience - which he spruces up with a hideously bright pink tie, because he can't be entirely boring.

After stepping in, he makes a beeline to the bar and orders something hard and on the rocks, sipping at it tentatively as he eyes his surroundings warily. Some big fucker with an octopus backpack, the ever-charming and ever-taken Raina, Chilton the asshole, Stark the asshole, the ever-enterprising March, and... some guy.

Oh, well. He's been in worse groups.

[liverletdie]

He may have been in worse groups, but things are about to get even worse.

"Snazzy suit, Venture," he said, from somewhere vaguely behind, before Stark approached, his own glass in hand, chrome suit shining slightly in the dim light. It looked good, and comfortable, somehow. How a guy could look comfy in a chrome plated suit was up for debate, but Stark walked around light on his feet, glass in hand, and it never broke.

"Glad to see you could make it. Any thoughts?"