Maximillian Arikas' and Professor Perryton's start

[Rukellian]

High above, on one of the previously destroyed floors of the Arikas Headquarters, Maximillian and his father stand side by side as they look out the windows of his newly restored office. The view of the city was breathtaking and never ceased to amaze Maximillian. “You know son, this could all be yours one day, you know that right?” Silence is given in response.

Ever since his son took up the mantle of Aether, he’s noticed that the boy has shown more interest in his new found abilities then his responsibilities as an heir to a booming company. This troubled him, naturally. Though he too possessed similar abilities, Joseph Arikas understood the importance of his family company and prioritized that over a life of super heroism. Seeing his son go down the path he dared not venture, Joseph tries his best to help the boy see things his way, even if it meant calling in someone else for help.

“Mr. Arikas, your appointment has arrived. Shall I send him in?”

“One moment please, tell him that he may take a seat in the lounge. I am now just finishing up some last minute business here.” Now turning his attention to his son, he smiles and says to him, “you are the heir to our multi-billion dollar family business, can’t you take Harvard just a little more seriously and reconsider? I know you can accomplish so much, and we are all proud of you and what’ve done.”

Without giving Maximillian any time to respond, his father pushes the button on his desk, letting his secretary know that his guest may now come in. “I have called over a good friend of mine. Maybe through his words and perspective on things, you will come to understand the importance of the solid higher education that Harvard can provide.” He waves his arm towards the door and the guest enters.

Dressed in his finest attire, the elderly gentleman wore a clean button down shirt with a stylish sweater vest on top, a corduroy jacket with a silver feather ornamental piece (only one elbow patched up too), and a freshly pressed pair of English Tweed pants with some knee high hiking boots. His hair was messy, yet combed back just enough to make it look like he did not just climb out of bed, his spectacles hanging low enough on his nose to be pushed up on an occasion. “Professory Perryton, so good of you drop by on such short notice!”

[mordechiyoel]

"And you want me to look like that ?" Ari pointed at the Professor with a look of disgust.
He turned to his father. "I get it," he said, "but with these powers, I can help people.
I saved your life. I can help make a real difference. Our company is so big, it runs by
boards of directors and all that jazz. Here I can save lives, make a real impact in the
world !" he replied to his father, not even looking at the Professor.

[Pulpatoon]

Apparently oblivious to Maximillian's comments, Professor Perryton bustles into the room, shakes hands with the older man, and peers up into Max's face, not so much greeting him as examining him. "Jospeh, yes, a pleasure. This is the boy?"

"Hmm, yes. Well, he has the proportions for it. Are the eyes grey? It wouldn't surprise me. Strong of limb, sinewy. Tell me, What is the length of the first metatarsal to the big toe? That's always a fine indicator."

The Professor eventually makes his way to Max's face. "Ah, hello. We met before, you know. When you were a child, bored beyond endurance at one of your father's social functions. I believe you fell asleep under the canapes."

"Your father tells me you find yourself at something of a crossroads. Tricky things, crossroads. Not to be taken lightly."

[mordechiyoel]

"Back up, old man," Max says to the Professor. "Something called personal space !"
he remarks as he backs away from the man. "I have no idea who you are. I have
been to more social and work functions with my dad that I could possible remember.
What do you want any way and keep it over there ?" Max asks as he puts up his right hand
to make sure the Professor does not get any closer.

[Pulpatoon]

OCC: I don't know if Joe Arikas confided in the Professor about either his powers or his son's, or if Perryton deduced it. If his being clued in to the demigod-lineagae thing is too on-the-nose, too early, let me know and I'll dial it back.

Perryton turns back to the senior Arikas. "Feisty to the point of truculence. Arrogant, even. Yes, that would serve him well at Harvard."

Professor shoots Max a canny look. "It would not serve so well in the other matter. Hubris; overweening pride. Common enough in these sorts of situations, but it rarely ends well."

He slides his glasses down his nose and looks at Max over the rims. "The gods have a stated policy when it comes to hubris."

Perryton returns his attention to Max's father. "Now, Joseph, I believe you said there'd be tea?"

[Rukellian]

OCC: I don't know if Joe Arikas confided in the Professor about either his powers or his son's, or if Perryton deduced it. If his being clued in to the demigod-lineagae thing is too on-the-nose, too early, let me know and I'll dial it back.

You are fine. The Arikas family's orgin was a closely guarded secret, only those who have gained Joesph's complete trust has been told. Professor Perryton is such a person, and has a pretty good idea as to what his happening with the boy, even without having been told. Joseph currently suspects this, but has not questioned the possibility nor has he been forced to.

"Why of course, there will always be some waiting, with your name on it and everything." He claps his hands once, and the secretary brings out a tray of fine china and a stained mug with Professor Perryton's name on it. The aroma of Earl Grey Tea wafts into the air as it is placed on the desk nearby.

"Would that be all sir?"

"Yes, thank you. You are dismissed." Turning his attention back to the professor and his son, he motions for them to both sit down. "This discussion would be best served whilst sitting down, don't you agree?"

[mordechiyoel]

Max sits down and starts drumming the fingers of his left hand on the arm rest.
"What's going on here ? is he a recruiter from Harvard ? and what does he know of us ?"
he asks his father, still ignoring the Professor.

[Rukellian]

"Hahaha, he certainly does look like he might be one, doesn't he?" Max's father seems to be in good spirits, overlooking some of the boy's more rash decisions as of late. "Do not worry yourself about being forced into anything. He is but a good friend of mine, one who's advice I highly respect. Maximillian, you say that you long for the life of adventure and action, putting your skillsets to better use, correct? Here stands before you an expert on such things, a veteran explorer and adventurer of the world."

Taking a sip of some tea, he places the cup back on a saucer and then continues. "If anyone were to know the dangers of the world and what lies beyond those crimed filled streets of our city, it is Professor Perryton, better than anyone else I think on such topics. Professor, if you would please?"

[Pulpatoon]

"Joseph, you misrepresent me. An adventurer? You make me sound like something out of a dime novel. I have traveled my fair share, and met some colorful characters. And I have had to exercise myself in a few unexpected exigencies. But it was all eminently sensible. Solid, grounded research, that's all."

Professor Perryton sits down in front of the tea and takes a moment to settle in comfortably.

"Maximillian, I'm placed in the School of Anthropology and Archaeology, but, candidly, I am more broadly a student of the world. And what a fascinating world it is! So rich, so complex, so dizzying in its baroque wonder, that even our greatest minds shy away from so expansive a vista. They break it into little boxes, like... oh, physics and biology and psychology and air conditioning repair. And they find that as long as they keep looking in their one little box, all the pieces seem to fit quite nicely."

"But they miss an awful lot that is outside of their little box. Structures of existence so antithetical to physics that one could only call them magic. Beings of so different an order from our animal and vegetal world that you might as well call them spirits, or monsters, or gods."
Perryton looks at Maximillian significantly. "Some would scoff at that. I don't expect one of your lineage to so do."

Perryton leans in. "So few see can see this larger picture. And even fewer have the... physical wherewithal necessary to travel to the dark places where answers might be found. Can you imagine? All the genius of human culture, all the great achievements of human endeavor, and they've missed so much that is just there, waiting to be uncovered. Secrets that could bring health and comfort and prosperity to the world, yes, but even more: knowledge. True knowledge of the universe, whole and unfiltered. No need to break it into little boxes!"

"Your father says you have a yearning to play the swashbuckler. And he wants you to go back to Harvard, and study... oh, how to move other people's money from one place to another, making sure that most of it ends up in your pocket. The first plan lacks maturity, the second lacks imagination. I offer you another path. The only path worthy of a man with the blood of gods in his veins. What higher calling could there be than to seek truth?"

"Come study with me. You'll find yourself in the field more than the classroom. You will learn things that will change you forever. You will do things which will change the world forever."

The Professor takes a sip of his tea. "Oh dear, it's gone cold. I'm afraid I must have been rambling on for too long. You should have said something, Joseph."

[Rukellian]

"It is just as the Professor says, there is so much more to this world than what meets the eye, and many choose to close their eyes to such things. I haven't, but then again, I prefer the safety of a boardroom with corporate representatives then what the streets down there have to offer. Naturally, a lecture hall in some university would put my mind at ease if you were to go to such a place Maximillian, but I cannot fully push away what my friend here has to offer. This unique oppurtunity to see the world in a different light, to further educate yourself in the fields of his specialization. A life like the Professor's, well... you see first hand how long that has lasted, much longer than what a career in vigilantism would yield."

Joseph takes another sip of his tea, making sure it does not go cold on him, and turns his attention to the professor. "Speaking of which, my good friend, has their been any more sightings of that species of winged eye beasts that you chronicled and accidently unleashed several years ago? Based off of the ancient Skatsimi Temples of Duboq, if I recall? The last you spoke to me on the subject, you were in the process of resealing them..." Mr. Arikas says this with a twinkle in the eye, as he looks over to his son to see his reaction.

[Pulpatoon]

Professor Perryton waves a hand distractedly. "Hmm? Yesterdays news. They proved to be exceedingly straightforward examples of parazoology. Very disappointing, hardly worth the effort to study them. Brutally effective predators, yes, but not... illuminating. Now, there is a creature in my sights, doesn't have a name, doesn't exist in any folklore that I've found, and, as you know, I've pretty well found them all. Looks like a tiger prawn, if tiger prawns were made out of mint jelly and turned inside out. No bigger than a dust mote, which accounts for the lack of lore indices. Harmless, unnoticeable, but their ecological niche is fascinating. All signs indicate that they feed off latent vril. And I need hardly tell you that, between Basil Epiphany's monograph and my own work on the subjects, vril has been thoroughly proven to have been a hoax put forward by theosphists! Can you imagine? Microscopic ghost blobs that graze on spurious notions! The implications are positively astounding!"

Perryton settles himself down after the excitement of his diatribe, and casts around for some less exciting detail.

"Banshees scoop them up like whales eating krill, when they can't feast on the blood of innocent babes, you know. Which, I suppose, how they can avoid dormancy between murder-binges." Perryton sounds as though there could be nothing more boring than murder-binging banshees.

Perryton glances over at Maximillian and suddenly starts. "OH! I say! The eyes aren't grey at all! Well, no, they wouldn't be, whatever could I have been thinking of! Blue, yes? The blue of... hmm. Not the storm-tossed seas, not of spring blossoms, is it the sky? Not the vault of heaven, no, but... ah, the pale blue of Northern horizon."

He looks back at Joseph. "Borealis, then?"

Returning his gaze back to Max, he says with a smile, "I bet you're a dab hand with a kite on a windy day."

[mordechiyoel]

Max listens to what his father and the professor has to say.
He looks from one to another and take a few moments before replying.
"So to sum up what you are both saying, the Professor over here," Max jerks his left thumb
at Perryton, "will take over my education in the classroom while enabling me to
help people through my "vigilantism" as you so nicely put it, Dad.. the best of both
worlds per se - would that be a proper assessment of the Professor's offer ?"

[Pulpatoon]

"Succinctly put. Although, I hasten to add that I would not so much 'take over' your education as advise you in academic matters. You would be expected to matriculate like any other graduate student. When in the field, you would officially be my research assistant. That is a position of tremendous flexibility and independence. It essentially comes down to you reporting back anything that you encounter that is germane to the present course of study. And I will be the primary author of any publications that result from such research, and the first name listed on any grants that should ensue."

"I have an expedition planned for about three weeks from now. Following the migratory trail of the spuriophagics—that's what I'm calling the vril-eating snot-shrimp—I need to consult certain tablets found in the sacred commons of Lost Gorillapolis which bear patterns that, superficially, would appear to mirror the relevant mimetic harvest patterns."

"Oh, Lost Gorillapolis is, of course, the fabled city of telepathic moon gorillas at the bottom of Marina's Trench. So dress in layers. Damp, you know."

[mordechiyoel]

"You're shitting me, right ?" Max says and then blushed. "Sorry dad," he nods to his father.
"We are meeting telepathic monkeys ?" Max asks incredulously. "If it makes Dad happy
and I can still do my thing, gentlemen, I believe we have a deal !" He smiles at his father
and then stands. He extends his hand to the professor to shake.

[Rukellian]

"The Marina Trench you say? I hope you have a means of reaching it Professor Perryton, not that I doubt your resourcefullness, but it would be very easy for me to supply a submarine capable of descending to the seafloor, and perhaps a crew to help run it for your expedition?" This will be one heck of an adventure!

"My son, before you jump on this oppurtunity, know that my friend is a very stubborn man. If you agree to accompany him under his tutelage, there will be no backing out of this. And if you are indeed heading towards the fabled city of Gorillapolis, well, you certainly won't be swimming your way back if you change your mind. Do you understand the implications of all of this," Joseph asks with a smile and raised eyebrow.

[Pulpatoon]

Professor Perryton stands up, beaming, and accepts Maximillian's hand to shake. "Splendid! We'll do great things, together, lad. I have no doubt of that! There'll be some paperwork to send over. Nothing your father's secretary can't handle. And a reading list. Better get cracking on that. I'd better add a volume on basic primatology before we depart to Lost Gorillapolis. Gorillas are no more monkeys than you or I are. And it would do well to remember that in their presence. Also, they are no more or less likely to like bananas than the average homo sapiens, and do not enjoy jokes regarding same."

Perryton looks to Joseph. "A generous offer, and gratefully accepted. Where you could really help us is with your contacts with the port and harbor authorities. They've been giving us the devil's own time about some of the equipment we are planning on taking out with us. You'd think they'd never heard of non-weaponized plutonium."

[mordechiyoel]

"I prefer not to do this at all, yet I know how determined you can be when you don't get your way, father,"
Max grins. "Something I got from you," he nods, "yet this is an opportunity for me to use my powers and learn
about them with your blessing, its a win win of sorts !" he sighs. "So Professor, when do we begin ?"

[Rukellian]

"Professor Perryton, just as you surmised, my secretary will have the necessary paperwork, for situations like these. As for the exploration craft and crew, I can have all of that arranged within a couple days time. This should give you two enough time in preparing for the trip ahead, as well as procuring some necessary items." Mr. Arikas then turns towards Max.

"Considering where you will be going, I can only stress that you listen to the professor. I expect you to learn through him and take in what he has to offer, know that though his requests may seem over the top at times, but his experience of the world and those of not of this world are the real deal; you will pay mind his advice and orders as they come, or risk putting your safety into jeopardy." He ends this line with a note of seriousness, still emphasizing his concern of handing his son over to the professor.

[mordechiyoel]

"I think I can manage," Max smiles. "Out of this world, eh ? should be fun !"
Max turns to the professor. "I believe I need to pack, where is our base of operations so I know what to bring ?" he inquires.

[Pulpatoon]

"I hope you're not imagining anything too dramatic. No secret crime labs or revolving bookcases, or any such tommyrot. Our 'base of operations' will be my office at the University. You'll have a desk too, just down the hall, in an office which you'll share with some other grad students. But, tomorrow, I'd like to meet down at the athletic fields. I'd appreciate a demonstration of any... unusual abilities you may have discovered. We'll do our best to measure the degree of strength, control, and duration for each, as well as check for anything you may not have discovered yet."
The professor pulls out a pocket-sized spiral bound notebook. "Would you mind giving me a brief listing so that I might know which measuring equipment to bring?"