A Little Mouse, In Over Its Head [Claudia/Arlette/Eliane, Alastair]

There was something so genuine about Alastair's reply, and so entertaining about how well it aligned with her own thought process in some comedic way, that Claudia could not help but allow a small, almost girlish laugh to escape her lips. It was almost impressively demure, for a woman of her standing and presence, and she was almost genuinely irritated with herself for having let it slip. No matter. It only enhanced the image of the kindhearted host, she supposed.

"Thank you kindly, Mr. Eisfluch."

Slipping into the water and joining him at the edge of the pool, Claudia looked over the cityscape as well. She would own it all, one day. And, of course, she would see it all burn to the ground. That was the truest gift.

"You are quite fortunate to live in such a place. I consider it tremendously lucky that I was able to purchase any land there at all, given the nature of the city as an artificial structure. I think it would be quite pleasant if I were able to relocate to such a place, but that would certainly not be practical from a business standpoint. A shame, really."

Her laugh was so unexpected, so utterly disarming, that it was impossible for his smile not to stretch a little wider as he took notice of it. It felt truly genuine, like the briefest of cracks behind a perfect illusion, and that did lead Alastair to wonder how many people had actually made Claudia genuinely laugh before. Was it a short list, or did the hardnosed businesswoman have a softer underbelly? Perhaps it was a little of both?

"Please, Alastair will do just fine. At least when we are sharing the water."

He watched her as she approached, eventually turning to lean side-by-side with her on the edge. Rather quickly, his mind began to consider the potential thought of his companion. What exactly did she think about when she looked out over the city like this? Likely she had spent more than enough time up here appreciating the landscape already, so there had to be something that came after that. Perhaps it was something constructive, how best to expand it for the better, but how was he to really know? Perhaps he had seen the briefest glimpse underneath a mask, but that hardly gave him enough of a read to claim any knowledge of what she might be thinking.

"The City of Lights was a whole city made by Quincy, for Quincy. We have opened the doors to all races, but I think it is only a matter of time before expansion will need to be considered. Nothing too drastic, but there is always a need to grow to support those around you. Perhaps then you might find your opportunity..?"

My my, he was making this quite personal now, wasn't he? Of course, a first name basis was not something that most would call immediately personal, but the two were business associates. Inviting her to simply call him Alastair? How very bold of him. Claudia found that thoroughly amusing, enough so that her smile grew just a bit more genuine.

"Very well then, Alastair. I will expect that you simply refer to me as Claudia in return."

Of course, he could have referred to her any which way and she would not especially have cared. But it was most interesting to see how he would handle a thoroughly casual atmosphere with her.

"That is true, yes. The Duvalier Group will certainly offer its support should the City of Lights require any assistance in expansion. Whether it be construction, infrastructure, simple materials. It is only natural that I would assist a business partner, particularly one which I find so agreeable."

Perhaps the two were business associates first, but in this moment they did not appear as such to Alastair. It was true, of course, that such individuals could share a meal or even a spell in the pool whilst still maintaining such a relationship. He did not deny that. But it marked a difference in how he saw this interaction specifically.

He had no desire to gain anything from her, nor did he have anything that she would particularly want in turn. So they had danced around social etiquette for as long as he thought appropriate, but perhaps now was a time to be more personal. She could have refused him, or just declined from reciprocating the gesture, which might have certainly suggested she thought differently; but instead she appeared to agree with that assessment.

“Of course, Claudia, I think we can manage that much.”

Perhaps it was the slightest hint of that aforementioned German accent that kicked in as his tongue wrapped around the letters of her name, but Alastair did not stop to correct himself. Still, his gaze was split between looking at Claudia and outwards across the city once more. Focused upon neither, though both remained within his line of sight.

“And I am sure the Vandenreich will be glad for your continued support in turn. We cannot build a better world alone, after all. A question of my own, though, as Alastair to Claudia. What do you see when you look out from your penthouse pool, basking as we are now in the setting sun?”

There was a literal answer, of course, and he did not deny her from simply taking that option but it was clear enough that there was something more to his question than that. He knew she was clever enough to know that, but perhaps this was his attempt at drawing further genuineness from someone so shamelessly enigmatic.

"What do I see? That is a fair question, I suppose."

Claudia looked out over the city once more, and of course she understood what it was that he was truly asking. A part of her wondered how he might react if she simply told him the truth. That she saw nothing more than one more corner of this world to be ground to dust, a city full of wretched creatures who she wished nothing but the deepest tragedy toward. It was nothing more than a method of building herself up on the bones of others--

Ah, she was smiling to herself. Well, she certainly could not tell him all that. What a shame.

"I see many things, depending on the day and the time. A city filled with opportunity. The crown jewel of a nation build from nothing. The center of a kingdom which finds itself in troubled times."

Resting her chin on the edge of the pool now, a relaxed gesture that only further masked the unrestrained malice which lie in her mind, Claudia simply sighed, both to punctuate her thoughts and as a genuine expression of disappointment that she could not be truthful to him. At least, not completely truthful.

"I see a world filled with people who will forever stand in the way of peace."

Alastair listened closely as Claudia spoke, for it did appear that she intended to take his question with a modicum of sincerity so he intended to return as such. Her first answers were lacklustre, not in the sense that they were disappointing answers in isolation but rather because they were lines that even he could have delivered on her behalf. But that final comment was what pulled him back from the cusp of failure.

A world filled with people who will forever stand in the way of peace.

It was dry, macabre if one considered the future even, but it was Claudia. Now came his retort, and he could pander to her whims in some futile attempt to curry favour but she already knew him well enough to know that he was no idle sycophant. She had teased her truth, his nature demanded that he respond with his own.

“Do you consider everyone to be an enemy of your peace unilaterally? Is anyone to be spared?” A brief laugh escaped his lips along with an exhale, one of surprise rather than indignation. “I suppose it humours me that we see the world so similarly, and yet so vastly different in the same stroke. For I see a world filled with people misguided by the hand of those they trust. They may one day stand in the way of peace, but they are also not beyond redemption. Each and every one can change for the better. I accept that some may not, but that is no excuse to let hope waver.”

There it was again, Alastair’s spark of noble naïveté amidst the dark canvas that Claudia wove so effortlessly. As she slunk down until little more than her head bobbed above the water, he stood taller than before as he straightened out his posture and let more of the water slide from his frame. They were an interesting contrast, he had been noting the signs in their conversation before dinner, but it was only now that they spoke as something more than business associates that he felt confident enough to consider pursuing it.

His optimism was, for now, still amusing to Claudia. It had not yet begun to irritate her, if only because he seemed to have at least put some measure of thought into his stance rather than simply clinging to it like a child.

"I think that everyone, in some manner, has the potential to stifle my efforts. All that I can do is to buy what can be bought, spend what may be spent, and in doing so ensure my dream is seen through."

Alastair was no different, of course. One more person for her to push toward her own purposes, another man who would surely assist in her dream of a world forever burning in conflict. Of course, the day would come that she had to put him down too. But that was simply the nature of her dream for the future, and she did not feel the slightest guilt for that.

"I certainly hope that people change. It would be preferable that we move forward swiftly, efficiently, without conflict. Perhaps they are merely misguided, but do you think that they will accept any corrective action? I have found that most will only harden themselves further when their world is upended."

There was a tension to the air as Alastair voiced a dissenting opinion, not anything that could be called outward hostility but enough to affirm the clash between their convictions. But he paid it little heed in the heat of the moment. Honestly, he remained very much at her mercy and, when her enjoyment of him waned enough, he would no doubt know about it rather quickly.

“A little less dramatic than your initial comment suggested, but considerably more admirable. To be driven to such lengths to achieve a nobler goal.”

Her money was a powerful asset, her other resources more so, and yet her goal was something so much greater than that which she already had. That was what best justified a drive such as her own, yet Alastair was left with little clue what it actually was. He had his own motivation too, the ever growing mound of corpses that he stood upon. Those who had fallen before him to pave a path for today, even those who would fight alongside him for a better future, none were spared from that fate. But that was hardly a thought worth sharing now.

“What we hope for and what is realistic rarely align, and people are the greatest variable of all. What you and I see as preferable, others may call oppression. For we are not exactly an efficient species, blessed and cursed with unique natures that are always a different challenge to overcome, but that does not make us innately hopeless.”

Perhaps others would call him weak for choosing peace and diplomacy over violence, but to Alastair that was among his greatest of strengths. He was not terrifying powerful nor in possession of a startling intellect, he just kept trying to put his faith in people. As he was doing, unbeknownst of the apparent futilely, with Claudia.

"That is true. people seem always to wish for the most difficult path, as if there is some innate glory in struggle. It is certainly merited to take pride in one's overcoming of adversity. I built everything that I have from nothing, and I certainly think that this merits me some respect. But I would have preferred not to be in those low circumstances to begin with."

Though one might have thought such a thing to be quite severe in its tone, Claudia spoke of her own past as if it were simply any other point of conversation. After all, she was not bringing it up simply to self-aggrandize.

"Is that not strange? How people seem to nearly fetishize their own suffering? If one can take the appropriate course of action without any struggle, why not do so? Yet that is almost seen as a moral failing, as if it marks one as weak, or lesser. Peculiar, to say the least."

Look at her, speaking as if she had any moral high ground. Claudia was hardly under any illusions that she was a good person, but she did not especially care. Good, evil, that was all for other people to concern themselves with. What mattered to Claudia was nothing but herself, her vision of a world where she needed no longer even factor in the existence of others. One where she was the only person left.

“To struggle for struggling’s sake is a folly that many people make for themselves, as you say. They prostrate themselves before the altar of suffering in the belief that they are helping their cause when, in actuality, they are only propagating the lie.”

Claudia had been dismissive of her own situation, bringing it up only to influence her point, so Alastair avoided the topic as best he could. Comparatively, he had a most fortunate start in life. Sure, there had been trials and tribulations but he could hardly have called it ‘coming from nothing’. It was also comforting that Claudia appeared to be from a similar viewpoint as he on the matter of appropriate actions and choices. He had no reason to doubt her comments, and they did resonate with him, so they were only further reinforcing his own assumptions.

“I would offer a toast to being peculiar, then, were we still at the dining table. To seeking an end to this cycle of struggle and conflict. There are better paths, people just have to be guided towards them. Then they have no one to blame for their failings but themselves.”

Looking down at her now, as they now rested at vastly different levels, he did make some effort to lower himself back into the water though still remained quite considerably the taller member of the pair. An easy smile rested upon his lips, far easier than it had any business being given the company he was in and the day he had had.