Buried Deep (Celciana)

[Cedric Verdelet]

The sun waned on the horizon, casting an orange glow about the city of Bastion that slowly bled into a crimson red the lower it sank. Cedric took in the cityscape, sipping from his tumbler until the ice cubes within clattered together against the glass lip and chilled his mouth. It was lowered with another clink, held against the banister of the balcony he stood upon. "That reminds me..." He remarked to himself, turning from the view and moving back within the temperature controlled penthouse atop the skyscraper that housed the large pharmaceutical company their father had created.


Cedric moved towards the bar, uncapping a decanter to refill his tumbler before flipping a glass out of the rack right side up. He danced his fingers across a row of wine bottles before grasping one by the neck and slipping it out. He caught his other hand beneath the label and rotated it within his grasp to study it, before popping the cork out and filling the glass. It and his own glass were taken into his grasp, arms swaying at his sides but careful not to spill the liquid from either.


His right hand rose once he entered the turbolift, depressing his index against the display. The selectable floors list altered, offering subterranean levels that the average line level employee would never even know existed. He selected one and waited as the lift rocketed to the basement levels, sounding with an audible chime to alert any that might be outside the lift of it's arrival. He moved with purpose through the windowless halls, entering into a single chamber with a large window that looked into another room. He took a small sip from his tumbler, before glancing to the adjacent guard who waited in the chamber.


"Been at it long?" He only nodded his affirmation, before Cedric gestured to the door that would lead into that next chamber. "Well what the hell are you waiting for, get the door. Can't you see my hands are full?" The man rushed forward to open the door for him, and Cedric didn't hesitate to move within. He took to the large steel table she worked near, seating himself on the edge and setting her wine glass just beside his hip. "The sky was a particular shade of red that reminded me of what you were up to, and I thought you might like a drink."

[Celciana Verdelet]

"Is that so?" A rather robotic but still obviously feminine voice asked with only partial attention dedicated to the words. Blood splashed up from the subject she leaned over, arcing across the paleness of her cheek just below her eye thickly. Celciana stood up a bit straighter upon feeling the warm application, her silver gaze narrowing and her gloved hand departing the supine form of her focus. She inhaled deeply, the only sign that she was minutely annoyed having been interrupted. She reached up, smearing the blood across her face in an attempt to remove it. Then, she turned and began moving toward her sibling, removing the black latex gloves from her hands and discarding them into the appropriate receptacle in her passing. She approached slowly, each movement adroit in its execution as she spanned the room and came to stand directly before her twin.

She reached past him, her nimble fingers folding around the stem of the wine glass and lifting it to her lips, where she subtly inhaled the fragrance of the vintage and then took a small sip. Her smile was faint but it manifested nevertheless, her pinky extending to cushion the glass as it was returned to the table next to his hip. "As always, you have excellent taste." She stated, nudging his knees open with her hands and stepping in between his thighs. "Sadly, Mr. Auswight was unable to reveal anything further to me. I fear I was a bit overeager when I learned of his Force sensitivity. I doubt anyone will be missing him and now, Father can utilize his remains for... whatever it is he's working on today."

[Cedric Verdelet]

He remained cool and collected as she eased in closer, his eyes flashing over to the stain of red on her cheek. “Hold on.” His hand delved into the pocket of his black pants, removing a handkerchief. He brought it up, licking a corner that laid over his index finger before bringing it across the affront to what he considered a flawless canvas. Being a touch obsessive compulsive, he didn’t speak until he had cleansed it from sight, then proceeded to fold the cloth over cleanly twice into a square before sitting it just to the other side of him. “Perhaps you will need me around next time, to help keep you in control.” There was the most subtle of movements of his brow at the last word, as if something was underlying.


“Well your loss is my gain.” He slid off the table forward, bringing them into an even closer proximity that might have been claustrophobic for others. She would understand what he meant, that now she was free of her hobby, duty, whatever one would call it. In reality he should have been present if she truly wanted to prolong the process, having a certain skill with chemically prolonging life, or causing pain. The end result would have depended on what her aims were. While he was skilled at such things though, he was also an individual who preferred instead to indulge rather than work, so motivating him to utilizing his particular level of genius was a touch more difficult.


He remained standing where he was, posting his hands down atop the table behind him with the tiniest arch backward of his back. His fingers gathered up his tumbler again, lifting it for a small sip, before setting it back into place just behind and out of the way. “Did you gather anything of use at least?” He didn’t have interest for the sake of learning, but because he would have hated for Celciana to come up disappointed with her recent endeavors.

[Celciana Verdelet]

"Perhaps I will." She agreed, although she preferred to have an adequate amount of alone time with her subjects in particular cases. Mr. Auswight had been a fine example of such a scenario, his significant midi-chlorian count having captured her attention immediately from a list of candidates analyzed by the sporadically placed Verdelet Clinics.

Their proximity intensified as he slid off of the table and Celcia could not help but let a slow, mischievous smile slide across her mouth. They had always been close, inseparable since birth and taught together all they knew from their father rather than the usual social interactions. Celcia and Cedric were not identical twins, her hair being much darker than his and her build considerably shorter. He took after their sire and she was told, not that she could remember her, that she took after their mother. The train of thought led her to a sudden bout of temper and she thrust away from him, stalking back toward the table where Mr. Auswight's corpse lay cold. She scowled down at it, gathering her tools into the drainage pan on the rolling tray table.

"He did tell me something interesting with his dying breath." She said softly, flicking a wholly malicious glance over her shoulder at him. "He told me where I could find more subjects. It would be such a waste to merely wait for them to happen into father's clinic, don't you think? I was wondering.. maybe we should go for an outing, brother..."

[Cedric Verdelet]

She was obviously perturbed, and outwardly he would have assumed it was about how things had ended with her subject, but he knew her better than that. He didn’t prod for more information on the matter though, letting her turn to gather her belongings together. “Come now, we have servants for that. Leave it.” Since she left him to the table, he moved towards the intercom near the door. Depressing his thumb to it, he gave a directive with no pause for a response. “Have someone here in five to clean up, and have the body drained of blood before it’s taken to the incinerator.”


He left the panel with those words, moving towards Celciana right at the time she seemed more interested in talking once more, that brief mood swing seeming to fade with a Cheshire smile. “Where are we going?” He wasn’t saying no by any means. He would go wherever she wanted to, but he did want to know just what he was getting into. The fact that he asked where they were headed, was enough of an indication already that they were indeed going. He mentally ran through what they would need for capture purposes, since he assumed she would prefer to bring back living specimens given her disappointment with the latter subject.


Now was not the time to bring up why he wanted the body drained, but for him even in death he could learn things. Instead he let her have her direction in things, stowing the vanity that would have seen him share just why his contribution was so important, because they were both very self important individuals.