The capital of Fiore, Crocus, was quite the expansive city. While places like Magnolia and Era were what the prince would classify as high tier towns, the heart of the nation proved to be as large and grandiose as people said it was. Vandrad admittedly might have had trouble finding himself around it, were it not for the technological aids from his own creations. They provided an easy-to-follow map, along with smaller, more intricate details that he frankly didn’t care about. All he needed to know was where to go and who to look out for and luckily, with Mercury’s aid, that wouldn’t be hard. She’d utilized her drones to craft a net of observation, giving him ample view of every street, alley and path that led right to him. There was no way that Patricia Reeves was getting the drop on him, even if he suspected that she had no intent on surprising him.
He and Mercury had worked together on a plan to discover what the illustrious doctor’s secret was. Ever since he’d met her, the woman had confounded him with her curt, dismissive and overly analytical manner. There was also the fact that her magic just happened to be the same as his. While Energy Monarch was a rare power set to inherit, it wasn’t impossible that two or more people could possess its abilities at the same time. What marked it as odd was the fact that they had run into one another and he had been tested each time. Their first meeting could have been chalked up as mere happenstance but the second one, with the trap and her unveiling her abilities, had been all too conspicuous. As a fighter and now as an engineer, Vandrad didn’t trust situations lining up so neatly – there was always margin for error and, in most cases, the error was prevalent and almost guaranteed. If he were to hazard a guess, and he had explained as much to Mercury, the second meeting had been a means of testing his strength and magic and Patricia had been there to observe and interact as needed. Mercury had done her own digging and discovered a lot of abnormalities to her story and her presence. As such, the prince had asked the Silver Wolf mage to aid him in uncovering her secrets and her goals and she was all too happy to participate, honestly thrilled to go snooping.
The best place to start was her laboratory, the main building set in Crocus. While they could simply break in and attempt to get into a server room, they both believed Patricia would have security measures in place. That and it seemed the woman worked almost constantly. It was better to attempt a duel operation – Vandrad would serve as a distraction and Mercury would be the one actually breaking and entering. She’d still need to account for the security but Earthland technology would, no doubt, be simple for her. It was just up to the prince to keep Patricia preoccupied, so she couldn’t discover any breaches. Vandrad reached out, asking her to drinks and dinner so that they could discuss opening a business relationship. She had mentioned her connections to the Rune Knights the last time they saw one another so it made sense that he revisit the topic.
They’d agreed on a fine restaurant in Crocus and there Vandrad was, already at the table he’d reserved. The restaurant owner had sat the prince personally; now that his name and title had been revealed, he was getting far more lavish treatment from the general populace of Fiore. It bothered him to no end but for the reasons of deception, he simply went along with it. He was given the best seat in the house, a table in the VIP section that was cordoned off from the rest of the dining room. In fact, he found himself sat out on the veranda, looking out over the fields and land just beyond Crocus’ limits. He was promised the best servers and the best service and Vandrad simply nodded along. He despised every second of the royal, robust treatment and he knew Mercury would be eating it up. After all, she could hear everything that was happening around him through the small ear piece that transmitted both of their voices and surrounding area to one another.
"Try not to enjoy yourself too much laughing at my expense,” he remarked softly, knowing she could hear him. Vandrad had come dressed up, putting on a pair of black slacks and black dress shoes. Given the hot, summer heat he had opted to wear a clean white dress shirt and a black vest over it, avoiding the hefty warmth that would come from a jacket. He adjusted his blue tie a bit as he glanced out over the Fioran land, basked in moonlight and the darkness of the evening. Despite the situation, even he couldn’t deny it was an impressive sight. A small part of him wondered if he should consider bringing Mercury to dinner here at some point for a real outing rather than a scheme.
His thoughts on that were interrupted as he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. As he looked back, he saw the restaurant owner leading in none other than Patricia Reeves. And in spite of himself, Vandrad was actually… a bit stunned. Her long, curly, brown hair had been primped and straightened so that it hung down over her left shoulder heavily. She had larger framed glasses on that seemed to expand the vibrancy of her ocean-blue eyes. Golden hoop earrings hung down from her ears, glittering in the lights from the restaurant. She was wearing a tight-fitting, off-shoulder blue sweater that hugged her frame well. A black and white striped skirt ran down from her hips and over her thighs, ending just a little below her knees and providing a slit in the front for her to walk with ease. Her midriff was showing between the gap from sweater and skirt and he could see the small chain from the bottom of a belly-button piercing. And the clacking of her black, strappy heels echoed all the way out to the veranda. Even for a man like Vandrad, it was hard not to find her stunning.
“Your Highness, Doctor Patricia Reeves has arrived,” the owner announced her introduction, guiding the doctor to the table.
"Thank you. You may leave us for the moment,” the prince said with a soft nod. The owner gave a short bow and departed, Patricia watching him leave before turning back to face Vandrad with a warm smile.
“Vandrad. Or should I say Prince du Wolff? Or do you prefer Your Highness? I hope you don’t expect me to bow,” Patty said, her normal colorful attitude coming right to the forefront.
"Vandrad is fine. I’d rather we not get lost in the ridiculous details such as titles,” the prince replied curtly.
“Why, I must be special then,” she said with a small giggle before she pulled out her chair and sat herself down. “I must admit, I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again. The last time we saw one another was… well, exciting is possibly the nicest term.”
"Yes, I must admit I was not expecting you to kiss me…”Vandrad said slowly.
“Oh. I was talking about the card trap and having to kill all of those deities. Nice to hear that the kiss was the most exciting part about that,” she was quick to jump in, giving him a cheeky grin.
Vandrad opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to shoot down any kind of idealizations she was attempting to make. But then with a sigh he let it go. She caught him in it and chuckled once more. “It’s also nice to see that you haven’t changed. Here I was worried that Fiore might have softened you but you’ve still got that rugged, tough personality.”
How little she knew. "Perhaps we should start with drinks.”
“A fantastic idea. Oh garcon,” Patricia said, raising her hand to catch the eye of the attendant nearby. He eagerly came over at the request, hungry to prove himself to the guests and, more likely, his boss. “We’d like a bottle of your finest brandy, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Vandrad blinked in surprise. "I thought we’d start with wine…”
“Oh I think we’re far past wine at this point, aren’t we?” Patricia interjected, casting him a smirking glance. “And I’d love to see a menu as well. Thank you.”
And, already, it seemed Vandrad’s attempts to be the driving force behind the meeting had been usurped. So much for sticking directly to the plan.