Square One

Espen was busying himself in his own personal office in the Mystic Inc tower but he was only partially focusing on all the paper work and other projects he was working on. He had gotten through with talking to Alden and catching up with the old man who seemed to be in good spirits despite his falling health.

In general his friends mortality made him think of many other things, such as Alister's sister's death Alanna. It was a shame, he probably would have gotten along with her pretty well from what little he gathered from Alister. They hadn't found a body or anything but Alister was convinced she was gone, and he was more likely right unless she was stranded somewhere else.

You never knew when your time would be up, even for those long lived like himself. Espen did enjoy helping people of course but another part of him simply wanted to settle down and have a family of his own. Even if that happened, he wouldn't stop it just meant he'd have to slow down a bit. His father hadn't ever really been there growing up and he wanted to avoid that for himself.

One of his other projects was keeping tabs on these Pokemoprhs. He knew about them from Arlin and Dodger and while Tylon had other interest he still preferred to keep a eye on them just in case. The least he could do was make sure they could live the most peaceful normal lives they could.

Espen's phone buzzes. His secretary was paging him "Sorry to bother you, Mister Goldsmith, but a representative from the Tylon Corporation is here to see you." she says "Shall I ask them to make an appointment?"

Maybe I should talk to Alister about my world and his making contact? It's something to consider..

Espen frowned at that, he didn't like Tylon at all even if on the surface they had a good track record he knew better. There had been evidence of their more shady dealings, but that had been before Zoanthropes had rights so it technically didn't count.

He gave a slight sigh. "Send them in."

The door to his office opens and in comes a Young Woman in a suit, for lack of a better word.

She walks over to Espen's desk "Good afternoon, Mister Goldsmith. My name is Isabelle Cunningham." she extends her hand "I represent the Tylon Corporation's interests and I have been sent here to see about opening good relations with you and your company." she says with a pleasant smile.

The young woman that came in was extremely attractive, she looked like a normal human but you couldn't always tell by that. She could have been any number of things and he wouldn't know it until later since he himself looked human at first glance. The red eyes were unusual for a normal human, but again it wasn't a sure sign.

His first instinct was to politely decline but he considered it might not be a bad idea for two reasons. For one, it could potentially give him information he may need, and two evidence. He might get what he needed to either disband, or at least reform the company.

The only slight relucance is he knew many people who worked for Tylon didn't know about their shadier business. If the company went under, then men and women might not be able to feed themselves and their families.

For a man who is well versed in them, I still hate politics..

Espen smiled a bit and shook her hand. "Pleasure and well met. I'm not opposed to hearing you out. Though if I may ask, why the change of pace? Our companies have had a rather rough patch together." He was of course referring to the whole thing with Zoanthrope rights years ago. It was unfortunate a young lady had to die for it to happen, she couldn't have been no older then in her teens at the most.

Isabelle takes a seat "Mister Goldsmith, Tylon has never had any conflicts with Mystic Inc and it's very unfortunate that others out there are labeling us as the bad guys." she says "Nothing is further from the truth. We're here to help." she explains.

She sets the folder she was holding on the table and takes out some pictures of the infamous serial killer Cedrick Darkside attacking one of their locations "We haven't gone to the press with this yet. We know that certain parties are stating that this crazed individual was done away with and we would like to keep people thinking that. But we need your help locating her." she says.

"Since all the public smearing we've gotten from certain extremists groups, Tylon has gotten a rather bad reputation. One in which we had yet to recover from, despite our best efforts." she points out "And to compound matters, we get attacked by a crazed psychopath for no reason that we can understand."

Espen looked it over and frowned. "..I had no idea Cedrick Darkside was still around, that's troubling. On Cedrick matter, yes its something I can help with at least,:

Isabelle smiles "That's good to know. We appreciate any help you can give us." she says "It simply won't do for the public to learn this woman is still alive and on the loose again" she points out "That's why we've kept quiet about it. However, I think she's got someone with whom she is working with."

"Do you know who this person is?" Regardless of Tylon's shady dealings and his reservations when it came to this matter he could put that aside for Cedrick. Politics was a messy business and sometimes you had to do things you didn't like, that's why he took the job so others wouldn't have to make these hard decisions.

Isabelle shakes her head "Honestly? We're not sure. Our guards only caught glimpse of him and some didn't think they saw anything at all." she says.

"But whoever he is, he's good. He hacked past our server firewalls in seconds." she states "And that's not an easy thing to do." she points out.

She gathers her things up "Whom ever he is, I believe he should be considered extremely dangerous, like our Miss Darkside and like Cedrick Darkside, I don't believe it's a good idea to let him run loose." she says.

Espen nodded a bit. "I'll look into both, but I can't promise anything but I'll certainly try. Thanks for bringing this to my attention."

Isabelle nods with a smile "Not a problem. Now, on to item two..." she pulls out a pen and a node pad "I would like to see about establishing good relations between our two companies. What would I have to do to make that a reality?" she asks.

Espen still wasn't sure about this for a number of reasons, even if he went with his idea of partially going with it so he could get some evidence he might need. That, and it would be a good idea to see Tylon more up close what it looked like on a surface level. "I suppose setting up a time where I can have a tour of Tylon myself would be a start and meeting some of the others who work there."

Isabelle nods with a smile "I'm sure we can arrange a tour. I'll talk with your secretary and we'll put something on the books." she says "In the mean time, if I may ask, what is it, exactly, that Mystic Incorporated does?" she asks.

Espen chuckled a bit. "A bit of everything. But I suppose if you mean some of the more general purpose, cliche as it sounds is to help people. Particularly, I'm still in the business of helping non humans, though I don't just do it because I'm not human myself."

Isabelle holds a hand up "Guilty as charged." she says jokingly "Which brings me to another issue. You and your company have considerable influence and I was wondering what your personal take was on these Scanner Police?" she asks "I, personally, find them to be very intrusive and if I'm honest, a bit offensive." she says.

"I've heard the debates from both sides, and personally I'm a bit more against it even if I understand why its in place. Due to what I am, I have to worry about other things besides just the scanner police."

Espen sipped a bit of his coffee and placed it aside. "Are you non human as well then? Just curious, if so what are you? To be fair I'll share a bit myself; I'm something called a Nosferatu. No idea if you've heard of it." He had a feeling the woman wasn't human from the get go but if so he wasn't sure what.

Isabelle nods "Of course I've heard of them and I knew when coming here that you were one as well." she says "As for myself, I'm a Zoanthrope, naturally." she says, as if that should have been obvious since she worked for Tylon.

She sighs "Still, I wonder if this is an issue that should just be accepted or not or should someone stand up for the rights of the other non Humans?" she asks.

"I'm a bit surprised. I guess my kind is more known then I previously thought on earth. But as for the police, its something I'll be talking to my friend the Arch Bishop Alister about the next time we meet. Before anything is done, something else needs be put down as a comrpomise if done. Just setting things back as they were, I don't see as being realistic at this time. But rest assured I'll be looking more into it." Espen knew that was going to be a headache, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

"Before I forget and before you go," Espen gave Isabelle a card. "In case you ever need to contact me, it has my more private phone number on it. Perhaps we could dicuss other things over dinner some time if you're up to it."

Isabelle takes the card and stands "Oh, our meeting concluded I take it?" she asks "As for a business dinner, I would have to see what my employer says to that. Maybe we could bounce around some ideas."

"That's perfectly fine. It was a pleasure meeting you Isabelle." He went to give her one final hand shake before she left.

Isabelle shakes Espen's hand "It was good meeting you as well, Mister Goldsmith." she says with a smile and starts out "By the way, it's a Mouse. Incase you were wondering." she says with a wink, then heads out.

A mouse? Interesting, he wondered what that would look like since it would be a first. But in the meantime he had business to take care so he continued with his paper work after she left. It was about a few minutes later before he got a call and picked up the phone.

"A bit late for you, is something the matter? I..what are you sure? I..see. Thanks for letting me know.."

Espen hung up the phone feeling a sense of numbness and a large amount of disblief at the suddeness of the news.

Alden had passed away peacefully in his sleep.He needed to get into contact with Alister and Vira's family to let them know.

Isabelle gets outside and pulls out her cell "Hey. It's me. Mister Goldsmith is suspicious, but that's to be expected. However, he Seems receptive to a mutual partnership." she says "I'll keep in touch with updates as they develop." she says, then hangs up and summons a cab.

Espen was still shaken up about what happened and it was hard to concentrate on much of anything else so he decided to retire home a bit early to get some rest. There would be a lot on his plate tomorrow and to do when he went to go deal with the aftermath. He did of course make sure one of his people would go get into contact with Alister before then.