Starring:
Summary: Rianna has a meeting with the Senator, but not all is well or going to plan.
Date It Happened: January 18th, 2008
Seed of Doubt
Nathan Petrelli's New York Office
It was late in the evening, a time for folks with agendas best left unseen to the eyes of others to make their moves. New York was a wonderful place for things such as that, and Manhattan watched silently as its citizens partied and cajoled their Saturday evening away. Rianna entered the building holding the newly-elected Senator's office along with a man trailing behind her. Her hair kept in a semi-fashionable hat and eyes hidden by sunglasses, the man closes an umbrella shielding her slightly from the breeze carrying a light snow from the outside.
Obviously going to be stopped by security detail, Rianna allows herself and her guard to be frisked by Senator Petrelli's men. Afterward, she says, "Now that we've dispensed with pleasantries, inform the senator that Mrs. Rockford-Johannsen is here to see him.". Then… she waits silently.
It doesn't take too long - Senator-elect Petrelli doesn't have many commitments at this hour, and so after a minute of notification, Rianna is invited into the catacombs of the office building, up an elevator and into office space that seems corporate, if expensive. She's invited into the office directly, a lavishly furnished room that doesn't seem completely used - he has such a space in Washington, after all - but it has all the touches of an office. A desk with pictures of his family, a phone but no computer set up, and the curtains parted enough to look out onto a nighttime New York City.
Logan is standing by the window, his suit jacket shed, a crisp white shirt and a dark blue silk tie revealed instead, along with black slacks and polished shoes. He turns to her, a quick look up and down, then a tilt of his head. His posture is guarded, but his smile is polite. "Come in."
Rianna smiles at him and sits down in an open seat on the client side of Nathan's desk. "Well, well…", she says, taking off her hat and glasses and fixing her eyes upon him in a manner that might be somewhat uncomfortable. "Senator Nathan Petrelli.", she says, the words coming slowly off her lips. "It is a pleasure to see that certain… influences I looked into were successful in your campaign."
She places her hat and sunglasses neatly in her lap, crossing her legs. "You are an inspiration to your people, Nathan, and you look well. How are you feeling?"
Logan moves to his side of the desk, tugging the more substantial, comfier office chair out to sit down. "I'm feeling fine," he says, setting to sit down and leaning back with a serene smile. "And yeah, it certainly did pay off. Can't say I didn't think we were out in the weeds for a few weeks, there, what with my unexpected illness, but miracles happen." Unexpected landslides within the last day of election certainly does count as a miracle in most books. He moves a hand towards his intercom in a gesture, accompanied with the question, "Would you like anything? Coffee, a drink?"
"Well, I can say that I am honestly pleased to see that things ended on a positive note.", she says with a smile, her eyes still locked on him. "Now that the messy business of an off-season election is out of the way, we can work on making sure you are reaffirmed in the general election and on certain… other things.", she continues. "I would be fine with some water, please."
He pushes a button on the intercom, a murmur of a female voice on the other end which Logan mostly interrupts by saying, "A glass of water, please, thanks," which gets a "certainly" in response, before the communication is cut out once more. "What others things would that be?" His tone is pleasant and he seems very much to be the polite political ally Rianna is familiar with, but knowledge is keeping certain things quiet in his head, her offputting gaze met with his own.
"Small moves, Senator.", she says politely. "Small moves. We all know that lasting change is not made with revolutionary leaps, but by small actions that disturb the surface of the pond and ripple outward.", she says, her tone also pleasant and soft. However, her gaze becomes even more uncomfortable as she senses a resistance from him. And then, her gaze looks down towards the desk. "Senator, we had an agreement, you and I. Honesty is the best policy. I cannot help you or advise you if you keep things to yourself, and that is what I am, Nathan. An advisor. A resource.", she says, slipping into silence as the water is brought in. She offers a smile to the woman, and waits until she leaves to turn her head towards her man, who silently ensures the door is shut. "I cannot use you to gain my own ends if we cannot work together, and that is why I am allowing you to use me. You have no better friend in this world than someone who knows the will of those who oppose you, Senator."
There is the slightest lift of a smile when she acknowledges the resistance met. While people might generally only have a faint idea as to how to even begin to block telepathic prying, Logan is a little more adept in the matters of the subconscious - considering he is in fact subconscious himself. Or was. The mental block doesn't budge, as futile, ultimately, as it might be. "You've been a phenomenal ally, Rianna," he says. "And you'll continue to be so, and me to you. I wouldn't be here," a hand gesture to indicate his expansive office, "if it wasn't for your efforts to make the election happen. So. Use me at will."
Rianna looks at him for a moment with her head tilted curiously. "Very well, Senator. As it stands, I have no intentions on /using/ you just yet, and I assure you that when the time comes that I require your position of power, it will be in the best interests of our kind.", she says, lifting a hand to straighten an out-of-place strand of hair. "Now that you are the Senator, it is my role and that of the Foundation to attain answers you require, assistance you might not otherwise receive without my subtle pressure, to remove obstacles standing in your way. I am not the Mafia, nor am I Primatech by any stretch of the imagination, but I have my ways, and they are generally effective.", she says, trailing off. She looks at him strangely again, but the look is fleeting at best.
"Tell me, Nathan Petrelli. How may I assist you?"
There's a short bit of silence, a few thoughts leaking through— there's a trick to it, thinking so quick that the words themselves don't actually create sentences in his head to be detected, but it's next to impossible. …vacancies by the time the general election rolls around… couldn't hurt but which one- "How do you think you'd go about ensuring me a place on the committee of the Homeland Security?" he asks, abruptly, speaking it out loud before his thoughts can betray and get ahead of him. "It might be more than a little outside your scope of things all by yourself but I could certainly use your assistance."
"Homeland Security?", she responds, just as abruptly. It would be quite obvious that she was a bit taken back by the topic. "It would not be something that I could achieve simply by myself, but with the wheels greased in the right direction, it can happen. But… why Homeland Security, Nathan?", she asks.
"Correct. Small moves, like you say," Logan says, a little dismissive. "It would be an effort on both our parts, but that is a goal that could always use a little support, don't you think?" His feet braced against the floor shift a little, making his office chair shift restlessly on its axle in a fraction of a turn, casual as he casts her a mildly detached smile. "The senate Homeland Security committee will ultimately do well to have someone like me making a few calls, don't you think? I plan to be a step ahead of the game when it comes to America's future, and I want to ensure things go well. Membership on that committee seems like a good card to have."
"Homeland Security is an agency created to give the government the ability to exercise its power and influence more freely and publicly, Senator.", she says slowly and deliberately. It's apparent that she is choosing her words carefully. "I am more than confident that you would be a welcome addition to the committee.", she adds, seeming to warm up to the idea on the outside. She glances up at Nathan for a moment before continuing, her eyes on him. "I have a few contacts that I can rouse. This can be a project we can attain as easily through political channels as well as subtle ones."
The mind works on multiple levels and surface thoughts do not always reveal the true nature of a person's thoughts. By delving past non-essential surface thoughts and the efforts of the aware to shield their true thoughts Rianna can attempt to reach into the deeper parts of the mind to determine motivations and goals by piercing mental defenses and scouring thoughts and recent memories. Searching requires a successful Connection and a roll of Rianna's Mental Search against a passive subject with only an AVERAGE success needed. Further grades of success give access to more subconscious thoughts and deeper memories. Those actively resisting will counter with Willpower + Shiny -or- Defensive Evolved Power. Success goes the higher roll. Grades of success will possibly negate further defense in the scene or counter-actively provide defense against Telepathy.
"Then we're on the same page," Logan says, with a diplomatic smile. "I don't expect every move I make to be headed by your influence, but every little bit helps, as they say." And it's about then that he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, smile vanishing for a few moments and previously steepled hands coming to rest instead on the edge of his desk. But then it has to be too late, however.
…ideal future needs that power, that influence, but ultimately this is the only way to make sure— need to be on the front line when things start to go wrong, they'll always go wrong, it always ends in a revolution— keep one foot in Pinehearst's camp and with a stake in Homeland Security, make sure we get what we deserve— get what I deserve-
Two helixes twine together, not to make the universal symbol of DNA, not quite, but a logo, a statue out front a building, a fleeting memory of admiration, and hospital equipment whirs and beeps off white walls—
And all through these fleeting memories and ideas, there's almost a seam of disruption, a pointed silence, a flaw in the usual span of someone's mind. Logan's hand drifts towards his phone, places on it, but doesn't pick it up or dial anything. He attempts a smile, one filled with uncertainty, but he certainly tries. "Was that all? If you need anything, if your contacts are hard to get a hold of, I can see what I can do."
Rianna's eyes widen, and a split second later, her man is moving towards her when she brings up a hand, bringing him to a halt. But the look is there, and her gaze flashes from hesitant to cold. "You're not thinking in the way of a man who will bring change gradually.", she whispers. "Senator, I cannot help you if you keep secrets from me, and I cannot allow you your secrets at the cost of the future. Something has happened to you."
No more smile at all, his own gaze growing cool and steely as he regards her. After a moment of consideration, he draws that hand off the phone, fingers linking together. "You shouldn't be monitoring how I'm thinking," Logan says, firmly and maybe a little harshly. "I thought we had an agreement, Rianna. We want the same thing, that hasn't changed. We have the same future in mind. Nothing whatsoever has happened to me." And even harsher, his internal voice impulsively demands, Get out of my head.
There is a moment of silence after his demand. She turns her head slightly towards her hired man, who offers her coat to her. "We did have an agreement, Senator. No secrets.", she says after a few moments. "I have devoted my entire life towards the future for our kind, and I will not allow you to stand in the way of natural progression to get whatever it is you believe you deserve. I will give you a few days to think upon it.", she says, slipping her arms into the coat and turning towards the door. She pauses for a moment, turning her head back towards him. "My specialty may not be physical, Senator, but I guarantee that you don't want to cross me. I don't know what exactly has transpired since the last time we talked, but I do not wander blindly into the unknown. Make the right choice, Nathan. Allow me to help you."
Logan's gaze slants away from her at the words 'you believe you deserve', knowing a moment of simmering resentment that he can't entirely mask. But he attempts to offer her a wan smile as she pauses by the door, perhaps not as fearful of her thinly veiled warning and threat as he should be. As if this was a misunderstanding. "It's been a rough week," he says. "We'll schedule another meeting soon and I'll be thinking a little clearer. I don't want to be anything but honest with you, Rianna."
"Nathan.", she says in farewell as she and her man leave through the door. He turns around to shut the door as her shoes tap evenly as she walks away, and then he is gone too.