Dinner was skipped as Carl sat down for a few minutes before getting up again and pretending like food was never prepared. Shuffled over to a desk, grabbed something from a drawer underneath and then turned to look at the crowd. Those big ancient eyes settled upon her, skipping him, then settling upon three other people that showed up a few minutes after them. One was a big tall person hidden inside an even bigger overcoat. The second was an asian lady with carefully prepared makeup that accentuated her natural beauty. High heels, stockings, and a very loose but oversized sweater made her the center of attention for everyone except Henry. Had a name tag hanging from the neck revealing her name, Ava, and her occupation, Chief Executive Officer at some company called Nature's Mark. Final person had a hat, sunglasses, and wore a mask making identification impossible.
Carl stared at Ava for too long because Blair slapped him. He coughed in embarrassment before explaining the agenda.
"Megan, Michael, Ava, and our friend over there. You're here on invitation by Blair because she believed you were sincere. Please continue proving yourselves correct. You sent us your materials in advance and you're now here to give us a demonstration. Megan, you've bought a friend so if you need him to help you, feel free"
Michael and the unknown person looked at him. Maybe they were surprised that they could bring help themselves. They didn't though so they looked at him longer then expected. Actually, he didn't know how long or how little the unknown person was looking at him for. Ava completely ignored him as though nothing besides Blair was relevant. On closer look, Ava didn't bother with any of the men except for Carl and Blair's other male friend. This was a strong woman who fought bad men in the past. Won or at least didn't suffer a disadvantage. Her outfit was seemingly seductive but the whole demeanor suggested that anybody who approached this female fatale was asking for it. Michael shifted around awkwardly looking at her and there was an intense breathing coming from the unknown when the front of the coat was facing Ava. There was continued breathing that suggested more peeking.
Ava completely ignored all of it and mostly focused on Blair and Carl.
"Who shall be the first?"
Blair asked nice and clear and Megan was the first to go up. The other three didn't mind so she called for him to help her construct everything. He walked up and took a look at what he had to assemble. There was a laptop and a flash drive. She put it in and opened up various files. There were charts, essays, pictures, recommendations from college professors regarding assignments, and videos of her speaking about certain topics. He took a second look after she hugged his arm. He knew nothing about engineering but he understood reactions. Chemical and human reactions. He learned one and picked up the other recently. What he saw was a method to reliably generate reusable energy in any condition. It relied on water and its adaptable nature. There would be a perpetual cycle where water was recycled instead of being discarded. The more he read, the more he understood why Blair was so interested in the project.
The question now was, would she be undercut at some point or was there a genuine interest in a mentorship or even partnership? If her only value was to increase Blair's own net worth, then he would put a different twist on the story. If Blair was interested in her growth, then he would be passive about Blair's own ambitions.
He made some modifications and then passed it over to her. She was excited but nervous. Kept looking at him and thus shifted the spotlight as well. Carl indicated that he should go up there to help present but he didn't react at all. Carl was already angry at him and since it was impossible to get angrier, said nothing.
"Hello Blair. Mrs. At the previous Gala, I introduced my idea for renewable energy to you. Walking through the garden with you, I had a better understanding of how useful it would be to you. Water is a really huge resource covering ninety seven percent of the world. It is more abundant then any other resource on the planet so it makes sense that we would focus on it at some point. Most of it is undrinkable until we purify it but my project just relies on water and some of its alternate states"
As she spoke, she cycled through the pictures, sources, and notes she had made to support her points. It was concise, to the point, and very well articulated. She had a charming voice that made it difficult to take bias against her. Even Carl and the other three guests were captivated. Blair herself seemed distracted, constantly looking back at the garden and sparing very little of her energy on the actual presentation. He noticed all this and also noticed how Ava was really interested in it. Made notes about it and even drew little pictures.
Are Fairytales Real?
He had no idea why he thought that. It was his last project as a junior and he worked on it through the summer. It shattered, mixed with other experiments, and was currently flowing through his blood. The intent behind it was that it turned thoughts into reality. Naturally, there was no physical way of creating such a miracle ability. But if multiple experiments born from crazy ideas tainted each other… then it was harder to foresee what would happen.
So what if… instead of Blair providing the opportunity, connection, and wealth that she needed, Ava did? His phone and a quick web search told him almost nothing. Ava was effectively a ghost. A ghost could be grabbed if fairy tales were real. He thought about Megan and all the things that made her 'perfect'. He did this while intensely focusing on Ava. The girl shivered and looked around before turning and locking gazes with him. She shivered again and confirmed it was he who gave her that oppressive feeling. Not counting Megan, she would be the perfect girl in the room.
Ava was curious about the guy who could return her gaze and reverse its effect on her. She felt like she had been seen through, like he figured out that she wasn't really here for Blair. That's all he could read from her before his focus lapsed. Megan was calling out for him and laughing. The unknown subject, or unsub as Henry Ruthless called them, had unknowingly walked up to her and presented an offer from Ava. Blair was no longer in the room. Had stood up and walked off somewhere, uncaring about the whole thing. Carl was confused, struggling to figure out what his role was. He had already seen Blair exit the front door and walk to her garden. Something had happened and was more important than this.