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A fantasy/romance/sci-fi rp; scientist's son x experiment.

On the brink of WWIII,
a scientist creates "ℤ",
a flawed experiment that was supposed to be his country's last resort.

A private roleplay between Little I3ird and Phaena

Slender fingers worked rapidly to turn the pages of his father's extensive notes. There were numerous manila folders, filled to their limit with notes and data, labeled mysteriously scattered about the office. The only connection upon the folders was a single letter, usually distinctive and written in thick black ink; the letter "Z". Benjamin's stormy blue-grey eyes scanned page after page all the while his expression crumpled with frustration. It was when he could take no more of his father's disheveled gibberish that he tossed the folder onto the desk. It triggered an avalanche of folders and paper to come cascading to the flooring beneath.

A long sigh winded from his lungs and through his nose, those same fingers rising to pluck his glasses from his face. Using his index and thumb fingers to rub the bridge of his nose, Benjamin's weight pressed back into the office chair. It leaned back, his slender frame slouching into the cushions before the solitary silence was broken at the sound of a knock. Quick to slide his glasses back on, his exhausted stare focused on the door to his office. "Come in." The shy face of his assistant, Elizabeth, peered in through the opening she had made.

"Sorry for interrupting, sir, but... Dr. Hyde wishes to speak with you. He says it's about Z."

Benjamin's expression instantly soured. "Understood. Inform him I will meet with him shortly." Relieved to see Elizabeth nod wordlessly and excuse herself, he slowly stood for him chair. Rolling his shoulders to try and relieve the tension locked in his muscles, he gave one last perturbed glance at his father's work before shaking his head. "Crazy old coot." Locking his office door behind him, the male soon ventured towards the observation room. The room that Z was housed in was under constant surveillance. There was an observation booth hidden by a thick, nearly impenetrable glass-like material. It could be looked through into Z's room, but Z himself couldn't see into the observation area. It was, essentially, an indestructible two-sided mirror.

Upon entering the room, the scientist didn't spare a glance into Z's room. Instead, he focused his attention on his father's long-time colleague, Dr. Hyde. Dr. Hyde and his father (commonly referred to as Dr. King) had gone through college together. Under Dr. King's request, Dr. Hyde was hired on as his assistant. He was a year young than his father, and Benjamin had only brushed paths with him once or twice before being hired on to the project. Giving Dr. Hyde a stiff nod in greeting, Benjamin tucked his hands into his lab coat pocket. "How may I help you, Dr. Hyde?" Benjamin refrained for allowing his distaste for the suspicious character to trickle through into his tone of voice.

Dr. Hyde gave a return nod, clearing his throat as he continued to stare into Z's room where the weapon was being held. "I don't suppose 'help' is the correct term for it, Dr. King... however, I felt the need to... express some concerns about Z." Benjamin was quiet, a brow quirking upward in response. "Ever since your father's... passing... Z has taken an interest in reading and further pursuing knowledge in which I don't feel is really necessary. He was designed as a weapon... a... tool to be utilized to serve the military and our country," he paused as he tried to carefully choose his words. "Your father, brilliant man he may have been, did not see eye to eye with me on the issue. I fear his... investment into the project may have clouded his judgement." Benjamin's expression instantly mimicked stone; emotionless and aloof to the senior's words.

"Get to the point, Dr. Hyde. If you haven't noticed, I'm extremely busy trying to get up to speed on this project, and I don't have time to decode your implications."

Dr. Hyde scowled, hardly appreciating the icy bite to Benjamin's tone. "Certainly, Dr. King. In short, now that you're in charge of Z... I highly advise against allowing that thing to soak up any further unnecessary information. Our goal wasn't to merge him into human society. He is meant to do what he's told, when he's told, and exactly how he was told. Don't make the same mistakes your father did, Benjamin. I can assure you will regret it if you allow that creature to convince you of its supposed humanity." Benjamin remained tense and silent towards the threat, watching as seasoned male gathered his paperwork before excusing himself silent. As the door shut behind him, Benjamin's gaze finally inched towards the solitary figure confined to his room. This was the first time Dr. King's heir laid eyes on the project.

'Why human? Why not an actual weapon, or chemical of sorts? There has to be something I'm missing...'

A slow sigh escaped him, once more his frustration evident in his body language. He would never understand unless he jumped right in... right? He shook his head, and before he could be persuaded by his doubts... he open the hidden door that led into Z's territory. "You must be Z," he began, uncertain on how to address the mysterious experiment. "I will be overseeing your care and progress from now on. I'm sure you're familiar with my father, Dr. King. You may address me as Benjamin." He never did like being called 'Dr. King'. It reminded him far too much of his father, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

The book Zeke was finishing up for the day was fascinating. He wondered if all younger humans felt the way that young Holden Caulfield had felt. The protagonist had been seemingly on the verge of an emotional collapse in the beginning of the novel but towards the end, when his sister was on the merry-go-round, Zeke had felt happy. Happy was the right word, wasn't it? It seemed right to him. He was sure after he finished the book that Holden would be just fine. Now, there was the task of finding another book to read, one he hadn't already read. Creator had made sure that he had plenty but the time spent without him, he had gone through most of what he was given and wanted more.

He had decided on The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes and was about to settle down for another few hours of reading when the door opened. Thinking it was Creator, Zeke jumped up and headed over, only to find a short, unidentified male in his room. What was he doing? How did he know about the place? Before he could ask questions, the male opened his mouth and began rambling. Hearing that he was Creator's son, he stuck out his hand to shake. "Call me Zeke." He paused, "Sorry, you seem nice but... when will Dr. King be returning?"
It was strange being alone for so long but it was even stranger to him that someone other than Creator was in the room with him.

Benjamin's gaze fell to the hand that had jutted out at him. His lips pursed into a tight line, but for the sake of appeasing the stranger he took it and gave it a ginger shake. "Zeke, is it? Is that a name you chose yourself?" A brow rose, unable to help his curiosity of the experiment's apparent intelligence. It was already a difficult task deciding whether or not to treat the other male like a lab rat... or a human being.

As his hand dropped, it returned to his lab coat pocket where he fiddled with his keys. "My father won't be returning," he murmured gently. It was clear already that Zeke had formed a sort of attachment to his father. Whether or not Zeke understood the concept of death was beyond Benjamin, so he treaded the situation carefully. "I see you like to read books." The word 'like' appeared to be an under statement.

Zeke shook his hand with enthusiasm, proud that he had done the proper human greeting. "Ah, yes. Z sounded too plain." He didn't like being called Z. It was a reminder that he was only an experiment and a failed one at that. If he wasn't good enough to be an experiment, created for a purpose, he wanted to try his best to be a good enough human and find a new one. "Benjamin? Would it be alright with you if I called you Ben?" Though he himself didn't like nicknames, he understood that others might feel differently.

"Oh," he replied with a frown, wanting to ask when Creator would return. It had been so long since he had last seen him but he had no calender to keep track of the days. It felt like years. A grin appeared at the mention of books. "Yes, I love books." He held up the Sherlock Holmes book he was planning on reading. "Do you read?" He had to hold off asking more than that, though he had loads of questions for Benjamin. Gesturing towards the sofa, he added, "Please do have a seat."

Zeke was nothing like Benjamin had expected; although he hadn't been sure what to expect. He was chatty and enthusiastic, like a child almost with strangers. Z's openness revealed to Benjamin a bit of the experiment's naivety. "Benjamin, if you would, please." He had never been one for nicknames aside from the one his mother had given him; Benja. Deciding to give into the other male's requests in order to observe him a bit longer, the scientist strolled over to the couch before slowly sinking into the cushions. He brought one leg to cross over the other before pushing his glasses back into place upon the bridge of his nose.

Benjamin gave a nod, "Yes, I read. The book you have in hand is a good one," he paused, scanning over the worn cover. It appeared to be a copy his father must have lent to Zeke. "Tell me a bit about yourself, Zeke, and your life here at the facility." Despite all the paperwork he had read over from Dr. Hyde and his father, Benjamin wanted to hear about Zeke's life from Zeke himself. The first decision the King heir had made was to draw his own conclusions upon beginning this project.

First thoughts on Benjamin? Hm. He seemed nice, extremely professional. Apparently, Creator couldn't be around anymore so his son was stepping in. Zeke thought that was helpful but something felt wrong. He couldn't quite place it. "Benjamin it is then." He sat, unsure if he should mimic the way Benjamin was sitting or not. It was different how he usually sat, straight-backed and tense. Now he wondered if he had been doing it wrong all along, so he crossed his legs as the shorter boy had done and hoped he wouldn't notice.

Placing the book on top of the stack on the coffee table (which he had recently found out that not many people actually used for coffee,) he scooted forward until he was on the edge of the couch. "You've read Sherlock Holmes?" It was one of his favorites and he wondered how popular it was on the outside. As soon as the question was asked, Zeke felt like all the answers left his mind. "It's... well, I can't go outside." It was something he had wanted to do since he realized there was an outside, something outside the plain, white walls of the lab. "I read a lot because there isn't much else to do. I do enjoy it though." He bit his lip, "It's... starting to get boring in here if I'm allowed to say so."

Benjamin gave a nod in response to Zeke's question about Sherlock Holmes. It was one of Benjamin's favorite series to read while growing up. Still, he was hardly comfortable with expressing his own interests to his father's failed experiment. "The world outside is not like the ones you read about in your books, Zeke." His tone was blunt and stale. His gaze peered down at the Sherlock Holmes book; luckily those sort of books gave Zeke a glance into mystery and possible violence in this world. Still, it didn't match history as it was today.

Shaking off the thoughts, Benjamin exhaled through his nose. "Boring, but safe for you." It seemed that Zeke had been allowed to form opinions of his own and grow; a trait Benjamin suspected his father had promoted. "Did Dr. King ever reveal to you why you're here? Why you were... created?" He remembered reading that his father often spoke one on one with Zeke, but they were private files that had been locked away in places only Benjamin could seem to access. He had been holding that over Dr. Hyde's head. The entire reason he was on this project was because of his father and the ties left behind.