Scene Summary: Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best
Chronicle	New York Chronicle
Game Date	September 15, 2015
Real Date	May 10, 2016
Characters	Evelyn Summerfield Ian Kross Marcus Aurelius
Locations	Aurelius Compound
Previous Scene	Stories Are Made to Be Told (Evelyn, Ian) Everything Comes Down to This (Marcus)
Next Scene	One More Day (Evelyn, Ian, Marcus)
Content Warnings	None
Original Scene	Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best is a scene from the New York Chronicle featuring Evelyn Summerfield, Ian Kross, and Marcus Aurelius. It depicts Marcus offering Ian paperwork to sign, only to be stopped by Evelyn.

Scene Summary

Marcus awakens in his bedroom beneath artifical sunlight and gets up, feeling positive about the evening. He takes care of his early evening chores and gets dressed, then leaves for Ian's apartment when he guesses that he is probably awake. He pauses several times to talk to various other people on the way there. At the apartment, he knocks and then calls out, letting himself in and loitering in the living room while he waits for Ian to appear.

In the bedroom, Evelyn wakes up and panics before remembering that she fell asleep at Ian's place, scrambling away from him with her hand over her face. Realizing that Marcus is in the apartment, she shoves at Ian, trying to wake him up, while Ian attempts to stay asleep but eventually awakens. He also panics before realizing that he did not drink the previous night and that the two of them did not have sex. He gets up and goes to the living room, where he demands to know what Marcus wants. Evelyn remains in the bedroom, where she listens to the conversation, still mistrustful of Marcus and his intentions.

Marcus greets him and they sit, Marcus pleased by how well things are going and Ian still groggy and annoyed by Marcus' presence. Marcus hands Ian a sheaf of paperwork, saying that it's what they previously discussed, and asks if Ian would like a pen to sign them. Ian flips through the contracts but is still sleepy and aggravated, agreeing to sign but not quite sure what they contain. Evelyn comes out of the bedroom to stop him, greeting Marcus but taking the paperwork from Ian to look over. She identifies it as a complex contract and is upset that Ian almost signed it without reading it, and tells Marcus that they can return it to him in a few days after they have time to look it over.

Marcus is annoyed, having hoped that Ian would just sign things, but agrees cheerfully and gets up, knowing that it will be much harder to fool Ian with Evelyn helping him. He assumes that they must have spent the night together and winks at them before leaving. Ian objects after he leaves, warning Evelyn that Marcus is dangerous and she has just made him angry, but is also amused by his sire's pique. Evelyn continues trying to work her way through the documents, eventually telling Ian to go back to bed and stop hanging over her. Silently, she realizes that the contract would have required Ian to spend the next ten years in Marcus' service, and thinks that they need to escape from New York soon.

Script Summary

The script summary for this scene pares it down to only dialogue and action directions, allowing for a quicker and easier read through what was actually said and done by the characters. Click on the "Expand" tag to the right to view the entire script summary for this scene.

Father Knows Best Script Summary

Marcus wakes up in the Aurelius Compound and gets up. He turns on the radio and then makes his bed, shaves, showers, and gets dressed. He walks to Ian's apartment, pausing to talk to various people in theall on the way there, and then knocks on the door.

MARCUS: Knock, knock!

He walks inside and pauses in the living room. In the bedroom, Ian wakes up but rolls over and goes back to sleep. Evelyn wakes up and tries to scramble away from Ian, putting a hand over her mouth.

MARCUS: You can't possibly tell me you're still in bed, Ian.

Evelyn shoves Ian and he opens his eyes. Marcus walks around in the living room, straightening the furniture.

EVELYN: Marcus is here.

Ian gets up and goes to the living room. Evelyn tries to fix her hair with her fingers, then listens to their conversation from behind the door.

IAN: What?

Marcus sits down in an armchair and crosses his legs.

MARCUS: Good morning, sleepy head. You wouldn't want the night to start without you.

He pats the couch.

MARCUS: Come on, son. Take a seat. I want to go over a few things.

Ian scowls and flops down on the couch. He crosses his arms.

IAN: What?

Marcus chuckles.

MARCUS: Eloquent as always. Don't worry, I've got it all taken care of.

He grabs his satchel from beside the chair and removes several papers.

MARCUS: So I've taken the liberty of writing everything up for us. I's dotted, T's crossed, all that.

He hands the paperwork to Ian, who snatches and flips through it.

MARCUS: It's just what we talked about before. Need a pen?

Ian groans.

IAN: Fine. Whatever. Give me a pen.

Evelyn hurries into the living room.

EVELYN: Hello Marcus. Let me see that.

IAN: Wait... What?

She sits down beside Ian and takes the contracts from him, reading the first few pages. Marcus drums on the arm of the chair with his fingers.

EVELYN: So I think we can get back to you in a few days with this. How does that sound?

MARCUS: That sounds wonderful.

He stands and straightens his suit.

MARCUS: I'll leave you two to your evening. Have fun.

He winks and leaves. Ian watches him leave, then turns back to Evelyn.

IAN: What're you snatching things for? You can't just do that, Evie. You can't just— Marcus isn't just going to let this lie. You've just pissed him off is all.

He suddenly smiles.

IAN: So, thanks for that, I guess. But still. Stop snatching things. It's rude.

EVELYN: I wasn't snatching.

She continues to read the paperwork for several minutes.

EVELYN: I'm trying to read. Go back to bed.

Trivia

• Marcus intentionally arrives to ask Ian to sign things as soon as he wakes up, knowing that Ian wakes slowly and is likely to be irritable and confused.
  
  
• Evelyn has a law degree, a fact that prompts her to stop Ian from signing an unknown contract and forces Marcus to re-strategize now that she is involved.