[Sodium_noir] Saturday Night - While the Regent's Away

[Substitute Storyteller]

Elizabeth James
Tremere 

Once again, Elizabeth rises before the other kindred
in the Chantry.  It were Saturday eve and she should
begin cleaning the floors, lest she be further
punished for not setting to the task straightaway.  
She finds one of the mortal servants, and the man is
surprised to see her before sunset.  "Prithee, wouldst
thou tell me where I might find a mop and bucket?"  

The man leads Elizabeth to the small broom closet. 
She looks to him.  "Gramercy."  She offers.  She looks
at the bottles of chemicals.  One of them appeared to
be for use upon floors, given that there was a picture
of the mop upon it.  What had happened to simply using
a broom to sweep the floors clean?  

With the cleaning implements in hand, Elizabeth goes
to the first room. She begins by sweeping, moving
widdershins about the room.   She is humming to
herself, keeping her mind occupied as her body.  After
a while, she hears voices.  The Regent and Apprentice
Camille.  She notes.  She uses her Auspex, and catches
a glimpse of the pair in their finery.  They were
going somewhere this night, it did seem.   And she was
to remain.  Well, the Chantry floors were in dire need
of cleaning, and it was a task she did not mind
performing.   

Giger wakes and dresses, heading to Camille’s room. 
He is stopped by one of the servants and told that
Montenegro and Camille had fled the Chantry and that
it would likely be late when they returned.  Well, as
far as he was concerned, the punishment began this
evening.  If Camille was not present, that was not his
problem.  He decides then to seek out Elizabeth.  She
had to clean the floors, but she could certainly keep
him company while he cataloged the library.   

Giger finds Elizabeth in the formal dining room.  The
table had been set with a cloth of fine lace with
silver interwoven into the fabric, and a heavy silver
candelabra drew the eye to it.  Seven chairs of dark
oak sat around it, leaving an empty spot at one side. 
It was probably for some formal dinner that would
never be held, or perhaps to celebrate the arrival of
three more Apprentices?  Montenegro had not mentioned
the possibility of more apprentices arriving, but then
he did not need to.        

James’ tone is soft.  He only wished to catch her
attention, not command it.  "Elizabeth."  He opts for
the less formal greeting.  As a senior apprentice, he
was permitted to address her in that manner, and he
preferred familiarity to formality.  

Elizabeth turns to face him.  She does not lower her
head.  "Yes?"  She replies.   

"The floor in the ballroom needs to be cleaned.  Would
you care to share your misery with me?"    

Elizabeth looks at Giger.  Why would he, a more senior
apprentice wish her company, unless he intended to set
some task upon her?  But even so, with Montenegro and
Camille gone, he was the only one of her Clanmates
within the Chantry walls tonight.  "If you do not in
truth mind this?"  Elizabeth goes to collect the
cleaning supplies.  The large room would take some
time to clean, especially since there were a great
deal of boxes left unpacked.   Mayhap they could spend
some time unpacking them.  

Giger smiles as Elizabeth follows him into the
ballroom.  When the Regent was away, the Apprentices
could play, so to speak.  

The ballroom was still much as they had left it after
concluding the ritual, though the materials they had
used were gone.  Consumed by the ritual, or perhaps
simply cleaned away?  He liked to believe the
magickal, rather than the mundane explanation.  Giger
goes to the books.  This time he had brought a wonder
of modern technological wizardry, namely the portable
computer called a laptop.  It was a most useful tool,
allowing one to type the titles in and sort them into
some sort of coherent order that facilitated being
able to find them again.   

He begins to remove books from the boxes.  He stacks
them with the spines facing him, and begins to enter
them into the laptop.  For now, he would only enter
the titles of the books.  Notes on condition, subject
and contents could be done later.  In fact, given the
occurrence of certain books in Tremere libraries, many
of these books already had that information contained
in the laptop.      

As Giger works, he continues to watch Elizabeth.  She
was systematic in her method of cleaning the floors. 
Sweep first, then mop, working only a section at a
time.  Obviously, she had experience with such tasks. 
No wonder then, that she accepted the punishment
without complaint.  

But James would not let the night pass with silence. 
"Elizabeth, the ankh you wear is quite lovely
very
unusual.  Where did you get it?" 

"It were a gift from my Sire."  Elizabeth replies. 
She then lowers her head.  

Her Sire?  Thomas Raleigh, Giger recalls.  He had died
a few years back.  A hunter had set fire to the
Canterbury Chantry, killing Raleigh and all his
Childer.  All save one, evidently.  "Your Sire was
very generous."  He says, stacking up a second pile of
books to enter.  

Once again, Elizabeth goes quiet.  She had learned the
speak until spoken rule quite well.  Perhaps too well.
 Some apprentices were quite cruel to those of lower
rank.  Elizabeth, it seemed had likely suffered under
such predations, as much or perhaps more than he had. 
 

This was going to be a long night if the lady is not
of a mood to talk.  Giger muses silently as he
continues to work his way through the collection.  It
seemed to be going fast this time, for he had the
luxury of a library that had yet to be assembled, so
there was no need to keep it in a particular order.
While he works Giger wonders where the Regent had
stashed his keys, and if they were readily found.  He
had been working on a ritual of that nature, though
its true application was for lost books.  Tonight
could be a great time to test out the ritual.  It
wasn't lengthy, and the components should be readily
available.        


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