[Sodium_noir] Friday Night Meeting

[Antonia Bifano]

Mara .... Arkana....
a Brace of Brujah

*Joint post*

Arkana walks away from her 'victim' after what had been quite a drink.  She 
was drained from last night, but now felt 10 times better. She lays him to 
rest against a wall sitting on the ground, even placing a booze bottle inhis 
hands, supposedly being crafty, but he was not dead only weakened. She gets 
back onto her bike, and heads for a little spin till she figures out which 
place to hit first, the Anarchs hang out, seek out Sandoval, or get together 
with Wire.....  A parked car looms ahead of her, and Arkana swerves, barely 
missing it.

As Mara heads back to her car, she sees a bike come within inches of hitting 
it before swerving at the last moment.  She goes to it at a fast clip, not 
quite sure what the idiot was going to do next. She'd just bought the car 
and didn't want anything happening to it.

Arkana was not focused on the road, instinctively she brings the bike to a 
screeching halt and looks back, her hands still clutching the handle bars.  
Not more than a couple of metres away she notices a familiar face, and tries 
to get a closer look.

Dismounting, Arkana removes her helmet and reveals who she is to Mara.

Strange coincidence, seeing her here.   Mara thinks to herself.  Then again, 
maybe it wasn't.  Her look of concern melts into something a little more 
friendly, but still, she was a bit puzzled. "Arkana, what are you doing 
here?"

As soon as the woman speaks, Arkana recognizes that it is indeed Raven, and 
was she glad it was a fellow clan mate otherwise there could have been a 
possible quarrel over the car.

Mara is a bit relieved.  The car wasn't harmed, but admittedly, if Arkana 
hadn't been the driver, she might have gone after them, even though the car 
wasn't hurt.

Arkana keeps on closing the gap between the two of them, and places her 
helmet under her arm. "Raven", a smirk is evident on Arkana's face, but 
before she continues she gives a quick once over to their surroundings, 
"Just taking a little drive, you know, let the food settle before running
some......errands, I'm really sorry for doing that before", though a 
mischevous look was evident in her face, she still meant what she said, if 
only to respect Raven, had it been someone else she would have already 
bailed by now.

Mara knew that look that Arkana was giving her well.  She'd seen it on the 
faces of Seattle Anarchs that had gotten busted for doing something 
'naughty' to a Cam.  Respect with a forced apology. Well, better than 
nothing, she supposed.  Mara shrugs and tries to look calm. "No harm, no 
foul." She replies.  "Doing much the same as you actually."

Smiling with somewhat of a wicked grin now, Arkana nods, agreeing with 
Raven, as if saying exactly, no harm no foul, "Cool. So....going anywhere 
interesting tonight?" her hand reaches for her cigarettes and Arkana 
proceeds to light one, cautiously. "Well I got one more mortal errand to
do,then I'm gonna pay Hector a visit.  You going to be there tonight, or do 
you have practice?"  Arkana blows out smoke circles into the dampness of the 
night, half thinking where to head next.  "No, no practice tonight",....she 
pauses and takes another drag, "I'll be giving Hector a visit later for 
sure".

Mara regards Arkana. "Well, then I'm sure I'll catch you then." She was 
trying to get to her next errand. They wouldn't keep the store open forever, 
no matter how large the sale might be.

In between exhaling the smoke out of her lungs, Arkana continues, oblivious 
to the rush Mara was in, "Right now Ihave some pressing questions, I think", 
or a moment she takes her gaze off
Raven, then lifts her head back up, and continues to puff away.

It is then that Raven catches Arkana's next statement. "Questions?" She 
asks. "What sort of..questions?"

"Glad you asked, you seem like the, attentive, informed type", she gestures 
with her free hand, her tone and mannerism polite. "Last night, I received a 
note, not harmful really, I just want to know who sent it".

Mara raises an eyebrow, "A note?  Do you still have it?" Personally, she had 
no idea who might send Arkana a note, and since she was in Gotham, she 
didn't know anyone who could get any impressions off it.  The Prince 
certainly might, but she wasn't ready to ask for his help.

The slightest of smiles forms on Arkana's face, and her expression 
brightens. Already getting ahead in what she needed to figure out this 
night. "I sure do", she brings the bag saddled round her shoulder to the 
front, and chucks her cigarette to the ground extinguishing the red amber 
under her heavy boot, she produces the card between her index and middle 
finger, and hands it to Raven. "I noticed a similarity, a name of sorts, do 
you know any of ours with names as such", she waits for her companion's 
response.

Mara reads the note.  She smiles, recognizing the symbol, as well as the 
names. "Why, I believe you just received well wishes from the Basarabs." She 
replies.  She will regard Arkana, gauging her reaction to this piece of 
information.  She hands the card back to her.  "Have you met them yet?"

The Basarabs eh, Arkana thinks to herself.  How they knew where she'd be did 
not surprise her at all, the Basarabs are after all, well, the Basarabs.  
What did surprise her however was why they were interested in showing their 
support, if that was the reason at all. Arkana looks again at the comely 
brunette before her, "I... no, I havn't met them", after another pause she 
continues, this time
Mara notices the change in her tone, a little stern, "Who's side are they 
on, do you know them enough?"

"I've only spoken with them twice." Mara replies.  "But that's enough for me 
to know they're not on anyone's side, though they have affection for as they 
put it 'their consanguine'.  They are a force onto themselves."

Arkana bites her bottom lip while taking in Mara's words, further closing 
the gap between them she continues, "And I also heard some, medieval type 
chanting, when at a certain venue", she finishes her sentence with a raised 
eyebrow and looks at Raven to gather her reaction.

"You heard chanting, hmm? At a venue? Are you talking about the 
Lachrymatory?" Mara was nothing, if not direct. "Can you tell me what it  
sounded like? I might know someone that could help in that respect."  Two, 
actually, but given the option, she would rather not go back into the
church.

"Yes, after our gig", Arkana smiles her mischievous smile and proceeds to 
fish something out of her bag, "I knew this little thing would come in 
handy", and she shows Mara a small platinum colored tape recorder.

Chanting in the Lachrymatory. Actually, oddly, she could see it.  The place 
definitely had a gothic...or perhaps demonic sort of feel.  She smiles at 
the sight of the tape recorder.  So she wasn't the typical dumb Brujah. 
"Those do come in handy, don't they?"  She replies.  She'd used them to her 
benefit a few times herself.

"Hah, yes indeed they do", Arkana offers in agreement while tucking her 
belongings securely in her bag and letting it swing back behind her, 
adjusting the strap across her chest, "But I suggest we listen to it, 
somewhere in private?"

"Yes, but can it wait an hour or so? I do have to finish this last errand."

Arkana nods,  "Definitely, where and when do you want to meet?"

"I think I wouldn't need more than a couple hours." Mara replies. She tries 
to think of a private place.  Her office, certainly, but she wasn't ready to 
share the location of her haven with a Kindred she barely knew, Brujah or 
not.  However, there were more than a few hotels that rented by the hour.  
It would offer a modicum of privacy, and be close to Bellamy and Panic if 
she needed to talk to either. Then again, a mini storage unit would be a 
very worthwhile investment in the long run. She'd seen a couple of them. 
"I'll meet you out front of Gotham Mini Storage." She replies. "See you 
then."  She waits for Arkana's agreement, then walks back to her car.

Arkana listens carefully to Raven's words, when she's finished, she nods in 
agreement, she starts to grab her helmet, ready to slip it back on. "I'll 
give you between two and half, three hours, I'll wait on the opposite side 
of the road."  As Arkana watches Mara walk away she slips on her helmet and
backs away to return to her bike she revs the engine before getting on then 
heads off.

Deny the Impossible