Omg What Happened

[Caru]

"Errr Mithras went to the Blackguard areas, I imagine, sooo probably a wide area? I actually don't know. Boston's held by the Camarilla, it's where Petrodon's based - he's the Nosferatu Justicar - so the regions around there are Camarilla or heavily disputed. But further out you have pure Blackguard cities. Sorry, I mean the Sword of Caine. Everyone has a different name."

"Ah! I saw those lights! They're beautiful aren't they? I don't miss France for the politics, but it's architecture, gods. And the plays! The outfits people walk around in... It is beautiful. I have to admit, despite the difficulties of being on the road a load, I enjoyed travelling. It's a bit like an ache, or something missing now, without it."

"And, what? No, electric lights aren't prone to doing that. Not on such a wide scale. Beyond the blackout there were... other anomalies, too, but I'm sure I was just imagining them," Caru added casually.

"Certainly, attacking a Prince by collapsing their Elysial ground atop them is a pretty surefire way to try to harm them. Or distract them. Mithras is known for his resilience, both in age and in... er... body... But I don't know what would have happened had he actually been caught under it. At best, maybe it would take a few weeks for him to dig himself out. At worst..."

Caru stared at Valentina a moment, a single eyebrow raised and she opened her mouth, then closed it. Said instead: "But I'm sure that wouldn't happen. The whole ordeal might yet be linked to something else." She shaped the last two words deliberately with her mouth, but her tone didn't change from the conversational lilt. Her expression, slightly, she shifted.

"The alternative theories is all neonate nonsense, because of course the Malkavians in the area get all eerie and strange, just as they do when strange occurances go on. They just get excited, you know. There's nothing unusual about that."

"Which is why you're probably right; maybe someone was trying to attack the Prince, though gods forbid, we don't want more of that since the Blackguards left the country. It would almost be better if it was something else entirely going on around May. Shame."

"Hey, so. I'm going to be in the area for a couple months, tracking down a friend. Do you know where I could stay? Any good hotels you know of that don't cost too much? I'm not impoverished, but I'd like to stay that way," she chuckld. "And carrying money on the road is silly. I don't have a human identity, so banks are out. I prefer to deal in favours, anyway."

[Valentina Audley]

The lights... the outfits... the people! Valentina is struck by a wave of missing Reggie so intense if she'd needed to breathe she would have gasped. She doesn't even try to stop the roll of sadness that washes over her aura, momentarily swamping all else. Yes they'd sort something, but it doesn't stop her wanting him here and now, having him drop on in person (or not) and just generally being part of her life.

Suddenly away how peculiar she must look to Caru, she gives her self a little shake and musters a small smile for her guest. "Paris is certainly the most magical place I have been."

To distract herself she latches on to what Cary is saying about the malkavians. "The clan of the moon eerie? How can you tell the ddifference to normal?" She asks lightly "did they all fall unconscious at the same time or something?" Her tone is light but her expression is perhaps more interested than her tone implies.

"Who are you looking for? And as for hotels, you're probably going to be better off with a lodging house. I believe there is one that isn't too expensive on Henrietta Mews. "

[Caru]

Caru knows what it means to want something; she also knows that when you want something really badly and you can't have it, it doesn't always help to talk about it.

The smile she gives Valentina is gentle, and the the lights in the Ancilla's green eyes are steady.

"Oh? The Malkavians? No, as I say it was all very normal for them, probably some crazy prank. A lot of them started talking gibberish, in a language that didn't make sense to anyone else and it only lasted a few hours. Then some slipped back into it, but most didn't. Clearly a slooow prank."

"I'm looking for someone I lost, a long time ago. The Gangrel here have been godsends, so I'm working with them to find her. Don't worry about it. I don't know if you would have met Evelyn?" Caru's tone dropped, uncharactertistically dark. "Miroslav's abandoned Embrace."

"All right, I'll swing past the Mews. I appreciate that."

"Do you want to go out in a few weeks? I don't know much for leisure in the area, nor do I know how frequently you're in Bath, but I've never especially been linked to Bristol, and although I don't have any bad blood with the Lady Prince there, I am under Mithras' er... jurisdiction... So probably best I don't ruffle the coop. I'll just be over here. I need to stop by and let the Sheriff know, and see if Prince Leroux is willing for me to stay if I feed outside the city."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina is grateful for the restraint in not asking that Caru shows and resolves to have an accidental order she cannot sell in Caru's size as soon as she can arrange it.

"I don't suppose you heard them talking? Enough so that you might recognise it, if not understand it, should you hear it again?" It's a long shot, but Valentina would give quite a lot to know exactly which old language the London Malkavians spoke, And she makes a mental note to ask Dyonisia if any of the Bristol Malks had done similar.

When Caru names Evelyn, Valentina visibly winces.

"Darling, I'm so very sorry" she falters. "Um. As far as I understand it she and the Nosferatu Neonate George, um, they disappeared some time ago and, well, I'm fairly sure I heard they were both gone. As in permanently gone. Though, I hope for your sake I am wrong."

She thinks hard for a moment. "Try the sewers. The current Nosferatu Primogen is Elder Yorick I think. He's decidedly creepy but open to business."

[Caru]

Caru suddenly finds the frayed ends of her cuffs fascinating, and swallows back the rising panic in her chest, tries to ignore the lump in her throat.

"If that's true, then it would be good to have it confirmed," she says, her voice a little rough. She clears her throat. "Thank you, so much. I'll speak to that Primogen, and see if he knows anything. The Gangrel seem to think she didn't meet... final ah..." But she trails off unable to finish.

She licks her lips and looks up, putting on a brighter smile, and clasping together slightly trembling hands. "It would be good to have closure. I'd rather hold onto the hold, for now."

"I'll try the sewers," she says gratefully. "Decidedly creepy?" Caru breaks a tiny smile, and geins to regain her composure. "That sounds fun."

"Oh... right, the language. No it was just gibberish." She says this with a very open, conversational tone, and again catches Valentina's gaze before looking down at the seamstress' hands. "One person said it sounded celtic in origin but everyone knows that's silly."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina, seemingly absentmindedly, plucks a workbasket up and locates needle, thread, cotton and a hoop. She starts to stitch, glancing down occasionally to check her work. She tactfully doesn't bring up Evelyn's possible death or not.

"He, um... Smells... of..." Valentina gives up. "You'll understand when you meet him I'm sure."

An outline is appearing in the hoop as she works, her stitches looping and curling into shape.

"That does sound highly improbable doesn't it darling? All the malkavians speaking an ancient language!" She laughs lightly. "I cannot help but think your neonates must not have enough to do, to come up with such stories!" She smiles innocently at her guest.

Under her hands, the stitches have become a celtic knot. Valentina eyes it critically then snips the thread off and moves to a fresh space on the cloth to begin again. She looks up at Caru solemnly for a long moment.

Then she gives an embarrassed laugh. "My apologies darling, you must forgive me stitching away like this. I've a commission that needs embroidery and I must practise the motifs."

[Caru]

Caru appreciates the silence on the matter, and it shows. Her eyes eventually fall to follow Valentina's needlework, with the heavy look of someone letting themselves relaxing in good company.

"I will?" She blinks up, considering what on earth someone could smell of that would give someone such pause. Faeces, perhaps? He did live in the sewage... Caru supposes Toreador in higher life wouldn't appreciate it much, especially with their senses.

"Oh, goodness," she waves her hands erratically. "They're not my neonates! Don't let my Prince hear anything of that." She laughs nervously. "But you're correct, it's total madness." Her gaze falls again to Valentina's lap, eyeing the celtic design. "Just tall Brthyonic stories."

"Say! I used to love hearing about some of the fiction of these Isles. Just stories, you know. I heard there was a great old king who lived here once. And children used to tell bedtimes stories of his son, Arthur."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina smiles. "As a young child I used to thrill to the tales of Arthur, and Guinevere and those dashing bold knights of the round table. The Kine have a great many stories of him."

Excalibur, she notes to herself, I should look into that. And Morgana perhaps? Threads from the mortal tales I've not seen matched in my learnings so far.

Another celtic twist is forming as she works. Definitely brythonic looking, for anyone who studies such things.

"As Kindred, I've heard of his father a little. Indeed, it's been a growing topic of interest around here recently, so much so that I believe there was some talk about him amongst the Elders in their meeting at Reading." Valentina doesn't feel the need to mention she'd been present when they were talking.

[Caru]

"We had different stories in Sweden, lots of frost giants and big men changing into things they shouldn't." Caru smiled, but it's tired.

"There was talk of the... father, in Reading? Curiouser and curiouser. I suppose even stories are worth discussion among Elders, when nights are long. A little bit of magic can be worth a lot to so many. Some perhaps, might even bank their whole lives on pursuing it. The Tremere can't be the only ones who seek the strange."

"I used to think that if I could bring a little bit more of that lost magic back, to the world, I'd do anything for it. Now... I'm not so sure. Perhaps some things are meant to stay locked away, in dreams."

[Valentina Audley]

"Who are we to query our elders? No doubt they have good reason for all they do and perhaps when we are more experienced, we will understand. I'm sure they have good reason to discuss lost magic." Valentina smiles calmly.

"As for dreams... Do you ever wonder if some dreams are too big, to stay a dream?" Valentina isn't entirely sure what she's asking here, but sometimes you just have to follow your instincts and she's decided now is one of those times. At worst Caru will see her as highly eccentric and at best... well perhaps she'll give Valentina a new angle to persue.