A Brave Face
14th of March 2007 A.D.
"I know it's been a long day but we still have a lot to talk about, much of it the dearest sort of secret. I would like to invite you to my place of power to discuss them. Safe passage both ways and guest right while you're there, my word on it." As soon as the words come out of your mouth his eyes harden. One of the Venatori would know enough not to travel to another's place of power. Still you have to try: "Briefly meeting their eyes in turn, she continued. "I remember when I started out, fumbling in the dark surrounded by a world that I didn't - and still don't - quite fit into. We don't know each other well yet, but we are connected..."
That seems to land and for a moment you have cause to hope that in some way he feels the kinship that you are only now starting to unravel, the one that binds you to him and both to the golden spark that burns at the heart of the idol in Vegas. If it had been just the two of you perhaps you could have sold it, but there's someone else on this treck, two of them and one's in a box to guard from the sun. Karolina has questions, and rage... oh so much rage at what had been done to her and to her father. Even your word which for those who know the supernatural is sacrosanct is worth as much as the word of a strange glowing girl usually is.
"Blind fool," Usum whispers in your mind, contempt dripping from the word and you do your best to shush him.
"We have to pass though the other world regardless to get back to civilization," you point out.
"Then let us speak in civilization, yes?" comes her rushed almost rythmic answer.
That's just the accent probably... mostly.
"If we are going to speak together it should be somwhere neutral yes?"
You sigh. This is going to be complicated.
***
Offices of Chicago Synthetics, Chicago
"Hmm..." Isabela hummed as she looked over the man who had been Valentin Romero. It had quickly become obvious that you would not be able to convince the man to stay in the Courts for talks, not until he had seen the other two well situated and Azhi Dhaka had wanted to talk in a neutral location, which meant out in public which meant everyone had to be at least presentable enough not to cause a scene. "What should I be calling you."
"Doctor..." He cleared his throat. "Doctor will do."
"Well I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there's no makeup
I know of that can make you look... above question. The good news is it's just the face, not the way you move and you don't have the..." Her eyes go a little our of focus. "Aura, not even as much as Molly does. So Doctor..." she pulls out a domino mask from under the counter, black and silver, the kind of thing some too-serious suit dragged into a Halloween party might wear. "That should do you."
You raise an eyebrow, the question not needing to be asked aloud:
Really?
She shrugs: "I'm a vampire not a miracle worker."
Out of the corner of your eye you see the professor twitch at the word. In the hour and a half since you had come back from Antarctica you had learned from the normally voluble man that this was to be his last expedition to the bottom of the world before age and health closed that door forever. Indeed it might have been that his present employers had been intentionally breaking best practices to allow him to come along at all. Karolina insists that it's because 'those monsters' had a darker plans from the start, but you suspect it was more callousness than fishing for sacrifices. Either way for all the ways someone could have dealt with the shock of all this incandescent anger was one of the more productive as long as there aren't any fomori in arm's reach at least. One got the sense the only reasons she was there rather than enjoying tenure at one of Warsaw's premier universities was to keep her father out of trouble.
There was definitely something between the newest Chosen of the Grave and her though the more you watch it the more convinced you are that it's not the romantic entanglement so easy to assume. It almost felt like guilt, though older than an hour ago.
The sun had thankfully gone down while you have been wandering across accursed mountains on the other side of the world so it's in the company of one dead man and one only looking so under his mask that you head out to meet Mac.
Who do you bring to this meeting with you
[] Lydia, as your friend and one who aids the dead
[] Harry as someone who has mastered Essence by another path
[] Tiffany in case you need social back-up
[] Olivia, it might be helpful to have a critical perspective on the supernatural world when you introduce it
[] The Knights, they are Exalted too and what they lack in power they more than make up for in experience
[] Kristin she might not be an Exalt, but she speaks for one and would be able to give an account of how they managed to keep themsleves safe all this time
[] Write in
OOC: As good as your social rolls are there are limits to how far you can push people. That they are all still talking focused and moving forward is a testament to how skilled Molly is. These people have has a lot of shocks in the last few days. 
