Party Time
| Party Time | |
|---|---|
| Players | West Garfield Paige attends a party and happens upon another Kindred. Faith gives her a brief overview some of the current issues. |
+----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ Somewhere in West Garfield Park, there's an apartment building that is absolutely one of the places to be tonight, if the place one wants to be is the kind of place that includes all sorts of troublemakers, gangsters and other such 'street' criminals. The lower windows of the building are dark, but colored lights strobe from several of the top floor windows, and from outside there's the distorted, buzzing and thumping coming from the building. Inside, the elevators all have signs on them stating to 'Take the Stairs' with hand drawn arrows pointing all the way to the top. At the top are two bigger guys, with black polo shirts on, and stickers with 'Security' hand written on them, making sure only the right people are let in. Of course, it's easy to get in if one knows how, and a bit of supernatural influence goes a long way in dealing with humans. The top floor of the building appears to have just been thrown open, the party running through every apartment. It's been going for some time, and almost no-one really knows -why- the party exists, but then, a lot of people don't need much excuse to make dubious decisions with a variety of substances and other people. Somewhere amongst it all, is Faith. A vampire is easily spotted by another, in her sunglasses and everything, she's found herself a spot in one of the only-slightly quieter apartments, standing in the kitchen and leaning against the bench, a bottle of beer in one hand, as she talks to a skinny white dude who really looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than talking to the Nosferatu. But he's sticking around anyway. +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ There are some people who never have any problem getting into wherever they might want to be, and being blonde and pretty and dressing like you're likely to put out can open a lot of doors that might otherwise be shut. A little bit of supernatural fuckery in the back to seal the deal, and Paige is through the doors with little more than the guards checking out her ass as she steps inside. It's a big party, and even when she doesn't want to stand out, she does, so she's leaning into it with a red minidress and matching heels, a small black clutch tossed over her shoulder as she walks in and mingles with the crowd. So much food, wherever she looks, hungry eyes darting from person to person, a veritable buffet laid out in front of her and she only has to pick what she wants to dine on. She's about to move on past the apartment Faith is in when she passes by the door, and she stops and takes a step back, looking in once more. Brows quirk briefly, and she soon is stepping through the doorway, heading for the kitchen herself and giving her fellow Kindred an upnod with her chin as if she recognizes her already, for the benefit of any onlookers. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Look, Luke, I just don't want to see him throw it all away," Faith is saying in a voice that suggests she's Serious. It's kinda cold, and doesn't really have room for an argument in it. "I put a lot of effort into keeping him alive, and while he still owes me, I'm not gonna let him slip." Luke, for his part, is mostly looking at the ground rather than into the sunglasses Faith wears, nodding. "Look, doc, I'll talk to him, right? He's still not hundred percent, you know? So like, just give us a couple more nights." The hooded woman shakes her head, perhaps about to say something more, but out of the corner of her eye ... she's turning to regard Paige quickly, recognition there and a simple, "Hey." It's like they've always known each other! "Hey Luke, fuck off for a while yeah? I'll find you tomorrow." It's part promise, part threat, but Luke eagerly takes the chance to slip away, though not without staring at Paige for far, far longer than is polite. It leaves the two Kindred more or less alone, and Faith sets the bottle down on the counter top. Faith looks Paige up and down. "Dinner and a show, huh?" She says with a hint of a smirk creeping onto her lips, amusement there in her voice. +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Parties like this always have working girls," Paige says by way of explanation as she sidles right up next to Faith, her voice being able to be dropped low at that. She hadn't minded the look from Luke at all -- she knows, and she returned his look with a slight smirk and a waggle of her brow, her hand lifting up and fingers wiggling playfully as he walked away. "Easiest way to get in is to make them think you're one. Sure fun to watch them trip over themselves, though." Her head turns to look at Faith, then, a little more closely now that they have a moment. And, at this distance, with eyes that know what they're looking at, things are a bit different. "Well, easier for me, anyway," she amends, but there's no venom or disdain in that. She motions to a finger to the man who had just left, asking, "Yours, or free?" A polite thing, but also saying 'I'm respecting the boundaries, I know I'm out of place' without saying it openly, maybe a hint of her Boston accent sneaking in on the word 'yours'. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ She hasn't really moved from her lean, and Faith's arms fold across her chest, that smirk something self-deprecating on her features as she watches Paige's interaction with Luke. "Oh, I can make them trip over themselves,." She notes easily, considering Paige further, "Just for very different reasons." Then she glances towards the door, giving a bit of a shrug. "Not mine, go for whoever you like here, I don't care." A pause. "I haven't seen you around. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of people around, really, but anyway. Who are you?" +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Mm, good to know," Paige says as she takes a look around a few new prospects. "Oh!" she then says when she's called out on her lack of introduction. "I absolutely meant to start with that and then it just slipped my mind. Paige Sanders. South," she says, glancing around a moment to make sure none are listening too closely. There seems to be an ever-wary sense about her. "You?" she wonders back to Faith then. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ There's a similar sense of being on guard and on edge for Faith. Even with polite conversation, it's very hard to ignore the Beast, snarling and snipping within her. "I am Faith Wilson," she says simply, nodding, "North." A glance to the door, and then around the room, and she suggests, "With the music going on out there, I doubt anyone is listening in." +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "You'd think that," Paige says, leaning a little to try to get a better view of the door, but eventually she does let her tension slip out just a little, some sense of temporary safety being found in here, her hand coming to brush a tuft of blonde hair away as she walks over to a kitchen counter, hoisting herself up to sit right on top of it as she considers Faith again. "I'm the newcomer at Satin and Savagery," she says, trusting in that name to carry a bit. "Not a dancer, I do the music there. But I figured a little time spent out and about in the rest of the city wouldn't hurt too much. You're based around here, then?" she asks. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Better to be safe than sorry, I get it," Faith -does- understand, nodding easily, pushing away from the counter, and gesturing, "We can disappear into the bedroom if you want, and close the door, to talk. And no doubt people will talk, too." There's a hint of amusement, even if it doesn't show on her face really. "I am based around here, yes." A pause. "I know Satin and Savagery -- I have some ongoing business with Roman, actually, and visit there from time to time." +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Ah, Roman. The name I've heard, the face I don't know," Paige says, a slight click of her tongue following that before she does lean forward, looking toward the bedroom door, then to Faith with some amusement in her voice and expression both now. "Only a few sentences in, and you're already trying to get me alone in the bedroom. Oh, I do like you, Faith," she says with a laugh. "If you want to drag me in there, by all means," she says as she holds a hand out, her Beast mimicking the motion and inflaming it with a tease, a tantalization, one that may or may not have any intention of being filled -- but even the promise of the fantasy of it is sweet. "What sort of business, if I may ask?" +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Yeah, yeah, when in Rome or something," Faith says with a dismissive gesture, glancing at the offered hand and most pointedly not taking it. She gestures to be followed instead, only pausing briefly at that flicker of the Beast from Paige. "Don't." She says, just one word, quiet and cold. It takes her a moment to compose herself, but she does add, "You heard much about what's going on in the Undercity? Well. Actually, how long have you been in Chicago?" And then she's disappearing into the other room, clearly expecting to be followed. +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ The rebuke has Paige lifting a hand, palm out, and that sensation is gone as quickly as it came. "Habit, thank you for saying something," she says by way of apology, and it's likely true -- especially in a party like this one. Off the counter she goes, heels clicking across kitchen tile for the few steps before they go to one of the bedrooms. "Haven't heard a thing," she says once they're inside, and she's setting her purse on an endtable and leaning against the wall, turning her hand to look over her fingernails and inspect for damage. "I've been here less than a week," she admits. "Still getting the feel of the place." +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Believe me, I do understand," Faith says simply. Once within, the door is closed, and Faith nods slowly, seemingly having forgotten all about the moment, simply moving on without dwelling upon it. A brief glance over the room -- it's small, and it has all the signs of being lived in even if it's part of the party tonight. "Well." Faith offers thoughtfully. "Chicago's a bit weird in my experience. What with the three Princes and all. And the Accords." Even with the volume of the party muted, and knowing no one is outside, she does still keep her voice low anyway, her tone somewhat formal and precise. "But the talk of the town lately is a pack of unAccorded wolves that have taken to living in the undercity, and worshiping fire. And that, is my business with Roman." +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ And similarly, Paige has moved on as well, her thumb now feeling over the tips of her nails as she leans against the wall and listens to the words. Her face changes expression from thoughtful to -- mildly annoyed, perhaps -- to downright alarmed at those last words, that being enough to cause her head to lift up. "Three princes is very strange, and particularly the expectation that I would go to courts that aren't my own for -- some purpose, I suppose? I've no interest in that," she admits, her head shaking briefly. She's matching Faith in tone, but she's definitely dropped some form of act now that they're out of eyesight, her Beast relaxing -- her accent's even stronger. "But werewolves is definitely a problem, and worshiping fire ... didn't this city burn down once already? Not that long ago?" Not that long ago by vampire time, anyway, even if Paige gives all the evidence of being very, very young for an immortal. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ Her hands clasp together before her, and Faith just ... kind of stops moving. Except as needed, to talk, the occasional gesture, she otherwise does a very good impression of a corpse propped upright. "I don't think there is an expectation that you visit the courts of Tillo or Prince Enrico unless you want to. The city is ... full of opportunity." But she gives a small shrug, pausing a moment to collect her thoughts. "Do you know much about spirits?" She wonders. "As I understand it, this pack worships a spirit of that very same fire that burned down Chicago once already, yes. Once, they served Tillo, but now they've decided to betray him. A lot of people are upset." +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ There's still that vibrant imitation of life in Paige, but now it's the essence of the night after a party, mussed hair and exhaustion that still teems with excitement from the fun that had been had, the grace turned down a level. "I had people surprised I didn't go to the last one, so it's good to hear that's not universal," she says with a faint hint of a smile, her eyes lifting to watch Faith more studiously as she nods at the question. "... I do," she says. "Yes. I -- dabble, in those kinds of things." The way she says dabble, well, dabble's likely a downplay. "I'm part of the Circle. Some kind of misguided desire to destroy the city and return things to the way they were before?" she supposes. "Wolves," and that earns a sigh and no further clarification. +----+ Faith +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Ah." Faith nods at the mention of the Circle, and it seems it doesn't surprise her terribly. "In truth, I have no idea what they really want. All I know is Tillo's in trouble because his dogs slipped the leash and are causing trouble for us all, the friendlier wolves are eager to go hunting their ancient enemy, and ..." she trails off and spreads her hands. "There's some opportunity to make some profit. If you can avoid getting torn apart or burned to a crisp. But one problem at a time, I suppose." The thin smile returns, and Faith nods as if to emphasize that point. +----+ Paige +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ "That's always the thing, isn't it? 'If'. Still, I'm willing to make myself useful, and I don't want my new home burning down just yet," Paige says, pushing off the wall. She goes to her purse, gets her phone out, and turns it on with a few taps of her fingers. "Here, my number," she says, reading it out before walking to the door. "I'm going to go find something to eat," she says with a faint smile, hand going to the handle of the door as she uses her other to muss her hair a little, slapping each of her cheeks a couple times to bring out color while she heads out of the room. "Look forward to hearing from you." And then, out the door she goes. | |