Ariana had called Martha the previous evening to see if she would like to accompany her to the Community Theatre Center's performance of Young Frankenstein. Ariana would be meeting her there a little before, so they could catch up and chat before the performance.

Wearing a lavender blouse and knee length grey tweed skirt with simple grey matching lower heels, Ariana was sitting on a bench outside enjoying the beautiful evening outside while she waited for Martha.

Martha had to park up her bicycle nearby. Locking it and checking it was secure, she undid her helmet and hi-vi tunic. Briefly stretched her arms above her head and shook the creases out of her school uniform: brushing out her long gymslip and taking her boater out of the backpack. Applying it neatly to her head. Smiling, she put her helmet and tunic into her cheap backpack and carefully pulled out the bunch of flowers she had placed there earlier. Limping badly, without the benefit of her cane, she slung the small backpack over one shoulder and made her way to join Ariana...all smiles and limping skips to meet her friend. Bunch of flowers in one hand.

Ariana as she saw Martha approaching. She was a bit puzzled about the flowers in her hand, but did not show any sign of this. "Good evening, Miss Villiers. How are you this lovely evening?"

"Good evening, miss! I am very well this evening, thank you very kindly for asking! I do hope you are well too! Might I say...you look very well!" she sneaks a brief study of Ariana's sleek legs and shoes before looking up to the night sky, as if to appraise it: she seems to find herself in agreement with Ariana. Turning with a limping skip, she offers the bunch of colourful blooms and flowers to Ariana. "I saw these, ma'am...I do hope you might enjoy them!" she offers them with a small, friendly, curtsey and smile.

"Thank you, Miss Villiers." Ariana took the flowers and smelled them. "To what do I owe this treat?" She asked, still smiling. "They are quite lovely. I hope you do not mind, I am going to ask Felix to bring the car around so I put them in there for now. I do need to take notes for the show." She said in a pleasant voice.

Martha nods in agreement, seeing nothing amiss in Felix helping with the flowers. "Oh...well, it is Easter...and, I just that I'd like to share them with a dear friend!" Martha enthused, all wide eyed...missing her cane, she leaned a little and rubbed hard at her stiff and crippled thigh. "I am very much looking forward to this evening, ma'am! I saw your review of Gypsy's...very fine, if I may say!"

"Oh well that is very thoughtful of you." Ariana slipped her phone out of her purse and sent a text to Felix. "You are welcome to sit on the bench, we have plenty of time before the show begins." She said as she motioned to the bench. "Gypsy's, that was a fun evening. Thank you. I spoke to Miss Romanov after everyone left. How did the rest of your evening go?"

Martha does indeed elect to sit. Taking care to be very modest about it, she struggles to straighten her leg out, a shy smile of embarrassment as does so and she sits next to Ariana, close, but not too close. "Oh...my evening went very well. I spoke with the author...we agreed to meet again soon! He and I have a plan to investigate some places around the city - hopefully to help with his inspirations and ideas!" Martha takes a moment to smile and play with one of her twin tail bunches. "What else have you been up to, ma'am, if I may ask? All busy with work?"

Ariana smiles at her mention of Patrick. "Oh I am glad to see your chat with Mr. Donovan went well. So, is that a date, so to speak?" She smiled with encouragement. "Part of the reason we are here Miss Villiers, all I seem to do is work." She laughed.

"A date?" Martha seems to ponder that a moment, giggles shyly, her mind was turning over something Ariana had said a few moments earlier; it gets her thinking..."I shouldn't know, ma'am. One of the last gentleman I dated was..." she leans close to confide, "...well, far be it for me to name names, as that would be dreadfully indiscreet, but he was very much at home wearing my longer gowns and bedclothes! We, that is to say, all the Club and it's pals would often drink wine in the sunshine...read poetry...discuss our studies...play the piano, ofttimes we'd play dress up..." she giggles, quite bashful and scandalised, "He is...was...much taller than I, you see...much the wealthier too...so he'd only need to borrow something of mine if it amused him!" and here she mimes tall and high with wide jollity and expressive hand gestures, "...well, we were all at university and it was all jolly good harmless enough fun and - looking back upon those long afternoons and evenings - they were possibly strange and unconsciously stimulated experiments in the nature of Self and the perceptions of sex and gender! Though, now I think upon it, I daresay we shouldn't even really properly call those amusing and furtive assignations and larks 'dates.'" wide eyed, tiny Martha is quite lost by her recollection, her hands return to rubbing very hard at her stiff knee and she smiles meekly to Ariana.

Ariana listened while petite Mehket described the man who sounded very much like Louie. She was hopeful for Martha though. "I hope your past experience is not a deterrent for the future. He was a rather amusing and interesting man. It was part of the reason I left the conversation. I did not want an opportunity for you to talk to Mr. Donovan be put off by myself." She smiled still with encouragement. "Where do you plan on investigating, and what is the subject matter?"

Martha rubbed harder at her stiff and crippled knee as she watched Ariana talk...offering a sincere smile. "You are kind to me!" Martha replied, eager and thinking about how thoughtful Ariana had been to help with meeting Patrick. "I...that is to say, Patrick and I, are considering investigating a theatre...the Sacramento Theatre Company over on H Street, in fact." her eyes widen with excitement and she rubs harder at her led, "Imagine! Ghost hunting! In a theatre!"

Smiling at Martha's excitement she added. "That sounds a lot like a Phantom of the Opera type of mystery. That should be quite the fun experience. I have been there a few times for performances the theatre is quite lovely. It would be interesting to know if it was indeed haunted. As intriguing as it sounds, I am not familiar with ghost hunting myself." Ariana did not pay much mind to Martha's leg as much as she did upon their first few meetings. She glanced at her watch only to keep track of the time before the show. "Miss Villiers, aside from Mr. Donovan, if I may ask, are there any others that have asked for your company?" She smiled, laughed a little and then added, "Other than myself of course." Her hope for the vivacious Mehket was perhaps a reflection of the hope that she had, or has for herself.

Martha paused to think then shakes her head...a little sadly and a bit puzzled. "Asked for my company? I regret, ma'am, I have not had return meetings with half as many as I would have liked and hoped. People these days are so terribly busy..." she rubs sadly at her knee, pouting and downcast. "Though I often meet with the exciting Miss Jillian, Mr Ajax and the lovely Miss Katrina at Club Ember and Club Avalon! They are very good to me! I have met with Miss Sally Romanov again...as you saw, at the restaurant. Hmm I haven't seen Miss Jillian recently...I do hope she is well! Oh...and Mr O'Connor and I meet sometimes: he is kind! Though Mr O'Connor and I have met once or twice. But since his elevation to higher office, somewhat ironically, he seems to have avoided me recently. Perhaps he is busy with his Duties - altogether a higher priority, in my view, anyway. I meet many people in the course of fulfilling my Duties, ma'am; some of those who linger seek out my company a second time." she falls quiet and grips very hard at her lame knee. Tiny Martha turns to look at Ariana's eyes: and is mesmerised by them. Martha's wide eyes are eager and vivid as she concludes, "However, those who do seek me out, and do so sincerely and without contrivance or malice, ma'am: they can usually count on winning my respect and devotion." clearly meaning that Ariana is certainly counted in that number.

"You are so right Miss Villiers." Ariana had turned her eyes to watch the patrons begin to congregate inside. "Too often people take respect for granted, something that is to be earned and not assumed." Ariana's voice meant others and not at all about Martha. "Everyone seems to have an ulterior motive these days. I guess that just comes with the territory of our exist, uh, nature." She corrected herself around the mortals who were walking by. She was only stating matter-of-fact like. "Since my arrival, there have only been you and Mr. Greyson, who I know do not have a motive." She would have listed Thomas, yet, after Martha had just mentioned his name, did not want to give her the wrong impression of her friendship with Thomas. "We should proceed inside to the theatre in a moment." Ariana nodded as she saw the 10 minutes till curtain lights flash in the lobby.

"Quite so, ma'am!" Martha nodded meekly. She had listened attentively to her friend talk and watched her with wide eyes. Her twin tails bobbed as she nodded her agreement. They would need some time to find their seats and the last thing Martha wanted was to cause a fuss by doing so. Without her cane she took a few more moments to struggle to her feet, her leg staying fully stiff as she did so. Offering Ariana a meek and apologetic smile. "I daresay I shall have to find a place to store my bag too, ma'am!" she giggled a little and waited, eagerly, to see what Ariana might do next.

Ariana smiled and giggled with Martha, "Well, coat checks are sometimes used for more than coats." Ariana and Martha walked into the theatre. She kept pace with the enthusiastic Shadow. They took their seats and watched the other patrons as the show began to start.

A bit apprehensive, unsure of what she's about to see, Martha takes her seat and smiles enthusiastically to Ariana and anyone near her.

:::::Music Music Music, Sing Sing Sing, Act Act Act:::::::


As the show concluded Ariana was still filled with some of the excitement from the show. Even though there were so many aspects of the show to enjoy, she always saw the underlying moral dilemmas in the subtext of the show. As they entered the lobby area Ariana smiled, "Let us not forget your backpack before we leave the theatre. What did you think of the show Miss Villiers?" Her own demeanor was enthused from the show and Martha's opinion of it.

Martha skipped and limped out of the show, all wide eyed. Quickly obeying and gathering her bag from the cloakroom. She had laughed an awful lot at many of the jokes and songs. Some of it bewildered her. But when she was confused she simply spent time amusing herself by looking at the shoes and legs of the dancers and sneaking the occasional look to Ariana's own shoes and knees...though, as the laughter mounted, the sneaky looks became fewer.

Excited and buoyed by her experience, Martha was happy to share her view, slinging her backpack carefully over her shoulder she kept a pace with her friend; "Oh! Oh! Goodness, what a show, ma'am! Goodness! It was unlike anything I have seen on the stage yet, ma'am! I cannot recall laughing so much for a long time, ma'am! That poor creature with the soup in his lap! Those sets...with those machines! Though it was a little loud, it was awfully good fun!" she chuckles merrily.

Ariana nodded. "I agree, that was quite the extraordinary thing to be done on a stage. The lightning added so many amazing effects to the show. I was quite impressed at" she began to speak in a mock German accent "'Zer eentarestink vay oof ahksents like Frahnkenschteen.'" She laughed a little. "It added so much to a few of the characters' performance."

Nodding eagerly, smiling happily at the joking. "And the dancing too! Goodness...it is based upon a motion picture, isn't it? I should wish to see that too...have you seen it, ma'am?"

"Actually I own," Ariana stopped herself abruptly, she use to own it when she was mortal. "I have seen it plenty of times. It was a favorite of mine when I was younger." She said smiling. "Gene Wilder is fantastic in the movie. It is done in black and white even though it was made sometime in the 70's. I think it was to give a noir feel to it. It is quite excellent." Ariana turned to Martha, "Unfortunately I do not have a copy. Mr. O'Connor may have one, although I am not sure it is his genre of movies."

Martha nods happily. "Well, it's a world away from my understanding of the original story!" she giggles to herself as she recalls some Igor related incident from the show. "Thank you for the opportunity to come along, ma'am!" she enthuses.

"You are indeed correct." Ariana smiles. "You are most welcome, Miss Villiers. It is nice having company along after so many years without." She said grinning in appreciation of Martha.

Martha smiles at Ariana...her eyes wide and full of joy and bashfully playing with one of her twin tails a moment. "I do so look forward to our cultural evenings, ma'am!" she offers meekly, but sincerely.

Ariana nodded. "Oh, so do I!" She said with enthusiasm. "Maybe we shall do something a bit different next time. Perhaps I shall start keeping you up to date on some of the assignments that I am allowed guests." As they walked toward the door she asked. "Would you like a ride home? I am sure Felix could figure out a way to hook the bike to the car."

"I should very much like to accompany you whenever the opportunity permits, ma'am!" she enthused, all wide eyed. "I wouldn't, however, wish to risk adding a burden to you vehicle or risk scratching it with my silly bicycle! Thank you most kindly, though, for the offer! I shall wish you a safe journey, ma'am and a thank you again for a lovely evening!" she curtseys waves and, still smiling, very probably...makes her way home - abiding by cycle safety protocols with helmet and hi-vi vest.

"Of course Miss Villiers, I look forward to it." Ariana waved good-bye to Martha and watched her start on down the road. Her bicycling on the road at night did worry her, but alas, she did not want to guilt her into it either. Ariana had got in the car and looked at Felix. She picked up the pad and scrolled on the paper "Could you please pick up a bike mount to be stored in the car?" Felix wrote back. "It will be done promptly tomorrow, Miss Donovan." Ariana nodded to him again. She just wanted a precaution if there was ever some rain. One never knows when there is a storm in the works.