(1108) Trip and Cassie

[Chrisie]

Trip kisses Lady (oooh, fancy!) Cassandra's proffered hand gladly. "Thank you kindly for the welcome, Lady. Can you spare a few more moments for this old soul?" he asks, indicating a couple of chairs nearby and smiling pleasantly, ignoring the Beast's dark desires. "I have not yet been Acknowledged by this Court and am hoping you can lead me to the right people, though," he winks, "not just this moment." Something sparkles in the Mekhet's eyes. "Say...do I know you from somewhere? Your face looks...familiar..." It's an old standby of a pickup line, but Trip's face seems more awed than lusty...

Cassandra smiles as her regal airs are indulged. Smiling to Trip, she seesm to catch the sparkel in his eye and matches it with a glowing smile of her own. She was about to start talking about the whole how-to-get Acknowledged-thing when he claimed he remembered her face from somewhere. This pricked her interest; "Are you a fan of the movies, Trip?" half a question, half a hope...

[Fractured]

Trip nods so fast his head is in danger of falling off his neck. "Yes, I am, very much so! You are...were...an actress?" The word is spoken in a hushed, reverential tone more at place in a monastery than a big meeting of bloodsuckers. Of course, not every would-be actress became a celebrity- take his Childe, for instance, the backstabbing little brown-noser. His brain interjects an image of a giant teddy bear and his nerves recoil at the memory. He composes himself quickly. This one, he recognizes, which makes her important. "I've just arrived from Los Angeles, myself. I'm a big fan of Tinseltown, huge! What a city..." he says rapturously, then remembers himself and steps out of his reverie. "You were in movies, then? Tell me which ones, I have to know! I bet you were amaaaazing on screen, just look at you!" Flattery is fine, but Trip seems absolutely genuine; he looks all of about five seconds from whipping out an autograph book, all thoughts of Acknowledgment wiped from his perfectly coiffed head.

[Chrisie]

Cassandra Dawes

These words were music to her ears. Cassie smiled, adjusted her skirt to show a little more leg, primped at her hair in a modest way - trying to convey that she was reluctant to talk of her career, but...for an eager student of Hollywood, she'd do so. However, her eagerness to do so simply shines through; "Well, I was in half a dozen movies give or take in the early 1950's!: The first one: I played the love interest. Innocent and young and slumming it a little bit only to find the man of her dreams!" she paused for a moment. "After that it was great role in a 1930's era detective movie! I should still have the dress from wardrobe from that somewhere!"

She paused to think for a moment, tapping her lips with a finger to suggest contemplation; "Oh yes, then I was in a couple of those beach movies. I'm sure you've seen the type. I wasn't one of the stars - but I did play major supporting character types. You know the sort: the buddies of one of the major characters. And I went from there to a kind of Romantic Drama. Oh! It was lovely! A horror movie...and then something for the teenie bopper crowd. Poodle skirts, jeans and jackets and just the whole bit of fun. I got to do the whole first-crush thing and all of that. It was actually sweet in some ways!"

Cassie watches Trip. Interested in his thoughts about this.

[Fractured]

"Oh. My. God," Trip manages, his jaw agape for several seconds before he remembers to replace it. "YES! That's exactly it! I knew I had seen you, I knew it! Wow, oh wow, that is so cool!" He sits enraptured by Cassie's credits, though her legs get the oblique attention they called for, too. "You know, I've seen every single one of your movies," Trip says, then starts counting them off on his fingers. "Wrong Turn, Right Man, a classic. The Detective and the Dame, loved it. Loved it! Surf Times are Good Times, The Trouble with Helen (you know, that was loosely based on Helen of Troy, oh, of course you know that, how silly of me), Bear Lake, The Malt Shop...I am such a fan! You were great, so great, and totally underappreciated. Oh, but that town is full of Philistines. I always wondered what happened to you," he grins, then a shadow of solemnity settles over his smile, though it doesn't disappear. "Well, I guess I know now. Oh, its a pity I'm just making your acquaintance now. We must make up for lost time! I'd love to see any old costumes or..." A chill seems to come over Trip, coinciding with the arrival of the ancient Beast within the little girl, as his own Beast tells him in no uncertain terms that he's made a mistake coming to Sacramento, one that should be rectified immediately. But then, I'd miss out on Lady Cassandra, he tells it, so just be cool, for once, pleeeeeeeeease? The damned thing was such a bother, he couldn't take it anywhere, really. "Ahem, sorry. Quite an entrance, huh? Um, I was saying, I'd love to look at any old costumes or props or scripts you happen to have lying around, or...anything, really," he says, the look on his face a bit guilty, but totally entranced by the former starlet.

[Chrisie]

Cassandra Dawes

Cassandra smiled broadly. This was the best night ever! A fan! He actually seemed to know about her career. Either he had spent hours reading IMDB preparing for this unlikely contingency, or he was a true fan. She could only conclude: true fan. Another smile. She too was distracted by the chilly arrival of the envoys. Her Beast wrestled with the interruption of her moment of glory. This was not an interruption she would forgive easily, but one she would have to forget for now. A theatrical shiver for Trip's benefit to show that she too noticed the distraction, another primp at her hair and another adjustment of her skirt. "Oh wow! You know my films better than I do!" she praised, "Sure!" she finds herself agreeing, once her Beast is whipped into unhappy submission, her voice slightly strained for a moment, "I've got props...scripts...all sorts of things! Gowns and...well...it'd be great to show them all to you!" she smiles again and laughs as she adds, "I even have the prop tommahawk and some of the costumes from Bear Lake, Helen and...well, you know, props and things from lots of my old movies...and others too!" she laughs happily as she recalls, "Ryan York gave me the ray gun he used in Invaders from Venus...and the costume of the Venusian Queen! I know Patricia Collins was in that part, but...well...I have it anyway! It'd be great to show them to you!" her enthusiasm for her own career was fired up now and feeding on the fuel of Trip's knowledge and eagerness. Another smile to Trip. In her mind, her random collection of aging memorabillia, tawdry props and fading costumes now took on a value greater to her than platinum or gold. She liked him and wanted him to like her all the more because of this. "Gosh! This is a real treat to meet you too, Trip!" she pats the couch next to her, inviting him to sit.

[Fractured]

Trip sits down so fast he nearly traps Cassie's hand underneath. She was so cool, she barely seemed bothered by the great Beast's entrance. A Daeva, he tells himself happily, she must be. "It is a true pleasure, Lady," practically salivating at the potential of perusing her props, "and I should like to see your collection very much." He leans in closer, to share a conspiratorial whisper. "I have a few odds and ends myself you may be interested in. Nothing worth bragging about, really," he says, his tone endeavoring to sound that it was, in fact, and enough to act humble over. Unfortunately, much of his own collection was now in the hands of his ungrateful brat, but it was still his, in his mind, and would one day be again by nine-tenths. A few treasures he managed to liberate were still locked in the trunk of his car. "But as the saying goes, if you show me yours..." Trip laughs, too hard, too eager, but genuine, and genuinely awkward. "Would you tell me your Clan, Lady? I wouldn't want to insult you by guessing wrong. I, myself, am of the Shadows." He tips an imaginary cap to Cassandra, taking the brief moment to examine her exquisite legs again. "Would you have guessed?" he asks with a grin, hoping within himself that she wouldn't have, that he was much too cool, too gregarious to be Mekhet, a hope he had carried for many, many years.

[Chrisie]

Cassie nodded, genuinely excited, as Trip mentioned his collection. She smiled, "I'd sure love to see your collection!" and was warmed by the examination Trip gave to her legs. She made a subtle point of stretching one of them out for him under the guise of taking her ease as he sat beside her. "Well, you're clever. That's always supposed to be a sign of a Shadow, but I wouldn't have guessed only from that...I mean...you cut too much of a swashbuckling dash for the usual Shadow! I'd have said you are a Daeva, like myself." a truer smile. "I'm betting you aren't afraid to take a few risks." a smile as she studies his reaction. Hoping her estimate is correct.

[Fractured]

Trip preens at such high praise from a Succubus; if you imagine the Mekhet as a fiddle, then Cassie was Charlie Daniels. "You are too kind, Lady," he says grinning, but it is plain to see on his face that he is eating up every word. "And I'd have thought you nothing less than Daeva, for you are-" He pauses briefly, glancing toward her leg and back again, before finishing with the whisper of a saint, "exquisite." A small voice warns him to be careful, but he barely hears it, as all the others sing in chorus to press forward. "I've never shied from danger, Lady," he says, an eyebrow upraised in bemusement, though, this statement is categorically untrue. "Do you speak of business...or pleasure?" He's tries to to smooth and deepen his tone, but the Mekhet is too excited; it comes off less double-oh-seven than, say, Fievel the Mouse, but poor sap, he does try.

[Chrisie]

Cassandra smiled as she listened to his replies. She stretched out her other leg, but only briefly and only to tease this time. "Business? Pleasure?" she offers a happy laugh, a cocktail party laugh that would be very much the mode at Cannes. Her smile suggests the obvious Daeva reply: they are one and the same.

Cassie decided it was natural for her legs to distract him and cause his lapse from 007 to Agent 86. Making this allowance and eager to luxuriate more in his attentions, Cassandra offers; "Well...I'm looking for a man. Bold...clever...a man of means...charming. Someone who can spot a Cezanne from a Pissarro at fifty yards. A man like you. Shall we meet at my villa soon...to talk...and have some fun?"

[Fractured]

"Yes," Trip squeaks involuntarily. He'll have to find out what a 'say-zan' and a 'pizzaro' are, and the difference, too, quickly, he thinks to himself. "I mean, 'yes,'" he says, his voice deeper and slower. "That would be delightful. I still have some business to attend to here, as a new Kindred to your city I must show the proper respects, of course, to the proper channels, but afterward..." Trip leans in toward Cassie, placing what he fancies a bold, self-assured set of eyes in his head before looking into the Daeva's own, or so he thinks, I will endeavor to express, Lady, how greatly I admire your body of work." Oh, man, this is so great, I can't even believe how great this is, SHe wOnT LIKe yoU shut up, wHEn SHE Sees WhO YOU rEaLLy aRE shut up, you'll mess it up, shut up, be cool, SHe wOnT DAMMIT GO AWAY! Trip smiles at her, chasing the panic and his Beast's taunts away from the slight, comfortable smile playing on his face.