One hour and forty-eight minutes after his short call to Regent Brady, Ethan Russell is walking the campus grounds, looking about casually for the sandstone building she mentioned. His poise is more aggressive than it has been in days past, the muscle set in his lithe form somehow more predatory as he stalked along. Campus Security had nearly busted him twice already. It's a good thing he wouldn't be here long.

Of course, it was entirely possible the Regent would tell him to go fuck himself with a wooden stake. But perhaps he could glean a tidbit or two of how to approach the other Regent, if it came to that. Brady already hated him, so what could it possibly hurt if he failed?

She could skin us alive...

"She could try..."

No sooner has Russell blurted his thoughts aloud than Erika Brady appears suddenly on the edge of his periphery, with thoughtful expression and a raised eyebrow. She looks expectantly at Russell.

"Begin, please."

Russ turns to face the Regent, with feet spread and wrist-in-hand before him. He enjoys uncomfortable silences, but he doesn't push it for nearly as long to Brady as he has for others.

"You're direct," He begins in a low rumble, "to the point. I assume you don't like having your time wasted, so I won't. You need nothing from me, but I need something from you." Russell lets a small pause eat into his fifteen minutes, for effect. "The best thing I can offer you is privacy. Privacy from me, and those who disrespect your boundaries. It's true you already have 'Mister Greyson' as a tenant, and I won't put myself against his reputation, but he's only one. One who has many responsibilities and divided attention."

This is the most you've spoken since we left the box...

"Not Now." Russell's sudden verbal response comes out quiet, from the side of his mouth. As though he speaks to someone whispering in his ear.

Shrugging slightly, the sinewy Shadow resumes. "I'm fast, quiet when it suits me, and I don't ask for favors. All I do ask, is that you give me a chance to add another layer to your security, so that we may both be about our business uninterrupted. In return, I'm always around if you need me." The lighter tone of his voice at the end suggests than they both know she's not likely to ever 'need' Ethan Russell's services for anything, but the offer is genuine nonetheless. This is as close to playing ball as he gets, and it took some serious thought to get him to swallow this much Pride. The challenge of stretching his limits seems to be the only ideal he can embrace to operate with civility.

Erika Brady listens impassively.

"Why do you think I banished you from my Domain?"

Russell is quiet for a second or two as he thinks of how to frame his sentence, but soon answers. "Honestly, I chalked it up as a reaction to my personality. It wasn't a surprising one at that. If you're suggesting there's more to it, then I'd have to say it has something to do with my... public speaking." Which is of course a reference to his few words around various Elysia. He may have not dotted his 'eyes' and crossed his 'tees', but he'd made a passing attempt at social interaction.

He frowns a bit. "I'm still getting used to this."

"This image you've cultivated, Mr Russell; far from endearing, and I doubt it's particularly empowering when it comes full circle, forcing you into situations like the one you find yourself in."

"You desire use of my Barony? Well I have privacy. In fact I resent that you think privacy is yours to 'offer' me. There are other things I need, however. Things which you might be able to provide."

Russell frowns, but is otherwise unmoving. That privacy was his to offer her wasn't exactly what he meant, but as she'd already moved on, he doesn't dispute her. He adds an almost imperceptible dip of the chin and lean of the shoulders.

"I won't argue with you. Not when you're mostly right. But if there is something I can do besides stay outta your way, of course I'm all ears."

Erika studied one of her long-nailed fingers for a moment; it was fake, of course. She'd been Embraced before such foppishness had been invented. Yet time marches on, and she was finding not having long nails was becoming increasingly more conspicuous.

It also let Ethan know where he was in her list of priorities.

"Mostly?" She finally asked. "I'm not in the practice of being wrong, and 'mostly right' suggests that I am 'rarely wrong'. To put those words into proper context, it is rarely a good idea to attempt to have the last word with your betters, of who mostly make up this city's population."

Falling silent, she went back to examining her new nails, waiting to see if the other Mekhet would correct himself.

Russell very nearly rolls his eyes, the one part of him that he usually doesn't have to school. However, if the good Doctor were to look away from her manicure, she might actually see right through the tightly placed black sunglasses. He flexes his jaw instead.

"I didn't mean to imply that you're not the sharp, observant 'citizen' that you are, or that privacy was... mine to... bestow on you. We're getting tangled in words, because I'm less experienced in needing to use them." Ethan Russell doesn't particularly like the taste of Humble Pie, and tends to swallow it without chewing. "So if there is anything to what you said about a need I might provide for, please enlighten us."

Wait... 'us'?

Erika nodded, satisfied, and let her hand fall to straighten the hem of her skirt.

"I'm looking for a particular person. Do you have any experience finding people who don't want to be found?"

There's a slightly shorter silence here than usual, as if this actually grabs Russell's interest.

"More with chasing people who don't want to get caught, but yes."

Of course, his actual memories of those experiences are shoddy at the very best, but... details.

"Well, I suppose that might have to do," Erika replied.

Dipping a hand into her clutch, she produced a small wallet.

"I will grant you Hunting and Tenancy Rights within my Domain if we come to an agreement. However, I require your discretion before we discuss this further. Are you familiar with the Blood-Tell Oath?"

Russell frowns just slightly, a small wrinkle forms between his eyebrows. He should have known it would come to this. It was the first mention he'd heard made of it in Sac, but in bigger cities, almost always Invictus, it was fairly common. Russ had been run out of the bigger cities.

"I know of it, but have never done it."

"Very well," she said, extending a slender, pale arm and the wallet out. Inside, Ethan would find a small blade, quill, petri dish-like pan, and paper.

"Are we continuing this... discussion or not?"

Accepting the wallet slowly, and examining it's contents, Russell simply nods. Waiting for Brady to inform him of exactly what he was swearing to. Secrecy was certainly no problem, and confirmation of that secrecy was perfectly within the Regent's prerogative.

Erika nodded in approval.

"You will swear to keep everything I say under the strictest confidence, revealing it only if directly asked by the Prince himself," she said crisply. "This will include any revelation that you have been Oath-sworn, that we spoke, that I hold the Oath, or any allusion to any of those or to any information which might lead to deduction, as well as any record of such other than this Oath itself."

Assuming-- by Erika Brady's free speech-- that they were away from prying eyes, Russell begins the task, careful to accept any guidance offered as he does so. Holding the Wallet and paper with his left hand, and balancing the dish on the same wrist, he takes the blade and quill in his dominant hand and makes a short, deep cut on the inside of his arm. Replacing the blade to it's hold, he takes the dish and holds it under the wound. A few seconds pass as he literally forces the precious, syrupy, too-red vitae from the wound and into the receptacle.

If so far was so good, Russ muses as gently as he can with that voice of his, "If I tell no one that we even came to an agreement, what do I say to any of your other tenants that get too curious? 'Mind their own business or take the matter to you'?"

"I would think the risk of such an exposure would be directly proportional to how much time you spent loitering around Citrus Heights rather than being on task," Erika replied coolly.

Without nodding, or reacting in any apparent outward way, Russell states flatly, "Fair enough."

Replacing the 'ink well' to its balancing spot on his wrist, Russ readies the quill, giving just enough time for the other to interject should he forget some step. In his own stolen blood, he reiterates the promise with an official version of the words, writing the following on the paper in a surprisingly legible hand:

I, Ethan Russell, swear thus in blood to Erika Brady. To keep in the strictest confidence her words, counsel, and any indication thereof or that I have been so sworn. Only under the direct order of Alder Prince Asa Clarke shall I reveal the manner of this oath.

When finished, he simply lowers his arm enough for the other to see, and signal approval or veto.

Without moving closer, Erika looked down, eyes narrowing in concentration before she exhaled in an unconscious reaction to the effort.

Nodding, she held out her hand to recover the items.

"I'm looking for a Daeva named Rosuto Kento," she began, glancing around before she spoke. "Are you familiar at all with the city's history?"

Tucking the quill and dish back where they belong, Russell passes the wallet, and his newly sworn oath, to Dr. Brady. He doesn't allow himself to look reluctant, even if he feels like he just slipped a collar around his neck, and is passing her the handle of the leash.

Committing the name and Clan to memory, Russ admits simply. "No."

Erika takes the items, packing away the wallet and holding the Oath, waiting to make sure it took effect and that the Vitae remained fresh.

At the admission, she simply nods, neither surprised nor volunteering to elaborate.

"I have two leads for you. De Vons Jewelers in Arden, and 'K M Realty' which is now closed -- but their old office is still standing."

Satisfied that the script was still fresh, she carefully rolled it in half, pinching the ends.

Russell clasps his hands loosely before him as he stamps the business names into his mind. He'd jot it down later, before burning whatever he scribbled on, to cement the facts. He wanted Brady to at least be forthcoming with him regarding the facts, but he knew any Kindred worth her salt wasn't forthcoming with anything. Maybe he could just ask the right questions.

"Nature of the leads? Are they places Kento owned or operated, just someone he dealt with, or is it unknown? What does it have to do with this city's history?"

"Kento is a she, and she had an agent purchase a watch for her at De Vons," Erika replied.

"I believe she was related to a lover of the former owner of the Realty office."

Complicated? A bit.

After a few moments, Erika added, "Those are all the details."

'Related to a lover of the former owner of the Realty office' gets rolled around in Russell's mind a few times until he's sure he's got it straight. This was pretty thin stuff. And Russ knew that if he said as much, Brady would probably accuse him of making excuses. She obviously wasn't going to tell him what the history was behind it, but maybe he could look into that himself.

"At what point do you wish for me to contact you again? Regular updates? Subject located? Captured? Bring her to you?"


"I would like very much to speak with her," Erika said, smiling humorlessly. Her eyes clearly said :Take that as you will.

Russell's chin lowers a bit, it is a nod, if a slow one. "Then I'll make sure you do."