The Brigand and the Thespian

[Konrad Roth]

The stage is set, a drawing room of Victorian furnishings. The Sterling Hotel is well known for its period piece architecture and ambiance. The first actor arrives, a rough looking fellow with a low brow. He wears a simple suit, cheap and unremarkable as though his appearance is something thrown together out of habit rather than careful maintenance. Despite the heat his hands are gloved. Despite the night his eyes hide behind sunglasses. If he wasn't so slim looking he might come across as a hit man.

Konrad had called to arrange for the room. They know him, they know he's good for it as are his associates. The text he received from this Diana had been unexpected. She had mentioned the Sterling and Marco, so that likely meant she is Carthian. But what would that mean? What would her arrival change in the plans he had established. Perhaps nothing, or perhaps a new piece had been placed on the board.

Standing in the doorway of the drawing room, Konrad holds a clear view of the lobby and waits for a new arrival.

-1 Vitae for Blush of Life

[Violet]

Into the lobby of the Sterling Hotel walks Diana Barnes. She is counterfeiting life, and so looks youthful and fresh. Her outfit is no longer the white suit, but she is dressed more casually in a blue pastel outfit matching one of the shades in her hair.

Diana's hair looked as though she'd styled it to look a bit wild. A pastel rainbow placed into loose but even curls. She wore modest makeup, but she did have a popping bright pink lipstick.

She scanned the lobby and locked her eyes on Konrad. His beast called out to her and she had to fight the urge to turn around out the front door again. Controlling her reaction, she put on a smile and strolled up to him. She wasn't sure if the cheap suit was an attempt at dressing up or at dressing down but either way she was a bit sorry she'd gone so casual. The sunglasses indoors indicated he was probably trying to dress up. It was a look that reminded her of the Carthians she knew back home. The Daeva extended her hand and said, "Mr. Roth? Its a pleasure to meet you. I'm Diana Barnes, but you can call me Diana."

-1 Vitae for Blush of Life

[Konrad Roth]

Prey, all prettied up and peaceable, but his Beast senses their weakness. Fortunately she doesn't run cause then he might give chase which would be embarrassing for the both of them. The man in Konrad doesn't give in so easily to these inner urges and the Beast remains heeled for the moment.

As he observes her appearance he forms a smirk on his expression and saunters almost lazily to close the space between them. He accepts her gifted handshake, taking her hand in his. The grip is firm and practiced beneath the leather material of the glove. With his other hand he removes his sunglasses, hooking them into his suit coat pocket to reveal dark blue eyes.

"Yup, that's me. Diana then, nice to meet you too," he answers in a friendly if casual greeting. "So you know Marco, huh? Why don't you tell me what he's told you so far so I don't end up repeating him." Konrad retracts his hand and gestures to the room behind him. "The drawing room. You've been here before, I take it?"

Konrad watches expectantly for her to enter before turning to shut the door, locking it from the inside for privacy using the turnbutton knob. It seems not all features were strictly Victorian.

[Violet]

When Konrad takes off his glasses, Diana takes a second to look at his eyes. Dark blue isn't exactly a common shade so it piques her interest. Her own eyes are a stony grey blue. "Your eyes are a great colour, you're doing yourself a disservice covering them up like that." she tells him with a smile. Her handshake is not as firm as his, but it is certainly not what one would call limp.

Diana strolls into the room and takes a seat on the far side of the couch, clearly leaving room for Konrad. The hem of her dress goes up a couple inches when she sits, and she smooths it out. Once seated, she looks up to see him locking the door. She tries to remember if Marco had done the same.. He must have. She must have just not noticed. "Right, yeah I've been here once. I came to meet with Marco to talk about the Movement. I think I told you this, but I only just arrived so I wouldn't say I know him very well. Has he had a position with the Movement for long? He mentioned someone was the prefect not long ago.

As far as what he's told me, he said the Movement is very small here as far as numbers go. He also said there used to be a Harpy that was hostile towards us but now there is no harpy at all. What happened there?" she takes a moment to cock an inquisitive eyebrow and pause a moment.

Continuing on, she says "He tells me you're a Priscus, although he didn't say of which clan.

He more or less just said that things are "take it as they come" which is a good enough strategy but I think we'd be better served being more pro-active and I'm interested to know what you think on it. Oh! He also said we're going to have a meeting soon." she finishes brightly.

She watches Konrad with interest as she waits for his reply.

[Konrad Roth]

"Oh? Don't think anyone's ever mentioned that to me before. Thanks," he says, not knowing how else to reply to the compliment.

He sits down on the other end of the couch, an arm draping over the back of it and his leg propped up on the cushion so he can turn to look at her. He clearly has no trouble getting comfortable, or at least appearing so.

"No? I might've guessed you knew each other from Houston. He's got the right of it though. It's small, at least for what he's used to. As far as relations with the Harpy goes, he talks too much. There was nothing hostile about it. Just a lot of complaints and passive aggressive bullshit. I couldn't tell you where she went or why. I never got to know her well enough for that. As for the Prefect, Gerald Baker, I have a few theories, but I think the guy was used to moving around on that boat of his. Guess it didn't seem in his favor to stick around."

Konrad rubs a palm against his cheek, thoughtfully stroking the stubble there.

"But yeah, Priscus Roth, Clan Gangrel. The meeting is news to me. Not a bad idea though. I've got my own plans for the Movement, but before that, how about you tell me what you're hoping to gain from coming to Sacramento? Got any plans for yourself or just looking for a place to hang your hat?"

[Violet]

"Houston? Definitely not. I'm from New York City. I'm not sure I've even ever been to Texas, honestly." Diana tries to remember, and a look of concentration clouds her face for a moment. "Yeah, no, I've never been. Have you? Is it nice?" She is smiling again.

"If its just the three of us, that's small for what I'm used to as well. My old coterie in New York was entirely Carthian." she pauses for a moment, maybe to eye Konrad up for the same purpose, or maybe just because she's thinking.

"I wanted to come here to see what life was like in California. I've always been interested in the more liberal West Coast and California seemed perfect for that. I thought about San Francisco but I think it would be too crowded, hard to make a name for yourself. I want to stay in Sacramento for as long as it will have me, but I chose it more or less because it was a city in California that was well populated, had a foothold in the arts, but was probably not super crowded. Now that I'm here, I am seeing that I probably chose well.

My immediate plans are just to make some contacts and allies, both Kindred and Kine. I don't have any plans for the Movement here because I've only just begun to understand the political climate of this city.

[Konrad Roth]

"Nah, me neither. Never gone past the Rockies, really," he answers to her first question. "Apparently the Movement has had a lot of success there. Marco's mentioned it before. But the Big Apple, eh? You'll have to tell me about it sometime. There's another fella, Philip, who's from there. Just came into town not too long ago himself. Clan Daeva I'm told."

He listens to the rest of what Diana has to say, his gaze wandering about her captivating form with interest. He assumes she's not Gangrel, and she doesn't come across as one of the Nosferatu. Lord? Succubi? Shadow? Doesn't really matter, he supposes.

"That so? Sounds like a good plan. Gotta test the waters, figure out where you fit in. I assume you've met with your Priscus? Been Acknowledged and all that?"

[Violet]

"Yes, I have done that, thanks for asking. Juan Cordoba is my Priscus' name, he seems like a nice enough guy. Interested in the arts, at least. I can always work with that." she says, brushing a hand through her hair.

She notices Konrad looking her up and down but she just grins, she's used to that sort of thing. She turns her body slightly so she's facing him more directly. "You said that you had your own plans for the Movement? Are they a secret?" she lets out a soft laugh.

[Konrad Roth]

Daeva then. No surprise there by the look of her.

"Ah right, Cordoba. I've had plenty of dealings with him. Good guy. He doesn't seem to bear any ill will against the Movement despite being Invictus." But maybe that's because they've never had to address that issue between them before.

To answer her question he says, "My plans? Oh, well, I suppose I've been keeping it on the down low. Marco knows about it, and Gerald did before he left. You know how we've all got our Mission and Position. Well mine's just geared towards facilitating the needs of my Kindred peers. I don't know if Marco mentioned this about me, but I've got a few connections with the sort of Kine you might consider criminals. I've got a black market business to run and I believe it can aid the Movement when we need to get around the systems they've got in place. So not really a secret so much as a work in progress. If we're having a meeting soon then we can cover the details then."

Changing the subject, Konrad asks, "So what's your stance within the Movement, Diana? I've pegged Marco for a Collectivist. He's pretty gung-ho about getting the Movement recognized within the Domain."

[Violet]

"That's good. He mentioned he was Invictus and I'll admit I was a bit worried but you're right, he didn't seem to care about my affiliations at all." she shrugged and continues on,

"Marco hasn't really told me much about you at all, beyond that he believes you are a loyal member of the Movement, and how I could reach you by text. I hope you don't mind that I texted you by the way.. I know a lot of Kindred prefer a phone call. Anyway, it seems that you've got some useful connections then. That's really good. I've got to confess that I don't have anything in the way of connections yet and so I feel a bit useless in that area. When I do though, it will likely be connections with Kine involved in the entertainment and media areas, unless you can think of something more useful?" She pauses here and cocks an eyebrow. Konrad certainly seemed forthcoming with information and she wished she had something of her own to tell him that he might find useful.

In reply to his last question, she says "Maybe you'll think its not much of an answer, but I've always considered myself to be more of a Moderate, although you wouldn't be the first or probably the last if you called me more of a Collectivist. I believe in the ideals of the Movement, but I don't think that working towards a worthy end means giving up everything that makes you who you are. Where do you fall down on the line, Konrad? I find most people say they are a moderate, like I do."

She pauses momentarily but thinks of something and continues on, "In New York City, it seemed that there were some Collectivists, some Individualists, and a lot of Moderates. Just like most cities I hear. But more often than not, the Moderates tended pretty heavily toward being individuals than part of a greater group. I think its because life was so hard for us there. That's why I came to Sacramento, you know. My entire coterie got driven out of Queens. Two of them went to Atlanta and the rest of us scattered. Forced relocation, I guess you could call it.

Here, life doesn't seem as tough. Nobody is stuck into one borough, your prince.. I haven't met him yet, but it seems as though he's the actual figure of authority here. People seem free to be themselves by default, so there's room for more of a Collectivist spirit within the Movement here because people aren't just trying their best to survive. I guess I'm not sure where I come down, because I'm not sure if I'll be able to breathe any easier here than before, or if its just another pretty set dressing."