(Sterling Hotel) Dual Board Governance

[Konrad Roth]

Equipment: Reinforced Clothing, Athletic Shoes, Lockpicks, Combat Knife
-1 Vitae Blush of Life

  Touch of Shadow, 3suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-12-29 13:58:48		Konrad roth rolls 8 to cover a combat knife with the Touch of Shadow [WIT+Larc+Obf] (10 Again)		4, 4, 10, 9, 7, 6, 9, 7, 7		3 successes

It'd been some time, by mortal standards, that Konrad had called on the Sterling Hotel staff to reserve the private room. Still, there had never been a scheduling conflict since the late hour discourages guests from wandering into the well-furnished Victorian-styled space. The usually fee was issued. After all, nothing comes free. Though perhaps at a discount for a return customer.

Konrad wore his heavy leather jacket over a long-sleeved black shirt. Jeans, running shoes, and a sheathed knife concealed beneath the thick leather, though even if it weren't it would take an expert eye to notice. One can never be too careful when alone with an unacknowledged Kindred.

Relaxing into a chair, Konrad waits for the other guest, this Graves character, to arrive. She sounded carefree over the phone, almost excited to be in a new Domain with new Carthians to interact with. Would she be disappointed to learn the truth of it?

[Cabochard]

Equipment: Reinforced Clothing, Running Shoes, Combat Knife.
-1 Vitae for Blush.

There were few places that Graves would look more out-of-place than a high-class hotel's private room. Like Konrad, she'd put on a leather jacket and jeans, but the fact that they were similar designs was where the resemblance ended. Graves looked like she lived under a bridge, the leather jacket patched and worn, the jeans with holes in both knees, and places besides. Under the jacket, she'd tossed on a hoodie - probably older than she was - and some sort of t-shirt under that. Completing the ensemble was a dirty pair of sneakers, worn out and broken in.

She'd even brought her knife, tucked into the back of her pants and hidden under the hoodie. She swept in, moving with purpose so the staff wouldn't try to stop her. It took a bit of walking around to find the room. Then, she paused outside, taking a moment to prepare herself. She unzipped the jacket so it wouldn't look awkward, then shoved her hands into her pockets, and stepped in, fixing a smirk on her face.

As soon as she spotted Konrad, she thrust her chin at him in greeting. "Hey. Konrad, right?"

[Konrad Roth]

A wave of fury swept over Konrad as his Beast registers the prey. He expected it, but sometimes that makes it all the more potent. Konrad stands, feeling the hard leather of his knife's sheath at his back. Whispers tempt him to reach for it, to move it in an instant to Grave's eye socket to put down a would-be rival. And then the feeling subsides, the rage tuning out while the rest of Grave's features come into focus.

The disheveled clothing, the dangerous look in her eye. She came off as a street thug, almost boyish from the unflattering attire were it not for the thick hair that hung around her face. Maybe it was intentional.

"In the flesh," says Konrad before waving her in. "So you're Graves. Good to have another Carthian in town. It wasn't too long ago we had a handful of us in the Domain. Since then I've been hardpressed to find like-minded Kindred for company."

[Cabochard]

It had taken a second. But the Beast's reaction wasn't any weaker for it. The hands had gone into the pockets for a reason after all - it's a lot easier to stop yourself from doing something stupid if they are. Graves froze in the entryway almost immediately after she spoke, her body unwilling to take another step - at least not towards Konrad. She wanted to run. She really did. But, she pushed her way past it, and stepped towards Konrad anyway.

Graves made herself comfortable, dropping into another chair next to Konrad's. Of course, just sitting is for squares. The Ventrue twisted sideways, putting her back against one armrest and propping her knees up on the other one, her face pointed at Konrad. It wasn't exactly a safe position to be in, but, in a fight, she was confident in her ability to stop him with her words, more than her ability to stop him any other way, or outrun him.

"It happens, I guess. Sometimes there's a lot of us, sometimes there's a lot of the other guys." Her shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug. "I heard there weren't a whole lot of us here, but the numbers I heard were...three, or four. Something like that. What happened to all of them?" Maybe they were dead. Maybe they'd run away. Maybe they'd gotten brainwashed and turned to the other side. Options! Each one worse than the last.

[Konrad Roth]

Konrad sits back down after Graves does. Not because he's gentlemanly or anything, but because he isn't sure what the woman plans on doing. Least now they remained neutral for advantage, as far as he knew.

"Tell me about it," says Konrad sympathetically as he leans his head against his hand which in turn is perched on the armrest of his chair. "Well, to be honest, one of our members was recently killed in a duel to the death, what the Invictus refer to as Monomacy. He offended the former leader of the Lance who ended up joining the First Estate after being made Reeve. I guess that didn't sit well with them and so they left. Even if it had nothing to do with our Covenants it sent a message of hostility to the Movement."

Gabrielle, Diana, and the recently returned Ashley all disappeared shortly after. What else was he to think?

[Cabochard]

"Seriously? Shit." Damn, the Invictus killed one of them? Even if it was a personal issue, that was still bad. Though, from what she remembered, Monomacy was a big deal. Last resort, and all that. Nasty move to pull that in general, since it meant the Carthian had done something to seriously piss the Reeve off, for a long time. Maybe it was his fault. But still.

"So, does that mean...y'know, the Invictus is all gung-ho about being against us here? Or was that just a one-time thing?" Maybe it was just cause the Reeve was new and trying to prove she had balls to the rest of the Invictus, and she wasn't going to bail on them like she did the Lance. "Cause...you know. The Reeve, she's also my Priscus. Or at least the person I'm supposed to have a chat with about the family. Don't want to walk into a trap, and get stuffed in a closet or something."

Graves pauses for a second. "If I disappear in the next little while, at least, you'll know who did it."

[Konrad Roth]

Konrad pauses at her question, his eyes tilting upwards to the ceiling as he ponders the events leading up to it.

"Gung-ho...probably not. But last year there was this Invictus woman who held the post of Harpy that had it out for us. Velma, her name was. She left on her own too. Not sure why. I felt like she might've been alone in her campaign against us. And I don't think her and the current Reeve spoke often if at all. For the most part we've gotten on well with the Invictus. Sort of passive-aggressive like. There's never been any attempt to have it out with the other."

"As for the Reeve in particular, I get along great with her myself. She's never critiqued my choice of Covenant. But then it's the punch you don't see coming that lays you out. If you want my opinion, I think Marco, that's the Carthian member we lost, I think he had it coming. He refused any help from the Covenant when he was challenged and made it clear it was something he wanted to go through with. Not much we could have done about it."

That was the long and the short of it anyways. Maybe Konrad is taking liberties with all the details, but that's how he interpreted events.

"So, you're Clan Ventrue? We had one of your cousins with us last year. Went by the name Gerald Baker. He held the Prefect position before me. Though I wouldn't mention him to the Reeve, Priscus Sterling. I hear they didn't get on well."

Konrad pauses, waiting to see if Graves has any questions for him on what's been said already.

[Cabochard]

Oh. Hooray. At least Graves was secure in the knowledge her death was somewhat unlikely. Or at least less likely than it might have been otherwise. This "Marco" had just screwed up and got what was coming to him. Graves just had to be careful not to screw up herself. "Hey, why did she kill, uh, Marco, you said his name was? Yeah. Him. Why'd she kill him?" Maybe he insulted the Reeve's mother. You don't do that, even after someone's vampirized.

"Yeah, I'm Ventrue." Then, she paused. Looked around. They'd been slinging a lot of words and things that weren't meant for kine ears in the past few minutes. Was that safe? Well, Konrad seemed to think so, but...was it? "Hey, you're sure no one's listening in, right?"

[Konrad Roth]

"Good to be careful. But yeah, I'm fairly sure. Unless you feel like screaming, I doubt the Kine can hear us. If you're worried this place is bugged or something, I can't guarantee it isn't. Never felt the need to sweep it. You can have a look around yourself it you're concerned." Wouldn't be a bad idea to get a bug sweeper though, now that Graves mentions it. Konrad tends to approve of healthy paranoia. And being new to the city she had every right to feel that way.

"Anyways, Marco Fernandez of Clan Daeva. He came from Houston, an apparently Carthian-dominated Domain. He had a grand design to bring that kind of Requiem to Sacramento. Only he had trouble making friends. The last couple months before his Final Death he made lots of enemies, for failing to show respect to the chosen Seneschal, Katya Harding. That might've been another reason Sterling chose him as target. An easy mark perhaps. In any case, it's probably the only reason the Prince sanctioned the duel. Otherwise the only real offense he had against Sterling was participating in a Lance rite and apparently insulting the Lance's beliefs afterwards. I don't recall witnessing the exact offense. But Sterling had no interest in Marco's apologies. Considering Sterling joined the Invictus immediately before issuing the challenge I wouldn't be surprise if she did it to earn the favor of the First Estate. But you didn't hear that from me."

Which is as much to say, I'll deny it if you start spreading that rumor around. After all, Konrad counted Josephine among his allies, despite her motives and affiliations. Whether this news worries Graves all the more, he'd rather give her fair warning before she decides to get too comfortable in the Domain. After all, what kind of Carthian turns tail and runs over a little political turmoil?

[Cabochard]

"Uhuh." Graves peered around the room a lot more carefully after Konrad spoke. The walls have ears, after all. She couldn't find bugs herself - that just wasn't in her skillset - but that didn't mean she'd assume they weren't there. It was too late to fix what she'd said already, but maybe from now on she should be a touch more careful.

And a second later, all those thoughts were forgotten as the positive idea she'd gotten of the Reeve not murdering her was crushed. "Sooo...just because he bothered her a bit, and didn't make all the proper niceties and said some words she didn't like, she..." Graves drew her finger across her throat. "That's...uh...heh...so...kind of a kill-happy Estate, huh? What's next, you're going to tell me they've been murdering people every other month? I mean, I've dealt with the Invictus before, and they're kind of dicks, but I always figured so long as you're not starting up a revolution or anything, they'd at least limit their attacks to...well, killing you socially."