Cold Breath Meeting

It was still morning, just. Brigid made her way from the freehold, the children's amusement park that was Funderland on this brilliant, Californian day. Travelling via Uber, the Wizened held tightly to the gift, the small, perfectly wrapped box, upon her lap, watching the city pass by. She was still getting an understanding of Sacramento, especially since it's sanctuary was more...reduced in size than that of Chicago, and probably that was for the best. The politics of a grand freehold could devastate a region, after all.

This Wizened needed order, after all.

Her ride drawing to a stop outside the jazz bar, Brigid exited after completing her transaction and stood to admire the Blue Note. It was definitely subtle, at least from the outside. Ensuring her white blouse with black pants were perfect, Brigid tried the door and allowed herself in, immediately catching the sudden change of temperature as her breath became visible before her, instantly glad for the black jacket she brought along.

Looking around the bar, Brigid took a couple of steps into the building before stopping and waiting for the Queen to make her appearance, not wishing to debase herself by calling out and upsetting Ms. Collins so early in any relationship. Her heart was starting to beat a little faster, no doubt from the anxiety and Brigid muttered a prayer under her breath, causing it to billow from her thin lips before her very eyes in the cold interior of the club.

Sasha may not have had a lot of computer experience, but it didn't take rocket science to place online orders for supplies. Although some of the ordering was still done via phone through local suppliers. As much as she could, the Fairest tried to keep things local, helping out the little guy whenever she could; the Note was still considered the 'little guy' by her definition.

Wrapping up the last order and entering something into a spreadsheet, these were things leftover from Harvey. They could have used quite a bit of work and updating. For now, it would do and at least keep them in the black.

After checking the time, Dancer emerged from the back where the office was located. She had on black slacks and a grey blouse with black trim. For all intents and purposes, she looked very 'dress casual'. She never doubted that Brigid would be late, she may have been a little early.

"Hello, Brigid McCarthy." The Fairest gracefully moved from the bar area to where the modest woman stood. "Would you like to take a seat?" Motioning to one of the tables at the center of the establishment. There was no one in the Note currently, but it would make it easy for Brigid to see what she was getting into and for Sasha to motion any direction if necessary.

"I noticed you called many by proper names the other evening. What is your preference in how you would like to be addressed?" The question was extremely easy, but this formality was a necessity to continue through the rest of their chat.

The moment that the Winter Queen entered the bar from the doorway, Brigid was captivated by her beauty; the wondrous, inviting, violet eyes combined with the sheer magnificence of her chilled and glowing mantle. It was an aura the like of which the Wizened had never seen and it would no doubt take some time for her to grow adjusted to. A professional, however, Brigid offered Sasha a bow, so as to avert her eyes from the sheer power of her connection to her chosen court, completely saturating her own weaker mantle completely.

"I would be honoured, Queen Collins," Brigid replied, remembering her surname from the invitation, moving over to take a seat and placing the small gift box upon the table. It was wrapped expertly in silver paper and tied with a cerulean bow. "Brigid will be fine," she added with a smile, getting herself comfortable and glad for the jacket she had decided to don for the meeting. Sitting on the edge of her chair, Spring's chatelaine slid the box gracefully across the table towards Sasha, and as she did so, it was apparent she wore a silver chain around her neck; however the pendant was hidden beneath the white blouse's top-button.

"A small gift for you, my Queen, in thanks for inviting me here today. I can understand entirely how busy you must be. May I add how exquisite your premises are; nothing short of sheer class."

To some, it may seem that Brigid was sycophantic, but anything less simply would be discourteous on such a fortuitous occasion.

The Gift

Bowing was so strange to Sasha. It rarely happened to her. She smiled and returned a small thank you bow. But getting addressed as Queen, the Dancer may never become accustomed to either.

The Fairest sat opposite of the Wizened, smiling as she sat placing a leather bound notebook in front of her. Her pen wasn't fancy, but it slipped from its holder on the side. She blinked as a gift was produced. Her prior reactions would have been, oh no please, you shouldn't have; oh really, that wasn't necessary; but she realized some people would be highly offended by that.

"Oh, thank you Brigid." Delicately, the Fairest removed the bow, and slid her finger on each side of the paper to gently remove the tape. She wasn't 10; ripping apart a package was silly now. "Really, I try to make time for everyone who wants my time. So don't feel as if you are cutting into any sort of schedule."

Once the paper was open, she blinked as the ornate box sparkled in the hints of light from the Note. "This is beautiful, Brigid. Thank you kindly." The Dancer already had an idea of what to keep inside.

But, it was back to more business, her eyes rested on the box a moment. "This place was wonderful when I arrived. My previous Sun Banisher, Malcolm, helped to make this place splendid." There was a small hint of sadness as Green's name left her lips. She already missed the Mountain.

"So before we speak of other fun things, and Freehold questions, I'll start with why I asked you here today." Flipping her notebook to a blank page, her pen was resting in her hand. "I have been quite busy, as you already guessed. You'd mentioned you'd wanted to help around the Freehold. I was wondering if you would be interesting in assisting me here." Nodding to the club as a whole.

Brigid never replied to Sasha's thanks and remarks for the gift; it would have been rude to do so, in the Wizened's opinion. The gift had been given, as was customary, and it had been received in kind. Any more and the whole idea of the exchange would be focused too much on the gift itself and not the reason behind it.

And then Sasha asked her if she would be willing to assist at the Blue Note, which the Wizened was almost expecting, especially after their very brief conversation when she had initially arrived in the Freehold.

"I would be very interested, yes, thank you," Brigid replied professionally, allowing some comfortable seconds to pause. Too soon to accept would appear needy, too long like she wasn't really interested. It was all a fine balance. "What duties would you require of me, my Queen?"

Which wasn't exactly true but one sovereign for them all, and four equals 1 to Brigid. It was a juggling act.

The Fairest was relieved to hear Brigid may be interested. She may have said yes, but the duties hadn't come up quite yet. "I would be very grateful if you could. Being in three places at once proves a bit difficult at times." Chuckling softly, but hopefully her own predicament would soon be solved. "Not only do I own this place, but now the Maze is something that came on quicker than expected. I also still teach and instruct rehearsals at Studio One." Sasha's voice didn't sound like she was overburdened, even if she truly was. The Onyx would be the first to admit when she needed help. How else were any of them to grow and learn from each other.

"Are you good with scheduling, payments, ordering, payroll, accounting and items such as that?" The Dancer wrote some notes down, mostly for herself. "I could very much use some assistance in that area. Your own schedule would be up to you, as none of it requires you to be here at certain hours. You are free to set hours of course."

"Unless you had something else in mind by way of assisting." The Fairest smiled as she looked at the Wizened, curious to hear her answer.

"I have some basic understanding of accounting and payroll, certainly enough to be of assistance once I get my feet under the table, so to speak," Brigid replied, nodding as she thought of an appropriate response. It couldn't be that hard, right? "As for scheduling and any organising you may request, I would be on hand 24/7...except Sunday mornings, which I would respectfully ask for myself, if it pleases you?"

"Like what, my Queen?" the Wizened quizzed back to Sasha, cocking her head curiously. The bitterness was always there, deep-seated in the heart of the Springer, but she was of the Court of Desire; when it raised its head, Brigid teetered on the balance as always.

Again, Sasha was relieved. Finally, she may get a break by the assistance of someone capable, and hopefully dependable. "Well, there's nothing more than the basics here anyway. Everything is straight forward, so I think you won't have any issues, but if you do, let me know any time." The Sunday thing was interesting, perhaps it was religious based, but, Brigid didn't seem like the type to be receptive to personal questions quite yet. "Of course, that would be perfectly fine. You can have the entire Sunday to yourself, not just the morning, if you'd like that." Everyone needed a solid day off, including the Dancer, but that wasn't in the cards quite yet.

The Onyx wanted to quickly correct Brigid in the placement of 'my' but it may have been just the Wizened's formal way of speaking. "You seemed eager to assist in any way when we were all gathered, the first night you arrived to the Freehold at Funderland. Was there something you did in your previous Freehold that you would like to do again? Do you have any sort of specialties that we could aid you in using?" The last part didn't come out quite right, but she presumed the Wizened would understand what she meant.

For some reason, even though Brigid was very rigid... she already liked this woman; whether the Spring was going to be assisting her or not.

"A whole day?" The smile that she couldn't control blossomed across Brigid's face was honest but perhaps a little eerie, as if she wasn't accustomed to smiling much. "You are very gracious, my Queen. I don't think I've ever had a whole day off before in my life. I'm not too sure what I shall do with myself once I've...I digress. Once again, my thanks."

Wow. With a whole day off, the Wizened could focus on some personal errands. Obviously, the balance would have to be kept but still, it was exhilarating!

"Oh, I was an emissary for visiting Lost as well as welcoming new arrivals," Brigid replied. "I would often spend most of my time accompanying visitors around the Freehold, showing them a 'good time'," she sighed, adding literal quote marks with both index fingers. "I enjoyed it, mostly, however due to my connection with Spring, often times many of those visiting would make lewd comments or expect something more than I was willing to give." Brigid didn't specify what exactly, as the thought of such activity sickened her, looking down at the gift she had brought. She refocused on Sasha, a small, apologetic smile on her face. "My apologies. Simply one reason I left Chicago."

Sometimes the littlest things were a big deal. It certainly was to the Wizened who sat across from her. Never did the Fairest think she'd get this type of reaction from someone who offered to work all the time. Sasha was glad she would take the whole day. What the Spring would do would be the interesting thing in the end. "No need for thanks. Everyone needs at least one day off. If you ever need any other days off, please, don't feel any sort of guilt, just ask me and we'll work it out."

She grinned while Brigid described her past position. It was a good thing she was grinning too since when the Wizened said 'good time' she really wondered if that had other implications.

But her answer came swiftly. Brigid was not that type of girl underneath that astute disposition. There it was, little answers to who this woman truly had been in the past Freehold. "I recall there have been one or two emissary's around here in the past. Not all of them really understood their duties for our Freehold. Those who were new usually relied on their Sovereign, or quickly found a friend to aid them in knowing the city. Whenever Spring's Sovereign is chosen, I would mention what you did previously." It was part of her own court to make sure things were moving along among other things. Hopefully it would never put a rift between herself and Mhairi. It all suddenly made sense on why so many relied on Katrin.

Shaking her head and waving her hands. "Really, there's no apology necessary . I've found that doing things that make us uncomfortable never really gains anything. Considering I'm a 'dancer', I've been offered many jobs in gentleman's clubs. Obviously I have turned them all down, so I completely understand where you're coming from."