Just us Girls!

[Ruby]

Ruby gathers up her purse and locks up her office. Leaving work in the middle of the day, she feels like she's a kid playing hooky.

She slips round the corner in the hall, on a mission as she climbs up the rickety wooden steps from the basement. Coast clear on the main floor, Ruby makes a straight shot for Tyria's office. She nearly bowls over poor Phrymides on her way.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry," Ruby apologizes, nearly laughing. Phrym was just about the clutziest Acanthus to grace the Mysterium, and Ruby always mused that the girl was simply saving up her luck for something terribly important.

"No, no. My fault. I totally didn't see you there..." Phrym looks extra frazzled today. "I'm um, surprised you're out of your office. I've hardly seen you around." It really has been a while, and the women realize their friendship has been growing a bit distant.

"Oh, well, I'm just up to-" Ruby stops as an idea sparks. "How would you like to sneak out of here?" She whispers, eyes sparking. Phrymides looks around hesitantly.

"Now? But there's so much work to do... won't Tyria find out?"

"Sweetie, Tyria's comin' along with us. We're leavin' the boys to keep shop."

Now delighted, Phrymides weighs the proposal over for a minute. "Which one are we counting Starling as?"

Ruby just gives her the look before turning. Phrymides trails behind as the two whisk over through the back offices to knock on Tyria's door.

"Tyria, love o' mah life. You ready to go?" Ruby calls out in a sing-song voice.

[tsameti]

((OOC: You practically dared me to pull out the big guns here How about let's move this bugger to Sanctums, and only run the first two minutes that it takes us to talk about the Bismark? Will that work for you?))

[Tyria Primoria]

"Phrymides!" Tyria exclaims, opening the door. "Are you coming with?" She gives Ruby The Suspicious Eye. "Did you tell anyone else?"

:tyria:

[Ruby]

"I think so, is that alright?" Phrymides asks, excited to put stuffy work behind them for a day.

Ruby tries her best to whisper silently to Tyria, "I think she's wearing a luck spell."

"Nope! Looks like it's just us!" Ruby cheerfully answers.

The girls begin to make small talk as they trek to the staff exit, with Phrymides taking a voluble lead. Seems like she's just put a down payment on an SUV, broken up with a boyfriend, and is weathering the last few hours of a nasty case of Paradox Branding.

What have Ruby and Tyria been up to?

Ruby looks at Tyria before she responds. "Actually, I've been getting ready to propose a plan for investigatin' the Bismark. I was right about to bring it to Tyria for approval."

[Tyria Primoria]

Tyria's Volvo is freakishly neat, and it's in remarkable condition for a seven year old car. The only incongruity is a white bumper sticker, which has the following in large red letters:

QUESTION AUTHORITY

"I would so trade either of you. I've had a never-ending stream of initiates who seem better suited as Libertines or Thearchs than Mystagogues," Tyria sighs. "Then they just disappear and never bother to show up for work. Were we ever that young?"

As her not-quite-venting finishes, she turns to Ruby. "Is this about Peter Cartright?"

[Ruby]

Ruby loves Tyria's little car. Everyone had such fundamental misconceptions about who Tyria is, mostly because the first thing anyone did when they came to this town was to cause trouble. But this little machine speaks volumes about the woman behind the 'so called' Tyrannical Curator. It's a shame no one sticks around long enough to figure that out.

Phrymides has met very few of the initiates, but rises to their defense anyway. "Oh, they can't be so bad. It took me a long time to figure out what I was doing."

Ruby and Tyria share a bemused look that seems to mean, oh yes, it took a while.

Tyria's question breaks Ruby's smile and Phrymides looks uncomfortably back at her.

"About Peter? Yes. But for me too. I hated that place, Tyria. I still get nightmares sometimes, those resonances, the wards that kept failin', the people who died or got hurt there. I've got so many questions, all of 'em some shape of 'Why?' I want to get that ugly place out of my mind and my life... to move on. Right now I think that means findin' my answers."

[Tyria Primoria]

"Well," Tyria considers, "That's understandable... but if this is something you're doing alone, I won't approve. At all."

Aside from whatever dangers the answer posed, it was time for Ruby to find her footing. She had practically disappeared after taking the lead on the Carson City dig site.

Tyria put the car in gear and pulled out, after making sure Phrymides wasn't holding anything that could spill.

[Ruby]

Ruby settles comfortably into her seat as the car starts up. Her dainty pastel yellow purse sits on her lap, the zipper dangles a tiny Cross that she fingers absently. "Nor do I have any intention to! You kiddin'? Prospect of the place scares the willies from me." She laughs, but not because she's joking. "No, I was goin' to put a full team together, few of our initiates to start. It's about time they took active part in Mysterium affairs after all."

"Course, might be a wise thing to get some outside folks to help." Ruby pauses, knowing this part is the most demanding request of her proposal. "I'd like to ask the other orders if they could spare a set of hands or two. It'd be a right welcome opportunity to build relations."

Suddenly Phrymides cuts in from the backseat. "Eeeeeee! Don' worry it's just water! It's OK, it's just water!"

[Tyria Primoria]

Tyria's head turns to verify the validity of Phrymides' claim, and she rolls her eyes slightly. Why the girl didn't use help, she didn't understand. "Ok," she smiles at Ruby, "That sounds like a plan. Now... hmmmm. There's a DSW in Folsom, and one in Roseville -- did anyone check show times for later?"

[Ruby]

"I think there were only two show times today. We're like to miss the first one, the next one won't be 'til seven."


"So we have plenty of time? I know a nice cafe where we can pick up dinner and a drink after we go shopping. They have these little sandwiches that..." and Phrymides continues on about the merits of the place. Truthfully, she's making it sound like a fairly good idea.

Glad that Tyria has given her the go ahead, Ruby relaxes. Maybe a pair of new heels...?