Aiko receives a letter

[Jennifer Hazelton]

Madame Hamura,
Good evening. I do hope that this letter finds you well. I am inquiring if you would like to meet me at my salon for an evening of conversation.

I would also wish to inquire about the Mr. Wells, leader of his covenant. I am unsure if you would be amenable to a meeting between the Nosferatu and Mekhet families. Do you believe Priscus Baker and Whip Wells would be amenable?
You may reach me at ( number) and the included address

Priscus Hazelton, Lady notary of the first estate

[Aiko Hamura]

Ah, letters. Aiko loved letters. Not to use, of course; They had a nasty habit of still being around when you wanted them to disappear. But in her line of work? Oh, they were wonderful to find. It took so little time to light a fire (for a human, of course) and destroy them, or even to simply rip them to shred. The Nazis had even invented an electrical paper shredder not long before Aiko's own Embrace. For obvious reasons, they had had a tremendous desire to destroy documents of their own deeds.

And yet people so rarely disposed of them properly. Aiko was not one of those people. She was perhaps, a little too cautious with her letters... but then again, when one as uncovered as many dirty secrets as she has from mere letters, could anyone blame her?


Lady Hazelton's letter... probably wasn't so sensitive to warrant Aiko's treatment of letters. Still, it received such a funeral rite, all the same: Ripped to shreds, and tossed into the river on a cloudy, moonless night. Aiko then places and unlit cigarette into her mouth, one of the last human cravings to still refuse to vacate her cold, dead body. Oh, she found that she could light it just fine with an electric stove, or some other heating implement that doesn't use an open flame. She could simply simmer the paper end, juuuuust enough so it wouldn't glow but only smoke. What was the point, though? She still would have to expend the effort to force her lungs to move. She still couldn't taste it, not without willing the blood back into her tongue. It it didn't taste the same unless she forced her mouth to salivate again... oh, but that didn't taste the same either; Her mouth only tasted of blood.


So she settled for the feeling of a cigarette between her pale blue lips as she walked back to her apartment from the docks at night, contemplating the Lady Notary's question. She had kept asking about who was "amenable" to what... but was her request for Aiko's opinion a true request, or a hidden command to go snoop around? While the second surely couldn't be true, it was... so very strange for one of Aiko's betters to actually request her for opinions rather than facts or evidence. Particularly when Aiko knew so little about Albert or Connor personally. Like most Kindred, they were... quiet. Tactful. Diligent. Charming, in one way or another. Kindred that weren't seldom lived long. And without evidence to the contrary, Aiko was loathe to assume either would be disagreeable to a meeting between families.


In spite of her paranoia about letters, Aiko drafts one up on a typewriter when she gets home. It wouldn't contain anything of note, anything that would make sense without the letter Aiko destroyed.



Lady Notary Hazelton, Priscus of Nosferatu,

Any summons from you is and will forever be an honor met with humble gratitude and eager acceptance.

In regards to the other matter, one lacks knowledge of the parties involved to give any informed opinion, but one hopes obstinacy would not cloud the minds of any Kindred in the face of an opportunity to cooperate.

If the Lady Notary would prefer that someone acquire more intimate knowledge of any party, she need only command so.


I look forward to our next encounter.


Sincerely,

Madame Aiko Hamura

[Jennifer Hazelton]

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