How many times had Lenny lied to him? Either directly or by omission? He'd spend more time with Lenny than with any other Carthian so that probably amounted to "a whole damn lot" of times. Still, there was something in the air... though whether it signified a change for the better or worse remained to be seen.

"Disregarding your words tonight..."

"The Prince is... thorough. I was there, at the first Court after the Lost Nights, and Asa was acting as if he'd been Prince for a million years. He made people identify themselves and kept track of the potency of people's Blood as he still does. His quote-unquote retainers were exempt from the identification. He played on the early arrival's uncertainty and made a show of force with his retainers and Invictus-ways."

"Before anyone could even conceive of rejecting his position of strength and authority he diverted everyone's attention to something that has been a particular hot-button for centuries, enter Heathcliff's indiscretion as Masquerade breach."

"Showing little mercy he subjects the first person to piss him off to the Vinculum. A move that was sure to please the Lance -although at that time only two strong- because of the non-fatal punishment and giving the other Kindred leave to focus on Heathcliff Staley instead of the now merciful Prince."

"And it worked, people have been discussing and mocking Heathcliff up until the point he became the Prince's Seneschal, more interested in drama than actual dynamics."

"Meanwhile the Invictus was quickly back in the saddle, if it hadn't already been there before Court. The Invictus had to have backed the Prince and his retainers or maybe the situation had reached a point where it was the other way around. Quite possible."

"Regarding the people he surrounds himself with I only know of one Vinculum; the Seneschal. Every person that supports him has seen their star rise. Hound, Sheriff, Priscus, Harpy, pretty much every major position belongs to the Prince or those that support him. So it could be the Prince simply buys their loyalty. Not too unlikely but..."

"There is the ban on Kallisti. What I've heard is that they somehow make you betray the ones you care about. Banning such a creature would of course be the best thing for any Domain but I've heard rumors that suggest there are at least a half-dozen worse bloodlines out there. Why does the Prince ban only the Kallisti? It makes the most sense if he did so for fear of losing the greatest asset of all; naturally devoted allies. This ties in with the moratorium on police, fire fighters and hospital workers."

"There are a hundred little things that all seem to imply but never obviously state it but it all boils down to this; the Prince has a lot of friends and knows how to bond, obfuscate and protect them while simultaneously using them to great effect in ways that aren't clear to me. I am sure he's doing things. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, after all. In fact, with the Prince, it's almost the evidence of presence."

"I come to the same conclusion. The Prince has power, otherwise he wasn't the Prince, but we know not what power or even how much. The Prince reveals nothing, a luminary that works from the shadows. He delegates and implies, subtle beyond belief, until the moment comes for direct action. When he acts publicly he is like an avalanche. You can't stop him. He bonded Heathcliff without a second thought and sentenced Michael and Richard for messing with him. But why didn't he go after you or me? He could have easily blamed the entire Covenant."

"He manipulates and doesn't want to upset the stage too much, only directly intervening when he deems it necessary to remind people he in fact still is the Prince..."

Looking at Lenny to signify that's all he was going to say in response to that one question Arnoud finishes the thought he knew he didn't need to explicitly state; which means he has a vested interest in keeping things the exact way they were.


Lenny nodded as he absorbed Arnoud's observations. The mention of the Kallisti was a sharp observation, as well as the overview of what had been done at Court. It was a Court he had missed -- and this firsthand opinion was ten times better than the second hand ones he had heard.

"I do not think trying to help find O-Yama will do us much," he continued to the next subject now that the preludes were over. "The Reeve is Invictus, and will either stonewall us, send us on fool's errands, or worse. In any case, we won't see any credit without doing it on our own -- which is easily warped as impeding the investigation or whatnot."

"I told everyone at the Chain that I bought the Sterling to serve notice to the other Covenants that we would not go quietly into the night," Lenny said. "It served another notice to the other Covenants as well since it was the first step in what I hope will become a worthy endeavor. If the Invictus follow their normal pattern, the acquisition of real property by the Carthians will send them scrambling for other properties, and essentially keep them occupied for some time. I've got a list of the properties that are the most appealing in the city, and we should be able to track their progress, and gauge how long they're occupied," Lenny explained.

"Now that our biggest rivals are occupied, we can --if you agree as Prefect-- pursue our 'offering' to the Prince. It is my belief that we can secure our position within this domain by running a spy network for him." Lenny paused to let Arnoud absorb the information.

"As Carthians, we build human networks faster and better than anyone else. It would be silly to not pursue our strengths, and make it work for us. Now that the Invictus are occupied, I doubt they'll even notice. No one should be able to compete with us in this regard -- if we act in unity, with a purpose."

"Secondly, we will have most of the information the Prince has, if he comes to rely upon the Movement. We will also control the flow of information. Nothing major or overt, but you know how a bit here or a bit there can change things, if you have the right ear."

"Thirdly, consider his retinue. If he did have to 'activate' all of his 'sleepers' at once, he may be starting from scratch, or be working with a crippled network."

"Lastly, we would not be easily replaced, or outdone, should events turn sour, and we would have immediate value to another Prince."

Lenny leaned forward again. He couldn't help it. "Arnoud, we need to not look at small events to curry favor. We need to build something. We need to think on a scope no one else is, and right now I have our biggest rivals barking up the wrong tree."

And... here it was.

The moments of convergence had become a moment of singularity -- a moment of decision.


Arnoud's hands form The Steeple as he thoughtfully listens to Lenny's idea.

Of course it wasn't nearly as nice a picture as Lenny made it out to be -it remained to be seen if the Invictus was preoccupied with real estate purchases and the Prince would have the major information networks covered already and might very well experience this as an act of defiance if played too aggressively- but it could work... And this approach suited him better than most others.

But was this actually Lenny's plan or a ruse to make Arnoud trust him with some of the information regarding the insanely similar plan he had. Had his visits to the private investigators been noted by Lenny or one of the Prince's cronies? Had Lenny betrayed him? It would explain Twist's threats... a damn Hound. Could he trust Lenny even further? He'd have to, at least a little bit.

When the ancilla finished he nodded once.
"I agree that the future of the Movement should lie here. But before we can even contemplate offering the services of a superior intelligence network to the Prince, the network needs to be build -quickly and covertly- tested and fully operational."

"Before we can even contemplate building such a network, we need to test the Movement. See that it is fully operational itself. Make sure there are no liabilities, saboteurs or spies in the network when it is build..."

Which brought them back to the current situation.


Lenny had been thinking about the other two neonates, but that didn't mean he particularly wanted to start talking about them again so soon. What Arnoud had said before had been enough to keep him from leaving the Movement. It wasn't enough to turn him into a valet on their behalf.

"I can probably donate twenty or thirty thousand to the Movement," he finally said. "What you choose to do with the funds is up to you."

Besides, if he acted like it didn't bother him, those two sneaky bastards would know they were being watched...


"Alright, thank you, Lenny." Arnoud replies.

"Though maybe I could persuade you to donate two extra things? You said the Sterling Hotel could make for a good headquarters for the Movement and I agree. One step in that direction would be to schedule some talks here, get the other Carthians acquainted with the idea of conducting Movement business here."

"Can I get a quiet room for about two hours on five nights of your choosing to conduct Movement business? Preferably within the next ten days? The second thing would be to speak with our Big Sis if any of our clansmen are hard to reach. That's unlikely, but it costs you nothing and you may very well enjoy Big Sis' company."

It were small things but it would look good if Arnoud could show people some non-monetary help by Lenny. He might even be able to sell it as Lenny's idea to host the talks here and talk with Twist. If it looked like Lenny was facilitating the process others would construe it as unenthusiastic but still active helping out.


"Sure, of course," Lenny responded to the first request actually a bit surprised Arnoud had even felt the need to ask. "Pick one of the meeting rooms and I'll have it permanently set aside for your use -- a room, too, if a night carries on too long." Honestly, Lenny wouldn't be surprised to find a sound isolation chamber and white noise generator in the room one day. One of the reasons he hadn't bothered to pick a room, given Arnoud's... tendencies.

He grinned slightly at the second request. He was actually expecting a call from Twist about his absence at Court -- not just expecting it, counting on it. "I'll do my best, but there's a fuckload of Daeva. Three are Invictus." He was fairly sure he could call in his marker with the Reeve but quite frankly he wasn't going to squander a potential ass saver -- his own ass -- for those two neonates. If his head count was correct, the Daeva accounted for about a third of the Court. Was Arnoud trying to be clever? Well, he did say 'hard to reach'.

"I'll need time," he continued. "If those twits tell me they can't work things out with five of them two days before Court, there isn't anything I can do. Dealing with Big Sis is delicate, and has to be taken slow," he said with a wolfish grin at his innuendo.


Pre-Prefect Arnoud probably had the lowest profile and least accessibility, he wondered who held the title now.

"That will be a great help, thanks. And don't worry too much about having to get contact information from Twist. Our Clan isn't typically known for it's low profile and I plan to have this entire thing taken care of weeks before Court. If we call on you you should have all the time in the world. Now for something completely unrelated to the Court mess."

"I'm going to be taking stock of what the Movement has and what it needs to acquire. We need to know what we've got so we can start building the Network. You already proved you have a capable mind and insight and you already told the Movement about the Sterling Hotel. Are there any other knowledges, skills, talents or financial and non-financial assets you have or have access to?"


Lenny bit the inside of his cheek as he considered Arnoud's question. If it were just the two of them, some other place, some other time he might have shared his portfolio: the Disciplines he knew, the full extent of his finances, how he gathered intelligence, his Kine resources...

But it was not. He had shared his overview of the domain, and his ideas for the Movement's direction -- and maybe a dream was enough and survival was too much. Because what Arnoud was asking was what he was willing to commit to people like Richard, or Michael, or Taylor. And where did Big Sis fit in? Or his marker with the Reeve?

"For the Movement? Just my brains and some money, for now," he answered with a shrug. Lenny looked at Arnoud as he spoke letting his eyes convey the apology of his disappointing words.

Maybe the Movement, or rather some of it's members, would prove itself worthy.


Arnoud takes a moment to process than nods his understanding. He had expected more subterfuge and evasion but it seemed Lenny was playing it straight. It was heartening, really. And frightening. After all, if he appeared so at ease and open, how much more did he guard and hide with such proficiency?

"That is more than satisfactory, Lenny."

"After I've spoken with the rest of the Movement I'd like to pick your brain as to how to make the most of the situation for the Movement. In both ways." Arnoud adds, referring to both the traps to be laid and sprung for their saboteurs and properly testing the Movement's current capabilities.

"Let's say in five to seven nights?"


Lenny agrees, and after exchanging pleasantries, the men go their seperate ways.