A Reunion

[investigations]

Who: Rosa Martelli, Mina Barrett, Jones, and Anna Demirovna
Where: near #18
When: The night between Day 29 and 30
What: Reuniting with old friends


It takes Rosa a while to get oriented, and she gets turned around several times, but she makes it to House 18 relatively quickly. She would like to explore the town further, but right now all she can think about is reaching the relative safety of people she knows.

Even if she doesn't really like one of those people. Under the circumstances, though, she is perfectly willing to overlook many character flaws.

She knocks firmly on the door. "Mina?" she calls. "Are you there?"

Comments

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina had been expecting Rosa, so she was there to answer the door right away. And on the surface, she appeared very much like the old Mina. True, her tie was undone and her sleeves were rolled up, but she was still smartly dressed, wearing all of her rings and that particular, cocky smile of hers.

"Rosa," she said, holding out her arms. "Thank heavens. I'd say it was good to see you, but the circumstances are less than ideal."

But she'd take them.

[investigations]

Rosa hugged her, hard. It was a huge relief to see that Mina was there, and well.

On the other hand, this was the thing that drove home being long, long away from home. The last time Rosa had seen her, Mina had been running around dressed as... a humanoid bat? and had been involved in fights and violence.

"It is good to see you," she said emphatically. "I suppose it's been a little longer for you than me."

[primogen_vampirate]

"A bit," Mina said, putting a hand on the small of Rosa's back and guiding her into the entry hall as she closed the door. "Then again, I'm rather quickly learning just how mercurial the nature of time can be."

She held Rosa's shoulders for a moment, giving her a quick once-over. She could still feel the power of the Fae inside of her. It was singing to her bones, singing to the infection that still flowed in her own blood. Metaphorically speaking, anyway. Mina wondered what that meant, whether it was safer for them to be together or apart. The idea of being separated from the only other Valkyrie here, however unwilling, left a bad taste in her mouth.

Immediately, she dismissed the idea.

"My darling," she said quietly, "we are strangers in a strange land. Relics of the past now. And surrounded, I'm afraid, by oversexed alpha males."

[investigations]

Well, that hadn't changed -- Mina was definitely still at least part Fae. It looked like neither time nor distance was going to do anything about getting rid of the gift. Or curse, depending on your point of view.

She would worry about it later.

Oversexed alpha males? Rosa laughed a little, somewhat in spite of herself. "Oh dear. I confess, I'm a little hesitant to ask. Did something happen?"

[primogen_vampirate]

"I tried to establish some law and order," Mina replied with a shrug, folding her arms and leaning back against the door. "I was told by one individual to 'blow him' and another asked if I was on my period. Typical male behavior."

She decided not to mention that she'd stepped down from her post as clinic doctor after the incident. The last thing she needed was one more person telling her to quell her pride.

[investigations]

Rosa makes a face. "Ah, sounds like a true gentleman. I suppose even with... time travel, and Fae, there will always be champions of manly virtue."

She gets more serious. "So, where are we? Does anyone have any idea what is going on, or how to get home again?"

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina shook her head. "No one knows much about this 'Cape Kore' yet," she admitted. And that bothered her a lot more than she cared to admit. "But we have had some scientists lurking about who, on occasion, kidnap some of the prisoners and return them. Goddess only knows what they're doing. I haven't been able to figure it out yet."

Though not for lack of trying.

She took Rosa's face in her hands for a moment, smiled, then patted her cheek and let go. "Come. I'll show you the spare room. If we're going to speak of uncomfortable things, we might as well be comfortable doing it."

And with that, Mina started toward the stairs. "Anna! Jones! We have company. Join us!"

[wandandsickle]

Jones calls down the stairs: "Just a moment!" Long enough to finish this hem, in any case. She breaks the thread off with her teeth, pins the needle in the fabric for safekeeping, and traipsed over to the stairs to see Rosa Martelli and Mina at the bottom.

She smiled, seeing them, and waved down. "Ms. Martelli—as strange as the circumstances are, it's good to see you unharmed."

[ For those tuning in via Auspex, Jones no longer has a vampiric aura! She now has the sparkles that indicate magic use instead~ ]

[investigations]

"It's good to see you as well," Rosa says. Jones looks different -- she doesn't feel like a vampire anymore. Rosa supposes there's no point in her hiding it anymore, considering how dramatically she revealed her true nature. "I see you survived your scrape with the ice dragon?"

[wandandsickle]

"I did! His Top-Hattedness, at least, is a problem no more, although it seems it was a mistake to think that defeating him was the only problem." Her tone is wry, with just the slightest hint of bitterness. She should have known, really.

[investigations]

"That raises an interesting question -- what actually happened? If we can even leave this place, is there even a Chicago to go back to?"

[wandandsickle]

Jones frowns. "Nimu—er, Vivian, that is—found a way to disqualify the Baron from the contest," she says. "When that occurred, his power diminished significantly. But then the, the other one—I think people have been calling her 'The Queen'—she arrived to claim the prize. Something changed in Chicago, though I know not what, since I only felt it for a split-second, before I arrived here. I do think it's still out there, though."

[primogen_vampirate]

"Lovely," Mina drawled with a heavy sigh. She shook her head. So many messes. She was used to it, of course. As a Valkyrie, it was her job to clean up vampiric messes. But the ironic part of it all was that the vampires hadn't been the ultimate fuck ups this time. It had been the Fae that started the fire.

Metaphorically speaking of course. Everyone bloody well knew who had started the literal fire.

She rubbed her face for a moment. "We can do nothing about it here. So worrying about it too much will only give us all headaches. We need to focus on the present."

if anyone wants to continue this?

[wandandsickle]

"Well, yes, of course," says Jones, placidly. "As it seems that for the moment we are not going anywhere. I suppose on that note, we ought to show Ms. Martelli where she's sleeping, shouldn't we? If you don't have any other questions you'd like us to answer first, that is."