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The lounge beneath the abandoned chocolate factory is a comfortable hang-out spot. Very comfortable, for some, with a young Mekhet draped over the back of one of the couches as if she's a just-slightly-overgrown cat lounging about. She's wearing leggings and a loose peasant blouse, her hair unbound tonight, a leather jacket discarded on the seat of the couch below herself.
Alex arrives on the Chocolysium grounds under the effects of Obfuscate but lets them drop as soon as she's inside, then makes her way down to the lounge without the effort to hide. When she does stride in she's in a loose emerald green dress, her laptop bag slung over a shoulder always, and with hair loose and glasses on. She glances around, spots Phaedra, and heads in the direction of the young Mekhet as she waves.
Lazily, Phaedra lifts her head and looks upon Alex with a gaze that is almost Nos levels of creepy. She's become eerie, Phaedra has, detatched from this reality and with an ice-eyed stare that makes one feel like she's looking through their skin. It's odd, she might even be scarier than some of the Big Strong Scary sorts like Guy, just in a different direction.
"Alex. Daniel was gossiping about you the other night."
"Was he?" Alex asks without sounding concerned that might be a bad thing. Apparently she trusts Daniel enough not to talk shit behind her back. "I can make a guess what that might have been in regards to. How are you, Phaedra?" She offers a smile and seems more at ease with herself than she has in the past, but otherwise appears to be the same Alex as usual.
Dots, dots, dots. There was no suit this night, just a turtle neck in a proper Phoenician Purple, festooned with black polkadots. Luigi made his way to the basement lounge, slowly and thoroughly inspecting the grounds with a critical eye. Phaedra's and Alex's presence were finally acknowledge in the course of things, when Luigi's inspection brought him towards the couch. He beamed at them, teeth achingly whit in his smile. "Ciao curioso gattino," he said to Phae, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black slacks, amused by the little woman's posture. He then gave Alex a more economical smile, and bowed slightly. "Good evening." The Ventrue's face did not change, but it was apparent he was analyzing Alex. "Are you perhaps The Keeper?"
"I'm good, I'm good. Joined Guy's biker gang, and also did some interesting tarot readings recently. One for Daniel, it's how we ended up talking." She pauses that line of thought when she sees Luigi. "Oooh, the Phantom comes out of his Opera to play with the other kids. That's good to know."
Alex glances over when she senses another Beast's entrance, smiles at Luigi, and then laughs softly when asked if she's the Keeper. There's no mockery in the laugh, it's just one that suggests even before she says anything that she is most definitely not. "That's definitely not me. That would be Esme Chevrette, who happens to be my family head as well. If you're looking for her, I can certainly pass word on about that?" she suggests. "I'm Alex Shaw, Nosferatu and member of the Ordo Dracul." She flashes Phaedra a smile. "Which is new since the last time we met, I think? Speaking of the last time we met, I'd still love a tarot reading some time. I've never had one. Or even seen one done."
"Ah, forgive," Luigi stated with an incline of his head. "I was looking for Dame Chevrette. I do not know her face, but it is said she is.... striking." He gestured towards Alex as if to give an example of 'striking'. "I would very much like a meeting with her, to pay my proper respects - she likely knows I am here already, but if you could make a more ready arrangement, I would be in your debt. Luigi Fabri, Knight Errant of the Invictus at your service." The introduction was made with a smile, and which was then turned back upon Phaedra. "I can assume from your presence here, you and your friend had no troubles leaving the theater?"
"I'd be delighted to give you a reading sometime, Alex. Warning, the cards are sometimes a little mean." She winks lightly at Alex. "Hopefully not too mean for you, though. You've had your share of means."
Then her attention returns to Luigi, head tilting slightly to one side. "None at all. Don't worry, we didn't do anything too awful on your nice chairs before we went." There's a chuckle. "I didn't get to properly make my own introduction to you, did I? Phaedra Lamb, Haruspex and Maiden of the Circle of the Crone, Shadow of Family Rodriguez."
Alex laughs again, but this time it's more a response to the implied flattery. "Thank you," she says. "I'll let Esme know that you were looking for her. Do you have a phone number you'd like me to pass on for you? I can ask her to get in touch." There's a slight wince and a brief glance Phaedra's way at the mention of the Invictus, but she remains amiable as the conversation continues. "I can take some cards being mean. It's people choosing to be terrible that's harder to tolerate."
"Un piacere conoscerti, signorina Lamb," he said to Phae at her introduction. "If there was a worry about chairs, I would not have let you in, gatto." He gave a soft laugh, and pulled out a bill fold. A simple card was withdrawn and held towards Alex. "This card will not be mean, I promise," he said, still stiffling laughter. It was an off white card that bore Luigi's last name in the center, and a phone number underneath, split by a silver embossed sword. "So you have no concerns then, Signora Shaw about having your future told by ancient playing cards?"
"I don't have any ancient decks. I think the oldest one I have is twenty years old maybe? It belonged to my sire and was the deck she used to teach me. As for the symbolism, most of that was codified and standardized in 1910, with the introduction of the Rider-Waite deck. I've always kinda hated that name, for what it's worth, because it totally cuts out the work of the artist, Pamela Coleman-Smith."
She rolls down from the back of the couch onto its seat with some imitation of grace.
Alex takes the offered business card and reads it before she slides it into the front pocket on her laptop bag. "I'll let her know later tonight," she tells Luigi. "I'm sure she'll be in touch with you soon," she says. "And no, I don't particularly. Leaving aside the question of whether the cards tell true or not," she looks at Phaedra and shrugs a little, like she's silently apologizing for the doubt. "They don't make things happen in and of themselves, do they?"
Luigi gives a curious look to Phaedra as she regales them with her knowledge of tarot. He makes a mental note and smiles again to Alex. "The answer to your question, Signora Shaw, feels like it would depend on...ah.." he struggles for the word. "Viewpoint?" A snap. "Perspective. It would depend on perspective. If the cards bear truth, then are they setting your future? But...well..I am being dramatic. Every reading I have seen has been more...exploring of a person than a future." He glances back to Phaedra. "Unless you tell differently?"
“Oh, no, I don’t. Unless I’m using the cards as a vehicle for Cruac, and then there’s potential for very real prophecy, but that has a cost to me in more than Vitae.” She wrinkles her nose. “The cards are a tool, like...a map and a compass, or like a mirror. They show aspects of a situation, and hearing what they say might make a person see things differently...or make them feel seen for how it is. But I believe that even given all that, they’re not...fake. The symbols used have meanings, have power. More than once, I’ve gone into a situation, trying to wear the persona of a card.”
"Right, exactly," Alex makes a gesture with a hand toward Phaedra. "I tend to value knowledge, not fear it. I like being seen," and then she laughs and adds, "even when it's someone, or something in this case, calling me out. So no, I'm not afraid of it." She looks at Luigi as she takes a seat. "I tend to be of the perspective that information wants to be free. Which might be a strange thing to hear from someone who belongs to a secret society within a secret society, but..." She spreads her hands in an expansive shrug. "Here I am."
Since Alex took a seat, Luigi finally situated himself in one, crossing his legs. "Nothing is free, especially information," Luigi stated with a chuckle. His gloved hands started to dance through the air in time with his words. "I know, Signora, you meant liberato. Which makes sense...it would tell why secrets are so difficult to keep." The Ventrue leaned forward slightly. "Are you going to do a reading now, gatto?" he asked Phaedra.
“I don’t have a deck on me right now. Didn’t foresee needing it for tonight.” She grins the humor of failing to predict such a need. “If I had fifty-eight yarrow stalks, I could use a different method of divination. But I’m not carrying those, either. So few yarrow plants to be found about town...”
"Yeah, liberato is probably accurate. Free as in speech, not as in beer," Alex responds with a smile. "Which doesn't mean that some knowledge isn't dangerous, just that with time things tend to get out, and that a lot of the time they do less harm being known than being hidden. Not always, but usually." She smiles at Phaedra. "I'm afraid I don't happen to have a bunch of yarrow in my bag."
"Yarrow?" Luigi asked, delightfully confused.
“It’s a plant, the Chinese use the stalks for a method of divination called ‘I Ching’. I’m a student of several different methods, you see. Even before my Embrace, I had a working knowledge of signs and symbols and omens.”
She gives Alex a mild little look, as she leaves her history at that for the moment.
"Is that what they use for I Ching? I've heard of that technique, but I know nothing about it other than the name," Alex says, saying nothing about Phaedra or her background. What little she knows is not her tale to tell. "I'm a computer geek, and while it's not universal that we don't tend to put a lot of stock in 'superstitious' things like 'fortune telling'," and she makes actual air quotes, "I definitely haven't had much exposure to that kind of thing."
"Ah yes, you did say as much at the theater," Luigi recalled, wagging a finger in Phaedra's general direction. "Little wonder the Circle found you as a choice candidate- not that... that is all there is to them. Too many of my people dismiss them as strega." Luigi takes in Alex again. "Did you... learn computers, or was that a skill you had before becoming as you are?"
"A witch isn't something to dismiss. But it's true, there's many enough who have other talents. Atalo Ceres is our local Guardian; I think he'd stand in combat beside any Knight or Templar and hold his own, if the need arose. Especially if he was protecting what he cares about."
A pause, and she sits up properly to look at Alex. "Do you want more exposure to 'that kind of thing', hm? You wouldn't be the only Ordo who enjoys my talents, if so."
"I've always been a computer nerd. Or at least since I was old enough to start really being aware of them," Alex answers readily enough. "I'm young, especially from a vampire perspective, but even otherwise. I turn 24 in about a week, actually," she adds after a pause. She shrugs as she turns to answer Phaedra. "I'd like to explore and learn more, in any case. It turns out that things like vampires and ghosts and so on are real. It makes it harder to dismiss that other things are too, you know?"
Phaedra's bait about the skills of the Crone's Guardian was both subtle and obvious, yet Luigi pounced upon the implied challenge. "Oh? This would be something to see. Perhaps this Ceres and I should meet." A pause as his smile grew. "For a sporting match, of course."
Luigi leaned back in his chair as he considered such a thing, then glanced to Alex, nodding. He politely did not comment upon her age. "It is a shock to learn these things, yet the more I learn, the less I wish to be exposed to much of it. I applaud-" and here Luigi did give soft claps towards Alex "your adventurous spirit, Signora Shaw. For me, little of my encounter with others has been good. Maybe this city will be different?" He shrugs.
"Atalo runs a thrift shop, you can often find him there if you want to talk. I don't think he'd be eager to fight in the shop itself, though."
She tilts her head to one side. "This city is home to mages, you know. And those whose lives have been influenced be the fae. And mortal psychics. And our Caucus is on decent terms with all of them, usually. Most of the time. When we haven't been, lately, it's often been the Invictus that was the sticking point. Just...so you know."
"You never know," Alex answers with a laugh and a smile. "After all, before tonight I've never had an encounter with a member of the Invictus that didn't make me feel disgusted," she glances at Phaedra, perhaps alluding to the same incidents or people, then back at Luigi, "and yet tonight I'm finding your company enjoyable." She sounds genuine in the compliment, as well as in her disgust for the other Invictus she has met. "On the other hand, I've yet to meet a member of the other supernatural cultures that share Philly with us who has made me feel that way. Perhaps this city will give you an opportunity to have better experiences?"
"Ah yes, the maghi! I had breakfast with them just the other morning!" Luigi exclaimed. "A delightful group." He motions to Alex. "If they are examples of the Other in this city, then I think you are correct, and the City will be good for my nerves. They are ever so frayed!" He laughs, then takes a moment of seriousness. "It is regretful to hear the local Invictus have been so lacking in proper behavior. I find as Duelist that has to account for such poor behavior, I must be on my very best. I do not like having to use my skills outside of friendly sport."
Phaedra shares a momentary glance with Alex, and nods slightly. "Breakfast--were you at Maddy's? That's a great place to meet everyone, and the staff won't give you funny looks if you aren't someone who eats. Just do follow the rules there, they're important."
"That's a credit to you then," Alex says. "It seems like many of the people here in Philly who have the skills to settle disputes violently still prefer to find alternatives, but it sounds like that's less often the case in other places." She smiles at Phaedra. "I think the point of Maddy's isn't the food, or the business it does as a diner, which probably helps in their willingness to let people who don't eat spend a lot of time there. But the food is good." She lets out a soft sigh, but with a smile. "The place opened shortly before... my whole thing with my Sire. When I was still tied to the Changelings."
"It was almost an accident," Luigi admitted. "I had heard about the door. It was...an interesting adventure." He chuckled at himself. "I will keep your warning in mind, Signora Lamb." Then Alex had Luigi's complete attention. "Tied to the changelings?"
Phaedra sits back, slightly, gesturing to Alex that it's hers to tell and the Mekhet's not going to interrupt here.
Alex evidently doesn't mind talking about this at least a little, which is good since she brought it up. "I wasn't one of them, but I had an experience that made me closer to them than ordinary people are. You could say I was kind of half-Changeling, in some respects?"
"Half...changeling. I had no such idea that there were such people," Luigi said, pleased that Alex was willing to expand upon the matter. "I am guessing the experience itself was not something you wish to delve into?"
He looked to Phaedra. "The Maghi and I had an interesting conversation that touched on if Vampires had souls or no. I am curious as to what someone of your nature and Covenant has to say on such a topic?"
"I feel that our soul is fused to the Beast, a shard of the divine within us, a sacred and terrible gift from the Mother of Monsters. What we once had, a human soul, isn't anymore, and never will be again. We have to recognize we're not one of them anymore, and cherish that within us which is Beast. But I know that a lot of people don't feel that way, aren't comfortable with that idea."
She pauses. "And my viewpoint might be influenced by the fact that my Embrace was the greatest gift ever given to me, instead of someone taking me out of a life I enjoyed living, and forcing this upon me. Which, Alex, is why I'm not sure I'm gonna fit in with your support group idea. I'm not coming from the same angle as most of everyone else."
Alex shakes her head and says, "not at the moment, when you're more or less a stranger. No offense intended. It's just rather personal, more than it's a secret." She looks at Phaedra and raises her brows a little. "Do we know that souls are even a thing that actually exists? I mean, is that something we can test and confirm? It would be fascinating, if that's the case."
Luigi accepted Alex's declination to go further with a nod, then replied to her question of souls.. "Ghosts exist. Are they not lost souls?" he wondered. "Maybe the Dragons might have a way to test such and are not telling." He grins. "And what is this about...'support group'?"
"Probably not a thing for you, the support group. You strike me as a little too old and settled into yourself for it." She shakes her head.
"Are they? Or are they something else?" Alex asks with a shrug. "How do we even measure or test that?" She glances at Phaedra, crosses her legs, and then looks back at Luigi. "I've been talking about starting a support group for those of us who were had abusive sires, or traumatic embraces, or otherwise have aspects of our Requiem that we struggle with."
Wounded! Luigi placed a hand to his chest as if shot. "Old?! Oh, you injure me, Signora Lamb," he said dramatically, and affected a swoon over the arm of his chair. Then he laughed without sitting up. "I am not so old that I do not remember being assassinated. That is not something you ever forget." Finally the Ventrue did sit properly, brushing off his sleeves. "Not a bad idea, Signora Shaw. Coming to acceptance of what we are now is not easy, and smoothing that change out might help produce less ...ah...troubled kindred."
"Old and melodramatic. Which suits the owner of a theater, I suppose." She shakes her head slightly. "And there, that's the point; I'm not troubled enough to need support."
"You own a theater?" Alex asks with sudden curiosity. "What are you planning to do with it?" She asks the latter with a smile. "Performing arts have always been my other passion, aside from being a geek." She's still smiling when she tells Phaedra, "I'm glad for that, truly. If you don't feel like it would be a benefit to you, I won't be insulted if you don't take part. I promise."
"I do!" Luigi replied eagerly. "It is not yet finished- almost. So very close. I have been very anxious for its completion. It has been a dream of mine since I immigrated to this Country and saw Broadway for the first time, to be able to have a place of my own where I could be the one to showcase such talent and ... spettacoli sublimi che frantumano le anime!" Luigi was getting caught up in his discourse, and kissed the tips of his fingers at the end. He grinned and bobbed his head towards Phaedra. "Signora Lamb recieved a tour the other night."
"It's very pretty and very fancy and the sort of venue I'd like to see Sledge and her band perform in just because they'd be so out of place." Phaedra grins. "I'll have to beg Luigi for tickets to shows because I probably won't be able to afford them."
Alex laughs as she tells Phaedra, "that makes me think of the bit where John Mulaney," she pauses and adds, "a comedian," in case anyone doesn't know, "says 'I love to play venues where if the guy who built the venue could see me on stage, he would be a little bit bummed about it.'" She shakes her head. "I'd love to see the place some time, Mr. Fabri. I should get going, though." She starts to get up. "This has been a pleasure."
He rises when she does. "I agree completely. Potrei perdere anni ascoltandoti parlare, Signora Shaw. And thank you for conveying my message to Signora Cheverette." He gave her a bow.
"Have a good night out there, Alex. We'll talk again soon? I wanna give you that reading, definitely." Phaedra doesn't bother to stand, her gaze lazily drifting over to Luigi.
Alex laughs again, something she seems to do pretty readily, and says, "I have no idea what you just said, I'm afraid. This is one area where the American educational system definitely failed me. No talent for languages." She gives Phaedra a wave and a nod. "I'd like that. Whenever is good for you!"
Luigi just smiles, not deigning to translate. He looks back to Phaedra. "You would not have to beg, Signora Lamb. Money is not so much a worry that I could not save a few good seats for acquaintances."
"I hear some Invictus really like to hear the sound of groveling. Are you not one of those?" Amusement colors her tone of voice.
Alex lifts a finger and shakes it at Luigi, but she does it with a smile on her face, then says no more as she turns to go with just a final wave.
He watches Alex leave, giving her a folding hand wave off, before clasping his hands behind his back and regarding Phaedra. "How terrible are my people here in this city? I have yet to meet any myself..."
"This is a city where the Invictus aren't in control, so the ones who are here are those who couldn't hack it elsewhere, those who're desperate to change this back into an Invictus holding and those who feel bound here, by duty or otherwise. The Sakima doesn't like you guys, most of the covenants don't trust you guys, and there've been a few who've made a name for themselves by being awful in one way or another. Last I heard, Commissioner Anna-Marie Cordray was missing, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone got tired of the way she treated people and missing was just a polite euphemism. If you're secretly awful, we're all braced for it. If you're a decent guy hoping to change opinions of your sort, I recommend leaning into your family ties above your covenant ones."
She shrugs. "Welcome to Philly, Maestro Fabri."
"Illuminante," Luigi breathed listening to Pheadra's spiel. "I am mostly removed from the ...politics of the Invictus. But we shall see. For now, I mist say Ciao once more, and be about the remaining of my work tonight. Enjoy the rst of your evening, Signora Lamb."
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