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It's in the Gayborhood, of course. Pine street, within a short walking distance from club vertigo. It's an apartment building with several studios. Hers, has no windows and have a rather solid looking door. It's in the basement of the building. A couch faces a small TV, a dinner table is set next to where the kitchen is, papers all around a computer that's plugged to work there. A Bed in the far corner is faced with a closed wardrobe. The walls are painted bright yellow.
Floretta is wearing a long gray, featureless t-shirt that goes past her waist and knee-length socks, her hair a little wild as she is playfully chasing Herbert around the place.
Hitting the buzzer to let Floretta know she's arrived, Eyrgjafa waits patiently to be let in. She's dressed casually today - gray-blue teeshirt and black jeans.
Herbert barks at the door and she lets Eyrgjafa in, unlocking the door with a few minor struggle and opening the door for her. Herbert greets the kindred by barking at her and circling around her legs, tail waggling. "Hey!" her smile genuine, her body not warmed up with the blush as of this moment. "How's everything?"
"Good, thanks. You?" Eyrgjafa smiles at her fellow Dragon. "I take it your meeting with Tahmina went well?" She bends to carefully pick Herbert up, making sure the puppy can't escape out the door accidentally.
"Yes, Herbert's meeting with Tahmina went spectacularly well." Eyrgjafa picking up Herbet bring a smile. "She loves dogs and we spoke about that a bit." she closes the door behind and locks only one of the lock. "I have an idea of what I'm going to do now!"
"I think she's fond of animals in general," Eyrgjafa admits, setting Herbert down so she can more easily scritch behind his ears. "How much did she tell you about Ziva's coils, might I ask?"
"Not a whole lot, I had a lot to get off of my chest. She did mentioning she had some reading for me to do." Floretta smiles. "I had a suspicion you knew something about the 'absolution' in her title too, but I knew it was dangerous before I went there, I didn't want to risk anyone else on a hunch."
Eyrgjafa nods. "I'd have been more open about it when we spoke in the Academy, but I'm not sure what Guy's stance on the matter is, and didn't want to risk exposing a fellow seeker to him."
"Do you want to keep this a secret?" She asks, moving toward the couch and the tv, inviting Eyrgjafa to follow her. She sits down and watches Herbert and her guest interact. "Or is that something you plan on adding to your title?"
"The latter, personally, but I would not expect it of anyone else." Eyrgjafa says, taking a seat on the far end of the couch from Floretta, sitting with her knees tucked against the backrest and feet dangling over the edge. "If the head of my Family is willing to take the risk of advertising her knowledge of it, I could hardly dishonour her by choosing not to."
"That makes my decision easier then." She lounge lazily into the couch, she tug the shirt up a little, revealing short denim shorts. There's a fierce look in her eyes now. "I'll do it too."
A nod. "What're you planning on using for it's title word?" Eyrgjafa asks curiously, petting Herbert as he jumps up to sit next to her. "Or have you not thought that far yet?"
"I'd rather not celebrate before achieving it. I suspect I'm going to struggles more than you with it." Floretta explains and smiles fondly as the dog plays with Eyrgjafa.
"Fair enough. Tahmina's a good teacher, though, and learning as a pair means we can bounce stuff off each other if and when we get stuck." Eyrgjafa pauses to rub Herbert's belly for a bit before glancing back up. "Did you hear about what happened at the Bala Cynwyd Elysium last night?"
"All I heard was that something happened, I was kind of dealing with inside stuff the whole day and night." Floretta pays attention to the new information. "Something went wrong again?"
"Someone claiming to be Rihat of Nineveh dominated a mortal into crashing their car into the front of it as a way of notifying the Sakima that they're in town." Eyrgjafa shakes her head in distaste. "Apparently they're looking for Adelgrief's library."
"Well that's just rude." Floretta comments with a little sway of her head. "And do we know anything about any of this? Who is Rihat of Nineveh and what Adelgrief's library is? And why does this guy feel the need to be so... carefree with his approach to the Sakima?"
"If-" the emphasis on that word is very deliberate "-this is really Rihat, and not just some imposter claiming the name, he was Nineveh's last Prince, before it was destroyed. Phaedra thinks it may be connected to the Nereid situation, something about a whale being involved in Nineveh's fall, but neither of us have a Bible to check the details." Eyrgjafa shrugs slightly. "Presumably one of the local Lances will make that connection, there was one there at the time."
"Okay, any other details I might need to be aware of regarding this gentlemen?" The question seems to be emphasized for both the whole of it and specifically asking if she's gendering Nineveh correctly.
"He's an arrogant prick who'd fit right in with the Inwictoos?" Eyrgjafa shrugs. "Didn't get much detail out of him. If it is a him, even."
"Well great." She leans back into the couch. "I'll see if I can't dig up a thing or two about this Nineveh, either at the academy." Floretta leans toward the center of the couch to pet her dog too. "I had a few other, more personal questions, if you're feeling up to that."
"Go ahead. If there's any I'm not willing to answer I'll just say so."
"Why are you looking for the teaching of the coils of Ziva? I don't mean it in a judgemental way, I just... know why I'm after them is pretty practical for me but..." She points to Eyrgjafa "I was curious about your reasons."
"...I don't want to end up a monster like James Holden." Eyrgjafa admits after a moment. "Transendence is a worthy goal, but it should be about becoming better versions of ourselves, not simply more powerful ones."
April 28, 2020
Floretta accepts the answer with a smile. "Feel free to ask stuff back, by the way." She crosses her legs, attention toward Eyrgjafa and the dog that seems all too happy to just lay there. "I'm not trying to be greedy."
Nodding slightly, Eyrgjafa ponders that for a bit. "What drew you to the study of Ziva?"
"I am hoping, like I told you I think, to achieve some way to permanently alter my body. Which means I'm deliving into coils and disciplines and devotions..." She trails off. "All activities that are likely, to eventually make my blood more potent." Floretta smiles. "I'm part of a bloodline, who, when my blood grows cause this detachment, this urge to see myself above humans." her eyes close and she take a moment to considers. "It happened once already, I feel the difference, I feel how... tiresome all of the little human things I used to do are." She brush her hands against Herbert. "So I'm hoping to slow it, stop it even. Reconnect with what I lost, secure it and then resume my research."(edited)
"Fair enough," Eyrgjafa admits. "That's not a challenge I face more than is common to all our kind, but, well. My clan has it's own hazards."
"Oh I meant a litteral bloodline, not simply Gangrel. The Avenging Evolution." She cite her title there. "My bloodline allows me to connect with humanity and move among them easier, learn about them with more ease. It's just... the more vampiry you are, the more disconnected you become. I'm a shepherd." She explains rather simply. "I really appreciate having you around, by the way, it makes a few things easier."
"...I'm not familiar with that bloodline, sorry." Eyrgjafa admits after a moment. "But, um, thanks?" She seems rather confused as to why Floretta appreciates her presence.
"My sire is who introduced me to it, but there's another one of those in town, unrelated." Floretta explains casually. "I didn't mean to make this awkward. " Floretta curse herself under her breath. "I mean that when you're around I've been sort of taking cues from you in how to go about a few things. Ghouling Herbert, caring if Sledge could take care of Princess."
"Oh, that's fine. I'm more than happy to help out younger Kindred." She glances up from Herbert. "How is Sledge doing with her dog, do you know?"
"See? That's super weird. I'm fifty three years old and I feel like I'm a kid." She seems to be making the statement with a good dose of humor there. "I haven't seen sledge and I really should seek her out."
"By our standards, fifty-three is a kid," Eyrgjafa points out, smiling slightly. "I'm the better part of three times that old and there are still Kindred in this city much older than I am."
Floretta stick her tongue out and blows raspperry her way. " it's possible to keep my head screwed on the right way even when I'm an old one like you, and I appreciate the example"
"Having Tahmina around to talk to has helped a lot," Eyrgjafa admits. "I don't think I'd have stayed nearly this human if I'd remained in Reykjavík, surrounded by reminders of what I'd lost."
"I can see why after just one conversation, I feel like I have a shot at doing it." Floretta smiles and pull her phone out. "Would you mind taking a selfie with me and Herbert? Won't post it online or anything, do you know the camera trick? I remember you mentioning it."
"I do, yes. One moment." Eyrgjafa breathes in and then back out, her cheeks flooding with life, turning her from resembling a goth overdoing it on the makeup into one who's only applied a little.
Floretta smiles brightly and then, in turn, her skin turns lively and warm and she starts breathing even, almost without thinking about it. She pushes Herbert with one hand to make sure he's between her and Eyrgjafa, Then she takes a bit of time to aim the camera properly on them. "Say Cheese!"
"Edam!" Eyrgjafa says, smirking slightly.
She shows the picture to Eyrgjafa and smile. "Thank you, I'll make sure to keep it as a memory." She grins. "What does Edam means?"
"...It's a type of cheese. Dutch originally, I think."
"So, my last awkward question of the evening, would you maybe, consider forming a coterie? If we're going to constantly study the same things and bash our head on the same problems, it might be worth a try?" Floretta offers with a smile "And please, don't feel bad blowing me off on that."
Eyrgjafa pauses for a moment. She doesn't quite still, the Blush prevents that, but she does the next best thing. "...I hadn't thought about that, but I can consider it, at least. I would have to be sure it wouldn't interfere with my duties as Convenor, of course."
Floretta nods "The idea is to help each of us along, so I suspect that it would be easy to respect that condition, at the very least." she kiss Herbert's head. "In any case, take the time you need to consider it."
"I will." Eyrgjafa nods, one hand coming up to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Have you asked anyone else, or would it just be the two of us to start?"
Floretta shakes her head. "No, I haven't. I'm not sure who else we could invite. Well, Tahmina of course, but i'm not sure if she's already in one or if she'd be interested given her current position." she considers for a brief moment.
"...I don't know either." Eyrgjafa admits. "I might talk to Finley, but I don't know if zhey're interested in studying Ziva's coils, and it might be awkward to have two members who are and one who isn't."
"I met Fin once, I think, so I might need more interaction." Floretta plays a bit more with the dog before it jumps back on the floor. "Maybe if we can convince Henry to ditch the Inwictoos and join the Academy, that could work." there's a wicked little smile there. "Guy could work, but we'd have to be sure about this Asbolution thing."
"I think our dear Miss Conquered might help Henry make the decision to abandon ship, though I've no idea which if any covenant he'd join afterwards." Eyrgjafa nods, rubbing her chin in thought. "I've been talking to Alex Shaw as well, who might make a fine recruit." She sighs. "Mending the impression that fool Holden gave her of us will have to come first, of course."
"If you could introduce me or maybe point her to me, I'd love the chance to have a conversation with her then. Maybe I can help with the impression." She nods at Eyrgjafa. "And I'll try to speak with Henry for a bit too, see where he stands."
"Next chance I get I will. She hangs around the Elysia a lot, I know that much."
"I'll make sure to try and catch her there." She leans back into the couch. She swipe her thumb over her phone and quickly add a note. "What do you have planned for the rest of the evening?"
"Not a lot," Eyrgjafa admits. "I need to check my PO box, see if anything's come in, but that'll only take a few minutes." She glances at Floretta. "You?"
"i was planning on this little talk, I spent the day working through my paperwork. I think I could go out for a drink or something." She points to the TV. "Maybe I can catch up on a few shows."
"I'd offer to join you for that drink, but I had one yesterday." Eyrgjafa stands. "I'll see you around, Flo. Enjoy the rest of your night."
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