[Sodium_noir] Hell is Other People

[Antonia Bifano]

Sinclair Mansion
1- 3am 

Mara, Christine
Brujah, Orphan

 
[Mara]A dark look crosses Mara's face and Christine catches a flash of anger.  "Good thing I changed the upstairs locks."  Mara replies, not wanting to acknowledge mention of Aurora. "I know about the ghost.  I think we have an understanding right now.  It doesn't fuck with me, I don't call Father Bellamy."   Mara smiles slightly at that notion.  "So what, are you saying that you plan to come back and pay the ghost another visit?  I suppose asking for an appointment's much more polite than breaking in."  
[Christine]
Christine knew it would make Mara angry. Just as Mara changing the locks to her apartment above the office had made Christine angry. 

"Yeah, cos you know, love, my first thought post break-up would be to sneak upstairs and stake you while you were helpless," she says, bitterly sarcastic. "With all that trust going on between us, it's really amazing, isn't it, that we don't have a relationship any more?" 
 
No it wasn't.  She shouldn't have ever let Christine in.  "I told you my life was complicated, chica.  You chose not to believe it, and I allowed our relationship to go past that of just employer and employee.  We both made mistakes."  And with that, Mara goes silent.  Time to stop blaming and simply...go on.  
She pauses, catching herself in mid-tirade. It's all too late for recriminations. Too much is busted. Any fluffy, romantic ideas Christine might have had about the special and unique nature of their ghoul/domitor bond were incinerated by finding out that Mara was making herself a new minion - one who could help her in her crusade against Melcom.  Christine has been forced to see that all she could ever really be to Mara is useful. And sometimes, recreational. Tool or toy seem to be the choices on offer. 

"I've already spoken to Father Bellamy," she says with forced calm, "I don't think he will help unless the ghost becomes dangerous. Right now Spook's  just annoying. Which is why I asked Aurora. We shouldn't have sneaked in - my fault not Aurora's - but we did find out a bit about him."
 
You're right, Mara narrows her eyes at Christine, the beginning of a dark look that says volumes without her saying a word.  Because I could have killed you both.  
 
"His name was Danny Morello but he had other aliases. He was from Ithaca. He was a gangster. He got murdered in your cellar, his body's still there, I'm pretty sure. We also found a dress - the one Aurora is wearing tonight. And before you get mad, *we* didn't dig up the cellar. That was the crazy dentist you shot, Hathaway - remember? I think he was interrupted before he could do more than break up some of the cement. He hid his handiwork with some crates - still a mess, though."
 
Mara takes note of the name.  She could look it up later, but now she had a better bargaining chip against the ghost.  Its name.  And names, like hair and fingernails, can be used against someone.    
Christine shrugs. "It's up to you what you want to do about your ghost problem. It's your place, after all. But . . . " Christine frowns, remembering. "I Saw his murder - or some of it. It wasn't clean or quick. Something really evil, cruel about it. But kinda purposeful?" She shakes her head, trying to clear the dark memories. "A ritual? I dunno. Maybe I'm going nuts too, like that poor bastard Hathaway."
 
"I'm not afraid of ghosts, Christine."  Mara replies, but listens to Christine's account.  She didn't doubt that she'd seen it, but she had no insight as to its nature.  "I don't think you're going nuts."   You already were to work with LSS for so long.  "If you want to talk to him, that's fine, but please make an appointment first.  I don't like people dropping in...unannounced."        

Tag Christine








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