Xaviers!

The Raven's Crest was not as busy as usual, but there was still a short line to get in. Inside there was no immediate sign of Erica, though there were plenty of Raven's Crest employees around.

"Alright, just... keep your cool," Sam says to Viv.

"Don't let her spook you, no matter what she says."

"I have stared in the face of beasts your kind have long forgotten, little shakes me these days." Viv replied flatly. She was without Cal and entering a creature of power's den, that is what made her nervous. This was a bar however and bars served drinks, she wasn't totally defenseless.

"...it's the ones you can't punch that are trouble," she mutters as she makes her way to the bar.

The bartender moves over to them, obviously recognizing Sam, "Ah, yes, your VIP room is available. The VIP bouncer should just let you through."

In the booth a familiar young woman in a black high-slit dress is sitting with crossed legs, smoking a cigarette through a cigarette holder.

Sam is already frowning by the time she makes it into the VIP room.

"What are you doing here?" She asks Miriam.

"I'm just taking advantage of our hosts generous accommodations that surely come with no strings attached." she snipes back at Sam before her tone softens a little. "I'm just concerned. If you don't want my help, fine. But you can't keep me from keeping my eye on this place. For Wanda."

"Have you seen the owner around, then?"

"No. But I imagine she's around. She seems to be here most nights." she says as she focuses her mind that had previously been just soaking in the mood of the room, trying to find the one that belongs to Erica. She figures it can't be that hard to find a sharper one among the sea of alcohol-addled ones. And if she ends up drawing her attention, well, Sam wants to talk to her anyway.

Find Erica is more a matter of finding the one mind that's shrouded. A look in the direction of that mind reveals Erica sitting at an out-of-the-way table attended by a couple of young men. As soon as Miriam's presence brushes her though, she frowns and looks around for a moment before focusing in on the VIP area.

"I think she's spotted you." she says, leaning over in her seat to see if she can find the right angle to spot Erica without standing up and being immediately obvious about it. "Over there somewhere."

"More able minded individuals involved the better." Vivienne said close to Sam's right shoulder. "Shall we go introduce ourselves?"

"She's with company, but we may as well..." She says, stepping out of the VIP room.

As they approached, the two young men got up and retrieved some chairs, placing three chairs opposite Erica. Tonight she was wearing the classic 'little black dress' and drinking something dark.

To Vivienne's senses though, the woman fairly glowed. She had a lot of magic tied to herself. Oddly enough, there was some sort of old agreement that was either held by Vivienne or her mother or something. The flux of the situation made it hard to zero in on.

Vivienne glared at the faint line of magic from behind her glamour but she remained where she was standing behind Sam's right shoulder.

"Miss Carlisle, I think we may finally have some business to talk about. It involves my friend here."

Erica folds her hands on the table. "By all means, have a seat. Always a pleasure to talk to the fey." Somehow she makes the word 'pleasure' both pleasant and pejorative.

"Then you are the only one at this table to believe so." She said as she chose a seat.

Erica tilts her head, regarding Vivienne for a long moment before she turns back to Sam, "You said you wanted to discuss business?" She gestures and the two young men head off to find something else to do.

"She's gotten into some rather hairy deals. I don't like seeing her shackled like that. You have expertise, and you want something from me."

"Unraveling fey oaths is... tricky business. The requirements can be substantial. We would have to renegotiate the original offer, because that's really more than a favor."

"Name your terms and we shall decide their worth."

"Just like your mother, I see." She turns her attention fully on Sam, "You know what I require and you're the one here to counter offer. What is it you want?"

"I want her free and clear of the shackles the Grey Council have put on her. I want her to be able to be herself, however she chooses to express that."

"And that's all you want?" She raises an eyebrow.

"You said it's more than a favor. You didn't say how much."

"I'm fond of the idea of putting a thumb in the Grey Council's eye, but maybe she wants a bit more."

"Information and dependent on its' nature, an act on your part."

"Let's define our terms then," Erica says. "The Morrigan agrees that she will not claim me. The Daughter of the Lady agrees to continue my agreement with her mother, should she come into her own. In return, I agree to do my best to unravel the oath that the Grey Council has placed on the Daughter of the Lady as well as provide her requested information, provided I am not prevented from doing so by prior contract. In the event that the information requires me to attempt additional action on behalf of the Daughter of the Lady, the Daughter of the Lady will provide me with one vial of her blood the contents of which are not to be used in any way damaging to the Daughter or her Mother."

"What deal did you make with her mother?"

As Sam and Vivienne are negotiating with Erica, Miriam casts her mind out again. She's trying to find people in the crowd who might know a little more about their host. Where she's from, where she lives, ideas about why this place is doing so well despite being blatantly pro-mutant, just skimming the crowd. She mostly expects to pick up on rumors from the general crowd but with Erica's attention elsewhere she extends her search to the staff. Security had to know a little more about this place. And at the very least might have some information about what kind of people to let in, what the place looks like 'backstage' and how to get there. Something is incredibly fishy here and Miriam is determined to find it.

Samantha McManus wrote:"What deal did you make with her mother?"

"I'm afraid that's between me and her mother, unless she, as acting Lady, wants to give me permission to disclose it?"

Nailah Weaver wrote:As Sam and Vivienne are negotiating with Erica, Miriam casts her mind out again. She's trying to find people in the crowd who might know a little more about their host. Where she's from, where she lives, ideas about why this place is doing so well despite being blatantly pro-mutant, just skimming the crowd. She mostly expects to pick up on rumors from the general crowd but with Erica's attention elsewhere she extends her search to the staff. Security had to know a little more about this place. And at the very least might have some information about what kind of people to let in, what the place looks like 'backstage' and how to get there. Something is incredibly fishy here and Miriam is determined to find it.

Most of the bartenders are pretty busy filling orders and happy enough with the tips they're getting that they don't ponder too much on how weird it is that this place is successful. Most of the normal human crowd seems to be of the opinion that it's "hip to be bad" and mingle with the mutants. The uniformed security staff seem to be the run of the mill tough guys and girls that you'd expect to find bouncing for a club. And then she finds the plain clothes security staff, roaming the building like they own the place with the assurance of being handpicked by Erica herself. They're not her inner circle yet and they know it, but the desire is there to make that leap.

Miriam zeroes in on the plainclothes people that, she has to admit, she would not have noticed without her telepathy. But now that she's found a lead she's not going to let up easily. She picks one with a particularly strong desire to get 'in' with Erica and tries to dig up who exactly is part of that inner circle, for starters. As she does this she absentmindedly glances around the room as she tries to figure out where the best place to slip backstage would be. If Erica has an inner circle then surely there's some kind of area set aside for that somewhere.

"You may." She watched Erica closely, fey eyes beneath human facade focusing on the lines of magic, fey or human in origin was the question.

Miriam Bell wrote:Miriam zeroes in on the plainclothes people that, she has to admit, she would not have noticed without her telepathy. But now that she's found a lead she's not going to let up easily. She picks one with a particularly strong desire to get 'in' with Erica and tries to dig up who exactly is part of that inner circle, for starters. As she does this she absentmindedly glances around the room as she tries to figure out where the best place to slip backstage would be. If Erica has an inner circle then surely there's some kind of area set aside for that somewhere.

Apparently, getting in good with Erica was an uncertain process and the only way to know you were 'in' was to hear it from Erica herself. The subject, a young woman, was filled with a mixture of fear and respect for Erica that bordered on fanaticism. She'd seen Erica do some amazing things.

Vivienne Chinnoir wrote:"You may." She watched Erica closely, fey eyes beneath human facade focusing on the lines of magic, fey or human in origin was the question.

"The bulk of the agreement is that I would not directly side with the Grey Lords and would render assistance to her in mortal matters if she required it, which she has not. In exchange, your mother opened a few doors for me, taught me how to access certain types of fey magic and committed to not closing those avenues on me." Erica herself certainly wasn't fey, though she had some fey magic wrapped around her and worked through her. She also had mortal magic of various stripes floating around her as well.

Miriam focuses on the woman. Someone this enthralled would have to know things, starting with whether Erica has an office and if so, where it is. She was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to get anything unbiased from Erica's employees, patrons or sycophants, so she might as well try to investigate herself while Erica's busy making deals.

"It's your call," she says to Viv.

"I have no objection to the agreement you hold with my mother, save for this, fey magic is not as it once was, it is waning. I do not approve of your holding onto what is essentially a potential soul and your potential agreement with the Morrigan, provided she is the Morrigan, means you would continue to hold that potential instead of releasing it back to the Source upon your death. However, I see that you are not abusing it nor my mother through the connection. You may keep your bargain with my mother, if I still exist once my chains are loosed and I am Lady, I shall return to this place and we shall renegotiate the pact. As for the information I required, you have already given most of it freely. As payment for the rest I can not give you blood, it is already owned, but I can offer a single favor, fulfilled upon approval, by me and me alone, valid for the span of one single mortal human life. I offer that to be 80 years."

Miriam Bell wrote:Miriam focuses on the woman. Someone this enthralled would have to know things, starting with whether Erica has an office and if so, where it is. She was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to get anything unbiased from Erica's employees, patrons or sycophants, so she might as well try to investigate herself while Erica's busy making deals.

Erica certainly had an office and like a lot of night club offices, it was above all the noise of the club, despite the window that looked out onto the club. One only had to go to the back of the VIP section and past the guard to get the stairs that led to it.

Vivienne Chinnoir wrote:"I have no objection to the agreement you hold with my mother, save for this, fey magic is not as it once was, it is waning. I do not approve of your holding onto what is essentially a potential soul and your potential agreement with the Morrigan, provided she is the Morrigan, means you would continue to hold that potential instead of releasing it back to the Source upon your death. However, I see that you are not abusing it nor my mother through the connection. You may keep your bargain with my mother, if I still exist once my chains are loosed and I am Lady, I shall return to this place and we shall renegotiate the pact. As for the information I required, you have already given most of it freely. As payment for the rest I can not give you blood, it is already owned, but I can offer a single favor, fulfilled upon approval, by me and me alone, valid for the span of one single mortal human life. I offer that to be 80 years."

"At least I command it and not the Grey Lords," she points out before descending into thought on the rest. Finally she smiles, "I think that will be sufficient payment, provided the magnitude of the favor is commensurate with the value of the action you ask of me."

How hard could it be to get past a guard, right? Miriam gets up and casually makes her way over to them. Before she even gets close she starts projecting the idea into the guard's head that she is absolutely allowed up there. She's good friends with Erica, after all. She takes the memory of talking to her and takes bits and pieces of it to plant in the guard's memory to make it seem like he has vague memories of her talking to Erica on multiple occasions. As Miriam gets closer she nods at him casually. After all, she's allowed through here, being a good friend of Erica's...