Winter our discontent (RP)

They step out of the cab in front of Persephone's building. The structure was built around 1900 and once housed the headquarters of Rolls Royce, apparently, though now it is luxury condos. The façade features stonework in an Art Nouveau style, with a brass and glass double door entry covered with an awning. No doorman here, however; only a keyfob entryway and two high end surveillance cameras can be seen. Persephone waves a fob at the door, but it seems to be opening before she even does so.

The lobby inside is similarly high-end, featuring marble floors, brass and stone stylized wall detailing, and several massive Art Nouveau paintings depicting mythological scenes. Stainless steel elevators occupy the far wall, with no buttons -- only the keyfob pad and more cameras. Again, the elevator doors seem to open before she has even arrived at the elevators.

In addition to another keyfob sensor, only three buttons greet the passenger, marked Emergency, Lobby, and Rooftop Terrace. Once they have entered, the elevator launches upwards, smooth and silent, without Persephone doing a thing. With a quiet tone, it opens, revealing a minimalist hallway with sound dampening carpet, high ceilings, and indirect lighting.

Persephone walks to the furthest of the three doors in this hallway and waves her fob at the pad on the door, which clicks open. She turns and says, "Welcome. Um, I apologize in advance, but it's a mess. Oh... and Benji, do I have to... invite you in? Is that really a thing? Well... um... I guess..." She glances nervously at Emma, and finishes her sentence, saying, "I guess you are welcome to come in."

She opens the door and heads inside.

Persephone walks into her condo, mostly looking back at Emma, Benji, and Bev. She was preoccupied with the implications of having invited a vampire into her home, after all.

By the time she reaches the living room, she turns to see… "Circe!!! Oh, sorry I should have called to let you know I was bringing… wait, what happened to your eye?‽ Are you o…"

She trails off as her brain finally groks who else is here. What… the hell… is HE doing here?!?! How is he still alive?!?! Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod…

Persephone feels as if a panic attack is coming on. What will her patron do to her? To her loved ones? Oh no…

She strides quickly toward Circe, keeping her face turned away from … him as she does so. Hopefully, he won’t recognize her all disheveled and in Chablis’ bargain rack clothes. She grabs Circe by the arm and pulls/drags/pushes her back into a bedroom and closes the door, leaving … him behind with the others.

In a whisper-yell, panicking, she says, "What is going on?!?! What happened to you? And what is that man doing here??"


Meanwhile, the others find themselves in Persephone’s condo. The condo is laid out in an open floor plan with minimalist decor. Two large wall sized windows at the corner of the building dominate the scene, with the rain running down the glass and vistas of central and North London visible through beyond. In the center of the space are some low, minimalist couches and tables. To the left, a dining room sits near an island and a modern kitchen with high end appliances, all appearing unused. To the right are three doors, two of them open. One goes into a spacious bathroom for guests and the other into Persephone's bedroom suite. Guests can glimpse into the bedroom and see another set of windows, a king size bed, an office space with computer and ergo chair, and a master bath.

Hearing Circe’s words, her panic attack subsides. "Ooh!!! Kickboxing, right. Are you ok? Does it hurt? Do you need ibuprofen? Or an ice pack? Wait, did they check you for a concussion? Here let me see your pupils…"

After a few minutes of acting like a mom and fussing over her little sis, Persephone turns to the ‘elephant’ in her living room. She says, acting sheepish, "So…. Howard. I met him at a club the other night. He seemed nice, though he did not seem to be having much fun. To be honest, it was a bit awkward, so I left, but I lost my purse along the way. I guess it’s nice of him to return it, but… kind of weird? He, uh, made a move and I shut him down, so he might be resentful about ii guess… oh hell I guess I gotta deal with this. Why don’t you, uh, get dressed and I’ll take care of him? I mean… like… I’ll send him away. Nicely."

She turns to head out and face the music. Ohmigod… this is not good…

"Here, have a look at the menu" Emma handed Bev her phone, rather than reading out to her the name of every dish "I recommend the special 'Laksa', but if you don't want anything too spicy you can go for 'Tarka Dahl Curry'" Emma was famished, having skipped breakfast and donating like a pint of blood. She didn't want to waste any time waiting for their food to arrive, so she thought they could get a jump on their order.

But before Bev can respond, Persephone opened the door to her apartment and they found themselves staring at Circe, with nothing but a bathroom wrapped around her. She was about to say something, and then she spotted the man sitting casually on the couch. Circe's boyfriend? She could only assume he was. What woman would go have a shower and leave someone in her living room, while they were alone in her house, if they didn't have some sort of an intimate relationship?

"Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you were… in the middle of something" she shot a glance at Pers, who quickly steps in to usher Circe away to the bedroom.

"Well, anyway…" she managed to smile at the man, feeling the urge to poke fun at him "Are you staying for lunch with us, or… have you already eaten?"

Emma couldn’t see why Circe would choose hookup with a man more than twice her age, but it wasn’t her place to judge. That was Circe’s decision to make. She shot another quick look at Zhiyu (who she vaguely recognized as a greengrocer at Covent Garden) but since he seemed more interested in talking to Benji, she shrugged and turned to Bev: "Come, let’s set the table while Pers and Circe sort things out. I’m starving!"

"Well, if you are staying, do you mind giving us a hand?" she grabbed a couple of trash bags and handed them over to Zhiyu, before he has the chance to object. "Put the empty bottles and takeout boxes in here. Everything needs to go. I’ll get started on the dishes. Bev, you set the table, alright?" maybe she couldn't save Pers' soul just yet, but at least she could help her out by dealing with a little bit of chaos in her life.

After Persephone calms down and regains her composure, she hugs Circe and says, "I'm sorry. I came in and saw you hurt and naked and assumed the worst. Here, let me get you something to wear and then we can... uh, go out."

And face Howard...[/I], she thinks.

Persephone goes to her closet and switches her top for something of her own--a comfy cashmere turtleneck sweater, one that would completely conceal the bite mark on her shoulder. She takes care to change out of sight of her sister and then returns to her. Then she picks out a few things for Circe to throw on. A pair of loose-fitting yoga pants and an oversized Stanford sweatshirt (she has several, of course). She hands them to Circe to put on.

Once she's dressed, she heads to the door. She takes a deep breath, puts on a smile, opens the door, and steps out.

Once again she is met with a sight she did not expect--Howard is helping her friends clean her apartment?! [i]What the? Ugh, I guess I better get used to being disoriented. I haven't felt like this since... Ohmigod it's like being a freshman in college again. great.

She walks over to them and speaks to them all, her voice controlled, apologetic, sing-songy.

"Hi, everyone! Sorry about that. When we came in and I saw my baby sis with a black eye and, well, undressed, well, I guess my maternal instinct kicked in! Well, I'm relieved to say she's OK... She enrolled in my kickboxing school this morning and just got back from class. Well, apparently...ha... she's really diving in, going straight to full-contact, an had a little accident! Haha, best be careful, Circe! Ha. Well. Anyway. So, um, Circe, these are some friends of Emma's I've just met--that's Bev and that's Benji. An you know Emma, of course. This is my sister, Circe."

She turns to face Howard. "And this... is ... um, Howard. We met, very briefly, at a club the other night. Um... Howard? Ha. What are you doing in my apartment?" Her voice is strained now, a pleading look in her eyes.

Emma was elbow deep in sudsy water scrubbing the plates when Pers walked back into the living room. She turned her head slightly, nodding, then smiling, when she heard that Circe was ok "Who did they have you sparing with?" she turns to look back at the dishes as she waited for an answer, scrubbing another plate, before stopping abruptly. Wait. Howard??

She thought she had it all figured out. She saw Circe strolling into the living room earlier with nothing but a short towel wrapped around her midsection, while Zhiyu was sitting right there on the couch. She was certain the two of them hooked up. What other explanation could there be? Circe didn't know they would walk in on them at that very moment, and she was busy prancing around half naked into the living room without any concern for her modesty when they opened the door. But now it appeared that Pers knew 'Howard' too.

She paused, hands still in the water, as she glanced back at Zhiyu: "Wait. Is it Howard, or Zhiyu?"