Moving Pieces Into Place

[stolenlives]

There were a few principles Jerrard lived his life by and first among them was: Never give any anything for free. Every act of charity for a price, even if it was not readily apparent. It was all in the planning. That was the problem with the criminal element these days. No patience. It was all ostentatious displays and maniacal cackling. No respect for the long con.

Tonight's act of benevolence was an art display at the Brooklyn Museum. He'd made some... acquisitions back in 1874 when excavations were ongoing at the Abri de la Madeleine shelter and such things weren't readily missed. And if they were, a few coins cleared the problem right up.

Jerrard smoothed down the lapels of his suit as he circles the glass cased displays. They aren't even his favorite pieces in his vast and varied collection, but they make an impression and that was his goal. The museum had been overjoyed to be loaned the prehistoric carvings and weaponry. It had generated headlines and press, building up his name in precisely the way he wanted.

A waiter passed with a tray of champagne flutes and he took one, sipping idly and keeping watch over his assets.

Comments

[ngm_hellfire]

Selene had easily gotten an invitation to the opening night of the new art display at the Brooklyn Museum. She almost dismissed the invitation until one her contacts dropped a bit of information. With her age, there were certain things she thought lost to time. There were very faint murmurings in certain circles something that belonged to a sorcerer named Kulan Gath could be amongst the bric-a-brac of old things.

The Dark Huntress couldn't let anything of her ancient rival's fall into the wrong hands. There would be a bloody ritualized resurrection, heroes fighting to make property damage, a cranky old sorcerer who was never as powerful as he thought, and a whole lot of headache in the middle of her important machinations. So rather than take her focus wholly off the prize, she went to the Brooklyn Museum to make this more of a quaint momentary diversion.

She had mingled well as someone of her station should. It had been a necessity since people approached not long after her entrance. She had done the rounds and was not casually looking over the cases around the big central display. Nothing was jumping out to her as Gath's, but she had a spell for that later.

She glanced over at the Abri de la Madeleine display. It wouldn't hurt to go look at some things that were actually older than her for once...

[hellfire_empath]

Brooke Wyngarde snagged a flute of champagne for herself and took a delicate sip. She was about smile when some hideous hipster sidled on past her, coming a smidge too close for comfort. She took two steps back and glared at the hipster. For the briefest of moments, she wanted to reach out with her powers and do something to him, but she held back.

Consciously or not, the things she was learning at the Xavier Institute were starting to stick.

She walked past one weapon and thought about Alexander. She wondered what he might think of these ancient weapons. No doubt this was more his forte than hers. Still, it was art, and wherever there was an intermingling of art and society, there was Brooke Wyngarde.

She smiled at some old acquaintances of hers from Woodbridge-Robillard - her old high school - and made some small talk. One was married to a hedge fund manager and was about to have her first baby. The other had started up a hip candle-making business that had taken off in recent months. The third was married to an aspiring politician. Brooke herself was dating a god, but that wasn't the sort of thing one could bring up in conversation. Instead, she smoothed down her dress and discussed the few social events she'd thrown - like the reception for Stephanie and Marcelo. It had gone off without a hitch.

If I ever need to start a business of my own... she considered with a smile.

Saying her good-byes and promising to keep in touch - though they all knew that would never happen until they ran into each other at another social event - Brooke idly moved on to the next display.