Anastasia Thorne (sharpthornes) wrote in nybynightic, @ 2020-08-06 03:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | activity type: log/thread, character: anastasia thorne, character: micah lucciano |
Anastasia has a business proposal that Micah can't refuse.WARNINGS None • STATUS Complete
Anastasia’s heels clicked against the floor as she walked towards her destination. There was never a time when she didn’t move with a purposeful grace. Crowds parted when she walked through them and assistants hesitated.
“Mister—,” the assistant started but never got to finish as Anastasia paused long enough to turn her sharp gaze upon them.
“Will see me now. Don’t worry, kitten. I have an appointment.” Turning on the presence that only a Toreador could ooze, she reached out and ran her finger over the assistant’s cheek before continuing on towards the office that was her destination. She did, in fact, have an appointment with Kindred in question. One that she was right on time for and Anastasia Thorne did not sit around and wait for anyone to decide to see her. It was a fact that was made clear as she opened the door and stepped into the Ventrue’s office.
“Micah, darling. So good of you to agree to see me.”
The assistant rushed in behind, helpless to stop the Toreador in full force, a look full of anxiety and desperation on his face. “Sir, she—”
Micah looked up from his seat, a plush leather chair behind a large mahogany desk, and waved away the worried Kindred standing at his door. “It’s fine, Ms Thorne is always welcome at any establishment of mine.”
With his usual charming smile turned up on full, Micah directed it at Anastasia now. “Anastasia, dear. Always a delight, of course. How can I help you?” He asked, as he signalled with an extended hand towards the chair across the table for the Toreador to sit comfortably.
Micah was no stranger to the business dealings that Anastasia had, given that the two tended to run in the same circles. But they didn’t typically have cause to meet, especially given that they could be considered competitors in some senses. The fact that the Toreador was here, now, was a statement in its own right.
It might have been Micah’s office and his establishment but from the way Anastasia sat down in the chair on the other side you wouldn’t have known it. She returned that charming smile with one of her own as she settled into the chair, one leg crossing over the other.
“If I’m correct, I do believe it’s a matter of how we can help each other.” She could have warmed him up with pleasantries first but that had never been Anastasia’s style, not unless the situation called for it, and she knew that they would be lost on Micah. Just another reason that she felt coming to him was the right move. “I have certain interests that I believe could be beneficial to us both.”
Nothing worth doing was without risk and getting ready to show her hand—or rather where her hand had been—was that risk. If she was wrong then Micah was shrewd enough to guess why it was of interest to her and be able to use it against her. “Tell me, darling, what do you know of The Circulatory System?”
The very mention of those two words elicited a stillness in Micah. The Circulatory System—a supply network for all the kindred of New York. It was not something that the businessman in him could pass up. And long had there been whispers of Anastasia Thorne having her fingers dipped in those murky waters.
Micah had his own sources too—of course—being the owner of several well-established nightclubs himself—but he got the feeling that simple dabbling was the last thing on the Toreador’s mind now as she stared back at him with keen eyes.
He leaned back against his chair, contemplating her with an unreadable look, before finally smiling again. “Not hardly as much as yourself, I’d say,” Micah replied smoothly.
“Very astute of you.” Not that she expected anything less. Anastasia knew that Micah was no less sharp than she was—both when it came to business and when playing the game that all Kindred who wanted to survive found themselves playing.
She wasn’t going to deny it. It would do her little good to do so. Not with what she was about to purpose. “It has its—perks.” She inclined her head in acknowledgment that she had all but outright admitted her involvement. “But it could be so much more if it was out in the open. Be more profitable if it could cater to the Kindred of New York openly and step out of the shadows. Become a legit business if you will.”
It wasn’t just about the money. Something like that? It gave one power because it wasn’t just about providing a service. It was about providing something that was needed, something that would come to be relied on. It was something Anastasia knew about very well. It was after all how she had become the Keeper of Elysium.
It was a thought that Micah had entertained himself on several occasions, but a venture like this required resources. And as much as Micah had his roots firmly buried in the city of New York, he had his enemies too, people who would love to see him tripping over himself in an attempt to gather more influence. It wasn’t something Micah would go blindly into, that was for sure.
But now that Anastasia Thorne had come to him with a proposal like this—
Micah tapped his fingers against the edge of his mahogany desk. Once. Twice.
“It could, most certainly,” Micah allowed. Anyone could see that. “And yet you thought of including me, just like this?” That was the question, wasn’t it? Kindred were nothing if not self-serving. And Anastasia surely had the resources to get something like this started on her own.
A smile slid back into place as Anastasia looked at him knowing she had his attention on the manner. If he wasn’t interested then he could have simply dismissed the idea and her. “It wasn’t without some debate on the manner.” Not just any old Ventrue would do. Most of them the Toreador couldn’t stand. It had taken a while to decide that Micah would be the one that she would approach on this. It wasn’t because she trusted him. She was old enough to not be that foolish when it came to another Kindred.
True, she had the resources to do this on her own if it came down to it but it wouldn’t be easy. There were doors that Micah could open much more easily than she could, just as there were few that could open this door for him as easily as she could.
“It’s not an endeavor to be taken lightly. We’re talking about taking a business that most consider unsavory and risky to the Masquerade and turning it into something that they see as acceptable while behind the scenes not dismantling how it’s operated completely. For that one needs a very like minded partner.”
It was a smart answer. Regardless of whether she truly trusted Micah or her own personal feelings on him, she had covered the essentials: the both of them were poised in the best position out of all the other possibilities in the city. And if they were serious about making this work, they had the best chance if they worked together. If nothing else, Micah could absolutely believe that.
In answer, Micah simply smiled.
He got up then, walking over to a glass cabinet where he kept his prized collections and retrieved two glasses. “Well then, when you put it like that—” He turned, walked to the Toreador in the room, offering a glass to Anastasia. “A toast to our success?”
Some might have thought it hasty to be toasting to success so soon but Anastasia thought nothing of it as she took the offered glass. It was because she had no doubt that they would in fact succeed. They were both too ruthless in their business dealings for them not to. She was not a woman to suffer failures—not even lightly.
It helped as well that making this work was quickly becoming her new obsession. One could say that inspiration had struck her and this was her newest piece to work on. Not all Toreador obsessions ended up being about people or art, though this was just as much Anastasia’s craft as her artwork, maybe even more so if one looked at the Blue Velvet.
Looking up at Micah from her seat she lifted her glass. “To our success and the beginning of a very profitable partnership.”