2026-03-16 10:26 - 13:57 PST
Calimastia received a tip from Luke about troublemakers around The Ziggurat. There, she noticed three people walking away. They seemed professionally dressed, but the way they acted was suspicious. Cali even recognized one of the women as Lindsey Matthew from her recent duties at Elysium. She approached.
She spoke with them, and let them leave, but she couldn’t help but feel like she’d been dealt with too swiftly. She called up Johnny, found out Luke’s office and beat Lindsey there. She tried to lie her way out of it, but the Hound had caught her red handed. Then, Calimastia allowed Lindsey to explain herself:
Lindsey gestures over to the Ventrue in a business suit, who explains, “So, I don’t know if you know much about Sterner’s business. But it’s all ghouls at the top. Anyone who tries to climb the ladder gets ghouled and gets vitae as payment. Barely any actual wages to scrape by, barely enough vitae to even function. Long hours, dirty work. If you somehow prove yourself, you might get Embraced. Luke’s idea, claims it’s a meritocracy. That’s what I went through, almost ten years of suffering through horrible working conditions.”
“And you’re doing what about it, exactly?”
Lindsey claims, simply, “We’re blackmailing Luke to change the system.”
Calimastia didn’t think it would work, but…
“You.” She points at the fledgeling. “You’re joining the Camarilla. I’ll pin you as a the sole collaborator, who I easily defeated and bring to clan Ventrue for rehabilitation. In the meantime, you three keep your heads down and try and find something without rumaging through probably one of the most secure locations in the city blindly. Do that, and I’ll make sure we take down Luke. Deal?”
They would work together.
The Brujah hands Calimastia the keys. Lindsey says, “Welcome to the team.” She then will leave with the other Ventrue if Calimastia lets them.
“You’re doing the accounting, by the way!” She calls after Lindsey. She’ll then stake the Brujah, and call Luke.
There was a bit more fight to it, which might help when Luke would review the security camera footage later, something Cali had failed to account for. After the call, she went to find a computer, and managed to successfully delete the footage.
Then, after dropping off the fledgeling with Johnny, she went to find Irene. They broke into a chinese restaurant and Calimastia said they needed to call off the plan. There was an Ancient underneath the city1, and if Jacobi’s plans were left to continue, it’d further the cause of the Sabbat and the Camarilla.
Irene couldn’t stand for this, and Calimastia couldn’t stand that Irene was working with her former domitor, Leon. In the end, despite everything, they compromised.
“Wait, Rene-” She stops. Was she really doing this? She can leave. She can always leave. That was the point of this freedom. Drinking from the chalice. She didn’t have to do this.
But somehow, the insinuation from Irene was enough.
“Fine. I’ll do it. But no more secondhand schemes. No more Anarchs2.”
Irene turns around. “You’ll really do it, Cali?”
“Yeah. I will. I’m sorry. The Camarilla is rubbing off on me too much.”
“It’s okay, babe.” Irene throws her arms around Calimastia. “I knew you’d have a change of heart. I love you so much!”
“Yeah. Me too.” She looks away for a moment. “Stop working with Leon. Ok Rene?” “He’s a monster.”
“Honey, if we kill Jacobi, we can add Leon to the chopping block. You can be the Primogen, and I can be your darling right hand.”
“You’d…do that?” Her expression suddenly is a lot less stone cold, as she turns back. “…Leave the Sabbat?”
A few tears of blood well to the edge of her eyes. “…Thank you. Thank you. I’ll take his head off the moment I get the chance. I’ll spill his ash into that river he’s so obsessed with. I swear.”
She’s a little bit frantic in her words, as if she’s afraid Irene will change her mind at a moments notice.
Irene smiles and asks, in a sing-song voice. “Though, you don’t have to do that right now…” She gives Calimastia a look.
“…You’re right. I don’t. In fact, I was told by an Ancillae that I’m done for the night.”
“Then…” Irene cups Calimastia’s cheek. “It seems you’ve got some time on your hands.”