[ We find Katherine Andrews in the midst of her own art show. The show, as always, consists of her work put against a background of rooms designed to be uncomfortable and filled with people who are irritating. ] [ Boy, I'll bet she loves this stuff. ] [ Date: August 13, 2020. Time: 1800 GMT ] [ Session Start! ] * Katherine is there, yes. She'd be wandering, but she's currently not-so-small talking it with some people who are intent on finding every lick of meaning in this carving or that painting. All considered, she's dealing with them very patiently. * Katherine has chosen, for this occasion, formal, yet mostly comfortable clothing: dark, knee-length skirt, beige, short-sleeved blouse with a kind of floral pattern, flats, and she's carrying a small purse. Her hair's in a French braid. * Red glances at some of the art, looking for a different kind of meaning. A man observing the painting tries to start a conversation with her about how oppressive western society is and how the painting clearly conveys this, and she just stars blankly at him, trying not to laugh. * Red looks around, and spots Katherine, making her way over to her. She's dressed in a business suit all of red today; mustn't dress in slouch fashion for the art show, now. Katherine? * Katherine blinks, looking away from her conversation. She smiles pleasantly. "What a surprise." * Red smiles. "I felt I'd drop by to admire your work." She looks to see if anyone else is listening, decides they're not, and adds, "And to give you an excuse to evacuate if you needed one." Thank you. Seriously. * Katherine holds up a finger and excuses herself from the gentlemen she was talking to, directing them to some other pieces that might hold their interest. * Red smiles. "So, how's the show been thus far?" * Katherine watches them go. "Not that bad. They didn't give me as much room as I would have wanted, and the... ah, elite have been in full force today," she rolls her eyes at that, "but it hasn't been bad at all. No crises or major accidents." * Katherine starts fleeing - er, walking - to a quieter area. * Red does escort duty. "Well, that's good. All you have to do now is put up with the aforementioned 'elite'. Unless you had pressing buisness to leave on, which would be a pity." It would be, wouldn't it? But this is my business. * Katherine grins. "Well, unless I had an emergency of some sort." * Red smirks. "Such as?" I left my oven on. I don't know. Handling this sort of thing always makes me duller than I should be. * Katherine waves vaguely. "But that's life, isn't it? You take the good with the bad. You're just here on a rescue mission, then?" * Red smirks. "More or less, yes. I can even stick around just to give you someone else to talk to, if you like." * Katherine laughs. "And I only met you once previously. I suppose I should be flattered." * Red smirks. "I'd bow, but some of the people here might take it wrong. But, after hearing how much you enjoyed these events, I decided it couldn't hurt to have some back-up in them." I hope I wasn't wrong? * Katherine leads Red to a more sparsely populated area. Why should be easy to see: the art's less crowd-pleasing. It's generally too simple and harder to read into, though a subtle level of wrongness can be found. Katherine, for her part, just seems grateful for the lack of people. "No, no. Not at all. Maybe I should hire you as a bodyguard." (Oh, something else about it. ^^ She's got this habit of always having something living in them. People, animals, plants. You probably noticed that in Arcana, too, when you played.) * Red continues smiling. "Perhaps, yes, if SAB would permit it. At the moment, I'll just be here for friendly support. This is your more personal work?" * Katherine grins. "The really personal stuff doesn't go up. But you could say so. It doesn't sell so well." * Red nods. "But that's not why you make it?" No. Money isn't an end in itself, and I'm well enough off that I don't need to worry so much about it. * Red nods. "I figured as much. If the elite blesses your work, art can be lucrative." She looks at one of the paintings closely. "But that certainly isn't your motivation. There's... something else." * Katherine idly rubs a parrot carving on its head as she thinks. There's a small wooden ring around its right talon. "To be honest, I didn't have any desire to become a professional artist of any sort when I was younger. It was just a hobby." There is? What? * Red smiles brightly. "I'm not sure. I have theories, but if you don't wish to discuss them, that's fine with me." * Katherine shrugs with a distracted smile. "Far be it from me to stop you. You *did* save me, after all." Ah, but I would not want to save you only to torment you, especially since my first theory is that you've had more than enough of that. Enough, in fact, for it to show in your more personal work. * Katherine lifts her hand from the wood and looks over at Red. Or at least in her direction; she doesn't seem to be focusing quite on her. "It's not torment. I can always cut the conversation short, can't I?" Of course. And I'll understand if you'd rather talk about anything else. * Katherine laughs. "Before you ask, my parents didn't abuse me." She falls into an easy smile. "They're a pair of the most wonderful people in the world. But, you know, it's always one of the first things people think of when they're sure of that sort of thing." * Red waves dismissively. "Oh, I didn't imagine it would be your parents. That would leave you bitter and acting like the other elites." * Katherine chuckles. "Well, then. Seems I'm talking to an expert on the subject." * Red smirks. "Now now. I'm only an expert in my spare time." Such as now? * Katherine grins. * Red grins back. "Well, if I'm not on the clock, then yes." Since I haven't *technically* hired you, that'd make you an expert, then. * Katherine sighs, satisfied. "I'm glad we worked that out." * Red nods. "Me too. It's important to work things like that out." Do you have many shows, Katherine? Mmm, I suppose. * Red tilts her head. "You suppose?" * Katherine folds her arms, walking to look at a painting she did of a girl holding an empty birdcage. "Yes, well. Not as many as I could, but I like looking like I'm busy." * Katherine tucks a bit of loose hair behind one ear. * Red looks at the painting. "But not being busy?" Besides, every once in a while, you run into someone who enjoys art just because they enjoy art. It would be a shame to hide from them. * Katherine looks at Red. "I'm afraid I don't follow." Do you not like doing the shows? * Katherine thinks about that. Not generally, no. It feels like the work aspect of my job. * Red smirks. "And the thought of working for a living is so unappealing? Or do you just dislike the work part that much?" * Katherine laughs. "You got me. I hate work." * Red smirks. "Tsk. And here I thought artists loved work." ( Lies! Hateful lies! ) (You tell 'em, brother.) Does anyone like work when it's actually work and no longer fun? (Puritans! The fun doesn't start for them until the fun stops.) (They've been kicked out of England, thank you.) Not really, no. But the 'not fun' part is what I've been angling for, you see. Since you're not having fun, I see nothing keeping you here, really. * Red grins. * Katherine raises an eyebrow. "Politeness, maybe. You have a place in mind?" * Red continues grinning. "Yes. Anywhere that is not here." * Katherine sighs dramatically. "So rude. What will they think." * Red grins more. "They," she says, pointing generally at the crowd, "Will not even notice. They're much to absorbed in their hobnobbing." * Katherine peeks out. "You're a bad influence, Ms. Seifer. I'd like it to go on the record that I'd never even *consider* such a thing if it weren't for you." * Red bows. "I am only setting you free, Ms. Andrews." * Katherine can't help but laugh at that. She looks at the crowd again, then turns and heads for one of the back exits. There is, of course, a security guard there, but she calmly (and firmly) explains that she's going this way. Thank you. * Red backs Katherine up. She is going this way, yes. * Katherine slips out of the exhibit hall and smiles at the sun. "Okay, now. Every good escape plan needs a getaway." * Red points to her car, parked in the alley near the exit they just took. "Right this way, madam. I thought we might need it here." So thoughtful. I can see why I hired you. Only I didn't, because you're an expert in psychology at the moment. * Katherine walks briskly to the car. Of course. You can hire me later, when I'm just a girl with guns. * Red hops into the driver's seat. * Katherine doesn't fail her getting-into-car roll. * Red drives off! For great speeding! [ And so they rode off into the sunset, later to terrorize the locals or somesuch! Session End. ]