Fleecing Bats

Since her return to the Library, Mara has been acting a little strange. Considering all she has been through though that is somewhat understandable. Most notable of the changes though are unlike before, where she spent most of her time within the confines of the Library, now she seems to be out almost every night. Sometimes gone for 2 or 3 days at a time. She always returns calls if anyone tries to contact her, and her excuses are random at best. Ranging from playing a gig in a band, or what have you. Tonight, or rather this morning is one of those times. A Black BMW X6 pulls into the Library parking garage just as the Sun begins to rise, it's windows completely tinted to affored privacy for its occupants. As the vehicle comes to a stop, Mara exits from the passenger side rear of the vehicle. Nothing can be seen of the at least 2 other occupants of the suv. It quickly speeds away, as she closes the door, and enters the Athenaum.

Walking down the hallway, impeccably groomed as always but looking a bit tired, is Rashmi. Next to her is Thing, dancing around eagerly at the end of his illusory leash. Spotting Mara, she clears her throat and speaks. "Oh, hey, Mara. You know, if you're not going to be around to take your poor dog out for walks, you could at least tell me what's going on." There is a nearly undetectable tremor to her movements, a result of almost being electrocuted. Only someone who knows her as well as Mara would see the effort it takes her to appear unaffected.

Mara stops dead in her tracks at her friends voice. "Oh...uhm...Hiya Rash." she stammers. "Right...ummm ... just a little get together with the band, that went a little long is all....Sorry. You shouldn't be up" she says trying to change the subject. Mara sets the bulging gymbag she is carryingon the floor, kneels down and gives Thing a good ear scratching, which quickly transitions into a chest and belly rub as the pup rolls onto his back, soaking up all the attention he can get. "Don't trry to hide it Rash. Your still pretty hurt from the other night aren't you? Why don't you go back to bed, and I'll spend some quality time with my neglected sidekick here." An odd thing occurs to Rashmi. Not once so far, has Mara looked at her. She has kept her head down, sunglasses on, and her 'Guitar Works' ball cap pulled low.

"I couldn't sleep. It's been happening a lot lately," Rashmi says, "and displaying weakness is a bad idea in my line of work. Which you know." There is a little surge of power, and Mara's cap and sunglasses flip off her head and onto the floor. "Oops, how clumsy of me," she says sarcastically, looking intently at her friend's face.

As her hat and glasses fly off, it's evident that Mara has been in a fracas, as the black eye, and other cuts and abrasions can attest. "I was hopeing to take a shower, and get a couple hours of sleep" she says with a sigh, as she stands to face Rashmi. "But I'm guessing thats out of the question now huh? So is this where we get the rest of the team together and talk about my nocturnal activities, like that tv show 'Interuption' " she says with an uneasy chuckle.

Thing interupts the building tension, with a series of happy "Barks". As Rashmi, and Mara look down to see that the pup, has worked his way into the gymbag Mara had set down. Thing now sits inside the bag, which is filled with money, happily chewing on a stack $20 bills. Mara can only shake her head and sigh. "Thing you are not helping......not at all" she adds with a chuckle

Rashmi doesn't seem too surprised to see evidence that Mara has been fighting, but her eyes widen at the sight of the money. She touches her fingertips to her lips for a moment, then takes a deep breath and puts her hands on her hips. "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do," she says. "Come on, lets go back inside. It's time you told me what's really going on."

Mara sighs, as she picks up her hat and glasses. "It's not what you think Rash honest, but I'm guessing your not going to let me off with just a "Trust Me" this time around are ya." After putting her hat and glasses back on, she picks up the bag of money, Thing still lounging inside. "I don't suppose you would take a bribe to forget about this whole thing would?.....lets say....$7300 dollars?.......Thing of course doesn't come in the bribe of course" she says with a grin

Rashmi smirks. "Here's the funny thing about being a wizard, Mara. If nothing eats me or blows me up, I'm going to live long enough to be very wealthy one day. And if it does, seven grand isn't going to help me much. So no, I think you'd better stop dragging your heels over this and start talking. Let's go inside. I'll make some tea."

Mara rolls her eyes. "I know, I know. Let's just get this over with." she mumbles as she walks with Rashmi to her quarters. "You got doughnuts right?"

Rashmi sighs. "Yes, I have doughnuts," she says, "does Fae magic protect you from cavities or something? I swear, you love sugar more than a hummingbird." They arrive at her door and she ushers in friend and fuzzball. "And no one else needs to be involved in this conversation if you don't want them to be. After I know what the deal is, I can decide if it's something anyone else needs to know." She produces a box of Krispy Kremes and starts heating water for tea.

Mara shrugs as she follows Rashmi into her room. "It's less a sugar thing, and more of a bread thing" she says, opening the box and taking a bit of doughnut. "If ya want the Fae's attention, all ya need is bread, milk, and honey. I haven't a clue as to why, but that's the way it is. Maybe something to do with that old saying about "the Land of Milk and Honey" or something."

While she waits for Rashmi to settle in, she plops down on the coach, and eats. Occasionally tearing off a piece to give to Thing. "Yeah, the more people that know about my little side job, the harder it will be to continue. I promise Rash, it's nothing nefarious."

"Oh, wow. I never made the connection. Remind me to make you some Barfi sometime," she says. "It's not what it sounds like. And be careful which ones you let Thing eat, a couple of those doughnuts have chocolate. So. Are you done stalling, or would you like to swap makeup tips or something for a while?"

"Well with a name like barfi, why would you think I would have pause before eating it" Mara says with a grin. "But I trust you enough to hope you wouldn't feed me what it sounds like. And for the record, I'm not stalling. I just thought you might like to be seated before I tell you I've turned theft and the occasional murder into a hobby thats all."

Rashmi calmly sets down a pair of cups, pours some tea, places the teapot of the coffee table, and seats herself. "It's a dessert and it's quite good. Don't blame me for all the unfortunate false cognates between languages. So how about you talk straight now? Having just promised me that you've been doing nothing nefarious, you must be trying to pull my leg about the stealing and murder. Nice wording, though."

Mara shakes her head. "Nope not really. Stealing, and murder pretty much covers it, by most standards" she says calmly. "The nothing nefarious aspect comes in with the details." Mara pauses for a moment, taking a sip of tea before continuing. "For the last couple of months, I've been tracking and raiding Red Court operations around town. Busting up their drug labs, bumping off Leopard Warriors, disrupting their shipping....Basic guerrilla warfare tactics. Anything to big for me to handle, and the Safe Streets Task Force gets an anominous well informed tip from a concerned citizen. Really, its nothing more than a modern day production of Robin Hood." she says with a grin "I'm robbing from the bad, and giving to the good."

Rashmi's mouth twists in a sad smile. "Mara, why didn't you just tell me from the start?" she says, "I know you. You're strong, you have a good heart, and you're pretty much impossible to control. I wouldn't have tried to stop you. I could have helped you!"

Mara lowers her head. "I know you would have, which is why I didn't want to tell you...or anyone. The more people who know, the higher the risks. A J figured with the aid of glamors and veils, I could keep the reds off balance, kick them in the pocketbook, and never reveal who I really was....and keep the Athenaeum out of the lime-light as it were. The really hard part, proved to be finding someone to launder the money, before distributing it to several charities."

Rashmi sighs. "Ok. I see why you kept a low profile on this. I'm not happy about it, but I understand. If you told the rest of our little team, half of them would want to charge in to your rescue and screw everything up. But Mara..." she says, a little hurt creeping into her voice, "why not tell me sooner? Even if you didn't let me go with you, I could do things to help. I could make you potions, use my own contacts, help with planning...We're friends. I trust you. Don't you trust me?"

"Trust has nothing to do with it Rash" Mara begins, her head still lowered, her voice trembling with sadness. "My new life and position, have me too deep into the grey. I can't risk you or Emil being punished by the White Council because of my actions. My standing within the Fae Courts gives me some measure of leeway when it comes to the Laws, but it won't slow them down a bit to go after any of my "accomplices", and you know it. I just couldn't risk it."