[Ariyah – International District – Ariyah’s Haven – BoL – NA – PRE-RESET]
Ariyah sat at her sofa, an iPad in her lap as she sketched out a rough draft of Laura’s apartment.
Ariyah had called Studio X and left a voicemail to be passed on to Collin. She wanted to know what kind of art the Camarilla had prepared for Laura’s apartment so she could incorporate it in her design. She had couched her words carefully so that it sounded like an innocuous request by an art buyer looking for something for her client. Hopefully, the man would get back to her soon.
She had also called up Sofia and gave her a summary of the situation, and the interior designer had agreed to do a site visit with her tomorrow.
Referring to the photos both Laura and Collin had given her, Ariyah began to select colour palettes. She was thinking that she would do at least two before tomorrow evening’s meeting, one warm, one cool, and let Laura choose. From her encounter with the woman, Ariyah decided that it would be best to offer only a small selection of options to avoid analysis paralysis.
She had only been working for a couple of hours when she received an email from Studio X. Two pictures were attached, one of a statuette and another, a small, black and white optical illusion piece. In the body of the email was a short message from Collin, “These pieces are certainly not bad, but I’m certain you could find others that would function better as the centre of attention, yes?”
Ariyah pursed her lips, considering the two art pieces. From Collin’s words, it seemed the man wanted to make sure these pieces remain inconspicuous. That made sense since you wouldn’t want people scrutinising something that had been bugged.
So, she needed to come up with some kind of feature piece, most likely a mural as a feature wall. It was something she needed to think about for a bit. In the meantime, she incorporated the two Op Art pieces Laura liked from the gallery into the sketches.
[Rough design sketches and colour palettes for Laura: Intelligence + Craft: 3 Successes vs Diff 3 | Success | 1WP]
Hours later, Ariyah put away her stylus with a sigh. She looked at the series of drawings she’d made of Laura’s apartment, the colour palette she’s assembled. This was the most she could realistically do without seeing the actual location. Once she’s been to the place and determined how much of the furniture Laura wanted to keep, Ariyah could then amend the design accordingly.
Not for the first time, Ariyah wondered what the woman did to attract the attention of the Prince of Seattle. Collin hadn’t been upfront about it when she had asked, and yet she was supposed to pass on any information she deemed “of interest to the Camarilla.”
A cursory search on the internet had revealed the woman to be a board member of a tech company located in downtown Seattle and a big name in local philanthropy, particularly things having to do with the arts.
When Ariyah had read about Laura being involved in the tech industry, she’d wondered whether it might have anything to do with the Prince’s enterprises, but her searches revealed nothing.
[Further research into Laura – Resolve + Investigation: 1 Successes vs Diff 3 | Failure | 1WP]
It seemed that when she went to visit Laura’s apartment tomorrow night, she would need to keep her eyes peeled for more than just the apartment’s aesthetics.