[Ariyah – Lady Washington – The Stores – BoL – Fame 2 – A]
When Yuri acquiesced to her advice, Ariyah realised she had been preaching. Had it been that many years ago when she was in Yuri’s position; being advised on how to deal with the society of monsters she’d suddenly found herself thrust into?
She suddenly felt old. Probably not literally, as she was sure there were plenty of Kindreds in attendance that was much older than she. But mentally, in the sense that she even had any suggestions to give on the matter.
“Well, it was good that you went,” Ariyah responded after Yuri explained how he came to attend the Toreador gathering, “because although we all lose a lot of our human connections after the Embrace, we gain a new one in the form of our clan. Your fellow Toreadors are like your new family, in every sense of the word; sometimes you can’t stand them, but we stick together against external threats.”
Ariyah couldn’t help but add, “At least, that’s the theory anyway. I can see from last night that a lot of the Roses in Seattle don’t know each other yet. I should talk to Tobias about organising more of these clan meetings. See if we can establish something a little more official.”
“So,” Ariyah finishes off, “in answer to your question, of course, I would speak to you regularly. As I said, we’re family.”
She pulled out a business card from her phone case and slid it across the table, “I don’t think I gave you one of these last night; it has my contact details.”
The card was white on one side with the name” Busy Vines Design” on the top, Ariyah’s name and contact number in the middle, and website and Instagram handle on the bottom. The back of the card was black with a pattern of roses done in silver foil.