Tea

Another city, another time and another expensive hotel
It sounds alright, but believe it or not, I'm actually missing my home right now, and it'd be nice to see a friendly face for a change
At the moment, I’m quite fancying that night out with Jade that we never got around to having
I wonder how she's doing?
Probably having more fun than I am in this gilded cage

Being back in London again is weird
Before I murdered my father, I had only visited the place a couple of times and I really didn’t know what to expect when I ran away down here. Needless to say, I quickly found the city brutally unwelcoming, and that the streets were really no place for a sixteen year old girl
Nineteen thirties London, on the other hand, is an altogether different proposition; and whether it's by virtue of my older eyes and greater confidence, or just the fact that I’m not from this era, the place seems much more like a museum than the threatening, hostile environment that I’m used to
Sure, there are still many of the old and familiar landmarks, and there is still the same bustle and something of a frisson of danger about the place; but the people here are different, the infrastructure isn’t there, and the technology is all laughably backward - I've even seen horse drawn carts on the roads, alongside the electric trolleybuses and the quaint little cars!
For old time’s sake I took a stroll down Oxford Street, taking time to enjoy the early May sunshine and marvelling at how different everything was to when the police used to move me on with threats of arresting me for begging
Walking at a slow meander, I made my way from Holborn all the way down to Marble Arch, relishing the sights and sounds of the place, and taking in the strange fashions and the familiar, but unfamiliar-looking goods they had on sale in the shops
The bustle of the Saturday morning crowds was something I found somewhat unnerving - Even after Tokyo, I still feel weird being out amongst so many people, and I find that I veer wildly between wanting to either interact with everyone or just completely avoid them.
I guess that’s what you get for living in an insular little environment like the Dwarf for so long
I dunno... Maybe leaving was a good thing?
It’s certainly saved me from making any more of an arse of myself over Jay
I still...
Oh... Let’s not go there, eh?

After I reached Marble Arch, I decided, on a whim, to take a stroll in Hyde Park, which was a completely new experience for me - It had long since been developed into the Hyde orbital transfer facility by the time I was born, and it was nice to be able to enjoy all that fresh air and those gorgeous trees
By the end of the afternoon, my feet were aching in the ugly 30’s shoes that I was wearing, and so, with the weather beginning to turn grey and blustery, I took a taxi from Knightsbridge back to Claridge’s in Mayfair
Brittany was waiting for me in my suite

“Tea?” she enquired as I trudged tiredly through into the ridiculous luxury of the main lounge
“Yeah, sure” I flopped down onto the sofa opposite her and kicked off my shoes, while she busied herself with the art deco tea service “Have you been busy?” I asked
“Always” Brittany murmured, not bothering to look up
“Huh” I grunted “Doing what?”
“Tweaking and re-tweaking the timelines” she breezed as she set the teapot back down onto its silver tray and reclined back on her sofa
“These fucking stupid shoes...” I grumbled, massaging my feet
“We authorised funding for the experiment responsible for creating White Wolf” Brittany continued, apparently unconcerned about my feet “We, changed some of the environmental variables over the course of the next three million years and spurred the Roo’s technological development”
"You do know they're aware of your existence and are actively working against you?" I asked
"Of course" she snickered
“And you don’t consider that a threat?”
"It takes nothing to either create or eradicate an entire species" Brittany shrugged “History is as We like it, and of the entities that are aware of our existence, all are so, only because it is expedient”
"Yeah, but don’t you worry you’ll eventually be overthrown or supplanted?"
Brittany's laugh was musical
"You still don't get it, do you?" she smiled coldly, before sitting forward, suddenly serious, her blue eyes meeting mine "Everything is under control Cassandra. Everything"
What she implied was horrifying. I shivered in spite of myself
"The universe needs diversity” she continued “Advanced polities, alien Minds, and greater Gods. You rarely get those without a little encouragement, and while you're at it, you make use of what tools you have. The Roo being aware of our existence, for example, stimulates their technological development, and better enables us to defend our interests against the Darkover"
"What's that?"
"They’re negative energy entities from another dimension" Brittany shrugged dismissively "White Wolf knows of them, but suffice to say: Their interference in this reality would be an irritation"
"So why not intervene directly?" I asked "Why go to the trouble of creating a whole sentient species to deal with them by proxy"
"And show our whole hand!?" Brittany sneered “We think not!”
Leaning forward, I picked my cup of tea up and blew across the top of it before taking an experimental sip
If I'm honest, I could see a certain logic to what Brittany was saying, but I was damned if I was giving her the satisfaction of agreeing with her - that would be the thin end of a very nasty wedge
“How do you go about tracking the changes you make to the timeline?” I asked, wondering how much she was in the mood to tell me “I don’t see how it’s even possible; is this some atemporal sort of thing?”
Brittany narrowed her eyes, scrutinising me for a moment
“What did We just say about showing our whole hand?” she murmured dangerously
“Point taken” I grimaced as she suddenly stood, a time gate warping open behind her
“Get a good night’s sleep” Brittany instructed as she turned to go “We’ve a busy day tomorrow”
“Whatever” I grumbled sullenly after she had stepped through the gate and it had closed
I fucking hate being alone here
I hate being at that supercilious bitch's beck and call
I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but as soon as I’m able I’m going to either kill her or escape... or both