Love Among Thieves

[Malkavia]

What if I gave it some extra thought? Promise to tell you later? I’ll even put my pinkie on it.

Such tragic arrogance. Serona, Madeleine had wanted to say, Sweet. Destiny is a jealous bitch. Heroes who deny their golden opportunity usually prove to be no hero at all—cast into the dust to be walked over by those with better instincts.

But—well. In the end, Madeleine was weak. "Of course, sweet. Please, for my sake—imagine that time is a myth. You have all the time you need to think."

Madeleine had brushed aside any further talk of a digital Countess after that. If Serona needed time, then give her time. Instead, they finished their breakfast cocktail, paid the bill, and stepped outside to enjoy the many delights Matsumoto had to offer. The principal attraction in town was, naturally, the castle, a regal and near-ancient building of considerable majesty, and Madeleine had prepared a detailed itinerary.

But courtship, it must be said, was about the journey, and it was a long walk from Château Hikari. Long, but not unpleasant. The sky was wide and blue, a few sparse clouds lending texture to an already idyllic scene, and down below Madeleine enjoyed stretching her legs. Conversation came effortlessly—a redeeming sign for Serona, who knew how to chat, how to really listen and respond, even when nothing really was being discussed at all.

They talked about the city. Serona, it seemed, entertained a minor interest in woodworking, for which the local craftsmen were widely acclaimed. Furniture, kitchenware, abstract sculpture—if you had an interest in art carved from the lumber of Japan, Matsumoto could offer a contribution.

"Are there any notable doll-makers?" Madeleine had asked. That got Serona excited. Had Madeleine ever heard of the Murayama Doll Shop? Needless to say, after some conversation, Madeleine found a way to fit a visit to that storied shop into the day's itinerary.

But first things first—the castle. They were coming close to it now. They could see the long bridge that spanned the moat, which was really more like a small lake. The bridge was a thin, long ribbon of red connecting the tree-dense mundane Matsumoto to the mythic structure at its center. The castle sat on a sloping, rough stone foundation that rose like a pyramid from the lake, its five pagoda layers resting over the city like the wings of a majestic bird.

Serona continued to demonstrate good instincts. Both she and Madeleine went quiet as they approached the castle, and the clear day's air took on an almost sacred quality as the city receded behind them and something ancient and proud wrested their attention. It was lovely—so much so that Madeleine almost felt annoyed when someone recognized her.

"Hm? What was that, dear, I'm sorry?"

But her annoyance quickly dissipated, for here, draped out on the streets of modern Japan, was something out of a fairy tale. A beautiful geisha — at least, that's what Madeleine assumed. The clothes, stunningly white, highlighted with floral bursts of pink and gold, shone brighter than Madeleine associated with geishas. Madeleine found her eyes drawn especially to the intricate yet delicate arrangement of her silky black hair. And as if her appearance alone were insufficiently magical, this princess came riding on a carriage. A throwback to a more mythic point in history.

"Oh—well." She smiled with what she believed was a disarming cocktail of sweetness and coy embarrassment. "Yes, I am. And I'm impressed you recognized me. You know, most fans don't see through the hair. Buuuuut, be a sweetheart and don't go telling anyone, hm? See..." She glanced at Serona, then back at the princess. She raised her eyebrows. "I'm out on a private date with my little candy drop here."

[Monsy]

Yes of course a Maiko would approach the popular one of us, thought Serona.

She of course agreed silently with the comment, listened, then had a gasp. “Madeleine…” Whispered Serona, who then silently reached to join their hands together on the walking trail. Would it be too much? Was cover now blown and this improper?? Had she dissuaded her from asking for time??? Right, right. Not everything was about that. Not even close!

This was about Madeleine solely now. Today she wanted to make her happy. And they’ve gone back and forth for over an hour sharing stories about different buildings, mythology and random one-offs about their day to day. She felt good about her time so far, thus was compelled. Now when she stared at this Maiko, she swore there was a twitch in that pupil, aiming towards her before flicking back to Madeleine.

“Oooh, such a LUCKY woman~. How about an experience for you two? I have an edict for the next eight hours …”

Her fan clapped shut. “Castle Matsumoto. My realm. Can I expect you two there?.”

[Malkavia]

An experience? Madeleine squinted. This was starting to sound like a sales pitch...the Matsumoto equivalent, perhaps, to the Parisian scam artists who sold novelty die-cast Eiffel Towers to hapless tourists.

Perhaps, but does this look like a street peddler, darling? If this was a sales pitch, it was one wrapped in five hundred USD worth of silk. And this woman's couture did not appear to be a gaudy shell, dropped by a corporation on some bottom-rung street rat—some nobody to hawk photographs for minimum wage. No, this little surprise moved with grace, the way Madeleine imagined a geisha would. Hm.

"Well. It so happens my date and I were headed in precisely that direction." Madeleine stepped towards the possible geisha until she was close enough to rest her arms on the carriage. Her hand remained gently wrapped around Serona's, nudging her to walk up alongside. She glanced at the driver, who seemed disinclined to shoo Madeleine away from his...employer? Charge? Most people who hawked trash to tourists also did not have a carriage and a carriage runner. "But I do have two questions. First, will you forgive me? I haven't asked your name. Someone as elegant as you must have a beautiful name, and I hope you'll share it. And second...when you say experience, what would that entail?"

[Monsy]

"Entail?"

Shouldn’t have put away the fan.
Shouldn’t have done it.
She’s prodding. Definitely! Perhaps not onto me directly, but…
Oh, then she just doesn’t know?

She passed this blip of thinking with a couple slow blinks, then smiled.

“A tour, to start. It’ll be your first time. And if it’s not, I’ll make it feel like so.”

She looked to the castle for a second, taking in a deep content breath as if to let the imagination take over for these two. One blip, two blip, ALRIGHT ENOUGH THINKING. SERONA, continue trying to think. And please never get there.

“The tallest peak up there.” She pointed to the pagoda roof breaking over the rooftops to the castle grounds. “I’ll show you it.”

She nodded, feeling confident in her answer. “Then we’ll have tea to end our day.”

[Malkavia]

So. This person was aware of Jouets, aware of the position Madeleine occupied—the service she and her family offered this woman's country. And yet, she still chose to disrespect Madeleine by ignoring her question?

Your name! Madeleine wanted to bark. But Serona was hanging off her arm, watching from what Madeleine now recognized as a lonely position on the sidelines. Madeleine cleared her throat with a cough, then smiled as she pulled away from the carriage.

"Well now. An experience of that nature does sound lovely, sweet." Which was true—Madeleine had considered hiring exactly a service like this one, before deciding she herself would be more than adequate to tour Serona around a castle. "But I don't want to go making decisions without consulting my partner, Miss...Oh. You know, I think I still missed your name. Hm. But, Serona—darling. What do you think? Does this 'experience' sound appealing to you?"

[Monsy]

When Madeleine changed focus to Serona. Her squint at the figure told her a couple things. . . A foreign maiko? Just on the street? Offering... This... For what? Perhaps this is a time to do her part and show initiative! For the good of their wallets!

"I'd say there's a receipt at the end of this. Who are you associated with?" Angelina and Serona stared at each other.

Angelina kept the same smile she'd been doing this whole time. The latter tried to find something in her brown eyes. She can feel, faintly, a sense of disgust developing the longer she bore into her face for answers. It was pure, but now she felt wrong. She wished the universe could explain such luck today that she'd liken this girl a shape-shifting Oni of some modern... beautiful variety.

But Angelina laughed. She dipped her head and then came back up, a light bounce in her shoulders. "It's free. Promise. Just me and you two." Her head nodded, then switched attention to Madeleine again. "Hatsue. That's my name." Then waving her hand the driver, he prepared himself again to pull her along.

Serona, feeling the itch to repay her accusatory guess, reached out and touched the rickshaw herself. "I-I think that sounds great. If you think so too, Madeleine, then lets do it. What can go wrong?"

[Malkavia]

Miss Hatsue's assurance that the experience would be free only sharpened Madeleine's suspicions. While it wasn't quite true, as some claimed, that nothing in life was free, there was a lot of wisdom in that old acorn. Sometimes you find a free ride, especially if you're as beautiful and important as someone like Madeleine, but even then—it was smart to know who was paying and why.

Serona pulled Madeleine from her thoughts. It sounds great, she stammered, sounding apologetic. Madeleine laughed slightly under her breath and kissed the poor girl's forehead. No need to apologize for thoughtful diligence, sweet pea.

"Well, if you think it sounds great, Serona..."

-

The castle Matsumoto lay inside a grassy pavillion surrounded by a wide, deep moat, all of which Japan considered protected cultural heritage. In consequence, there was no parking whatsoever on the pavillion grounds, and even site staff had to place their cars several blocks west of the castle.

Even so—could you even call yourself a government outfit if you didn't offer employees protected parking? Hence, the third and fourth floors of the particular parking garage through which Shimmerlace drove each housed a whole aisle of designated MATSUMOTO STAFF PARKING ONLY, helpfully displayed in both English and Japanese.

And now—what about the cameras?

Modern security systems offered more challenges than Shimmerlace would have thought five weeks in the past. From AI-tagged footage that would highlight suspicious activity to software that recognized and recorded license plates, today's urban centers offered challenges to the modern thief beyond the most dystopian dreams of your Grandma's surveillance state.

But the gods of trickery and kind fortune smiled today. There were cameras—obvious CCTV nodes at each corner of the lot—but their rectangular boxes and flat lenses suggested an old model. An eye in the sky meant more to catch collisions and reduce liability than to catch intentional theft.

And if Shimmerlace parked just so? Well, she could obfuscate all kinds of views. Like, for example, the backside of this vehicle, quite similar to her own, in spot #24. In the box of that hidden view, she could kneel down. Unscrew their license plate. And plant one of her own.

The next blindspot, of course, would be the lot's corner itself—directly under the one camera monitoring the hall. It'd catch the tip of her car, of course, but not the backside while she installed her recently nicked vehicular identifier. And now, kiddos, we belong.

At least the car did, which is what should have mattered as Shimmerlace slid into an open space. Unfortunately for her, as she stepped out of the vehicle, she was not the only "Matsumoto Employee" in the building.

"Sumimasen!"

Fuuucking Christ but Shimmerlace was starting to despise that word. Shimmerlace flicked on her grin as some shortstack of a Japanese woman, plump like a nursery rhym baker, lumbered down the pavement towards her. Her hair was tight against her squat ellipse of a head, pulled back into a slightly greasy ponytail.

"This is for employees only—you have to park somewhere else!"

[Monsy]

When meeting Serona’s stare, Angelina felt a teutonic shift in her hands that changed for claws desiring to scratch. Her toes scraped her wooden shoes. A mind with an arched back, proverbial ears drawn to aerodynamics and a brief concentration that wished they’d spontaneously combust.

Come on, at least give some resistance. This is a SCAM, isn’t it, Serona? Be the smart one.
Do it, do it, do it. Then it won’t be me taking you out, it’ll be—GREAT. That’s lovely. In a
wishing-you-scurvy kind of way.

Soon after Angelina rode her rickshaw away, Serona and Madeleine also followed. The walking pace allowed her earshot of the conversations about the buildings around the block before shifting onto the castle. WHAT to see, what to see… First! Serona was moving around on the spot with giddy glee. Still contained in her imaginary box of personal space, her face changing from composed to breaking into dimples. Who could ask for better luck on the most important day of their little lives? “I can’t wait,” said Serona, “You think she saw something in us. In you of course, but lets see… is that citrus?”

Serona’s enjoyment was nauseating. All the while, even when she passed them, she played her thoughts to the melody of: Fuck off cunt, fuck off cunt, fuck off!

“Guh, I can feel my makeup melting. If it gets ruined, I’ll have you tied before the em-per-or~” Said Angelina as a cue for the rickshaw to get those legs skipping. After passing the stares, the shops and an inconvenient bump that almost had Angelina smacking her pocket mirror, they came up to a red bridge that was two turns in the middle. Both of them easily saw the rickshaw being more tedious than anything. It wasn’t the main way or the designated path…

Which was perfect. “Stop here.”
The Driver obeyed. Angelina got off with deliberate grace. No small part funded by her visions of falling and imprinting the black asphalt with a white mask. Once she was safely standing, the Driver looked to her side, keeping form with royalty. “And me, Princess?”

Angelina already pursued the bridge in her new shoes. Her pace slowed to adjust to the narrow elevation studs on the bottom. She twirled her finger at her shoulder to gesture to go around.

Onto her island domain! Pathways of stone and loose gravel. Wooden fences alongside a garden with criss-crossed ropes across from the stoic shoulder of Castle Matsumoto. Fishing boats swayed in waters about eight feet down a slope. Trees with dangling shades of green shaded her initial walk. Then a sun bath. The black of Castle Matsumoto looked obsidian at this distance. A field between the two paths marked by fence and a guide map. Pagodas towered over each other. Window holes on each level that were meant for archers. The attendant and security near the castle gate ushered her in with smiles and questions about her wear.

“Which house? Me?” Her cheeks pulled up tight into an amused grin. “This one.”

Then she went to the 1500s. Dark steps with slits of natural light. Wooden plank walls of different heights, circular pillars, white squares along the roof. Floor after floor. Stands with glass cases holding a koto, another with a bamboo flute, then inner fences overlooking the lower floor.

ONTO THE NEXT! She wanted at least to see a crest. So up she goes! A hall with sliding door rooms on either side, the natural sun against the paper coverings. The guide informed her that ascending levels were like tributes to the different families that lived inside the castle. This one was all about the Ogasawara clan. Choose a door and pick your prize!

Doooooor number one. ARMOUR!~
A wooden stand on a seat. Greenish arms resembling oxidized copper, a demon-faced black fast with wide-rimmed neck protection. Orange tassels hung from shoulders around a scarf. Leather scales and steel that resembled beasts.Then carved into it were three stacked rhombuses to the shoulders.

Angelina approached the sign that said NO TOUCHING, frowned, then turned around to the guide. “My servant should be here shortly. Can you show them where their Princess is?” And after the guide looked to the door, her, the armour, then weighed it all. Niceness won the day, and he left. Nooow she had free reign. Key. Key. Gotta find the key. Can she wear it? If she could move all that out, then wearing it to her next match wasn’t off the table. Angelina Ogasawara, the Pilfered Ronin.

She’d stare at it from every angle. What tied it all together? What kind of metal process for this? How many lacquers? And above all: where was that damn key? “Princess!” Said the ol’ Rickshaw driver. He came running into the room with a somewhat adorably surprised look. He bowed. “I apologize for getting lost on you.”

Angelina raised a brow, then stood tall. “That it?” Said this unsatisfied customer. Thus to reverse this second transgression against this royal, the driver got down on their knees and put their head to the floor. “Like this?” Asked the driver. “Hold there.” She stepped on his back and pressed up, grabbing the glass to then peek down the gaps. “Hooooold.” And after one final look, she concluded: not here. So—she flicked his head with her shoe. “Alright onto the next thing.” To which she walked off and attempted to depart for another building. Only to be interrupted.

“But, Princess? Will you meet your maids first?”

She stopped. “My say what now?”