RP:The Man Behind The Mask

Part of the Through A Glass, Darkly Arc

Summary: After falling into bed with Hudson Landon, Candice Snow makes her way to a surprising contact in Cenril. It appears Cramer and Candice are working together to undermine Hudson's authority in Cenril and at long last, we see the Man Behind the Mask.

Nondescript Nail Salon

Candice, after leaving Kanze’s hotel the morning after the party, went straight home. The blind was published a few days later. She, like Hudson, had received a copy of the paper the night before it found it’s way to the stands. She waited until the next day, when her daughter was at school, to sneak her way through Cenril to the Veritas’ back alley publishing operation. To stay safe from Hudson’s reach, the paper operated ‘on the level’ in the Cenril Market, but the reporters and publishers both worked out of this home office. Ironically, it was the basement of a nail salon, the same cover Hudson had used to launder money in his early days. Candice slips in to the salon and greets all the ladies (and that one very enthusiastic man). They were all familiar with each other. It was a nail salon, after all. The actress signs the sheet, putting herself down for several complex services before she’s lead to the back. She’s left in a clean, but mostly bare bones office. Chairs, a desk, a sprinkle of papers and an ink well don’t make for an intimidating work space. The blonde straightens her dress and takes a seat, fluffing her hair and agonizing over her lipstick in a glittery gold compact. She was here to see Cramer, the man in charge.

Shortly after Candice’s appearance, a man and woman enter the nail salon as well. They waste no time checking in or making small talk with employees, simply heading toward the spartan office where company awaited. The man was tall, with sharp, severe features and shortly cropped dark hair. The woman that hung from his arm was thin and pretty, the picture of a hapless woman content to glitter like a lovely, silent accessory at a man’s side. The atmosphere in the salon darkened, the chatter of the working girls dying quickly, eyes cast down as the pair passed through, not unlike a dark cloud rolling over a shining afternoon sun. A nervous woman rushed ahead of them, reaching the door moments before to open it and usher them in with a tense, polite smile. The man murmured afew words quietly before they stepped into the office and the door clicked quietly behind them. Things shifted quickly then, with the tall man suddenly going very slack, like a puppet whose strings had been loosened. With a thoughtless wave of her hand, the woman gestured for the slack jawed and dull eyed golem to watch the door as her heeled feet led her to Candice. “Candi,” She all but purred, pleasure bright in her dark eyes. She moved to greet the other woman before slipping into her seat behind the nearly empty desk.

Candice snaps her compact shut while the nail salon employee opened the office door to admit the new couple. The actress ignores the man puppet but fusses over the other woman immediately. She smiles at the nickname, brushing a strand of her companion's hair. "Cramer," Candice laughed brightly. The bare desk between them felt indicative of their friendship. "Stunning as ever-" Candice chimes, looking the other woman over a moment more. "Ugh, that Landon fellow's been such a pain about this whole process but it's finally done!" Instead of sitting back in the appointed chairs, Candice perches neatly on the desk's edge. "I thought the portrait would have been enough!" She frowns, turning her bright blue eyes to 'Cramer'. "Is it because I'm getting older? It didn't used to be so hard to get upstanding men to cheat on their wives." Candice leans over, across the desk, like her comment was even more private than this room could afford. "I bet he'd have loved to get his hands on you." She smirks deviously. "Too bad for him, he's not your type."

Cramer tisks at Candice, a smile tilting the corner of her glossy lips. “It’s over now,” She soothes in sweet tones, “And besides, his hesitance likely has more to do with the fact that he’s already been caught with his hands up another woman’s skirt before. Landon is a man,” The word rolled from Cramer’s tongue as an insult, “But a smart one.” As Candice leans forward, Cramer moves forward too. Catching a pretty lock of her hair, she smiles lazily again while looking toward the other woman through her lashes. “You’re gorgeous and you know it,” And then she laughs, “No, he’s not is he?” More to the point, no man was her type. Cramer follows this with a pointed look, straightening as salon workers slipped soundlessly in and began preparing the room for private manicures. For a moment, the room slips into quiet as the women work. Before long, they’re both seated side by side while nails were buffed and trimmed, hands were lotioned carefully. “We’ve gotten word that she’s found the location of the diadem,” Cramer, known privately as Glenna, mentions casually. It was big news. The hunters had been tugging at all of their strings keeping tabs on the witch Valrae. They’d learned that it was her leading the secret gatherings that would eventually form a coven. Unsurprising, as she’d been martyred by Larket. It seemed she had been waiting on something though and weeks before, intel suggested she was waiting to find an object of power to rally them behind a single High Priestess. The triple moon diadem was an excellent choice, one Glenna might have chosen herself if it were she that were forming a coven. But why work so hard when others could do it for you? “It won’t be long now,” A wicked smile curls her lips. “We’ll have the power of a coven, and more if all goes according to plan, and suffering a man for anything will no longer be necessary.”

Candice scuffs as if the words ‘man’ and ‘smart’ were synonymous. “An oxy-moron- if I’ve ever met one.” Emphasis on the insult. The actress knew she was gorgeous, had paid a good deal of money to stay as spritely as she was at her age. With Glenna’s face so close, Candice sneaks a quick peck on her cheek, reeling back as if daring the other woman to pursue her. But their meeting was more than just playful banter. Business first. The worker clamour in and Candice pulls away. The first women through the door, named Linda, looked up a beat before ‘Cramer’ and Candice pulled away. “Oh, you are close?” Linda asked in a cheery Rynvalian accent. This amused the actress to no end. Her polite little laugh filled the space. “Just Gal Pals.” She clarified, lofting her brows suggestively at her cohort. Business continues in the empty space and silence, sorting together it’s pieces and phrases until at last Glenna speaks over the sound of the nail files. News of Valrae’s potential discovery brings an eyeroll from Candice. “Are the witches so desperate for a leader that they’re pinning all their hopes on a dead woman? You’d think with women leaders, they’d be more organized.” Candice holds up one of her hands, tilting the fingers to admire their work. “A little more rounded, dear.” She waves at Linda, who takes up her hand again. While Linda wields her mighty file, the blonde tilts her head back towards Cramer. “I’m assuming a little birdie told you.” She mirrors Glenna’s devious smirk, imagining a coven of witches at their command. At Glenna’s command, of course, but that made Candice Glenna’s right hand lady. A very intimate co-conspirator. “Did our little birdie say anything else of interest? Such as when little red riding hood is going to actually -get- the diadem?” Red was the color worn by all those who supported Valrae at her execution. The Red Witch they called her after her death, and so they would call her on her return trip to the grave again in due time. With Uma under their thumbs and Valrae out of the way, Cenril would finally be in the right hands. The way things would have gone if Hudson Landon hadn’t run Sterling out of town. After a long breath, she looks down, surveying Linda’s corrections with callous approval. Candice’s face looked unnaturally sinister when she wasn’t smiling in the low light.

Glenna chuckled at Candice’s joke in exasperated amusement. Gal pals indeed. The witch watches over her nails carefully and would be intolerant of any flaw. She shrugs carelessly, “They’re clearly desperate for leadership. Hinging bets on a flighty woman like that? Someone who disappears as often as she does cannot be trusted.” Cramer’s tone was dismissive. “A leader must devote all of their effort toward the cause. That’s why they need me,” She blinks her dark lashes sweetly at her companion. “Would they have decided to form a coven without the threat of hunters? Without me? No. I have to make the hard decisions, it’s easier this way. Let them look to the great disappearing martyr for now. When they truly need me, I’ll be there and she’ll be dead. And this time, for good.”

With her nails being painted a lovely, bloody shade of red, Glenna relaxed a little in her seat and closed her eyes. Soon enough, she’d have the emerald skull and the diadem and the rest would follow. It would all fall into place because she wouldn’t accept anything less. She opened an eye to peer at Candice now. “Soon enough, I’d hope. In the meantime, I’ll be planning my own little surprise. Something to get the witches attention again. I think they’ve been idle, hanging around long enough…” A slow, wicked smile curved the corners of her lips. The puppet man groaned pitifully in the corner. “The weather will be fine for an execution or three soon, don’t you think?”

Candice gives Glenna a suggestive smile before looking up at the girl painting her own nails. They'd been filed down short and neat, just the way she liked them. Glenna had this allure to her, Candice thought. Her power and brilliance made it hard not to worship at her feet. Cenril would see soon enough how gratifying it was to work under this woman. Candice was a fool for loving Sterling Townsend but it was nothing compared to the way she loved Cramer. And together they'd tear Hudson Landon and his family to shreds.