Her body safely in what was now her study, Tabetha had a flash in her mind's eye of Asylum; she saw the elevator leading up to the suite shared by Prince Therese and her sister. As she had not deliberately projected there, she reasoned the Founder was showing her something; that could only mean that she was seeing what Marko was seeing, if only for a moment. She tried to go back to that perspective; to follower the Founder back into the mind of the Malkavian, and quickly realized this effort was folly.
You're not allowed!
Get back, Tabby Cat!
Leave now!
Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout GET OUT!
What seemed like at least a hundred different voices greeted her with no small amount of outright hostility; a hundred wills began to push her away, making it vocally clear she was not welcome. Some even demanded she take the 'Bad Voice' with her; she presumed that was the Founder they meant. Apparently He wasn't welcome, either, but for some reason they couldn't quite banish Him. As she was pushed (more shoved) away, she noted that being in Marko's consciousness was different than the last time; this time is more like being in a small, crowded room with no windows and no clearly marked doorway. Once out, the last thing she saw before returning to her senses was a perfect cube that looked to be made of a mixture of black stone and glass. Beyond the box, she could hear a multitude of voices chattering and babbling in multiple languages; some of them completely nonsense as far she could tell...
She was back in the Chantry. She was in her own head and alone in the study. Fixing herself a drink from the Chantry reserve, she pondered a few things: Was the space filled with voices flowing around like almost random tides of water the Network as Marko called it in his thoughts? If so, why was his mind a box in that flow, and why was it suspended in one place? It was like he was being quarantined or something. If that was the case, then the hundred or dozen or however many it was in that box with him were likely also quarantined. The next question was why? Was it because of the Founder? Did they regard Him as a virus? Was the quarantine box an attempt to keep him out of the rest of the Network, if that's what she saw? How dare they block Him? Next she wondered if there was a way to break the box.
But that was a riddle for another time. There was a more immediate thing that should be addressed; what was it that the Malkavian was up to, anyway? What did the Founder want her to see? She guessed that the box was only part of the answer to that question; she presumed the more practical factor, meaning the fact that she should probably keep tabs on what Marko was doing should be a priority. She needed to be sure that he was not attempting to thwart the Plan.
She finished her drink and took a seat; the chair that Strauss often seemed to favor. Up until tonight she always found that particular chair rather garish and out of place in this study; now she was drawn to it, it seemed. She supposed that could be a remnant of Strauss in her after she...well, He, really, ended the former Regent and Harpy. Seated, she readied herself to project into the Astral Plane and journey from there to Asylum in Santa Monica, and eventually into the Prince's suite.
What she saw there was most interesting.
For beginnings, her highness was adamantly against the idea of Bertram Tung being Harpy. She went so far as to throw suspicion on Marko for even suggesting it. That was certainly interesting, but hardly a surprise; Therese and Bertram had been at odds for at least a decade. At best, they at one point had an uneasy truce; and that was really more like a cease fire. It even made sense that Marko would be suspicious for mentioning it- in a Therese kind of way. It was also amusing to think that it was abundantly clear through the course of the conversation that no argument that even Cameron could present would change her mind. The fact that it was Cameron's idea in the first place served to add to her paranoia. All this was very good news. What was even better was that Marko was playing the game in accordance to the Plan whether he meant to or not; he pointed out that just because an offer is made, it doesn't mean the offer needs to be accepted. Well played Malkavian, well played indeed.
But that wasn't even the best part yet. Through the course of the conversation she was watching, Therese was sitting at the vanity on her side of the suite; fixing her hair and makeup. More than that, evidently Jeanette was in the conversation, too, but she wasn't in the room at all that Tabetha could see. Her voice could be heard, as if right beside Marko, but not seen. At first Tabetha thought she might be obfuscated, but then she watched on as slowly but surely Therese was quite apparently redoing her makeup and hair to match that of her twin sister. As she was doing this, she was gradually being convinced that Bertram could and would be convinced that rejecting the offer of Harpy was in his best interest. Jeanette would be able to use her leash on the Sewer Rat to get him to turn down the office of Harpy, as if such a move would cause more trouble for Therese than he could ever cause in office. Therese requested the lurid details of that nature of that leash be left out of the discussion, much to Tabetha's relief.
Then the best part of all took place; her makeup and hair done, Jeanette bid her reflection – calling it her dear sister – to sleep well as she spun the chair, and leaped into Marko's arms. Tabetha had a pretty good idea where this was going, and she had all the information she needed plus a big extra. She left the two Malkavians to play whatever perverse love game they had in their twisted minds and made haste back to her body in the Chantry study.
In retrospect it should have been obvious. She would worry about self recrimination later, however; it appeared like almost everyone was fooled by Therese's little secret anyway. It was hiding right in front everyone and nobody seemed to notice. That was, of course, presuming that Therese was indeed the dominant of the two identities and Jeanette was the alternate. That was the question to ask here; after all, it appeared as if Therese was completely unaware of what she was doing as she switched. One or the other identity was a talented ventriloquist; that was apparent. There was something about Jeanette's behavior that told Tabetha that she was aware of what was going on. If that were the case, could she control the switches? If she could that would be a huge problem for everyone. She could just as easily block the prince of the city indefinitely.
Tell me child; would that necessarily be a bad thing?
Tabetha smiled. When she really thought it through, the Founder was right again. The answer to his question was clear: No it would not. If handled right, quite the opposite in fact...