Cleaning Up

Who: Madeline and Shoshannah
When: Morning
Where: Sea and Sky

Shoshannah was once more standing outside of her gallery. Her now boarded up gallery, housing only the remnants of those works of art she'd been displaying at the showing. Inside it was darker since the windows were covered which meant more artificial light, something she wasn't all that fond of. She was passing that off as one of the reasons why she hadn't gone inside yet. Mostly, though, it was because she just couldn't make herself take those last few steps off the street and threw the threshold.

It was odd, but the more she studied her gallery, the more tense and angry she grew. Shoshannah was never one for being overtly upset, never one who liked to show her anger whenever it reared its head, but this had her fuming just under the skin. It was something she simply couldn’t make right. Something senseless, something violent, something destructive...and something sinister. Something she never imagined would happen to her. It had left her shaken at first, the initial response sparking questions of why, but now it only served to anger her, which it was doing now as she stood outside of her gallery and simply continued to stare at it, eyes narrowing as she did.

Madeline walked to work that day, worried about Roy, thinking over his idea about selling her paintings, and wondering if Shoshannah was going to be in that day or if she was going to take the time off. Should she bring the idea to her boss? Madeline wasn’t sure but she considered what timing would be right as she came upon the gallery, seeing Shannah scowling at the gallery. “Any word on who it was?” She had her own suspicions. She grew up on the streets, hearing about Hagels and Walkers and Konoviches. She just didn’t know if Shannah knew.

Shaking her head, Shoshannah continued to stare at the gallery. "No. No clue." She didn't turn to Madeline just yet, not wanting her friend to see her with this anger in her eyes. "Not sure there will be any clue either. It seems more as though the situation is going to stay the same, with it being an unfortunate occurrence and being left at that." Her father had been completely enraged by what had happened although Shoshannah had really paid no attention to anything he'd said or done after he'd patched her up.

“Have you spoken with Roy?” Madeline asked, knowing how angry Shoshannah was, given that the other woman was rarely so clipped and tense. “I figured we could get Mickey in here, to fix the windows and stuff...”

"I've spoken to both of them, yes," Shoshannah said as she continued to look at the boarded up windows. "I was here with Mickey last night, helping him secure the boards and taking inventory. I'm sure Mickey will come back and help. Paying him is going to be the difficult part. He seems to want to do all of this work for free and I won't allow that." Taking a moment, she took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "When did you speak with Roy? Is he doing all right?" The last she heard from Roy, it seemed he'd been in the process of getting something pinned on him that wasn't at all his fault and Shoshannah wouldn't stand for that. However, she didn't want to talk about something Roy had told her in confidence so she left the question vague.

“Yesterday. We went to lunch, talked some. He was worried. It was a good time. I was going to get him at the station but you beat me to it,” she smiled a little at Sho, not sure what was going on there between the two of them. “I guess the cops gave him a hard time. I’m thinking about calling Marian about it actually. Or I should stay out of it.” As for Mickey... “He lives in my building. Mickey. we could pay his rent this month?”

Shoshannah nodded a little until she brought up Marian. Adding Marian to this conversation was adding complications Shoshannah wasn't prepared for. Marian was a friend. Roy was a friend..but did Roy want anyone else to know about this? He seemed to be fine telling Maddy, but when had it become her place to decide what to tell about someone else? "Maybe we should leave that to Roy." Finally brave enough to go into the store now that Madeline was here, Shoshannh opened the locked door, giving a passing thought to why she'd even locked it at all if it had just been attacked, and stepped inside to turn the lights on. Lights she hated because it meant the windows weren't open, weren't even glass, to provide the light she wanted. "That might be a nice gesture. You don't think it would upset him, though, do you?"

Madeline didn’t think anything of the locking of the door. There were still expensive pieces in the building. “If it does, he’ll just have to deal with it,” Madeline said with a smirk as she looked around the room. “Can’t do anything about it if the rent is already paid.” It was weird being in the room without all the light flooding the space.

"That's true," Shoshannah kept her shoes on while she normally would have taken them off on a day with just her and Madeline. There could be shards of glass still around somewhere even if she'd meticulously looked for them when she swept up again. "It's a lovely gesture but it seems a tad impersonal too, don't you think? We should pay his rent, but I said I'd get him a meal and I'd like to get him a present anyway. A watch or something along those lines..." She thought back to the rose tattoo he had, wondering if he would enjoy something else with a rose on it. "Any ideas?" If Madeline didn’t know, she could ask Elle as well.

Madeline shrugged. “Rent just seems practical. Or even just part of it and a meal.” That’s how Madeline looked at it. A watch just seemed impractical when she was pretty sure he probably already had a perfectly good watch. “Or grocery money. That’s what I’d want anyway. He lives in my building so I can tell you that you wouldn’t be paying much to begin with.” She bit her lip and looked over the room. “I want to be the first big show we have once everything gets fixed up.”

Practical also somewhat came off as charity and she didn't want Mickey to think that she was patronizing him by paying his rent. She'd definitely have to figure out what to do, but she knew she wanted to get him something for his trouble. Madeline caught her off guard, though, and soon she was looking back at her friend with surprise in her eyes. "With your work? That's a perfect idea, Madeline! Something special. Something to say that just because we were targeted doesn't mean we can't stand on our feet again. I'd like to see some of your work whenever it's ready."

“It won’t be under my name. I’ll use a psuedonym. Some french artist who escaped from the war and is trying to find a place to to showcase art. Christiane Lefevre. We’ll just be representing the artist. Or I could find an agent to represent me. Something. It’ll be mysterious. People like mysteries.” She’d already gone through her work the night before, pulling paintings, touching things up. Shoshannah’s use of ‘targeted’ had her wondering if they really were. Or if Shannah had been for being a Hagel. It didn’t scare her off or anything, but it had her wondering. “She’s backed by someone well off whose brought her to the city to escape the war and they’re clearly not bothered by the events that have happened here. Mystery would get people in, not just because of morbid curiosity.” Roy was definitely spot on about it. A mystery would be lovely and erase the idea of a mafia targeted place.

Shoshannah nodded a little again, thoughts already running. This was good. This was something to look forward to, something to plan for. Something that would make it worth getting her butt in gear and getting the gallery up and running even sooner. "We'll say the artist prefers to be in the company of her own muse, of his art, rather than being given the praise of her work in person." She smiled a little more. "But why the mystery? You don't want the recognition yourself?"

“Not right now,” Madeline said with a shrug. “And it makes it look less like you had to get your own employee to show their artwork because no one wanted to show their things here. It makes it seem like the incident happened but it’s in the past. We’re still a relevant place that someone wants to showcase their work.”

Shoshannah listened to Madeline as she spoke, but walked around the gallery instead of staying put. She could see it now, paintings hanging on the wall again, people in the gallery and hopefully none of them nervous about another potential attack. Hopefully there would be no more attacks. "Let's do it," She said instantly, smiling back at Madeline. "But I have a few things I want to run by you, of course. I want Angelo's works back in the front lobby again. That's his place, it wouldn't feel right to move them. And..do you think we should invest in hiring a guard? I never wanted this place to have to be guarded; I wanted it to feel open to everyone, a place where people could come and enjoy art...but it might be more logical now to have a guard, at least for a little while..."

A guard. “Did you have a kind of agency in mind.” There were plenty of ex-military around and Madeline wasn’t entirely sure if she liked the idea of say, someone that Shoshannah’s father picked out. If anything, that felt like more of a target. “I know there’s that military bar down the road. Perhaps one of them. Or we could put an ad in the Echo.”

"If it's ex-military, I'd rather it be Roy. I know Roy; I trust Roy. Thought I can't be sure if that would be something he'd be open to doing. Do you think he'd be insulted if we asked him?" She still wasn't sure she did want a guard. It was just a passing thought that she believed Madeline could shed some light on. "Do you think having a guard is worth it at all?"

“I think maybe hiring someone during special events might be a wise idea. And no, I don’t think we should ask Roy.” His worry was still heavy on her shoulders and while maybe not insulted, she didn’t think Roy would appreciate it. “He might know someone though. Just for shows. Or maybe an off-duty police officer looking to make extra money?” Surely not all of them were crooked.

"Not a police officer," Shoshannah said instantly. She didn't want to say why, but her time with Roy had definitely made her own worries start to brew. If there was a police officer out there willing to pin everything on Roy then maybe it was wiser to stay away from the whole force in general. "During events, then. We'll find one for your event. Someone we both agree on." It was important for her to have Madeline in on this decision considering Madeline also worked there and the feeling of safety needed to be felt from both of them.

So Roy had mentioned it to her then. Still, Madeline didn’t say anything about the subject any more. She still understood his worries, but she just couldn’t be sure they’d pin it on Roy. And if they tried, well, Marian had those connections. Still, she didn’t envy his position and she just hoped that he’d get out of it. A small smile played on her face, pulling a little at the bruise on her cheek. Shoshannah’s optimism was starting to rub off on her. “Sounds good to me. Now, have I told you about the fit that Stella was throwing yesterday? She wants to pull her paintings because one of them got ruined and was complaining about how she wasn’t happy with how we showcased her work anyway and she should’ve had a solo show. She’s blaming Antonio for it.” Madeline’s opinion of the artist wasn’t nor had ever been very welcoming between the two of them. She tried to keep it toned down because Shoshannah loved all the art, but Madeline’s... superiority definitely couldn’t help keep her disdain for the woman down.

For what it was worth, Shoshannah wasn’t feeling entirely optimistic anymore. At least not right now, not with this all so fresh in her mind. Shoshannah sighed, shaking her head as she started towards the stairs. She realized after the first two that the stairs were really going to hurt the bruise on her side, but she took her time and spoke while she made a slow trek up them. "It's certainly not Antonio's fault. If she wants to be angry with anyone, it should be me. And they are her paintings to pull if she likes. We'll pay for the damaged one, but she should feel lucky that not all of them were hurt. Does she believe the same wouldn't have happened if she had a solo show on the night of the attack?"

“That’s what she implied,” Madeline said, waiting at the bottom stair to allow Shoshannah some time to get up them. “I say good riddance. We don’t need her. Antonio sent his apologies but said nothing about pulling his work, just hoped that we were both okay.”

"We shouldn't burn bridges even if she seems ready to do that on her own. We'll pay for the damaged piece and send her things back with our regards. I would take them to her myself but I just..not now. If she wants them back immediately, we'll have to hire a delivery service or something." She was drawing a line for herself, something she didn't usually do, but she simply didn't think she could handle Stella right now.

Madeline finally started following Shoshannah up the steps, resisting to continue muttering about Stella. Reaching out she stopped Sho on the steps so she’d look at her. “It’ll be fine, Sho. We’ll pay Mickey even if we have to shove the money in his mouth and Stella can just suck an egg and we’ll get the glass fixed and I’ll bring you in lots of money. It’ll work out, okay? We’ll find someone to be security for the next showing. We’ll get all high end and upscale. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

"It's not about the money, Madeline. Besides, the money you bring in is yours," Shoshannah said but her voice sounded tired. "We will pay Mickey and we'll pay Stella and get her things back to her. We will get everything we need, but there's something more important that I want back. Something I can't pay for." Looking past Madeline for a moment, Shoshannah shook her head. "This place was never supposed to end up like this. I never wanted it attacked. I never wanted it hurt. It's a home to me and should have been a home to people who enjoy art just the same... I want that feeling of security back and I don't know if new glass is going to do that. I'm not even sure a guard would."

“Why don’t you take the weekend off, Shannah,” Madeline suggested. “Let’s close for the weekend, take care of ourselves. I’ll do some painting, you do what you do to relax, we’ll come back on Monday with a fresh start. We’re both hurt, we’re exhausted, and you need to get away from it. Do something with your sisters. Just get away from it. We’ll finish up here. I’ll talk to Stella and get it taken care of.” She looked away for a moment. “This is Eidolon City. Bad things happen to everyone here. No one is ever exempt, not even the people who order the bad things to happen. The only thing you can do is pick up the pieces and look how to keep it from ever happening again.” That’s all someone could do.

Shoshannah probably wouldn't do anything with her sisters. She wasn't close to them, but she could look forward to doing something with someone else. Maybe she'd just sleep. "Taking the weekend off doesn't count if you're going to deal with Stella. We'll handle her first, but that should be the only business we conduct today. I think we both deserve a nice lunch and a weekend off." She nodded a little to Madeline. "I know. I know unsavory things happen all the time. It's just sad to think they finally reached us here."

“It’ll be okay. I promise it will.” This optimism thing was new for her. Growing up all but on the streets meant she tended to be more cynical about things but seeing people she cared about so down had Maddy pushing her own worries and fears aside and stepping up. At least, she hoped she was stepping up.

Nodding again, Shoshannah gave Madeline a small smile. "It will. You're right. Things will be fine with time. A weekend off couldn't do us any harm either. But let's deal with Stella first." She linked her arm with Madeline's as she started walking again, a least thankful she had someone more clearheaded than herself to lean on now.