Ara and Cindy's training trip (Side story)

[Adrienne Hallos]

(OOC: Leigh and I've been thinking of doing this for ages but never got around to it till now, but hey, a little comic relief is always good. ^__^ This is done with our webmaster's permission.)

Adrienne Hallos was in the process of loading up her rather badly dented and battered Range Rover and trying desperately to remember if she'd grabbed all her ammo from her former quarters at the Night Watch, and completely torn as to which weapons she wanted to bring. Nearly dropping a full case on her foot and yelping as enhanced hearing picked up the sound of the falling case hitting the ground she bit back a stream of nicely worded expletives.
"Agh, blasted lycan hearing.... Being a newbie at this sucks." She grumbled as she grabbed the case and set it down gently in the trunk of the car. Continuing from where she left off she took out a rolled up tent, several ration packs, spare clothing and a small firearm case which contained a Smith and Wesson Model 10 revolver for Cindy.
Now, assuming she packed everything correctly she'd have extra room if Cindy decided to ride along with her or if things went wrong. She then decided to sit down in the drivers seat and wait patiently as everything was done for the time being except for going down miles of unpaved roads, into the mountains and out where there wasn't a phone for miles.

[Cindy Harker]

Cindy Harker watched as her servants loaded the last of her requested trunks into the back of the incredibly posh, sleek 1960's Rolls Royce she was currently using as transportation. The car itself gleamed in bright white, with golden highlights for the front grill and the wheel rims, and Cindy had made sure to instruct them carefully in packing to make sure that the spotless white leather interior wasn't touched or damaged in any way.

She ran over the mental list of things she had ordered them to pack, checking what had been loaded into the car. Several of her posher, evening gowns were resting across the back seat (she hadn't wished to damage them by transporting them in a trunk), so that she had something nice to wear in the evenings (always important for Cindy). One trunk was full of her dresses, admitingly even the least formal already expensive 'evening wear' by anybody elses standards, but for Cindy, it seemed appropriate. She had packed a full range of shoes, and had felt that she'd proved she was nowhere near as naive as people thought in doing so. They probably had laughed at the thought of her away training in her high heels, which is why she had packed many spare pairs of high heels, just in case anything happened to them. One pair was even as low as three inches high, which she felt proved she was far more practical than people gave her credit for! Most, however, were obviously six inches high or over, but that was besides the point. They couldn't expect her to lose all sense of class for the journey.

One trunk she'd dedicated to her scents. She had a whole broad range of perfumes, ideal for each day, she felt, and in enough of a vast quantity to last even her with her tendency to surround herself with strong posh scents. She had heard that bathing was more difficult when out in the countryside (not that she understood how it was going to work; she assumed Adrianna had arranged that) so decided she had to make sure she had enough scents to compensate. Another, heavy looking suitcase was full of her other cosmetics, as vital to Cindy as the perfume. Going without make-up for the journey was not an option. The final, quite bulky looking suitcase was dedicated to her jewellery, of which she had an extensive range, all glittering gold and shining diamonds.

So, Cindy felt, it was obvious that she'd packed all the essentials for the trip away. She climbed into her car, and failed to notice the look of pure thanks on her servants faces that she was finally leaving. She headed off, and it wasn't long before the posh looking car arrived next to Adrianna's battered land rover, ready for the two to head out.

Cindy got out of the car, and waved a greeting to Adrianna, before wrinkling her nose at the car the poor girl had to drive.
"There is no need to be worried, you know!" She said cheerfully in her cut glass accent, noticing that Adrianna seemed to be looking at her in her perfect gown, heels, make-up and jewellery a little curiously. "There is room in my car if you do not wish to drive...well....that." Cindy pointed a perfectly manicured and painted nail at the land rover. Obviously this was the only reason she could think of for Adrianna's discomforted look.

[Adrienne Hallos]

Adrienne tried, she gave it her best Night Watch impression of curiosity in order not to start laughing like a raving lunatic at the fact that Cindy's Rolls Royce would sink like a stone in all the mud they were going to be travelling in if she was going to be able to drive it that far.
Instead of going for the standard appeal for sanity she decided on reasoning first so she would not have to explain to Austin that Cindy had gotten stuck in a mud bog about twenty miles back from town and that she would not be able to report if things got dicey.
"Ah, well, I think we might be able to take the bumps and dips in the road as well as the mud a little better in this vehicle.. But thank you for the offer." She trailed off lamely.
It is well worth noting that in some cases Adrienne could be rather blunt but seeing Cindy and all her accouterments she simply could not find the words or the breath as a ferocious sneeze was trying with all it's might to wrest itself from her.
"Oh dear...Must not sneeze at her perfume... I never minded it before I turned lycan.." She thought desperately.
"Do you have everything you need?" She asked politely when the urge was gone.
"Unfortunately where we are heading there are no stops for a good thirty miles. and if you run out of something we can't get back very easily depending on the weather."
Ever the practical one Adrienne had brought a compass, first aid kit, spare sleeping bags and a full lighter and matches for them both as well as cigarettes for herself. She had a feeling she'd need the smokes once they got up there.

[Cindy Harker]

Cindy simply smiled at Adrienne's worries over dips, rocks and mud with the content ignorance only the very rich could have. That couldn't possibly affect her, because it simply didn't to people of her class.
"I'm quite sure that shall not be a problem." She answered, although she could tell from Adrienne's expression that she wasn't going to be persuaded. "Oh, very well. I suppose I'll just follow you." She added, feeling increasingly sorry for the other woman having to drive so far in such a thing.

"I'm sure I have everything I could possibly need." Cindy answered to Adrienne's query, and sadly, Cindy was serious. Cindy really had packed what she considered 'essentials'. At the beckoning of her servants, she had finally packed some water (and dainty champaigne glasses to drink it from), but this was as far as her survival equipment went.

[Adrienne Hallos]

Adrienne smiled helplessly.
"Okay, shall we get started then?" She asked, giving a penetrating look at the state of Cindy's car and feeling vaguely sorry for the state it'd be in when they got back. Feeling the need for a smoke she reached into the center console of her Range Rover and dug out a cigarette and her lighter then proceeded to light it.
She looked at Cindy again and suppressed the sigh that was itching to come out.
"Oh Cindy, what am I going to do with you?" She thought. "Come rain or storm by the time we get back you'll learn how to defend yourself I hope.

[Cindy Harker]

The journey began, Cindy thought, rather pleasantly. Once they were out of Edgehaven and into actual sunlight, she found the country roads quite pretty. In fact, the only thing that Cindy thought ruined the pleasant journey was the ugly land rover of Ara's that she was following. She still had no idea what had persuaded the woman to drive such a thing.

Soon she was to find out. The path to their camping spot took them off ideallic country lanes and on to harsh muddy back roads, cutting across fields and through narrow woods. Ara's car bounced effortlessly along the mud track, but Cindy began to experience difficulty. Several times her car crawled to a stop, its wheels spinning madly in the mud. She often found that she couldn't continue forwards without stopping and reversing her car to take a second run at a particularly slippery bit of road. Sometimes it took her several tries to get past particularly wet patches of mud, and she soon lost Ara.

Despite this, Cindy was convinced it had nothing to do with her car, and assumed Ara was simply getting lucky. Cindy continued on, but her confidence was becoming worn away and she was becoming increasingly frustrated as an easy drive became a continious battle. Things became worse when often she found she couldn't reverse far without her wheels spinning again, meaning she was often stuck between two patches of mud she couldn't move through until she eventually got lucky and worked her way through it.

Just as she was eventually getting the hang of slithering her way forwards and backwards until she could work her way across the bad surface, things got worse. No longer was the road just a slick, damp, muddy surface, but it turned to a road of deep, thick mud that stopped her car fast almost as soon as she drove into it. She attempted the same trick, but discovered that in this there was no way she could move backwards or forwards at all.

Cindy was outraged. Some things simply didn't happen to posh women, she decided. This was one of them! But, try as she might, in her car, Cindy could go no further. She would have to sit there and pray that Ara would come back and help her.