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Post by Clyde Maddick on Sept 14, 2018 21:58:33 GMT
No matter the odd crusade, Picot still held Clyde by the collar. He would have to work towards the goal of destroying Sarah White sooner or later, lest he be returned to dust himself. He would have to figure out a way to deal with Bruce though. Perhaps he could use The Haunting on the ghoul, putting paranoia in his mind regarding Sarah. The ghoul seemed naturally mistrusting. It could easily backfire though. Should Bruce act based on apparitions in his mind, Clyde may easily become a target of his paranoid wrath. Sarah had to be the target. If she didn't even know about the powers of Auspex then there was no way she could understand or identify the source of Clyde's dementive powers.
"Well... I know my sire. When the voices showed up she, she kicked me out... She called me, um, what was it? Defective? Are they coming after me? God sometimes I wonder if we're --better off dead--." Clyde looked Sarah in the eyes as his blood boiled, pulling at the horrid ideas in her mind. When he used The Haunting it was never pretty. Most often, the voices would open up in the victim's mind, just like with himself. Too often his victims would hear whispers, phantom sounds regarding their darkest thoughts and fears. He had seen many a breakdown in regards to his power, so he especially hated that he had to do this to Sarah. Still, survival came before all else.
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Post by Strigus on Sept 15, 2018 3:27:50 GMT
Clyde rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge muUfcOIyp_p_p_p_p_Sarah rolls Perception and Self Control p_p_p_p_p_p_p_ No luck, I'm afraid. Clyde down to 8 BP
"Nonsense. You've just got to learn to avoid them. I know it seems daunting, but believe me, it'll be worth it. You'll feel so free once you learn how to hide. There's learning curves with our kind regardless of the situation, but you've just got to learn to move past it." She spoke optimistically, and seemed not to notice Clyde's attempted discipline use on her. Nonetheless, it was clearly ineffective. ···········
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Sept 26, 2018 4:44:46 GMT
"I mean, what if you were given a chance to be on the in with them? Would you take that opportunity to not have to hide? To be a part of this society? I mean they seem to have a lot of power, and there don't seem to be a lot of other options other than join them or hide from them, if they really do have such power..."
Clyde looked over at Bruce, and asked "What would you do? What would you do to never have to run again. --What would you do for that chance--?" Clyde's dementive power surged through him once more. Perhaps Bruce would be more perceptive to induced paranoia of the voices.
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Post by Strigus on Sept 26, 2018 11:01:22 GMT
Clyde:qspP16kbp_p_p_p_p_ Bruce:p_p_p_p_p_ Three beats your two. Can't catch a break here. Clyde had seen the fits of madness that The Haunting brought on, and knew Bruce hadn't succumbed to the power. Nonetheless, his words seemed to have an impact on the man, who gave a humorless chuckle that was little more than an exhale. "You know, I thought I had it bad as a slave to my old master. That's all ghouls are to most of them- disposable pawns to be used and replaced. But I will say this, kid: slavery isn't as bad as they make it out to be. At least, it's better than being gutter trash, cowering and waiting for some other pawn to swoop out of nowhere and kill you."
Sarah seemed horrified, or perhaps offended, at this. "Is freedom worth that little to you? Those conversations we had before we fled Boston?"
Bruce shrugged, "Freedom had a draw then, sure. Grass is always greener, though. I'd rather be serving some vamp than a free corpse. I've learned a lot about myself, and that's one of the big ones."
Sarah slumped, distressed at hearing this. Seeing this, Bruce softened, and replied, "Of course, that's just me. It wasn't worth fleeing Boston just for myself. But you, and the other orphans, that's what's made this ordeal worthwhile." At this, Sarah gave a smile, but her body language still read defeat. ·········
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 7, 2018 3:03:11 GMT
"Damn..." Clyde said. He wondered if he was enslaved to Daphne. It felt like it. He felt like he was enslaved to Picot, at least, but he wondered if that was really better than this. Living from place to place, hiding from assassins like himself. It didn't seem like a good life. All Sarah seemed to have was her friends, and even those seemed fleeting at the moment.
--This is it--This is the divide--Play into this--Isolate her--
"Not to, like, make stuff worse but, I know what ghouls are... I... I was one before I was turned. If you're not being, well, fed, can't you just go back to normal life pretty much? Like, what are you doing around here? Sarah and I are fucked, cursed. But, you... you're, I dunno, free to go back to whatever you were doing before, right? You don't have to be a slave."
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Post by Strigus on Oct 7, 2018 6:37:44 GMT
Clyde rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge, Difficulty 4 (Playing on a temptation Bruce already has) t4rn0g9wp_p_p_p_p_This is opposed by Bruce on Perception + Empathy to see if he can root out Clyde's real motive p_p_p_p_p_ 4 successes beats his 2, giving Clyde a net 2 successes. Well done.
Bruce paused, and Clyde could tell he was tempting the ghoul with something that had run through his mind many times already. He lacked the machismo and confidence as he replied, giving a rehearsed answer he had told himself several times. "Sarah was the one to get me out of Boston. The least I can do is help her get to safety."
This was, it would seem, the first time Sarah had heard him say it. "Bruce, if you want to rejoin the mortal world, go for it. You've gotten me to safety already- tomorrow night, I'll be out of New England altogether. You found this warehouse while we were stranded here. You arranged passage further south. If you feel indebted to me, you've more than paid it."
Bruce paused again, looking at Sarah, then at Clyde, then back to Sarah again. "Alright. Safe travels, then. Text me when you're in Atlanta. I want to know you've made it safely! And don't be a stranger," he said, giving Sarah a hug. As he walked to the yellow front door, he paused once more, "Thanks again, Sarah. It's so rare that any of us get out of this life without something horrible happening. Thank you." With that, he was out the door, leaving only Clyde and Sarah.
Sarah looked at the door where Bruce had left for a long moment, before saying, "He's a good man. I know he can seem confrontational, but if I didn't have someone mistrusting like that, we'd have never made it out of Boston. I'm going to miss him." Pausing for a moment, she continued, "But there's still the matter of where you're going to sleep. I've got a few hideouts where I've led the other orphans. Normally Bruce handled that, though. He wanted to minimize the amount of time I was out in plain sight each night. Call me paranoid, but I think I'll stick to his advice for this last night. You never know who you can trust, after all. Let me show you where I've been sleeping." With that, she led Clyde to a tall, rickety stairway that led into the basement of the warehouse.
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 7, 2018 7:00:29 GMT
Clyde followed her, hoisting his duffel bag filled with weapons and stakes and art supplies. Was this it? Was this where it would happen, where Clyde would first kill?
*step*
--c'mon you're in the home stretch--doing great kid--
*step*
--you can't possibly--she's innocent--it's an arbitrary apocalypse cult--
*step*
--what would she look like inverted--
*step*
--would daphne help you run--would sarah--
Clyde's thoughts and voices chittered in his head as he descended into Sarah's darkness. Into the safety of the dark, hidden from the sun.
--She knows--SHE KNOWS--
She keeps talking about trust. There's no way she's this inexperienced. Assassins must come and go. She's compassionate, not stupid. She has to know, she must. A stranger comes from the night out of nowhere the minute they set foot in a new city? I'm so obvious. She's leading me to my death.
"So how many people have come for you? If there are ghoul assassins couldn't they just kill you in your sleep? Did Bruce help you with that? I just don't wanna get my head cut off during the day, ya know...?" If he could gauge her experience maybe he could figure out if she suspected him. All he could do was follow, however. All Clyde had was the lie.
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Post by Strigus on Oct 7, 2018 7:37:01 GMT
"Oh, no need to worry about that. We were attacked once on route from Boston to here, and once here when we didn't have an adequate hideout. Both times it was the same individual, and we haven't seen her since. As far as I know, no one knows we're hiding here, so unless they discover us tonight, we're safe to hide away here. You can even take the spot after I leave tomorrow, if you'd like. If my hunters haven't found me here, I doubt yours will find you here any time soon." As she spoke, she opened the door to the stairway, and began descending, motioning for Clyde to follow.
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 7, 2018 8:00:36 GMT
"What did your assassin look like? If they come for me I wanna be able to recognize them. God... this is a world of killers. You can't trust anyone. Wait. Why do you trust me? Why are you helping me? If so many people have come to kill you, why are you helping me?"
Clyde had to ask. It was the only way to really know. He had to know why she helped him, a random soul, out on the street, with nowhere to go.
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Post by Strigus on Oct 7, 2018 8:20:41 GMT
Sarah smirked at this. "Now you're starting to sound like Bruce. Which, all said, probably is a good instinct to have in this world we find ourselves in. It's not an instinct I have, and that's precisely why I'm helping you. Along with the other orphans. I see myself in you, confused, taken into a world you don't understand, cast off, and afraid. You don't deserve this. None of us do, but if we're to make this situation any better, we have to be willing to help each other out of it.
"As for the assassin, she was blond, short, petite. Not threatening at all, from appearances, but she could move fast and hit incredibly hard. I don't think you'll need to worry about her, though. She came from Boston, and is no doubt targeting me specifically. I'd bet my sire hired her specifically."
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 7, 2018 8:34:32 GMT
Someone still had principles and hope, even within the bleak existence of being a vampire.
Clyde was baffled. She was choosing to be vulnerable, opening herself up to someone who could very well try to kill her. Despite her situation she chose to see the good.
Sarah White chose to help people. Maybe she'd be willing to help Clyde.
"Sarah. What if I told you I'm in more trouble than I'm letting on?" Clyde said, putting his duffel bag on the ground.
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Post by Strigus on Oct 7, 2018 8:50:55 GMT
Sarah rolls Perception + Empathy FEeRljlZp_p_p_p_p_p_p_p_
Sarah turned from her point halfway down the stairs, and looked up at Clyde. She frowned, putting the pieces together, then replied, "I see. Bruce was right to be suspicious of you, wasn't he? In truth, I thought you might be an assassin at first too. But where the petit blond didn't look dangerous at all, there was a spark of madness I immediately felt from you that seemed too obvious. And yet, while she didn't hesitate to speak, here we are, still talking. So, you're more trouble than you let on. Did Prince Easton send you down?" Despite having put the pieces together, she didn't seem frightened of Clyde, and remained standing where she was. ·······
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 7, 2018 9:04:29 GMT
"I'm a whim. And in exchange for my existence I was charged with ending yours. I don't think I can do that, Sarah. And to answer, Picot is the one pointing the barrel at my head, so to speak. Boston's prince must have reached out when his assassin failed. Needed someone who could find the lost through impossible means."
Clyde couldn't do it any more. He couldn't keep lying. He couldn't kill this woman for no reason. There had to be another way out of this, and working together with Sarah he might be able to pull it off.
"I'm no assassin, I'm a slave to Camarilla. My Sire is in danger too, if I don't figure out a way out of this. I love her very much, and we just want to be together, and our... weakness keeps us from really being able to live on the move like this."
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Post by Strigus on Oct 7, 2018 9:13:22 GMT
Sarah paused. "Well, what do you propose? I assume your Picot wants some proof of the deed. And I also assume he'd be watching you like a hawk, so you and your Sire couldn't just make a run for it. That only worked for me because no one was looking at the time. As I said, I'll be out of Providence tomorrow. I could make an itinerary for you, to prove that I've left town? I suspect that would only count as failure for you, though, and wouldn't end well for you or your Sire."
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Post by Clyde Maddick on Oct 10, 2018 3:22:54 GMT
Clyde thought for a moment. There had to be a way out of this. He needed to do something creative with Sarah's remains. That would be the evidence of his success. As far as he knew, Vampires turned to dust once destroyed, and he was sure Vampire dust was different from regular old dust bunnies. If he were to make this art piece he would need actual Vampire dust as a medium. Clyde then had an idea.
"Well, Picot wants me to make an art piece of your remains, so I need actual Vampire dust. Which gives me an idea. You have a pursuer. One who's been following you since Boston. We can both gain something here. If we somehow manage to destroy her, you'll be rid of an assassin, home free, and I'd have the supplies for my commission! We'd have to do it stealthily though, without attracting much attention. I can try and use the voices to find out where she is so we can go on the offensive."
Clyde figured that this would be a pretty good deal for Sarah. Both would get something they need, and they would weaken the oppressive gaze of the Ivory tower in the process. He only hoped that she would be on board. While Clyde felt comfortable ridding the world of a ruthless assassin, the process was violent, and he wasn't sure that Sarah would have the gall to follow through with it.
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