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Post by Alexandre LeChevalier on Oct 7, 2018 8:13:27 GMT
"The holes you describe are not so gaping. Tremere has never been trusted by any of the clans, within the Camarilla or without. They operate on their own under the pyramid, and I have no doubt Loire knows that and doesn't trust them. Nor should we. As for Ima, you insult her. Perhaps she sides with Loire sometimes, but that is to be expected from a Malkavian Primogen to a Malkavian Prince. That she sides with us in any matter is a blessing," he said, giving an appreciative nod to Ima. "The Tremere and the Clan of the Prince have never been counted upon for the Primogen bulwark, but the other members make a cohesive enough whole to represent the clans before the prince."
He cast a side glance at Solomon. "Solomon is the one who called us all together, hoping that the Primogen would stand together as it has in so many times past. Indeed, as it is designed to, to check the power of the Prince. Nevertheless, if you require more incentive, Solomon, would you pledge a boon to Luthra? If you defend him, Luthra, you will have the Sheriff to defend your clan when need comes. Or former Sheriff, I should think, unless this goes miraculously better than thought. Even so, he is a potent ally. And one who you will only gain if you defend him well enough that he survives. Is this a compromise you can both agree to?" He asked, both to Solomon and Sanjiv.
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 7, 2018 8:26:11 GMT
Sanjiv paused and considered, before speaking again. "It is likely this does not go as we hope. I will agree to these conditions with one added stipulation. Should Solomon die the boon will fall to any of his progeny to fulfil. The support of The Viziers puts us at risk even in the event Solomon is destroyed by Loire."
"Agreed." Solomon said Immediately, holding out his hand.
"I thank you. You have my support." Sanjiv said as he shook Solomon's hand. He then turned to Ima and bowed deeply, practically over at the waist. "Alexander is right. I insulted you in the passion of my debate with him. I mean no offense, and I recognize my error. I implore your forgiveness Ms. Noone."
"Hmm... I'll think about it." Ima said, still sprawled out along the couch.
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Post by Alexandre LeChevalier on Oct 7, 2018 8:43:02 GMT
"Well, then, Ima, I believe you're the only one who hasn't vocally given support one way or the other. Though you seem to have taken a liking to Alister, it's never wise to assume support. What say you, then? Will you defend young Alister's existence?" Despite his words, he fully expected her support as well, at least on the given day, and motioned for one of the blood dolls to come over. In the event that all would stand behind Solomon, he would call a toast to the event, and the event was worthy of drinking directly from the tap.
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 7, 2018 8:51:02 GMT
All eyes were on Ima. If any had been looking close enough, they would have seen the small person on the couch shrink ever so slightly under the weight of so many eyes, but she composed herself and put her rebellious demeanor back to it's previous fortitude. "Just to stuff it Loire, and to Luthra for calling me a hole in a bullseye or whatever, I'll commit to standing with you. Until after the trial at least. After that I get to do what I want. Clear, nerds?"
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Post by Alister Rockwell on Oct 7, 2018 9:16:11 GMT
The shot glass cracked in Alister's hand, and he looked down. His knuckles were bone white, and his arm was tense. The crack began to spread, and Alister quickly placed it down out of sight before it shattered entirely. His right hand curled into a fist and began to shake. For an instant, everyone's eyes were on Ima - and he used that to slip out, unseen by everyone. Except for Solomon, who spied his childe slipping away, and maybe Alexandre, though it was too late for either of them to stop him.
He went out the way he'd come in. He passed the mustachio'd man, who looked up from his magazine and frowned. "Where you going?" he asked, putting it down. "You guys done already?"
"Nah, just stepping out for a fag," Alister lied. The doorman did a double take, and Alister rolled his eyes. "A cigarette."
"A cig...?" The doorman raised his eyebrow, not looking convinced. Alister shrugged. "I was Embraced like a week ago, I haven't kicked the habit yet."
The doorman shrugged, and Alister stepped out into the cold night air. It was weird, feeling the cold but being wholly unaffected by it. He walked half a block, then stepped into an alley and screamed into his elbow, venting his frustration and confusion. His Brujah blood surged with energy, and he kicked over a rubbish bin and grabbed a chunk of wood out of it, smashing it against the wall before using it to topple another bin and take out a dingy light above a back door. With a howl, he pitched it further down into the alley and then drove his fist into a drainpipe, and bent it out of its fastening. Another punch tore it free entirely, and he kicked it down the alley to bang against a dumpster.
"Fucking hell," he breathed. He felt so...helpless. So fucking uselessly helpless. He'd already died once, died hard and horribly and clawing for life, because of something beyond him, something he couldn't control or fight or prevent. And here it was happening again! His life, his second chance, depended on strangers he'd never met swaying the mind of some psycho he'd never heard of until a few days ago - they wouldn't even challenge her if she decided he and Solomon should die! Just fucking suggest she not kill them!
He crashed into the dumpster and sent it rolling a few metres back before his anger and energy ran out, and he slumped. He didn't cry, he just felt...spent.
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 10, 2018 1:17:51 GMT
"Then it looks as if we are all in agreement then." Liya said, her usually restrained smile growing larger in confidence. "All that remains is to appear before Loire. It will be important that we are all in attendance. I will be in communication with the others, but until then, let us relax and rejuvenate. The night is young and all of us have much catching up to do."
Liya noted, as she turned away from Ima and addressed the room, that Alister had seemingly slipped out. Such scandal at the moment of his embrace must have been hard to deal with. She would do her best in a moment to search for him. This situation would make any reasonable person frustrated or angry, and an angry young Brujah was not something to leave unattended.
As idealistic, charismatic, and powerful Solomon was, Liya understood that being a first time Sire was no easy task, and Solomon was not doing particularly well. Alister, this young vampire, was in need of guidance, and if left without could serve to be a problem going forward. The Brujah, when aimed and directed accordingly, can work wonders in whatever direction they're launched.
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Post by Alexandre LeChevalier on Oct 10, 2018 1:52:39 GMT
Noting Alisters absence, Alexandre eyed Solomon, communocating that he should retrieve his childe, while moving to the other side of the room to direct the attention of the others away from his absence. Motioning for a blood doll, he said, "Indeed. A moment to celebrate. Tell me, Luthra, how are things with the Viziers? I had hoped to meet with one of your clan tonight, to discuss his research on warding and compare information and examine a small sample of my library's warding. It was a shame that this meeting arose on such short notice and I had to cancel. Know you anything of his developments on this matter, or any other interesting research?"
After speaking, he bit into the blood dolls arm, feeling the intoxicating rush of the kiss. Even after hundreds of years, the pleasure remained overwhelmingly intense, and he savored it fully. He had planned on throwing in a conversational hook to keep Ima's attention from Alister's absence, but in the rush he forget what he had planned to say. At least he had hopefully drawn Luthra, the most flighty of this defense, from the childe.
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 10, 2018 2:58:33 GMT
"My focuses are not on the arcane, in specific emphasis at least, though the anatomy of vampires and such phenomenon often overlap. We hardly obsess over each other's work, that is unless our interests manage to align. I do not know of Leonard's progress regarding your specific inquiry, but I assure you, his knowledge regarding abjurative magics is vast. He will be of great help to you. That is if you can get past his haven's defenses. He rarely leaves, and often forgets his appointments; being wrapped up in work, as I'm sure you can understand. Be wary if you meet him there.
"My current focus lies within the vampiric brain in regards to the use of celerity and other time altering disciplines. How our minds are altered from the human brain to allow us to perceive time relative to such increased speeds. Whether this is by arcane or biological means is still unknown to me. I have heard that there are vampires adept in a discipline that alters time to greater degree than even that of celerity. I have heard rumor that one recently came to this city. I currently am looking into their whereabouts, which is a task in and of itself."
Sanjiv continued to prattle about his latest medical obsessions and endeavors as Liya made her way towards the door, saying to Ima as she was leaving, "Excuse me for a moment. I must entertain any other guests who may have arrived. We have spent quite a bit of time in here already. I should be back soon."
Liya made her way through the theatre, which was far busier than before, later now in the night, giving quick and cordial greetings to those she passed by, noting Alister's absence from the public area. She entered the lobby and addressed Dougey, now on a different magazine, "Where did the man in the long coat go? Do you know dear?" Dougey looked up from his magazine and motioned at the door, saying, "Thought he went right. Dunno how far."
"Thank you Dougey." Liya said, wandering outside and down the street. About a block down she noticed him. Alister, standing in the middle of a trash strewn alleyway to her right. He didn't seem to be hiding, but he looked tired. She noticed the broken drainpipe, various dented trash bins, and the shattered glass as she walked down the alleyway towards the young Brujah. She was happy he had taken out his rage on inanimate objects. At least he had enough tact as to not break the masquerade in a blind rage. She could work with this.
"Alister, is that you over there?" Liya said calmly, fully aware of who stood in the alley, and as such, a good few meters away.
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Post by Alister Rockwell on Oct 10, 2018 8:45:26 GMT
The dim glow of a cigarette lit Alister's pale face. Squatting against the wall beside the dumpster, he took a long drag, inhaling the smoke with relish - or, more accurately, he contracted his diaphragm, causing his lungs to expand and the difference in pressure to draw air, and smoke, in through his mouth to fill the new space. Kindred didn't really breathe, and he wasn't really enjoying the cigarette, but if he closed his eyes and pretended he could just remember the feeling of a good nicotine hit.
"Yeah, it's me, uh..." he squinted. "Oh, L-Liya." He'd expected Solomon or Alexandre, not Liya. 'The fifteen-thousand year old wine connoisseur who somehow never learned how to be a bitch' was the way Solomon had described her. Fifteen thousand years...Jesus Christ. Alister could barely remember his 12th birthday - how far back did she remember, he wondered? Did she remember her family, her toys as a young girl? The first person she'd loved? The first person she'd killed? Alister blinked, and for a second he didn't see a person but rather a black void of time that ate away at everything around it, something truly alien that made him shrink in fear.
He took another drag, and tapped some of the ash away from the tip.
"Sorry for vanishing, but I needed a smoke," he half-lied. "You guys had your act together and I still hadn't got the shakes out from the Bash earlier."
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 10, 2018 22:20:32 GMT
Alister rolls for Rotshreck difficulty 7 since he's literally breathing in fire. AdWRrmd_p_p_p_p_p_ He's a fuckin god, and so Happens to take 1 level of aggravated damage from the cigarette. Cuz he's a Vampire.
Liya uses spirit touch on the drainpipe to find out what recently damaged it p_p_p_p_p_p_p_p_ two successes.
The courage it took to put fire to his lips was immense. Something in Alister's being screamed at him to toss the cigarette as far away as possible. Out of pure spite he managed to ignore it, and drew the smoke into his non-functioning lungs. He didn't show it, but he felt pain like no other as the burning heated gas ran down his windpipe and into his body. Alister could feel his insides seared by the smoke, the ashes antithetical to his existence. Even so he managed to eek out an explanation, Lying about needing what hurt him so badly. Liya looked on in amazement, as the childe of the night before her took fire into himself as if it were nothing. Alister could see Liya lightly touch the broken drainpipe as she approached, then witnessed a knowing look spread across her face before she spoke, gently, "Well, I could understand that, given your propensity for punishment, both to yourself and your surroundings. You breath fire, like a dragon, courageous even in the face of our natural opposite. Such self harm is an odd thing to need." Liya, in her pristine, orderly clothing, sat down next to Alister in the grime of the wet, dirty alleyway, looking over at the pained ruffian beside her. "You seem troubled, Alister, and it doesn't seem like anyone has really explained what's going on to you. I could tell that Alexander was trying to cue you in on the severity of the situation. Did you know why this meeting was held when you came here?" ············
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Post by Alister Rockwell on Oct 10, 2018 23:26:00 GMT
Alister choked out a cough to get the burning air out of his system. Fuck, he thought. Can't do that again...fuck. There goes something else I can't enjoy.
The long drag had eaten up most of the cigarette, so he flicked the butt away to sizzle out in a grimy puddle. Liya sat down next to him and Alister, though not consciously, edged slightly further away from her. "Yeah, I know the gist of it," he said. "Solomon did the wrong thing saving me and the Prince is a bit of a bitch, so she's gonna want to kill him, and then kill me, for not saying 'pretty please' in biting me. You guys like Solomon so you're trying to stop that from happening."
Habitually, he reached into his coat for another cigarette - and realised what he was doing when he noticed there were none left. That had been his last cigarette - probably in more ways than one. Sighing, he stood up, using the motion to position himself that little bit further away from the uncanny woman. "Well, smoke break's over. Happy to head back?"
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 11, 2018 3:23:41 GMT
Liya rolls to notice Alister's discomfort difficulty 6 fFQ_viHxp_p_p_p_p_p_p_p_ 1 success. fuckin 1's amirite?
"Are you?" Liya said, barely noticing Alister's subtle shifts away from her. "You've trashed this whole alleyway, Alister. You're clearly unhappy with all of this, with me, with all the primogen, everything." She stood up and looked at Alister. "Please, Stay. Just for a while. I want to help you through this." A Ventrue using dominate? They would never. Command, word is Stay. p_p_p_p_p_p_p_p_ 7 successes. I'm counting the 10 for nurturing dependence, since that is absolutely what Liya is trying to do.
Alister is firmly stationary in the alleyway. now she rolls to hide it subterfuge + expression. p_p_p_p_p_p__4 successes. Alister will need to beat this with a perception + awareness roll in order to notice he's been influenced by a discipline. If he does not have any pluses to awareness the difficulty will be 8 because of a lack of knowledge and sense at perceiving the arcane. He can use perception + alertness to realize the word has been stressed, but as a fledgling without knowledge of dominate, his ability to connect the two occurrences would require an occult + intelligence roll difficulty 8 if he has no skill in occult, as he would be using raw intelligence to intuit and connect his supernatural lack of movement with her stress of words.
I know that I can seem... intimidating, especially with my age. The whole primacy can. It's my job to welcome the fledglings into our world and I fear that I've done that rather poorly, especially with all this intense politicking." ···························
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Post by Alister Rockwell on Oct 11, 2018 12:59:29 GMT
"You...know, do you?"
Alister had wanted to leave, badly. The prospect of being alone with this unnerving woman-shaped thing felt like hooks in his skin tugging at him to leave, quickly - he had no idea, even subconsciously, of the supernatural power she'd used to compel him to stay. But on some level he was aware of the fact that he was remaining, and his subconsciously retroactively justified him staying. He felt backed into a corner, not just by Liya but by all of this, some distant prince holding an axe above his head, a bunch of assholes chatting about how they 'might' be able to stay her hand for something he'd had no part in, and, of course, backed into the alleyway by how much this whole situation stank, and backed against the dumpster by the woman-shaped thing beside him.
So he did what any Brujah would do when backed into a corner - started to get pissed off. At least, that was how he subconsciously rationalized himself staying - staying to rant and give the thing a piece of his mind.
"How the hell could you know? How could you have any idea what I'm going through? Fifteen hundred years, right? Do you remember what the sun feels like? How about sex? A good meal, a good drink? Is there any part of you that remembers? Because I do. I remember the feeling of the sun before it fucking...turns me into flakes of ash! I can't drink a beer without vomiting! I can barely fucking smoke anymore, and it's all in my fucking head now. And forget about sex, I need to manually put the blood in my fucking dick to make it work! How the fuck could you know what I'm going through?"
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Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
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Post by Narg on Oct 11, 2018 21:13:20 GMT
"I know because I have been through the same, though,perhaps not the part about your genitalia. Still, you speak as if I were not human once." Liya took a step backwards from Alister, and took on a disarming posture, open and composed. "Let me tell you something about the Vampiric experience. I'm not sure if Solomon has yet informed you of this, yet if he has, this is still important information to reinforce.
"Mostly what you speak of is true. As vampires age we slowly lose what once made us human, a part of the mortal world. It is something you will one day experience, perhaps to a greater degree than even I have. Most Vampires, by the time they reach my age, have lost interest with the world, its people, the political day to day struggles. They find it beneath them; petty squabbles between those pretending to be mortals, and so decide to sleep. They enter torpor and leave behind the comings and goings of the world, hoping to one day reawaken to find the world in a better state for Vampires.
"I find this notion foolish. I have been given eternity, and I owe it to myself to experience it. And so, I will not willingly enter torpor. Furthermore, I find it foolish to abandon my humanity, as it makes up who I am. Who I was as a human established the values I hold now. I have not yet lost the intrigue of meeting a new person. I relish in the subtle differences regarding their character and personality. I relish in different drink, noting the flavor of each individual. Eternity has given me innumerable different, minute experiences. It is necessary to remain enamored with the world.
"I do remember the sun, Alister. And I hope that when you, most likely, outlive me, you will as well."
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Post by Alexandre LeChevalier on Oct 19, 2018 19:08:09 GMT
Alexandre made a mental note to reschedule with Leonard. Despite the warnings, he was intrigued by the description of the haven, and would rather learn firsthand than leave the Library's warding up to another.
"A discipline that can alter time, you say?" The True Brujah were extinct. His sire had told him as much hundreds of years ago, and to his knowledge none had heard anything different in that time. Still, if the clan could alter time, perhaps an ancient could move from his own time to the present without detection. More likely, an advanced celerity practitioner had impressed a neonate and created some absurd rumor. "That sounds rather far-fetched. Do you have anything more concrete on this individual?" Drinking from the blood doll with relish, he made another mental note to ask some of his eyes within the clan if they had any information the rumor.
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