Renewing old acquaintances [OPEN]

[Doc]

Doc gave Raven an accessing look, as she replied. He knew his solution was not the popular one. It was a long term solution. Close the rift, everyone move out and create new covens across the globe. If the rift, were ever really needed again, what can be closed, can be opened. It may take some work and time. But a temporary closure is a small price to pay to lull humans into a false sense of security.

He had his long range plans. The key for him, was to ensure that he had enough alternate plans in place to make up for the plans that fail. No one who knew anything about manipulation, believed in a one hundred percent success rate. Nothing even happened the way it was planned. Things happened. Unexpected things, that meant one would have to improvise. And for Doc, whether the rift were closed, or remained open, was a small cog in full machine. A cog that could easily be disengaged to have the flow of the machine rerouted.

Right now, vampires were vulnerable. And if Raven were correct and the majority of vampires were killed off. There would be those stragglers that had made it out of Harper Rock for parts unknown. They had kept a low profile too, because there were no news reports about any other vampire locations in the world. So if Raven were correct, the Vampire race could rebuild. And in secret. But the race would only be as good as the vampires that survived. And the chances of a truly strong adept vampire being one of the number of survivors? He gave it twenty percent or less.

Nodding, Doc shrugged and conceded, “If we all agreed all the time.. We wouldn’t be where we are today. And it would probably be boring as ******* hell.” He gave her a knowing grin. “And your offer of your services, is appreciated. I will keep that in mind. Though if I were to use your services, we would have to agree, that my name would be kept out of things, should you.. Get caught? Agreed?”

[Raven Talius]

Raven chuckled at the man's words and perched herself upon the edge of the desk once more. "I'm the poster vampire for trouble, remember? If I was to get caught, no one would ever believe that I might be working for someone else. Besides, I aim not to get caught and I have become very good friends with the shadows, so don't worry, no one will ever know about you and me maybe working together." She said as she pulled out a cigarette case and tugged free one of the cigarettes within. Quickly she lit it before offering the opened cigarette case to Doc.

The woman knew that something was always going on behind the scenes of Doc. The two had fought each other and the shadow vampire was more than aware that Doc almost knew her. Granted, she had picked the fight with him and a couple of others deliberately, but the woman also knew that if one wanted to grow, it was better to pick a fight with someone stronger than your own. The thing with Doc, was that she realised that he was always plotting, always mentally dissecting things. She figured that if anyone was to succeed with any of their future plans, it would be Doc. Although she didn't know what Azraeth was doing, so maybe that might be a contender.

Whatever their agendas were, she would leave it to them, as she preferred to serve no one but herself. besides, when did people ever really listen to what she had to say when it came to things? Raven was just a hot headed, violent outsider and she quite enjoyed it to a degree, for it meant that she didn't have to worry about people pretending to want to know her. Already a lot of people didn't want to truly know who she was or why she was who she is, so the violent vampire was more than happy to stay in the shadows when it came to matters such as these.

"I'll tell you something funny though," Raven started as she finally tucked away the cigarette case, but placed the lighter upon the desk. "I've recently heard that the policemen have increased their presence around Serpentine making it a little difficult for some Fforde members. I thought that I might stir up the pot with the Ffordes' but it seems as if they are creating enough problems of their own, on their own."

[Doc]

Doc took the proffered cigarette she offered, grabbed a lighter off the top of his desk. He was a doctor he should be setting a better example, but he deserved a vice. He enjoyed the burn that cigarettes gave him. He lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. He slowly released the smoke. “Darlin’.. You are far from a poster child for trouble. You have potential. I don’t waste my time on anyone who doesn't have potential. You have it, you just have to find your niche with it..” He winked audaciously at her, “And you may have just found it.”

He took another slow drag. What he had said about her was true. When he first met her, he had seen the anger inside her. He was also aware of how her sire and her sire’s significant other tried to make her into something she wasn’t or even wanted to be. He picked a fight with her on purpose. From her point of view, it may have looked like she started it, but he had found her hot button, pushed it.. And she did not disappoint.

Doc had wanted to see if she was all talk. Or did she have the fortitude to put her money where her mouth was, and by god she did. He was far stronger than her, and could have sent her to the Shadow Realm, but that wasn’t his plan. He had the answer to his question, did she have follow through? And the answer was, yes. Yes she did. She merely needed to learn how to channel that raw anger and intelligence. Her time away from Harper Rock had done her some good. She wasn't as pushy and in-your-face as she had been. She had learned caution. But that wasn’t all. Just as he was studying her, she was studying him.

This time he let the smoke release slowly and waft through the air. As she mentioned the Serpentine, Doc grinned. It was no secret he hated Jesse-stab-you-in-the-*******-back-Fforde. “Aw.. what a pity.” The tone of his voice was sarcastic and amused. “Did your sire ever wake the **** up and leave his ***? Or is she still trying to ‘make it work’?”

Clover was another one that Doc thought had potential.. Except Stab-you-in-the-back-Fforde had control issues. Jesse couldn’t let Clover stand on her two feet. He had to get involved in every aspect of her existence. He smothered her. He had seen it before with others. He could have warned Clover what she was getting into but.. It wasn’t his business. Clover was smart she would figure it out and get away.. Or.. if she didn’t well, maybe Doc had overestimated her.

Doc held up his left hand, “Me? No more ball and chain..”

[Raven Talius]

Raven watched as Doc winked at her in an audacious manner and a brow perked as she lifted the cigarette to her lips and took a slow drag from it. The soft burn of the smoke distracted her from the burn of the ever constant thirst. Caution was indeed something that she had learned while she had been away from Harper Rock as she knew that she danced with death once more. If she had died while away from the rift, then there was no returning and the thrill had made her feel alive. More alive than she had felt while she was in Harper Rock.

A finger slid along the cigarette in thought about Doc’s idea of closing the rift. If the rift was closed, then that dance with death could return once again and she would have to work harder to become much stronger than she was right now. Her tongue slid along her bottom lip then as brown eyes watched the smoke slowly drift from Doc’s lips and she softly smirked. The woman had missed sharing a cigarette with the man and was glad that she had managed to sneak some time in with him. For some reason, simply talking with the man, made her intrigued enough to explore deeper into the cavities of his thoughts for he had made her curious as to why he didn’t finish her off when he had the chance.

When the other vampire asked about her sire, a roll of her eyes was given before she took a slow drag from her own cigarette. Her left hand lifted then, only to lightly stroke the sleeping form of the kitten between them. ”If only, but she gets a little…” Raven’s words dragged off as she leaned back and rested her left hand behind her upon Doc’s desk, while smoke drifted from her own slightly parted lips. ”Testy, whenever I mention my dislike for him.” To put it lightly.

The woman’s eyes returned to Doc then as he mentioned the fact that there was no ball and chain, the comment managed to bring a soft chuckle to her lips. ”Unfortunately, I cannot understand the feeling as that would require for me to actually to have been in a similar situation.” She pressed her lips together before taking another drag from her cigarette, ”I’m about as single as it gets as I’m not exactly relationship material.” Raven pointed out as she angled her gaze back to Doc. ”But knowing me, I probably would have driven them away with my violent nature anyway.” She said with a smirk.

[Doc]

Doc chuckled, “She most likely gets testy because she must hear it a lot.. From almost everyone around her. But she only has herself to blame. When you align yourself with a backstabber, it’s not conducive to good feelings. Especially when that backstabber is selfish control freak.”

At Raven’s comment about ‘not being relationship material’, Doc snorted in amusement. “Please… If -I- can get married.. Anyone can. Granted, it wasn’t done for the right reasons. It was a toxic relationship. We were equally to blame. No.” He paused and smirked, “I was more to blame. But I digress..” his voice takes on a serious tone, versus the amused voice when he was speaking of his personal failings at marriage. “You are not defined by your relationship with a significant other. Your significant other, should be a compliment to you. And you to them. But they should not define you.

“Too many people believe they are nothing because they have no partner. That they cannot never be happy, if they have no one. With that attitude.. They are destined to fail at relationships. Why? Because they are putting too much emphasis on the wrong things. Instead of working on themselves.. Bettering themselves, they are more concerned with finding a ‘fictional’ perfect partner. News flash people.. There are no perfect partners. So don't be bothered by it. If it’s meant to be .. it will happen. If it isn’t you’ve saved yourself a world of angst you didn’t need anyway.

Doc leaned his hip against his desk, “But relationships aside.. Where do you see yourself in the future? I don't mean ten years from now..” He looked at her seriously, “I mean in fifty years from now. What do you want to have accomplished? Will you be content you think.. To be nothing more than that person that cleans up messes?” He canted his head to the side, “And by messes I mean.. Getting rid of pesky people that know too much.”

He paused to let the silence grow for a moment, “Do you really think that will be enough for you?”

[Raven Talius]

When Doc asked a serious question, a sigh parted her lips and she glanced away from him. Where did she see herself in fifty years from now? Who knew, in the Shadow Realm drifting amongst the whispering shadows after they had called to her so sweetly? Or still in Harper Rock, making sure that Clover was still alive? The problem with Clover was that Raven was sure that the woman seemed unhappy somehow and she just didn’t know how to change that, for Raven rarely ever truly felt at peace herself. It was just loneliness, one that she felt she was better off with. The vampire couldn’t help her sire in that regards, but she still hated seeing her sire wrestle with her unhappiness. She pursed her lips as she watched the soft orange glow of the burning end slowly burn towards her fingers.

With a sigh, she grabbed an ash tray from Doc’s desk and lightly stamped the butt out, all the while keeping her gaze from the man. ”Nothing. I don’t see myself as doing anything in fifty years time. I’ll probably be doing the same ole thing. Taking names and kicking ***. What can I say? I've never had a future, so I’ve never thought about it.” Indeed, she hadn’t. Thinking about the future had just never occurred to her, never really been an option and she knew why. ”When I was human, I always thought that I’d die while cage fighting. Kids were never an option, cause I was barren and family was, well, pretty much as it is now. Not there.”

Her shoulders lifted and fell as she slid the ash tray to the side to slowly rifle through his pages once more. ”What I’ve always wanted, has never been taken into consideration. People take from me and never ask, what do you want? What would you want to do? What is your heart’s desire? No one asks, because they just don’t care about what I want. So, I’ve learned to not want anything, to not look to the future and try to build something for myself. In everyone’s eyes, I’m just a thug, a serial killer and that’s just all there is to it. I just don't have a future.” Raven finally said as she picked up a piece of paper and let the silence fill the room.

Yep, no one had asked, everyone only took from her. Her twin had tried to take her life while stealing all of her money. Her human family had taken away her means to trust. Jesse expected her to trust without giving her a reason to. Enzo had demanded that she reform without taking into account the hell that she would go through. No. No one asked, they just took and expected. So, her only goal now was to become the strongest vampire ever to live so then she could protect her sire at all costs. Indeed, her life wasn’t even her own really.

"So, to answer your question, I don't really know if cleaning up messes will be enough, but..." Another shrug, "It will just have to do." She finally said with a sigh.

[Doc]

Doc listened to her as she expounded why she was going to be a ‘do nothing’ vampire. A wastrel. A vagabond with no direction. He watched her without expression. He heard, really heard what she said. He believed, that she truly believed it. Something had beaten her down so badly in the past, she had learned to stop dreaming. Stop making goals. This wasn’t a one time event. This was a repeated event that caused her to focus on merely making it one day at a time.

He didn’t know her background, and he wasn’t asking for it. The past, her past, was just that. The past. Forget about it. Move forward. It would be harder for her, than most, because of Jesse. Jesse was a control freak with manic highs and lows. When he was in a good mood, great. But when he was in a black mood, he was hateful, judgemental, and derisive and blamed the innocents around him for his actions. Doc had seen firsthand how Jesse all but destroyed Kaelyn’s belief in herself. It was a pity that Raven’s sire wanted to stay with him. But just because Clover was determined to be a masochist at Jesse’s feet, didn’t mean Raven was.

“Stop being a defeatist, Raven. You never had a future, so you won’t have one now..? That is ******* ********. You won’t have one, for one reason, and one reason only. You refuse to work for it.” He took a slow drag, on his cigarette, and looked at her appraisingly. “Do you not realize, that you have been given a full fledged do-over?” His question came out affably, not condescendingly. “You are no longer held to the constraints and barriers that humans are held to. Humans, have to learn fast, work hard, then die. You have the luxury of choosing a goal that you are in no hurry to master. There had to be something you wanted, at some point, before your dream was crushed. Think about it.. Ponder what it would take to make it happen now.”

He finished his cigarette and dropped the butt in the ashtray next to hers. “In the meantime,” He took pen and wrote a name and contact number on the back of one of his business cards, “If you are serious about cleaning up messes, yours and others, contact him.” He held out the business card to her, “I am not sure if he is hiring, but if you ask him nicely, he might let you shadow him or one of his crews while on the job, so you can learn the best techniques.”

[Storyteller]

==========AUTOMATED RANDOM EVENTS SYSTEM==========

A group member's phone vibrates. They have an unread email with the subject line, "Good news!"

[Raven Talius]

Raven slowly blinked as Doc began his speech about how she had a chance to do something, to start something and her brown eyes watched him for a moment in silent thought. The man was right about thing thing, she had been given a do over; been given a chance to work upon a goal that was her own. The only problem was, she wasn’t exactly sure as to where to start looking for the goal that she once had. It had been years since she had even thought about a goal, always just living one day at a time and always expecting that someone had something that they expected from her.

Now though? Now that she had basically been separated from the Ffordes and had killed her twin? What was really holding her back from doing anything for herself? Only she was at the prospect that everything may once more be turned up on its head and snatched from her grasp. However, she was a vampire now and one that was more than happy to throw someone down if they dared to insult or hurt Clover. Perhaps, if she started something for herself then maybe the results may be the same and she bit her bottom lip in thought about this.

That was, until the phone within her pocket vibrated and she saw that Doc was offering her a card with a name and details on it. ”Ah, yes, of course. I’ll give them a call later,” She said as she lightly took the offered card and pocketed it. As she did so, she pulled out to her phone to check the subject line that shined up at her and she pursed her lips. Good news about what exactly? Perhaps a line on the research for the cure? Would she maybe be able to track it down for Clover? Or perhaps Clover had finally decided to split from Jesse? The good news could be anything, but for now, she placed her phone down upon the desk.

”Tell me something Doc. The cure. Was it bogus or was it really true? I’m not asking for me, I’m asking for my sire. She… Wants it to take.” Raven sighed as she brushed black and red locks from her face and peered up at Doc’s face, gauging his reaction. ”I figured that you might know something about it, after all, you are running for office. Do you know which vampire managed to get their hands on it or the research? Do you know who worked on the research to make even the whisper of a cure possible? Cause I’ll shake them down for their research. I’ll even taste their blood and try to pull the memory if it meant getting my hands on it.” The vampire said as she scrunched up her nose at the thought of even seeing someone’s memory through their blood.

A pause stilled the woman then as she looked to the kitten between them that was still sleeping. ”Give it to me straight, Doc. does anyone know if once taken if it will sever any bonds between sire and childe?” She asked even if she didn’t want to know. If Clover took that cure and their bond was severed, what would happen?

[Storyteller]

==========AUTOMATED RANDOM EVENTS SYSTEM==========

Raven Talius stumbles upon what appears to be a decent amount of cash accidentally. Lucky!