Renewing old acquaintances [OPEN]

[Doc]

An eyebrow lifted at her easy acceptance of the card and employment suggestion. Doc made a mental note to give Wendell a call, to let him know he was sending Raven his way. To be honest he had expected push back from her. A quick and perhaps flippant remark that she wasn’t the sort to be employed. But she hadn’t. She actually looked like she might be about to expound, until her phone distracted her. She had glanced at it and then set it aside.

Her actions seemed more deliberate and purposeful now. The careless mannerisms before had now disappeared. Her eyes reflected a type of determination and yet wariness at the same time. There was something on her mind, and then she asked about the cure. He set the sleeping kitten in his chair, and then gave her his full attention.

“I don’t know. Based on the information that I have seen,” the bits of hacked emails, which even he had doubts about the authenticity of, “If taken at face value,.. Yes, it could be real. But things you should bear in mind, not all cures in the human world work for all humans. Humans react to things differently. Yes you can create a baseline of what is the accepted norms; but you cannot categorically say all patients will react the same way. That is why years go into testing drugs or procedures, before approval.”

Doc gave a searching look before continuing, “Vampires have far more uniqueness to them, than humans. We are not all the same. We are not all wired the same. Some of us have innate abilities to commune with the shadows.. Others are telepathic, still others have powers over life and death. All these differences, make the possibilities of a cure that much more difficult.

“That is only one reason to be wary of the cure. Another reason is the potency. Does the cure only work on the young recently turned? What would it do to someone who has been an established vampire? For a matter or years? Would the effect be the same? I have doubts.

“Another issue.. The shadow realm. Once a vampire has been to the shadow realm, it is clear the body is merely a vessel. The vampire is bodiless. We retake corporeal form outside the shadow realm. We animate it. We cause it to move.. But to bring it back to life? To become human again? Could that even be possible for one who has left their body? have doubts.

“And your question about the link between sire and childe.. What effects it would have. First you have to ask yourself, is the bond, in its truest form, an emotional bond? Or psychically linked bond? If it is a psychic link.. A formative change to the sire could realistically affect the childe as well. Most likely in a negative way. Would it cause a dissociative break, or worse? Would it cause the reverse? A strengthening of the bond.. But with human reactions? Would the vampire childe start to revert to a more human self than vampire self?”

Doc sighed. “And as to who has it? Not a ******* clue. And to be honest, I wouldn’t trust who did have it, even if they gave it away. They could have tampered with it. And even if they didn't, do they possess the required knowledge to replicate and produce more in a sterile clinical setting? The conditions of the building when it was all said and done, tell me there was a 70% chance that the cure was contaminated in the battle. So even if they are a chemical biologist with a lab, able to reproduce it. Do they have all the documentation to go with it? It is highly doubtful.”

[Storyteller]

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

Raven Talius sees a brief flicker in the corner of their eye, which looks like it might be in the shape of a person.

[Raven Talius]

A sigh parted her lips and she lightly picked up the lighter from the desk to lightly tap it against the surface in thought as Doc spoke. Occasionally, a nod would be given to his words while she listened intently. His thinking was thought provoking and she did wonder about the potential side effects of the cure. The last thing that she wanted, was to start to revert to a more human self, but could she really put her own wants over what her sire wanted? Probably not and that thought on its own was enough to silence the woman. Raven would probably jump in front of a death blow just for Clover; hell, Clover had severed her arm at one point and the woman was still determined to protect her sire.

Which made her reflect upon that particular event because it wasn’t long after that, that she had run into Doc and defended Clover against his verbal words which inevitably ended up with her and Doc in a park after her arm had grown back, sorta having a physical fight. Even to this day, she still didn't understand as to what he gained from that particular event. The way that she met some people, was rather humorous and was mostly through violence. To her, it was rather funny and while she reflected, it seemed as if her vampire life was…. Filled with more life than her human one and she was technically dead as Doc seemed to explain it. Well she did die, but she died with vampire blood running through her veins.

Her gaze rose to view Doc for a moment in silence before she nodded, ”While I don’t fancy reverting back to human… I can’t explain the bond that I have with Clover. Truthfully, I don’t claim to be experienced with anything vampire. I still can’t explain half the impulses that I have within. I especially cannot explain the bond that I have with Clover, I do know that it drives Jesse crazy, so at least I get some satisfaction from it. Although, he has been acting as if I don’t really exist anymore, so that took some of the fun from it.”

The shadow rolled her eyes than, before she shrugged, ”Regardless of what I have said and the fact that I would rather not revert back to my human self, I do know that I feel honour bound to find that cure for Clover.” Even if it meant losing the life and reverting back to the grey colourless world that she had been living before being turned. It was a sacrifice that she would make for her sire. Her head angled downwards as she drew in a slow breath and she bit down upon her bottom lip in thought.

”Even if written research was destroyed, it still resides within someone’s memories, memories which is, mostly in a way, the most pure form to shake free information… Don’t you think?” Raven said as she angled her head to view Doc once more. The whispered cure always left her with more questions than answers and it made her want to rip someone’s throat apart in frustration. Then she remembered her phone and picked it up, unlocked it and glanced at the email that said that she had apparently won money. It was an email that she guessed was a scam, it had to be, she wasn’t that lucky. The woman had been counting pennies and saving for an apartment so then the Fforde knew that she was here to stay for quite a long time. She wasn’t about to disappear any time soon.

A fact that they would learn soon enough.

[Doc]

Doc couldn't help but smirk when Raven admitted to getting some satisfaction from irking Jesse. Doc couldn’t think of a better person that deserved to be irked, other than back-stabbing Jesse Fforde. But he did not allow his thoughts to focus on Jesse, rather the person at the heart of the conversation was Clover and her desire to return to being human again.

He had not been surprised when he heard that Clover had been turned. Jesse had a rabid need to procreate vampires; so much so that he browbeat the object of his desire into agreeing; then once they were turned, and he had that notch on his belt, Jesse’s interests waned, waned quickly. He had watched it happened a few times while Jesse had been Ty. But more importantly, he watched how his immediate disinterest destroyed those he turned. This was why Doc realized Clover’s desire to be human was genuine; and Ravens desire to help her, equally as genuine.

However, wanting something genuinely and doing before you knew all the consequences.. ? That was foolhardy. “I completely understand your desire to help her. I do. But you need to weigh the pros and cons. You more so than her. She’s already decided she wants it. You have to make sure it is safe for her to do it.” Doc frowned.

Rubbing his jaw absently as he thought through all the horribly negative iterations, of what the cure could do, he said, “I am not sure who even has the cure. Yes.. it was supposedly stolen.. Yes, there was a rumored cured vampire out there.. But, honestly, you have to ask yourself, if someone came up to you and told you .. they have the cure… could you trust them? Because that is what it will come down to. Trusting someone you do not know and handing over your sire to them.. To experiment on.”

He stared at her, “And what if they lied? What if all they wanted was a compliant vampire to get in their clutches to use and abuse? So that the whole time you are thinking she is being cured… she is really being tortured?” He paused and canted his head to the side, “On the other hand, they do have the cure. They give her the treatment.. But things go wrong. Instead of curing her.. It has side effect that was unexpected, and unknown to them. After all they have only cured one.. Supposedly. There are six distinct types of vampires out there. What if she is a type that doesn’t do well at all with the treatment. What if it causes her to go insane? She may be human, but she may have to be committed for the rest of their human life. Or.. what if it makes her a human vegetable? Having to have some low paid home care worker change her diaper for the rest of her life?”

“Talk to her. Lay out those possibilities to her. And if she is still gunho for it.. I will help you all I can. But she needs to know what she is getting into.”

[Storyteller]

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

Doc realizes an item of some value to them has been broken, or they broke it themselves accidentally.