Coming Together for a Common Goal [Elders] [Open]

[Claude Lambert]

The German had a practised visage of stoicism and studious concentration. His shoulders were straight, solid, and his posture perfectly aligned at an angle with the wall. He held his drink between his palms, fingers interlaced, despite the cool chill that numbed those elegant, long digits and subsequently ran up his hands and forearms. He listened, contentedly on the surface, while irritation slowly churned beneath. Claude often forgot himself - that he was just as vulnerable and capable of misunderstanding others and chasing the wrong tails - so it made little sense to get angry or frustrated when others did the same to him. Fortunately, he very rarely acted on such emotions or expressed them even if he did feel them from time to time. It was impossible to make a rational, sensible argument whilst raving like a madman and any threats he could make toward anyone would be laughable. No, he wasn’t at all in command of how people could think or act or feel, and he had learned only a few handful of valuable ways of influencing such things, such as: charm, intelligence, and bribery.

He had to admit that he was relieved when Amalea took the stand then and made a summary of their conversations to that point. A smile caused the apple of his cheek to gently swell and he nodded at several intervals where he agreed she’d made the best sense out of everything, as he had understood it too. The irritation subsided almost entirely, and as she concluded her thoughts - their tandem thoughts - it was clear to see that an ultimatum had been reached. The seed of their future, which required gestation by a community of efforts, was suspended between them and they were gathered around it with some quizzical looks, some blank, and some bored expressions. How would they proceed now? What was their goal as a unit? Or could they come together at all and decide on behalf of a race so divided and scattered and individualised as these Vampires were?

The redhead looked around the room and Claude watched her hands, how they held onto the ball, and how natural she appeared in her seat of leadership. The woman hadn’t professed to be a Vampire herself and yet the German had this odd little sense of deja vu about her. It was as if he knew more about her at just a glance, yet couldn’t quite focus on the details of it all. The ghost of memories swirled past his waking eyes like a breeze - memories of her life and not his. There was a glimpse of stone walls, swift feet, and ritual sigils; the sparkle of telekinetic interference; a crackle of heat as palms touched flesh; and then all-consuming blackness that engulfed her like a shroud. The Blood Thief averted his gaze with a sudden jerk of his head, his golden orbs pressing to the ground for answers.

He didn’t have to wait too long before he thought he’d figured it out, though. The sudden migraine presented some degree of evidence toward the culprit. After all, the Telepath often complained of a headache when he used his more psychic abilities and, in particular, enjoyed bragging about how much he knew about people ‘just from looking at them’. As Claude consumed Myk’s blood almost exclusively these days, it did make sense that, from what information he had glimpsed about Amalea and with the sudden feeling of an ice-pick being rammed into his forehead, that he must have accidentally imposed one of these psychic reading powers upon her. Claude frowned and cautiously looked to his beverage; if only this faux pas would pop and disappear as effervescently as the bubbles in his drink.

[Segreti]

Segreti stood, arms crossed, in thought as he listened. His brow ever furrowing. He tried to remember everything that was said. Remember every face, these were vampires afterall. The reason he came here. He heard the stories, heard the ideas they had. Some he thought made sense, but hadn't seemed to provide much movement in his own attempts. He did like the idea of offering help in attacking the other things that humans had trouble with. Such as violent issues. But there would be issues with that too, it could still result in vampires looking like they were after violence rather than peace. On the other hand, if they tried to solve solutions that were simply dangerous but not violent, they might be accused of stealing jobs.

It ended up not being a vampire that really grabbed his attention with their words. The blood thief. He was implying what was essentially subterfuge and covert control of the situation. Suggesting they 'become leaders without their knowledge' those were the words that Segreti really took note of. The issue he found with it, was that it was impossible without use of thralls or humans under the vampires management. At present, humans were not only aware of vampires, but aware of how to detect them. Someone voiced part of that after him, a woman that mentioned perhaps instead showing a mirror to humanity with each accusation. He preferred that method, though it had produced very limited results for him personally.
Then another spoke, good points, again, unfortunately, he wasn't sure how many solutions they'd really come up with so far. It seemed like there was a lot of repetition to him. And no doubt, when he tried to speak, he felt he might end up falling prey to the same issue. Still, he was going to do it.

As Amalea finished, he would attempt to raise his hand for the ball after any questions might be asked. He stood up, taking in a breath whenever his turn might come to speak, "My name is Antonio Segreti. I'm a human. A businessman, and have been running a few successfully since I came to Harper Rock. But my interest in the supernatural goes back to childhood. It was what drew me here. I wanted to learn. And I did, I discovered a great deal about it here. Including how to preform rituals that produce fascinating results. And along with that, became a sorcerer. Pretty much all this is public knowledge." He explained, introducing himself to all those here. He didn't really know anyone personally yet, well he knew one. "I've only had limited interactions with vampires personally. But I went very publicly against the laws that were made. Unfortunately, that's produced...almost no results. Furthermore people nearly got hurt because of it, a paladin attack on one of my events."

He stroked his chin, looking at the people there, he was standing before immortals. Some of them far older than he might be. There shouldn't be anything he could say here that could produce results. But he was giving it a shot, "I just have a few points. I've done research on the supernatural before. I know some peoples reactions to it. The blood thief, I apologize as you didn't give your name so I can address him no other way, gave a suggestion. It was already responded to that it might not work. I want to confirm that. Because if anyone found out, and they very well could, whatever achievements could have been gained will come crumbling right back down. Just as there are humans here who want to help, there could also be vampires who hate their own kind. And would gladly give up secrets to humans if it further meant the destruction of vampires. Humans are inherently fearful. It doesn't help when what they're fearful of has been hiding its existence for an unknown amount of time, and so all they do have to go off of is what they hear. I believe the earlier suggestion given about offering help to humans has merit. And I think it should be further applied. Do what is legal, and do it openly. That is especially true for any vampire already known by the public or any hunters there may be. Be an employee or an employer. Like was said, it's going to take time. Which is...quite frustrating for those of us who may not even see the results. But for vampires and humans to actually live together, they need to be aware that what is truly different is a matter of biology, not what a person is. They need to see that vampires can be as much a part of functional society as anyone else without hurting it."

He sighed, again considering what he was saying. He really didn't deserve to be here. So many had probably accomplished so much more than he had. "If you're afraid to show yourselves. For your own safety or another's. That's it's own matter. But ultimately I think it's necessary that we prove a community can still exist. I also think humans have no clue how punishment or control works for vampires. Incarceration is kind of difficult I imagine. I'd suggest finding a way to show them how that works. Until they see that I'm not sure they will actually believe there is one, and that means vampires will still look unruly even if most of them are still just...people with powers. That is all I have to say."

He nodded his head and waited. Either for someone else to take their turn or for questions. It wasn't that he was nervous...exactly. But he certainly wasn't taking this lightly. He was speaking to the other side of the aisle for once. Only this side had people who may never die, and hadn't for who knows how long. While he was just a man.

[Elizabeth Constance]

[for_peace][/for_peace]

A light smile grazed Lizzie's lips as Amalea smiled at her and took the ball. As she softly thanked her, she gave a single nod. "You are quite welcome." Taking a step back so that Amalea could have the full attention as she deserved the respect to not be upstaged even by the host.

She nodded her head occasionally with each word that Amalea spoke. There wasn't a chance to go backwards but damage control could help but it only depended on how damaged the city was with the hatred between vampires and humans. It was already bad enough but hopefully they would be able to make it better even if it was microscopic. She was hopeful and even though the turn out wasn't as great as she hoped, she was aware that she had given short notice.

Her thoughts drifted as she tried to think of ideas to help as each person spoke. They had to work together to try and alleviate the fear the humans had, Amalea was right about that but could they all set aside their differences to help alleviate that fear? Forming another group made up of vampires to dispatch the horrors that have escaped the Quarantine Zone was a fabulous idea. It was when the thought of dealing with those that were problematic that made her purse her lips but she held her tongue for the moment.

Each word was registered mentally but Lizzie's eyes did drift over at Molly to see if she was still logging the notes of the meeting. A perk of her brow was given as she took note that Molly wasn't using the laptop but handwriting each point. It was unusual that she wasn't using the laptop but she would ask about it later. Now was not the time to get distracted. As the movie was mentioned, she tilted her head as she was unaware of it but she rarely watched television so she made a note to give it a watch later.

As Amalea came to an end, Antonio stood up and began his introduction. He admitted that he was human to those that were in attendance. He also admitted that he had limited vampire interactions accept for with her but he didn't say he had spoken with her. He probably had more interactions with vampires but honestly, most didn't let on that they were vampires. He spoke with experience from his own interactions at previous events that he had held himself. There was negativity in his words and while that was more than likely reality, she had to think positively that they could make a difference.

Legal businesses seemed to be the focus. It was an important focus because it was a good way to show that vampires weren't all that bad because she knew that a good portion of the businesses that had her race had were in fact legal businesses. She, herself, had mentioned her own businesses and all of them were legal while also giving back to the human community. Her compassion ruled her. Carefully her eyes drifted to Antonio and she nodded her head as he came to an end. Holding up her hand for the ball, she caught it with both hands as it was tossed to her.

"Amalea and Antonio, thank you. I would like to touch on a few points for us to discuss. First off, I was curious Amalea, are you speaking of a group much like Tytonidae? There was a group before them and not just a bounty hunting group like them but one that the Elders had started, mainly Zachariah Staus, that was made of of members of each bloodline. Rules were established from the Old Code that were enforced by the group. Each bloodline had no more than two representatives. I think this would be a good idea to reform though we do have to keep in mind that the Old Code had been abolished when Tytonidae created the New Code for vampires to live by.

"Second, the idea of legal businesses is a smart plan. All of mine are legal because of the human race especially since two of them are giving back to the humans and I employ only humans, supernatural or not. Some do have illegal businesses but so do humans so I am not sure how we can make everyone have legal businesses or to at least have the owners employ humans. This might be a harder task but I am definitely open to ideas.

"Lastly, I do have an idea...one of the fears that humans have is that we will outright kill them when we need to feed. Yes there are powers, relics, and contraband blood bags to help keep from attacking humans. Though an idea that I had spoken to Antonio before is how about opening up several farms that carry large animals such as bison to help produce blood for our kind. They of course would need to be large farms and never drain enough blood from the animals that it would kill them. Put them on a rotation so that they can replenish their blood much like humans would when they donate blood at the blood centers. What are you are your thoughts?"