Path of the Vampire forum

Wendigo nodded when his persona was introduced. Thankfully, they began talking before asking him any questions, and there was no sense interjecting this is conversation. Instead, he concentrated on regaining his illusory voice: if he was called upon to speak, he didn't want to use his actual gravel-gargling bear voice.

Upon second consideration, Wendigo sent Doc a brief telepathic message to inform him of his actual identity. Doc generally seemed the sort who would do better with more information rather than less. Listening to him yammer about tea and culture, Wendigo wondered if any of it was true. He certainly thought Doc capable of constructing elaborate lies.

Wendigo returned his attention to scanning the room. If the rest of the evening proved to be as uneventful as it had been thus far, he should have stuck to hunting in the sewers.

Charles’s response was light and interesting, providing her with several details about him. This was good she was learning more about the natives and soon enough it would all trickle in. He appeared to be quite personable and she had her own charm so it would be easy enough. Her eyes diverted from his gaze to meet that of the other Charles, his brooding demeanor and blank stare never faltering. What was his story? There was something off about him that felt familiar yet she couldn’t place a finger on it. Strange she was usually proficient at reading people.

“Matcha green tea is my favorite; I could have it with anything. Though that is a very western way of viewing tea. Such a shame your mother put a bad taste in your mouth, it can be quite decadent.” Pandora leaned against the table shifting her position. His next question caught her off guard but was amusing. “I come from a family that doesn’t view morality in the same manner as the rest. The myth behind my name was intriguing to my parent’s, one woman has the power to destroy or create for many. So they named me such.” She stated matter of factly.

Ari lapsed into silence as Doc and Pandora began talking. Watching the ease with which Doc interacted with other was somewhat enviable. She had never been socially gifted and, in situations like these, it often became hard for her to balance the need to be seen and her strong desire to remain hidden at all times. The tightness in her chest the longer she remained in public was slightly alleviated by the fact that Pandora appeared to think that she was an acceptable boss.

She toyed distractedly with some of the decorations on the table and looked around the room. Like Wendigo, she generally preferred the silence and was content to let Doc take the lead on interactions.

Doc received the mental communication from Wendigo, only acknowledged by a flick of a glance his way, as it quickly returned to Pandora for her response. His brow furrowed at first then he couldn’t help the crooked grin that he quickly held closed. “Pandora, please bear with me as I get this straight.. your parents thought that naming a child after a woman that released all the evils of humanity upon the world, thus basically destroying good, little bit, by little bit, was a cool thing to do. So your parents partook of drugs more often than not, yes?”

He slid a look at Ari. “Is it wrong that I give your employee a hard time?”

"Hmm? Oh. No, I don't think so. Difficult is part of the job." She glanced at Digo in his quiet state and silently hoped that he was not slipping into his catatonic state. Her nailed tapped the tabletop as she turned her attention back to the others. "Also, I don't think that drug use had anything to do with the name. My given name comes from Greek mythology. The original Ariadne was the 'Mistresses of the Labyrinth' and in charge of ritual sacrifice before she ran away with a conquering hero and, shortly thereafter, left him to become the paramour of Dionysus. The origins of names hardly matter these days."

“Yes but if we went by definitions alone, we would be looking at the ‘all gifts’. But Being the woman of ‘all gifts’.. instead of accepting it as it was. She had to go for more. And Thus, she opened all evils upon humanity. And you say your name means ‘mistress of the labyrinth’ but in truth, your name in Greek means ‘most holy’. A far more appropriate meaning if you ask me. And whether names hardly matter these days, you cannot say.. because to me.. supposedly ..." his closed mouthed grin spreads, "they do."

Wendigo glanced towards his sire's tapping fingers. Perhaps she had aimed to get his attention. Was he being rude?

He forced himself to interact. "Not all the evils," he interjected, his voice sounding more human, but still flat. He continued scanning the room with only detached interest in the conversation."Left hope in the box. Greatest evil at the bottom."

That probably wasn't the thing to say in polite company. He wasn't even sure where the knowledge came from... knowledge of Nietzsche's philosophy. The humans would see this event as being about hope. They had no knowledge of how doomed they were, or how their struggles only made things worse for them. Hope kept them fighting when the sensible thing would be for them to flee Harper Rock. Better that they have hope, he realized suddenly. Vampires relied on hope... that great evil.

He wondered what that said about his race.

“Yes indeed. And to this I agree… that ‘hope’ is the most evil of all things.” He cast an affable look toward Mr. Wabash. “For what could allow evil to still gain a foothold on humanity.. except for .. hope Mr. Wabash? Mankind wants to succeed. It is in ‘our’ makeup.” As he looked at Mr. Wabash, it would be clear ‘who’ he meant. “So Hope springs eternal.. yet, in the background, there is a doom that befalls us 'all'.” Doc paused. “But what is that doom? That is the question we must ask ourselves.”

Pandora smirked in response to Charles’s response to her answer, an eyebrow raised with his last question. It would have made more sense if her parent’s had been on drugs. She softly laughed at the concept and began to respond. Before she could Aridane answered and defended her explanation. Names not have meaning was the problem with the current society. Meaning gave the name worth and provided the individual with an unforeseen purpose whether forbidding or prosperous. Pandora raised an eyebrow when the silent Charles finally spoke commenting on ‘hope’.

“Doom is what we create it to be. Though I don’t view the release as the freedom of evils but that of realistic truths. Why live in a world without knowing the true evils? Ignorance is never bliss” Pandora noted. “Why go through life wondering what such gifts were? It is the innate human nature to seek out the unknown”.