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Mearcstapa,
While you are likely terribly busy, I thought perhaps I might trouble you for a moment of your time. Should you find yourself able to pull away, are there any things that you find tend to refresh you?
Signed,
Jasper
that refresh me? it may sound funny, but working on my youtube channel is an escape from the everything else, and i have promised to get a video up this week. would you be interested in joining me as i find something to film? i know better than to ask you to appear on camera, but the company would be nice.
Mearcstapa,
I would love to see you work. I'd actually used one of your techniques earlier this week. Very effective.
Signed,
Jasper
i'm dreadfully curious which. and also interested in any topics you think would be particularly interesting.
Mearcstapa,
An 8 pin tubular lock technique you used on December 11th, 2019. It was very informative. We'd not dealt with such locks prior.
Signed,
Jasper
ah, impressioning those is always a treat. for tonight, though, for this week's video, i don't know what to do yet.
Mearcstapa,
Why not focus on working with electronic locks when power is out? I believe there's some sort of backup battery system there. Perhaps shorting the circuit or tampering there might allow to reset the RFID?
I'm not certain the theory works, but something of that sort?
Signed,
Jasper
theory works--i'd need someplace with an electronic lock to film, though. i tend to arrange those in advance.
Mearcstapa,
Give me an hour or two? I should be able to arrange.
Signed,
Jasper
that would make my night a lot easier.
Approximately 30 minutes later;
Mearcstapa,
I've a space arranged if you can bring your equipment. And, of course, if afterwards you provide your insight into how better to combat this issue in the future. As this is something you'd mentioned before, I doubt it will be an issue for you. As such, I've included the address below.
[Address]
Signed,
Jasper
i'll be there in twenty minutes.
And he does, in fact, arrive in an Uber with his camera and microphone, and a toolkit. He's dressed as he usually does on his channel, the cargo pants and T-shirt--though notably, his nails are done in neon oranges and pinks, and he's been letting his hair grow longer, clipping it out of his face with metallic utility hairclips--the sorts with several tools worked into the design of the clip.
Jasper, meanwhile, is dressed in his normal off-the-hour professor chic. Gold rimmed glasses going with the pastel purple dress shirt and darker blue toned vest and slacks. He's playing a bit around with his phone before looking up to the other with a smile.
But the man's likely just the frosting on the cake. The delicious slice behind him is a 1 story warehouse. Closed circuit cameras with adequate coverage from a look. Solid masonry so no going under and through the floor without a lot of drilling. 6 tailgate truck doors. 1 large drive in door for ground loading. And a fair amount of sirens about for both burglar and sprinkler issues.
"Are you growing your hair out?" Jaspers was notably long tonight, with a simple purple ribbon holding it back out of his face. "It seems delightful."
Mearc glances around the area quietly. "You have picked an interesting location. I'm eager to get at it. Would you be willing to hold the camera while I work?"
"Mm. I don't mind at all," he says as he takes the camera. "I'm quite fond of cameras. They're another of those things that are just wondrous in how far they've come."
The first step is a thorough examination of the building and its systems. And then he has Jasper hold the camera while he talks, explaining the weaknesses of this particular model of electronic lock--where the screws to get inside the casing are, how it reacts in event of a power outage, and he even demonstrates how to short the circuit with a bobby pin. His manner of speech is calm, informational, and he makes direct eye contact with the camera in a way he rarely does with people.
He has Jasper film three takes, before he nods, satisfied.
Jasper, for his bit, is actually strangely good at being a camera and mic stand. His body slowly loses its color as they work, breathing stops, and he's as still as a posed corpse through most of it. It's likely a bit disconcerting.
When over, he closes his eyes a moment and focuses as the blood rushes back through his face and his body begins reacting regularly again.
"Right, I went over how some of the issues with this specific lock can be avoided in the video. But beyond that..." Mearc mentions a few other minor issues with the security he's noticed on sight--a potential blind spot for the cameras, for example. Then he grins. "I'll enjoy editing this, though."
"Is that something you prefer to do on your own?" asks Jasper lightly. "Or do you wish to maybe find a computer set up, and sit together while you edit?"
"I can do the editing tomorrow morning after I pack for my vacation. Tonight, I want more engaging time with you." There's a smirk. "I've missed you, while things have been hectic. What have you been up to?"
"Reconnecting with one who reminds me of my past - both because they'd been there and another because they'd seen similar to hear them speak of it - though they're quite loathe to. I've been very, very good to not dig too hard into secrets. I hear others like them." He flashes a grin. "Have you eaten?"
"I've had dinner...though not dessert." There's a crooked smirk. "And you're welcome to dig into my secrets. I'm capable of asserting if you step too far over the line. Though I might dig in return, of course. My partners joke about that being how I hunt."
"Wouldn't be too terribly difficult, really. You've some talent with mind reading, yes?" asks Jasper as he gestures. "Perhaps we might walk a bit and find a dessert place. I can watch you enjoy."
"Mind reading? What makes you say that?" Mearcstapa's head tilts to one side slightly.
"It's the most efficient way to get at one's secrets," comments Jasper as they walk. "Though I suppose a great many of mine could simply be read."
"I'm actually not a telepath at all. I know there's those among your kind who are--one looked into my partner's memories, a while back." Clearly not an incident he's angry about; the mention is casual.
"Which partner? And who might that have been? There's only so many of us Shadows in the city."
“His name is Jack. I don’t know who was doing the reading—it was to satisfy the Sakima about the truth of a matter.” His equipment packed away, he gesture for Jasper to lead on to wherever dessert is to take place. “Shadows? Is that a word for those of you who read minds?”
"One of them," says Jasper as he reaches out to offer an arm and begin their stroll. "... Interesting. What's he look like?"
"Mm tan, dark hair. Dark eyes as well. He has a soft face, and tends to dress in short-sleeved button-downs. Do you know my Jack? That'd be deliciously ironic."
Jasper considers a moment, then nods. "I do." So little detail on so juicy a morsel as to be left wanting.
"And how did you meet him?" Well, if Jasper wants to play coy, Mearcstapa's not against dragging the details out of him.
"It was at a hotel bar. I think we'd both gone hunting, though he might not view it as such," comments Jasper with a little smirk.
There's a soft snort. "No, no. He knows what he's doing at places like that. It's like me going to the horror movie night at the local occult bookstore. The right atmosphere to fill one's needs. Though if he caught your attention, he may have ended up the prey."
Jasper is quiet a moment as he considers. "Yes, the kine are prey, but... it is a much more complicated relationship than that as well. Though he didn't take well to being a prey figure in his own mind."
At the word 'kine', Mearc's smile dims away and dies. "I'd rather you didn't use that word around me. And it's utterly inaccurate for Jack, even as you mean it."
"I can not say it, but... no, it is not inaccurate when used that way. There are Kindred, and all others are technically," He waves a hand. "And he is not Kindred."
"Jack isn't cattle, Jasper. Nor am I. Nor, quite frankly, is it polite to discuss anyone else as being such." He bristles.
"The word isn't cattle," states the Kindred firmly. "If you take offense to something not of your culture that you don't understand, that is your business. However, you cannot decide when and how it is used in the circles to which it is actually relevant. Or is your glamour the same as the glamour of Hollywood?" he poses.
"I know that within the current culture of the Kindred of Philadelphia, the word's seen as impolite by many." A pause and a sidelong glance. "Outside the Invictus, of course."
"Yet here you are, attempting to correct me on my own society." Jasper lightly unlinked arms. "I believe this date has come to an end."
Mearcstapa lifts his chin, considering his response thoughtfully for a moment. And then his head ducks again, his free hand slipping into a pocket. "I'll credit SonnetSeeker for the videography on the new video, if you'd like."
Business. A subject change. Avoidance.
"No thank you," comes the clipped tone from the Invictus as he holds out the camera. "May your vacation be relaxing."
"I'm sorry." It's quiet, as he takes the camera and turns to walk in the other direction. His shoulders remain tense as he walks, as if he's waiting for some further retaliation. Some attack.
Jasper takes a moment as he draw up, adjusting his cufflinks and checking that everything is in place. "The First Estate is viewed poorly by many in this city. I'm well aware that we're reviled and considered relics of a dying age. However, it was not any other who freed me from my slavery, but the First Estate. Such actions must be repaid in loyalty and preservation of traditions older than any of the Kindred older than this country."
Mearc stops. He turns. "It isn't that I see you as a relic of a dying age. It's the fact that if you treat myself and those I love like the last member of the Invictus I met, then we're going to have a much larger problem than one ruined date."
"If you cannot judge me by my character and my actions, but rather those of... who? Harold? At least that would make some sense. But if I do not have my own reputation, then tell me - who is it that live in the shadow of?" asks the man clasping his hands before him.
It is a slow, cold smile that blooms on Mearc's face and fails to reach his eyes. "Commissioner Anna-Marie Cordray."
Jasper pauses, likely trying to consider the name. "... I never met her. I do believe I'd heard she's missing. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd perhaps... No, that wouldn't be polite to say."
"Missing?" There's a vague sort of surprise behind that word. "Oh, come now, Jasper. We're already being rather impolite with one another. Go ahead, say what you're thinking."
"Missing," he confirms. "Though most accounts name her as having several enemies. Possible that she'd conveniently fallen into torpor, especially if she were causing issues."
"Though she'd not been given into my care, as would be right if such a thing were to happen. I'm the Steward, and therefore the one who cares for those in Eclipse."
"Have you, uh. Spoken to the Sakima about the matter?"
"I avoid the company of others who drink the blood of my kind for their survival with all possible means I'm able," states Jasper with just the slightest hint of venom.
"I see." Mearcstapa hesitates.
When he speaks again, it's quiet and bitter. "She did have a way of making enemies. Tried to blackmail Jack. Told him she owned him. Threatened Lux, threatened me. Wielded her wealth with all the grace of a jackhammer. No, probably less. A wrecking ball. Thought she could buy anyone's way into her pocket, or threaten them with ruin if they failed to fall into line properly."
"Fledgling mistakes," states Jasper simply. "She should have had an Au Pair... I'm not certain we have one these days." A pause. "We do not own people. People are not objects, and slavery was abolished long ago. What was the nature of her threats?"
"She claimed to have cameras in Lux's apartment, in her attempt to leverage Jack. Keyed in on a personal vulnerability. Brought up the fact he isn't human. Threatened his job. Worked his emotions over like a bruiser for the mafia, trying to get him to agree to be her man in the unions. All very simple things to do, for someone who can read minds, I imagine." Mearc's arms cross over his chest. "The cameras weren't real, it was just an attempt to get Jack to fold."
"You don't need to read minds in order to manage such things. Often, you can just watch someone for their vulnerabilities, but that would indicate a level of psychoanalysis that she may not have possessed," comments Jasper simply. All professional, with just the smallest hint of sad. "How were you able to resolve this?"
"Will answering that question honestly make us enemies, Jasper?" There is a definite edge of wariness, perhaps even fear, behind the question.
"I have never been the precognitive sort. I knew a number of spiritualists who claimed they could teach me the art, but I cannot claim to have mastered it." Invictus shuffle of words. "One cannot know the answer to that. It implies that you believe the answer to be yes, however, which informs something of what the answer is, even as you attempt to deflect away from that."
“I suppose it does.” He sighs. “We did make an attempt at the diplomatic resolution. Jack and I saw the Sakima, to enquire about her family and attempt to have the matter brought to them, but apparently she never joined a family. It wasn’t only Jack she threatened, either. Multiple changelings were given similar treatment, and her name was known as an enemy of our community.”
"I take it such things did not end up with her as simply a torpid figure? One seemingly dead, but waiting for the end result?" asks Jasper with a raised brow.
“No. That is not where things ended.” Mearc’s expression is opaque, the words coming out with very little emotion.
"And the Sakima sanctioned this? Or simply let things play as they were going to?" asks Jasper lightly.
"I texted her. To inform her of my intent to be sure this was handled in a final manner. She did not ask me to stop, to bring the staked body of Anna-Marie to her, or anyone else. That's...why I asked if you'd asked her, when you said Anna-Marie was 'missing'. Because she's known all along."
"All of the Invictus have been unaware, or playing their cards so close to their chest as to be considered complicit," says Jasper before reaching up and running a hand over his hair. "Thank you for telling me. I can stop expending my efforts to try to find her, at least."
"So. Are we enemies?"
"That depends. Are we allies?" turns the politico back towards Mearc. "We have fewer resources now - however... personally distasteful they may have been, the Commissioner represented part of a dwindling number, and one that allowed for significant wealth to keep us from being pushed out and destroyed. Do we have something that we can see as a trade off in losing that asset?"
"The improvement of relations between local Kindred and Lost on the whole, without her acting as a catalyst for drama?" He shrugs. "I don't know if I have better that I can offer you. I know that I don't intend further action against the Invictus as a whole--or against any other Kindred who doesn't threaten myself or those I care about. I don't want you for an enemy. I'd rather let her rest as the shitshow she was, and move forward from this."
"You may want to consider what you can offer, when you've the time," notes Jasper lightly. "She may not have had family, but she had our cause. I don't know that the inner circle will be pleased to know it's simply acceptable losses for the good of relations between the Kindred who would rather see us dead and the local Lost to have more of our covenant dead. I expect Harold in particular might not agree with that sort of message. I'd rather come to the table with something we could work with to make it look even better than sorry we killed your jerk cousin, but she was a jerk anyway."
"I'll warn the Summer Court there may be future conflict between your inner circle and us, then. If you think it's likely to fall out that way." He reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I think on some level, though, your beef ought to be with the Sakima--I reached out to the highest ranking member of your society I had contact information for. And was told not to stand too close to the corpse because burning vampires smell like shit."
"Pity," states Jasper quietly. "Yes, you stand with one who would turn others of my kind into food instead of releasing power, and who would at least idly like to see my entire family dead or traditions lost. No, I'm afraid, I cannot claim your friendship in the face of such a thing." He glances off to the side.
"I see." Mearc nods quietly. "I'm not happy that that's how you feel, but you've already pointed out that my understanding of your culture is limited and flawed, so it's not something I'm going to try to argue with you."
"Have a nice evening, Mearcstapa. What's left of it," says Jasper before he turns and begins to walk, fading into the background as just another figure moving about in the night.
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