|
Guy roars up to the spot he agreed to meet Phaedra, near the park they’ve met at before. He’s relaxed, smiling softly, just lounging on his bike.
And Phaedra arrives with her new bike. It's shiny and purple and she at least had Sledge's help in picking it out, so it's not something awful. Her helmet is white, and she takes it off to grin at Guy as she parks beside him.
"Oh, hi."
“Hey. Nice bike. I haven’t seen you around, you must be a new rider.” He grins, and looks over the bike appreciatively. “It looks nice. Your in good hands with Sledge, she really knows her stuff.”
"I'm still getting used to the balance on it. But I think I'm enjoying it--and it definitely makes getting into town from my cottage quicker." She lightly pets the handlebars, kinda like one might pat a horse that isn't used to you riding it yet.
He smiles as he watches her with her new bike. “Wanna go for a ride for a bit? Get practice in and all that? We can hang out, after.”
"Makes sense." She looks thoughtful for a moment. "You could give me pointers while I ride, instead of holding them for after, if you don't mind me plugging into your mind. Surface level only, I'm not going to go diving a.) without permission and 2.) while trying to ride a motorcycle."
He thinks for a moment, then nods. “I’m alright with that, I trust you.”
She looks at him for a moment, and then her gaze goes sort of distant, and he hears her voice in his mind, a gentle whisper. Thank you for the trust.
Of course, he thinks back, smiling and tightening his helmet back up. Let’s go, shall we?
She puts on her helmet as well. I'll follow your lead. You probably know where we're going better. While he's only hearing what she directs at him, she's receiving all his surface thoughts, layered with emotional nuance, some snippets of motivation. It's new to her, but she has to learn how to synthesize it; this is an opportunity to practice walking and chewing bubblegum at the same time, so to speak.
Guy’s thoughts are...a mess. His directions as they make their way out of the city and his riding tips are clear, almost coldly concise, but the rest of his mind is a boiling sea of memories dredged up by the sights, sounds, and smells along the road, what sounds like German poetry, and dozens of little urges and intrusive thoughts that are clearly from the Beast.
How do you feel about speed? He asks as they head out of town.
Phaedra drifts across that surface, mostly responding to the directions and tips. I'm a little nervous, but I have to learn how to deal with it eventually. Right?
He guides to a stretch of road that is mostly flat and straight. You take point, and open it up as much as you feel comfortable, alright?
Her mental response doesn't come in words, just a pulse of affirmation, as she accelerates and passes Guy. She almost seems to brace herself, wearing some tension in her shoulders before she puts on the speed.
As they speed up, his mind calms, memories of flight mixing with a feeling of peace. Try to relax, if you can. Makes it easier to maintain soft control. You’re doing well, though.
Another pulse of affirmation, mingled with appreciation for the advice. She draws from his calm and peace, and slowly settles into the bike and the road. Vroom!
He sends back a pulse of amusement, and keeps up with her as they pick up more speed. He sends occasional pointers about an upcoming hill or curve, but other than that he’s quiet and relaxed.
Her confidence grows, but she seems very aware of her limits, not pushing the bike too far. Getting used to its weight and balance at this speed.
He lets them ride for a while like that, before sending, We can do this as long as you like. Fun, isn’t it?
It is fun. I wouldn't have thought to do this for myself without you. Getting a bike, I mean. She sends the brief flicker of the image of how she usually walks or runs into town from the woods and it takes foreeeeever.
He laughs in his head. I’m glad. I look forward to getting to enjoy this with all of you. And it is convenient to have a ride, it would cost a lot of blood to fly everywhere.
Would be a lot to learn, for me. Though she briefly shares a memory of a piece of art she's seen--an albino bat on a black background with huuuuuge blue eyes, somehow guileless and full of wisdom.
He sends back an image of a large black crow. Thats a cute bat. Very you, I think. Is that...Nevermore’s? They’re skilled.
I think they meant it to be me, maybe. I haven't asked, yet. She dials the speed back, falling in beside Guy again.
Wanna head back so we can talk with having to worry about driving?
Please. There's the sense that she's not tired of the feeling or the driving, but that there's plenty of time ahead to practice. They have nights and nights and nights before them.
He directs them back towards town, heading for the park again. You’re good, a natural.
Good teacher. There's something of a mental laugh that ripples over the surface of his mind as she follows.
You flatter me, he replies. When they get to the park, he takes off his helmet and sighs happily. “Mmm, that was a good ride.”
As she takes her own helmet off, she severs the mental connection, letting him know she's about to right before she does. "I like the inside of your head. Like I said, I won't ever do that without asking, but it's nice in there."
“Really? Most people who’ve been in there weren’t...exactly comfortable.” He looks at her, clearly curious about her opinion.
"It's a jumble. You connect things, like that one gif of the guy with the board and the pushpins and string. What's an Erlkönig? But...once we were going fast, things were easier. Like you and your Beast were on the same page, and it wasn't rubbing up against your with wants as hard. Like the ride was soothing to it. But...it wasn't bad. Just a lot."
“I...with a memory as old as mine, and the fact I never forget what my senses perceive...there’s a lot to be reminded of, and they...cascade off each other. Flying, or riding, or...a few other things, they help clear my thoughts.”
"You never forget? That's got to be hard a lot of the time, especially given everything that you've seen, huh?" She blinks up at him.
“Yeah. It not all bad. I can remember the feel of Petra’s hair or the taste of her lips as if she was here right now. But I remember the violence I’ve committed, the weight of lives lost, the blood...it’s a lot. It’s why I like spending time with people I enjoy the presence of so much. Makes it easier to focus on positive things.”
"Mm. Well. I'm glad you want to spend time with me, then. That I can help." She reaches out to gently touch his sleeve.
He smiles softly. “Thank you. And...you do, really.” He looks over her face for a moment. “Want to go relax on the grass again? Even if our butts won’t get tired of the bike seats, it’ll be more comfortable...You wanted to talk to me about my thoughts on the Blood?”
"Mm, I wanted to discuss philosophy and the Beast and the Blood and...I think there's a couple of things about my role in the Circle of the Crone that might be worth telling you. Not anything you need to do, just something to know." She moves off her bike, pulling her boots and socks off before she gets to the grass, so she can wiggle bare toes in it.
He smiles and gets off his bike, ditching his boots and socks too. He follows her onto the grass. “So...where do you want to start?”
"So, the title I have from the Circle that I use most is 'Haruspex', right? It means I'm a diviner, a seer, someone who parts the veils and looks into the abyss and all that jazz. It's not my only title, though. I'm also a Maiden." She glances to see if this means anything to Guy.
“Hmm. I’m guessing that title has more to do with social rank and possibly oaths than other meanings?” He seems to be unaware of its exact significance.
"Not Oaths exactly. It's about a sort of ritual purity, but not in the usual way people use those words. Simply put, it means I've never killed before."
He thinks for a moment, and nods. “I see. Well, I won’t ask you to change that, for me or anyone else.” He gives her a look, letting her know he’s serious. “I’m in no place to judge, either way.”
"It's...if I judge it necessary, I will kill, but it's something I am deliberately avoiding. Which isn't so much about anything like being squeamish or wanting to preserve my humanity above all else, but I'm the only one in town right now who fills that ritual role."
He nods. “I’m glad you told me, just so I can be aware.” He pulls off his jacket, and starts walking on his hands. “I can understand how important that is.”
She watches with open fascination, tilting her head to see his face a little closer to right-side-up. "Well. You...I mean, you wanted to hear if I have anything on my mind. Even if we haven't gotten official, might as well start opening up about things. Right?"
“Sure. I can’t tell you much about the Ordo, but currently I can’t think of anything that would impact you anyway. Besides the fact I’m a fighter for them, which you probably guessed.” He lowers his body, then springs up onto his feet, less graceful and more strong enough to easily move his body weight. “Hmm. What do you want to pick my brain about?”
"The Beast. The Blood. What you see the purpose of Kindred being. Philosophy!" She moves to sit down in the grass comfortably.
He sits too. “The Kindred purpose? Ugh. We can start with the others.” He lays back in the grass looking up at the stars. “Simply put, the Beast is...the spirit of vampirism, in my view. The Blood is the vital essence, it’s the you. Our brains may define the pattern it takes when we are embraced, but our self lives in our Vitae...”
"Not in the mind? What makes you feel that way?" She scoots a little closer and rolls over onto her side to watch him watching the stars.
“Two reasons. One, with enough Resilience you can be missing a large chunk of your head and not be seriously impaired, and secondly, Diablerie consumes the entirety of a vampire except their body, but still kills them absolutely. Not that I know from personal experience. Thus that which makes us be resides in the Blood.”
"But cutting our head off still does kill us. How do you explain that?" Blink-blink. This seems more curiosity than arguing against the point.
“I think...the head and the heart are the cores of bodies. There’s...probably magic stuff involved, but at its core, even with Resilience you can’t think if you don’t have a brain at all. And staking the heart debilitates us, even if it doesn’t pump Vitae. So it stands to reason that separating the two means you’re destroyed.”
"Magic stuff." She laughs. "Informal, but that makes a lot of sense, yeah. Hmm, makes the use of Vitae in blood sorcery more meaningful. How much of your self are you willing to put into your ritual, that's the real core question."
He nods. “That makes sense, yeah. Our Vitae is our self, and spilling it with purpose is an act of will.” He looks to her. “It’s the sort of thing you think about on a warm night when you have nothing to do, and even the wind feels the same as the thousands of other nights you’ve had...”
"I sort of take a religious view of the Beast, but what you said earlier about it being the 'spirit of vampirism' isn't far off. A shard of the Mother of Monsters, a piece of that divinity within us. I think somewhere way all the way down, all the Beasts are one Beast. Echidna, Angrboda, Pandora, that which births monsters."
“That’s an interesting view. I don’t know if I have an opinion like that, my relationship with my Beast is more...personal.”
"What do you mean by that?" She blinks at him.
“I walk with my Beast, and it with me,” he says with the sound of a rote phrase. “Protean is the discipline of merging the flesh with the Beast, and to do that one has to...at least explore one’s relationship with it. And my studies in the Ordo are based on exploring it even more, learning about the line between it and myself.”
"Ahaa. Whereas I simply use my Beast as the lens through which I'm seeing the world, when I use Auspex, because it senses more, knows more than I could on my own." A pause. "Mind if I move closer, lay with my head on you?"
“No, it’s ok.” He gives a little smile, and rolls to his back. “That sounds fascinating...I’m sure it gives interesting impressions...”
She scoots in close, laying her head against his shoulder, setting herself up just right beside him. "It really does, a lot of the time. Scary, sometimes, how much I end up seeing."
“Mmm...you’ve never taken a long sleep, have you? I wonder if what you see with Auspex is like Torpor dreams...”
"Maybe. Did you know that some Acolytes, a certain bloodline, can use the dreams of a Kindred in torpor to see into the collective unconscious? It's a ritual that only one bloodline knows."
“Huh...fascinating...they must see such incredible things...” His voice is quiet as he looks to the stars. “I wonder if they forget to look at the word around them...”
"I haven't learned it yet, that ritual. But that's my bloodline; the Penumbrae."
He gently lays his hand on her shoulder, ready to move it if she’s uncomfortable. “Tell me what it’s like if you can, please?”
"I can't tell you what the ritual's like. But one of our other rituals...it shapes our dreams, to delve into secrets. Everything is symbols, and metaphor, but the metaphor is meaningful, and possible to interpret. I dreamed once, shortly after the Nereid problems started, of a mortal putting on flippers and going underwater to serve drinks. I knew that meant she was dead, drained by the Nereids."
“That’s...that’s unfortunate. Do you ever have pleasant prophecies?”
"Not really. Because usually, if I'm looking, it's because there's a problem. The 'simplest' Cruac ritual to look into something is known as the Pool of Forbidden Truths. It's not a hard ritual to do, but it leaves my mind...not broken, but overwhelmed. I look into the void, and the void takes ahold of me. When I did it on the Nereids, their deity of the depths took hold instead, and I had the song of the sea dragging at me. It was awful, Guy. I don't just do it without a reason."
“Sounds...bad. No offense, but I’m glad I don’t have to do something like that...”
“You’re brave, staring into that darkness...”
"Someone has to." That's whispered quietly. "If...if I'm ever in that sort of a state, I need to face a void of a different sort, to get back to myself. What I usually do is force myself to experience something that would kill a mortal. It...shocks me back into my head."
“Ugh, that’s...rough. Well, I’d be happy to help, if you need it. Just...offering, ok?”
"...I'll remember that. That's...actually a large part of why Fin and me are such good close friends. They helped, the last time. They helped a lot."
“I’m glad they were there for you, that you two can help each other...”
She turns her head to favor Guy with a warm smile. "And now we'll have a whole pack looking out for one another. It's going to be awesome."
“That’s the idea, yeah. To support each other.” He smiles down at her. “It makes me happy, that you’re so excited.”
"I've wanted to find 'my people', whatever form that took for me, for a while now. This is...it's pretty perfect."
“I like that, being part of someone’s people...I...you all make me feel more human, more alive, and...I hadn’t realized how much I needed that until I woke up a few months ago...”
"Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll find ways to frustrate you and keep you on your toes." There's a gentle poke at his side with an elbow. "That's what youngsters are for."
He doesn’t even react to the poke. “I’ll like that very much...I’d be happy to spend my nights dealing with youngsters and thinking of more ways to make Petra happy. Sounds perfect to me...”
"Me too." She closes her eyes, relaxing further.
|