"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Dec 8, 2014 3:49:33 GMT
"If I could work my will," Malcolm mutters indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart." The old man shakes the last of the snow off his shoulders and settles into his customary corner seat at the Lounge, the crackling fireplace nearby smoldering.
From this point, he maintains the best view of the Elysium, easily able to cross the building as swift as a caroler's bell. How he wished for the night to be punctuated with an execution. His heart is two sizes too small, but even he knows 'tis better to give the Final Death than to receive.
From the server, he orders a glass of mulled 'wine,' his concession to the season. He had a loathing for mortal sentimentality, but his childhood refused to shrivel up and die in the snow, no matter how many times he tried. He had been raised in the era in which German winter traditions had suddenly invaded Britain, with the abominable marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. His early Christmases had been gruesome and bloody, so that was some consolation. And it was proper to acknowledge the past. Still, the next person to offer him the seasons greetings might find his sword lodged in their liver.
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Dec 8, 2014 4:25:19 GMT
Alejandro disliked the establishment before he ever entered it, meeting other kindred in any setting other than one controlled by himself left a sour taste in his mouth but it was a practice that had seemingly taken hold somewhere in the march of years. "...Elysium" he mouthed the word pursing his lips afterwards. Other hungers and desires forced Moreno from his particular habits and comforts tonight however and certain risks would have to be taken if he were to acquire what he desired.
His attire was different tonight, black slacks and a grey v-neck t-shirt hidden beneath a peacoat that helped obscure his classically proportioned form. Stepping over the threshold of the establishment Moreno let his blood reach out to every corner, every dark crevice as he felt the building through preternatural senses. Satisfied with whatever he had found he enters carefully, his steps light as he strides across the lounge's floor towards Malcolm's perch. Upon his arrival Alejandro lifts a carefully handled garment bag which he sets down near the other kindred.
"I'm afraid I've kept this past your original generosity's scope... I've taken the liberty of having it cleaned." He seemed to speak with greater clarity this evening, a far cry from the recently awakened kindred Malcolm had initially discovered. Moreno regards Malcolm silently for a moment as if weighing something of great import.
Moreno then looks to the corners of the lounge noting their present isolation.
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Dec 17, 2014 22:25:16 GMT
(Bump)
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Dec 20, 2014 20:55:34 GMT
Oh my gosh. I can't believe I dropped this! Darn holidays! Bah humbug! Post incoming.
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Dec 20, 2014 21:17:27 GMT
A whisper of ice-cold shadows draws a shiver from Malcolm's spine, and the old man's pitiless mouth thins. He looks up from his mulled blood wine, through the fingers of spicy steam curling into the air. He rises politely at Moreno's approach, and extends his hand in greeting. His fingers are gnarled and cold, like a tree's roots in winter.
"Alder Moreno," he says with a genteel nod of greeting. "That is most considerate. Would you care to join me?"
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Dec 27, 2014 4:08:03 GMT
Alejandro watches Malcolm's extended hand for several uncomfortable seconds as he considers the possibilities. As the years had passed by he had found the welcoming gesture had lost all good will in his memories and now simply represented a dangerous risk in most situations... a calculated risk for either kindred to engage in. Choosing carefully Moreno selects to answer with a limp-wristed clasp of hand devoid of any strength or personality, some things after all are better left to the imagination.
"Good evening Keeper..." his voice is soft, only as loud as the other kindred required, "I think I may enjoy that small indulgence if you will allow it..." Carefully Alejandro seats himself as far from the fire as the table allows as the shadows suddenly seem to grow starker in the flickering light.
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Dec 27, 2014 19:04:25 GMT
The simple gesture was important to Malcolm, but not as an expression of trust and respect; those sentiments were useless delusions. No, this was an important promise of civility and civilization. It was a promise that if the knight were to stab the ancient, it would not be in the back. The fireplace flashes with a burst of light and heat, as the logs settle and smolder. The shadows thicken.
"The borders of Muncie have been opened," he comments, giving the thick, spiced blood a swirl in his glass. "After your brief rest, have you considered stretching your legs?"
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Dec 27, 2014 21:03:34 GMT
Giving the other kindred's words some thought Alejandro finally nods slowly, his brow furrowed. "Yes I have... In time it will become a necessity given the small population we find ourselves in now. My gaze lingers to the West and the city of Indianapolis, I would learn what happened there and find what advantages might be pried from that populace..."
He pauses for a moment to inhale awkwardly catching the scent of Malcolm's drink. Why did the man insist on sitting so close to the fire? Moreno shakes his head slightly clearing his thoughts before continuing.
"Truth be told the nature of your borders being closed intrigued me... as others would tell it you have been dealing with a variety of apparitions, phantoms and shadows?" He through out a multitude of possibilities but maintained interest in only one.
"What do you make of it all Keeper?" he smiles thinly, "and what are your interests now that we are longer penned in?"
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Dec 28, 2014 21:39:49 GMT
The old man lays a crisp linen over the glass, trapping the steam that rises from the cooling blood. The single flickering candle on the table casts its meager light through cut crystal, and the tablecloth is cast with a cascade of dancing rubies.
Malcolm had explained something of his purposes to a useless creature not long ago; certainly Moreno would be a more engaging conversationalist, with aspirations beyond watching television and cutting himself in public.
"I am here because this region has become disorderly," he replies, echoing himself. "As in clockwork, the wheels and pinions, the pendulums and levers of our society must operate properly, lest the mechanism be destroyed beyond repair. Muncie is a - noteworthy component of the Midwest. But there are other areas crucial to attaining a lasting stability. I should like to assess the state of these areas, and assist where I may in securing our society's hold."
He draws the napkin off the glass, and claws of blood-rich steam curl into the air.
"Our Prince's borders were indeed sealed by shadows -- unleashed Beasts, I am told. A creature with considerable influence over Beasts had closed the city and filled the streets with her minions; she at last assaulted us in our very Havens, and that night some went to destroy her and her home."
The knight's teeth show a bit at the word some. Three, only three had heeded the Prince's call: some Nosferatu filth, an Unaligned Ventrue, the Prince himself, and Malcolm. Was that the kind of influence the Villain name carried in these lengthening nights? Or were the Kindred of this city just that cowardly and useless, to not defend their own havens?
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Dec 29, 2014 23:54:08 GMT
"I suppose that disorder is the crux of my confusion regarding the present state of kindred affairs," Moreno takes a moment to gather his thoughts and place them into the English he still finds to be so uncomfortable. "Before whatever it was that befell me, the domains of this territory were stable, strong and well populated with kindred. Muncie, Bloomington and Terre Haute were all Invictus strongholds that conspired to bring what rabble that held the prize that is the capital to heel and silenced any remaining opposition as routinely as one turns out the lights..." Alejandro inhales sharply then before making a show of blowing out the candle leaving them in the dancing shadow play of the larger fire much to the Mekhet's comfort.
He pauses there, something hot and gleaming behind his eyes as he measures how much to share with the other man and weighs the risks and rewards of opening up to the Keeper and by all account's Sebastian's most dangerous asset.
"...I know these things to be true because I am the one that orchestrated it. Order from chaos, and enough to quench my thirst from previously poisoned wells... I like to think that sense of accomplishment must have been something like what Julius Caesar of felt, ruling the world from the tops of those seven hills..." Moreno's focus begins to falter as his mind races back of past glories and accomplishments, only the scent of Malcolm's drink bringing him back from his reverie. "You strike me as a man that appreciates history... or perhaps tradition."
Alejandro smiles ever so thinly as he speaks again in his ever constant whispers. "So yes Keeper Malcolm Bennett-Grey... I've thought about little else other than stretching my legs since I have found myself here."
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Jan 3, 2015 19:24:18 GMT
Silently Alejandro observes the tense set of his companions teeth as he considers the various means of egress from the club.
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Jan 5, 2015 2:06:58 GMT
The knight's eyes gleam scarlet as the candle's wick smolders dimly. He loathes such a prideful claim to glory, deserved or not, but he is inclined to respect it. Alejandro had chosen to remain Unaligned, a testament to his commitment to himself. He had considerable, useful power to remain unattached to a Covenant and yet do what Sebastian had said.
"I do celebrate the crushing flow of history, as I perceive you may, as well. That said, did not Julius Caesar meet a most sanguine end, once he attained the upmost round of young ambition's ladder by which he did ascend?" In Shakespeare's play, Caius Cassius had expertly manipulated Brutus into betraying his dear friend - had the same fate befallen Alejandro? How had the powerful Kindred found himself buried at the mercy of some incomprehensible mortal construction, rather than safely entombed?
"Of course, the pursuit of peace and order is laudable. But for one of your accomplishment, is the momentary pacification of Indiana anything other than a pale echo of Julius' dominion over the septem montes Romae and the sprawling empire beyond? I suspect that a creature of your ambitions may dream of broader frontiers. And yet, you also choose to remain independent, rather than guide the resources of a Covenant."
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Jan 6, 2015 22:49:06 GMT
Alejandro nods at Malcolm's initial assessment of Caesar. "Yes... indeed, most sanguine... by all accounts. Given the period however..." he pauses sorting through a vagrant memory, "he was after all though... only mortal. One has to appreciate the scale of what he achieved in the context of the time period, so I like to think yes it would be an appreciable achievement for Julius but a mere... distraction to myself. What is greatness for one does not necessarily apply to the other?" Moreno posits idly.
Alejandro brings his eyes level with the man across the table, his gaze cold and calculating.
"I must say I'm impressed with your line of questioning, few could broach such topics so... tactfully. But in the end, given the sufficient passage of time are not all our ambitions the same? Perhaps not, or perhaps there are but cherished few that survive long enough to come to such a realization and reality. I suspect in such a suffocating cage of a city these are not topics you often get to enjoy an educated discourse in, no?"
He smiles coyly.
"and what makes you presume I do not guide the resources of a covenant? Do I not strike you as a worshipper of most sacred Longinus? Perhaps an initiate of the most guarded secrets of Dracul? Does the aura of my blood not evoke the echoed legacies of an Invictus dynastic house? Even your own lips find Alder Moreno so naturally. Or is it something else you sense in me?" There was genuine curiosity in his words, and gentle probing.
"Or perhaps what really piques your curiosity is the fact that Sebastian has allowed me in this city after dominating and placing his family in bondage. The how, the why." He observes the reactions of the Keeper's face, taking special care to note his body language. There it was that he retreated back into the mask that was Moreno and the mysterious kindred that had been turned upon Muncie in his waking.
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"Learn to mind your manners. Then your pain will end."
Ghoul
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Post by Malcolm Bennett-Grey on Jan 16, 2015 5:46:28 GMT
The old man's eyes remain fixed on those of his fellow monster. "His Majesty kindly elected to offer you his hospitality, while many others would have politely invited you to seek your fortune elsewhere. This decision may betray the echoes of quaint human emotions: pride or perhaps fear. But regardless, it underscores his confidence that your continued presence here is of some obscure benefit or use to him. Perhaps he senses the value in your independence: the several liberties you enjoy by virtue of not having specifically aligned yourself exclusively with one party or another."
Malcolm inclines his head slightly, a gesture of respect but not subservience. "I find the pronouncements of princes quite compelling. But what piques my curiosity most keenly is why you requested his hospitality, why you choose to remain in this 'suffocating cage,' as it were. Why you are not already in Indianapolis, or beyond."
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Post by Alejandro Moreno on Jan 19, 2015 18:02:52 GMT
Alejandro replies simply, "Perhaps his presence here is a benefit to me? Courtesy costs me nothing... or very little at best... Whether or not the Villain family history and mine may entwine and regardless of what perceived enmity may lie between Sebastian and I it is the first duty of any kindred entering a new domain to make his presence known and seek the blessing of those whole rule said lands. I can recall times when failure to do as much was met with little else but swift death... I had found myself suddenly vulnerable, wounded it would appear in a city still under siege by something quite darker than what the locals understand it to be. Over the years I have learned the value in patience... with Sebastian's declaration of haven I am free to move at MY discretion and that will not be until I understand exactly what lies beyond the expanse of this domain. Given proper precautions our kind is truly immortal... why risk a potential eternity to the unknown when you have all the time in creation to make all of that known instead. I don't need to expound to you of all kindred that time is always on our side however."
In that instant some of the energy was gone from Moreno, he looked tired... thin and worn down. The flash is brief though before the fire is rekindled behind his eyes
"Eventually I will seek more valuable territory to carve out a domain again of my own. Muncie and I were simply never made for each other. You know if you weren't so... engaged... with your current responsibilities I could come to quite enjoy these stimulating conversations and the wealth of your wisdom and experience. I wonder if your hunger seeks as lofty goals as mine in these moments of reflection."
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