John sat in the Chapter House at a desk, an open book sat in front of him it was a book on Greek mythology. He had always known that his slacking off would probably would bit him in the ass. Then again he never thought he would ever really need to know about any sort of occult stuff but now here he was, in a Ordo Dracul Chapter House, striving like so many other neonates like him to find a way to escape this curse.
He wore a black zip up hoody with the hood pull over his head, partly for the cold weather, but mostly so that nothing distracted him from his reading. One could tell that underneath that was a white button down with blue stripes, as well as some khakis and loafers
Next to him sat a bull whip that shared a certain similarity with the Indiana Jones bullwhip from the movies. He could not help but constantly shift his gaze to the damn thing every so often, wondering what Martha had in mind with it.
Something had truly changed in John. It wasn't some sort of darkness that was coming over him, but it was something else. Something with more determination and a will to move forward even more than before. Over the last couple of months John has seen some things that most people would never have to experience, and survived. Not just survived, but walked away with most of his humanity intact. Despite the disapproving glances from the others, despite the orders to kill innocent people, the hacking up of the body of someone who had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. He had walked away still believing at the bottom of his heart that there was still some hope left for him and those around him. His resolve had been strengthened and he was filled with the feeling that whatever came next he could face it head on, the Coils awaited.
Tiny Martha enters the room, opening the door with a burst of energetic activity. Limping in with a wide eyed purpose about her. Brimming with eagerness. Dressed in her usual school uniform of hat, black blazer, calf length gymslip...a pair of shiny black patent leather shoes...her C-Leg helps her along. She has no cane tonight. Twin tails bob. Red ribbons tie them into neat plaits.
"Good evening, Slave Mclean, be alert, sir! Class is now in session!" she says with eagerness. Standing, hands perkily on her hips as she watches John with wide eyes. Spectacles perched on the end of her small nose...she seems to be watching John as if expecting him to say or do something.
John jumps a little hearing the sudden activity, he griminess a little at the title of "slave" he still hated that title, however soon he wouldn't have to worry about that. He looks up from his book and pulls his hood down. He then stands from his seat.
"Good Evening Mistress Martha, I look forward to this evening's lesson."
He says friendly but not a casually as he normally does with Martha. It seemed clear that tonight called for a little formality, Martha the Teacher was in the room, not Martha the friend.
He pauses for a moment before pointing to the whip on the table in front of him.
"I brought you a whip as requested."
The words did not fit well in his mouth, he got nothing but bad feelings about that damn thing.
Martha peers over the rims of her spectacles to the whip. Nodding, she opens a hand and stretches an arm out, as if asking silently John to bring the whip to her. She nods again and smiles. But she's clearly indicating he should bring it to her. "Splendid, Slave Mclean, splendid! Thank you!" One hand out stretched, the other perkily remains on her hip. Her pose is almost poised and certainly suits her attire.
John picks up the whip and walks over to Martha and places it in her out stretched hand. He then takes a step back so that she could examine it, or whatever she planned on doing with it. His body tenses a little, preparing for the worst should it come. Part of him thinks (more like hopes) that this was some sort of symbolic gesture, but the former Carthian still didn't feel comfortable with it around.
Tiny Martha accepted the whip with a nod and began to inspect it. She spends a few silent moments toying with it in both hands. Testing it's strength and flexing it. Though she resists cracking the whip. Smiling to herself. Nodding, she coiled the whip about her satchel strap to hold it in place there and smiled again. Reaching carefully into her satchel, she brought out a small item on a cord lanyard. With a smile of innocence and a respectful nod, she offered John a gift. A NATO pattern magnetic compass for infantry map reading. It is handed over to John with respectful and delicate care.
"Thank you, sir...I offer you this in return for we are about to begin Exploring!" she smiles sweetly as she says this.
[[The compass: http://silva.se/products/proffession...dition-4b-nato ]]
And with that John relaxes. Of course it was a symbolic gesture, Stupid! You've know Martha for how long now? You should know she has a thing for the symbolic.
John chuckles as he takes the compass, trying to get rid of the nervous energy that he had built up.
"Aye aye, Mistress Martha. Where do we begin?"
He says with a playful salute, clearly thankful for the gift and enthusiastic to begin.
Martha returns the salute...though with some obvious precision in her action, before limping closer, clearly relaxing too now and smiles. Nodding. "Well, first we locate North. We orientate ourselves, sir! No mission or expedition ever came to harm by doing that simple thing first! Do you know how to do that, sir?" she asks, all happy. Limping closer, she rests against the desk. Watching John with friendly care.
John looks down at the compass and then back up to Martha, he had never really used one before. However, the bigger mystery at the moment was figuring out if she was talking metaphorically, or if there actually was something about finding North that would help them with tonight's lessons.
"Well I guess, that depends on what we are doing to orientate ourselves. I'm afraid I have never really used a compass before. The most I know about it is that it automatically points north, everything else on it is sort of a mystery to me. I guess for the most part, I'm completely shooting in the dark, aside from what you have already told me."
He says a little shyly while examining the compass then looking back up to her, trying not to make it sound like he was complete idiot.
Martha smiles carefully. For a moment she wondered if John was joking. A gentle smile, she perched herself on the edge of the desk and gestured for John to come closer. Swinging her flesh leg happily. "I see, see. Well..." she pauses and from her satchel at her side, she carefully produces a compass identical to the one given to John, she shows hers to John and, smiling, holds her compass flat in both hands. Cradling the compass carefully and holding it close to her chest she talks John through the method; "Here, sir...allow me to show you. This I am showing you is the center hold technique. It is useful as it provides a nice stable support for the reading. This will let you find magnetic north. You must hold the compass level...so the needle can move freely and follow the magnetic energy that it is sensitive to. Form a steady base with your fingers and extend your index finger thus...along the side of the compass. Let the needle settle and the compass needle will point to the Magnetic North. Remember: try to keep the baseplate nice and level!" a happy smile. "Once you know this...you can learn to take bearings and you thereby will be able to track along almost any terrain! However, one must be careful...the magnetic energy that the needle detects can be emanated and distorted by local anomalies and the presence of metal objects or power lines and cables. Even staples in a map book may distort the reading, so it is always advisable to take a reading in several places...just to confirm that there are no local disturbances acting upon the needle." with a happy nod and friendly smile, she seems to wish John to mimic the action. "Come, sir...try it, please!"
John follows along with Martha as she demonstrates, watching her hands move over the compass trying to memorize the the movements.
So apparently knowing which way is North has something to do with the Coils...maybe. Oh God, is this Karate kid? Where instead of "wax on, wax off" its "hold the compass like so".
Once he has the compass ready and finds magnetic north he nods and looks to Martha.
"Ok, got it." He says simply, his eyes filled with confusion and interest. He really wanted to know where Martha was going with this.
Martha watches. She had more to say about using a compass, but she felt that could wait. Letting a silence settle as she nodded to John. "That's correct, sir...remember: allow the compass needle to move on a level plane...that's it! Taking an azimuth reading from a faulty needle will almost be as bad as having no compass at all!" she offers again "Now...direction...orientation! These are crucial, sir, when one is learning...when one is doing anything, in fact. You must ask yourself: where am I? Where are am I heading to....what is my destination? What manner of terrain shall I be traveling through? Are there good and accurate maps of the region I can have access to? What tools and equipment can help me arrive?" she smiles. Hoping the first symbols are obvious. "You wish to work for the Future and wish, no doubt, to improve yourself! But...are there immediate goals, sir? What tools can help you...what is the nature of the physical and intellectual terrain you shall be passing through? As I shall be traveling this journey with you...I should be interested to know your thoughts on these questions, sir!" a happy smile. She carefully lets her compass hang around her neck on its lanyard now as she watches John with wide and friendly eyes.
John thinks about it for a moment before answering, "Well when it comes to tools, we've have got our combined intelligence, and the fact that at this point, honestly...it's going to take a lot to phase me...I think I have seen maybe more than most folks can handle."
He stops for a moment collecting himself, not wanting to go back to that place, to the things he has done and seen in the last seven months. "I also have a pretty damn good memory, and your experience with this already considering your a Supplicant and all, so you have done something like learning a Coil, when it comes to physical stuff well, we have a whole library at our disposal."
He chuckles and gestures to the room they were standing in, then he gets a little serious.
"As for this Terrain: I have never been in this jungle before. Not just with the learning the Coils, but just this organization in general, I mean I have learned the titles but there is still stuff I don't know. Like, I know that the former Grand Wyrm was a Sworn of the Dying Light, by the way you describe what each sworn did, the Axe as enforces, the Dying Light being the leaders, and the Mysteries being diplomats. Honestly at some point I think I would like to join them, but at the same time, I know nothing about them. On top of all of this I don't even know what the connections between us and Dracula are. How did he learn the Coils? How did he become a vampire? Are the history books about him while he was alive really true? Was he some sort of blood crazed monster who impaled people for his own amusement? Also what are the odds that Bram Stoker 'just so happened'," He adds air quotes around the term "just so happened","to get the whole 'Dracula is a vampire' thing, right with out somebody spilling the beans to him in the first place?"
He stops himself again realizing that he was just rambling, he chuckles and then continues,
"I guess what I'm trying to say is: when it comes to terrain for me, I don't even have a rough sketch of where I am and just walking in circles. So, the first thing I need to do is, establish where I am, and were exactly do I want to go, while at the same time know where I came from." He smiles, waiting to hear Martha's feedback.
Martha listened with great interest. She noted the focus on the Coils...the adoption of the geographic metaphors and the questions about Dracula. A careful nod. She rubbed at the knee joint of her C-Leg as her flesh leg dangled playfully and swung as she sat perched on the edge of the desk. "Hmm. I see, sir. Before we go any further, I wish to tell you something. Several things, in fact. Diderot, the French encyclopedist, writer and philosopher of the Enlightenment wrote once: I love any philosophy that lifts up Man.' The great Plato reports in the 'Apologia' upon the death of his mentor that the equally great Socrates was fond of remaking: 'ho de anexetastos bios ou biôtos anthrôpôi — ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ'" she said this in the original Hellenic Greek with careful pronunciation. Playful and busy hands gesture for patience as she translates; "Which translates, sir, roughly, as: the life which is unexamined is not worth living." a smile. "You would do well to keep these quotes in mind, sir! The Coils are an outward and inward side effect of our struggle to be Mistress and Master of our Beast and weakness!" she pats playfully at her satchel and swings her flesh leg in an equally playfully way. "You see, they are useful...the are vital ingredients in the conquest of weakness, but they are not all there is. Now...you raise questions of history. History is, of course, the study of origins. You are right to query the history of our Order...Hmmm...I shall speak more of this in a moment, but hold still a second, please..." a smile again as she pauses, lifting a dainty hand to pause John's replies for a moment too. She plays with her spectacles and adjusts them, peering over them to study John for a moment. Examining his Aura.