Gabrielle d'Orleans Acknowledgement

[Phoenix]

Gabrielle made her way towards the Nox. She was not sure how to dress for the occasion so she went for a business attire, both elegant and practical and she hoped it would show her respect toward Juan.When the priscus lay eyes upon the young Daeva, he could recognize her rapidly as she has the same face as the drawing Gabrielle sent him in her original email.

She looked around the common area of the Nox when she saw a man reclining in rock chair. She remembered that the Priscus sounded Spanish and the man, with his face and tie, certainly looked the part. She went towards him to present herself.

"Good evening Sir. Sorry to bother you. Might you be Sir Juan Cordoba?"

If and when the confirmation came, she bowed her head in a sign of respect before formally introducing herself.

"I am Gabrielle d'Orleans at your service."

She then waited a little to see how the Daeva would want to proceed with the meeting.

[Phoenix]

A shiver of fear surrounded the neonate when a superior beast flared in front of her. She nervously corrected her previous mistake by calling the elder toreador with the appropriate title.

"Of course Priscus Cordoba. I meant no disrespect. Does this mean we can speak freely of matters of the blood here?"

She meant vampire matter by that. And it felt appropriate to answer the priscus question as well.

"The saying 'at your service' is an attempt to translate a french expression which is commonly used among the kindred in Toulouse. In simple terms, it is used to express respect toward an elder member of the family.Or it can be used more broadly to convey politeness."

She looked nervously at the predator in front of her, unsure how to react next.

"Euh ... How do you want to proceed from here Priscus Cordoba? I am new here and unsure about how the customs of acknowledgements work around here."

She then stopped talking for a moment, to give a chance for Juan Cordoba to react. She didn't want to babble around as the Priscus should be the one directing the interview as his leisure.

[Phoenix]

She followed Juan in the conference room and relaxed a little, finding some modicum of composure. Still, it wasn't easy being completely calm with such a powerful beast standing in front of you. She took place in the designated seat and took a deep breath. It wasn't in any way natural and the additional oxygen wouldn't do much good physical wise, but it helped her relax by auto-suggestion as well as helping her behave in a more humane way.

She pondered for a moment on how best to give the Priscus the information he requested and decided to start simply.

"Well, I guess I should start by giving you the bullet points and then we can move on to more details. As I said earlier, I was born and raised in Toulouse, in the south of France. I hail from the Daeva clan, and more precisely the Toreador Bloodline, almost all succubi there trace their lineage to the Invictus Prince of the city who is also a member of the family. "

Well, the next point might be awkward but it needed to be said.

"I was embraced and raised Invictus but later join the Carthians both for ideological and practical reasons. I understand that the prince of Sacramento is a member of the first estate. I do hope that won't be a problem. Though both Covenants have their differences, I believe they can coexist in good intelligence, which is now the case in Toulouse, but I'll go into details later."

Good that was done. The cat was out of the bag. She feared the priscus reaction as she suspected he was also a member of the first estate, his preferences for written letter being a good indicator. Still she hope

"As for my activities in Toulouse, well, I had an artistic upbringing as a mortal and my sire wanted me to have eternity to perfect my skills. And they had this project to have a painting of every kindred that dwell in the domain, for posterity. I also participated in other activities. The most time intensive one was doing reading of novels and poetry in court. It is traditional that the neonates do the reading for the elders. Being a Toreador, there was more expectation to carry this duty as well. It looked like this was going to be a quiet unlife, but the world has a way of changing your expectations.

She darkened a little before going on, what she was going to describe had apparently scarred her emotionally.

"A renegade faction of the Circle of the crone, practising the amaranth, fell upon the city and, for a few years, the domain at whole was at war with them. So I had to learn to fight pretty quickly. Though not the best fighter ever, I became handy with a sword ... or two in that particular case. After the war was finished, I had to move away because people from my mortal life were looking for me. Which is why I decided to exile myself far from my roots, to give time the opportunity to erase my memory from the kine."

She realized that the bullet points expose was a bit longer than she anticipated, so she stopped to give the Priscus a chance to intervene.

"So here's the general description of my little unlife as a Carthian Toreador neonate. I guess you'd like more details on some of the points I evoked and I'll be happy to answer any inquiries you might have."

That should do it but now she was curious to see where the Priscus would want to carry the discussion ...

-1 vitae for blush of life

[Phoenix]

Juan's question hardly surprised her nor did the fact that it was the first one asked. She gathered her thoughts for a few seconds before replying.

"Well I could say that I had artistic differences with the elders but that is not the main reason, and by far. I could also say that I was a bit disappointed at the lack of taste for innovation in the covenant by that wasn't it either."

Dark memories clouded her minds before she moved on.

"I had been embraced for a couple of years before the war broke out. The Invictus tried to counter attack of course but they were more interested in thwarting the enemy than protecting their younger members. A few of my blood brothers and sisters were felled as a direct result of that policy. Needless to say I was bitter about that and more than worried about my survival.Then, I was approached by the Carthians. They offered to round up all the neonates and organize them in combat coteries and give them training. In that way, the survival rate of everyone involved increased substantially."

It was clear that she was more than thankful for the help of the covenant.

"As the war progressed, I was gradually inducted in the Carthian's ideologies until finally I realized that's where I wanted to belong. I could more freely express myself among them both socially and artistically and the increased chance of living to an old age was definitely a bonus."

Then she concluded her explanation with the final point.

"As a severance package for the Invictus, I offered to fight the renegade faction for them, with the help of my covenant's member of course. And I used to liaise a bit between the two orders as well which eventually led to a joint operations by all the kindred which ended the war. That's more or less the gist of it. Does that answers your question Priscus Cordoba ?"

[Phoenix]

"Well, I led a pretty normal, balanced life when I was mortal. I had good friends, a loving and supporting family, dreams. I even had dogs. God I miss having dogs. After graduating from the Lycée, I went to the Université des beaux arts of Toulouse. I received a good artistic education and specialized in drawing. I wanted to become a comic artist but there wasn't much demand and a lot of offer."

God know she tried at the time. She had her heads full of ideas and fancied herself a comic star, but that didn't happen.

"So I had to branch out in more classical endeavors. I did a few commissions for illustrations and posters, for things like small independent films, theater plays, art festivals and the likes. As a Kindred, my elders nudged me towards painting kindred portraits. They wanted to have an elyseum full of those,with each vampire being represented. I did a few while I was Invictus, and would have probably done a lot more if war didn't broke out."

Though she didn't mention it to the Priscus, it was one of the few silver lining in the war, she was so boooooreeeeedd with the elder's obsession with portraits. She was stagnating as a result of this, but not anymore.

"I am afraid I had to put my artistic endeavors on hold for a little while. And I didn't get much opportunity to practice while on my way to Sacramento. But it's something I intend to correct."