(ODCH) First Steps

**Pixie Styx** · Mar 7th, 2016 01:10 AM

It wasn't the giant whiteboard of her dreams, but the mid-sized dry erase broad was all that she could afford after she bought the purple petal-bike and the matching black and purple child's carriage. And you know that studio apartment, she could use as a Haven. But it was so worth it. And she could by a better whiteboard later. It's not like she didn't have an unending number of laters...

Nell was now mobile, or at least more mobile then she had been just nights before. Which meant she didn't have to awkwardly fiddle with varying travel means whenever she wanted to venture to the Chapter House.

Nell slowed the bike as she approached the Grand Dame. The ever enduring manor, striking even now with her wounded dignity. "I'll make you shine again." Nell promises, letting the wind carry her words.

She'd left her cleaning products here the last time the Order gathered. As she parked her bike, she thought that doing a bit of cleaning and other handy-work upon the great lady would be time well spent.

The Shadow's steps are light as she make her way to the door, which she eases open. She knows she left the cleaning supplies on the first floor, probably in a doorway somewhere, but she should put her dry erase broad somewhere it wouldn't get in the way....in a flash the teal-haired shadow was already on her way up the stairs, putting it in the library just seemed practical, having absolutely nothing to do with her desire to make sure the books were all still there.

Mar 7th, 2016 10:01 PM

Another Shadow already hovers in the library, darkening a corner that has become his own. Nell finds David pacing the room, in metronomic rhythm, reading through a marble covered notebook; his own patrols through the House finished for the evening. David is a tall, gangly, scare-crow of a man who's deft fingers and sure movement speak of a certain grace even if he is a plain looking man.

The sound of footsteps bounding up the stairs isn't unusual. It is more unusual, that the Academy's Chapter House was silent in David's estimation. However, when those footsteps grow louder just outside of the Library, David slows his pacing and peers over the pages of his notebook.

Confronted with the beast of Nell Cooper, David stutters to a stop; eyes narrowing to points. Hate and annoyance claws across David's back at the sight of the teal-haired woman's weakness. Would Nell ever realize how close she came to being destroyed in the Hallowed Halls of Learning? In a way, David hopes she never gets an inkling. Closing the notebook with a hard snap, is an outward sign of the struggle as Man re-establishes its supremacy over Beast.

“Supplicant,” David greets before taking in a deep, cleansing breath and releasing the tension that had built up. “Actually, I'm really happy you showed up tonight. Were you planning on doing anything? Can I bend your ear for a bit?”

**Pixie Styx** · Mar 8th, 2016 05:00 PM

Nell hesitates in the doorway once she realizes she isn't alone. Putting her dry erase broad in front of her as if it were a shield, (even knowing how ineffective such a shield would be.) when she hear's the Grand Wyrm's intake of breath. 'Totally have to get on with Masking my Beast.' she mentally grumbles, feeling the distinct lack of primal furry sparking from the presses of the other Shadow.

"Grand Wyrm." Nell smiles at the unassuming man that wields so much power. "Since my grand plans for this evening included a swiffer and lemon pledge, I think it's safe to say that you can bend away." she replies with a laugh. Feeling slightly awkward at the sight of the Grand Wyrm, she'd assumed that she would be the only one present in the Chapter House this night. 'Gotta remember about assuming...' she muses to herself as she step farther into the library, choosing to set down her dry erase broad near where she sat the last time she was here.

After her prize is in place she turns back towards the Grand Wyrm, "Just what did you have in mind to speak with me about?" she asks, her curiosity alight, making her rasping words come quickly before she might think to stop them.

Mar 9th, 2016 09:40 PM

Delicate, soft motions carry the gangly scholar forward and he soundlessly sets down the notebook he is holding on a nearby table. Dull-brown eyes linger on the marbled cover while he considers. Finally, he comes around the table and half-sits on the edge, turning his attention towards the teal-haired Shadow. “Well,” said through a chuckle, “every effort for the House is always welcomed. You missed me polishing the copper plating a month or so ago.”

Lightly shrugging, he gets to the heart of the matter. “You are walking a very similar path to my own,” looking to the Alucinor for confirmation. “We both study Sleep, for myself it is an extension of my study of Torpor. But, I thought I'd ask you how versed are you in the relatively new field of Haemomemetics?”

David pauses, observing Nell for any change in posture: interest, or disinterest. “It is, in general, the study of memory and blood combining the root words 'Haemo' for blood and 'memetics' or really more 'meme.' Is this a subject that interests you, Magician?” Knowledge, tantalizing knowledge, just within reach. From David's tone, he suspects that Nell might be very interested in the subject; the light upward lilt in how he pronounces 'Magician' says as much.

**Pixie Styx** · Mar 11th, 2016 10:37 PM

Nell's lips quirk upward, pleased that even the Grand Wyrm will roll up his sleeves to make sure the Grand Dame didn't crumble away into memory.

"Yes I am." Nell speaks when she noticed the Scholar's pause, "Not as well versed as I fear I should be." she replies with a smirk, her focus upon him like a laser-sight, her body is still matching only that of the dead, but her mind is already vibrating. When the Dragons gathered a short while ago, she had promised to have two conversations, incensed that Miss Townsend seemed to be ignoring her text message. Though Nell was very pleased when it looked like one of them was about to take place now.

Her mind replaying his words, so that she might engrave them upon her mind and memory. Her attentions on the distant Star before was that of a laser-sight, now her own intensity more akin to a lightning bolt. The stillness of the dead leaves her. She vibrates visibly, her slim fingers twitching, already wanting to reach for her dry erase broad, but she knows that she needs more to go on before she can. But she wants to be off and (mentally) running now!

"Yes." Nell's answering grin is a feral thing.

Absently Nell realizes just how easily the Star manipulated her, but it had been she who had empowered him in his efforts, just by informing him that she was a Magician. It was something Nell had learned to live with, years ago when she was still called Penny. There would always be someone dangling bits of new knowledge just out of reach, and David Regan was the childe of a Navigator, Sworn of the Dying Light, if he didn't know how to properly motivate a student, inside of the Academy, Nell would eat her nonexistent hat.

Mar 13th, 2016 08:38 PM

Nell's visible excitement confirms everything David thought of the Magician. He knew that she'd say yes, that she'd jump aboard easily to the promise of new knowledge and new learning. However, David's own sense of propriety made him ask anyway. David would rather show a student the door and let them walk through it at their own pace, than to shove them through it.

“Good,” David says, with equal simplicity. “I'll have to let Mr. Temple know that I've found another talent for the field.” Lifting his hand to rub his upper lips, David looks over his fingers at Nell considering the Shadow.

“Come, sit. We'll go over some of the basics. I dislike passive teaching techniques and would rather you, in a way, direct the way forward.” Eventually, the Grand Wyrm will take a seat sometime after Nell chooses one for herself. David only visits this seat and doesn't seem to make any move to claim it as his own, unlike when Nell claimed a Corning as her own. “So, let's start with your questions. Where would you like to begin? What do you know of Cognitive Memory Science, Jung and Genetic Memory, and Blood?”

**Pixie Styx** · Mar 15th, 2016 01:01 PM

"Mr. Temple?" Nell inquires and she pulls her dry erase board from where it lay, and she take her place upon her stop, pulling the white surface into her lap, her slim fingers snaking one of the markers from her bag. She might take notes so that she could transcribe them into her laptop later, or she might doodle. She found that actively listening and absorbing the information was easier when she did.

"I did some reading after the last gathering with the other, and I read your primer." Nell's rasping voice sounds. "But nothing truly in depth. I was more focused upon finding my own place to Haven." Nell confesses, slightly ashamed that she chose safety over learning, she could have simply stayed in the Chapter House and - Nell forces her thoughts to cease. The reason she needed another place to sleep was not simply for daytime safety, but to take her away from here, so that she doesn't descend down the rabbit hole once more. She had not the Lovers to sate her lessened thirst.

"I know that there is memory in Blood. It is said the the founder of my bloodline diablerized a much older, and a very powerful vampire. They say it is those echoes that remain within the Blood. Originally it fractured something, within the Alucinor founder, causing our-my sensitivity to dreams, and nightmares. I know that Cognitive science consists of multiple disciplines, I also know that I want to create my own fully functional AI. I will need one, eventually. My own digital super nanny." Nell confesses. "Eventually the Blood will take me, I know that I do not want to walk to my own death as my sire did, lost to the throws of nightmarish delusions. And if I can stave them off, torpor will come. And it will be hell." her rasping voice, fierce. "That is why I joined the Ordo Dracul. To overcome our condition, metamorphosis, change."

"Tabula rasa." Nell says after a long moment. The marker held tight by her slim finger. "I would rather assume that I know nothing, then rely upon what I might find on the internet or from what I've gathered myself. Such could lead to bias, I do like to gather and hoard knowledge like a squirrel with their nuts." Nell offers with a smirk. "I'm a Magician. We gather our knowledge, examined it, discard that which we do not need. To much useless information can lead to us slowing our efforts, and that has to be a crime somewhere."

Mar 17th, 2016 12:04 AM

“My mentor,” David explains, “Mr. Vincent Temple. He read my piece and thought that it hit on some of the ideas of Haemomemetics and invited me to study under him from a distance.” It's slow going, slower than playing chess through the mail since David's mail has a tendency of not ending up where it should. With David's attention being pulled in many different directions, study has only been inching along. The Mortician has to remind himself that it is a marathon and not a race.

“That's understandable,” David interjects after Nell's confession. “It took me a little bit to get settled when I first arrived. It isn't like there are Realtors specifically created for us.” Punctuating his joke, yes joke, with a small shrug David dismisses whatever regret Nell might still carry about that.

“Well then, let's start with Jung. Genetic Memory is something I'm actually somewhat interested in and what it has to teach us. For Jung, it was a link, through our genetics, to the 'collective unconsciousness.' Which as you probably know, is a well of feelings and ideas that all of us can draw on if we simply reach out for it.” Letting that preface have a moment to cool, David continues, “Take Language for instance and the very fact that we have language. That's a partial genetic memory because while everyone is born with the potential for language; how that forms in each of us resolves later. In addition, some kine researchers have gone so far as to state that specific experiences are encoded in our genes; explaining past-life regression.”

As mentioned, David doesn't really want to talk at Nell and so he asks, “You mentioned your sensitivity to dreams as one. Can you think of any other memories that you have that you believe is a genetic or racial memory?”

**Pixie Styx** · Mar 19th, 2016 12:09 PM

"Long distance learning?" Nell questions, "That, is such a wonderful concept. I knew kine did something of the sort, but for Kindred...hmm." her focus drifts for a moment, already thinking on how she could implement the idea. At the sound of David's soft, accented voice Nell's focus returns to him. Blade sharp.

Nell's lips quirk upward, was that a joke? Nell wonders, as her own posture relaxes, glad that the Grand Wyrm understood, and didn't hold it against her.

Nell uncaps the blue marker, focusing on David's words, and simply allowing the crisp blue lines to appear as they will. Content to let the man's calm and measured voice begin their impromptu lesson. The parts of her being that were coiled from stress, loosened. It had been far to long since she was in a situation such as this.

"I do know of the collective unconsciousness. I learned of the concept only after I woke as an Alucinor." Perhaps she should have focused more upon her sire's linage when she took her first unsteady steps into the night...maybe things would have been different. "Have you specific sources for the past life regression?" Nell asks, after David uses it as an example.

The happy twist of her lips turns into a full smile, when David poses her a question. Instead of droning, on, and on she's being engaged in the discussion. The thought echos once more, that he is a good teacher. Nell's glad to have found a Domain, and an Academy with someone as David as the Grand Wyrm.

"Shall I go after the obvious? Our talents of the Blood, for one. Though specific to me..." Nell trails off, allowing her mind to search her ever-racing thoughts to find a proper answer. "Phobias." Nell finally answers, "I've never had a negative experience with spiders. Not once. But they terrify me all the same."

Mar 20th, 2016 10:23 PM

“Not quite off-hand,” David admits adding, “though I think the psychotherapist, Dr Woolger, has an interesting book. It might be a good place to start. Of course,” the Shadow says, bemusement sneaking into his voice, “Kine have since dismissed the whole idea of Past Lives; regulating it to the 'New Age' section of the Bookstore.”

David's fingers mesh, sliding over his knee as he leans forward; curious as to the words appearing on Nell's white-board.

“Phobias,” the Grand Wyrm repeats, half to himself while nodding faintly at Nell's answer. “That's a good one because it illustrates perfectly what we're talking about. While you haven't experienced anything traumatizing, a parent or a grandparent could have. That experience imprinted itself on your genetics and was passed down to you as part of your survival impulse.” What are phobias though, but a fear of dying?

Looking away from Nell, a question comes to David and it is this, he feels Nell is more equipped to answer. “If you were to study or experiment with Past Life Regression, how would you go about it?”

(ODCH) First Steps

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