Derek Inquires About Dragons

**Derek Menzies** · Feb 27th, 2019 07:06 PM

In his staple ensemble of hoodie, jeans and sneakers, Derek arrives outside the office of the Sheriff, a.k.a. Grand Wyrm Moretti. He knows from hearsay that the Secret Estate focuses on transcendence and overcoming weakness. Lord knows he has plenty of that. While Derek had entertained the notion of joining up with the Crone worshipers, it still lacked that spark that he had been expecting. All of his heightened senses emphasized his shortcomings. The fear that plagues him during the lonely nights and wishing he had what others possessed.

Confidence is just an illusion anyways. Take some acting lessons maybe?

He knocks, still forming the thoughts that would become the questions he hopes to ask Lina about her Covenant. The secrecy appeals to him. He'd always been that way himself, hiding in the shadows and gathering precious intel. But was it a good fit?

"Sh.sheriff...erm, Grand Wyrm Moretti? It's Derek Mitnick," he says to announce himself, though she may be expecting him after his request to meet during the prior Court gathering.

Feb 28th, 2019 06:06 PM

Lina's office was a simple dichotomy, split in half in the space. Two walls were covered in blackboards, one of which clearly outlined the progress on addressing a Hunter threat and the Echelon issue (if one knew what this meant). The rest were covered in shorthands that would take some time to decipher, but recent dates were on it. An astute individual would realize that these too were notes about investigations - just notes for Lina, as opposed to notes for the whole world. She had a rolling whiteboard stand that she could move a board onto tucked neatly into a corner by a filing cabinet and a simple oak desk with a computer on it. Wires were neatly tucked, a toilet roll keeping them all together so they weren't in the way. It was Work Lina, personified.

The other half of the office was chill. Detective movie posters from the noir era were on the wall. There was a worn black leatherette couch, a side table, and the foosball table. Still tidy, no shitstorms here, no sirree - but it was a much more relaxed half of the room.

The Sheriff was seated on her couch, feet up next to her as she looked at her cell phone.

Sounds were coming from it.

The sounds of Candy Crush.

She glanced up at the sound of his footsteps, and his voice. "Mitnick. How are ya? Get the door, would you?"

**Derek Menzies** · Feb 28th, 2019 07:45 PM

Derek nods and forces a weak smile before entering and shutting the door behind him. He takes a few steps inside before answering. "I'm fine. Um, well, I could be better."

He idles forward, eyeing the foosball table and remembering their last game. The Shadow recognized that she knew how to work hard and how to play hard. It was apparent by the state of her workspace.

"I'm sure you remember my asking to meet with you. I hope it's not inappropriate to speak of Covenant matters within the office of your Domain station. But I imagine it's difficult to separate one from the other." It's a guess, mostly to reassure himself that he's not out of line. It is hard to tell which protocols she adheres to. Common sense seems most likely.

Mar 1st, 2019 12:48 AM

She followed his eye line to the table, and the phone disappeared into her pocket as she rose, stepping up to the pegs on the blue side of the fooz. "I trust you can play while talking." She produced the ball from her own net, holding it up as though to signal that he probably ought to get into position. An amused smirk crossed her face at the idea of her Domain office versus her Covenant.

"I am the head of the Ordo Dracul, serving Her Majesty as her Sheriff. I never stop being a Dragon, even when I am carrying out her will. The idea that Covenants somehow sit aside at any point... well, that is never the case in the Ordo Dracul. Ever."

Theirs was a rigid hierarchy, one dedicated to the pursuit of the Great Work. Nobody outside the Order would understand the imperative of their structure. Any Supplicant could command a Slave and expect that that Slave would act - in any capacity. This was the natural way of things among the students of the Dragon.

"I'm happy to discuss whatever you'd like to know, Mitnick. But first... why could you be better?"

She held the ball near the drop, ready to start the game.

**Derek Menzies** · Mar 1st, 2019 05:06 PM

"Oh," Derek replies, realizing she intends for a game. He nods and moves to the opposite end of the foos table, preparing himself for the ball drop.

He understood her explanation of her roles. The answer is a curious one, and only gives him more questions about the difficulties that might pose. "No separation of church and state, so to speak," he remarks idly. Whether it equated to such might be debated.

When she inquires further about his mood, he hesitates, looking embarrassed. "It's just some Family difficulties. I'm sure you're already well aware. How have you been?" the question may be a deflection, or perhaps he believes it would be rude not to take an interest in the Sheriff's welfare.

Mar 2nd, 2019 11:57 AM

Separation of church and state? That was not quite how it all worked.

"The Prince hired a Dragon investigator for a Sheriff, knowing who and what I am. I am always a Dragon, for I have overcome elements of this Curse for eternity. I chose to work for the Prince as her Sheriff because a safe Domain is a prosperous Domain for all, which is a requirement for Dragons to be able to do what we do to best effect. In short, no; there is no requirement for separation, and to try would reduce me. I am better at both for being both."

She smiled in a conciliatory and understanding way when he pointed out his Clan's troubles. Yes, there had been some, to be sure, with the Lance man getting himself into a world of shit, but he had figured his way out well enough. "Mr. Exlibrist will be fine. He will pay what he owes, and in time I am sure he will earn a happier welcome. Or was there something else?"

Apparently, the Sheriff wasn't letting him dodge the question that hadn't yet come.

**Derek Menzies** · Mar 2nd, 2019 01:15 PM

"I see. I am unaccustomed to what Aligned Kindred have to consider. But that is insightful." The explanation made sense regarding her role and Covenant, though he looked as though the matter required more consideration. It is quickly derailed by her next question.

"It was just such a surprise. Both his actions and his way of making amends for it. I...it...it's frustrating. I don't, uh, mean to bother you with my personal problems. That's not really why I...though I suppose it might be..." He gulps, a reflexive and unnecessary mechanical effort to clear the mental block in his throat. "It's nothing. I'm glad that Mr. Exlibrist will see this through."

He glanced to the ball she had yet to drop to begin their game, hoping the extra stimulus might distract him from his layered concerns.

Yet he continues. "I, uh, this matter of joining a Covenant. I had the chance to meet with Priscus Krieg and Mable at their farm. It feels like a personal philosophy for how to spend one's Requiem. While it was interesting, I wouldn't say I was deeply inspired. As with them, I'm not sure how much I am able to ask about the Ordo Dracul. You said it was about transcending weakness? Specifically the Curse of our...condition?"

Mar 2nd, 2019 07:28 PM

"I was equally surprised, both by the idiocy of doing anything vaguely approaching the appearance of threatening a sovereign Prince in her own Domain, and equally by the contrasting shrewdness of offering significant Prestation to end that shit," the Sheriff mused. She looked him up and down, then finally dropped the ball, starting it all, starting the game and giving him a level of much-needed distraction. "I think you should speak about what you just said was nothing, Mr. Mitnick. You want me to tell you about my Covenant. I want to know your actual thoughts on the issue we were just discussing, so that I can assess if I want you in my Covenant. Ours is an Order about taking significant scientific risks in an effort to overcome the banes and foils of being Kindred. Our work can kill us, so speak freely here. Fear is the mindkiller."

**Derek Menzies** · Mar 3rd, 2019 01:22 PM

The sound of the ricocheting ball and spinning rods give the room more white noise, which allows Derek an excuse to delay his response. There were contradictions in her statements, but he isn't about to point them out to her. Still, it seems there would have to be some give and take or else that would be the end to the conversation.

"On the issue of my state of mind you mean? I suppose that's fair. To be forthcoming, my interests in joining a Covenant as well as my concerns about my Family are selfish ones. It reflects badly on me when my cousins are endangering themselves. Especially ones I had placed some modicum of respect with. I already don't have a lot of self-confidence. I know this. I'd like more than anything to step up and discipline them. But the very idea of actually doing it terrorizes me."

A few flicks of his wrist and he misses a shot. He's not really thinking about the game.

"I suppose you could say I'm lacking in discipline myself. I want to be more than just useful to others. I want to be affiliated with those in positions of strength and to somehow develop those characteristics in myself."

He glances up at her. A sad chuckle escaping from him. "I know. I sound like someone more suited for the Invictus. I can't help that. But power for the sake of power seems frivolous to me. I wish to better myself. I fear my Final Death, and I fear suffering through each night of my Requiem, and I fear being helpless in a state of dreamless Torpor. I know this is in part because of the Curse, but also aspects of who I was before my Embrace."

His eyes return to the table, dejected. "So what do you think, Grand Wyrm? Do you think a selfish and cowardly worm is suited for the risks the Dragons face?"

Mar 3rd, 2019 01:35 PM

Moretti isn't really thinking about the game, either. Not the foosball game at any rate; no, there was a game going on in a grander sense, and the Great Work was a part of that, key to the Ordo Dracul's ascension. Some might say that ascension was for its own sake, but the Grand Wyrm saw it differently. Ascension was a tool, a tool toward control. What that power would be was unclear, for the Work was not completed, but one did not spit in God's face without a will to power.

Whether that power was over oneself or over others, in the long run, would be a question for the Covenant in the future, when it was all said and done and they stood triumphant.

"I think that every Lick I know is selfish, at their core, where the Beast lies, and that they choose betterment as a start toward overcoming that. But I don't think you're a coward. Feeling fear is not the same as being paralyzed by it."

She looked up, leaving him an opening to shoot the ball in in her inattention.

"In fact, I was considering making you a Deputy Sheriff, to test you further on that very point. You perform. You perform in dangerous circumstances. You don't let fear be your mindkiller, because even though you're scared, you still face it down and you still achieve."

She let that sit for a moment, pulling the ball out of her net and dropping it back into the game. One-nothing, Mitnick.

"And that's really what it takes. The ability to stare the Beast in the face and do what you need to do anyway. You have no idea what I mean, of course, not really, not yet - but that's a matter for training. And there is plenty of that.

I suppose this is the question you have to ask yourself: do you want to improve yourself so much that you would literally die for it? Because that's the risk, each time we do what we do. Because I don't care if you're scared. Being scared means you'll prepare properly. What I care about is if you've got that piece of you in there that will fight to succeed at every turn."

Derek Inquires About Dragons

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