The Keys to Faith

Mar 29th, 2019 12:37 AM

When one was drunk they risked being a little clumsy, a little sloppy, and a little forgetful. The poor Savage he had been kind enough to grace with a ride, following the enjoyable evening of cigars and rum, had dropped his keys on the floor of Arturo’s vehicle. It would be a waste if he let poor Garrett Prosper have to pay to get into his own vehicle, which is why he made sure to make a meeting to return them to their proper owner. It was the right thing to do following such an accident.

Where would they meet? There were other bars, Elysium - though they both had looming appointments there already, so Arturo decided he could find time for the young looking Kindred at a regular haunt of his. It would give him the chance to continue to get an insight into his dance partner at court and beyond.

It was a small church, near downtown and part of the older districts. A mostly dated wooden construction, and smaller. Arturo had been able to pull some strings to have the place to himself for a bit. It helped having friends in such places.

The Lord sat about halfway up the aisle, a dozen or so pews on either flank of the corridor down the middle to the raised platform with the podium sat on top and the simple alter behind it. It wasn’t his denomination, but Faith flowed freely enough in Modern Nights that having it meant something beyond the specifics.

He wore a well pressed pair of black pants paired with shined shoes, and paired with a crisp white shirt, buttoned with a flair left open on the top revealing the gold chain hidden beneath the fabric. There were no signs of a jacket, that was still in his vehicle.

Garcia himself was leaned forward with knees on his thighs and hands clasped together as he examined what was in front of him, looking at the makeshift repairs and outdated style present from the last decorating attempt that was probably older than some of the lay would like to admit. The silence was nice, a break from both the din of others and the din of the mind.

He waited, for the double doors behind him to open and the Savage he invited to join him.

**Garrett Prosper** · Mar 29th, 2019 01:44 PM

Prosper had replaced the fob a week ago. Leaving the Audi to rot in the parking lot for that long felt like a crime against nature. The question that was on Garrett's mind as he closed the door and cocked a mental eyebrow at the humble church, was how the hell did me manage to drop it?

A few answers came to mind, and his mouth twitched.

The doors were unlocked, and he strode into the empty gathering with his hands in his pockets as his eyes wandered. The anxiety as his Beast hissed were hot needles into his nerves, and his jaw worked as he advanced down the isle and honed in on the mark of danger. He wanted to comment on the cliche, but that was too easy. Their last meet was novel and provided some insight. This might have been a carefully crafted manipulation that the man was opening up after carefully glossing out his dogma; or he legitimately just wanted the peace.

Fingers tap against the wood as he leans against the pew on the other side of the aisle from the Lance, "Quiet evening before the party?"

Mar 29th, 2019 02:12 PM

His best howled, and it wanted to tear that skittish imp that entered the church apart. Here it was again, and it angered the serpent that it was dead head, bloody and lifeless beneath its black talons. However, this was not the place, nor the time. His hands tightened as the gripped one another, and the Ventrue closed his eyes, as he tapped his heel gently for a moment as the Savage approached up the aisle. By the time Prosper was there, he had managed to subdue the beast for the moment, the tension riddling his body.

”Once you enter the cacophony you will not find the chance for silence. Alone in a corner, your own private seat, even an office. Ears are open, eyes are peering, intrigue prying. It is its own kind of wonderful, but it will always be the peace that anchors you, and lets you keep coming back for more.”

He was still slouched in his seat as he turned to look at the Savage, locking eyes with him and letting silence linger between them for a few moments. To some it was uncomfortable, for Arturo it spoke volumes.

”When is the last time you sat and prayed, Mr. Prosper? Would you care to join? I can say a few words, or we can sit in silent reflection, but it would be a shame to come to the house of God and not leave a message. You may even find that it lets your words flow out unabated by the beast.”

The church served a purpose for the kine, and while it functioned much the same for the Lance, there was room for some unique interpretations. Garcia leaned over and patted the seat near him, inviting the Dragon to have a seat.

**Garrett Prosper** · Mar 29th, 2019 02:33 PM

The notion of peace was alien to the Neonate. He thrived in the chaos that called him to action.

Silence was a grave he refused to rest in.

Tendons and ligaments tighten like a spring ready to fire for the door when the predator does not relax. He holds off on the sedation disassociation provides, mouthing the question Arturo asks as he thinks on it.

"You know, I do not actually remember," he laughs. "Like most of my particular background, I do not really muse on God unless there is a war to survive in." He takes the Lord up on his challenge as perches next to him, the mental screeching pressed into the dirt as so much useless desperation. This wasn't his wheelhouse, and he was curious what the prayers of the unholy sounded like.

Mar 29th, 2019 03:57 PM

”We are always at war, even if it is just with ourselves, or with greater evil. It may be worth your time to examine the one thing that has existed since the very creation of man. Who knows, it might help with your parlor tricks.”

He still remembered the cigar, the seizing of his own beast at that moment. There was something to what the Dragons did that had power. All of the covenants had power, but it was the mystery of what each one of the orders held close their chest.

”Well, Garret, close your eyes if you wish and just follow along. If you open yourself to your own thoughts you may find something new about yourself.”

Arturo bowed his head and closed his own eyes, bowing his head.

”O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee.”

“I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments.

“Most of all because they offend Thee.”

“My God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.”

“I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.”

“Amen.”

Garrett could do as he wanted while Arturo spoke, this was a personal indulgence. The game could continue after the fact.

**Garrett Prosper** · Mar 29th, 2019 06:23 PM

Garrett's eyebrows raise. It was true their existence was a struggle, though his definition of war was more literal than the Lance's spiritual view. The small jab at his Covenant's secrets earned a chuckle.

As the Ventrue speaks, Prosper leans forward to rest his elbows on his legs and his attention flicks from the floor to the ceiling. The topic of resolve to sin no more causes his mouth to twitch as he stops himself from smirking.

1 success

That promise was going to be broken over and over and over again. He wasn't entirely sure what the Kindred was playing at.

Mar 29th, 2019 07:15 PM

He was sure that if he was looking, he would see a smirk plastered over the face of the Savage. He was a keen man, and was unlikely to let the nature of the prayers content go unnoticed. If he had wanted to hide it from Prosper he would have spoken in Spanish, but he didn’t have shame in what he spoke about. Rather, he had reason.

”It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? It isn’t lost on me, but it was one of my favorite prayers before I was embraced. It has stuck with me and my personal philosophy. I can never truly follow what it preaches as I live in contrast to what it asks. It is the battle of what man desires, and what the beast demands as we walk this earth - never to ascend, never to fall. Purgatory if you will is a way to describe our predicament.”

“I enjoy that it is flawed, much like humanity itself. It deviates from the beast being the perfect being, such as what the Conspiracy of Silence suggests. What are we in your eyes, Garrett? What does God have in his design for us.”

He was layering his thoughts. It may almost come off as confusion as much as preaching. It may even be self serving, if Garrett fought him, he would be able to argue and lash out, having reasons to defend his faith and belief. If he instead engaged him in intellectual thought, it was stimulating and it satisfied him in a wholly other way.

The clever cynic from days gone was one of the sharpest minds he had met in the domain, but lacked that attitude which made him a lost cause. It made him a worthy opponent. Maybe an even worthier partner. It was important to remember that no matter which, he was still dangerous, and he couldn’t afford missteps like he had last time.

**Garrett Prosper** · Mar 29th, 2019 08:02 PM

Garrett leans back in the pew, seemingly focused for once beyond the excitement of spite. That was interesting. He wasn't used to being motivated outside the realms of testing people.

The Lance would probably be upset at the idea that his secular methods of discussing faith gave Prosper a way of perspective on a Coil. The idea of existing in purgatory was exactly how he felt in regards to the Curse limiting his potential.

"The Beast is the perfect being in what sense?" Arturo wouldn't know about Falling to the Dragon. Perfect predators. Huh. "You have to be applying a very specific philosophy to categorize a state of being as perfection." He was more thinking out-loud and using Garcia's equally cutting nature to force him to stay en pointe, "The way I have come to understand things is that the Beast is the Curse itself. It breathes life back into this corpse and consistently whispers in our heads to deviate from what we once were until we become what the Curse intended.

But that also is too simple. Humanity can perform atrocities without the Beast. It is simply a nudge, a trigger that you have to be the one to pull if you stop paying attention. Weakness of spirit is what fucks a Kindred. The one walking with best intention can still lose themselves in a moment of hunger or panic. It is about controlling your environment, so you can maintain that pure mental state.

'What does God have in his design for us'? I do not think that question actually needs an answer. Or at least, I do not really care. The battle with one's Beast is a personal experience, not the strings of a sadistic master."

Mar 30th, 2019 01:03 AM

”I see the world view of the Invictus is not for you, Garrett.”

He chuckled at the rejection of the notion of being the perfect apex predator. He continued to listen however, and took in what the Dragon had to say. He was not arrogant about religion like many others he had spoken with. There were many Kindred who shunned God, while having to accept that Vampires and the like roamed willy nilly.

”Humanity is very capable of evil, it is the definitive trait. We always speak of the negativity of our condition, the curse this, the curse that. Did Jesus himself not rise from the dead? The beast inhabits us, humans and gives us a purpose. I already spoke to you about how the Lance handles the notion. Others spend so much time trying to best it or fight it. It is simply a task given to us to play a part in the grand plan. Is everything preordained? That I cannot say with any sort of confidence.”

“What I can say is that one's life is a personal experience, and should they choose to battle the beast is part of it. You are still Garrett Prosper, given the tools to serve as the greatest plague upon man. The two are unique situations, and you can fulfill both.”

“Do you know what your best looks like?”

He knew how he viewed the condition and the role they played, and it was very much in line with that of the Lance. It was intriguing to see how the Dragon, someone ready to reject the monster within reacted to such views. Having only had close experience with extremists this was the most time he had spent peacefully with one of the Ordo.

**Garrett Prosper** · Mar 30th, 2019 11:14 PM

The Savage cocks his head, "Well, I was hoping my projects would not be so horrendous as to be considered a plague on existence," he laughs, amused at the idea.

"Mean as I am, I do not consider myself a true psychopath. As narcissistic as I am, I do not see the whims of the Beast as divine right to make everyone's lives more miserable with the convoluted justification that tempering the will makes it stronger. Individuals have a limit to the amount of abuse they can withstand before it leaves a mark, Herr Garcia, and the poison a vampire can provide with spiteful glee is limitless. The temptation to accept that the pleasure we take with sadism is righteous is a dangerous game. Take it from someone from a Clan that defines our Embrace practices with Darwinian theory."

He ponders for a moment, shifting in the pew as he regards the crucifixion.

"You keep trying to nudge the idea of the Dragons as a pitiable form of self hatred. I find that logic akin to implying a craftsman improving their dexterity as not being happy with what comes naturally. That is not how art works, Arturo," he grins, "What does my best look like? The same, but never being satisfied with that."

Eyes pin as he forces his attention on the other monster,

"And what about you? Did you put down the machete or just looking to buy a new one?"

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-29 18:10:25		Garrett Prosper rolls 5 to hide emotions (Resolve + Composure) (10 Again)		5, 4, 9, 1, 2		1 success

The Keys to Faith

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