(2004) Three's A Crowd

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap is silent as it seems Alice Hart decides to poke the bear a little bit from something Twist said to show graciousness to him in his talkativeness. The Beasts are there all the time, whether Masked or not, he muses to himself. He nods at the Seneschal's apparent curiosity as to how he would make himself the subject of experiment.


"Well, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart," Dirt Nap says with a low and slightly more pronounced drawl. "I suppose it isn't any kind of secret of the Order to say that my own methods are not the normal way of doing things. What I mean to say is, from that example I gave, of using the rustling bag to change the horse, is that I make myself subject the same way. Something that would bring a reaction, that I cannot control, can be used, in smaller doses, over some time, with me not being able to stop it for a time, to force a Change in me that has nothing to do with a choice that I have to make over and over, a Change in the basic reaction, so to speak." He 'explains'.


"That kind of Change is permanent, and I have so far survived two. It's not so much a difficulty to force The Change, that will happen sure enough, it's that with an awful lot of preparing over time, I only tend to have a good chance of the Change I want to happen. There's always a chance The Change will go another way, and instead of having a different reaction that I hope for, I have a negative one that I never would have wanted, permanent like." Dirt Nap says quietly.

"So far that hasn't happened to me, though I have seen it be the end of others."


Dirt Nap is silent as Twist and Alice Hart seem to do a little bit of poking at each other, and then seem to come to one mind on a memory they share, which has nothing to do with him. He is still and watchful of that apparent, shared intimacy, not doing or saying anything to draw attention to himself even to breath or look away.


When Twist seems surprised that he didn't come out of the womb the first time wrassling with a colt, Dirt Nap smiles slightly.

"Your Grace, I guess we all, every one of us probably have a story with some twists surprises to it, that'd be a safe bet." He says with a nod.

"I was a young man in college, studying for the ministry, living in a big city down south." He says. "I did drive a pick up truck, but that's about the extent of my similarity to being a cowboy. Then I got cancer, and took some time dying of it. My Sire seemed to take to how stubborn I was about going, and decided to see what it would look like if an echo of me lasted a bit longer than natural."

Dirt Nap pauses in still silence for a long moment. Then he abruptly takes a breath and continues, "So, after that it took me a while to figure some things out, and speaking of the Clans and their ways, we aren't much for putting people on a path that's not of their own making. So I drifted a bit. I did manual labor out in the sticks and found that ranches actually worked out pretty well for my needs, once I learned I could live off the animals. I spent a bit of time with animals, finding them easier to manage than people and less particular about my strange hours and ways. I found there's a whole economy of people working on farms and ranches that don't fit into the ways of record keeping, and tax paying, and that, plus having a knack for sussing out what might be keeping an animal from being cooperative by being able to talk to it when no one is around earned me regular work drifting further out from the cities along the plains."


Dirt Nap chuckles, "I took my name from putting coyotes down; the boys called it 'giving 'em a dirt nap'. By then I'd learned how to sleep secure in the ground, and I had gotten past any idea that I was alive, so the name seemed to fit, so the next ranch, I told them to call me that, and I consider it my true name now." He says.


He pauses in silence as if remembering another life or another person's life.

Then he looks up and away, never directly in the eyes and says, "As for being a Dragon, that came pretty soon after; my Sire made an introduction or maybe a gift of me to the Order. The way the Order holds a member's individual path or study as near holy has worked out for me. There's a lot of ways to contribute and serve. Sure, building up the power and resources is a thing, but it's meant to be tools for better learning, not the end all and be all. I have tended to learn better with different tools, mostly what I have on my back, and as long as I have results to show, and others can prove my work by doing it themselves, it's been counted as being a worthwhile contribution."

[Alice Hart]

Alice's smile is more a smirk, twisting in a way that would make observes wonder how her skin hadn't cracked. She ducks her head, a slight tip, an agreement, acknowledgement to the Daeva's word.

Once, she thought to act as the Daeva did. She remembers feeling empty and free.

When the teasing tone is lost, Alice reaches out, though doesn't touch the Hound, offering wordless forgiveness, understanding, and remembrance.

Drawing her hand back, she listens. Head tilted, her question is answered, and Alice wonders after animal training, and kindred training, and the state of the Ordo Dracul. Questions, perhaps, not for Court, though she isn't going to cut off the words of someone who wishes to speak them.

Were her eyes whole and still within their sockets, she might have looked at Twist, to gauge her reactions to Dirt Nap's words. "Are you always this talkative when allowed?" she asks, curious and mocking.

[Twist]

A brush of skin against the wraith's fingertips, light and fleeting, but there none the less.

Twist blinked and then had to bite back a small chuckle at Alice's tone and words.

"A safe bet indeed," she agreed. "I am glad to hear that yours involved finding something you enjoy after...," she motioned nebulously. The your embrace unsaid but lingering in the air, potentially clear enough for even Alice to seehear.

Not seen or heard- the silence usually found from the petite Daeva after such a speech.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap seems startled at Alice Hart's question. He is quiet for a moment and then says, "Why. No, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart, I don't believe I am, not always. I usually, generally keep my mouth shut." He answers thoughtfully.

"Now that you mention it, though; I guess it could be true." He says slowly, considering the possibility as completely and objectively as he can, reviewing and weighing the evidence sifting it in his mind.

"I spend enough time around animals, like a drunk who hasn't seen a bar in a month, I could be mistaken a lack of opportunity for self control, and fall off the wagon; go on a bender sometimes. Possible I'll wake up tomorrow evening regretting it, I suppose." He muses.

When Twist graciously agrees with him that they all have their own, strange tales and wishes him well, Dirt Nap responds with a deep, respectful nod and says, "Thank you, Your Grace. Right kind of you to say, Your Grace."

[Alice Hart]

Alice nods her head. Head bobbing as the invisible strings jerk it about.

"Not many find something as quickly as you have," she says, approximating his age from the context clues. "Many I've heard spend decades, or longer to find something even a sliver as close to happiness as your bountiful words confess about your horses."

She's envious, in truth. He might be older then her, but still holding onto that earnest passion, an eager view. Something like naivete. But he was a Gangrel, and she, a Nosferatu. Even if they had been Embraced in the same time and place, the Nights looked oh, so very different between their Clans.

"Or you might not." she says, he's speaking to the Senechal and Hound both, their focus is on him, and no one else this night. Many she knows, would envy their attention, especially as intent they are. Asking questions of him, allowing him to speak his fill.

[Twist]

The seriousness with which he treated Alice's question was unexpected. And yet, he was a Dragon after all. Even with his words speaking to friction between himself and others, his loyalty to the beliefs of his covenant was clear.

Twist nodded in agreement with Alice. For all that she supported passions, she knew the risk of them as well. Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy after all.

[Dirt Nap]

"Thank you, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart." Dirt Nap says as she observes his good fortune. "I do consider myself to be a lot more happy than I deserve."


Dirt Nap notices Twist listening intently to his attempt to answer the Senechal's question with an objective analysis in keeping with the seriousness of her station and the rigors of his Order. Besides, it's his way: if he says a thing, to try really hard for it to be a true thing or at least to be taking into account all the known evidence.


When Alice Hart comments on the likelihood or not of his awakening the next evening with regrets for his talkativeness, and Twist nods in agreement, though to what he's not sure, Dirt Nap perhaps misunderstands, perhaps, taking it as a warning against complacency. "You are right, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart." Dirt Nap says. "No telling if I'll be waking up at all. Never can take it for granted." He agrees, nodding slowly and thoughtfully.

[Alice Hart]

Alice hears no more of Twists words, which the Doll knows is more the Hound's want. That the Daeva had spoken as much as she had, was, something. Alice was still on the fence if it was a good thing or not.

"Glad that you see that." Alice says, "Hold on to it for as long as you can. You never know when it will be torn from you." her face now, cast in the mockery of mournful. Her mind remembering nights long gone, the scent of burnt skin and hair. A roadmap of scars under her fingers...

A laugh now, at the neonates Gangrel's assumption. It's hollow, derisive. She'll leave him with his assumption. It wasn't up to her to clear his thoughts. Though she might offer advice, now that his mind was turned this way.

"If you want to make sure you wake. Remember your Haven," though he's Gangrel, and could sink into the ground. "If you bring someone, anyone to your door, remember, to have already acquired a second, more secure one." a lesson her sire hadn't been alive to teach her.

[Twist]

Twist blinked, the slight sound as she tried to come up with something to say in the face of such a statement and finding nothing. It was unlikely any heard the sound though, Alice's laugh a louder response to his words.

But the Seneschal's words were true, "Yes. A Haven is more than simply a comfort and luxury. It is also a safety." For a moment she considered mentioning that another way to continue rising, was to obey the Prince's rules but she discarded the thought.

"I believe on the note of Havens, I will seek mine out. The night seems to be drawing to a close. Thank you for the conversation this evening," she said instead, offering a smile to both Dirt Nap and Alice.

I think Court only has a few days left so unless Alice or Dirt Nap want to have Twist stick around, she'll work her way out.

[Dirt Nap]

"Yes, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart." Dirt Nap says respectfully receiving Alice Hart's advice as wisdom from and elder to be carefully chewed on, digested an applied liberally to the situation.


"I can see..." Dirt Nap says thoughtfully. "Though I don't set myself up in any one place, that still leaves me needing to meet people, and I can always pay more attention to not letting myself get comfortable, hanging around in places where I met people before or such." He ponders laboriously.


"And then...since I don't personally have too much use or need for buildings and such, I don't have much experience for what to do about 'em when I kind of inherit the responsibility. Upkeep and checking on it; I should do more than I do, and be extra careful about it when I do."


"Thank you, Ma'am, Seneschal, Priscus Hart for that." Dirt Nap says. "You give me a lot to think about."


Dirt Nap looks over towards the general vicinity of Twist's face as she speaks. "Thank you, Your Grace." Dirt Nap says. "I appreciate that." He says, considering how for himself, possessions in general and specific locations are possibly more potentially trap than security, but that it's good to bear in mind how precious they are to others, and how disdaining or spurning the idea might come across as disrespectful to those with different needs, and that would in fact be a different kind of trap in itself.

"I hope it all goes smooth with your nights and times, Your Grace."

Dirt Nap isn't all that socially adept and knowing the right time to stop a conversation, so I would probably just go until the thread closed, but I am fine to close any time you all would prefer. Thank you SO MUCH for the AMAZING scene! I really enjoyed it and appreciate your generosity!