Facing the Beast (Open)

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn's eyes opened to another night in familiar surroundings. The cage had been a second home to Quinn. Here she sat. Again. Thank goodness she was dead and didn't have to do annoying things like going to the bathroom and such. A shower would have been nice, but eh. That was just to perfume her skin with mortal scents. The little things of the Masqerade were just as important as the big ones if you didn't want to get hunted like a dog by rabid human hunters.

It didn't take long before the hunger descended on her again. Like a red hot branding iron in her throat Her throat convulsed, swallowing. The hunger was constant now. She was so thirsty at this point she briefly considered tasting her own Vitae just to relieve some of the sensation, even for a moment. That seemed like cheating, but....fuck. How much more could she go before she risked Torpor? She really wasn't sure. Blood was all she could think of. All she wanted. She cast an angry look at this infernal fucking cell.

"I can't remember the last time I was this hungry...." She mused aloud. Her vitae waned to sustain her existence. She would crawl through acid if it meant blood on the other side. An even more disturbing thought entered her mind, and she pushed it back. Kindred Vitae. No no no no no no. Don't think about that. You were forced. Everyone was. To bind the coterie and domain. Of course the one you drank from, the one you were bound too, paid his price for daring to push the bond of the Elder's beloved Childe. You may as well have killed him yourself. Shut up!

Dirt Nap JC Smith

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap has been on watch the whole time, not leaving once, though he did sleep the day inside the concrete floor in the Gangrel way which might seem a bit like cheating.

He has done some of his watchin as a coyote, and even some as a rat. He has taken blood from summoned rats in the presence of Slave Durant without comment or apology.

When she speaks, he says, "I never did ask, Slave Durant, have you frenzied from hunger before?"

[Quinn Durant]

"No, Scholar Dirt Nap, I have never frenzied from hunger before. Only one thing ever made me Frenzy.."
She didn't elaborate further.

She sensed her body roll up to her hands and knees more than she felt she controlled the action. She felt so on edge she could hardly stand it. She moved over that concrete floor like she had muscles in places there wasn't supposed to be any. Dirt Nap could bet his last horse, that Quinn would never have done that in front of him had she not been starving. Her beast was starting to urge her harder.

She watched him as she crawled across the floor. Her hands found the bars next, and she hauled herself up to her feet. All five foot nothing of her. She licked her lips slightly.

Oh God help me. I want I want I want.

She couldn't take her her eyes off of hm now. She forced herself to clsoe her eyes. She wasn't confident in their ability to lie to him any longer. Best close the curtains to her soul. That lasted for a minute at most, before her eyes snapped open and hungrily watched him. Nothing. Else. Mattered.

[Dirt Nap]

"Well now, Slave Durant." Dirt Nap says softly, and slowly as he meets her hungry gaze head on, not looking away. His own gaze is predatory as well, but not desperate. More like a cat watching it's prey from cover, not quite ready to pounce.

"Bear in mind, as best you can, the goal here is to go as far and as close as you can, all the while staying in control."

He watches her in silences for a while. Long minutes.

"If you do frenzy, and have to fight back out of it, that's fine too. The main thing is to push yourself past what you might think are your limits to be able to think and be in control in the fix where you wouldn't be able to think or be in control at all."

He says thoughtfully.

"This here's a beginning. We're probably working up to less controlled situations, probably involving fire."

[Quinn Durant]

"I'm not a stranger to the foreplay. So we can skip to word play. C'mon. Drop the mask. Let me feel your beast."

Apparently, half out of her mind with hunger- she was a lech. She giggled a little bit and flicked her tongue over her teeth briefly.

"I mean, you don't wanna take it easy on me right, daahlen...." She drawled the last word, mimicing a southern twang. Her wide expressive hazel eyes were feverishly bright. You could swear just for a second her eyes refracted the light like an animals.

​No. Please no. What the fuck are you doing? Have you totally fucking lost it?

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap observes.

"Well now, Slave Durant, I expect if you were able to focus right, you could feel my Beast right through my mask, your Clan Discipline being along those lines and all...and tell whether I was hungry to boot. I lost what little I had of that Discipline, but I believe I can tell you're hungry alright." He says softly.

Suddenly Dirt Nap is standing there with long, obsidian talons growing out of his hands!

"If this goes badly, your Chrysalis, that is, I might need to get permission from the Prince to end you. That's how it ended with my last student. A pretty thing, smart as a whip too. No mind left in her after her Change went sideways though. Just a husk with no soul or mind left to speak of, nothing but hunger left in her. Had to be put down and cleaned up after. Made me sad to do it."

[Dirt Nap]

Bookkeping

[Quinn Durant]

"No no no no. Tsk Tsk. My job, my one job, is supposed to be resisting Frenzy Dirt Nap. You have the uneviable position of pushing my buttons." She pressed against the bars, gripping the bars up above her head. "So push them. Or do you need me to help you push my buttons." A wicked smile flashed his way.

She grinned even wider as she watched him grow claws. She released the bars and moved in front of the door. She paced slightly, watching him.

"You have to open that door and come inside if you want to use those on me, Scholar Dirt Nap. What are you thinking? Ritual scarification? Where on the canvas do you think it should go. So many possibilities."

She batted her eyelashes at him. "Ah yes, the other before me. There was one before you too. And here we are. IF they hadn't have bit the dust, would you still be you, if we weren't we?"

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap is silent for a long minute.

Then he nods. "If you want to tell your story, be my guest." He says slowly. "I'll be happy to listen."

"You might maybe misunderstanding my intention. If you quit, you live. I don't want to see you ended. I have no problem with you quitting. What's being tested here is your resolve to see this through."

Dirt Nap moves up to the cell door, and opens it.

"If you walk out of there, right now, you're done. You are still a Dragon, if you want, but I am done teaching you the Coils. You won't be trying the Change, here at least as long as I'm top rank."

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn's grinned waned to a strained one. "Tell you stories on how to push my buttoms? Dirt Nap! You are wicked!" She said softly, joking gently with him. Looking a little less crazed for the moment.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him though. Not for a second. She moved over to him , staying on the inside line of the cell. She lowered her body to the floor, laying across the opening, Her back propped up by the cage.

She watched him silently. Not speaking, but not heading for the door either. Instead Quinn expanded her senses, releasing the power in her blood to pierce the secrets of others. She dug into him as he tested her resolve. Was he afraid to dig into her? She wondered. She used great effort to push beyond, she wanted to lay him bare to her. No more hiding.

"No more hiding."She whispered, and her powerful mind lashed out to reveal his Aura.

I got 2 successes with an extra -3 penalty to watch his aura colors shift with his moods.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-12-13 17:50:47	Quinn Durant rolls 8 to Aura Reading- Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex – subject’s Composure -3 penalty to see shifting colors for the remainder of the scene. (10 Again, WillPower)	2, 9, 2, 5, 5, 10, 8, 2, 3	3 successes