YOLO in the Reserve ATTN Quinn Durant

[Dirt Nap]

In the early morning hours, defacto Grand Wyrm Dirt Nap is leading the Dragon Supplicant and Priscus, Quinn Durant outside of the Domain, deep into the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, where he has made absolutely certain that no one knows they are, and no one is around to overhear or see them. He has spent countless hours in the Barrens, and is frankly more at home here than in the Chapter House by far, even without taking into consideration their house guest. He has used this vast area before as his private office, with the desired result of privacy.

"This is a good spot for it." Dirt Nap says after a good hour of hiking with no discernable trail or path to guide beyond his own, apparently certain sense of direction, indicating a convenient rock formation for the two Dragons to be seated.

"Now. First off, I wonder if you would be accommodating enough to set up a private, silent kind of talking for us, to be absolutely sure we aren't going to be heard by anyone but us." Dirt Nap says in a polite tone that is nonetheless not really a request, but a command. "I expect you to take whatever extra carefulness you need to, to make sure I believe what I say to you is true and for certain."

Once telepathic communications are established, Dirt Nap's thoughts are extremely focused and disciplined. They are also utterly open and sincere as he thinks to Quinn,{{First off, congratulations on your successful Crysalis. Well done. And second, I owe you an apology. I never should have judged you based on my first student, who didn't make it through her Crysalis. She was smart and ambitious, but not as touch as you, and not so well prepared neither.}}

The indicated area is in West Sacramento south of the Highway 80, and in The Barrens.

{{I should tell you right off. When I was gone. I heard some things about you. How you came to be in the Dragons, and how you were prepared from something else, some might say more. I need to ask. Now that you proved you are tough enough to handle the Dragons. Is it what you want to do? It seems like, here and now, the Invictus has more opportunities for you. I would hate for you to be taken advantage of, held back from what you truly want, by me, and my needing something from you, someone like you, in point of fact. I know another Gangrel done you wrong. I don't aim to do the same. You have a choice.}}

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn had followed Dirt Nap out as far as they could go on their Motorcycle's. The parking lot of the reserve was empty. There wasn't a soul around. The late hour was such a friend, as it often was for the Kindred. The air was cooler here. Sweeter. Cleaner. Untouched by the heavy pollution of the city. Unspoiled beauty still had an effect on Quinn, even though the beast shrunk and sulked in its prison. The beast had nothing of interest here for it. No food. No other beasts it could feel. Just a whole lotta nothing. Good to know this was what she would be banishing her clan to basically if she had to discipline them. Yikes.

She sat down with him. Her gaze looking out into the night until he expressed the need for Telepathic communication. She nodded once, and her gaze settled upon him and her mind reached for his, opening the way through his own will's consent to speak freely in the quiet space of their minds. Quinn's features were impassive, it was hard to make those warm hazel eyes of hers look cold, but she managed it. Quinn's power flared as she also pushed for his Aura in a way she never had before. She brought her full will to bare against him. She would have the full truth of this matter, come hell or high water.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-05-20 16:44:13	Quinn Durant rolls 9 to Aura Reading- Intelligence 3 + Empathy 2 + Auspex 4– subject’s Composure (added -3 negative modifer to subtle changes and patterns in the aura as they speak) (10 Again, WillPow	8, 9, 1, 1, 3, 5, 9, 9, 2	4 successes

~It was more than some other slave and you know it. You thought you had me pegged from jump. Making all sorts of shitty comments about how I won't last and all this other bullshit cause I didn't jump like a hooker taking money from a trick when you offered me a boon!~ She paused a moment.

~I did everything you ever asked of me, but even that wasn't enough. I am a pain in the fucking ass. I did that shit deliberately to test your fucking mettle. I do that with fucking everyone. I will admit I hammed it up a little more than I normally would under the...circumstances, which you are now aware of, shallowly of course. You think you know. You don't know shit, and worse you still aren't asking me because you don't really give a fuck. You should give a fuck if you want to ever achieve Sworn Status. One of the quickest ways, sans finding a Wyrm's nest is successfully mentoring within the covenant. Oh look! You did that! What the fuck are you waiting on, Christmas?~

~Yes...keep assuming. It's worked out so well for you! Why don't you try some questions. Or are you do back at the fucking lab to get your bolts tightened?!~

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap's aura is bright green, not even as pale as Kindred are, though that's an illusion, the Mask at work. Ironically, Dirt Nap is not even Blushing. His Kindred nature is possible to see with the naked eye, but not in his Aura, which is of pure obsession. His focus is completely on Quinn.

His emotions and thoughts do not seem jarred by her provoking, silent communications.

{{You seem angry. I'm not good at telling if you are or not. I apologize that I am not really good at caring enough to get good at telling. I told you I heard some things about your past, and you don't seem to want to talk about that. It's okay. I don't really either. I just want to give you a chance to tell me no. I guess I am pretty frustrating. I don't make a lot of sense to anyone who cares about the stuff we are supposed to care about. The fair thing is to fill you on on my past, I guess. I mean, useful stuff. Like the last Grand Wyrm here, before Horatio was a gal named Moretti. She was Grand Wyrm and Reeve both. She went by Sherriff, and I guess ruined the name, like she did a lot of things. I am half sure that my last student dying wasn't by accident, neither. No. I know Moretti killed her, but only after she failed and was empty. That's what she said anyways, but I didn't see it myself. That's what she told The Prince though, when she got permission for final death. All I saw was a smart, neonate rise up to be a deputy and fearless and Priscus of a clan just a few months from getting here. Ambitious, and not one to stay a follower. I tend to think Moretti got rid of her. Blackbird was her name. Moretti picked all her deputies from the Dragons, and then started calling out, accusing people in court, like the Harpy. Throwing out bombs to see who she could bring down, to raise herself up. She accused the Harpy in Court, and all the Dragons went along, adding on to the accusing for everyone to hear. Except me. I didn't think the accusation was true, and being the kind of fool I am, that actually mattered to me.}}

Dirt Nap pauses for a very brief moment, his thoughts are like a speeding locomotive on a rail road track, not at all the way he speaks.

{{I was in the dog house with her. That Chapter House, in the kitchen was where three of her deputies, all Dragons cornered me. I was ready to take one or two with me, but they didn't press it. I don't know why. I got called away right after that, and when I came back, they were all gone, and The Prince wasn't too keen on ambitious Dragons. Which was just fine, because I was the only one. I had a student come along, practically twist my arm to get me to teach him. A Mekhet, and he took Sheriff too, and then he just disappeared. He was going to teach me Auspex for a Major Boon. Then Horatio came, and he was just the kind of reason I wanted to learn Auspex, to become a Sworn of the Dying Light, because he was a fool, and he was Sworn, and I wasn't, and that made him my boss. Which is just the kind of thing I was trying to avoid. You see, I did want to learn Auspex, so I could learn to tell the earth that had Wyrm's Nest in it, all just to become a Sworn, and that's the interesting part, because most anyone who cares to know, knows that I don't want to be in charge of anyone but myself. I only ever wanted to be Sworn, because I didn't trust any other Dragon to come along, to be the boss of me without ordering me to do the type of thing that I would rather die than do.}}

Dirt Nap chuckles softly.

{{And then you came along. You seemed like a bad fit, like Blackbird with all the ambition and what it took to rise high and fast, and why in the world would you saddle yourself with being a Dragon? But you showed me. You could be a darn good Priscus, and deputy and more and you could handle the Coils too. You were staying a Dragon. Even with what I learned about how you are all trained up from another way, you aren't just about using people and throwing them out with the trash when they take you as far as they can. You took on Maeve, and do more for her than she does for you. J.C. too. you're not a fool about it, like I tend to be, but you don't see everyone as a dead thing to step up on neither. That's how I see you anyways.}}

Dirt Nap sighs then. {{J.C. I told Horatio not to try to recruit him, not to invite him to stay as a guest at the Chapter House, but the man didn't ever listen to me. What would you do? Would you honor a promise from a fool who's gone and would never know if you did the smart thing and took back what he offered?}}

Dirt Nap's aurora shines even more brightly green then, his obsession with Quinn burning hotter. {{I aim to find out. You see, Supplicant I didn't want to be Sworn, not really. I just didn't want to be obligated to obey some other Sworn who was a fool and just wanted to pull everyone around them down to make themself seem higher. Moretti seemed clever, but her ways just poisoned the well, for her and the Covenant both. But she showed me a trick or two. One thing she did, got all the Dragons, her pets, to vote on her being Sworn of the Mysteries. There was on of her deputies, a Sworn of the Axe who still did whatever she said, but she was smart, to get them all to vote her Sworn of the Mysteries, so unless it were in the middle of a war, she would be the one calling the shots even if he got to feeling his oats. It was easy enough, just took all the Dragons in the Domain to agree, and couldn't be undone even if they all changed their minds or left except unless the other Sworn of the Mysteries came to town to undo it. Didn't cost her anything, except of course they're forbidden to drink from Kindred, the penalty being to watch the sunrise one last time.}}

Dirt Nap stares hard at Quinn. {{Supplicant Quinn. I call a vote of all the Dragons. That is you and me for now, which is all that matters, if we do this. I vote for you, to be the Sworn of the Mysteries for this House, for this Domain, and if you vote with me, for you to be Grand Wyrm. Read me and see I mean what I say. I believe it'd be best for the Dragons and best for me, if you would vote yourself Sworn and be the Grand Wyrm. I have always been to faithful to the first saying, 'A Dragon's first loyalty is to their study'. We all say it, but I mean it. I make a lousy boss of things. All I care about is being in charge of my ownself, and studying better and better ways to hold off the influence of my Beast and my Bloodline as they grow stronger and stronger. I believe you calling the shots for the Dragons is the best way to serve my first and most dear loyalty.}}

[Quinn Durant]

Dirt Nap could feel Quinn's disapproval coming through in waves over what he was telling her about Moretti. It wasn't that she was pious by any means. Ohhh no. Any moral high ground had crumbled to dust viscously in her Danse. She had done things. Bad things. She assuages the guilt by telling herself she was doing it all in service of the glory of the First Estate. Ha.


~So basically she used the Dragons as a political party for her own self aggrandizement like a lazy twat? You were/are not a fool for not following her. Fuck that bitch. That's not being Grand Wyrm. That's being a Grand Wannabe. You don't put personal politics over the work.~


~You don't why? *She giggled suddenly, and the sound was so different then when she did it with her vocal cords. It was unrestrained. Not something calculated or forced from her* Bully is synonymous with coward. Being undying doesn't change that, in fact I think it kind of makes it worse. They knew if they actually wanted to start the killing dance, you would finish it. You might not be scared to die truly, and how many coils have you mastered Dirt Nap? How many times have you faced death compared to them?~


~I've seen a lot of Danse's Dirt Nap. A parade of Kindred as I was dragged around like luggage so my sire could tend the spiritual needs of the Invictus, and that was the part I admired about him. Unfortunately that's not the part of him I got most of the time. My point that I am completely ADD’ing on is that some people think the only way ahead is to destroy everyone else or step on them and lord your power over them like some stupid edgelord. That’s not the only way.~


~Dirt Nap don’t ask me to do this. I have done everything you wanted, faithfully. It is you who deserves this title. I desperately want you to take it, as you are the most experienced in coils, you are stronger than I am, older than I am I would guess. I am not ready for this. I am not so blindly ambitious that I don’t think of the consequences of my actions. Dirt Nap I…”


She paused and shook her head. Watching him, he could feel a wave of shame come from her.


~I tried to hit on you a lot when I first came here to be annoying as all hell, but also because I thought if I could take the ...desire for your blood and turn it into something more mundane I could better control the urge and feelings that bubbled over from the blood bond with Rodger. I am sorry I subjected you to that now, but I cannot undo the past, and now that we are on the subject, I can see in your Aura how obsessed you are with me. You were sad around me before, but now your deep interest shows. You mentioned your bloodline and controlling your beast. J.C wants to kill me, do you as well?~


She held off on answering the last bit. She needed to know why he wanted this so badly, and his obsession with her had something to do with it.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap's thoughts do not pause at all, and where there would normally be a long pause in his speaking, Dirt Nap's thoughts instead seem to rush forward like a river in a narrow, all the more focused and forceful for being squeezed down to a single track!

{{That is just proof of why you are the right gal for the job. It didn't occur to me that they would show up to confront me without being committed to doing the job no matter what it cost. I figured something happened to change their orders that I just didn't pick up on, not that they were looking to do it easy and just backed off when it looked like one or maybe more than one if I had some luck wouldn't live to see the job done.}} Dirt Nap's thoughts do not eddy in a side track but just put out evidence as he sees it, his focus is intensely on Quinn Durant throughout!

{{I was sad because you reminded me too much of Blackbird, and I wanted to derail you before you went off the tracks like she did. Now I am convinced you are better than her, and better than me too, and all I care about is getting the job done. I was taking it on when it looked to me like there was no one else better, and then when I started to think you could be better, I had to know you really wanted it. Now I know. If you don't take Grand Wyrm, you will end up in charge of something else instead and the Dragons will be worse off for it. I do have more Coils and more learning in the Dragons, strictly speaking but running things is a whole different skill which is why even when I was resigned to having to take the job I was going to do it as a Sworn of the Dying Light, a scholar who would be pushed aside if a Sworn of the Mysteries showed up. You are the Perfect One for the Sworn of the Mysteries. If you don't take it, you will end up Invictus, because you are a natural leader and will end up leading no matter what. Or dead.}}

{{There's a reason why the Sworn exist because everyone knows that knowing the most Coils doesn't mean being the best to lead, and if not for the Sworn they just had to lie about how many Coils the best leader had to get them the job they were best at anyways. I am not setting you up to fail. I do not want to see you die. I want to see you in the best place to shine and grow to what you are best for, and I want it to be to the benefit of the Dragons and me instead of some other Covenant. I will be beside you and give you my best advice and any favors I can pull to help you lead the Dragons. I believe you have the right kind of instincts and smarts that I can only muddle through on, and I will obey you in the organizational things, and fight you on the scholarship and Coil things if I think you are wrong. If I thought I were the best qualified, I would do it myself, but I am not. You are. I will do whatever you ask to make you succeed.}}

There is a mental chuckle at Quinn's confession and apology for being forward towards him, a supreme lack of worry or concern. {{I knew all along you were just blowing off steam of one kind or another. I also suspected you were throwing shade to be underestimated, which I respect. You have good survival instincts. What you have that I don't is a good way of using your own survival instincts to help others survive and more than that to bring them up higher than they would think to on their own. Maeve owes you her life whether she knows it or not. I wish I had the power to make you the Gangrel Priscus as well as the Grand Wyrm, as I believe J.C. and even Mable would live longer as a result, but I can only do what I can do. The Prince is keeping Priscus for herself, for better or worse, and you ain't any kind of Gangrel anyways, no matter how much I respect you. I told Maeve flat out I was jealous of her Clan for having you to lead it, and she near spit in my face. You have worked miracles with her just keeping her alive at Court.}}

[Quinn Durant]

It was strange sitting there with him speaking mind to mind. Every mind was different. She would get used to his as he would hers. The benefit of Telepathy was immeasurable. Not having to worry about Kine or anyone overhearing, platinum level awesome.


~Look I’m not gonna tell you how to live, but you should consider that people’s feelings also have a place in understanding situations and people and how things fit together. In investigations it is not always so black and white. How someone or something will react can depend on emotions involved, not facts, not logic. Just something to consider. Yes, emotions can be faked easier than deliberate actions, but even how someone tries to hide something is very educational.~


His words hurt. The kind of pain like pulling a thorn from the softest part of your flesh that had festered for too long. At the same time she hated that it was true. She wanted it not to be. She wanted to be led but that had turned into the worst nightmare of her life. It scarred her forever. He bore the scars of his past too. Not the same as hers surely, but it had put him at odds with himself. Turning his existence into a nightmare. It pissed him off being forced into something that wasn’t good for him or the Covenant. He could feel her emotions through the bond, because she allowed it.


~You are right. If you hadn’t have come back, and this conversation wasn’t a productive one, I would have probably ended up eventually back to the Invictus. They have never done to me what the Ordo did, but at the same time I think the reason I went with Rodger’s Covenant anyway, even after all of that is because at the very core of my being I hate what we are. I fear becoming the great monster my sire wants me to be. There is a darkness in his bloodline that is truly terrifying. I will have to face it and either be consumed by it or conquer it somehow. I fail to see how the Invictus could give me those tools.~


She paused a moment and he could feel her will. She was determined.


~Alright. I will do it. On two conditions. One being you announce it to the domain. I want you to write 3 letters. One to the Prince, one to the Seneschal, and one to the Archon. It will show that you put me up for it, not that I stepped on you to fucking get it, or that you didn’t agree and I’m some slick git who pulled a fast one. We don’t want them to think I am Moretti. The second is that you tell me exactly why you are so obsessed with me since it is not my death you are obsessed with.~

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap does not hesitate, and his aura displays great pleasure at Quinn Durant's acceptance of the role of Sworn of the Mysteries and therefore Grand Wyrm!

{{Done then. The vote of all Dragons of the domain is done and final.}} Dirt Nap's thought is solid and unshakable, as if announcing that the sun will rise every day for the foreseeable future.

Immediately the tone of his thoughts becomes more deferential and attentive to what Quinn has to say and what she wants.

{{As first act as Sworn of the Mysteries, Ma'am, I am asking you to tell me what to write in those letters you require. I will write it as you say.}} Dirt Nap thinks with a great deal of satisfaction.

{{My obsession with you? Ma'am, as the Sworn of the Mysteries and my Grand Wyrm, you have a right to my thoughts on near any subject you want them, no need for it to be a condition of anything else.}}

An extremely brief pause follows, as if to gather and survey his thoughts for a complete answer.

{{I didn't think about it that way, but I will trust you know what you're talking about, Ma'am. If I am obsessed, I expect it comes from a few things, making up for my failure with Blackbird is a powerful reason, but finally putting this Chapter to rights, and my place in it has got to be the thing I have been thinking about the second most of anything just past how I am going to handle my own Beast and Blood as they grow stronger, and I keep having to spend time on getting or keeping or ducking the wrong kind of power that won't help me with the one fight I care about the most. You, Ma'am, are the key to that puzzle, as I see it. I think that is possible why you can call me obsessed with you, Ma'am. I ain't been able to see a answer to how someone can be best for me and best for their ownself too at the same time, to be running the Dragons, until you.}}

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn chuckled a little and shook her head.

~What won't I do for you seems to be a shorter list than what I will, apparently. No, Scholar you can write those letters yourself. I will look it over before you send them, but it needs to come from you. I trust you to represent the Covenant in a positive light.~

She paused watching him, tilting her face to the side a bit as she listened to him explain on the last bit, her expression softened visibly. She nodded slowly, her gaze searching his. She believed him. He could feel it coming from her in waves, sincerity, trust, friendship. She agreed to lay in the bed he made for her. Was it the path of least resistance? Or could she not resist the pull to her most desperate desires: power and stability?

~I need you, Dirt Nap. I've waited for you too you know. For a real mentor.~ She hesitated only a second in her mind, before continuing. ~I will give you what you asked of me when you first took me to the Chapter House.~ She whispered it in his mind. He had finally pried her open, and vice versa. Always one to give as good as she got. Her mind embraced him as her eyes took in his Aura. He would have something he wanted too. Quinn was generous with those who truly supported her.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap generally holds his emotions close to the vest, but Quinn feels a burst of naked admiration when she says that she will teach him Auspex.

As he thinks to Quinn, his aura changes from vermillion to violet and back.


{{Well now, you are a wonder. Of all the people over the years that wanted me to take into account peoples' feelings and such, which I have no stock in believing I can reliably know at all, you are the first to tempt me to be able to really know enough to feel responsible for taking it into account.}}

Dirt Nap chuckles softly.

{{I can't very well complain that I'll get started learning, and then you'll go off before I have it set in mind proper, neither, since I am all in on you being Grand Wyrm for a spell.}}

{{Check. And Mate. I sure am glad you are heading up the Dragons, and not some other outfit I might have to go up against!}}

Dirt Nap nods slowly and silently. {{I would like to learn it then, as much and as fast as can be taught. The only thing I have to know from you is what limits you put on people I know who I would feel an obligation to teach it to. If you say 'no', I won't give it another thought, but I have to know that I asked.}}

{{I'll have those letters ready right quick and show 'em to you back at the House.}}

[Quinn Durant]

Her paranoia all but screamed in her mind in utter panic mode. What the fuck are you doing?! You can't do this?! Come to terms yes, practically marrying the bastard: NOOOOOOO! Have you totally lost your goddamn mind? You really think with his aura right now and your desire to turn him into a sippy cup getting closer is best??! She shut the voice down then. Burying it. She couldn't afford the paranoia at the moment. Quinn knew in her heart what they were risking. She didn't think Dirt Nap was as conscious of it as what she was though. Perhaps that was for the best.

~"I have an idea for how to teach you to feel another's emotions, to be able to look that deep and codify it into the aura colors. Empathy is the practice of getting down to eye level with others and feeling the world the way they do. I think something physical would be easier for you at first. Like....acting with your body. I have been wanting to work on my physical prowess for awhile anyway, and perhaps I have finally puzzled out the perfect exercise. You and I area going to practice Bachata together."~

~Quinn's delighted laughter flowed through his mind. It sounded so different from the calculated and cautious laugh she gave out loud. "Dirt Nap, you cannot teach my clan discipline to anyone else. It's not possible. Only those of my blood can teach it. Just as if you were to ever teach me Protean, that secret I could never teach another. It's just not possible."