The Ship Who Launched Many Words

[Conner Wells]

Continued from (2201) Eternal Court...

As more Kindred trickle into Elysium, Conner decides to stay at the Bireme and let conversation swirl around him. Who knows? Perhaps some of those eddies would find their way to him...

And Helen. Helen is here too.

"I'm curious, Ms. Kingsley: do you have a preferred subject of study? Like history, for instance?" The little ship, itself a miniature time capsule of blood on the seas, seemed to turn the mind to things of the past.

[Helen Kingsley]

"Well, thats a good thing. Quiet lends itself pretty well to getting to the meaning of Christmas, right ?"

Granted, that's opening a door that can lead many places, but hey, why not ?

"I've got some interest in a few language stuffs, law, some theology and scripture as well as some medicine and anatomy, but that's mostly like me dabbling in stuffs, I wouldn't call it study, really. History also a little, but the more recent one. Bit more applicable nowadays than some stuff from 2000 years ago."

History-wise that is, some other topics still consider things that happened 2000 years ago pretty relevant, as they both know.

"You're classically trained and the Ancient history stuck or it's just some stuffs that struck a chord and you kept it along ?"

She interrrupts herself as she sees Jennifer enter, taking some time to pay the appropriate respects for her Priscus.

[Conner Wells]

Ah...there it is...

The panicked knot in his stomach tightens as Court begins to fill out. Conner offers gestures of respect to those who enter; Priscus Hazelton (this done almost in sync with Helen), his own Priscus Durant, the Prince, and the Seneschal as each moves and stalks around them in the pseudo-enclosure of Elysium. He also returns the nod of O'Brien, glad to see the Haunt was respecting the Shadow's office in the Lancea Sanctum here in the city.

Helen continues to surprise. "Sounds like you've been pretty well-rounded. Dabbling or no, the effort is commendable. It's why I've been trying to expand my own mind." He needs to be well-rounded himself if the other Kindred are to take him seriously as a leader. Too often the Lancea bunkered down in their own circles. "Law? Would this be ethics or judicial?" He takes the apparent dismissal of the far-past as what it must be: harmless self-deprecation. "True, we don't see many biremes out and about." Assuming we don't just loop back around and have airships, like the Helicarrier.

"I'd say it stuck. Growing up I enjoyed Greek mythology and its adventures and heroes and mythical creatures, so I absorbed a lot of the iconography." That was back in highshool and a bit through college. "Though I'll admit the Illiad was a tough read. I stayed with it for the action." It was a not-so-guilty pleasure of his. The grand pageantry of war in ancient legends was far more attractive than the gritty realities. "So what recent events have you been following?" Was Helen's mind on politics? War? Pop culture? This was a learning opportunity if there ever was one.

[Helen Kingsley]

"Well, you never know when some language things, the ability to tell a few blood vessels apart and know their approximate places or a bit of scripture from the Testament come in handy to save your or someone else's hide, do you now ?" She pauses shortly. "Judicial. If you're setting out on the merry way and know you might step on some paragraphs, guesswork is a pretty bad advisor. Better to roughly know what to look out for and what you can get away with if you play your cards right."

She skips over the ethics bit, if she gets too much into her opinion there, this chat is going to go down and why would she do that ? Here and now, in all places.

"Well, we got helicopters, planes, missiles, firearms and long-range artillery for that. I don't know about you, but I think the old Greeks were better off in their day. Go over to someone, beat them to a pulp or stick that sharpened chunk of metal into them, see from up close what it does to the guy and you probably need a good scrub afterwards ? That needs training. You have to be mentally prepared for it. And to top it off, to really hurt that guy, you really have to mean it. Makes the Requiem feel like a sort of bizarro-throwback at times. Awfully violent back then, but way more honest and straightforward about it. Today, you can blow guys away and never get to see the results. Makes you wonder if its really any surprise there's so much mindless violence out there that has no reason except some guy with an implement felt like it."

She shrugs. Urgh, look who's got a little carried away there...

"I've been stuck with the whole development over in Afghanistan for a while now. It's a sort of a hobby horse of mine, but I don't think it's a good topic for this place."

Helen gives her deepest curtsy as the Prince enters the room.

"So what do you do when you're not studying or going through back alleys and dive bars with folks you barely know ?"

[Conner Wells]

Conner did, in fact, know the importance of knowledge in desperate situations, but he wasn't about to brag on it. He nods, though he does raise an eyebrow at Helen's 'paragraph' remark. "I guess ignorance is no excuse." It certainly wasn't amongst Kindred. "And it certainly helps to know how the law can help you, even if it's just avoiding certain pitfalls." Her talk of war and battle and it's relationship to the Requiem draws a somber expression from Conner as he looks between Helen and the battleship. She was right, of course. Kindred were the perfect union of animal power and human emotion...or at least, one of them. Perhaps that's part of why our thirst forces us into close quarters with our prey: to remind us of the cost and the brutality of the hunt. He nods, though he makes a mental note to discuss Helen's interests in modern warfare at another time. Could she have a military background?

Activity in the room begins to buzz. Twist enters, prompting another bow of respect from the Shadow. His ears prick up at the Ventrue corner and Conner distinctly hears the words "Milton" and "Whip" uttered in sequence. Interesting... Conner honestly could see why: if anyone could be expected to hold others to a standard to a fault, it would be Milton. And so the comedy begins. He does wonder at the Seneschal's fairly public method of announcement. Another Ventrue tactic: lording their unity over the rest of us. Wait until that unity buckles under their own egos.

Helen brings Conner back from his ponderings, and he smiles. "Actually, I've found some enjoyment in bar hopping in the past few months. It's a good way to get me out of the Haven and remind myself that a world still exists outside our own dark corners." It was dangerous to ignore what lay beyond, even if most of it was just humans. "Apart from that, I've been privately indulging in some physical training. My Sire brought me up with sword play, and I've just now been getting into some routines." Routines helped keep immortals sane. "How about yourself?"

Mable's entrance can't help but catch Conner's notice, and he offers his to-be ally a friendly nod between Covenant leaders. She seemed flustered, but Conner remembered Mable admitting she wore her emotions on her sleeve. It was a quality he respected in her.

[Helen Kingsley]

"That too." Helen agrees on Conner's thoughts regarding the helpfulness of law. "Knowing's half the battle, or so I heard." One of the utilitarian pearls of wisdom GI Joe had had to offer. She pays her respects to the Iudex, who has just entered a little after Conner does. Hearing the Seneshal use the words 'whip' and 'Milton' in the same sentence and semingly in connection makes her perk up a little. Now there's an interesting tidbit if there was one... She'd have to do a few bits of digging, but it would make for a really funny coincidence, wouldn't it ? In any case, there's an obvious method to the way it's being announced, more or less.

She can't help but frown a little as Conner brings up swordfighting. Sure, makes sense from a fanger perspective, but she's not much of a fan herself. Too cumbersome and attracts too much attention. Yeap, she's old-fashioned like that.

"Swords, eh ? Sounds interesting enough, I guess. Just a little too impractical to haul around and grabs a lot of attention, I'd think. Just some generic stuffs or you got some special model, make or training manual ?" To each their own, some dirty fanger tricks probably also help with keeping the drawbacks small and more managable. "I'll admit I haven't been as outgoing so far. I'm sorta decent with my knitting needles. I've got some training and exercises going, I'm more of a gym rat than a barfly, I guess. I used to go visit this sports bar at times, but it's been pretty disappointing lately." Because the team management fucking sucks ! Helen offers a return nod to Mable as she ses the Hierophant pass through the crowd.

[Conner Wells]

The frown is well-noticed by Conner, and there's a bit of an internal flare of wounded pride. She's more of a gun gal, I suppose "Longsword, primarily. I've trained with other hand-to-hand weapons, but mostly with blades." ​Funny how easily the conversation has turned to weapons of war in a place of relative peace, all thanks to a glorified toy boat. The irony draws a slight smile from Conner. "It's a committed choice for a personal weapon, I'll admit. But if you absolutely know you're going into a fight, it's go big or go home." His Sire hadn't said it exactly like that, but she certainly favored overwhelming power at the exact moment.

"Sports bars, eh?" His interest unveiled. "Any local teams you follow? College or professional league?" He'd been out of touch with sports lately, so it would be nice to know what was being followed.

[Helen Kingsley]

"All nice and shiny until the other closes the distance, then it's useless. As long as that doesn't happen, it's probably pretty useful, though." Credit where credit's due. But things like invisible folks and other stuffs do exist, after all... "Go big or go home, hm ?" She chuckles. She knows those words from a slightly different context, but this is really not the place for that kind of stuff.

"Both, Sacramento FC isn't too bad, although they got some issues. The women Soccer team of Sacramento State hasn't been doing too hot from what I've seen so far. I tried to branch out into football, but I dunno, it just didn't get me invested."

[Conner Wells]

"You'd think living as long as we do would make disappointment more palpable." Conner smiles, taking out his predatory need for conflict with a little gentle ribbing.

But then Mable gets caught in the open, and Conner can't help but observe the dominoes that fall.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-13 22:26:53	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Read the Room (Wits + Empathy) (10 Again)	10, 3, 8, 1, 2, 5, 1	2 successes

He knows how Mable must feel right now, at least in some capacity. But Mable didn't have someone like Quinn in her corner right now. She just had the hyena-grin Seneschal and the cold, distant Prince. And then, just like that, the moment is past and Mable exits. Conversation continues throughout with the cold sting of rejection still in the air. Maeve would be furious. Where was she now?

"My Sire used to say that football was invented to replace the gladiator fights in Roman times." He smiles unconsciously, this being a fond memory of her. "She also said she would've preferred the gladiator fights."

[Helen Kingsley]

Helen raises her hands.

"It is what it is. You never really get used to it, but I get what you mean."

She follows Conner's gaze but isn't too successful in making out quite what he's looking at.

"Not that she isn't right, when you see how little effort these guys put into even pretending to be hurt... I've seen kids in junior high take worse hits and stay on their feet. Bah, it's the best sign what too much money will do to a sport." She gives a resigned sigh. "You know, you make your Sire sound like a a pretty hands-on person. What about you, would you prefer gladiator fights ?"