Creature Lives

Mar 13th, 2019 11:59 PM

Lina put her hands on her hips, leaning against the wall as she heard the new Scribe's explanation of his deeds as he moved toward the shower. She followed, continuing the conversation a moment longer before letting him go. "Brilliant. I need you to document this, Atticus. What you've accomplished here will pave the way for others to have a much easier time moving forward in the Coil of the Beast. I'm so fucking proud of you, man!"

So often, she was dour, direct; right now, Lina Moretti was showing her youth, excited for a friend who had accomplished something incredible.

"Get yourself healed and fed, Scribe James. You've earned it. We'll celebrate your accomplishment formally at the next Order meeting." Turning her attention to the other Gangrel, the Grand Wyrm asked, "What do you have in mind for how you wanted to do it, Nap?"

**Dirt Nap** · Mar 14th, 2019 12:15 PM

Dirt Nap pauses. "Ma'am, Grand Wyrm, I have been taking into account lately that my methods, that worked okay for my first Coil, for Terror, are a little bit direct, maybe limited for the second, for a new Coil. I'm still working it physical, controlling my feed, the beast's feed. But I have been thinking on...Blackbird. I was responsible for preparing her, for the physical part. I shared with her, my ways. Making myself physically, uncomfortable. Putting aside luxuries, maybe even what seemed to her like necessities. It worked for me, but not for her. I had a failure of imagination, I've been thinking; it maybe screwed her up for what she had in front of her, left her less prepared than she could have been." Dirt Nap confesses, looking determined to ruthlessly follow logic and observation wherever it led, a veritable torrent of previously unspoken thoughts pouring out from him.

"So, I am working to take a bigger picture look in my preparing. Assuming that appearances do matter. I never thought so, but with what you have managed, and with me tackling a different Coil, Blood, I have been thinking on how my beast riles up from the reaction of other beasts. It's another kind of feeding it, seems like." Dirt Nap 'explains.

"So, I have been working to control the appearances of my beast, along with the physical feeding of it. I am still making it live off animals, even smaller ones, making it feed just on rats now, and leaving 'em alive. It doesn't like that at all, but I think I got it convinced it has to settle for that or nothing." Dirt Nap says with a determined smile, "Like taking the chemo and making the cancer try to live on it."

"But now, I am getting close to making it to where other beasts can't see mine. I think without being able to stir up other beasts, I can fence mine in just a little bit more. So, it might be a little bit of a bunny trail, sorry for rambling a bit, trying to explain, Ma'am, but I want to get the appearance angle down, and then pick up with my working to physically change, into animals, and then, I think I will be ready to go into Chrysalis, for the first Coil of Blood." he says.

Mar 15th, 2019 11:41 AM

It was an interesting method that Dirt Nap was exploring. Where Atticus had controlled his Beast by riling it up in every way that he could such that he learned the secret of taking the wheel in those moments right before Frenzy to allow himself to steer, Dirt Nap was approaching the Coil of Blood in the opposite direction. Teaching the Beast to be smaller. Teaching it to take up less and less space until perhaps, perhaps, one day it would take up none.

It was an interesting idea. The one thing it needed was a release valve, something to let the building pressure out so the Beast didn't break out and have its way with some hapless fuck out on a city street.

"Tuck it away and keep shrinking the cage. Good stuff. What are you doing to replace that need, though? Preparing the body is one thing, but you're going to need to prepare your soul, and that means having a way to channel the urge for Blood. People do it different ways. Some use narcotics. Others, meditation or adrenaline junkie sports. How are you going to take the Beast's needs and vent them in a different way so that it doesn't bust out of the shrinking playpen you're building?"

**Dirt Nap** · Mar 15th, 2019 01:31 PM

"Ma'am, Grand Wyrm, I aim to train my beast, to the point I can let it out of the cage any time, and it will serve me, not the other way around." Dirt Nap says. "It's my long term goal. I am not aiming to make it to where my beast is small and weak forever. I am aiming to get it so used to doing what I say, feeding on what I say, and when I say, that I can change to letting it grow and get strong, and it will still obey me, not challenge me, well, not seriously. I know it will always fight, but I aim to convince it that it can't win, to get it to where it feeds on what I give it, and is glad to get it." he says.

"So, my outlet is, I give it blood, but only what and when I say. I reward it, by letting it take animals afraid, but never letting it take it all, killing 'em, always in control." he says. "That's why I had to move on from just the horses. They can't be fed on afraid, without ruining 'em. But there's other animals that are used to that kind of dominating, making them afraid makes 'em better behaved, not worse."

Dirt Nap pauses. "The first Coil of Terror was the start; it's getting to believe it can't win outright, I think. It's tricky, and tries me whenever I am weak, but I think it's getting to be a habit now, of losing, even when it tries, it knows it's beat before it starts up."

"The first Coil of Blood, and then the next, will be it's reward, in a way. All this time of getting less than it wants, I will change it to believe it's getting a treat, something enough to grow on, not starve." he says. "That's the plan anyway. The experiments, so far are...encouraging. I aim to train it to where we are a team, not just enemies, but I am always the one with the hand on the reins."

Mar 17th, 2019 10:44 PM

"I will update my findings and drop it on your desk. I am going to hit a shower." Atticus said and made his way up stairs. His body running low on strength and vitae but a shower first then a snack.

Mar 19th, 2019 10:16 PM

With a nod and a genuine grin to Atticus as he stepped away to clean up and recover, the Grand Wyrm returned her attention to the discussion of research strategy by Dirt Nap. It was so akin to raising a horse, or a dog, or an animal. There was something to it, to be sure, but she did wonder how he would fare in his next Chrysalis as he continued to face down one key reality.

The Beast was more than just a dog, even in a Gangrel's heart. Still, only he knew his Beast, weak though it was, pressing on the edges of her psyche and drawing forth a desire to drive forward and demonstrate her sheer dominance.

"...I think there may be something to that. Good. Let me know how it continues. I found Pavlovian training helpful in my work with the Coil of the Beast, to be sure. I'd like to see a report, once you're further along. Show me your scholarship, as well as your husbandry. Results that are reproducible are key to this whole business."

With a nod that indicated they were through for now, she said, "I've got things I need to get done tonight in town. But that's good work. Good evening, Nap."

This is a good point to wrap this up, since I've been away for the weekend. See you in the next one! Nap's report would make a perfect Glimpse, as would Atticus's.

Creature Lives

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