Scientific Method of Meetings

Rebecca tilted her head slightly, her friendly smile remaining on her face. Not a hint of surprise showed. "I'm glad you see it that way. I have found that no matter how old someone is they can still make mistakes from time to time, but a smart man learns and adapts. I didn't get this far without learning from mistakes or being too proud to admit them."

Then he mentioned Jack and Arturo. "Well I hope to meet with Mr. Garcia and Herald Jack soon enough to resolve that, though they both seem to be proud men, so wish me luck." Then she chuckled softly to herself. "You know, I do find it quite hilarious that Herald Jack and Mr. Garcia were both against you as Whip, and yet you were the only one to keep your head in Court." She paused, looking him over. "Maybe I chose wrong."

"The best camouflage is the predictable. A farm should look like a farm if it doesn't want to attract attention. And the plants make sense, especially with Keeper Wood's knowledge and training with vegetation."

Thomas nods to Harpy Simmons. In that, they agree, but he isn't about to parrot his Priscus.

"I doubt luck had anything to do with you getting this fine office" Not a compliment. Just statement of fact "Our cousins can be proud men, but even diamonds decompose over time. I wouldn't expect immediate resolution, but the animosity won't last forever"

Because nothing ever does.

"I thank you for the compliment" it's sincere, but what is there to say? A single blunder won't cause Jack to lose the Whip hat, nor will it make Simmons to fall in love with Thomas' mode of thinking.

"Hiding in plain sight is indeed a good tactic. I'm happy we got the air cleared, Priscus. Do you wish to discuss anything else?"

Quite true," she said to his statement. "I'll certainly let you know how things resolve."

"Less a compliment and more of an observation in hindsight," she said with a smile. "Something that can always be revisited in the future."

"There wasn't anything else I had a pressing need to discuss, though you did mention your experience with the occult. I have always thought of things, even the occult, from more of a 'down to earth' perspective. Would you be opposed, in the future, if I requested your assistance if I have questions related to the occult, such as when it came to overcoming the vinculum?"

I'm good to wrap in a post or two unless you'd like to talk more about the occult and stuff.

Thomas' face remains impassive as Rebecca hints at 'revisiting' her choice for Whip. Not knowing if her words are dictated by genuine concern for the clan of Kings, some elaborate Invictus plot requiring the position as bait, or something else entirely, the Malkovian chooses to wait.

"Are you sincerely asking if I'd be opposed to showing off my hard-won occult knowledge?" He laughs softly "Of course I wouldn't. Keep in mind, however, that unless it is directly tied to Domain security, we will need to work out some kind of trade. It'd be disrespectful, to you as well, if I just gave away everything for free" Thomas falls silent, as if weighing his words "Tribulation brings Enlightenment"

"Is there any particular area that interests you?" 'The occult' is, after all, an umbrella term for hundreds of topics, and most researchers quickly find themselves in one niche or another "And what do you mean by 'down to earth perspective'?" What few Lords outside of the Malkovian bloodline understand is that the scientific method only gets you so far. Thomas feels bad for Rebecca, forever denied the clarity of madness.

Did someone say 'the occult'? Now he's stuck in your office :P

Rebecca replied with a laugh. "Oh, I would never expect you to work for free. If the time ever came I'd be more than willing to work out compensation or a trade of some kind."

His first question piqued her interest. "Well now that you mention it, as I previously stated I was very interested in overcoming the viniculum. Your response made it sound as if there has been extensive occult research into that subject. There certainly is value in learning the results of others' research instead of trying to solve all of life's mysteries by myself."

At his second question she said, "When I say 'down to earth' I merely mean that I have been trained in the physical sciences, but not the occult. Thus I have always tried to view things, even our own nature, from that training. Clearly that has resulted in interesting contradictions."

He nods "Whenever you need me, Priscus" after a moment of thinking he adds "How did this man you experimented on come into your custody, anyway? What's the story here?"

Did you miss Thomas' lectures? Too bad, because he's got one for your right here.

"Vinculum has been part of the Kindred existence since the dawn of history. Masters and slaves have been the way of the Danse Macabre ever since the first Ventrue invented the term" Oh yes, there's no doubt in Thomas' mind that the original Lords - clever bastards - composed a tune most vampires dance to to this night "The blood bond can be... messy when vampires are involved, especially more than two. We can discuss it, if you want, but for clarity I'll stick to the present case of a bound mortal. There are three ways of overcoming kine's Vinculum - first is the death of a master, obviously. Time is the second, because there is not a chain in the world time won't eventually break - a year without feeding the pawn his master's blood would suffice. Thirdly, Viculum can weaken or even disappear in the case of especially cruel treatment of a given slave. I... don't think that method is on the table right now" With how Rebecca handled Vinnie, or whatever his name was, he was bound to hate her more than anyone in the world.

"And just so we are clear - there's no 'USA Occult Review' or any other periodical for mystery seekers, like there are for lawyers or doctors. There are, however, libraries with centuries worth of knowledge and a thick web of connections between researchers worldwide. It's as close to peer-review as we can get" He smiles at the Harpy "Now, I think I owe you an explanation: I dismissed your method of breaking the bond through pain, because it ignored the basic premise of a blood bond - hunger. You cannot beat a Vinculum out of someone, just like you cannot - ever - beat a desire for Vitae out of a vampire" It'd go against the natural order of things. And that was something only fools or lunatics could try.

"The scientific method can be useful in occult research, but it is equally useful to know when it isn't. Then again, evidence seems to suggest there indeed was some kind of evolution among the vampire species, a kind of... biodiversity, you could call it" A defensive mechanism, to see what works and what doesn't "Have you ever wondered, for instance, why folktales are filled with vampires repelled by crosses, but there appears to be not a single Kindred disturbed by them?"

"Someone we believed to be a Kindred was planning on engaging in serious arms dealings and a group of us went to stop it. After everything quieted down we found this man who would answer all questions truthfully, except when it came to who was in command, and we determined his refusal was due to a blood bond," she said simply.

Then Thomas went into a lecture, though she was intrigued to hear the information. She placed a hand to her face as she listened attentively. "We were able, after several attempts, to not so much break the bond but circumvent it with the assistance of Dominate. Of course that was merely temporary and makes sense now with this information."

Then he provided the most interesting explanation of all and for a moment a look of glee began to cross her face. "My word, that makes so much sense. Yes, because the bond is foundational on vitae of course one could not ignore the lust for it with pain alone. Why did I not see that?" It was as if she had forgotten that Thomas was there at all, her mind trapped within a web of thoughts and pleasure over this new piece of knowledge. Quickly she realized her lapse and returned her face to one of polite friendliness. "Thank you Mr. Boyle. That explanation makes so much sense with what I observed. I was missing a crucial piece of data and now the puzzle makes complete sense."

"I must admit I have wondered about that. Was that weakness weeded out through adaptation and evolution of Kindred, or merely relegated to branch bloodlines?"

"Believed to be Kindred? I take it he turned out not to be?" He shoots two questions almost at once, curiosity apparent "What's the current status of the issue?" 'Quieted down' was not quite the same as 'resolved', and judging by the state of affairs some enlightened guidance is needed "How did you circumvent the blood bond?"

At Rebecca's apparent glee, he spreads his arms like a showman after a finished performance and grins widely "Always happy to help. What is that drug dealers say? The first dose is always free?" He's met some that said it, during his brief stint as a brigand. One way or another, the next bag of goods that goes beyond merrily discussing theories will have a price tag.

In any case, it serves to let people know that your shit is the best in town.

With respect to the relationship of Kindred and crosses... "It's a visual cortex foul-up. The sensory neurons responsible for receiving horizontal and vertical stimuli, normally independent, were tangled together. When they fired up, seeing right angles - in crosses, doors, or even walls - the vampire in question would end up with what can be described as a severe case of epilepsy. Now, in nature right angles don't exist, so that trait didn't disappear until after the euclidean architecture we know today has spread. Must have been quite a shock, to be forced to hunt in the wild like that, but in the end the Kindred species rid itself of the burden" He explains, recounting the many discussions he's had on the subject in the Salt Lake Circle. It was very refreshing to have someone actually willing to listen and engage in scientific conversation, even if that someone is a shrunk corpse

"Another example of evolution actually doing its job to benefit Kindred is torpor and the Fog of Eternity. The first serves to regulate the number of vampires active at any given time, so the food source is not depleted and the predators not discovered. The Fog helps to keep us sane through the centuries of existence, 'deletes old files to make space for new ones', you could say" Thomas wasn't very adept when it came to modern technology, but this metaphor seemed apt to him.

"Well his answers through dominate mostly confirmed that the person in question was a Kindred, but actually I don't know the full answer. The investigation continued on without me and I have not had a chance to find out from Her Majesty if any new answers have been gained." At his question Rebecca simply said, "through persistent use of dominate he answered, and his answers appeared to be counter to his blood bond's programming. Now that may have all been a ruse, which is way I proceeded with my now infamous torture. Interesting enough though, as you're aware he did not provide more information under torture, so I'm more inclined to believe the information he provided under dominate as being true."

Rebecca smiled. "That is the expression, and it works quite well I might add." She was becoming very interested in the occult, just like her customers became greatly interested in her product after the first taste.

"Quite interesting Mr. Boyle. I do love history, though not nearly as much as science. Of course that makes it all the better when the two intersect like this." At his mention of the fog she replied, "it's almost like that expression 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks', except in this case the old dog becames a new dog all over again so that they can learn in a new world."

"I see" He says when the Harpy recounts her part in the investigation. Perhaps it's something to be asked about when he next meets the Prince or Sheriff.

"How did you end up on the shadier side of the law, Priscus? Was that by choice or circumstance?" For better or worse, Rebecca seemed pretty open about the darker facets of existence, Thomas assumes this story is just that to her - a story "I mean, a respectable doctor like you..." As proven by the Priscus of Shadows, you can stay in the business even after the Embrace.

The expression used by the Harpy strikes a chord in Thomas, and he nods "Exactly. Like I said - it's a matter of survival. Imagine if there was no Fog, and an elder risen from torpor centuries after the world he knows has ended. It'd be like 'Good bye Lenin', except with none of the comedy" He snickers "History and science are often different, but they have one function, and that is to look for patterns - and then exploiting said patterns. The Invictus has grown quite adept at since it was conceived in Rome" Of course, riding history is not quite the same as weathering history, and the Circle has been very comfortable to take the backseat and watch the others fight over Domains and mortal herds "Everything happens in cycles, after all, and nothing ever is truly immortal"