Hunting for a Flick

She could have guessed he would have been one of them; a martyr for a cause no one else could see or understand. There was that hour when she found her husband she nearly did what David wanted to do, but at the time she had more to live for.

“There are varying degrees of intelligence of course. Some choose to solely hide in their books and ability to pull snippets from every corner of knowledge only to never live what they read. It sounds as if Martha may have been one of those types.” Slightly shrugging, she really never knew the one-legged Mekhet. “Then again, maybe she did understand. Maybe she was jealous and pretended not to to hide her jealousy.” Tipping her head slightly forward. “I’ve seen people play the oblivious card quite well to hide their true feelings in situations.”

I’ve done it.

“Yet, she ran this place? Hardly acceptable in my opinion.” The Daeva’s eyes looked to Shadow’s, comforting as she could be in an unfamiliar situation with a deceased she didn’t know. “What do you still need, David?”

Just don’t say her, because I’m not a Necromancer.

“What do I need?” David questions nothing in particular, repeating the words to hear it in his own voice. “Resolution. I want the ones responsible to face justice. I want them to rue the night they let me live.” An important distinction, that. He was allowed to live. For whatever reason, Rhayna did not stop her motorcycle to put down a Frenzying Kindred.

One might already rue that choice.

David's is a desire deeply rooted.

“This.” A bop of his head in their general direction. “A time. A place. To unburden myself. To stop thinking of how frightened I am of a future where I've forgotten all of this.” Memory is a treasured thing, but the treasure is buried under more memories until the treasure is lost to the ages. A tithe to Death for the effective Immortality they have been dragged into.

“Other than that,” David states looking at Vivian York, “I do not know.”

Vivian’s head shook a little in confusion. “Were you there or not there the moment she died?” She clearly understand the difference between letting him live and ending him. Especially when he threw in the word rue, it was a word not used often anymore unless old movies were involved. “Sorry, if you don’t wish to recant it, that’s perfectly fine. I know little about this situation and its not like Martha was going to tell me even if I had asked when she was around. I don’t know who else was involved.”

The Daeva looked at him, her face comforting and sincere. “But, if this is what you need. To vent, to talk, to unburden yourself, please continue. Although, I will ask questions. You don’t need to answer them.”

Trying her best to sound nonthreatening considering the question she was about to ask. “If for some reason you were in a situation where you could easily die, would you fight it, or just let go?”

Vivian York, Vampire Counselor. First Josephine, now David. It didn't bother the Daeva in the slightest. Perhaps repaying or repenting for all the lives she stole away in Toronto.

“I was there the moment after. Too late to save her.” David remembers as his eyes grow distant and sad. “She had called for help. Emma and I rushed to her side. I don't know what possessed her to explore by herself. But, she was mere steps ahead of me.” A pause as David tries to find the words to explain, “I found the aftermath and I pushed my Companion to the fore. I know we nearly caught up to the woman. I remember she pointed a shotgun at me. But she decided to run in a squeal of motorcycle tires.”

Suddenly restless, David springs to his feet and crosses his arms across his chest in a defensive gesture.

“Aïleen looked like a doll whose strings were cut, her head elsewhere.”

A bitter laugh, near soundless bubbles up. “That woman's thralls burned the warehouse down before I could rescue Aïleen's remains. I had to be dragged away until I could go back for her.”

Turning on his heel, David looks seriously at Vivian. It's a question he's asked himself, “I can't yet. I have a few small repairs to make. I have justice to get for her. Duties. Commitments. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

“Sorry,” David says finally arms dropping, “I didn't... want to bother you with all of this. I'm sure you have much more interesting things to do, than to listen to … all of this.”

Vivian could do nothing but shake her head as he described the circumstances of Aileen’s demise. Releasing a sigh, she wasn’t sure what to say. The shotgun and motorcycle were curious though.

Her hand had released his, as the Shadow rose from the makeshift seats. She couldn’t cringe at his description, it was something she’d witnessed a time or two before. The hands of her Sire were nothing to be trifled with. Talk of burning the building gave cause to voice. “Was she covering something else up?”

After her question was answered, it sparked another. “After you have justice, what then? I know many spend their time in the constant state of vengeance. But once it’ fulfilled, is your purpose to make sure these things happen to no one else in general?”

“David.” Vivian shook her head slowly, then her eyes looked up at his. “Clearly I had nothing to do considering you found me at a video store of all places. You’re not a bother. I’m not sure why you think that.”

“I’m not Martha.” Her tone irritated with what the Mekhet stated earlier about his cousin. “I’m here listening because if we let things pent up inside, it never ends well.”

“It turns us into something tragic. Perhaps that is what essentially happened to whomever took away your Aileen.”

That, in fact, was how Vivian began her journey long ago. She wasn’t prepared to share that just yet with the Shadow. Needless to say, this was her way of repenting for her sins. Although she didn't regret it. Josephine would perhaps be proud, or amused.

“I don't know,” David responds honestly, his head dropping; frustration at the whole situation evident. “There's too much I don't know. I'm too small to understand it; understand why.”

Stepping forward David also answers Vivian's other question with the same, “I don't know.” Fainter this time, shoulders drooping just as his head does. “How do I move on?” David inquires, hoping the Succubus has a kernel of wisdom. Flashes of intense loneliness manifest in his bearing. “What do I do after?” Eyes search, “There's so many things I'm not. I have my work, but is that all I have? Is that all I am?”

David Regan is already something tragic.

“How do I face this stretch of time?”

Having been in the Shadow’s situation before, those feelings were not unfamiliar. The ‘reason’ everything happens, fate, destiny – all of it never made sense. It would never make sense; it still didn’t make sense. The only solace the Daeva had was finding out why he was killed.

“No one will ever replace her. Something I’m sure you’ve heard time and again during services. But, it’s the truth.”

Vivian didn’t know how to answer his question, even though she knew it was rhetorical, she felt the need to respond. “I don’t know David, is it? Is that all that you are? Obviously we don’t know each other well.”

“This is what I saw in you before tonight.” Vivian sat up, perched as if she was reading a biography summary. “David Regan. Quiet, but interesting chap. Seems to be very bookish and studious. Devoted to all things Dragon-like and a passion for classic movies.” She wasn’t attempting to lighten the subject at hand, but couldn’t help but tell him how it played in her head.

“So what do you do now? Maybe you need to find someone to take under your wing and train them to be in the Ordo.” Shrugging in an attempt to offer advice. “You spoke of Change, which I don’t know the details, however, how can that Change help you now?”

“Sometimes you just ‘do’ that’s all there is to it. No one can explain to you the steps to take, and you probably know that already. Find a way to let her live on, let a piece of her live in you and touch those that could have benefitted from her presence.”

“That’s what I did when my husband died.” Many bullets touched 'people'… “I found something to focus on that was a part of him. I continued to donate to a few causes to assist his research.” Which was the honest truth.

Like a bird with a broken wing, David returns to his seat mentally drained.

Change must have a purpose. It must be deliberate. Change without that purpose, is only chaos. To David, Aïleen's death holds no purpose other than her murderer thought she could. Aïleen's death Changed him. David stepped out into the light and seized positions of power to use that power for her. But, all of this is for a singular mission. What will David do when it's finished, if he lives?

David folds himself over a little when he retakes a seat. Crumpling, as he listens to Vivian speak.

Finally, David nods, accepting Vivian's thoughts without complaint. “I miss her,” terribly, desperately. “I wonder what you think of me, now. I'm sorry for your husband's loss.” David says to Vivian, eyes on her with a quiet intensity; a pair of widows in a quiet corner of Sacramento.

The Daeva hated seeing someone withered like David had been. She could probably solve his problem, or at least put a metaphorical band-aid on it; but that was only her style with Kine.

Still, one night stands didn’t turn out well. Not to mention w.w.w.d. Did I really just think that? No, we had that conversation…

What would the Shadow think of her if she admitted she’d done similar things to other Kindred with her Sire. Vivian was quite positive that telling him she got over her husbands death by taking out killing would be the worst mistake she’d make in Sacramento. It would surpass the other ‘mistake’.

She let compassion flow through her words. “I know, David. If you need my shoulder, you may use it. And I mean that literally too. I honestly don’t think any different of you. I don’t think you’re broken though. Maybe a little bent.”

Looking upon the windows that lead to his soul, he meant what he said about her husband. She saw the pain that perhaps she put others through. “Many years have helped me over come that.”

Breathing needlessly to break up the tension, she grabbed the remote. “But now, it’s time for Amadeus to rock us and escape reality for approximately 90 minutes.” A quick wink followed and she hit play.

Wrapping up?

Sounds good to me! Thanks for the scene!