Fabled Fire Breather

**SoraLow** · Aug 14th, 2015 03:37 PM

"Interesting" A single word described Richards take on The Course of Light and Darkness. Just as he'd thought participating in this exorcise was already filling in some of the grey areas in his understanding of what the Ordo Dracul was, what they did, and how they did it. A psychologicalal exam that gains its information through tarot cards, combining science and faith.

Naturally Richard is curious to find out just how accurate of a picture this method could produce. Regardless of rather or not Richards personal belief in god ran deep he was already prepared to accept that there were entities beyond the physical that were very real and could be communicated with if a kindred knew how to reach them. The jury was still out with him rather or not humans (or anything else for that matter) had the capabilities to do so, something he would hopefully find out.

So he continues to choose honesty, speaking directly from his un-beating heart, one part of his reason for taking this stance of truth came from a desire for things to work out with the least amount of resistance. He was willing to stick it out with the Order, get what he wanted, and flee if it came to it, but he would much rather his devotion turn into true loyalty. He would prefer if David Regan turned out to be the great man that his fancy title made him sound.

This covenant didn't just have to provide him with knowledge on controlling the beast, it also needed to fill a void in his Requiem that he has felt deeply since the Embrace and in that spirit he also chooses to answer truthfully for the sake of observing the phenomenon of Tarot first hand. He had seen the practice done before but this was different. He would choose the answer that he felt was most true, take note of what that answer was, and observe the results.

"Yes, let's begin"

OOC

Aug 14th, 2015 04:18 PM

“You know a woman has been falsely imprisoned. Do you request that the judge reconsider – something that might take months? Or, do you offer to take her place?”

Twenty-one questions. Each of them harken back to a time that has long since gone. A time of lords and ladies, debtor's prisons, and tribes. Perhaps, it speaks to how old the Courses are, or, perhaps they are intentionally that way to impose a distance; dodging Kindred who try please potential mentors with their answers.

“You have confessed a sin, and your priest imposes a penance upon you that is disproportionately harsh. Do you perform the penance? Or, do you avoid it and pray for forgiveness and understanding despite your avoidance?”

David's pastoral tenor holds a sense of calm to it, his mid-west accent on full display. Each answer Richard makes, another card is settled beneath a token.

Dull brown eyes regard Richard as each answer is given. Pieces to a puzzle are weighed and counter-weighed; ideas about the man are created, discarded, and returned to. Each of Richard's answers offers a touch of insight that David treats like a precious jewel. The Shadow hopes that the questions offer Richard a chance to examine himself, first and foremost, in a way he might not have.

In a way very few Kindred do.

“A fellow lord despises you, but you are enamored with his daughter. He is a master swordsman. Do you risk his wrath and woo his beautiful daughter? Or, do you let your desire go unrequited?”

Stillness comes over the Grand Wyrm. Without the need to feign life, the need to move – to find comfort in his chair – doesn't exist. Instead, the soft, occasional sound of the chair settling with the house makes itself known instead.

“Your feckless retainer, though unquestionably loyal, has failed you again.” A pause, “Do you give him another chance? Or, do you dismiss him for incompetence?”

One by one, the cards disappear from David's hands and seven little piles at the tokens are started up instead. Tiny rectangular pieces of art, like a game of solitare that holds far more meaning.

“You have been rewarded for your courage with lavish and extravagant gifts bestowed by a figurehead of the court. Do you keep the gifts? Or, do you give them away to people who will use them wisely?”

After the last card, David delicately examines each small pile and makes note of which is largest. Without comment, the Shadow then takes the white tokens and returns them to the satchel. Plastic falling against plastic. David replaces them with black ones, each inscribed with a Vice.

Cards flutter against one another as they are shuffled and the Shadow inquires, “Let me know when you are ready.”

**SoraLow** · Aug 15th, 2015 02:58 PM

"I would petition the judge"

Actually he would plot to break her out, if she was innocent then allowing her to sit in a cage for months was unjust, while taking her place would still be equally unjust. But the binary nature of the test and its questions told him that this wasn't the time for choosing answer C, or trying to deviate from the outline. He gives the answer that is as close to the truth as possible. He stood for justice, but was not willing to sacrifice himself for someone elses.

"I'd avoid it"

He chooses this answer but doesn't verbally confirm that he would pray for forgiveness, without having ever experienced the presence of god himself he found it hard to imagine that he would inflict a penance that he didn't agree with. In fact, Richard would be far more likely to impose a penance on himself that would be honest to the nature of his sin, and then he would see it through without fail. This showed that without a higher being dictating that he do so Richard more or less followed his own moral compass, sure he favored fairness and justice, but that wouldn't stop him from doing what he felt was best for him.

"I would challenge the lord"Richard did not fear death, so long as it was on his own terms, fighting for something he valued. On a deeper level he questions himself, wondering if the desires of the daughter would sway his choices. In worries him that his choice would still be the same.

"I would grant him another chance" He would choose a retainer whose short comings he was aware of but was otherwise loyal, than a foreign one that had capabilities he was unaware with questionable loyalty.

"I would keep them for myself" If they were meant for him, he had earned them, and so it was up to him, his responsibility to use them wisely.

He nods his head, signally to David that he is ready to continue.

Aug 15th, 2015 08:36 PM

David's demeanor doesn't change as he switches gears. He still bears the same non-judgmental tone and stare he had during the Course of Light. Of course, the Course of Light is the easiest of the two. It is far, far more palatable to examine one's virtues than to confront themselves with their evils. Especially in Sacramento, where some would rather hide behind super-heroes and glasses of lemonade than to confront the reality.

“Your honor is being besmirched with ridiculous calumnies.” A pause, “Do you consider it unimportant? Or, do you spare no expense in finding the source?”

How much does a person's word and reputation mean, really. Before Richard answers, David believes he knows how the Daeva will respond.

“A colleague offers to recommend an expert assassin-for-hire to slay a slippery foe of yours. Do you pay the high-cost?” David questions, “Or, do you find someone less expensive?”

Neither option holds any honor in it. But if it did, it would not be the Course of Darkness. Of the evils presented, which will the Daeva choose? Indeed, it is Richard's choices that speak of the man rather than the outcomes.

“You have come to possess a rare and renowned drug. Do you keep it for yourself? Or, do you give it to a paramour to make her yield to your advances?”

How much is Richard willing to go to sate his own wants and desires? How will he do it?

“The opulent clothes you've ordered to impress the Emperor arrive, but they are too small. You're expected to meet the Emperor at a lavish soiree in three days. Do you starve yourself to fit? Or, do you forgo it and wear something you already own?”

A quick count of the small piles that manifest, much like before falls into place in front of Richard. The very map of the man's darker impulses, laid bare for Student and Master.

“You are defending a captured palace and the gates have fallen. You must flee. Do you burn the place as you go? Or, do you leave it be?”

After another bout of consulting the small piles of cards, David consults his thoughts. He shuffles his deck of cards once more before fishing out one card in particular. Face down, the card is placed in front of Richard, waiting patiently for the Daeva to reveal it for himself. Forty-two questions later, and Richard is offered his first insight.

*

**SoraLow** · Aug 16th, 2015 12:39 AM

Without hesitation Richard answers the first question,"I would spare no expense" As the course of darkness started Richard had already began to notice a trend with his answers, he was a much more prideful man than he would admit. He wanted to write it up as being a conditional flaw that being kindred created in him, but he had no way of being sure. He had now been Vampire far longer than he'd been a man, by now the entire thirty or so years living felt like his childhood.

Again Richard answers the next question quickly without flinching, "I would spare no expense". If you are gonna go at someone, aim for the head. You might not get a second chance, besides a botched attempt on someones life lead to concerns much more dire than having lost money. In the course of Darkness Richard found himself much more resolute in his answers, so far there was no settling for the best truth, it was absolute certainty.

When David reaches his next question a noticeable change in Richards confidence becomes apparent. On the surface it might look as though he had finally been faced with a moral dilemma that couldn't easily judge but it was the complete opposite. Without a hint of doubt Richard knows that he would give her the drug to make her submit. Guilt crept into his blackened heart upon realizing how easily he would resort to taking someones free will if it was in his better interest, perhaps not for money nor for supremacy, but certainly for sex. He tries onces more to rationalize, he didn't choose his Sire, surely if he had been embraced into another family he wouldn't be this way. This mentality suppresses the shame for now.

"I would give her the drug"

"I would starve myself to fit into the clothes that I ordered" Not high only his list of options in this case but he figures that if he ever felt the need to order something special than clearly what he had at home wasn't going to cut it.

Thankfully this answer comes easier to him, returning him closer to comfort, "I would leave the place be. If they can force me out of it, then they have earned there palace back"

The course ends with a single card plucked from the pile laid face down before him and it is assumption that he is to over turn it himself. He leans forward, focused intently on the card, hovering his hand just above it as he absorbs the magnitude of this very moment. With a short glance up at David, who has thus far showed no signs of judgement regarding his answers, he still hoped that what ever the final result was would be pleasing in some way.

Richard over turns the final card revealing the Knight of Swords, he waits eagerly for David to explain.

Aug 16th, 2015 09:59 PM

“You aren't the only Knight of Swords that has been part of our Order in recent memory. Tracy Burns, was also one.” Respect and admiration sings in the Savage's name as David speaks it. The woman is fierce and strong and a pang of loss falls like a stone knowing how long it has been since she has been in Sacramento. Ears train, if only for the briefest of moments to the outside, listening for the throaty Harley.

David's fingers graze the top of the card, drawing Richard and himself back into the explanation. “You are Brave – the vanguard of any spear – you are the first to fly into battle. Your ferocity is vast and following your heart, will lend you a well of strength. However,” For a sword always has two sides, “you will fly into that battle no matter what; even if it is foolhardy, even if it is for ill. Your challenge will be balancing the demands of your soul and the counsel of more even-minded friends.”

The Grand Wyrm makes a note in his thoughts that the Red might have another in their midst.

“What are your thoughts? What have you learned? Are you ready to walk your path and become more than you are?”

**SoraLow** · Aug 19th, 2015 01:41 AM

Richard nods, recognizing the name, though he isn't sure if he'd ever met her personally himself, if he had he'd likely remember. None the less it seemed that the profile that went with the Knight of Swords not only match his own internal perception of himself, it appeared to be a suit that held some merit with David. The whelp takes his time answering, not wanting to diminish the importance of the fate card while also being weary of taking too much stock in it's results, after all it was only a card. He takes the question seriously and delivers a thorough answer,"I certainly noticed that the course of darkness was much easier for me to answer, it's as if choosing the greater good is more difficult than choosing the lesser of two evils."

He reaches out carefully for the car, hovering his hand in mid air while searching Davids eyes for permission to pick it up, if so he pulls the card closer to get a good look at the horse mounted knight. He could see himself on that horse, charging into battle to fight for what he valued or to protect what was his, though rather cliche still there were worse icons one could project themselves onto.

"I have learned that I am conflicted by nature, except I can't say that's something that I am only learning now, maybe I am just being confronted by it for the first time tonight in such a direct way. I feel that there is a side of me that want's to believe that being kindred does not have to make me innately evil, and yet every night I rise as a predator, one that hunts for both survival and the sheer pleasure of it. I fear that one day I will be forced to relinquish my right to associate myself with good."

"I am ready to change, I am ready to become better than I have ever been."

Aug 19th, 2015 07:02 PM

Subtly nodding, permission is passed silently on to Richard to inspect the Fate Card more closely.

“As you will learn,” David quietly says, “you are who you make yourself. God created us but he left his creations unfinished. We do not accept our flaws as blessings. We are a creation unfinished and we will take the matter into our own hands. Transcendence and Change is beyond mere concepts of good and evil. Those concepts are too simple for who we are and will become.”

It is a philosophy David wants to believe in. It gives him hope. Hope that he won't forever be a wretch, feeding and hunting from the living. Hope that he won't be so alienated forever. It is a belief that David is not shy in showing in his voice.

Point made, David rises to his feet, “As a new member of our Order I should show you around the rest of the House. For now, think about the card and think of it as a springboard. Shall we?”

This might be a good place to close for now?

Fabled Fire Breather

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