![]()
|
|||||||||||||||
| Welcome To The Night You find yourself in London on a dreary, foggy night like any other. But what lurks in the shadows is the stuff of fantasies and nightmares, far from mortal reality. This game uses the cursed and immortal vampiric condition as a backdrop to explore themes of morality, depravity, the human condition, salvation, and personal horror. We are a writing and roleplaying community dedicated to telling complex and engaging stories. Your fate is your own. Mingle among the ivory-tower elite in the Camarilla, join the fight of the discontented and chaotic Anarch rabble, or set out independently and attempt to survive in London's nighttime underworld. Anything is possible in our World of Darkness. Create Your Account! If you're already a member, please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Talia Blackthorn; Camarilla Brujah Neonate | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Thursday, 1. September 2016, 11:52 (1,048 Views) | |
| Talia Blackthorn | Thursday, 1. September 2016, 11:52 Post #1 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
Player Handle: SnakeEyes Name: Talia Blackthorn aka 'Random' or Belladonna for intimates Age: 43 Place of birth: Brussels, Belgium Age of embrace: 28 Clan: Brujah Sect: Camarilla Species: Vampire Derangements: Claustrophobia Disciplines: 'Appearance' Talia is a Caucasian lady in her late twenties with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. She is substantially taller than most women her age though not a giant by any means with an approximate height of 1m80. She has the figure of someone engaging in very regular physical exercise, like hitting the gym, practicing yoga and doing parkour. Her hair is slightly curly and shoulder length. Depending on where she is, she either let them free (during kindred or kine social occasions, like clubbing or Elysium parties) or hold them in a ponytail (when things get serious or she wants to do physical exercise). She sometimes vary the appearance of her hair, generally by coloring several strands of them each with different colors. She has also been known to shave the left half of her hair for certain Brujah raves, only to let her vampire nature regrow them the next night. One thing that is striking about her appearance is how healthy and rosy her skin is as she doesn't have the paleness often associated with her kindred nature. She has sometimes been mistaken for a kine or ghoul on more than one occasion because of this. As for her clothing, this can varies a lot. When meeting kindred officials, she wears a formal business dress, with a black skirt and jacket and white shirt, complete with a tie. When meddling with other neonates, she likes to dress in a more relaxed and sexy manner and with some warm colors to her clothing. When doing exercises, she wear a simple dark blue sport ensemble with second hand baskets (she tends to wear them off pretty quickly). And when she is alone with her fellow Brujah, she wears a slightly torn jean, a white t-shirt with various pencil markings on it and an old worn out parka that has known better days. That's for the general theory but at random intervals, she can vary her outfit in an unexpected manner, like donning a funeral dress for no apparent reasons for example. No matter the occasion, she always wear a necklace with a golden ankh at the end it. If she really likes you she might bother to tell you a beautiful lie about it. 'Haven' Talia currently resides in the basement of a small abandoned warehouse which she officially owns under the alias of Evelyne Flaumel. The haven is just mainly a single medium sized room. The floor is made of worn out industrial cement which Talia does her best to cover with rugs and carpets. The walls are all of a uniform bland white which she started to cover with various posters that she bought from the flea market. The north and entrance wall is covered with posters from her favorite bands in which 'Blondie' has a prominent place. The east wall is covered with her most recent experiment with scrap booking, papers covered with pictures she clipped from the various piles of magazines resting at the feet of the wall. Each of them has a theme, like loneliness, beauty, violence, love and political upheaval, her latest creation depicting the fall of the wall of Berlin. On the west wall rest a couple of ikea wardrobes as well as couple of library shelves where she stores her books. The literature is quite varied, ranging from historical books like the odyssey, through fantasy and science fiction, erotic literature, non fiction and political essays. One series that figures prominently is the chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. The south wall has one giant poster of a couple in a tight romantic embrace. The man has dark hair, a good musculature and is topless and sit besides her beloved, kissing her checks. The woman has blonde hair and is lying on the bed besides her man, with a crimson rose in her hands. Under the poster, lies a double sized bed, with scarlet sheets and cushions and a matching blanket. The left side is undone as this is where she slumbers, the right side looks like it has never been used before, as if waiting for someone to fill the void. Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Friday, 21. October 2016, 14:56.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Thursday, 1. September 2016, 20:21 Post #2 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
Human years and embrace 'Life as kid' Talia was born in Brussels, the daughter of a British Ambassador to the country of Belgium and her mother being a competent doctor working emergencies at the hospital. She had a very strict upbringing, at least while she was a kid. She had extremely tight, very organized schedule, her friends had to be approved by her parents and of course, schooling and learning was of the utmost importance as her parents had very high ambitions when it came to their daughter. At first, Talia was obedient, following her parents instruction to the letter, but this left her with a very boring, unfulfilling life. She had very few friends, and those few she had, weren't particularly close as she couldn't see them as often as she'd liked. Also, she had been the target of bullying at school, being one of the few British born kid there and she had no one to defend her, not the other kids, not the teachers and not even her parents ('grow a thicker skin Talia !'). Being chubby and slightly overweight, she started feeling guilty and worthless because of that. So, in order to solve some of her problems, she decided to heavily invest herself in sport. She'd hoped that would solve the overweight issue as well as helping her socialize with people outside of school. Her parents were very surprised but happy when she told them that and that she wanted a more healthy food regimen. She was 11 when she made that decision and, after a few months, her figure started to show her extreme investment in sport. She did a variety of them : Athleticism, Gymnastics, Swimming and the like. She spent almost every spare moment training, and, in doing so, made a few like minded oriented friends. Unfortunately, she pushed herself too far and ended up with problems in her legs so severe that she had to spend a good time being treated, first at the hospital, then at reeducation. This broke up her training and her habits and left her a bit depressed. She wasn't used to suddenly having so much free time when she couldn't train. Marco, one of her friends from the gym, was very supportive of Talia during that time and brought her something to occupy her mind …. books, lots and lots of books, all sort of books : Fantasy and science fiction books, which she liked a lot, historical books, biographies and all sort of politically minded books. The last sort particularly grabbed her interest and she also started following the political news more closely. It disgusted her a bit at first, all those self pompous arrogant idiots deciding the fate of the general population. But it also fascinated her, the way they were able to grab the attention of the public and manipulating the masses to advance their agenda. If only one of them were responsible enough to get elected, they could do much good. Something to keep in mind for later. Her parents were not altogether happy with her wound, and they saddle her with extra homework to occupy her time, and she wasn't allowed to see her gym friends as often as she'd like, with the notable exception of Marco. She still followed her strict diet regimen, and despite losing a bit of muscle, she kept her figure during her reeducation. When she had completely recovered, she decided to continue her sport activities but with a bit of moderation. She was still training as much as she could, but unlike before, she was minding her own limits while doing so. The extra time she had because of that, she spent it reading book, both for her entertainment but also to sharpen her mind. 'Teenage years and the marco incident' When the teenage years beckoned, Talia started to feel a violent surge of hormone, emotions and desire and started eyeing hungrily at the other boys at school. At first, despite her somewhat athletic figure, she was very unsure of herself. Apart from her sport mates, she had very little socializing skills and she realized she needed to work on that. She noticed the importance of small talk but also the ability to express oneself well. There was a theater workshop available for teenagers like her, she tought it might help with both the shyness but with the oratory skills as well. She had to sacrifice some training session and reading time to do that as she was already overworked between school and her activities. The theater dealt mostly with 'vaudeville', or situational comedy. After a few month, they were ready to go on stage and the play received much success to the relief of Talia. She developed quite the sense of humor and the abillity to express herself in public. Boosted with her newfound confidence, she started chasing aggressively for a boyfriend and, at one of the parties, she stumbled upon Marco. He had become quite the handsome young men and, one thing leading to another, they became lovers. After becoming drunk at the party, she made love for the first time at the age of 15. Some time later she got sick and the doctor said the three words that would change her life : 'You are pregnant'. Her parents were furious beyond measure and inflicted harsh punishments on the young girl. Every extra curricular activities were cancelled, she was denied any form social contact with her friends particularly Marco and she would have to change school. Talia was absolutely sick about that bullshit and, one night, she escaped the house and ran away with Marco. They left town, the country even with a few possessions of their own. Unfortunately, that also meant they didn't have access to the medical facilties Talia needed for her pregnancy. One day, they were forced to go to the hospital due to a medical complication and that's when they were caught and they were extraded back to Belgium. Talia's parents used their influence to make the Marco problem go away forcing his parents and family to relocate in another part of the country, possibly even away from Belgium and Talia would never hear again about her beloved Marco. Her runaway time meant it was too late for an abortion and, after giving birth, the child, a boy, was given away to a closed adoption. Talia tried to fight back to keep the child but she had neither the strength nor the influence to make that happen. To that day, she never knew what became of the child. 'Exiled to a new school' After that, she was sent away to her new school. The story of her pregnancly quickly spread and she became the target of a vicious, prolonged smear campaign by the other kids. She started to suffer from a deep depression and that fact threw a wedge between her parents. Her mother found that a suitable punishment for what she had done but her father suddenly warmed to the suffering of Talia. She went through a long therapy and, wanting revenge for the coldness of her mother, sublty tried to convince her father to let his spouse go away but he wouldn't do that. During that time, Talia started going back to her heavy schedule of sports, reading and socializing, tough that last part was problematic yet away. No matter, she befriended the social outcasts of the school, the geeks, the unpopulars, those with weird music of fashion tastes, the foreigners and so on ... She dreaded the day where her therapy would inevitably be heard by the other kids so, instead of waiting passively for that day to come, she came forward and explained her situation one day in class. Unlike what she expected, very few tried to leverage that situation to have fun at her expense and to those who did, she not only viciously fought back but found that other were willing to support her as well. She also found out that she wasn't the only kid going through depression or issues dealing with sex and possible unwanted pregnancy and she was more than willing to share her experiences to help her brethen, including kids in both popular and non popular circles. She became the link between those disparates groups and, in her last year of high school, become the de facto 'president' of the senior kids, trying to organize them for studying, partying and playing prank on the school teachers and staff. It was a good year and she made many friend. But all good things must come to an end. But no matter, University years were beckoning and she had no doubts these woud be good ones .... 'University years' It was time to decide for a major at the university. Things were getting heated between Talia's parents, her father being supportive of her and her mother getting increasingly cold and aggressive toward her daughter. She still hadn't forgiven Talia for her tryst with Marco. Damn it it has been at least a couple of years already, why was she being so bitchy ? Talia wanted to go for a political career and while father was supportive, her mother launched a campaign to purge her daughter's mind of such silly ideas. The world was not ready for a woman in charge she said, better to go for something more intellectual and more accepting of the weaker sex. Father was ... less than willing to further the chasm with his wife. On the other hand, he was in awe of Talia willingness to fight for her ideals. Still in the end, he caved to his wife demands, despite the young woman continuing to campaign for a political career. She had to settle for a communication major with a minor in finance. She was furious toward her mother and wanted to get revenge on her. But for the moment, she had to bid her time and go along with the flow. She insisted to have her own accommodation while at the university, her mother fought that hard, saying she feared another Marco's incident but in the end, her daughter being relentless about that point and her husband approving of that, she had to relent. The first few month at the university were absolutely fantastic : the students were more than friendly, the libraries were full of books, the parties were awesome and more than anything she had a feeling of freedom she never really tasted before at her home. She went through the 'batpteme' there, the equivalent of students hazing rituals and did it with such an overwhelming zeal that the other started to take notice. After being fully accepted when her hazing was finished, she landed a spot at the students council of her branch. While she made many friend, she didn't got many lovers, finding the boys there too much bent on the sexual and 'experimental' side of things. None of them were making her feel the way she did about Marco, so much sex drive ,so little romance, so much partying, so little passion. She still got her fair share of boyfriends but it was ... unfulfilling no matter how good the lovemaking got. She still kept her heavy schedule of sport and fitness and lobbied hard to get as many other students doing the same as she could. It's not that she was against booze and partying but her motto had become 'mens sano in corpore sano' and she preferred to gravitate with other like minded people. She also started to leverage her communication studies in what she thought was a constructive manner. She joined groups like Amnesty international, anti racism groups and organization fighting against global warming. For that last part ,it wasnt' as pervasive as it was today, but Talia thought it was a worthy cause. Her well spoken manners and charisma help her get results and she was often able to get people to sign up or give a little bit of both their time and money. At home, things were getting progressively worse with her mother and better with her father. Her mother threw herself heavily at her work in the hospital, rarely being at home. Her father on the other hand was getting warmer and, realizing how passionate for worthy cause her daughter had become, took the time to introduce her to his contacts among the European government, being a British diplomat in Brussels had its perks. Talia then decided to orient her future career in the lobbying business. Thanks to her father contacts, her persuasion skills and experience at managing a grueling time schedule, she thought she could be perfect for the job, while at the same time supporting worthy causes. 'Meeting Benedict' During one of her parties, she was surprised to see her students friends gravitate towards a heavy built man in his mid forties with a strange pale skin. At first she thought ... gross ... that man could be their father. And yet, he exuded a strange, very charismatic aura and the other students were literally drinking each of his words. They seemed to be engaged in some kind of heavy philosophical discussion. The man introduced himself with a thick southern french accent as Benedict. He took the time to have a private conversation with each of the students present, it wasn't a big party anyways. When Talia's turn came, she found herself under the charm of that strange man and they begun a very long conversation. Benedict wanted to know everything about Talia, her hope, her fears, her dreams, what she thought about a variety of subject. For a reason she couldn't fathom, Talia confided to the strange man, stuff that she rarely spoke about including her tryst with Marco. Benedict had a strange smile when looking at her, one he didn't show to her other friends. At the end of the party, Benedict handed his business card to Talia, hoping to see her again, which she was very much looking forward to. She didn't see her family much and Benedict quickly started to fill the place of a beloved uncle. He kissed her goodbye and for a moment Talia's consciousness faded away, replaced by a feeling of intense pleasure. When she came about she was feeling a bit tired and Benedict suggested she took some sleep and have a solid breakfast when she wakes up. Talia would keep close contact with him in the coming years, she just had no idea how much. 'Truths better left undiscoverd, Actions better left undone' Talia's studies were progressing well at this point, she had almost finished her communication license and had already enrolled for an European and international law short courses next September, lasting two years. Nothing that would make her an attorney, but certainly helpful for a future lobbying career. She was seeing Benedict me and more, and the older man was always willing to share his wisdom and experience to help Talia in both her studies and her life. She confided her growing problem with an increasingly distant and cold mother and how she was afraid on how it affected her father. Benedict nodded and gave her the business card of a private investigator, advising her to get to the bottom of this, and to know the reason of her continued absence. He also told her the PI was a 'friend' and that he would give her both preferential rates and VIP treatment. Talia took the offer and went to see the PI. The PI a balding man in his early fifties was named Raymond and, as promised, offered her the full package on his mother case and asked only for a moderate fee in return, Benedict paying the rest. The investigation would last as long as required but it would take some time before it bore fruit. As time progressed and with her courses getting more intensive by the day, Talia begun to have less and less time for extracurricular activities. In fact, she spent more time at dinner parties with her father and his contacts than with her friend at the university, who started no notice Talia increasingly burdened schedule. They decided to throw a surprise party in which Talia had a lot of fun. While she was going back to her dorm half drunk, she heard weak moans calling for help coming from an alley nearby. When she got there stumbling, she saw three man ripping the clothes of one of her friend and tying her up like a sausage. Furious at what she saw, she jumped on the three man, instead of calling for help, the booze in her system messing with her decision making process. She sucker punched one of the guys, sending him on the floor, but the strike was maladjusted. When he got up, the other two were already on Talia who fought like a wild beast against those sorry excuses for humans. Lacking fighting experience and being, well, drunk, she was quickly overpowered by the three man, who tied her up. What a stroke of luck they thought, two sexy ladies to have fun with instead of just one. That's when Benedict came around, he had been following Talia discreetly, heard the moans for help, and wanted to know how Talia would react. The three men were about to attack Benedict expecting a fierce fight, then Talia consciousness faded away. When she came about, she was in her bed and her friend was sleeping in the other bedroom. She felt weak but not just because of the fight. Neither she or her friend had any recollection of what had happened. She thought she drank too much. When checking the news, Talia saw that three men were arrested on multiple rape accounts and that they had confessed that fact themselves. Weird she thought. A few days later, Raymond showed Talia the results of his investigation on the young woman's mother. She had been in the habit of cheating on her husband for at least a couple of decades. On top of that, Raymond showed her a couple of medical reports about her mother. She had aborted at least a couple of time, one of those a couple of years before Marco's incident. Talia showed the full reports to his father, hoping for a divorce. Well their marriage ended but not in the way Talia expected, her father having committed suicide a couple days later, his spouse infidelities shattered his heart to the point of no return. He would nominate Talia his sole heir in his legacy, but the mother fought that hard, being extremely bitter about being betrayed by her own daughter. She would expel Talia in her own will so that at her death, her daughter would inherit nothing. This put her into a difficult position. She had enough money to finish her studies but beyond that point ... she had to find a job and quickly, fortunately, her father's contact had a job opening sometimes after her graduation for a lobby company. The end of studies ceremony was extremely bitter to Talia, she had hoped her father would be there but he was dead, her mother hated her, and the rest of her family was not even in Belgium and she barely had any contact with them. She had friends, but was growing increasingly distant from them due to her increasingly heavier schedule, having to work to get extra money. As for the other sex, she might have had a few one night stands here and there, but no steady boyfriend to speak of. And then, it was time to join the adult world and start earning her pay ... 'Adult years' Soon after her graduation, Talia started her job in a lobbying company. Due to the contacts provided by her late father, her studies, and newfound social skills and confidence earned at school and university, she was good at the tasks given to her. Also, it didn't hurt that she was beautiful and she used and leveraged that to her advantage during negotiations with politicians. The pay was good, the job gave her some status among the mortals, but the amount of hours she had to put into the job made her very busy, leaving her little time to socialize out of work or out of the gym. The only person who ever seemed to always be available when she needed and wanted to was Benedict, who was incredibly supportive of her, going to length to help her in her job, find comfortable accommodations for her, and even spent an enjoyable evening together from time to time, speaking of various subjects, especially philosophical ones and things about power, whether it always corrupts or can be used responsibly. Her thirtieths birthday was approaching fast soon, and she hated the idea of going through it without a man at her arm. So, she started searching for a steady lover. Unfortunately, internet was not what it is today, and speed dating was either rare or non existent. The people at the gym, while handsome, were a bit ... intellectually limited for her taste, as for her coworkers, they were as busy as she was and were more interested in strings of one night stands and short affairs with married women. She settled for an accountant she met at work. He wasn't the most good looking or confident lover she's ever had but he compensated that by being sweet and romantic, a guy named Denis. Maybe she should settle for a simple life with him, it's not like most of the people were living it like in the movies, sometimes reality is better than an insubstantial dream, or so she thought at the moment. However, her busy schedule was putting a strain on their relationship and they couldn't see each other as much as they wanted too. Benedict was very curious about her relationship with Denis, why she choose him, how she felt about their romance, what kind of future she envisioned with him, stuff like this. There were times where Talia wondered if Benedict had some kind of crush on her, but her doubt were swept away that night. He really seemed to care about her and not in a 'I will shag you for hours and then leave' kind of way. There was something really ... paternal about him if tempered by his aura of authority and knowledge, which Talia never seemed to question. But she always tried to know what is it that drew Benedict towards her. She felt he was setting her up for something but she had no idea what. 'At a crossroad' At work, the assignments were getting gradually ... gruesome. It started when she had to lobby against increase in taxes for cigarettes and, in general, more favorable laws for tobacco companies. She felt bad about that work, but the bills needed to be paid, so she tried to shut up her conscience, without never fully succeeding. And Benedict seemed to notice, thought she tried to rationalize her actions in front of him. Not that he seemed to judge, he was just curious about how she took her decisions and her train of thought. Things got progressively worse at work, the assignment beginning to be more ... corporate minded, or where they always this way and she just started to notice ? Denis was getting increasingly distant and she hadn't made love to him for a couple of month when, one day, she decided to surprise him and get home early, hoping for an evening of passion and romance. Her only reward was to find him with one of her female coworker and realized that the affair had been going for months. Talia felt betrayed and extremely furious. She threw Denis and her lover out of the apartment with such incredible violence, even the cops had to be called. She left the home they shared, swearing she would get revenge on the both of them. That event opened a door in Talia's mind, in the place where she was keeping her doubts, her fears and her feeling of extreme loneliness carefully hidden, and all those things contained within her suddenly came crashing at the surface. Her last assignment at work was for the pharmaceutical companies wanting laws that would keep their profit margins sky high, despite the drugs they produced being badly needed by the general population. It broke something inside her and she discreetly, carefully, worked to sabotage the case before the European courts. And before they took their decision, Talia handed her letter of resignation to the company. Dammit what was she doing ? Throwing her career away like that. What would she do for a living now ? Maybe work as a commercial representative ? Dammit, and become a sellout again for the big corporations ? She felt so helpless ... 'The embrace' She did the only thing she could do and contact the one person she knew would listen to her. When Benedict received her call, he noticed the extreme angst in Talia's voice. It also seemed he was not alone and summoned Talia before him, telling her he had a proposition for her. He invited her to a bar which was owned by one of his associate and told her to meet in the private room there. When she arrived, Benedict was already in the presence of two man and a woman. One of the man, Michael, was dressed like a biker, the other Armand wore Gothic clothes, and as for the woman, Lea, she was dressed fashionably, yet her hair was of an unnatural electric blue. What an eclectic entourage Benedict surrounded himself with she thought before the old man started explaining his proposition. Armand positioned himself behind Talia, and they all suddenly bare the fangs characteristic of the Kindred race. For they were vampire. Talia was utterly panicked but Benedict used his supernatural charisma to force Talia to stay quiet and listen. He explained as much as he could in the time allotted to them by the remaining hours of the night. He told her he had been watching her for years, gauging her personality and whether she would make a good Brujah, whether she would stick to her guns in her dire moments, whether her passion were more important than temporal power, whether she was willing to risk of herself. Unknown to Talia, Benedict felt she would make a tremendous addition to the clan, and her latest trial was whether she would stay at the lobbying company and be a sellout as well as part of the problem, or whether she would take a risk into the unknown according to her beliefs, which Benedict felt she did when Talia handed her resignation letter. He explained as much as he could what becoming a vampire would entail. He also told her that now that she knew the truth she to either accept or die, the masquerade being what it is. After a brief moment of hesitation, she finally relented and was embraced there, in the private room of the bar, that very night and, after suffering the excruciating pain of the change, through which all of the Brujah present would help her get through as much as they could. Then finally she became a full fledged vampire. The new unlife of Talia had begun …. Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Friday, 21. October 2016, 14:56.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Thursday, 1. September 2016, 20:22 Post #3 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
The fledgling years. 'The training of a new Brujah' The first few days were rough for Talia, she had serious troubles not only managing her thirst, but also her emotions, feeling everything intensely. As a result, she couldn't be left alone at any given time and the only company she was allowed to keep was the other Brujah in Benedict's brood and the occasional chalice she was provided to feed on. It took her a few months before finally attaining some sort of balance within herself. She would probably be never zen like a Buddhist but at least she was functional. Then the real training could begin. Benedict started with the basics : The traditions, the realities of unlife, how to feed discreetly, how to keep her true nature hidden and so on. For the last part, she started with a few advantages, having retained not only the healthy skin color of a regular human, but also being able to mimic the body cues like a living being can. Benedict explained all this with as much detail as possible, and repeated the lessons time and time again, to make sure they sank in Talia's mind. And it did take some time as Talia was impatient, rebellious and more than a bit immature ... very much like any young Brujah of this generation Benedict explained, so he made sure that his progeny grew up as fast and as much as possible, though he would only have limited success at first as the future would show. Then they got to discipline training ... it was about time, Talia thought. She wanted to experience these kwel powers Benedict told her so much about, tough her sire constantly warned her and reminded her that these were not toys to play with. As usual with Benedict, they began with the physical disciplines, easier to learn and not requiring interaction with the outside world like training in Presence sometimes can. Learning this stuff was crazy hard, Talia thought, and it took her quite a long time before even manifesting the basic level of both physical disciplines. Feeding, training, sleeping, those were almost the only things she did for a while, until, one night, both powers manifested in her blood. With that lesson learned, Talia went through social training : How to behave, how to present herself to kindred of higher ranks, how to pretend to be a human among the kine, life in Elysium and so on. She also started learning how to use Presence at that time. After a little while, Benedict's assessment was that his progeny was ready to start walking the outside world even if she still needed supervision. Besides, she had been cooped up in their shared haven for far too long, a little outdoor fun couldn't hurt. They all went out of a night in town, to hunt and to feed, Benedict was curious on how Talia's would handle herself in these matters. She managed to score some blood tough the other Brujah had to stop Talia before she drained her victim dry. She still had problems controlling her thirst. Benedict kept Talia very busy and, besides hunting and sleeping, had always some more lessons to impart to his childe, which he did either directly himself or trough his brood. While she was used to being overworked since her human life, Talia slowly but surely became frustrated with Benedict and his never ending tirades about how a proper Brujah should behave. Fuck the old man ! She deserved some fun and it has been a while since she's been laid and she had been eyeing for a sexy mortal lately. She wanted badly and desperately to fuck him. Of course, the old man had tirelessly warned her never to do that but ... Hey ... What's the worst that could happen ? 'The virgin incident' Having lived with Benedict's brood for a while now, she started to understood their nightly routine, and devised a plan to escape, if only for a single night, and have her much deserved fun. She knew she could mimic human bodily function, so having sex shouldn't be a problem, right ? Right ? Of course it won't be a problem. In fact, she felt like the virgin in Madonna's eponymous song. If only she knew what she was about to really do. It was a Friday, and Friday was chess night for the brood. During those times, they tended to let their guards down, as they were too much focused on their games. A perfect opportunity to lose them she thought. Pretending to go to the library to pick a book, she escaped the haven through a window, then, by the time the others realized what was going on, she used her celerity to get away as far as possible and as quickly as possible. Then, when she arrived in a public place, she pulled a 'lost in crowd' stunt, then picked a taxi, and phoned her would be lover for a night of fun. When they met, she turned on her supernatural presence charm to tear his social defenses down, invited him to a cheap motel and, when they reached the room, Talia literally shredded the kine's clothes down, not that he minded. When they were both fully naked, she pushed him on the bed, activated the blush of life, and started to feel ready for him. She made brutal love to him and neither of them noticed the blood that started to leak on the sheets. When the deed was done, the mortal suddenly fell prey to deep fear when he saw the pool of blood on the bed and realized that Talia's was .... not quite human. Panicked, Talia didn't know what to do and it was at that time that the door brutally opened and Benedict brood entered the room. Without so much as an explanation, Lea and Armand brutally seized their younger sibling and Michael drew a thin but solid stake and rammed it into Talia's heart, at which moment, she felt in the darkness of torpor. She didn't see Benedict while he was dominating the mortal, rewriting his memories of the night, making him think he actually did it with a virgin. They cleaned up the room, bribed and dominated the hotel clerk and brought Talia home. When the stake was removed and she regained consciousness, she faced a furious Benedict, very close to frenzy. He was outraged at what Talia had done, so angry, that Lea and Michael had to restrain him, with great difficulty. When Benedict's anger subsided, he made every possible effort to impress on young Talia the seriousness of what she had done. For Troile's sake, she could have breached the masquerade wide open ! As punishment, Talia would have to feed on rats for a long time, and she would have to fight her other sibling every night, and every time she would lose and take a heavy, brutal and painful beating. this continued for a while until Benedict was convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Talia understood that lesson ... 'Lessons in etiquette and social combat' Benedict thought it was time for his progeny's next lesson, that is socializing with other vampires. But before Talia could do that, she needed to understand the fine art of etiquette. So between her lessons in discipline use and philosophy, Talia was burdened with yet a new kind of training session. First, she had to learn how to properly present herself to other kindred of status. It was not just about reciting her lineage either but also how to bow accordingly and use the proper intonation while doing so. Each movement, each limb position had to be perfect and Talia spent countless hours just learning how to properly present herself while reciting her lineage. Boy ! Was this frustrating ! Who the fuck would care about some old forgotten tradition from age past she wondered ? Yet, Benedict was adamant she learned that lesson. Her sire was particularly bent on making sure she did that perfectly, but, unfortunately, Talia's impatience and Brujah boiling blood made it so she couldn't do it with the perfection expected by her master. He had to set up with barely acceptable, or at least, barely acceptable in his mind, few of the other neonate in the domain having gone through such grueling training and such expectations of perfection. Objectively, she did as good as she could but it was never enough for Benedict. She wondered why her sire was so bent on that point and Talia tried to get some explanations from the rest of the brood but the only response she ever got was : 'Don't ask' and always with a taint of regret and sorrow. There was a story behind this but, up to this day, she never heard the whole of it. Something to do with a childer getting ashed for improper use of etiquette she thought, but she couldn't be sure. Not getting Talia where he wanted her to be, Benedict cashed in a couple of favors the grand harpy, Lady Cassandra of clan Tremere, owed him, to get her to give private lessons in etiquette to young and inexperienced Talia. She was even more demanding of perfection than Benedict, something young Talia didn't thought possible, and yet here it was. In addition to recitation of lineage, Cassandra taught her new pupil in the way of kindred socializing and etiquette. When she was satisfied that Talia knew enough, she invited her to a kindred event due to take place in Elysium. In preparation for this, Talia had to make sure that not only her manner were perfect but also her clothing and make up, having to spend literally hours doing so, under the critical gaze of both Lady Cassandra and Benedict. When the fateful night came, Talia felt incredibly nervous. It was a small event, barely a handful of kindred present. Noticeably absent was the princess and most of her primogen council. The Ventrue and Malkavian ones tough were present as well as a few other kindred from the clan of the rose. Both primogens had a predatory and frightening smile as they watched her. She acted liked her training demanded, polite and in a courtly manner, but the other kindred present were not so accommodating. They started to bully her, subtly at first and then directly afterwards. Talia tried to draw from her lessons to behave properly but soon felt her patience wearing thin. She looked at both her sire and the grand Harpy, looking for help, but neither of them would provide it. In the end, she lost her self control, started to throw crude insults to the kindred presents and lost herself to frenzy ... much to the amusement of the Ventrue and Malkavian primogen. Benedict had to intervene himself to prevent the major damage Talia's frenzy could incur. Also, he now owed a boon to the Ventrue primogen, due to Talia's lack of respect towards him. The Malkavian primogen could also have asked a favor to Benedict but, for reasons unknown, declined to do so. Again, as during 'virgin incident', Benedict was furious towards his childe and punished her heavily for her lack of subtlety during the event at Elysium. Both him and the grand Harpy redoubled their efforts in training Talia : Benedict because Talia's lack of finesse could cost him and his brood dearly and Lady Cassandra because her honor was now in jeopardy. What would the other kindred think if the grand Harpy couldn't properly enforce good behavior in Elysium from a neonate under her tutelage ? Talia had to go through the same kind of event a few more times and each time the result would be the same : Her Brujah blood made her lost her temper and she would forgot proper manner in favor of crude curses and a bloody frenzy. And each time, her sire would incur further debts to the Ventrue primogen ( and again his Malkavian counterpart would decline to get one). Not getting anywhere, the grand harpy and Benedict decide to switch tactics. As Talia was getting an idea on how the Ventrue primogen acted and pushed her buttons, they organized a 'roleplaying session' where Talia would play the Ventrue and the grand harpy would play the role of Talia. The results were ... interesting to say the least and both elders saw something change in their pupil. The next event in Elysium would be very different, they both were sure of it... When the night of the next event came, Talia was very much surprised in the fact that there were much more kindred presents, in fact, she was sure the whole Primogen council was there. As usual the Ventrue one had a predatory and cruel smile, expecting to coax more favors from her sire yet again. The Malkavian one however, while smiling frighteningly, had a different look as if he was expecting something ... well who can read the mind of a Malkavian anyways ? This did not bode well Talia thought, if she screwed up here, the consequence could be more dire than a few minor favors owed and a beating from both her sire and the grand harpy. As usual, the Ventrue Primogen, Vincent de la marque, started his social attacks against Talia, trying to get under her skin and hoping she would yet again go against the laws of kindred etiquette. The other Primogen stayed silent, watching the scene with predatory smiles and cruel expectations. 'Double six', the Malkavian Primogen, was particularly interested in the scene, his gaze showed he somehow knew what would happen, and he found it funny ... very funny indeed. As Vincent de la marque pushed his social attacks, Talia reacted very differently than the other times. During her roleplay sessions with the Harpy, she had learned not only a few things about Vincent but how to leverage them to her advantage. The most important point was that Vincent did not hail from mortal blue blood but rather was born from a farmer family, something he was not altogether proud of. As he attacked Talia with vicious remarks, she responded in kind with venomous comments about how a low born shouldn't deserve such a title as primogen, especially when he couldn't properly tame a lowly Brujah such as herself more quickly than he did. Boorish is how she described him. And yet, this time, she did that without resorting to crude or impolite words, but rather in subtle manner, drawing on the lessons imparted by both her sire and the grand harpy. Both kindred were getting dangerously close to frenzy. Double six was watching with the scene with a joyful cruel smile, knowing already how it would unfold and laughed hysterically and uncontrollably when the ventrue primogen was the one to lose his temper and succumb to the temptation of frenzy. The other primogen, Benedict included, quickly moved in to subdue Vincent. When he recovered and regained his temper, Talia launched her final attack : She pleaded to the other primogens, arguing that Vincent behaved like the lowliest of neonate and that he should pay the price for it. She asked that not only that the debts Benedict incurred because of her past actions be nullified but also that Vincent should now owe a major favor to both her sire and the grand harpy for the 'grievous offenses' he committed. Talia was allowed social mistakes because of her status as a fledgling but Vincent, as the Ventrue primogen, should have known better and, as such, had to pay a bigger price. Vincent looked at the other primogen with a fearful look. Double six was the first to intervene, giving his full support to Talia's demands, then Benedict, then Hellenya the Tremere primogen, until all except Vincent were in agreement. The grand Harpy noted the newly incurred debts of Vincent as he left the room furiously, while the other primogens were laughing at him. They had a good evening and left the room, leaving Talia with just her sire and Cassandra. They were both proud of their pupil and the grand harpy declared that young Talia was ready to face the kindred world and the danse macabre on her own. Benedict however thought differently, there was at least one other social lesson Talia had to learn before he could release her in the world of darkness ... 'Ranting and Raving with the rabble part 1' Benedict wanted to know how his progeny would handle herself among other Brujah, that is outside of their brood and he was a bit more than worried of what would happen then. Brujah were not known for their patience and Talia was sometimes letting her passions and inexperience talk more than her reason. Anyways, it had to be done and now seemed like a good time. One night, Benedict simply told Talia they were going for a kindred social meeting, without telling her the specifics. Expecting something similar to what had happened before, she dressed to impress, like Benedict and Cassandra taught her. She wore her most fashionable cocktail dress, spent a lot of time on her makeup and made sure her hairdo was perfect. Then she was told to go to a specified address, alone, with the proper credentials. When she arrived at the designated location, she stood in front of an old warehouse, very loud music could be heard from the inside. The entrance was guarded by a couple of heavy built men all in black leather. She could also see that both of them were armed. She suddenly felt very nervous but still went toward the entrance and the two guards. They looked at her with both scorn and suspicion but, after she gave the proper credentials, let her enter with a cruel look and ironic smiles. There were already quite a few people in the place and she suddenly realized the mistake she made in her clothing. This was anything but a regular regal social convention. All the people present were ... well ... unusual looking : They were a couple of bikers with the corresponding jackets, jeans and thick beard. Others were obviously hard core death metal fans with the corresponding hair and t-shirts of their favorite bands. More than a few had tattoos and piercings covering their bodies. Goths were present and, finally, some of them had ... unusual hairdo and colors. With her fashionable attire, she looked completely out of place, like a lamb in the middle of wolves and ready for the slaughter. She didn't have to wait long for a reaction and a young woman, nicknamed 'boomerang' and a fierce looking biker with a heavy beard, called 'hammerhead', surrounded her, with boomerang in the front and hammerhead at her back. They mumbled something about having to thank however stole that beautiful piece of flesh from the Ventrue and sent her their way. Before Talia could react, they charmed her with a heavy use of presence, forcing her to 'relax', before they both bit her in the neck. They hadn't realized she was actually a kindred and, because of her healthy skin and human body language, thought she was a kine, a chalice sent their way for dinner. Talia weakly tried to resist, but they were both stronger than she was. When the two kindred realized their mistakes, they lost a bit of their grip, an opportunity Talia seized to not only break free but also to slap the two kindred. Fear was now mixed with anger and hatred. The other kindred, hearing the noise caused by the scene, soon reacted and made the few mortals still presents leave the room. They all circled around Talia, looking furious. This could escalate into violence very fast especially if they were all Brujah, like she suspected. They made snark comments about her, saying they did not know that Ventrue were invited to a private Brujah rant. Talia tried to react as calmly, politely and harmlessly as she could. This didn't have the desired effect. She dressed like a Ventrue, talked like a Ventrue, heck she even tasted like a Ventrue snarkly commented boomerang. Well, after what she did to young boomerang and hammerhead, she certainly deserved a good beating. They all agreed. It was at that moment that Benedict and his brood entered the room and looked at the other Brujah present with a disapproving look. At the sight of their Primogen, the Brujah tensed and took their distance from Talia, tough they still didn't believed she was Brujah. Then Benedict declared the rant proper... 'Ranting and Raving with the rabble part 2' The Brujah primogen made an opening statement declaring that this rant subject would be the education of young Brujah. Though they respected him, most of the other Brujah thought he had gone stark crazy. They looked at young Talia, with her fashionable look and good manners. Is this really how a Brujah should look and behave they commented. Were they really supposed to become like the hated Ventrue. Fuck that ! Brujah should be educated in freedom of speech and behavior, breaking the chains of established customs and exploring of new avenues of thoughts. Then they looked at Talia and said the way she was obviously educated was certainly not the way to go. A fucking sell out, domesticated bitch ! That's what Benedict made of her and if this was the future he envisioned for the coming young Brujah, then perhaps it was time to elect a new primogen ! All the Brujah, except Benedict, his brood and Talia, were in agreement. Talia started to feel gradually angry, she was royally pissed at the attacks on her sire and started to take his defense pleading he had been good to her, if a bit too much ambitious and hard in her training. The other Brujah were not amused : The 'Ventrue sell out whore' had a tongue, too bad she used it like a blue blood and not a Brujah, they commented and they asked her by what right she should considered herself part of their clan. She first tried to explain how she helped rightful causes during her mortal years to which the other replied a Brujah should not behave like a Disney princess. Doing that might be good for a mortal but hardly appropriate from someone of the clan. A real Brujah should be ready to beat up the opposition, torch the sell outs' possessions, beat them into submission and tear them a new one, that's how a Brujah should behave ! It was a failed strike, but Talia remained unfazed and determined to prove her valor. She then talked about her lobbyist career and, when Talia started her story, she could see that the other Brujah thought she would have made a better ventrue than Brujah. She continued however and then she got to the part where she resigned from her post because of what her job had started to turn her into. Most of the other Brujah were unimpressed. Cry me a river young stupid bitch they thought, you let yourself get used by the cape, you should pay the price for it. However, a few of them were starting to see her in a new light. She might have been a sell out, but at least she was smart enough to do something about it. Still not enough to be considered a Brujah, but a good start nonetheless. Seeing her words starting to have an effect on a few of them, she continued with her social training with Benedict and the grand harpy Cassandra. Oh Great ! Now Brujahs were supposed to behave 'properly' but what the fuck does it matter to say 'please and thank you' or 'hello you oh great one among great one', a Brujah should say always speak their minds, express what they wanted, the way they wanted. To counter this point, Talia told them the story of her first few 'kindred events', the one were Benedict would incur boon debts to the ventrue primogen because of her boorish behavior. Some of the Brujah were furious : Not only Benedict was wasting his time training neonates in the way of court but he had incurred debts in the process. Fucking great ! Way to go Benedict ! How were the Brujah supposed to benefit from this when it was obvious it was costing the clan greatly without any tangible benefit in return ? Other tough, thought differently, as some of them had suffered social censure and owed boons due to their hot Brujah temper. Still, if that story had a point, Talia had better get to it soon, they were fast losing their patience. But so was Talia. She continued her story and got to the point where her role and the Ventrue's primogen were reversed, allowing her not only to erase the debts her sire had incurred but how she managed coax a major boon for the clan at the same time. The other Brujah had trouble accepting her story and refused to believe it. Of course, there had been rumors in Elysium about that, but Vincent de la marque had made his best to limit its spread and, at that point, it was nothing than a rumor, a legend the neonates were telling between themselves to maintain the illusion that they could stand up to their superiors. They warned Talia that, if she was lying, she would pay a heavy price, that bitch had better not be playing with them ! How dare she ! They turned toward their primogen but Benedict remained silent and impassible, waiting how the situation would turn out ... 'Ranting and Raving with the rabble part 3' Turning back at Talia, the other Brujah started to throw furious and vicious insults at her, especially Boomerang. Her simple presence was an affront to the can, a whore that's what she was, heck she even dressed like one ! Talia then brutally lost her composure. Fucking bastards ! She hated them ! They thought she behaved too properly ? Fine ! She started throwing snark remarks to the other Brujah, her venomous comments getting progressively more rude and coarse. The Brujah were both angry and surprised by her change in behavior and it was only because of Benedict's presence that they didn't allowed the boiling anger of their cursed blood to express itself, beating and torporing that sell out bitch in the process, her and her fancy clothes. She was losing her patience at being looked at as the black sheep among the family. Her fancy clothes was a problem ? Fine ! She literally tore and shredded her dress, leaving her only in her underwear. Then she continued on the jewelry, throwing her rings violently across the room, and smashing her earring on the floor with her high heels breaking them in the process. She angrily removed them, leaving her barefoot. Oh and Let's not forget the hair shall we ?!!! She furiously laid her hand in her hair, ruining her hairdo. She then grabbed a coloring lotion she saw lying on one of the tables and started dying strands of her hair in electric blue. The other Brujah looked at the scene first with amazement, then amusement. The males looked at her exposed body with lust and envy. Seeing her shred away visible mark of status reminded them of the story when she resigned from her lobbyist job. It was a funny sight and seeing her curses like she did was very much Brujah like. Boomerang however was not amused. She was furious at what was happening and had a score to settle after Talia 'tricked' her and hammerhead into drinking her blood. Boomerang made her way toward Benedict's childe with the express intention of teaching her a lesson by ripping that bitch a new one. Unfazed, Talia turned to boomerang in particular and the other Brujah in general. Not a Brujah ? She screamed at them that she was ready to prove them otherwise. And if the only to do that was to let violence talk than so be it ! She didn't give a fuck that she didn't stand a chance in hell if a fight broke out, she would simply give as good as she would get. At that point, she bared her fangs in defiance at Boomerang, screaming her rage and focusing the wrath within herself. And at that moment, her blood manifested a new power and the vicious and frightening gaze she directed at Boomerang made the latter run away in terror. The other Brujah were not sure how to react after that ... bizarre turn of events apart from preventing Boomerang to fuck it up with her fear. They seized and force her to calm down, then turned their heads toward their primogen who simply asked that simple question : So, is Talia a Ventrue or a Brujah ? After a moment of awkward silence, Hammerhead was the first to react and answered 'Brujah'. Then Benedict brood followed suit and answered 'Brujah' as well. Then another and another, until, finally, Boomerang was the last one left to answer. She was furious towards Talia and didn't wanted to approve of her, but the rest of the Brujah didn't left her with much choice and she relented by saying 'Brujah'. The rest of the rabble cheered at the clan new addition and each of them greeted their new blood sister, giving her a manly and vigorous slap on the shoulder, each time almost sending her flying across the room. She accepted each of those with an amused smile. Then Hammerhead brought her some new clothes, even if she appreciated looking at Talia's beautiful and exposed flesh, it wouldn't be very conductive to the rest of the rant. He found her an old jean, a white blank t-shirt, and and old worn out parka. The jeans and t-shirt more or less fitted but the parka was a bit over-sized. Each of the Brujah inscribed a few word on her new blank t-shirt. To that day, she is still keeping those clothes. When done, the Brujah asked her to tell them the story of how she won her social combat against the ventrue primogen, coaxing a major favor from him in the process. When the rant was finally over, they let the mortals back into the room and started the rave proper, dancing, singing, screaming and feeding until the very late hours of the night. All in all, this had been a very good day ... Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Friday, 21. October 2016, 14:57.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Monday, 19. September 2016, 16:34 Post #4 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
Realities of life as a neonate 'Ceremony of release' After the rave, Talia's training continued. Benedict was broadening the variety of subjects during the lessons he gave to his childe. In addition to kindred protocol and discipline uses, Talia now had to learn philosophy, languages (including German, Russian and Latin), strategy and tactics (by playing classical board games like chess, go and Shogi ... she positively hated that part) and history, both kine and kindred (tough for the latter the information was fragmentary at best and always shrouded in mystery, superstition and legends). Then came the time to allow Talia to fly with her own wings and present her officially as newly released neonate ... tough Benedict would still heavily impose further training to his childe afterwards. As per their custom, all of the local Brujah attended. The primogens, harpies and princess were also present as well as a variety of lower ranking kindred. Talia was feeling nervous when she had to do the customary recitation of lineage as well as declaration of vassalage to Catherine de Saint Gil, the Toreador Princess that ruled the city. The Harpies and Primogen, especially the Ventrue one, were gazing at her intensely, looking for any potential mistakes during the presentation and ceremony. Fortunately, she had been trained well and did more or less alright ... as much as can be expected from a neonate anyways. Once the ceremony was over, kindred social life resumed. 'The laws of Brussels Kindred' Talia spent a lot of time socializing with the other kindred, especially neonates and quickly noticed that a lot of them were unhappy with their unlife, always being the pawn of the elders and suffering the bullying and orders of their superiors. A lot of restrictions were imposed upon the neonates in particular and kindred of the city in general. The most noticeable ones were the drastic laws on feeding and the rules forbidding romance between kindred. The last one seemed to have been imposed after a couple of mutually blood bounded kindred fell into frenzy, their artificial love having turned sour, and almost breached the masquerade in the process. Unlife among the local kindred was filled with countless rules, most of them unspoken, regulating ,apart from the two points mentioned above,various subjects : How to address someone, what kind of subjects can be evoked in either Elysium, court or outside, how one should dress during various events ( the Brujah were especially furious about this one, that is the younger generation), how certain words should or should not be used and in which circumstances, and more ... much much more. 'The rules of kindred romance' Talia was especially frustrated of not being able to get a proper boyfriend. She couldn't get close to other kindred, couldn't open herself to kine, heck she couldn't even take either one of them to her bed. Unbeknownst to her, some of the other Kindred, Toreadors especially, took notice and she was surprised to receive an invitation to a private event at her haven. The beautifully handwritten invitation came with a Venetian mask and a wig, both of which she was required to wear during the event, simply called the '4 seasons Agora'. Other kindred with similar masks and wigs were present during the event. One kindred was in charge of the ceremony, calling himself 'The master of seasons' and he was the one who did most of the talking. He was accompanied by a silent, repulsive kindred simply referred to as 'the Head Confessor'. The first kindred was obviously Toreador, Talia thought, and the other clearly Nosferatu. Seeing as there were a few new kindred in the Agora, the master of seasons explained that, despite the law forbidding kindred romance officially, unofficially, there were ways it could be achieved without feeling the full displeasure of either the prince or her primogen council ... provided the proper rules were respected. The point of the Agora it seemed, was to explain those rules and discuss the seemingly endless subtleties they entailed. The main rules were as follow : All romances must eventually die. No more than one romance at a time and no threesome, foursome and the like. Never, ever mutually blood bound yourself to someone on pain of possible final death and always follow the tenets of the 4 seasons. To summarize those tenets, all romance starts with a symbolic spring, the season of blooming, when one kindred offers declares his intention to seduce another, the first being called the predator and the other the prey. If the prey acquiesce, they can move to summer, the season of trials, where the prey gives 'challenges' to the predator, giving a reward for each time the predator is successful. Only after the last challenge has been won by the predator, can they both move to Autumn, the season of harvest, where they can finally enjoy the fruit of their passion. Finally, all romances must eventually move to Winter, the season of death, the place where everything must die, including love. Following the Agora, Talia would went her away to win as many romance as she could. Unfortunately, the other kindred found her ... a bit too intense for comfort, her Brujah blood spilling through and she only managed to have a handful.... The rise and Fall of the Piranhas' social club 'The straw that broke the Camel's back' One night, she saw the Tremere Primogen, called Hellenya and Vincent the ventrue one having some kind of debate with frustrated neonates. Why were the elder so harsh with the younger generations of kindred, the neonates asked, to which Hellenya replied that it was to teach them obedience and their true place. Vincent added that, until they prove their worth in their coming decades, they were nothing more than ants compared to them, useful in number for menial tasks but very weak individually. Talia snapped at that last remark and angrily entered the debate, reminding the Ventrue primogen that, sometimes, Neonates can surprise the older generations. Of course, she was referring to the night were she made him lost his temper and won a favor from him for her clan. He would not make that mistake ever again tough, Talia was sure of it and Benedict warned her of that fact. The debate continued for a little while and Talia's closing statement was that neonates were more akin to Piranhas than ants, their fangs were as sharp as any other vampires. Not necessary strong alone but a pack of them could shred any victim rapidly if they all attacked at the same time. Vincent was amused at the remark, amused tough not impressed by any mean of the word. Hellenya simply enjoyed her evening and the impotent wrath of the young Brujah who left the room with anger ... 'United we stand ...' Talia wanted to give those two Primogens a lesson and show them that neonate are perfectly capable of standing against them and their powers. She started to heavily socialize with all of the the other neonates, ,trying to organize a meeting with all of them. She didn't care about clan and things like this, any neonate fed up with the powers that be enough was invited. It would be a mistake she'd pay dearly later. They discussed heavily on what could be done to improve their standing in the city and Talia convinced them that the way to do that was to form a super sized coterie, a collective of sort. Having heard the debate that happened earlier, they christened the coterie 'The Piranhas' social club'. They were a various bunch and almost all of the Camarilla clans were represented, with the noticeable exception of the Tremere, the pyramid holding to much power over their local neonates. Apart from Talia who helped organize the coterie together, the other important kindred present in it were Nathaniel, a young and very ambitious Ventrue who lusted after more power, Maxime, a frustrated Nosferatu who was tired of being in the bottom of the social kindred pole and Camille, a pretty but bored Toreador who was simply in it for the fun of it. All in all, the coterie had more than 15 kindred in it, more than enough to teach the elders a lesson Talia thought. They started by combining their collective might to spread their influence in the mortal world and curry favors from the other Ancillae who, while more powerful individually, simply did not have the time or resources to cultivate the influence among the kine that the Piranhas managed to acquire. The neonates started to progressively grow bolder even going to the point of organizing the equivalent of a 'kindred strike' in order to negotiate better living conditions for them. Talia was sure they would get heavy concession but the way the Primogens and princess were looking at her seemed to indicate they knew something she didn't. She would only discover too late what it was ... '... Divided we fall' During her time with the Piranhas, Talia was surprised to find herself enamored with Nathaniel, especially when he offered her a Blondie theme calendar, meaning he wanted spring to begin between them. In the throes of Romance, Talia did not notice that most of the other Piranhas neonates were being blackmailed to submission by someone, being completely blinded by her youth and passion. When the whole neonate coterie went for the final night of negotation, Nathaniel went his separate way and 'proposed' the other neonates to join him and swear 'just' fealty to their primogens and the prince. Talia watched in horror as most of the other neonates 'flocked' to his banner, the remaining neonates spirits were literally shattered and, not wanting to suffer their elder wrath, joined the ventrue. In one final gesture of insult, Nathaniel destroyed the book he was supposed to give Talia during the last Summer challenge, indicating that their romance was now over, but also that he had used their tryst as a weapon to distract and manipulat her. Talia was now alone, much to the delight of Vincent, the Ventrue primogen, tough Hellenya and Catherine were deeply amused as well by the scene. Nathaniel pleaded that the young upstart neonate should play a heavy price for her rebellion, hinting tough not directly that she be put to death. While most of the primogen were in agreement that punishment should be dealt (with the exception of Benedict of course), they were quite divided as to what form it should take. Catherine, the prince, decided that Talia be stripped of all status, until she decided otherwise, and that everyone could 'have fun at her expense' provided they did not break the traditions to which all the other Primogen acquiesced, Benedict had no choice in the matter. In the coming nights, Talia would be the subject of cruel jokes and insults in court, would have much trouble finding blood as the other kindred regularly stole her preys and found her haven and properties savaged more than once. More to the point, no one wanted to socialize with her, even the other Brujah were bullied into leaving her alone for fear of being subjected to the same treatment. The whole situation felt like an eternal winter to Talia. She felt so depressed that she was considering putting an end to her unlife by meeting the sun for one and final time ... Hope in unlikely places, Vengeance in its proper form 'If you wait long enough, someone will fall lower than you' As a reward for his help thwarting and disbanding the Piranhas and considering he held a lot of sway over most of its former members, Nathaniel received the status of harpy. Talia then realised that the new harpy had blackmailed most of her former comrades into submission and must have had help from at least the Ventrue Primogen, possibly the prince herself. The bullying against Talia continued until, one night, Primogen Hellenya came at court, extremely angry, and dragging a very scared neonate in front of the court. Her clan mate, Grand Harpy Cassandra, was accompanying her. The primogen declared that the neonate, a childe of her named David, was a very sad disappointment to her clan and, to teach him a lesson, declared he was perfectly acceptable prey for anyone who wanted to vent their frustration. This received the approval of the Grand harpy and the other primogens as well, especially double Six, the Malkavian, who was looking at both David and Talia, expecting something ... very amusing to happen. Officially, David was not very good in the art of Thaumaturgy, not ambitious enough for the pyramid and, in general, behaved more like a sheep than a wolf and needed to be taught a lesson. Unofficially, he had screwed up a Tremere operation in the mortal world, where they tried to gain influence on some local institution. And because of his failure, it was the Ventrue who got their piece of that precious pie. The other kindred fell on David like a pack of wolves and dished him the same kind of treatment they gave Talia in the recent past. They had grown a bit bored of bullying Talia and were happy for a new prey to mistreat. Sensing an opportunity to vent some of her frustration, Talia joined the other kindred in their torturing of David, which the other let her. So angry with the way she had been treated, she was even more cruel and vicious than the other kindred who watched her torture poor David with gleeful joy and amusement. Watching the latest 'prank' Talia played on David became the current local 'sport' in kindred court, some favors even being exchanged by betting on the latest form this would take on any given night. Benedict was very worried about his childe, fearing that this path could results in her beast permanently shackling Talia in frenzy, at which point she would have to be put to death. Unfortunately, the angry young Brujah was too frustrated and too happy to discharge her anger on David, to the point he was considering ending his unlife, much as Talia did before and so she refused to heed the counsel of her Sire. During one court, Talia noticed that her Tremere prey was discussing with Benedict. What were they talking about she wondered ? It seemed poor David was begging for support from Benedict. Excellent, she thought and made a mental note of rubbing that fact into David's nose later on which she did, tough something seemed to have changed in him but she couldn't put her finger on what. Then on a fateful night, David took an opportunity to talk to Talia alone. She expected him to beg for his unlife, which she had been looking for, and was very much surprised when David offered her a calendar. In the rules of the four seasons, that meant he wanted spring to begin. After that, he left Talia to her own devices. A couple of other kindred, having seen the scene, came to Talia and explained to her that David was probably trying to seduce her to reverse the roles of prey and predator they both had taken and would probably use that for payback should he succeed. They advised her to take advantage of that situation and to use it to torture David even further by breaking the seduction process at the worst possible moment, according to the rules of the 4 seasons of course ... 'True Hope and hapiness come from the most unexpected places' As per the 4 seasons rules, they first started talking about their views on kine or kindred love. David was slightly more romantic and at the same time inexperienced as Talia had hoped. No matter, she would allow him a little access to her un-beating heart ... only to crush his hopes a little while later. As required by the 4 seasons rules, David had to go through several challenges, to prove his worth to Talia. At first, these would be simple, at the beginning, grabbing a handkerchief she'd drop on the floor, in exchange for a chaste kiss on the wrists. Then the challenges would grow more difficult with time, and each time, as required by the laws of the 4 seasons, the rewards to David would grow bigger. As time went on, Talia noticed a change in David. At first, he was awkward and unsure but grow bolder and more confident as time went on. He met the challenges set by Talia , yet at the same time a lack of confidence remained in him. No matter she thought, for she would give him a trial no kindred in court could succeed : giving her a bouquet of her favorite flowers. Talia knew that only her and her sire were aware what those flowers really were. So she knew that David could never figure it out, a simple yet impossible challenge to meet without knowing about her true self. And it would break the Tremere heart beyond any kindred ability to heal ... or so she thought. Boy was she wrong, it would take some time before she realize that. As the challenges would grow more difficult, so would David demeanor grew more awkward,more unsure, more shy and yet. increasingly more confident at the same time, more than would make Talia comfortable, who was feeling increasingly more uneasy than she would like. On the day of the final Summer challenge, she could feel how David was feeling unsure, yet hopeful at the same time. It made her feel extremely uneasy, like all that she did to David, and the way he way he was acting would blow up to her face. And Boy was she right about that ... just not in the way she thought. On the final night of summer, David invited Talia to a 'special night', proposing her to wear a bandage to her eyes, blinding her to what would happen next. She felt extremely uneasy about that but had no real choice on the matter. What would she do, if she had to give David the last reward of romance, the ones that come during fall ? No matter, she was sure he couldn't give her what she required of him : again ' A bouquet of her favorite flowers'. And again, no one knew about this, except maybe her sire who wouldn't talk about this ... or so she believed. David lead her to a special place in her heart .... her haven. She felt increasingly more uncomfortable and David more shy with each moment … and she would not feel happy about it, no matter how much she wanted to hurt him. When he offered her to open the door to her haven and watch his offering to her,Talia's jaw almost dropped on the floor. Talia was very much surprised to find that it had, not only had a few of her favorite flowers, but was positively packed with them. She looked at her haven in astonishment, than at David, than back to her haven. In addition to the very good flower art in her haven, there was a drawing on the floor, made with petals, where the Tremere and Brujah symbols were linked together, their respective circle being 'bounded' as man and women would be .... if they were in love. Talia was taken by surprise. Apart from her, only Benedict knew about this secret of her and she wondered what kind of favor David offered her sire. She could only wonder about it, yet, at the same time, was impressed by his dedication on their romance. Then she looked at him .... really looked at him. She didn't realized it before, but he was kind of handsome .... or maybe the budding romance and his dedication to it made him look more attractive. No matter, at that very moment, the young Brujah decided that , David the Tremere was worthy of her love. Heck, she was feeling nervous that he would use that opportunity to harm her and negate their budding mutual feeling. So she did the only thing she could. She grabbed David with all her potence, hoping it would deny him the chance to resist, and gave him the most loving, passionate kiss she could muster ... being fearful of his reaction. No matter, David couldn't resist her charm, no more than she could resist his, and they both decided to go to the next step of their romance : Fall where they could reap more fruit than both of them could hope for. It was a joyful season. Neither of them expected that outcome and, as such, reaped more rewards than any of them had hoped for. David turned out to be the 'most inexperienced lover' that Talia had met. A virgin to be sure. Despite the lack of physical pleasure he gave, she felt ... ecstatic , emotionally pleasured. Neither of them would realize it, but their mutual romance would drive them both to greater heights : David to get real status in the Tremere clan and Talia because she would be able to get her true revenge against Nathaniel the Ventrue who had destroyed the Piranha clan and made her an outcast in Brussels. The future would prove that right … 'The weakness in the armor' Talia thought of ways to take revenge on Nathaniel and, at first, she tried various petty things, like savaging some of his property (slashing tires, breaking windows), trying to spread rumors among mortals ('he has syphilis, don't go out with him! ') using her presence. But, not only was it going nowhere fast, it actually put in further jeopardy. Being still the slap bitch of the domain along with Daniel, she had to incur further bullying because of her actions. The kindred had also noticed that she wasn't torturing the young Tremere anymore. Worse, she had even defended him in the middle of court, going as far as threatening a frenzy which the Brujah are famously known for. This gave pause to the other kindred, making them unsure on how to act next. Then, a bit later on, Boomerang, the Brujah that had drunk Talia's blood at the rant, went into disgrace, becoming the next target of the court bullying. This freed both Talia and David's hands. Benedict took the opportunity to talk to her young and hot blooded childe and gave her some advice to achieve her vengeance. She had to act like a kindred, patient, vicious and opportunistic. She also had to examine and know her prey well, trying to find weaknesses where she could or create one if she couldn't. Finally, he made her realize she was under heavy surveillance as Nathaniel was expecting something, so she either had to work around that or use that to her advantage. Hearing her sire,Talia was under the impression that she would need support in that endeavor. She knew David would help but his current status somewhat limited his uses. How about recruiting former member of the Piranhas ? Camille didn't seem happy to see Nathaniel among the harpies and Maxime had been furious of the Ventrue's betrayal. She used David for the recruitment process while Talia, on her side, tried to find a weakness in Nathaniel's armor and didn't find any so far. At the end of their shared autumn and as required by the 4 seasons traditions, Talia went to the head confessor office and was very surprised to see Nathaniel come out of it. Fortunately, he didn't see her ... no it's not that ... he was so caught up in the moment he didn't pay attention. As usual and required by his office, the Head Confessor criticized Talia, reminding her that she was kindred and, as such, should realize these kind of feeling are not something a vampire can truly claim for themselves. Better end it now on a high note ... not like some other kindred who had trouble understanding that lesson. Talia realized he was referring to Nathaniel tough not by name. Now she knew how to strike back ... 'The death of a harpy' Talia had a plan and she explained it to the allies she had gathered, namely : David, Camille and Maxime. She would divert Nathaniel's attention on bogus plans and red herring while the others would work on the real deal. They would have to scour the human world for a woman kine attractive enough she would draw Nathaniel attention and make him woo for her affections. And once he was enthralled by her ... well ... he'd pliable and vulnerable to all kinds of blackmail and manipulation. She had a pretty good idea what qualities such a woman should have : Around 30, from a distinguished background, classy and business like, wealthy and ambitious enough she wouldn't need a man in her life just wanting one, feeling alone and misunderstood by the common people and, of course, beautiful and sexy. Due to her past as an ambassador's daughter, Talia knew the kind of places and businesses where such a woman could be found and she sent the other three kindred on their ways. Nathaniel redoubled his efforts on the surveillance of Talia, the young brujah had been sighted using her presence powers to charm some key influences of the Ventrue's harpy in the mortal world. He took precautions to prevent her from causing troubles there, ignoring where the real danger was coming from. And during that time, double six, the Malkavian primogen, had a strange and frightening smile, tough no one in court knew exactly why. Then, on a fateful night, Camille came along with a video of the 'perfect woman', named Elizabeth de Givenchy. As her namesake indicated, she was the descendant of Hubert de Givenchy, founder of the eponymous company and heir to a noble french family. So she was of a good breeding ... nice ! Elizabeth had a prominent place in a trading company, heck the papers showed she was a major owner of it ... excellent ! And she was a real beauty, the kind you only see in movies or tabloids ... yeah she would definitely do. The whole coterie manipulated events so that Nathaniel and Elizabeth would meet her 'by accident', that is, during a party organized by the kine's company. And they made sure that Nathaniel heard about it, Camille making sure he'd be convinced, if only to network among the mortals or find a suitable chalice for feeding. As expected, Nathaniel found Elizabeth to his taste. What he didn't realize was that they were both being watched by an obfuscated Maxime, taping the whole thing for later use. While enamored, the Ventrue still showed some kind of resistance towards letting him feeling take control of himself so Talia launched her next attack : She convinced Camille to start a short 4 season romance with Nathaniel. She knew that Camille was not immune to Nathaniel's charm, as she had been herself during the Piranhas era. Besides Camille found something deliciously perverse in dragging Nathaniel in a romance with her, only to crush him later. Oh yeah, that would be fun. It would worked better than any of these kindred would expect. One night, during the winter of Nathaniel and Camille romance, the Malkavian primogen gave Talia a visit while she was discussing plans with Camille. They were both surprised to see him and, before anyone could talk, a very excited Maxime entered the room, saying he had excellent news to announce. He was about to keep his mouth shut but Double Six unnatural power of persuasion made sure he confessed what he had just taped. Talia and Camille's jaws dropped when they saw what was on the tape. Double six convinced the both of them to keep their mouth shut and gave them instructions. A few night later, court was being held, with almost all of Brussels kindred present, including the prince and the whole primogen council. After a while, an hypnotized kine went into court and placed a tape into the local video recorder, pressing play under the suspicious gaze of all kindred present. Then, pictures of Nathaniel courting Elizabeth the Givenchy appeared. Then it proceeded with more video of both the kindred and kine and Nathaniel looked so much like a neonate in love, it made the whole primogen council laugh at him in a condescending manner. Nathaniel was furious and about to frenzy but Benedict quickly subdued him. Then more videos were played, similar to the previous ones, and the romance kept going on, and the kindred in court kept laughing. That is, until it showed Nathaniel illegally embracing madame de givenchy at which point, no one was laughing anymore ... except the malkvian primogen double six, who was positively hilarious about the whole affair. He then made a call with his cellphone and, a few moments later, Talia with her companions came into court dragging an embraced madame de Givenchy in court, proving Nathaniel had broken the traditions. The ventrue was harshly punished. At the suggestion of Talia, he had to ash his newly embraced neonate in front of everyone. Then, Catherine de Saint gil, the prince of Brussels, stripped Nathaniel of his harpy position and all status and, at the same time, restored those of Talia and David. Following this event, the whole of kindred neonate came very viciously on the previous harpy and made him feel so bad about himself that, one day, he simply gave up. He wouldn't give the kindred the satisfaction of humiliating him any further and went into the sun one last time to join his departed and beloved Elizabeth de Givenchy. And it was then, that Talia's revenge was complete .... Sabbat Wars 'The worm in the apple' As a reward for exposing Nathaniel's breach of the traditions, Camille was promoted to the now vacant harpy position. Maxime and Talia were assigned as hounds to help the sheriff and, as for David, Hellenya gave him a promotion in the Tremere pyramid, now being responsible for a handful of neonates. Talia and Maxime's promotions were a poisoned gift however, Catherine de Saint gil, prince of Brussels, knew there was a sabbat cell preparing a coup in town. Talia was a problem : she was not only a rebellious rabble, she was also charismatic and devious, as shown by the piranhas incident and the way she disposed of Nathaniel. She hoped Talia would dispatch a few Sabbat while getting herself ashed in the process, killing two birds with one stone as it were. She just couldn't dispose of Talia directly, Benedict would swear eternal revenge if she did and he was extremely dangerous. What she didn't know was that the sabbat had very specific plans when it came to Benedict's brood in general and Talia in particular. On one fateful night, the sabbat started launching direct assault against the local Camarilla, targeting some key mortal influences first, their ghouls and, sometimes, even trying to ash a few vampires by torching their haven. The spin doctors had to work full time to cover this up from the mortal world while the sheriff and his hounds were scouring the city to get rid of those psychotic sabbats. Using her Brujah proclivities for violence, Talia managed to score a handful of kills, but it was only against inexperienced shovelheads. In the shadows, a lasombra named Cervantes della Rovere was watching Talia killing the shovelheads and he was ... enamored with the violence with which she disposed of them. A plan bloomed in his mind, he knew what he wanted to do with this one. And, during one of her patrol, Talia was captured by an experienced Sabbat strike team by staking her and spiriting her away. When she regained consciousness, Talia saw a very happy and frightening Cervantes watching her, along with his pack brothers and sisters ... 'Bound and helpless' She was chained to the wall and she had to listen to Cervantes spewing his hateful propaganda against the Camarilla. He wanted her to join the sabbat, hoping this would break Benedict's spirits once for all. He had a vendetta against him to uphold but, to this day, she never heard the details. Talia had little choice but to play along. She tried to gain the pack confidence by exploiting her real frustation with the Camarilla and the way they treated her and the Piranhas. It worked but only partially and Cervantes wanted a show of good faith on Talia's part. The young Brujah shivered with fear, terrified at what Cervantes had planned for her. They kept her chained to the wall and did not bother to feed her. When she was close to wassail, the hunger frenzy, they presented her with 'a gift', a mortal who she could drink freely from. They brought an old man into the room and, with a surprised and terrified look, she recognized the kine, one of her mortal uncle. Cervantes gave her a choice : Either drink him dry or be ashed where she stood. Suspecting they would kill him if she refused, Talia chose the former option and drained her mortal uncle up until the last drop of vitae, killing him where he stood. Cervantes was satisfied albeit not completely and, with a gesture to his pack, the other Sabbat knocked her out. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in a coffin, buried several feet into the ground. She completely lost her nerve, absolutely terrified and in the verge of going irremediably insane. She could try to claw her way out of the coffin but she could fall into such a frenzy doing so she might lose her humanity. She could wait in the coffin hoping for rescue but she would lose her mind in doing so. Still the idea had some merits. Only one thing left to do : Going into voluntary torpor. She'd never done this before and at the moment before succumbing to the deep sleep, she made a prayer to the gods, begging for rescue ... 'Broken down and final assault' Talia didn't see what was happening outside, being blinded by the drowsiness of torpor. She didn't see her two brood mates Michael and Lea being diablerized by Cervantes as they wouldn't convert or try to pretend they do. She didn't see Armand being buried in the ground same as her and how his mind was literally shattered by the experience. She didn't see Benedict, in the throes of frenzy, ashing Sabbat kindred left and right with the help of his clan mates, and trying desperately to save as much of his brood as he could. But Michael and Lea were dead, Armand was left with the mental acumen of a vegetable and only Talia was left relatively functional ... tough not intact by any means of the word. Being buried alive left her with an acute case of claustrophobia and having bled her uncle dry meant she would never be able to feed from an elderly ever again. And it would take some time for Talia to recover enough from the experience before she could go back to the front-line, the nightmares were really scary ... Despite being broken down, she still wanted to do her part in the battle against the Sabbat and most of the neonates were now too scared to face the seemingly unending horde of the sword of caine. The war was not going well for the Camarilla. Using her natural charisma, boosted by her supernatural Brujah 'charm', she convinced those neonates to band together for protection and maybe to strike back. They discussed in the relative safety of the Elysium on how best to accomplish that. Hellenya and Double six, the tremere and malkavian primogens, took notice as well as Benedict himself and the three of them went to join the neonates in their war council and the all of them devised a plan : The kindred of the Sabbat were simply crazy, too dangerous to face in direct battle, especially now that they had diablerized a few vampire from their rank. But for all his strengths, the sword of Caine had a fatal weakness, The human world. The inhuman ways of the Sabbat were not especially conductive towards manipulating the kine .... or they could but certainly not with the mastery with which the Camarilla can. Under the guidance of the three primogens and their confidence boosted by Talia charisma,, the neonate pack managed to gather a few key influences in the kine world, specifically the office of urban planning. Camarilla intelligence managed to find where the sabbat had their HQ and the three primogens had been training ghouls for the final assault. Using their mortal influence, the neonates 'convinced' the local authority to target the old building the sabbat was using for demolitions and to have the ghouls being assigned to the job. The Sabbat never had a chance, sleeping as they were as the final operation took place at midday. The few sabbat ghouls were quickly dispatched by those of the Camarilla. One of the gas pipe 'accidentally' broke during the operation triggering a fire that would kill all the kindred there. Then all that was left to do was to cover the 'accident' from the mortal world and ash the remaining sabbat who were now disorganized. Only Cervantes would escape with his unlife. And this was the end of the Sabbat war, for now .... Meeting the whitewashers and being sent to London 'Aftermath of the war, discovery of betrayal' The Camarilla realized during the war, that the sabbat was very well informed about them and their movements and it had cost them dearly both in term of influence and kindred lives lost. They had a mole among their rank, they were sure of it. A great inquisition was launched which threatened to turn into a witch hunt. And a lot of vampires were really nervous about it. They needed to find the mole or moles and quickly. Fortunately, the malkavians and double six in particular found the leak. It was none other that Maxime the nosferatu, the hound that was promoted the same time as Talia. It seemed he had grown fed up with the Camarilla and their 'bondage ways' and the Sabbat saw in him a kindred more than willing to convert and betray their former comrades, Talia especially. The young Brujah was furious and literally tore up her way in the sewers of the city but Maxime was nowhere to be found. But he was still in the city the Malkavians were adamant on that point and the local authorities made sure all the exit points were under surveillance. Talia was frustrated by the whole affair and soon tried to forgot about it. As the kindred population was lower than ever, she decided to profit from that fact by feeding excessively, a large buffet of blood might not only help heal her physical scars but her psychological ones as well. She didn't realized Maxime was stalking her. He thought himself lost but, before being ashed, he would deal one last large blow to the Camarilla and their precious Masquerade ... 'Masquerade threat and meeting Zero' Talia was surprised one night when she found out that Maxime had sent her an email ... with plenty of pictures showing her feeding on morals, clear enough that they would be a breach of the masquerade if they were ever posted on the net. Talia was utterly panicked, what should she do ? What COULD she do ? If she went to the primogen council, they might ash her for that and if she didn't, Maxime would post the pictures on the net, shattering the masquerade. As she fearfully balanced her options, she realized Maxime had taken the decision for her, posting the pictures on a private website of his. A few minutes afterwards, the whole site was taken down mysteriously. What game was Maxime playing she thought ? Then her skype account was activated and a cloaked figure appeared on the screen, introducing himself under the pseudonym 'Zero'. He had been monitoring the web and Maxime activity in particular for a while. And he had a proposal for Talia : She could either go after Maxime on her own, risking the pictures being posted again on the net or she could ally herself with him for ... a special project. Not having much of a choice, Talia accepted and zero gave her Maxime's location. In his hurry to breach the masquerade he had been careless enough for Zero to track him on the net. Talia called hammerhead and Boomerang, and the three of them quickly found Maxime in his lair. Before the nosferatu could even react, he was ashed and his lair and equipment toroughly destroyed. The three Brujah received a boon for services rendered but Talia couldn't exactly enjoy her victory, as it had a price tag attached to it which she would have to pay soon ... 'Joining the WhiteWashers' Zero didn't waste time collecting on talia's debt. He organized a video conference between the Brujah, himself and some his associates. Zero presented the group to Talia, naming themselves the 'WhiteWashers', and being a small coterie of kindred concerned that the advances of mortal technology could breach the masquerade in the coming future. Due to her recent experience with being almost revealed to the world as a vampire by Maxime, they didn't have much difficulty convicing her of the threat. Their group was skilled in computer technology and forgery but it was small ... to small for the gigantic task they had set for themselves. They needed help, new recruits for their group, mortal, ghouls and vampire alike. While she might not be he most experienced neonate ever, they found she might have the necessary qualities to convince other kindred to join their cause. Talia accepted and became the newest agent. The first kindred she convinced of the kine technology threat to the masquerade was none other than her sire, Benedict. Double six was the next one ... or more to the point, he was already aware of the WhiteWashers existence and was simply waiting for an offer from them before formally joining the group. And then a couple of neonates, and that's all she could muster in Brussels itself, the rest of the kindred being content to live their unlife in denial of the coming threat to the masquerade. The WhiteWashers were unsure on how to proceed next, then the Brexit happened and they sensed both a danger and an opportunity there. Being of a British origin, Talia was perfectly suited to the job of continuing the recruitment process in none other than England capital, London itself. A bit before going there, she heard that her mother died in a car accident and was surprised that no actual will was left beyhind. She was sure her mother had made one. She was further surprised when she heard that the funds were going to be inherited by an unknown distant french cousin, a girl named Evelyn Flaumel. Her astonishement was complete the next night when the WhiteWashers sent her the necessary paperwork and identity card for her to pass as that Evelyn. As she was in her early forties but still looked like late twenty, she couldn't have inherited those funds without serious problems to the masquerade. Yet those funds could prove useful in London, so they created this new identity for Talia. It was as good as their grand expertise of the whitewashers could make it. And then, she was ready to go to London ..... Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Friday, 21. October 2016, 14:58.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Thursday, 22. September 2016, 18:51 Post #5 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
NOTES (aka miscellanous information). 'Merits and Flaws' Merits : Presitigous sire : Benedict is a very respected and well known member of the Brujah clan, at the very least in Europe and some of that prestige has rubbed off on Talia. It's not all happiness and roses though as this sometimes creates a wedge between her and the other Brujah, sometimes even the neonates of the other clans. Natural Leader : Talia is very good at organizing people into a cohesive whole and blending the collective strength of a coterie towards achieving a goal. Strength in unity is one of Talia's favored motto and used it effectively with the Piranha's Social club even if the coterie would later crumble under Nathaniel's betrayal and the plotting of the elders. Blush of Health : Talia's skin has not been affected by the embrace and looks as rosy and healthy as the day before her embrace, and being noticably warmer than that of other kindred. BabyFace : Talia has managed to retain the body languages cue that mortals use inconsciously. She can breathe withouth thinking about it and has the ability to blush though that comes with its own drawbacks. She sometimes has been mistaken for a kine or a ghoul because of this. Flaws : Prey exclusion Elderlies : She acquired that flaw when she was forced to bleed one of her old uncle dry, when the sabbath tried to convert her to their sect. She will refuse to drink the blood of any elder people and will suffer traumatic flashbacks if exposed too much or frenzy if she is forced to drink the blood of one. Sabbath recruitment target : The sabbath of Talia's home city has an irrational need to try and recruit her. They are trying to track her movements and will offer a substantiel rewards to any sabbath pack that manages to recruit her. (this could be replaced by Setite 'corruption target' so to reduce the workload on mods and implicate the other setites PC in the board). Too trusting : Talia has never felt more alone than since she has been a kindred. She has an irrational need to bond to other kindreds, especially the young ones and can be manipulated quite easily because of that, a canny vampire could exploit that need to get his way and then betray her later and Talia would only notice too late. bad Poker face : Because of the combined effect of Blush of Health and Babyface, Talia can essentially partially behaves like a human, the drawback is that she is also unable to hide her feelings like most kindred can. Worse, her body is very expressive and she has great difficulties hiding her true feelings. In game terms, that means that other characters can use some of Talia's post to assess her mental state, possibly using that against her later. 'Personnality' Talia is generally friendly and sociable, always trying to meet up other kindred, especially in Elysium, and engaging them in conversation on various topics (kindred policy, philosophy, the mortal world, the place of elders and neonates in the camarilla, simple realities of vampiric life, discussing music and fashion, partying, doing sport ... it can varies a lot). On the other hand, and like many of her brethren, she can be irascible and prone to anger when she feels she is being disrespected. She is courteous and well behaved most of the time, due to her strict education by Benedict and Lady Cassandra, the tremere grand harpy of Brussels but also because she wants to give a better reputation to the Brujah clan. She does not consider herself to have many enemies but when she does, Talia aims for a slow and satisfying revenge, taking her time to assess her prey and find their weaknesses ... or trying to create one, like she did with Nathaniel. Despite being relatively popular with the Brujah of Brussels, her kindred nature makes her feel very lonely and she is always eager to make friends ... or more if possible. This makes her way too trustworthy for her own good, especially in kindred circles. Despite having been burned at least a couple of times, she still try desperately to feel an emotional connection to her peers. The most likely way she would like to satisfy her need for companionship while she is in London would be to create a coterie of like minded kindred, not only for political gains but for camaraderie as well. In her mind, neonates are the more likely to fit that bill tough she is open to older kindred should they prove worthy. She will make a point to be often present in Elysium and to meet as many of her London peers as she can, not just the Brujah but the other clans as well. When there and not socializing with kindred, she can be foud reading books or playing various boards games like chess, go or shogi with her Sire, using electronics communication to pass on their respective moves. She is generally a bit more impatient when it happens. Talia often uses expression like 'Bad form' or 'Good form' or 'wise' and 'unwise' when approving or disapproving of other kindred actions or words. Finally, she is found of giving nicknames to her peers, both those she likes and those she hates .... 'Skills' During her mortal years, Talia has acquired good physical skills, like athleticism, gymnastics, swimming and the like. Recently, she started training in parkour, tough it will take some time before she really becomes good at it (still her potence might ease things up). She does have some experience fighting the sabbat, but had to learn it on the field. She has a communication skill degree and followed a two years program on international laws as well. She has worked as a lobbyist for a few years before being embraced. As explained in the merit section, she is quite good at organizing a group towards achieving a specific goal, both in term of motivating people to do it, but also making sure that the respective talents of everyone involved is used to its fullest. Due to the time she spent with Benedict, she knows the rules of some classical board games like chess, checkers, go and Shogi, and a bit of the strategy involved in these games as well, tough she is no international master, far from it. 'Carmella, ghoul' Carmella is a woman in her early thirties that Talia recently ghouled. She is of a mixed Spanish-Italian descent. She works as a freelance sales representative and speaks several languages. Talia choose her because they both have the same body type, height, approximate weight and so on. So they can share clothes and Carmella buys them for her domitor while Talia sleeps during the day. Talia has a respectful relationship with her ghoul but tries to keep the whole affair strictly professional. Carmella would like more from her mistress but for the moment is content to work for her in exchange of blood and the occasional favor. Carmella rarely shows herself to other kindred at the behest of Talia. The Brujah does not want other kindred to use the ghoul against her. 'Views on clans and sect' Brujah : While I like my blood brethen, most of them are simply too unfocused to do something good for a change. If only they could get their head out of their asses sometimes and band together to show what we are truly capable of, it would be a glorious day. Of course, not all of them are like that, like Benedict for example. I am glad I was sired by him. Toreador : Ahhh, the beautiful people ! They may think they have cornered the market on being close to humanity but they couldn't be further from the truth. They're too much focused on some specific aspects of beauty, that they miss the true wonders of the kine, not like we Brujah are able to appreciate. Do not be fooled by their effeminate demeanor tough. They can be as vicious and devious as any other kindred, if not more in some regards. Ventrue : The self appointed 'leaders' of the Camarilla. The say that they rule for the benefit of all kindred while, in reality, they're only in it for their own fucking petty selves. They may be good at acquiring and keeping temporal power, they just suck when it comes to using it responsibly. Oh, and get that broomstick out of your ass will you ? Nosferatu : You heard the gist about them, you probably both scorn them and pity them for what they are until the day you need them and their vast resources of acquired information. And then you don't pity them, you loathe them for the outrageous price they ask of you. Also, you may not like them in general but when a bloody fight is about to break out, you will LOVE them, trust me on that. Finally, they are some of the most mentally resilient kindred I have encountered. Tremere : The Camarilla version of a Trojan horse. Sure they pretend to be staunch supporters of the sect but, in the end, they only dream of a Tremere global empire. Their commands of thaumaturgy is extremely dangerous but don't get fooled into thinking it is their biggest gun, you'd be wrong on that. It is their incredibly focused nature, the pyramid may have its organizational flaws but it frighteningly effective at getting things achieved both locally and globally. Their biggest weakness is their heart. Yes, they have one darling. They try to hide it but living in the pyramid do not leaves many opportunities for friendship and romance, as my dear David taught me. Malkavians : They fucking scare me ! Them, their madness and the sometimes oracular abilities it gives them. I remember one of the first time I met one of the crazy kindred, he was able, under symbolic terms, to tell a lot of my private life : The baby I made with Marco, the suicide of my Father, the death of so many of my blood mates and how it affected me and more .. much much more. Be careful around them, be very careful around them. It is not just that they are literal psychological time bombs, it's that your secrets are never safe when around them. Gangrel : They may seem like simple, savage people whose only strength are fighting abilities, resilience and survival. This couldn't be further from the truth. They can be as manipulative and politically minded as any other vampire. Also, some of the greatest scholars and wisest kindred come from the clan. Benedict certainly thinks so and my own experience confirms that. It seems that my sire owe the knowledge and wisdom of Brujah of old to a Gangrel. The Camarilla : I am a staunch supporter of our sect but do not think that I approve everything that they do. In fact, it's rarely the case. Why do I support it ? Well, so far, it is the least bad form of government to rule over the blood crazed, beast ridden race that is the kindred. They should take more care of their neonates though. If you look closely, the Camarilla is a kind of international scam to fuck over the young ones like me. And when we try to band together, like I tried to do with the 'Piranha social club', they come down on our collective asses with the power and subtlety of hammer smashing a nail. What happens when they come down on the young ones too hard ? Well let me clarify that with the next point ... The Anarch : ... They join the Anarch, this is what happens when a kindred gets too frustrated with the Camarilla, ,and believe me it is not the worst they could do. (sabbath cough!). Each time one does however, it pinpoints a failure in the Camarilla to properly support its weakest members. I do have some sympathy for the Anarch, ,but I find them too ... naive and short sighted to be truly effective. I hear the free Anarch states of California are under heavy pressure and might soon crack. Personally, I think they should have stayed inside the Camarilla to change it from the inside. Evolution not Revolution my dear Anarch friend. The Sabbath : They have to be exterminated from the face of the earth as soon as possible. How does yesterday sound ? Yeah, that's how urgent the situation is, before they permanently shatter the masquerade with their monstrous and irresponsible 'philosophy'. Besides, I have a personal score to settle, they almost shattered my psyche when they buried me in the ground, trying to 'recruit me', they wounded my sire, killed my ghouls, murdered Michael and Lea and left Armand with the mental acumen of a vegetable. Murderous, psychotics assholes ... EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM !!!! 'View of some kindred of Brussels on Talia' Catherine de Saint Gil, Toreador Princess of Brussels : "Oh well, we had some much fun with that upstart neonate. We even managed to use her to deal a blow to the Ventrue and get one of our own clan to the harpies when Talia pushed Nathaniel to the brink of suicide. Well played Talia ... well played indeed. And her rebellious tendencies when she created the 'Piranha social club' ? Smashing it utterly to pieces was so much fun ! I hadn't been enjoyed by a neonate in a long time. Ahhh Brujah, can't live with them but can't live without too. Well, have fun prince Henderson ! I am sure you'll enjoy our little Talia." Vincent de la Marque, Ventrue Primogen of Brussels : " Damn that wretched witch ! We had maneuvered so well to put Nathaniel not only in the harpies but also with an iron fist authority over so many neonates. If only Nathaniel hadn't been so stupid to illegally embrace that whore ! We know Talia played him like a puppet. Damn it so much good work gone to waste because of that witch ! Well she's off the domain, and good riddance to her, she's someone else problem now ..." Hellenya, Tremere Primogen of Brussels : " Being both a neonate and of a prestigious lineage, she's pliable enough to be the doorway for us to manipulate the Brujah in general, and Benedict's lineage in particular. I know she's going to London, I have to make sure to send a report on Talia to Hannah, the local Primogen of our clan. Also, like everyone else in Brussels, we're fully aware of her mutual feeling with our bloodmate David. Hopefully, Hannah can leverage this to our clan benefit, I'll make sure she realize that in my report. You see Benedict, you may be tough, wise and politically dangerous, but your progeny ... that has always been your Achilles' heel..." Isabelle 'boomerang' Charpentier, Brujah Neonate : " Damn it, she got the best sire, the best training and the best status any neonate of the city can dream of. And on top of that she get the best romance a kindred could hope for with David ? Frankly, part of me is jealous of that upstart, sellout bitch. The other remembers fondly the time of the Piranhas's social club, and when we were strong enough to rub it in the elder faces. Of course that didn't last. Bitch ! You created false hopes in us. I hope you suffer in London ... hum ... when are you coming back ? Damn it I am conflicted ..." Cervantes della Rovere, Lasombra Bishop : " Damn, she's a slippery one. But think of the big blow we could strike in the Brujah Camarilla should we manage to convert her to the righteousness of the Sabbath ways and then have her kill Benedict. This would be a glorious day for the Sabbath ! Now go forth and inform our brothers and sisters in London that there is a new Camarilla slave coming their way that really needs to have her chains broken up for good ..." Notable Kindred of Brussels Brujah 'Benedict, Talia's Sire, Brujah Primogen' ![]() Not a lot is known about Benedict mortal past except that he was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars at the time. He was utterly gutted by the complete defeat french had suffered at the conclusion of the war and, soon after, a kindred woman named Eleanor found herself enamored with Benedict and embraced him out of passion. The relationship turned sour and Benedict promised himself he would never do like his sire and would only embrace worthy mortals, and only after a careful and lengthy evaluation. Due to his military background and Brujah blood, he ended up as the bodyguard and sheriff of the current prince of that time, a Ventrue named Camille Duschene. The Ventrue, it seemed, took a perverse pleasure in having such a Brujah under her control. The Brujah was incredibly frustrated by the situation and bade his time until he could be free of Camille. In the meantime, he rapidly became a fearsome combatant and a very skilled and competent bodyguard. But he was more than a regular Brujah brute, he was charismatic as well and used that fact to garner support among the other kindred of the city, hoping to overthrow Camille one day. It would come but it would also cost the domain of Brussels dearly as the upcoming event would show. Then a handsome Ventrue and a beautiful Tremere fell in love with each other. Their names are not know, the local kindred having done their best to erase them, being simply known as the puppeteer and the witch. They both swore an oath to each other, that one day, they would both rule the city and to seal their oath, they fully blood bonded themselves to each other. It worked very well at first as they both arose to the position of primogens of their respective clans. Manipulated by Camille, their mutual love transformed into intense feeling of jealousy and hatred and, unable to hurt each other, turned their anger and frenzy towards the rest of the city population, both kindred and kine. Due to their combined influence and powers over the other vampire, this quickly turned into open chaotic war. Sensing an opportunity, Benedict banded what kindred he could find into a coterie to neutralize both the lovers, but the prince Camille as well, which they did successfully. There were so many dead kindred that night, that this day is sometimes referred as the Friday of ashes. All members of Benedict coterie seized their respective clans position of primogen and still hold it to that day. The carnage disgusted Benedict to the point he renounced physical violence, unless absolutely necessary. He was also sad to realize that the Brujah was somehow ... a fallen clan. He had been a thug and a brute himself. Was this all that Brujah could become he wondered ? He then set up to search for a different path. He looked into the past, trying to see were things got wrong for his clan and, one day, a Gangrel historian sold him ancient scrolls describing the history of Brujah of old. At that moment, when he read about the warrior poets and philosopher kings of ancient time, he knew what he wanted to do : Restore these honorable titles to the clan. First, he had to acquire the wisdom and philosophical savvy required for this. He sharpened his mind and debate abilities, launching inter cities rant with the other Brujah, who started to notice and respect him. He started to use Brussels as a base of operations to organize the Brujah throughout the Benelux and, to date, his biggest coup was to organize the praxis seizure of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by installing a Brujah prince on the throne, further cementing his popularity among his clan. He then started with the next step of his plan : Embracing new worthy neonates and educating them in the ways of old ... or at least the way he understood the ancient Brujah wisdom, his knowledge being still somewhat limited in that area. Talia was one of the latest recruit tough, with the deaths of Lea and Michael, and the psychological destruction of Armand, he is seeking to embrace new mortals, which he will do soon. Recently, he noticed some changes in Catherine de Saint Gil, the Toreador Prince he helped gained the throne, noticing she was growing distant, bored and very cold, even by kindred standards. The vampire of the city were expecting a violent and sudden change in the power structure very soon. Some expected he would take the throne himself, tough that's the last thing he wants. Other think it will be Hellenya, the Tremere primogen and the rest bet on Vincent de la marque, the Ventrue one. Benedict is somewhat relieved to see Talia go to London because of this, away from the madness that is to come. But he will try his best to prevent the violence. He is somewhat leery of Hellenya, suspecting the witch will try to leverage Talia's feeling for David, her tremere lover, to manipulate her and, through this, Benedict himself towards giving her his support in the praxis seizure of Brussels. What Hellenya doesn't realize tough, is that David owe a lifeboon to Benedict (tough it has not been registered to Lady Cassandra, the old Brujah relying on David youth and sense of honor to uphold it). Oh god, such madness to come. The Malkavian primogen, double six, certainly seemed to think so and was expecting it with gleeful joy. Oh god, such madness to come .... 'Boomerang, Brujah neonate (nearing ancillae status') ![]() Isabelle Charpentier (that's her true name) looks like a young girl in her late teen, very early twenties at the most. She has a very slim figure, not the modern one where you starve yourself to death to look good, but the one of after the second world war. Despite that look, Isabelle tries to be fashionable, albeit in very modern, rebellious brujah way, dying her hair in unnatural colors (generally electric blue) and wearing up to date, yet gothic clothes, favoring black jeans and leather. The makeup and lipstick follow the same pattern. Isabelle is very impatient, nervous, unsure of herself and vengeful. She takes the smallest slight very seriously and makes it a point to follow the 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' to the spirit of the letter. Unfortunately for her, she is just not very good at getting revenge. She is so clumsy in that endeavor that it often ends up backfiring in her face, like a weapon she throws towards her ennemy but that ends up going back to hurt her. That specific trait earned her the nickname of 'Boomerang', one that she hates with passion, yet everyone seems to be using, much to her disapointement. She both scorns and likes Talia, scorning her for her 'apparent deception' during Talia's first rant, yet liking her at the same time because of the forming of the Piranhas social club but also because she has a first stage blood bound to her. 'HammerHead, Ancillae' ![]() Hammerhead was embraced a few years before the second world war. He didn't take much part in it , his sire suggesting him to keep a low profile. He was more than a bit bitter about it but there was little he could do about the situation. When the dust settled, he felt so alone that he was willing to give the embrace to anyone who would cross his path. This would be none other than a certain Isabelle Charpentier, a girl who was scoffing under the pressure of her family to 'marry well'. Sensing the young girl willingness to 'break her chains', he gave her the embrace. During that time, he took an interest in everything that had a fuel engine, most notably bikes. And to this day, he is one the most knowledgeable kindred in Brussels when it comes to maintaining or repairing a broken engine of any sort. As years went by, he became increasingly frustrated with the way things were done in Brussels Kindred circles. So much limitations, so little freedom. Yet, he had too much respect for Benedict to act directly against it, tough, from time to time, he does 'subtly' works to undermine the very strict rule of Brussels. He always stays close to his progeny, Isabelle, better known as 'Boomerang', and tries to protect her from her decisive lack of vengeance skills. Like Boomerang, he has first stage blood bound to Talia but unlike his younger childer, does not bear her any ill will, feeling some kind of brotherly love to her ... even if it does express itself in very crude ways sometimes. Mostly, he does it by drawing very erotic looking pictures he draws of Talia, his most noticeable 'art' being on the the T-shirt Talia received from Hammerhead during her first rant. He is very well built, tall, mean and dangerous looking with a long beard, tough he can be very mellow to those he truly likes. His name Hammerhead comes from the tendencies he has to 'head butt' anyone he doesn't like. They are very effective by the way, more than they should be from a mortal his stature. This is because he learned a bit of fortitude to shrug the damage from his own headbutts. Tremere 'Hellenya, Tremere Primogen' ![]() Hellenya has acquired her primogen title at the same time as the other, namely after the destruction of Camille and the cursed lovers during the friday of ashes. She is petite, with dark brown hair, quite beautiful and fashionable, and favors suits made completely of shining leather. She is not only a fearsome master of thaumaturgy, she is also very skilled in the ways of the Jyhad, or danse macabre as other name it. She is extremely demanding of her subordinates, asking them not just to be good, but to be exemplar of the kindred race. Very regularly, young Tremere who do not fit that description get thrown out to the wolves at court and Hellenya gives her full support to other kindred to humiliate such a disappointement to the clan. The latest victim of that 'tradition' was David. She somehow expected him to break up and commit suicide and was very surprised when, after his romance his Talia, he became more confident and sure of himself, scoring a few decisive victory for the clan. Having noticed Talia 'sympathies' for the young Tremere and eyeing hungrily on the throne of Brussels, Hellenya sees in their relationship a perfect opportunity to remove the last obstacle to her inevitable praxis seizure of the domain : Namely Benedict. The old Brujah is a staunch supporter of the status quo but, through Talia, he could be manipulated or forced to give her his full support in the coming war for the throne. Benedict may be wise, powerful and intelligent but Talia, his last remaining childe, is by all meaning of the words, is Achilles' Heel. She will make sure that Hannah, the Tremere primogen of London, as well as any other high ranking member of the clan, like Grand Harpy Wilke, are aware of her plans for Talia. She will try to convince them to help her in that endeavor by promising to richly reward them once she has successfully become the prince of Brussels. 'Cassandra, Grand Harpy' Lady Cassandra (true name unknown) was the daughter of moderately wealthy Dutch traders. She was raised her whole life with the idea to become a well bred, well behaved woman and to be wed to a respectable man of good status, hopefully increasing the family fortune in the process. She was not altogether to happy about it but, considering the status of women at the time, had little choice in the matter. She thus had a very strict upbringing, how to dress, how to behave, how to bow, how to speak properly. She was chaffing under the pressure but decided to make the best of it. Men of the time indeed reacted well to her well behaved charms and she was on plan of marrying someone not only rich and powerful, but also one she would be able to make dance like a puppet. However that changed, when Hellenya noticed not only the ambition of the young women, but also the consummate skills she had in the art of protocol. The city of Brussels was just recovering from the Friday of ashes and, while the council had been fully formed, they still needed to fill a couple of positions, notably the Grand Harpy and the keeper of Elysium. Thanks to Cassandra skills and the manipulation of her Sire, she first landed the position of harpy, becoming the grand one after her predecessor was tricked into a serious breach of protocol, which Cassandra was quick to point out to the primogens, a position she still keeps to this day. Lady Cassandra is known to be a very fierce, very demanding Harpy. Any slightest breach of protocol is quickly noticed and properly punished. She is also very keen on kindred properly following the tenets of the 4 seasons, tough she rarely engage in romance herself. She regularly forces group of neonates to follow her lessons in proper kindred behavior tough on these occasion she deliberately obscure the finer points only touching on the big subjects. The reason she does that is to create possibilities for neonates to screw up and then having them owing small boons to the Grand Harpy, boons she used to further the Tremere goals. She sometimes gives private, intensive lessons to certain neonates, and this is considered a great honor, albeit a double edged one. This is because when the grand harpy does so, she also engages her own reputation in this. So she makes sure those neonates are well prepared, and every attention is given to details. Generally, only neonates sired by prominent kindred receive those lessons, as their sire are the only ones to be able to afford Cassandra's price. Her latest pupil has been Talia and boy did she had trouble with this one. She was leery of training a Brujah but owed such big favors to Benedict that she had no choice but to accept. As Talia kept screwing up during the debates with the Ventrue primogen, she had to redouble effort and give Talia special training in 'social combat'. Fortunately, the young Brujah ended up understanding the lesson scoring not only a boon for the Brujah clan but also further cementing Cassandra reputation as a great grand Harpy. Lately, she has been scoffing at the increasing lack of respect for protocol in the other domains and she hopes Grand Harpy Wilke will become a worthy analogue to her in London. The reputation of clan Tremere is at stake... 'David, neonate' David was a nobody in his mortal life and, due to lack of ambition, became a modest paper pusher in an administration, despite being blessed with great intelligence. He had very few friends and lacked contact with his family. His loneliness and intelligence made him the perfect target for recruitment, tough they had to force the vampiric curse on him. He was not altogether too happy to be a vampire but, unfortunately, he had to go with the flow, not wanting to get ashed by his superiors. It became rapidly apparent that David lacked the ambition of a good Tremere, a fact that Hellenya ended up being aware of. As a test, he was sent to infiltrate a mortal administration, the one dealing with population census, but, due to lack of decision, was beaten to it by a group of experienced ventrue neonates. Hellenya was furious and 'threw him to the wolves' as is her tradition. As explained before, while Talia first took every opportunity to humiliate David, the both of them would become lovers. This would boost his confidence to levels he hadn't know before. As he is somewhat leery of the creepiness of Thaumaturgy, he decided to hone his auspex and dominate levels as high as he could, and this is where his intelligence really shined. Using his newfound powers, he corrected the mistake by not only regaining control of the office of population from the ventrue but gaining some insight on their whole kine operation as well, knowledge which Hellenya used to deal a blow to the blue blood, further increasing the Tremere hold on the city. Hellenya thinks she has complete control over David, however she doesn't know that the young Tremere contracted a life boon to Benedict, which happened when he begged the Brujah for help with dealing with his situation in general, and Talia's constant humiliation of him in particular. As a reward for his efforts, David has been given authority on a handful of recently embraced neonates, training them in the arts of both Auspex and Dominate for future operations in the city. David is aware of Hellenya intentions towards Talia and Benedict. And while he is loyal to the clan, he is still somewhat conflicted about the whole issue. Still he hopes the Tremere of London will be smart enough to 'convert' Talia in a hopefully soft manner and that Benedict will willingly give his support to Hellenya claims to the throne. But he is not too optimistic about it. He misses Talia greatly and wants to visit her in London, but Hellenya keeps him so occupied he won't have that opportunity for a long while. The Tremere primogen would prefer the reverse to happen, that is Talia visiting him back in Brussels so that she has tighter control on the outcome. On the other hand, and if her primogen analog of London requested it, she might sent David to London to help both with Talia but also anything Hannah would require of him if only to keep a good working relationship with Primogen Hannah. She is asking for her help after all .... Malkavian 'Double six, Malkavian Primogen' ![]() No one in Brussels know the true name of Double six, or if they do, they don't speak it aloud. This suits Double Six just fine. In addition to suffering from bouts of irrationality, Double six is also a notorious gambling addict, especially dice games like craps. Some suspect that's how he got his nickname. He always has a pair of dice on him, throwing them at the drop of hat and basing some of his decision on the seemingly random results of them. What few know is that Double Six is an extremely good cheater and can practically get any results he wants on two dice, provided he had some time to get accustomed to them. Double six is renowned for his particularly perceptive nature, managing to discovers secrets about kine and kindred better left uncovered, but always using symbolic term to describe them. This ability has been further enhanced when he recently acquired to power of eyes of chaos. He is staunch supporter of Benedict, appreciating not only the wisdom and political savvy of the old man, but also the ... crazy nature of the Brujah. According to him, Brujah are not that different from Malkavians, they just suffer from a very specific form of madness. He sometimes refers to the clan as 'our cousins'. He is somewhat found of Talia, which he nicknamed 'Snake Eyes'. When people ask him why he gave that name, he simply replies by frenetically throwing his pair of dice around, and they will always score a double one. The attention he gives Talia, is not always a good thing for the young Brujah tough. Still, Double six will make sure to keep tabs on 'Snake Eyes' although in a somewhat limited manner compared to the other primogens. He senses the future political upheaval about to strike Brussels and can't wait to see it happens ... 'Zero, Malkavian, member of the WhiteWashers' ![]() Zero is a Malkavian suffering from an acute case of fear of crowds (or Agoraphobia if that's the correct term). Due that particular disability, he was far removed from usual kindred politics and led a very solitary unlife. Because of this, he took particular interest in communication technologies. As his true age is unknown, it is difficult to know with which one he started, some saying he started at the baby age of computer science, other saying he is as old as telegraph technology. The only thing that matters is that he quickly became proficient with everything internet related. With time, he started to realize how dangerous those things were to the masquerade and kindred society at large and he gathered a few like minded vampires to work on the problem. But the task ahead is so large and their numbers so few that he decided to focus more heavily on the recruitment process, which lead him to persuade Talia to join their group, which they christened 'WhiteWashers'. Zero location and true name is unknown, as well as his political affiliations ... if he has any at all. He is willing to work with any kindred with a deep respect for the masquerade, no matter what clan or sect they belong to ( tough to date, no Sabbat has ever joined the WhiteWashers). He wants to use London as a 'prototype' for a project he has in mind. It aims at the creation of false, yet believable identities for kindred. With the current trends of technological evolution, he has a hunch that now is the time to act. Also, he hopes the kindred of London will realize that this might be an opportunity for them to boost their personal power, by selling ID and gaining boons in return. Only time will tell if Zero was right ... Toreador 'Catherine de Saint Gil, Prince of Brussels' ![]() Catherine de Saint Gil came from a minor noble family in France and was embraced soon after the French revolution. Her sire gave her a choice to either be embraced or be left to be guillotined. Wanting to live, she of course chose the former. She quickly adapted to her new condition but, after a major disagreement with her sire, had to leave her home city. She settled for Brussels. She was very critical of Camille Duschene reign and noticed Benedict's reluctance of being the prince's right arm and sheriff. She slowly but surely started to build a power base in the city, both with kine and kindred. When the Friday of ashes was upon the city, she joined Benedict's coterie and after the dust settled, lobbied for the prince position. Many of the kindred expected Benedict to take the position but he refused and gave his support to her. Neither Hellenya nor Vincent de la marque the ventrue primogen wanted her on the throne, but they were out-ruled by the others. While she is a fierce ruler, her power is somewhat counterbalanced by those of the primogen council and she has been overruled on occasion. Despite this, she remains the most powerful and older kindred of the city. Over time, she grew somewhat bored with the constant demands of her position, leaving more and more of the day to the day operations to the other primogens. Still she does keep a close tab on them, waiting for any opportunity to humiliate or manipulate them, which happens from time to time. She is a blood addict and feed more than necessary, sampling all the different kind of human blood but animal blood as well. For the animal blood, she likes the rare and exotic kind : Komodo dragon, birds of paradise, cheetah, panthers and the like. For that last part, she has managed to get the other primogens to both taste it and like it and a black market for this kind of blood started to develop. It is one of the most direct and guaranteed way to get minor boons from the prince and her council of primogens. Lately, she has become even more distant and colder than usual which causes the other primogens and kindred much grief. There is growing discontent towards the prince because she refuses to take firm action against the latest development in the kine world : Terrorist attacks, increased police vigilance, more and more common traffic jams (which can sometimes be dangerous for kindred) and more. But she doesn't care and prefers to drink blood in a progressively more vicious and painful ways, unknowing about the possible coup d'etat to come, or more likely not caring about it, thinking she'll have no problem thwarting it. Like most of the primogen, she is petite. She favors early twenty century fashion and beautiful hat with flowers. She always speak about herself in plural and can speak quite a lot of languages, more so than any of the primogen (despite being quite the polyglots themselves). Ventrue 'Vincent de la marque, Primogen' ![]() Unlike many of his clan mates, Vincent de la marque does not hail from either a noble or wealthy family, a fact that still haunts him to this day. Despite being low born, he was both ambitious and determined to achieve wealth and status. As he couldn't do it the 'normal' way, he instead choose a life of thievery instead and, soon, became the head of a very violent and successful criminal organization. His future sire took notice of that mortal ruthlessness and leadership abilities and offered him a place at her side. She was none other than Camille Duschene, the ventrue prince Brussels herself. Vincent was very happy to finally be 'ennobled' as one of the blue bloods and took the family name of 'de la marque' at this time, renouncing his former name. But it was not enough for him and he yearned for more. He kept increasing his influence on the criminal elements of the city, being opposed in that endeavor by the Brujah. When the Friday of ashes came, Vincent knew his time had come and gladly offered his assistance to the coterie of Benedict in exchange for a place in the future council of primogen. With time, he became the most powerful primogen of the city, but not so powerful enough that he could oust Catherine de Saint Gil. Noticing the growing inhuman and distant nature of the Prince, he started gathering support for the future upheaval to come and, for a time, became one of the most likely to be elected Prince, should Catherine be removed from power. Unfortunately in recent years, he has suffered more than one setback which gradually started to dilute his power and influence. In addition to the losses inflicted on him by Talia and David, the Tremere stole a lot of mortal influence away from him, especially from the criminal elements, which had traditionally become one of his main source of influence. And so, after Benedict, Hellenya took the lead on him on being the most likely primogen to become Prince, in the event that Catherine is outsed. This is making him furious but, for the moment, there is little he can do about it. He is aware of Hellenya plans on Talia and would very much like to sabotage them ... Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Saturday, 22. October 2016, 12:38.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Monday, 26. September 2016, 13:45 Post #6 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
Last changes : 22th October : - Added entry on Zero - Added Carmella (ghoul) and skills section - Added pictures for zero and vincent - READY FOR SUBMISSION, will post it soon ![]() 'Change Log' 21th October : - Did a few corrections for sobpelling mistakes, missing or wrong words or the like in the whole application. - This application is almost ready, nothing major to add except maybe a paragraph or two about the whitewashers in general and zero in particular. Should post the formal applicationn today or tomorrow. 14th October - added a couple of entries in kindred of brussels (only one small left to do). - Corrections to history incoming, like spelling and missing or bad words. 11th October : - Completed Benedict entry, and added those of the Malkavian and Tremer primogen of Brussels. -10th October : - Finished Sabbat war section. - Finished the WhiteWashers section and with it the first draft of the whole history section almost ready to submit. - To come : description of Benedict, the WhiteWashers and some of the custom and kindred of brussels. 5th October - Started Sabbat wars sections. Added two chapters 4th October - Added 'Weaknes in the armor' paragraph in the current section. More to come today. - Finished the part about Talia's revenge on Nathaniel : sabbat wars sections coming soon anh d next - Notes : sabbat wars should be the last long section and probably shorter than the previous one. 30th September - Added a section before the Piranha one, and some stuff from the latter were moved to the former. - Finished the 'Rise and fall of the Piranhas' Social club' section. - Other sections to come before closing history are : The one dealing with the aftermath of the fall of the piranahs and the meeting with David, The Sabbat wars and Meeting the whitewashers. - Added a paragraph in the section dealing with the aftermath of the fall of the piranhas. - I am such a klutz that there were many spelling and typos mistakes in the last written section, sorry about that And they are probably not all corrected. -> And yet some more corrections. I really went too fast on that section 28th September : - Added the first two chapters in the Piranhas' social club section 26th september : - Added 'ranting and raving with the rabble' part 1 and 2 sections. Still not finished but should wrap the first version soon. - Finished the 'ranting and raving with the rabble' part 2. - Broke up the story into shorter paragraph in various section to avoid walls of text and for ease of reading 24th September 2016 : - Started the kindred years, the training and virgin incident sub sections were added. - Added 'lessons in etiquette and social combat' section. 23th september 2016 : - Added a bit of information concerning the 'prestigious sire' merit and how this could cause Talia to become a pawn in the danse macabre. - Added views of other vampires in Brussels about Talia, hopefully some of it can be used to create plots and intrigues in danse macabre, especially the Tremere plan to manipulate Talia's feeling for David to their advantage. - Finished the adult and embrace section, on the kindred years ( at last! )22th September 2016 : - Finished first draft of University years section, on to Ault years and the embrace. Kindred years should be started this week-end. - Added view on clans and sect section - Reworked the Merits and Flaw section - Added a few ideas to Kindred ideas section below, mostly the piranha coterie and the rules almost forbidding kindred romance 20th September 2016 : - Continued university years section, coming to a close and almost ready to start the embrace and kindred years. 19th September 2016 : - Finished the first draft of the 'life as a kid and teenager' part of the history section. On to university years. - Started university years, still need to brainstorm a few ideas on that front. - continued university years, decided talia will go for a lobbyist career. 18th September 2016 : - Been a while since I updated this due to RL. Anyways, added a bunch of history ideas in its dedicated section below this post. Should help when actually doing the real history first draft, especially since I have a few ideas. - Added Merits and flaw sections in Notes. - added a few more ideas in history ideas. - Corrected some of the many spelling mistake in history ideas section. - TO DO : Finish first draft of Human history as I now have all the required events I want to put there. Still need to work on organizing a few more ideas for the kindred part but I am not lacking ideas in that department (need to add more events for Talia's training with her sire as well as the 'oppositionist' section i.e. kindred sports.) - Added the claustrophobia derangement. - Reformated the ideas section as I realize it was all mixed up in the display. 1st September 2016 : - Started the 'identity card' for Talia - Started doing the kids and teenage year part. - Created first version of the haven (there might be some issues with it, also it might be easier to make it in a basement flat instead of a very small old basement warehouse. Overall this section will likely need heavy rework.) 'ideas for Human part' Human Created jeudi 15 Septembre 2016 -Took theater classes to learn to speak well and fight her shyness. -Got pregnant at the age of 15 with Marco, her parents then put her in another school and put pressure on Marco's parents to prevent the two lovers from pursuing their romance. -In her new school, she suffered much from the other teenagers, being '15 and pregnant' before MTV lauch a similar show. While at first she had to shrug the humiliation, she started to socialize with the social outcast of the school, then the less so and so on, each time getting a bit more confident in herself, so confident, she felt comfortable enough to apply for 'President of the senior' on her last year of high school. As there were more outcast than popular people at school and considering that even some of the popular ones voted for her, Talia got the post as president of the senior which boosted her confidence to sky high. Drunk on her newfound popularity and self assurance, she guided the other seniors towards a very fulfilling last year of school. Everything they did, both parties and pranks towards the school staff, they did together under the aegis of her new leader. - Wanted to do political sciences, but couldn't due to peer pressure from her parents and the rest the world ( a word which was not really ready for a woman politician, despite the success of margareth tatcher). She settled for a communication degree instead. - Had a lot of fun during her college years. She made many friends and participated in many a rally, fighting for causes close to her heart, including : Fight against poverty, curbing the ever increasing power of the multi nationals and reducing the global warming effect. She discovered she was very good at rallying people to her cause and organizing them toward her goals. She realized she had real leadership capabilities. - Worked as a lobbyist using the contact her father allowed in the European parliament in order to effect 'changes' to the world as much as she could. At first, she tried working towards ethical goals but soon find herself slowly drifting towards global companies goal. The money was good, very good indeed, but it left her unfulfilled, and one day she blew everything away with her resignation letter, not wanting to 'sell her soul' anymore. And that's when her future sire came along. Impressed with her drive, passion and the willingness to throw a good career away in favor of her idealism, he offered her the embrace. - As the choices were to accept or die, she willingly let herself be damned in the Brujah and boy at the time, it felt really good to do so ..... 'ideas for Kindred part' Tried to have a mortal lover during her early years, against her sire advice, which heavily backfired when she tried to have sex with him for the first time. Benedict had to dominate the kine into thinking he had fucked a virgin. She suffered harsh punishment for that both from her Sire and the other Brujah. Tried to band the neonates together in a 'super coterie' to coax favors for the young kindred in the city. This eventually backfired when she was betrayed by one her coterie mate, Nathaniel, a ventrue who offered his services to the prince in exchange for a spot in the harpies, money, and some prestige. The city in which Talia lived most of her kindred years had very harsh rules about kindred romancing each other. In fact, this was officially forbidden after a couple of lovers nearly breached the masquerade after a frenzy triggered by intense feeling of jealousy they both felt. Unofficially, it is still possible but only by following a very strict, heavily codified set of rules, collectively known as the 4 seasons of passions, created and overviewed by the Toreador and enforced by the Nosferatu. Breaching the rules can carry heavy penalty from loss of status to outright final death. The main rules are : Only one romance at a time, all romances must eventually die and no mutual blood bonding is ever permitted (no exception on that last rule, this is the most likely way a romance can earn you final death.) The 'super coterie' was named the Piranha social club. The name came after a heated exchange between Talia and an elder or very experimented ancillae who compared neonates to a pack of ants. Talia responded that Piranah was a more accurate description, not so dangerous alone, but they can bite as hard as any other vampire and when working collectively can be as dangerous as a pack of Piranha rapidely eating any form of prey. When she created the coterie together, she told of that story and the name stuck to the coterie up to the day it was disbanded. Nathaniel managed to blackmail most of the neonate coterie into servitude, which increased his power in the city, and effectively broke up the spirit of the remaining neonates, leading to the dissolution of the coterie. She was heartbroken and spirit low after that. The newly appointed harpy Nathaniel was absolutely relentless in dragging her reputation down. She felt so powerless at that time. Worst of all, no one would romance such a lowly neonate on the very bottom of the kindred social pole. It was at that time that she saw David, a tremere neonate during one of the parties organized in elysium. David was currently disgraced by his tremere superiors. They were disappointed by his lack of ambition and weakness in the ways of thaumaturgy. They wanted to teach him a lesson and demeaned him in public with the help of the harpies and encouraged the other kindred to do the same. Talia jumped at the chance, for once, she was not the one being targeted and she was vicious and relentless in that regard. David was on the verge of a mental breakdown much to Talia's pleasure. The Brujah was then very surprised when David suddenly and unexpectedly offered her a calendar indicated he wanted to start a romance with her. This eventually led to one of the best tryst Talia ever got in her unlife, boosting her confidence at that of David, so that they both found the strength to avenge themselves. Talia later took her revenge on Nathaniel, by 'recruiting' a kine woman perfectly suited to his tastes with the help of Camille, a Toreador, and Maxime, a Nosferatu. Using their combined talents, they put a beautiful woman, x Givenchy, in Nathaniel's arm, who fell in love with the mortal. They had Camille do the 4 seasons of passion with the Ventrue, to put him in the mood, Talia used her money and connections to find x Givenchy and maneuvered to have the woman 'accidentaly' meet the ventrue during a business meeting, and Maxime shadowed Nathaniel under cover of obfuscate to tape the whole affair. The goal was to create a point of weakness in Nathaniel's social armor, someone they could threaten to blackmail the Ventrue. It worked better than expected when Nathaniel broknoe the traditions to illegally embrace madame givenchy. They just had to anonymously send the tape to the authorities. Due to Nathaniel's high ranking in the city, he was not put to death but had to send his beloved to final death himself which completely broke him. He lost his harpy position and soon felt prey to his former neonates 'thralls' hate and was harassed almost continuously. Eventually, he could no longer go on and committed suicide by going into the sun, to join his beloved in final death. Following these events, Camille was promoted to Harpy, taking the spot of Nathaniel, and Talia and Maxime were assigned as the Sheriff's aide. The prince of the city was leary of Talia and, having heard of a coming Sabbath invasion, hoped the Brujah would meet her death in the coming battles. Assigning her to aid the Sheriff might help toward that regard. Talia organized the other neonates in teams with the help of her sire, the latter using his vast experience to train them in battle and physical disciplines. They some success at fighting the shovelheads, destroying several pack of them as the sabbath were way to inexperienced to fight in a cohesive manner unlike their camarilla counterpart. Talia herself managed a few personnal kills and this helps her improving her potence and celerity. She started to get closer to Maxime during their time together as brother and sister in arm and she confided innocuously some details about her and her bloodline. What she didn't realize yet at the time was that Maxime was going to betray her to the sabbath and join the sect himself, acting as a de facto mole for the Black Hand. When the sabbath finally struck directly at her, Talia was caught in a surprise attack. Expecting to die, she was surprised when they instead captured her. They had heard about her famous lineage and wanted to struck a blow at the Camarilla Brujah by recruiting Talia, destroying her humanity and then throwing her against her sire and the other kindred of the city. Talia was put in a very difficult position, she could try to flee but they were too many of them, some probably better at celerity then she was. She decided to bid her time and play along for the time being. Most member of the sabbath pack wanted to put her through the shovelhead procedure immediately. As a response, Talia tried to play the card that she already was a kindred and certainly worth more than a common shovelhead. She tought it might help buy her some time. It would unfortunately backfire later. For the time being,, she was chained and forced to feed on rats ... and not enough of them at that. It left her very very thirsty and hungry for blood. That's when the sabbath pack decided to launch their offensive to destroy her humanity. They had captured one of her uncle who was, by now, a very aged man and they gave Talia a choice : Either to die or Kill her uncle by drinking his blood. Wanting to live, she choosed the later much to the amusement of the sabbath pack who to 'reward her', buried Talia in a coffin into the ground, hoping that would be the killing blow to her precious humanity. When she woke up in the coffee, Talia literaly screamed in terror and her psyche was fast going down the drain towards madness. Again she was faced with a choice, either dig up and lost her humanity in the process or stay in the ground and lose her sanity. She needed another option and found one. Unfortunately it was a temporary one at best and she hoped the cavalry would soon show up. And it did. A coterie of camarilla warrior led by Talia's Sire had finally found where the sabbath pack lurked and in a swift and extremely violent fashion destroyed them all. Talia's sire was worried sick about his childe, fearing the worst for her humanity and dug the ground,almost frenzing while doing so and when he opened the coffin he found out what option Talia took. She felt in volontary torpor, hoping it would drastically slow the decay of her sanity and give time for reinforcement to arrive. Benedict $, her sire, was happy to have found her but the ordeal had left her with psychological scars. First, killing her uncle left her unable to ever drink from elderlies ever again and being buried alive left her claustrophobic. She had to take some to recover and David helped a lot in that regard. Unfortunately, she was the target of at least a couple more attacks, one which almost killed David and revealed the traitorous status of Maxime. Mad with rage, vengeance and bloodlust, Talia joined forces with her once tremere lover. That war was going nowhere fast and if they didn't act decisively soon, more Kindred would die. As a matter of fact, two of her direct sibling had already been ashed and diablerized. Once more using her leadership skills, she banded what little kindred she could in a temporary coterie to launch an attack on the sabbath. She had noticed that the sabbath had very little in the way of human influence, except maybe in the criminal department. She used those with animalism and dominate to create animals and mortals pawns to use as spies, scouring the whole city for any sign of their presence. Then she had the coterie pull their collective power and influence to woo away all the criminals under Sabbath influence away from them. They also managed to intercept a few shovelheads coterie and Talia managed to convince them to switch side, making them realize they were just cannon fodder. She didn't told them they would still be ashed afterwards, but fuck it ! Anything to purge the domain of the Black Hand influence. Using their new recruits and amassed mortal influence they launched a final attack and, with the help of the other Camarilla and Anarch who had joined the war in the interim, killed the very last remaining Sabbath who hadn't already fled the city. The surviving kindred of Brussels rejoiced at their victory. In reward for their aid in the victory, the Camarilla ceded some territory to the Anarch (which Talia lobbied heavily for) and Talia, David and the rest of the small war coterie were richly rewarded for their services to the city, both in money and feeding rights. David had received a promotion in another town, Lyon France to be more precise, and who needed a stronger Tremere presence. There he would have a couple of neonates under his orders and would receive 'special training'. Talia was a bit sad to see him go though she was hopeful she'd him again one of these days and that spring would once more bloom between them. Unfortunately, poor Talia may have overestimated David's love for her and underestimated the pull and influence the Tremere holds over him as his 'special training' consists of learning the skills and knowledge he requires to manipulate her and through her, her lineage to further the clan's goal. Without knowing it, Talia was bound to be betrayed once again. Joined the small underground kindred group known as the Whitewashers, which specialize in disappearing any trace of kindred activity that appears on camera or on the web. Also works to infiltrate government organization to create false indentities for vampires. The ultimate goal of the group is to prevent a world wide masquerade breach due to improvement of Kine technology. They have barely begun the process, have decided London to be a 'pilot project', and still needs to recruit like minded and competent kindred to the cause. Talia is supposed to work as both as a recruiter and a scout in London. TEMP PIC STUFF TO BE ADDED IC 'Agora art about their couples (note : a couple of them NSFW)' 'Main couples' Alexandra and Maximilian ![]() Angelique and Thaddeus ![]() Dorothy and Damian ![]() Luna and Fredderick ![]() Talia and David ![]() ![]() 'Gay couples' Damian (pointy ears) and Fredderick ![]() Fredderick (top) and maximilian ![]() Fredderick and Thaddeus ![]() Maximilian and Damian ![]() Maximilian and Thaddeus ![]() Thaddeus and Damian ![]() 'Heterosexual couples' Alexandra and Damian ![]() Angelique and Maximilian ![]() Damian and Angelique ![]() Alexandra and David ![]() Luna and David ![]() Dorothy and Maximilian ![]() Dorothy and Thaddeus ![]() Fredderick and Alexandra ![]() Luna and Maximilian ![]() Luna and Thaddeus ![]() Talia and Damian ![]() Talia and Fredderick ![]() Talia and Maximilian ![]() Talia and Thaddeus ![]() Alexandra and Thaddeus ![]() 'Lesbian couples' Alexandra and Angelique ![]() Alexandra(left) and Dorothy ![]() Angelique (left) and Luna ![]() Dorothy and Angelique ![]() Dorothy and Luna ![]() Luna (left) and alexandra ![]() Talia (top in both pics) and Alexandra ![]() ![]() Talia (left) and Dorothy ![]() Talia (right) and Angelique ![]() Talia (left) and Luna ![]() Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Sunday, 11. December 2016, 22:13.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Talia Blackthorn | Monday, 12. December 2016, 02:40 Post #7 |
|
The strangest Relationship a Brujah can have with a Ventrue
|
'First time on the other side - part 1 (safe for work)' OOC : this takes places a short time after Talia joined the Agora, mainly after she has been with all the other male members. Talia had been in the Agora for some time now. She had 'sampled' the other male kindred, first with Maximilian, as he was the most experienced kindred man lover of the bunch. Then with Thaddeus, as he had the necessary romantic leanings to please Talia. Then Fredderick, as by that time, she was ready for the more 'rough lovemaking session' that kindred love sometimes entails. And finally with Damian,as by then, the rest of the agora had managed to wear Talia's defence down, so that she could ignore the real appearance of the nosferatu and just focus on the illusion he was projecting to let herself go in a passionate romance. Heck, she even enjoyed those moments. Then she went with Thaddeus again, as she really liked his romantic side. Then she wanted to 'sample' Maximilian again, but the Agora had another idea in mind : It was time for Talia to 'go explore the other side' ... that is experiencing love with another woman. And who better than Alexandra for this ? The most experienced lover of them all, the founder of the Agora, the one who was binding them all in the whirlwind of kindred love. At first Talia was reluctant when Alexandra offered her the calendar ... the calendar and all its symbolic and emotional weight, meaning in short, that Alexandra wanted to prove she was worthy of Talia's affection. The other members of the Agora felt how uneasy Talia was about the whole affair and tried to smooth things up between the two kindred. 'You can end it up anytime you want, no strings attached. Alexandra is the one trying to seduce you Talia, you control things here. You always have a choice to say no!'. But the more the members of the Agora said those things, the more Talia felt that ... well ... choice was the thing being taken away from her. At first, her hot brujah recoiled at the thought. It is never a good feeling for a Brujah to have agency taken away from them. But the more Alexandra tried to seduce her, the more the other Agora members tried to ease her shyness, the more Talia realized that no one of them bore her any ill will. And that, more than anything, slowly took the choice away from her. As is custom for the Agora, Talia started to give small tasks to Alexandra : First a handkerchief dropped on the floor which her would be paramour would have to pick ... Followed by Talia kissing her hands. Then things slowly but surely got more heated : A choice beautiful mortal to be drunk offered as a gesture of love. A private evening between the two of them in Talia's favorite club and so on. And each time, Talia would have to give a more intimate kiss, switching from the hands to the wrists, from the wrists to the arms, from the arms to the cheeks, from the cheeks to the neck, and, finally, from the neck to the corner of Alexandra lips. And each time, she felt awkward, more so with each challenge successfully met by Alexandra, more shy with each kiss that she had to give, more fearful at the prospect at what the young Brujah knew would inevitably happen. For the last challenge, Talia had chosen something she hoped would be both too difficult for Alexandra to succeed in yet at the same time not so much as to not appear as she was giving an impossible task, something anathema for the Agora's members when it came the challenges of summer. She had asked her Toreador peer in the Agora to not only skate with her, but also to catch her and make her fall to the ice ground. Talia had hoped that, with her background in sports and Athleticism, it would be easy for her to escape the fate the Agora had for her ... if only she knew. At first, it went as the young Brujah expected, Alexandra simply didn't have the necessary physical fitness to match those of Talia. Unfortunately for Talia, a couple other Kindred entered the skating room, namely Boomerang and Hammerhead. The presence of two other rabbles made her so uncomfortable, so clumsy, that, for a moment, she lost her footing and staggered on the ice floor ... enough for Alexandra to close the distance and force her future lover on the floor. Alexandra ended up on top of Talia, her face close to her paramour. She wanted to kiss the Brujah right here righ now, consequences be damned. But seeing the reaction of young, inexperienced Talia made her think twice ... especially since both the other mortals and kindred were now watching at them with intensity. 'I guess we should take this to a more ... private place, wouldn't you agree Talia ? It is a special moment for the both of us, not one to be wasted in the eyes of philistines.' Said Alexandra, and when she saw Talia shaking, added. ' Don't be afraid my darling. Making you uneasy is the last thing I want. But I have earned the right to the harvest of Autumn ... with you. Come now, and let a new season blooms between the two of us.' And that's how the founder of the Agora drew Talia into one of the private room of their club ... something they like to call 'love nests', and where Talia would 'explore the other side' .... 'First time on the other side - part 2 (NSFW !!!!!)' Alexandra had prepared everything in the room to the last detail : The candles in the 'love nest', the painting on the floors, all of them showing the past lesbians relationships between the Agora members, the music that was played and, lastly, the beautiful and romantic crimson sheets on the heart shaped bed. Alexandra had told Talia to wear a beautiful dress while she would be doing the same on her part. And a beautiful one piece dress did the Toreador wear. There was a tiny important detail about the whole costume, but Talia was feeling too awkward to notice what it was. Talia felt so nervous she wanted to dig a hole in the ground and put her head in it, better than to have to face what was coming next, but Alexandra would have none of it. The Toreador whispered a few words to her lover, hoping it would ease young Talia into what she had to do next. - Are you feeling Nervous Talia ? I can see that you are. What can I do to help you with that ? Asked Alexandra - I feel that ... I mean ... maybe we should take it slow from there. You know ... small steps ? Replied Talia - That does seem like a reasonable thing to do, a rational thing to do, heck even THE mature thing to do. But do you know what I have learned in those year Talia ? Commented the Toreador. Talia could only shake her head in a negative manner, she had absolutely no idea what Alexandra was about, and then the beautiful Toreador women replied. - Love is neither reasonable nor rational, and it is certainly not always mature, especially at the beginning of a relationship. So, with these words in mind, here's what I am gonna do .... And after having said those words, Alexandra removed her shoes, her socks and then her one piece dress on the floor ... and that's when Talia realized what the tiny detail about the whole dressing was : Alexandra had 'forgotten' to put any underwear on, no bras and no panties. And in a matter of seconds, she was as dressed as the first day she was born ... that is completely naked. If Talia was nervous before this, she was now shaking heavily, feeling that her heart could literally explode from her chest from the intense emotional pressure she was feeling right now. - I see that you are still feeling nervous about the whole affair Talia. Maybe you should ... you know ... drop a few piece of clothing yourself to feel more at ease. Or you could just do it while fully clothed. , You still have a choice you know my love. Said Alexandra. And again, the same words were said : You have a choice. And again, what those words did were to take choice away from Talia. She should be furious about this, heck she had every reason to feel furious about this, and for a moment she did. But the loving smile the Toreador gave her at that moment, melted a bit of her defenses away. She reluctantly started to drop her shoes, her socks and her dress, leaving her in her underwear. - Hum, you look beautiful Talia, reallllly beautiful. But I have shown you all my wares, how about you show me yours ? Of course, you could kiss me like you are dressed right now, you always have a choice. Said Alexandra while biting her lips in anticipation. 'Damn, those words again !' thought Talia. And again, it melted away a portion of the emotional walls she had raised up at the beginning of the whole affair .... a large chunk of the wall, enough that she dropped her bras and panties and found herself totally naked ... same as Alexandra. Strangely, that made her feel a bit more comfortable, after all, they were now both in the same situation. She took a moment to look at the Toreador's body and felt a slight hint of jealousy while looking at it. Talia was cute, beautiful even, there was no question about it. But she was not perfect. She was slim to be sure, but she had done too much exercise during her mortal years and, right now, looking at the fleshy, yet not fat body of Alexandra, thought it might have been better to maybe train a little less and eat maybe a little bit more. Looking at the other kindred breasts did nothing to ease up her feelings of jealousy. Those of Talia, while nice, were a bit flat to be considered perfect, a result of working her pectorals too much. Those of Alexandra on the other hand were nothing short of perfect : Not too big, not too small, very rounded and with very nice tits at the end. Yes, seeing Alexandra like this did nothing good to lower the feeling of inadequacy that Talia was feeling right now. Sensing the emotions that the Brujah must be going through right now, Alexandra felt it was time to 'encourage' Talia to come closer, which she did silently, just inviting her by a motion of two of her fingers. And all of that with the most seductive, passionate smile she could muster. And a good one it was. Alexandra had felt sorrow lately, her latest romances having felt kind of ... hollow, fake or not entirely genuine, despite the best intentions of her past lovers. But tonight was different, tonight she was about to sample a new lover. Tonight, she was about to make love to her first Brujah. And not just any Brujah mind you. The other males in the Agora had made very nice comments about the unusual warmth that was coming of Talia's body. Alexandra already knew about this, having felt Talia's kiss during their symbolic Summer. But she was wondering how different, how better it would feel when they would share a real, honest to god French kiss and a genuine, passionate session of lovemaking. The young Toreador invitation and smile made Talia a bit more relaxed, tough not entirely, and she slowly approached her newly found lover. - I have to warn you Talia, I ... am ... not ... doing ... anything. You'll have to take the lead on this one. That is until you get rid of those preconceptions you seem to have about love. Now come closer my beloved. I have given enough. It is your turn now to give, and me to receive. After Alexandra said those words, she licked her lips with her tongue, impatient to feel Talia's one in her mouth. Oh god, she was so looking for to taste her warmth, really taste her warmth. After having said that, Alexandra simply lied on the bed on her back, waiting for Talia to come closer. And her body movement, or lack of thereof clearly proved that she meant those words : It was Talia's turn to take the lead. The Brujah slowly put herself on top of Alexandra, slowly approaching her lips to her, and gave a chaste kiss on them. Alexandra eyes were closed during that time, in expectation of this, still determined to stay motionless. She couldn't completely do that tough, the heat from Talia's lips gave her some kind of electroshock and her body shook with small but very visible spasms. - It would be better if you closed your eyes for this Talia, believe it would be sooooo much better, for the both of us, but you especially. - What makes you think my eyes were open ? Replied Talia hastily, tough the look and smile Alexandra gave after she briefly opened her eyes was all the answer the whole world needed. All right thought Talia, let's try this again. She approached the Toreador's lips with her again and, this time, slowly and shyly tried to insert her tongue in her lover's mouth, before trying to retract it shortly after. Alexandra's reaction was immediate, and her own tongue suddenly reached the one of Talia before she had a chance to fully retreat. Oh god !! The males of the Agora really weren't kidding about Talia body's heat. It felt good, very good, extremely good. It was not exactly a physical orgasm per se, but it sure did send a literal electric jolt through her whole body and soul. At Alexandra's reaction, Talia's walls didn't just melt away a bit more, they were simply completely broken down in the process. Now fully feeling comfortable about the whole situation, Talia tried to French kiss the Toreador again, this time fully putting her whole self in it. And again, Alexandra's reaction was immediate, hungrily trying to explore the Brujah's mouth with her tongue. But it was not the only thing that went suddenly active in Alexandra's body and Talia recoiled a little at her lover's reaction. Alexandra's hand had instinctively reached for Talia's breast, and the sudden skin to skin contact had surprised the young, inexperienced Brujah. No matter, Talia went to the charge again, kissing the Toreador with even more passion and reaching her beautiful breast with her hand, in a gesture of reciprocity. And she did that with such passion, such love, that it was time for Alexandra's walls to be destroyed. A whole whirlwind of emotions went through the Toreador's head with such intensity that her body had to react to it the only she could ... by crying. Not tears of disappointment or sorrow as she was used to, but tears of joy. Oh god ! It had been so long since she felt such genuine feeling of affection for someone. For a moment she feared that Talia was only doing so in order to honor the tenets of the seasons and not out of real love, and she fearfully opened her eyes, trying to see what was what ... and when she saw the Brujah's face, she went ecstatic with joy : Talia was feeling so intensely about the whole affair that she was crying as well. Later on, Alexandra would discover that it wasn't the first time that Talia did so ... nor would it be the last time she did while making love to someone. But to hell with these thoughts ! Up to the matter at hand. Alexandra grabbed Talia's hand guiding it towards the entrance of her love tunnel. The young Brujah tried inexpertly to rub it and give pleasure as much as she could. Unfortunately, it was the first time she did this, and it ended up more clumsy than anything else. Not that Alexandra minded. In fact, it made her feel more joyful than she thought possible at the beginning of the evening. Alexandra was really and beyond a shadow of a doubt the first woman Talia has ever been with. And the tears in the Brujah's eyes was proof enough that she did not simply did it just for the mechanical side of it .... but rather to feel real emotion in that point in time. Sure she lacked experience in these things, but no matter, she had all the time in the world to learn and Alexandra had plenty to teach. And they kept making love all night long, Alexandra trying to guide Talia as best she could. 'You still have a choice to stop if you want' Damn it, those words again. And again, these would not stop her but rather encourage her to go on, kissing every part of her beloved, trying to find out where she liked to be caressed, kissed or touched. As it turned, she quickly discovered that the inner tights were the best place to force a big shout of pleasure from Alexandra, made even more intense as the Toreador was using Auspex to increase her sense of touch. And so it was the first night that Talia had ever made love to a woman, and it would not be the last. She'd share those moments more than a few time with Alexandra. And when their romance would end, she'd try it with again Angelique, whose romantic leanings were akin to hers. Then Dorothy, whose willingness to break social more would be finally bearable to Talia by then, heck even pleasurable considering she was Brujah. And finally, Luna, the crazy, permanently insatiable malkavian, who is always lusting for both sex and love. Yes, this would be Talia's first time on the other side … but not the last ... Edited by Talia Blackthorn, Monday, 12. December 2016, 04:19.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Abandoned Characters · Next Topic » |















And they are probably not all corrected. -> And yet some more corrections. I really went too fast on that section
)






































2:02 AM Jul 11