Canon is Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines

[ventruly]

Yes, by now I think everyone knows there's going to be "a sequel", but be reasonable. It's still at least a year off. That's a long wait, for someone with your lifespan, and this place is beyond inefficient for us both.

You remind me of Grout, trying to "cure vampirism" for decades on end, and letting what you want to be true guide your attention rather than ascertaining what is necessary to secure an objective. You don't even have an objective.

I can help you, if you just ask. That's what my clan are best at: redirecting fruitless energies to a better, more unified cause.

Comments

[tungwag]

Kine can get pretty excitable, huh? I'm sure they'll calm down eventually. A year is a long time; they'll burn out on the wait after a while and then come back a few months before the game drops pretty much frantic. Let 'em have their fun, it's harmless enough.

[ventruly]

You always were patient. That ghoul you have defies description.

I think we both know there's no chance of anyone but Beckett being involved, from Los Angeles. I want to say Jack is dead, as well? But I am hazy on those details. Call that wishful thinking.

[tungwag]

Who, Knox? [grinning] Sharp kid. And I can't exactly fault the enthusiasm.

Dead, or a pirate, something like that. Whatever, he's useless. Unless he's the one going around mass Embracing, which would definitely be like him, but I get the feeling he's not.

I'm betting Beckett does make an appearance, though. Wouldn't be too shocked if Jeanette did, either. Maybe that Nagaraja, or Isaac's Childe, but I'm betting it'll just be a couple big fan-favorites and everything else would be new. Having it stand on its own would be the smart move, anyway.

[ventruly]

I'm sure I prefer my ghouls more sedate, and seasoned, not excited about every aspect of being a "vampire". [Also grinning, though.] To be young again, hm?

A pirate again? What a retrogressive little man he is. I could see him doing that too, however. Caitiff, chaos, and disorganized suffering is his heartsong. Despicable!

I would myself prefer a clean break, I admit. But I am much happier with the mundane's current track, and with the loyal fledgling, and with you. It's productive, and I.

I deserve it, as well. At least, I think so.

You get out all right, and don't mistake me, I'm glad of it. But I feel in those universes that matter, I failed the entire community.

[tungwag]

Sure. We all have preferences.

Ugh, I wouldn't want to be thirty again, but I'll admit it's nice having some contagious eagerness around. Really makes me remember why I got into all this in the first place.

Let's not dwell on Jack too much, though. He'd just love to know you're standing around hating him while he's off scot-free somewhere.

[Well, ouch. After everything they both know, standing here, happened/is happening/will happen (fourth wall break time is weird)...]

Look, sweetheart, you didn't fail anybody. You did what you could with what you were handed, you were doing nothing but scrambling around trying to salvage things. If anything, the Kindred community's failing itself. You know, my own mun was looking into things when they picked me up, and your successor doesn't manage any better than you did. Maybe worse. The whole West Coast is a mess these nights.

[ventruly]

Ennui so soon? You're not an ancient Elder, by any means. Tell me if you start feeling particularly bored and lifeless, I can find something for you to do. And I don't mean favors for me. I'd just sooner you weren't in voluntary torpor for centuries, for a little while yet.

When you put it that way, who were we talking about? Thank you, Tung.

...I'm not familiar, what happens to the Prince after I died? How long did they last?

[tungwag]

[chuckles] It's nothing that serious. It's just nice to have a little harmless excitement around for a change. New ghouls are usually pretty good for that. Mercurio was already pretty seasoned when he came over to you, right?

It's not a problem, sweetheart. Don't mention it.

Well, for one thing, it was Prince Tara Kearney. You know, the former Anarch, Prince of San Diego? They've had a hard time finding out how long she was Prince of L.A. for, but apparently it wasn't too long before she got betrayed by an advisor, shot at by a bunch of Anarchs, and knocked off a skyscraper.

Funnily enough, I'm not even sure it was local Anarchs. They were being led by one of Jack's childer, and she had made a lot of Anarch enemies from the San Diego area.

[ventruly]

Oh, naturally. Yes. I understand harmless excitement. [LaCroix knows fun...] I adopted Mercurio quite accidentally, after the scandal with his protection of that Elder during the "Sabbat" assassination attempt. I have my own theories on what happened, but I do think that the local Camarilla was not quite as impressed as I might have been that the "Sabbat" were foiled in their aims by a single ghoul.

I am fortunate to have you. And I'm not saying that only because Gary Golden is worse than worthless.

...Terrible. What was she, Brujah? But very few Princes deserve that.

How many of our kind will Jack kill before the Justicar consign him to death? This is ridiculous!

[tungwag]

Do you? I was a little worried you haven't run into anything harmless in a while. [Lacroix... ;;] I heard about that. I'd be interested to know your theories, but I have a pretty good idea what they might involve already... That was impressive work, though.

If you were saying that just in comparison to Gary Golden, you're really be damning me with faint praise. [Tung is obviously amused by that assurance.]

Brujah, yeah. She's not a terrible Prince, from what I've heard. Scrambling, but not treating the Kindred in her city badly.

That's the really ridiculous thing: Apparently never. He was killed by a thin blood Caitiff while trying to make sure Gehenna happened. At least it was a Nosferatu who took him out.

[ventruly]

...Perhaps you can demonstrate for me. [That said warmly, as Tung is one of the few LaCroix feels totally comfortable trusting. And only minimally because Gary Golden seems to want no part of him.] I do theorize that the politics in New York were a good deal less honest than they are in Los Angeles. Here, everyone is openly trying to kill you.

It is a great shame you have no designs on the Primogen leadership, Bertram. That is the degree to which I trust you would work with me for the betterment of all Kindred.

Unfortunate. If the Prince of Las Vegas wasn't so comfortable, he may have tried to assist sooner, but I think he has, how should I say it? 'A good thing going'?

As ridiculous as that sounds, there's an element of poetry in it. I'm glad.

Apropos of nothing, my mun is very fond of you, and particularly fond of how good you are for me. Something about 'threading us somewhere more intimately'.