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[talkative]

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*Don't limit yourself, live your best life! Or unlife. As it be. The difference is mostly the breathing, you know? You don't have to smell really gross stuff as much anymore because you don't need to breathe in unless you talk. But then again some people can achieve a better sense of scent and then talking in smelly areas becomes really unpleasant and now if you don't think that's a problem then I don't know what your priorities are.

Comments

[talkative]

"Yes. Quite obviously," he winks and gestures towards the window, where the afternoon sun is filtering through the curtains. "It was rather jarring, I can tell you.

And it does suck." He's not going to reprimand Max for that statement; it's true. "Particularly where I'm from - means that in the summer, you get only a handful of hours of activity each day.

Which is why my pack liked to only go home in the wintertime."

[maximumcake]

Max glances guiltily out the window. Right. Obviously.

"Pack?" That's a different word too. "Is that your family...or...your group? We'd call it a clan in my world."

[talkative]

He shakes his head. "Not my clan, no, not in the terminology of my world. Packs are... If a clan is an extended family, a pack is the chosen nuclear family.

What is a clan where you're from?"

[maximumcake]

"Hm. In a way, that might be more clear than what we have. But, it might be that things changed after the accords were struck. I've never asked Erik about that..." But he's getting off-topic.

"It's organized as Clans, Houses, and lines of succession. Where the Clan refers to all the vampires under a certain regional Jurisdiction. My ma- former master's region is a large swath of the Central Midwest from Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, all the way to the border of Chicago, Illinois. He is the Lord and arbiter of that territory. Within it, however, are different houses.

"Those, I suppose, could be considered more like nuclear families. But they can also be quite large like extended families. Each house has a head, and a line of succession that dictates a pecking order. It's all a lot more...political than anything. You can leave a house and join another as many times as you want. Some even choose not to join one at all.

"The closest thing to familial bonds I can think of is the relationship between Sire and Childe. A Sire is obligated to stay at their youngling's side and teach them for as long as it takes to make them independent."

[talkative]

Well, terminology confusion then, but he does recognise some things. Won't lay them all out for Max, partly also because it will quickly grow complicated and dip into politics that might get problematic fast if they get back to the other Kindred here. But he's happy to explain Clans, to a certain degree. Siring, too. Direct attention.

"Usually, a Clan where I'm from dictated by a common sire, waaaaay back." He makes a grand gesture, indicating a great passage of time. "Doesn't necessarily mean that anyone of that line is part of that Clan, but they usually are. You know - theory is great, but life is more complicated." And sometimes people don't manifest Clan markers.

He pauses, thinking. "You don't happen to know how old the oldest vampires in your world are?"

[maximumcake]

"I think some vampires in my world are better than others about keeping track of their lines. Maybe they would be better if they did it that way, but they don't."

In his world, the strength of a sire doesn't necessarily dictate how strong the vampire they turn will be. So, there was never any impetus to keep 'bloodlines' pure or any such ideas like that. Strength could be something built from the ground up. His master Erik is proof of that.

"How old?" Max thinks on that. "To be considered and Elder like Erik, you have to have ten centuries under your belt. There's a decent number of those. I've met them during business meetings. As for the oldest... the oldest vampire anyone has heard of is Mother.

"She is ancient, even by immortal standards. She was there and old already when humans were just beginning to develop. All vampires are descended from her and her thirteen children. They all have her blood in them.

"It was Mother who struck the Accord with humans, by giving them some of her own blood. Doing that meant giving them power over any vampire they wield that blood against. It was a scared bond of trust. IOPSA is the custodian of that trust between humans and vampires."

[talkative]

Now that sure is something that he doubts any Kindred of even remotely old age would ever do. No matter what.

"What was her reason for that?"

[maximumcake]

"The cruisades," Max answers solemly, "Humans were hunting vampires almosty as brutally as the vampires were hunting humans. It was turning into an ugly, bloody conflict.

"I think, maybe, It broke her heart to see her children falling to the beast like that. She wanted them to remember their humanity... I don't know. Whatever her reason, it worked. It's sometimes an uneasy peace, but it has held all this time." As for Mother, no one has seen her since.

[talkative]

Well now that is very different from what he knows both from human history class and Kindred lore. "They must have gone rather differently in my world, then.

Where I'm from they were for the most part humans doing their thing, mistaking regular humans for people who were not and people who weren't regular humans for humans. And those who really weren't, Kindred and otherwise, trying to use their chaos for their advantage, of course."

[maximumcake]

"Yeah... the differences in our worlds are really something. Makes me wish I'd payed more attention in school because I feel like I'd need a better understanding of...physics or something to really wrap my head around it."

He shrugs. Alas, he is no scientist, only a vampire's butler.

"I think the bottom line here is that even if Lucas does know, he isn't going to be a problem. He's with IOPSA and IOPSA respects vampires' autonomy. That doesn't mean I'm not going to do everything I can to keep him from finding out. I respect your decision too."

[talkative]

"Even if Lucas is fine with it, if he knows he will tell others. And we don't know how they will react.

Not because he can't keep his mouth shut," but he wouldn't discount that; Lucas doesn't strike him as a person who won't discuss things with people close to him or chatter away when he gets nervous, "but because the more people know, the more likely it is that even more people hear." And he'd prefer to tell others on his own terms. If he does at all.

[maximumcake]

"Yeah... good point." He trusts Lucas, but he does also know that the more people in on a secret, the more potential there is for mistakes.

"All the more reason for me to try to be a lookout for you, right?"

[talkative]

"Yes."

As simple as that.

And with that, he feels, they're done here.

"I will see you around, then."

done!

[maximumcake]

"Yes. Thank you. I'll see you around." Max drops at the waist in a shallow bow then makes a quick retreat to the door.

It's a relief, actually, to be going now. He's done enough to satisfy Jackie without giving away anything about Lucas he isn't sure the Medium would want known. The perfect balance. No reasons to stay and try his luck further.