[Vampire: The Requiem] The Neonate - "Entry 3: An email from Mary Jane"

((In Character (IC) Document:

Venue: Chronicles of Darkness - Vampire: The Requiem (The Strix Chronicle)

Character: Christopher "\/00|>00" Langer
Post by Jerad Sayler & Raen Schadden))

9 November 2009

An Email from Mary Jane, from a different email address. And the plot thickens…

Chris,

J You finding my e-mail address doesn't bother me.  It’s out there enough, and it’s my preferred method of having another lick get hold of me.

I will be the first to admit, the Lancea et Sanctum is not for everyone.  We're a Covenant of faith, purpose, and drive.  I won't even say salvation given that if you're reading the notebook, you'll see that salvation isn't high on priority list.  Service to God and His Divine Plan is.  Those who are driven to excel in the performance of our holy mandate from God will come to the Sanctified.  They'll let go of secular concerns in favor of the spiritual, and set themselves to the grindstone of becoming the best fucking predator they can be. 

Being a member of the faithful does not require membership in the Covenant.  It just requires that you read the book and believe what the book is telling you.

This is also part of the reason I was telling you to slow down.  You're new to the city.  You're looking for a safe place to take stock of what's what in your requiem.  I understand that.  I've been there myself.  You got off on the wrong foot... and that happens.  So what we'll do is sit down without interruption and get a handle on what you know about life among the Damned.  I'll show you where you can feed and where you shouldn't so you can stay out of trouble.  You can voice your desire to become part of the city, and as an acknowledged member of the city, you'll have something of a safe haven.  Then you can start asking about Covenants.  Then you can start learning what they're about.  And when you know what you're talking about, you can pick the one that best suits you.

I didn't help you to convert you, Chris, although I appreciate that you're reading that notebook.  I helped you because you were floundering and you needed a hand.  No more, no less.  This is part of my mission from God.  J If you want to talk about the notebook, though, I'll be happy to have that conversation with you.  Given the Reverend in front of my name, I'm sure you've guessed that's also part of my mission from God. 

Since I was a little wrapped up in what was going on, I didn't hear all of the particulars of you coming into the city.  Did you apologize to Prince Berrings for being in his city for that period of time without saying anything?  Did you find out why Mr. Hawthorne was offended?

Mary Jane

How best to voice a response?  I sat on it for a while before writing back, the night dragging on.

Mary Jane,

Regardless of your motives, as we are all creatures of agenda, I greatly appreciate your tutelage.  You're right of course, I do need to slow down.  Part of my haste in the matter says something about my prudence and decisiveness, especially when it comes to survival.  Part of it has to do with the endless nights that stretch between court when I feel like I accomplish little, do little, and know few of my kind to spend my nights with.  The last months have been utter isolation from everyone I knew and it caps off a short requiem with only one crazed Sire who could have any chance to relate me.  And now I've made contact with others, and I hunger for this company like I hunger for blood because it’s preferable to staring into the night and the vast empty network of information pulsing through the air.  I know I can't go back to anything resembling my old life, and that all interaction with Kine will result in either slavery or death for them, and I can't stand either option. 

It’s funny that I want some new Kindred to relate to when every time I see one I want to run away or try to punch them in the face.

Maybe I can't relate to this ultimate predator thing, but I'm on my way, I've begun the spiral down.  I would take all the time in the world to choose my allegiances but the Prince, after our encounter, has given me a deadline of a month.  And with the court not occurring until next month I have precious little time, and I greatly dislike of asking him for more time after he spared me some serious punishment.  

If you can help get me over this obstacle I own you a favor of equal value (and the wheeling and dealing start...).  I have computer skills as I mentioned before, as well as the ability to get around town unseen and into places quite well.  If you need information, I can get it.  That goes for your Covenant too, but for them, I will need something in return of course.

I was immediately attracted to the Lancea et Sanctum because you appear to be the only creatures that believe in anything.  The Invictus in town seem a petty elitists club only concerned with material gain, and I have only cared for survival.  The Acolytes I spoke with just seem to be blood sorcerers who believe in every mythology but only as much as it suits them.  The Ordo Dracul are mad scientists poking everything supernatural with a stick and vulgarly trying to make it do something they want without consequence, book worms lost in research and not too appealing.  In all fairness, I didn't get to talk to any members of the Movement but everyone calls them undirected rabble only causing trouble, begging for change while descending into anarchy.  Sure you have the good ones but is it worth dealing with the vast sea of bad? 

You all burn with this faith and passion I can only miss because it’s a reflection of everything I feel I have lost.  I've read the first book of the Testament, Malediction.  Rather than rather than bombard you with questions that might get answered further on I will keep reading and keep my thoughts to myself for now.  I plan to finish it so we can discuss its contents at the next Court; I will also tell you more about myself if you are willing to return the courtesy.

I've set things right with the Prince for now, and I already apologized to the kind Mr. Hawthorne for calling his explanation of the First Estate a "speal" after he was nice enough to facilitate setting things right with the city's master.  I’m a bit socially awkward and lack the tact that I'm sure hundreds of years bring.  I'm ready when you are to show me around town and get me "squared away" as you say whenever you would like.  Just don't treat me like a kid or your lost puppy, I know you're old and I seem open and trusting.  But I only go so far on faith, the minuscule I have, and I'm sure as soon as we hit the uncompromising side of mistrust I'll start acting much more like your Kindred brethren.

Thanks again for the help, I'm waiting for the catch,

Still Chris.

I agonize on the letter a few hours after midnight.  Paranoia and survival go hand in hand.  After our first long talk, I’ve been extremely open with Mary Jane… I wonder if I’ve been mesmerized.  I’ve heard that there are tricks other… licks… can do tricks that make you trust them, open up.  I wonder if her openness and genuine empathy are just a method of extracting information.  After a while the possibilities cascade and I just hit send.  Fuck it.  This was all about taking a chance right?  Safety in numbers, something to fill the nights with other than the hunt and the keyboard.

10 November 2009

I feel different tonight, though I can’t put my finger on what could possibly be different about me.  I am unchanging and have been for half a decade, why do I feel different?

I spend half the night scowering the internet for current events of the city and how I can link them to the movements of other supernaturals.  There are rumors of a small group of “witches” operating in the city, no more than eight and they all have at least one meeting place.  As for the influences of my fellow Kindred they seem to elude me though I’ve had fun watching how Mr. Hawthorne does business… I can take notes from this Invictus.

My identities take maintenance as well.  I didn’t really take Dean Ritcher’s house, I quickly liquidated his assets and bought this new apartment.  Any neighbors who knew him are far away and my new neighbors will only know my hooded form heading into the night.  I have numerous credit card data, the people are still alive, I use them here and there and since most of the purchases are small and in areas the owners actually live they don’t grow suspicious and cancel them very quickly.  Don’t develop a spending pattern and ditch the card at the first sign of trouble and you can go a long while with the owner none the wiser.  The other way is to create several very fake identities, just enough to get a credit card sent to the Radisson or some other hotel, max it out and ditch it, easy money.

I’m haggling over a price with a fellow hacker, he wants some of my software tools, I’d rather just get him what he wants so I can have repeat business from him.  But I keep raising the price and I’m wondering how far he will go for a port scanner like mine, the key is to give in and sell it before he finally finds someone cheaper, but he will have a very hard time finding a program this good.  I think I’ll give his version a bit of spyware integrated to I can get into his computer and activity and exploit anything useful.  I plan to keep this relationship as long as its useful and at the end, I will liquidate his life just like all the others.  As the apartment draws heat from the rooms below preventing me from having to turn on the furnace I realize I model so much of my requiem of leeching off of others in so many more ways than blood.

And what night wouldn’t be complete without a little extracurricular activity?  Around 3 in the morning I dart across the street to the nearby church, a squat adobe colored building with a brown wooden cross on the top and a sign that reads “Harbor Lights.”  I’ve discovered with a slight display of agility I can get on to the roof.  From there I can break into the simple ventilation system and find myself in a cozy maintenance room.  The environmental systems for the building are housed here as well as a lot of equipment.  I’ve been scoping out this place for a while now, seeing what changes in this room, and the rest of the church.  In a pinch, it might make a good place for an emergency haven, during the week of course.  Beats that broken hole in the cemetery on Academy…

After my surveillance of the interior, I spend some time on the rooftop.  The fall wind makes the skeletal trees and dead grasses seem to wriggle and reach out for heat and life where there is none.  Dead leaves crackle like dried bones and the sky is an orange haze.  From here I can see all of what I want as my domain, and the traffic on the nearby road and slowed to a trickle in the early morning hours. 

I wouldn’t mind taking someone up here with me; I guess I just am lonely.  She’s got a game she’s playing like everyone else and doesn’t strike me as a “night stalker” anyway.  I crouch near the chimney alone, a hole in mortal sight, contemplating how best to expedite the rest of the month.  The fear and thrill of the city’s night people.