Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.08 - Cut a Swathe

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The Vampire With No Name 1.08 - Cut a Swathe · Dubious Creatures Presents

0:23
The. A highway wanders through the
1:19
desert. A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty
1:23
dive bar. A coyote shrieks out to no one
1:26
in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
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bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
1:34
but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist.
1:40
And yet here you are. Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred.
1:47
We here at Dubious Creatures present to you the vampire with
1:51
no name, and you hit out. We're just leaving the Jeremy
2:01
asked her crow for the time being with the mysterious
2:05
missive Crow. Are you OK others?
2:09
Shit, is that new? Am I?
2:11
Am I seeing that? Am I?
2:13
Nope, That's that's that's new. I they popped up last night at
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the laundromat and I didn't really get a chance to ask
2:24
Sebastian about it this morning. OK, I'm.
2:31
Hungry. I'm very much so.
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Yet again, Aster will offer me like, Do you need to take the
2:40
edge off? You know.
2:43
I don't know if this is like a weird faux pas thing in Kindred
2:47
society. I don't.
2:49
That's usually how I get it anyways.
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Yeah, sure, fuck it. Aster will offer her wrist and
2:56
look away out of courtesy. Do you partake?
2:59
Crow. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm hungry
3:03
enough. Even though there is this some
3:05
slight concerns here, you very gingerly and Jeremy, you are
3:10
also here in this situation. So this suddenly weirdly
3:15
intimate feeling situation, you're not quite sure what to
3:21
do. I I think to an.
3:23
Extent, he definitely thinks. He is, he's a magic like there
3:28
is a level of a disassociation that is going on here that is
3:31
just like, this is not actually happening.
3:33
This is I am actually watching. OK, this is OK.
3:39
Going on in his head as he just kind of like he's watching with
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like kind of like eyes a little wide.
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As she goes to go in and looks up and sees Jeremy watching,
3:51
she's like, can we take this somewhere else or you go
3:58
somewhere else? Close your eyes.
4:02
No. It's it's a trick.
4:05
He just the Astor will close her eyes.
4:08
Just just. Trust him.
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I, I, I know what he's going to do and I would prefer you not
4:16
watch invisibly. That's almost creepier.
4:21
So that was. Going to watch?
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This is a a thing, OK yeah. Reaches into his under his
4:29
collar, the. You know, same thing he's been
4:32
wearing and. Pulls back out the.
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Headphones and I think he just hits shuffle.
4:35
So I I imagine this time he's going to be like super twingy
4:38
country music and walks out of the room.
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And you have your privacy and I will go in for the bite.
4:53
And you do that and asked her, you, you weren't really sure
4:57
what to expect, but feel the fangs Pierce into your wrist,
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into the artery. And there's an immediate
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sensation of pain. And then oh, oh wow, that you
5:12
have to like physically grit your teeth to not make a, let's
5:15
call it inappropriate noise. Has a feeling this wonderful
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feeling passes through you? Well, this is interesting.
5:28
I don't hate it. Crow, how much are you taking?
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I was going to slake 3. She's going to try to slake 3.
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Unless she gets pushed off. We'll just say it that way
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because she's used to doing this with Sebastian.
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OK, so go ahead Astor, give me 3 Rouse chicks.
5:52
Unchanged. That's 1-2 to go.
5:57
Where are you at right now, Astor?
5:59
Oh, I'm definitely hungry now. So what's your total hunger
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levels now? 3.
6:06
OK, so as you and The thing is, crow it, it tastes good.
6:12
It just tastes different. Not quite a person, not quite
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kindred. There's something changeable,
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mercurial almost about it. And it's, I mean, it's not
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Sebastian, but you don't hate it and asked her you definitely
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don't hate it. It's.
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Kind of awesome. As you pull away, Crow still
6:40
holding the wrist and you watch as she leans in and just as
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you're wondering, oh crap, now I've got a bite mark in my wrist
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video and she licks it closed and just like that, no bite
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mark. Same time next week.
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And she says this as she's like wiping like blood from like the
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side of her mouth. In fairness, you owed me for
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that one. Yeah, yeah, I.
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Kind of that's, yeah, same same line of thinking, just kind of
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slumped on the couch, just half leaned over.
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Almost looks drunk, but definitely not drunk.
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Chill for a minute, he's. Feeling better?
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Much, much better, thanks. We're even meanwhile, very
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patently ignoring all of this. Jeremy, do you listen to music
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off your phone? My sire took my phone.
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If I remember correctly, I sold a cheap MP3 player from a gas
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station. I don't believe she took your
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phone. You just didn't wake up with it
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on you. I don't know.
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I mean, I, I mean, if Jeremy has his phone, he doesn't know it,
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which is kind of part of the course I think at this point.
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That's fair. So you're a little surprised
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when you're familiar, when you rather feel you don't hear
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anything. Your ears are full of country
8:02
twang at the moment, but you feel a buzzing.
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I eventually I'm amazed considering the the racket.
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That this thing survived. I'll check the phone.
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Is somebody actually calling me or is it a text?
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It's just a text and you are a little surprised.
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I mean the screen seems better. Days crack the hell.
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But the text on screen is still legible and the text nearly
8:24
floors you. You didn't think you still had
8:27
her contact info, but you see a message from Linda Barnes.
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That's a little terrifying. OK.
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It would immediately springs to mind when Jeremy sees this text.
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Like, not even guilt. Not even.
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Just immediate. Guilt.
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Of course I'll. Check what it says.
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It just says hey stranger, heard you were in town.
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Small world right? Don't know if you even still
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have my info saved, but if not, Hi it's Linda.
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How you been? I guess it's one text after
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another like she's fighting indecision with each line.
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What brings you to California Cowboy County?
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He kind of thinks for a moment before he starts typing.
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You're running away from my problems.
9:30
Oh, really? Same.
9:32
Yeah. Rehab sucked, but.
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Cold Turkey is worse. I'm glad you're doing better.
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Thanks. I'm not sure how better I am.
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But. I'm at least clearer.
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Well, I'm glad you're doing your version of better then.
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How'd you hear I was in town? My boss is one of the few people
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that still goes to this fancy ass restaurant downtown.
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Dragged along there for some kind of work mixer I think.
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And apparently you were playing for tips and there's a couple of
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people who miss your musical stylings.
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About damn time you asked. Me, I haven't done anything for
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real money since I found out that Vick gets every almost
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every penny and what he doesn't get, my parents get.
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Oh fuck that sucks man. Hence the.
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Cash bank and hence the incommunicado bank.
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I'm sure at some point they'll figure out where I ended up,
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but. It'll.
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Take them a while and hopefully be a pain in their ass.
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Hey, well it just so happens that I work for a truly scary
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ass law firm, so if you want to send a legal fuck you their way
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I might know a few people. I might take you up.
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On that but. I don't have any money to pay
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people, so I'm not going to ask anyone to do anything on my on
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my side. I'm fine.
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I haven't bought enough people down.
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We'll call it a legally binding I owe you.
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I'll think about it. OK, well don't be a stranger.
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Or do I realize that I haven't talked to you in man?
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How long has it been actually? Tenish years, I think.
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Jesus, we're old farts now. Well, I mean that apparently I
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invented a time machine because I don't remember half of it.
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Maybe we could take it back to Brooklyn circa 2010.
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Maybe. I got a few decisions I want to
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tell my teenage self not to do under any circumstance.
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It only seems to work work going forwards.
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You you, you don't go back, you just go forwards and you lose
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more and more each time. That's deep.
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You should put in the song. You know, if I get the urge to
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write again, maybe I will. Better credit me remember scary
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ass lawyer? Yeah, sure.
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If I if I do write a song with that line, I'll I'll put.
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I'll put. You in there?
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I'll hold you to that. But I'm glad to hear you're
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doing well. Yeah, you too, Jeremy.
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Fumble for a little bit and then send her like one of those like
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like hugging beams. Like where it's like someone
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someone giving like a hug. She sends back emoji of blowing
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kisses. OK, I don't want to bother you.
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I I realize it's late and I should also probably be at least
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pretending to get my six hours. Or like 3 hours if I'm being
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perfectly honest. Sorry, but thanks for reaching
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out. I'm don't know what prompted it,
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but. Thanks SO.
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Always nice to hear from someone.
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No problem, dork. He'll kind of like stare at the
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phone for like a really long time after.
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That last text. He'll let her have Lesper,
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though. He'll probably like sit down out
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behind Ester's like on the way like out past the greenhouse.
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So he's going to sit down probably pretty close to where
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he talked to Ash, like I think the day before, and he's going
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to sit there with this like iPod or the MP3 players like bangs
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in. And he's going to.
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Check how many cigarettes he has left and then light one up and
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then just going to sit there with his head in his hands very
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slowly smoking. Processing.
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There's a song playing in your ears, but it's not.
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It's not country, it's not Western.
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It's slow melodies. Have a piano solo you're
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particularly proud of. And she was glad to be your
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audience of one that night. I imagine he's he's got the plug
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tier thing going on and he's just, he's going to be
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completely zoned out until someone disturbs him I think.
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Meanwhile, there's one thing that's a constant across all of
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Southern California. It's that people really love
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their hiking trails, especially upper middle class white people
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in suburbs and Angel Acres. Snow shortage of well worn dirt
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trails spiraling up hillsides through dense brush of
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chaparral. Really.
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Yeah. Could you give me a hunting
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roll? Yeah, I can do that.
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We'll. Give you an extra die because
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Ash is assisting you and Ash knows the terrain a little
15:19
better than you do. 3 successes. Spot on the top of a low rise,
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there's a guy having put up the kickstand on his mountain bike.
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Off to the side you can see that he's got looks like camera.
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Not his phone camera, but an actual camera Appears to be
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taking landscape pictures and surroundings.
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Doesn't really notice you until he notices you, if you know what
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I mean. Mid 30s, wiry, pretty good
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shape. Looks like he definitely uses
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that by Glot all right. Athletic shirts and a helmet and
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maybe a slightly stained Striver University sweatshirt.
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Any other time I would probably think he's very cute, but I
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don't even think I have the faculties to process that right
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now. I do need that willpower check.
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Yeah, 2 successes. It's not enough.
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Nope. She stalks toward him.
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Ash. And first, you're like, OK,
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that's not so bad. And then?
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Then she starts to pick up the pace and cross the distance
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between you and this guy alarmingly fast.
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It's like watching a nature documentary where a hapless
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gazelle doesn't yet realize the predatory feline.
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That's padding through the Savannah at them until it's far,
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far too late. When she pounces, there's no
17:06
pretence of anything but predation.
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Ash will bolt as fast as they can and will pretty much
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immediately be trying to restrain Raleigh because even if
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it's like not completely saving her hunger, Ash is going to be a
17:28
good winger and prevent her from becoming a murderer.
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OK, Ash, go ahead and give me a strength plus athletics chick.
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Raleigh, go ahead and get me a strength plus athletics chick,
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because at this exact moment you do not want to be restrained.
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Mm Hmm. I'm going to rouse.
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It's probably a good idea, man. Really the the number of tonight
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is 2. I can't rule anything above
17:58
that. That is five successes. 5
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successes. OK, so you do manage to
18:07
successfully pry her off, but she she's fighting you and she's
18:14
kissing and spitting and growling like that thing in the
18:19
laundromat and you cook your arms and her shoulders and you
18:23
drag the bag. Meanwhile, the poor guy, you
18:26
don't even think he registered presence, that's how quickly it
18:30
happened, is lying there on the ground with a slightly lazed
18:34
expression, arterial blood still pumping out of the wound in his
18:38
throat and into the dirt. Really, the good news is that in
18:43
that moment you managed just like 2 levels of hunger.
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And more than that, he tastes amazing.
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There's this you never knew what the feeling of calm, the feeling
18:59
of sentimentality tasted like until now.
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And it is exactly what the doctor ordered in this moment as
19:12
you gain an intense ligmatic resonance give you plus one to
19:19
any all specs or dominate abilities, although I do not
19:22
believe you have those I. Do not have either.
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Ash, while like holding her back, is going to whisper.
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You're just, you're good, you're good.
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We're going to have to clean this up though.
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Am I still can? I think again it.
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Takes a minute you. It's like ashes, despite
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speaking in your ears, speaking at you from a long hallway until
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eventually you finally snapped back to yourself.
20:00
If there's any blood on my face, I'm rubbing at it but licking at
20:05
it at the same time, just wanting to get a little bit more
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and I look at it just being like I don't know what to do.
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If I let you go, are you going to be OK?
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Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm in control
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again. OK, OK.
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Ash is going to like let go of that grip, like pat her on the
20:31
back of the neck before going to this hiker and they're going to
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Crouch over him and going to lick the wound closed.
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You're not sure how cognizant he is in this moment.
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It tastes really good, though. You're not at that level, but.
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Could I? It's like a dot the.
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Problem is, you don't give me an intelligence plus medicine,
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Jack. I have one success.
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He tastes really good. Which is interesting that that's
21:14
been happening more often. Ash is going to try, I think,
21:18
slicking a single dot like, oh, just a little bit, just like a
21:21
little sip before looking the wounds closed.
21:26
Okay, could you please give me a result plus stamina check?
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3 successes. As good as it just tastes,
21:37
there's something It catches in your throat, almost like an gag
21:41
reflex, and for a moment you feel that sensation, but you
21:45
keep it down, barely, and you also have the same resonance
21:51
now. Hey.
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This guy, he's you're here's the thing, you're biting a man while
21:59
he's down. So can you give me any reason
22:01
why you shouldn't receive another stain for this action
22:05
that you did not need to undertake?
22:08
No, no, I can't give you a reason.
22:12
Ash was just hungry. You're enjoying the power
22:18
dynamic at play with these encounters far more than you
22:23
feel like you should. Don't worry, we're going to make
22:25
this worse. Take a stain on your humanity.
22:29
Yeah, once they have licked the wound closed, Ash is going to
22:37
meet the eyes of of their mutual victim and I'm going to cloud
22:45
memory. He's coming too, looking up.
22:50
What do you do as some some instinct overtakes you?
22:57
Ash is going to like reach up to this guy like, you know, like
23:01
cut the side of his face like pat it say don't worry, don't
23:05
worry. You're just got a little light
23:08
headed on your hike. It's all good.
23:11
Don't worry, nothing happened. I oh, oh wow, oh man, did I
23:25
crap. I fell off my bike, didn't I?
23:27
Shit. Yeah, you got a little scuff
23:30
there, bud. Yeah, Oh, oh man, I knew I
23:33
should have. You know they tell you to drink
23:35
more water, but he nearly folds into you as he tries to stand
23:40
up. Ash like, you know, catches him
23:44
like, rises up with him. He's like, oh, are you like
23:47
diabetic or anything or? No, I just.
23:52
I just need a minute. I just.
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Yeah, sure, sure. It's it's all right.
23:58
It's cool. It's cool.
23:59
I'm just glad we were here. Yeah, no thanks.
24:02
Thanks so much. I'm just going to, I'm just
24:04
going to take a second. He sort of leans back on his
24:10
bike. Yeah.
24:12
No, no, take it easy, take it easy.
24:14
Just don't. Don't rush for a.
24:18
Moment Lily is staying back away from this and pulled the hoodie
24:25
on the hood on my hoodie up over my head and the sleeves down and
24:31
over the thumbs and just kind of sitting there suddenly just
24:37
thinking about that was that was me like a month ago in the
24:43
hospital when Henry kept draining me over and over and
24:49
over and kind of trying not to have a panic attack.
24:53
There's something about Ashton enjoys being in charge, you can
24:59
tell. Eventually 2 of you make your
25:03
way back, leaving a confused and rather light headed but none the
25:08
wiser midnight biker out on that hill and you all once again find
25:15
yourselves back in Astor's living room.
25:19
OK, we're all here. We're all mostly sane, brained
25:28
Crow. What's that letter about?
25:33
Oh. Brought it to me.
25:35
And I I I don't know who sent it other than, you know, what's
25:41
written on it because it's not Sebastian's handwriting.
25:44
But I don't know who else would have talked to Poke.
25:49
Somebody would have had to have talked to Poke to get him to
25:53
bring me this letter. You remember Rafe from last
25:56
night? A weirdly polite, tattooed
26:00
gentleman that now this has been your second time encountering
26:04
him, you realize? Oh, yeah, that's right.
26:07
That was his name. I mean, he did say that he would
26:10
be using Sebastian as an intermediary.
26:15
I guess this is what intermediary looks like.
26:18
Yeah. Now that's all starting to make
26:20
sense. OK, All right, sorry.
26:25
Slowly putting the pieces together.
26:26
So this is the the tattooed guy that we met last night sent this
26:34
I'm guessing. Strangely hot wizard.
26:37
Yeah, hot wizard. Let's go with that.
26:39
He was really hot. So yeah, I'm guessing he found
26:44
the whatever things that he was wanting to send us on a quest.
26:49
For. I have no idea what a fucking
26:54
curatrix is. I sounds like a change on
27:03
curator, somebody who's got a little bit of Aladdin on them,
27:11
but so might be somebody who has historical items of some sort,
27:17
like our big, tall and ugly. Yeah, Ash, as you look at the
27:25
note yourself, you know where that address is.
27:28
Oh, now where is that? You went there once on a middle
27:31
school field trip that you did not particularly enjoy.
27:34
That's the address of the Jay Connolly Historical Society.
27:38
Now, when you say Historical Society, are we talking like,
27:43
oh, we're going to, we're going to do our local whitewash
27:46
history or? It's it's technically a museum
27:52
with a well, the Historical Society is well, the name of an
27:56
organization and a building in the way that such things often
28:01
go, telling the history of the home of the white gold rush.
28:08
And yes, it is, as is most things involving American
28:14
history as it is taught to the use incredibly sanitized,
28:20
lovely, lovely. You remember mostly being bored
28:26
out of your mind and waiting for the OR substitute teacher that
28:33
had been assigned that day to turn around so you could head
28:37
around the corner and get slushies with your friends.
28:40
Well, that's a that's certainly an address that's Historical
28:46
Society is going to be and that's where a curator would
28:50
look, would look, I guess, and seems like every other vampire
28:54
we encounter. Sorry, air quotes.
28:56
Kindred is older than fucking dirt here.
29:01
Makes sense? So we're breaking in it?
29:04
Or is this an invite? Yes.
29:09
Cool, I'll get my lock pick. You know what?
29:11
No, I'm not going to ask. Are we taking my car or does
29:16
somebody have something that it can actually seat everybody?
29:21
I have a rental car. I you don't, I don't want this
29:26
thing connected with any of it. Yeah, that's a bad idea.
29:30
I've got I, I can, if we want to split, I can.
29:33
I mean, I can fit all of you, but it would probably be a
29:36
little bit tight. But otherwise we could split I.
29:41
Mean I'm fine with splitting too.
29:44
All right. Well, who's going there?
29:52
Yeah, there's one other thread to pull on, and that is the
29:57
Michael Phillips situation. Oh.
30:00
That guy. Yeah, that guy, you know where
30:04
he's at. Yeah.
30:07
Or at least you know where Chrissy said he was at the
30:15
trailer park that they recently opened up.
30:20
Not terribly far away from where you are now.
30:22
Something about all the layoffs that the mines recently need for
30:26
low income housing. So do the punchy folks want to
30:34
go together to go deal with this Michael guy and the other?
30:40
Three, are we expecting to have to use violence on him?
30:44
I don't know. He's like a shock jock.
30:47
We don't, I think if you. I can.
30:50
I expect violence with everybody, honestly at this
30:52
point. I I I don't want to.
30:55
Currently I'm trying to lay low so I should not go there.
30:59
OK, who wants to come to the trailer park with me since I'm
31:03
apparently being, Volun told. For I'm just, I was expecting,
31:08
I'm expecting, listen, I'm expecting shenanigans and I
31:12
quite frankly, I'm not in any kind of physical condition to
31:15
deal with any fucking shenanigans tonight.
31:18
Jeremy, you want to deal with some shenanigans?
31:21
He kind of reaches up and pulls the very loud music playing
31:25
headphone out and then shrugs. Great.
31:28
You're coming with me. I need somebody to watch my
31:30
back. At least I'm not doing this
31:31
alone. OK.
31:35
All right. So we're splitting the party.
31:38
My never goes well. What could possibly go wrong?
31:46
Better question is what? Could go right?
31:48
Let's start with the Historical Society.
31:54
It's not a hard building to find, even if you didn't know
31:56
where the address was. Stands out in downtown kind of
32:02
forming the official barrier between the quote UN quote ultra
32:08
modernity of downtown and the remnants of its Boomtown past
32:16
encapsulated in the Carlsberg historic district directly
32:22
adjacent building itself from what you know Aster from what
32:26
you picked up just from conversations with Zach about
32:29
his hometown. It used to be a hotel back when?
32:33
Well, back when the railroad initially first connected San
32:37
Arroyo to the rest of California, that.
32:41
Was forever ago. Yeah, like forever ago.
32:47
Forever ago. And it looks like it.
32:52
It's got that, sort of. 2. Story almost slightly bow art
33:00
style facade to it. A building that definitely looks
33:06
out of place, especially next to the looming shadow of the actual
33:15
skyscrapers, or what passes for skyscrapers directly next to it.
33:21
And it is closed because, well, of course it is.
33:25
It's after hours. First thing Astor's going to do
33:29
is look for cameras. Give me a widths plus either
33:36
larceny or technology. That's two successes.
33:44
Yeah, there are cameras. Looks like there's one directly
33:48
covering the entrance, and there's another one looks like
33:52
it's covering the alley directly adjacent to the closest
33:56
building. So, Astor points out, both of
34:04
the cameras should be like, just beware, there are cameras.
34:10
So now it comes up and I probably pull out some sort of
34:16
medical mask to put over my face.
34:18
Just anything that can. This is anything that I don't
34:24
can hide my face for a little bit.
34:28
Astor is also obscuring her face and is wearing gloves.
34:33
I. Guess the question is when we we
34:36
break in, where do we go? The back would be better because
34:41
it looks like that camera isn't pointed directly at the door.
34:46
Plus we could just have Aster looks to crow, not wanting to
34:51
step on a toe and be like. We could also just ask Poe to
34:55
slide in front of the camera for a little bit, right?
34:59
And it's actually incredibly, yeah, yeah, I could do that.
35:05
And she sort of takes, puts her fingers like up under his claws
35:10
and brings brings them up and just like, hey, but can you just
35:14
go like just that camera back there?
35:18
Just go sit on it in front of it, block it, please.
35:23
Just going to give him a little kiss on the head.
35:27
And. Let him go.
35:29
Give me a Charisma Plus Animal Ken roll or successes.
35:36
He lies up there, perching physically on top of the little
35:45
plastic stem that connected to those of the building, begins
35:48
poking and pecking at the camera lens furiously, like this camera
35:53
owes him money. That works too.
36:00
That's fantastic. The only thing that they're
36:02
going to be seeing on the other end of that security camera is 1
36:05
very pissed off bird. All right, let's let's move,
36:11
please. Yep.
36:12
Let's let's do this and Astor will proceed to pick a lock.
36:18
OK, index plus larceny. They'll just, you know, keep an
36:23
eye out. Perfect or successes?
36:29
It's been a minute, but, you know, it's like, yeah, you know,
36:36
it's like riding a bike. You never really forget.
36:41
And you know, every optico building in Southern California
36:46
is mandated to have a fire entrance and exit somewhere on
36:50
the ground level. It also means that there's
36:53
almost always a side entrance on every building in Socal.
37:00
It does make it easy to break into places.
37:03
Someone should really do something about that.
37:05
No no no they shouldn't make keep my life easier.
37:11
Well, this lock clicks open, you push in.
37:17
I hope there's not an alarm, I didn't think about that
37:19
beforehand. Yeah, that's weird.
37:21
You open it up and there isn't. It's slightly concerning, but
37:26
I'm also just grateful for the good luck.
37:29
You walk in and well, it's pitch dark in here.
37:32
Lights aren't on, so the only small amount of illumination is
37:37
coming from what street light is filtering in through the
37:40
windows. But you can see the old timey
37:44
aesthetic extends into the building proper.
37:53
You half expect old timey twangy piano music to start playing the
37:59
moment you walk in, as you gaze at the slightly scuffed wood
38:03
panels, the Persian rugs, the old almost Romanesque style
38:12
columns holding up the buttresses, the frame, the.
38:20
It might have at one point been the lobby area of the old hotel,
38:24
but has been since converted into a series of glass display
38:29
cases, relics of a frontier age. Old blown up panoramic photos
38:39
with large text detailing the fascinating journey of one Karl
38:47
Streiber at a caravan of German immigrants that came here during
38:55
the gold rush years and somehow found themselves a ways away
39:00
from the Central Valley. But the shadows cast over it all
39:06
give it a decidedly eerie quality.
39:10
Well, slightly unnerved, she's pastor will kind of like wave to
39:16
Raleigh and Crow be like, all right, let's do this.
39:20
Get in and get out. I have no idea what I'm looking
39:22
for. Yeah, well, something a cherry
39:27
trick such I don't know. Is that a person or an item?
39:31
Why is the the hot wizard so vague?
39:35
Aren't. Izzards normally pretty vague,
39:40
Maria. Yes.
39:45
Well, this won't do at all. They let themselves in, and
39:51
you've been watching them chattering away this whole time.
39:55
Like, this is perfectly acceptable behavior and you're
40:02
rather peeved about that. I think Maria, from back down in
40:10
the hall, shuts the door behind them.
40:16
Aster jumps. Rally jumps.
40:20
Generally if one is visiting 1 knocks.
40:28
Sorry, I didn't think anybody would be here.
40:32
At the moment, the figure that is speaking is still occluded by
40:37
the darkness, but you can see a shape and a pair of burning red
40:45
eyes. We we, we, we apologize and.
40:54
I take it by the look of the feathered one that you don't
40:57
count yourselves among the living.
41:01
Yeah, team not breathing. Team not breathing.
41:06
I see. That definitely won't do.
41:12
It is one thing for hapless mortals to stumble in here, and
41:18
there's another for this place to be invaded.
41:24
I think she's going to slowly step.
41:26
Forward. What do they see as she steps
41:31
into the half light? So it's a feminine figure,
41:36
pretty slight and slender. She's about 5-7.
41:41
She's in black shoes and black high waisted slacks.
41:45
She's got a white button up with the sleeves rolled up, the
41:49
buttons buttoned down decently low, and she has disposable
41:55
gloves on her hands. That's where the kind of
41:58
recognizably human traits end. There are the glowing eyes, as
42:06
well as the fact that she is completely bald, and instead of
42:12
hair almost on the front of her head, there is raised bone
42:18
ridges going back, almost like armor around the upper half of
42:24
her face and head, and it trails off into her flesh, leaving
42:30
behind designs that are like the back of a snake.
42:36
There's a similar situation going on around her collarbone,
42:40
like it's armored, and her arms beneath the rolled up sleeves
42:46
are discolored and utterly smooth.
42:53
It also looks like snake scales but very dark green almost black
43:02
scales, and the rest of her skin too almost has that kind of
43:08
shiny smooth quality. Just like everything has been
43:13
reduced and made smooth and any excess is gone except for those
43:19
human inhuman traits that protect her.
43:22
I mean no offense by this, but you are beautiful.
43:26
She stops for a moment, cocks her head.
43:31
Not what I was expecting, but thank you.
43:36
We were told by Rafe to come. Here by Rafe.
43:45
We still have the note like ask for whispers to Riley and Crow.
43:54
Yeah, I've got Rafe sent it along with my familiar.
44:08
She. Extends a hand which you can see
44:12
is lightly called clawed beneath the glove.
44:17
Handed over clawed hand is not entirely unknown to me, so it's
44:24
like, that's cool. Still, though, there is She's
44:31
She's not. There's no pretence of humanity
44:35
here. Yeah, no, it's not even like the
44:40
whites, where it still was recognizably a man.
44:44
As she draws closer, there's something Phidian about her.
44:49
No, not Phidian. Reconic, almost.
44:57
She studies you with eyes that are these oblong slits that open
45:09
and contract in a way that no mammalian pupil should, as she
45:14
very carefully studies the note. And indeed, the dilating eyes
45:22
are the only motion when she's still.
45:25
She is perfectly statuesque still, and when she's moving
45:31
it's perfectly smooth, just a little too quick to start and
45:36
stop. Now, Maria, that is the Regent's
45:42
handwriting. Still though, this this is not
45:48
how it is done. There is a proper procedure to
45:53
this? It is not enough for him to mark
45:57
me and keep me in this place, but he sends fledglings in
46:07
without a care in the world to, I assume, take something.
46:14
She points at the note. Yeah, you cut, you hit the nail
46:19
on the head with that. Yeah, we're, we're very fresh.
46:32
I'm. Starting to catch the vibe at
46:34
this point that like pretty much everybody wants us dead and keep
46:41
throwing us into situations to die again I'm.
46:47
Getting real tired of it, yes? Well, I'm hardly an exception in
46:53
this moment. Except that one.
46:55
She points at Aster. You made a positive impression.
47:00
Aster just bows like she doesn't know what to do, so she just
47:03
bows. So.
47:08
I take it I can count near allegiance among the Camarilla?
47:16
I guess. She throws her armoured brow a
47:23
little bit. That name is slightly.
47:29
A couple, but what is your what is what, what is your plan?
47:33
She wants a rally. Rally has to take a second and
47:37
goes started with AT. Oh, you are fresh.
47:42
Fresh. It's been a week.
47:45
Yes, they seem very determined for you to die then.
47:50
Yeah, about a week old. Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a long
47:58
story. I suppose I should hear it after
48:06
I hear some apologies for intruding on my home.
48:10
I am so fucking sorry, I did not know that this was your home.
48:13
I also apologize. We didn't know.
48:16
We were not told proper procedure.
48:19
We didn't. We did not know.