2019-05 : Sunshine

[Vid]

When no monsters are in sight, nor hiding in the sugar pot, our crew makes the very English decision to have a sit-down.

Some moments later the living room couch has occupants again, and Vid hands out large mugs of tea. Just to be sure, he adds, "not for drinking. Though I've met a rare vampire who can swallow food or drink, I believe we are not those lucky ones." Right? His eyebrows ask, before he settles into a soft corner, shoes off and legs up from the floor.

Suddenly earnest, green eyes find Thomas's, and in his regular broken English Vid professes, "I'm sorry about the rope. I didn't know the beast could use my skills... But more I'm sorry I made you feel unsafe. Thanks to you, I can now guard against this. Even when hunting, I do not take by force."

[Thomas Parker]

A bit puzzled Thomas clutches his mug of tea. He guesses it's Vid's way of making everyone feel comfortable and safe. It was a sweet gesture, sure, but for his own convenience, he made sure he stayed in the chair opposite the couch.

"It's not your fault Vid, we all should've thought a bit better about what we as Gangrel can do. Because apparently, we can reave havoc. But that havoc comes at a price and a cup of my blood seems a pretty shitty trade for another set of ears or a tail."

For a moment he is silent, staring at the dark liquid in his cup and realizing he would've never drunk his tea like that, were he still alive. He missed his builder's tea with milk.

"Yes Fleur, to answer your question, Kith are part of the Fair Folk. They aren't exactly fairies but they are related. So I suppose someone in your family is actually part of our people. And depending on which 'clan' they are born into you are part of one of those clans too. Pretty similar to Kindred, actually."

[Vid]

A bit self consciously, Vid touches his ears. That would be a steep price indeed. But Vid is not one to dwell on the past. He made a choice and accepted the risk, so he shrugs his shoulders.

Then he sits quietly and listens. The revelation doesn't surprise him overly, having grown up with tündérek and bábák from the woods, but more the seriousness this is being discussed with. In his experience it's good (though not always welcome) to have a little magic in your veins. So he listens as attentively as possible, while delaying a decision on the 'ears' situation a little longer. With Dusza.. it also took hours before the changes showed, right?

[Fleur]

Sitting in the middle of the couch Fleur looks at the ceiling and blows towards her little sprite that is playing on the airflow she creates for him. When Vid offers her the cup of tea his warning is just in time.

Fleur has a million and more questions for Thomas, she just doesn’t know where to start. Maybe first talk about the whole blood thing.

“I would love to talk about Kith later, Thomas I have so many questions and I have absolutely no idea where to start. As far as I know my family is completely ordinary” She looks at her tea and puts it down on the table. All the sudden emotions seem to overwhelm her.

In her mind fairies are beautiful creatures full of compassion and magic. Able to bring life to the world and grant wishes to those who want to take care of the world and every living thing in there.
Exactly like the ones she drew on school in her books.
But her parents… They aren’t like that at all, neither where her grandparents or her uncle. Closer to monsters they where

She scraps her throat and looks at ceiling again, when she speaks her voice sounds very business like, almost as if this was some kind of board meeting.
“So, what have we all learned. Don’t tie up a Gangrel with rope, Thomas his blood has a very strong effect on kindred and should be handled with even more care. Vid you where talking about an experiment. What is it you had in your mind?”

[Vid]

He swallows, as the attention suddenly settles back on him. Don't call it an experiment. They've done enough things where the outcome hung more in the balance than he wanted.

"I, uhm. Believe I learned something. About fair folk or whatever magic is at play here. I can feel it buzzing in my veins... I believe I can use it."

[Thomas Parker]

Thomas threw Fleur a smile, that turned out to be more of a grimace. "That's totally normal Fleur, believe me. My father was a preacher for crying out loud, we were the most ordinary family in the whole town." He missed his completely ordinary family. He would love to be completely ordinary again.

As Vid shared his views the young Gangrel sat up straighter. "You can Vid, but you should be very careful," the look on his face was clinically blank as if he wanted to betray nothing as to what the origin of his knowledge was. "The magic of Kith is the complete opposite of the power of The Children of the Night. Using it the wrong way could leave you burned. Literally."

[Vid]

He knows what this topic means to her. Always told she was less, that her perception was wrong. How wonderful would it be to find out she's just as magical as he's trying to convince her she is. But he doesn't voice it. This is Thomas' argument, for him to support.

He can only guess at what this means to the young gangrel. How often has he been attacked? Vid remembers being jumped for food in Hungary, but it doesn't compare. He'd been in control, in the company of allies. Thomas sorely needs allies, who can watch his back when he dares venture into the pit of vipers. And because of tonight, the traveller believes the wanderer deserves that protection.

"My parents weren't ordinary. They were always with me, though I couldn't see them. My grandmother taught my sister and me about magic in the world, and how governments and other institutes try to stamp that out. Still, I didn't dare tell her, when I grew up and found I could heal wounds. That meant I had a destiny, and I wasn't ready to accept it."

He sighs, opening his arms for Fleur to get closer. Sneaky hug for her. And hug for him.

"Then my destiny got stolen. But I found that the blood of my kin restores that gift. Which is also a curse, because there are tales of my type killing all their relatives because only that brings back the gifts of Life. So I ran, far as I could, to learn control. So I might meet my sister again."

He raises one hand, looking at the fingertips. "You're not kin. But your blood also smells like honey, like light, and sunshine. And it makes me feel that tiny bit less dead."

"I feel like I could use it to heal."

[Fleur]

The perfect picture, mother & father happily married with a son that does good at school. Beautiful house, lots of vacations. Big car and husband a good job.
His brother had it all and everybody thought he was just as blessed. If only he saw it that way. If only his wife saw it that way.
A daughter

Fleur has no illusions about how much her parents loathed her, they told her often enough. But it doesn’t matter anymore. She listens vaguely to their conversation. When Vid opens his arms she lays in them without even thinking about it. Hugging him and being hugged.
Safe in his embrace there is nothing in this world that could harm her.

She looks at Thomas, sitting alone on the chair. No family left because of their dark curse. Vid’s destiny stolen and what would Thomas his journey have been like if he wasn’t part of the army.
Maybe she can find someone for him, would he like it to have a cat? Someone to take care of that will love him without even thinking about it. Maybe I will visit a shelter tomorrow….

Burned, she can feel how her beast becomes uneasy. “How do you mean burned?”

[Thomas Parker]

Thomas was silent, listening to Vid's story and trying to piece together the sentences of broken English. If he had been younger he had thought that 'stealing someone's destiny' was a metaphor. Now he realized that it could be something completely real and that Vid probably experienced a great deal of pain because of it.

"I get that you would love to try it Vid but please, be careful." He knew that he could not talk the idea out of the other Gangrel's head, even if he wanted to. The Hungarian was way too stubborn.

As Fleur asked her question Thomas' face turned a bit darker. "Burned, as in burned by the light. Glamour is the magic of life, of sun, of daytime. Everything we Kindred are allergic to. Use it incorrectly and you could destroy yourself." Secretly he thanked his mentor for that knowledge, otherwise, he would've been burned the moment he turned Kindred. His fairy lights would've made sure of that.

"Tell me Fleur, what can you do? What other things than your sprite friend and your blood indicate that you are Kith? And why doesn't your blood make people go crazy?"

[Fleur]

First there is only worry visible in those blue eyes, but the more he says the bigger they get, filled with fear.
"I don't know" she whispers

She breathes in deep and thinks for a moment.
Has she ever done anything magical or weird? Has she ever had the problem that someone really wanted to bite her? What is the difference?
"Well if we look at the blood part in a logical way... You know you are Kith, you use your magic or at least keep it up. I don't think that my blood is that filled with life and light... simply because I don't know how to use Glamour or keep that light burning.

We know each other now for... What shall it be say 8 months? And only now we find out that apparently we are more alike then we thought.
I think your light is a burning fire and mine is a small flame"

After squeezing in Vid's hand she gets up, moving from one of the sofa to the other, sitting close to Thomas now.
"Do you think you can teach me?" His sister looks so hopeful at him, he has seen her walking around and dancing and simply enjoy herself. An adult woman loving the freedom, but the way she looks at him right now. Childlike hope for wonder and dreams. Stars dancing in her eyes.