74th Devotion: Safeguarding possessions

[favoritetraitor]

I see that the city has some guests once again. And if any are currently seeing this, I would like to ask that you kindly refrain from taking 'souvenir's' from the lab, or my office. I don't know how you managed to get past the security measures last time, but it does prove to be a hindrance to very important work.

Thank you.

[Message to Saya/ Unencrypted]
Saya, Marishka's daughter is in town so I offered to let the girl stay with us. I hope that's alright?

[ooc: 4th wall day, open for comments! Please Encrypt any comments that would expose him for what he is.]

Comments

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

How've you been Carl? Well, I hope?

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

As well as can be expected given the Cardinal's desire to have me out of the lab and in the field. I miss it here, actually; I wouldn't have imagined such a thing to be possible.

Thank you for continuing to keep Marishka at bay, I should say. Her manners are still somewhat lacking, but she didn't kill me on sight.

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm pleased that the two of you are at least managing to be civil. Although it was a shame that you left before the matter could be truly resolved.

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

I'm perfectly capable of civility when no one is being eaten, thank you. Unfortunately, I don't think Marishka is much inclined to let bygones be bygones.

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

I admit that she does seem to have difficulty in warming up to someone she doesn't like, but I do believe that in time, she can accomplish such a thing.

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope so. Perhaps I'm not apologizing in the right way? I've never been taught the etiquette in this situation, you know; I don't usually find it necessary to apologize for killing vampires. Of course, I don't usually kill vampires, so that has something to do with it, I imagine...

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

I don't believe I ever heard the story behind your difficulties with Marishka. Exactly what happened to promote such animosity between the two of you?

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

It's a rather long story.

In short, Dracula--she was one of his three brides, as you know--was intent on giving life to his children. Vampire children are born dead, you understand, and a Doctor Frankenstein had a remarkable machine capable of giving life to dead matter. Young vampires are ravenous creatures. The number of children Dracula wished to animate... well. I can't say this with certainty, but they would have decimated the world's human population, likely. The Church, naturally, didn't approve, and sent their most skilled and infamous hunter to dispose of Dracula and his brides. Dracula and his brides themselves had been relatively unproblematic until that time; vampires dine rather modestly as a rule, but--ah, I'm going on far too long. Suffice it to say, there were other circumstances and pressures at play.

My involvement was meant to minimal. I'm not a field man, you know. Traveling and near-death experiences don't agree with me, and I had been outside of the Vatican all of twice prior to coming to the City. Entirely unsuitable to the assignment, really, and Van Helsing--the aforementioned hunter--and I both questioned Jinette's decision to send me to Transylvania. This was before I realized how little common sense Van Helsing has and how much he needs a tactician.

That doesn't matter, of course. We killed Dracula, his brides, and, consequently, their children, saving humanity for a time. Marishka was the first bride to die. She and her sisters were attempting to kill Van Helsing and myself, and Van Helsing simply beat her to it. The dolt--I say that with all affection--didn't know how to kill vampires, so I suppose Marishka would have succeeded in murdering us if I hadn't provided guidance. Verona was the next, and I will admit that her death was my fault entirely. It was a stake bomb. There's the sun bomb, as well...

It's very complicated. I do hope you can appreciate that. Given the choice, I would have happily avoided the whole affair.

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

I see. How like what Amshel intended. How unfortunate. I can see why Marishka would be upset, given the circumstances. For any mother to have her children... well. I think she's doing remarkably well, don't you?

Still, I'm curious about the device that was used to animate the children. Did you ever get a chance to see it in any detail?

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

Yes, well. I'm sure she would have much preferred to have the human population entirely decimated so her children could slowly starve to death. Vampires are notoriously... ah, fertile. There were thousands and thousands of juvenile vampires, not just a handful.

Unfortunately, the device was in a poor state by the time I managed to get close to it. There were a number of more important matters to deal with, as well.

[favoritetraitor.livejournal.com]

Thousands? Is this typical of her kind?

[somekindofsin.livejournal.com]

When they breed, yes. Most of them don't bother, as their children are stillborn.