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Viewforth by Night: A Winter's Ball, pt 1

Those that came before, and a ghoul priest.

Faith was the perfect obedient Ventrue childe for approximately two weeks.

She coped with this sudden, horrifying turn in her life by just... blindly trusting her sire. After all, this was Father Adrian. Her priest! He knew almost everything about her, he discussed her faith and her mother at length with her, he organised church fundraisers - whilst admittedly a monster, she saw him as an authority figure she could trust. She needed him to be an authority figure she could trust. He told her what was needed from her, and she was going to do her best to do it.

Until she first attended Elysium. She met the Keeper, first, who made a nerve-wracking dig at her sire - unbeknownst to Faith, it seemed the Father had previously had a string of childer. The Keeper stumbled - or feigned stumbling - for Faith's name.

"Ah, and the young one - er, Hope, was it? No, no, wait, er... Charity! Ah, er, no, she got diablerised last month..."

The first crack in Faith's perception of her sire had formed.

With her newfound mental Fortitude, however, she played the part of a smooth, confident young woman, giggling and smiling and correcting the Keeper, joking about the irony of her name in comparison to theirs. She was then presented to the Prince, quickly and efficiently - although it seems he can't quite help but make a dig about 'the last one' either, as she passes his test. In some small relief, he at least seems to imply that Faith is an improvement.

After this, Faith was encourage to go mingle while Father Adrian attended other business with the other Kindred priests of Viewforth. "Make some friends," he had said.

She went for the bar, and tried to appear confident as she asked if there was anything that she would be able to keep down. She had tried eating a handful of cereal, once, and knew that didn't work, and she'd tried water on a few occasions - she could keep it down a little, with the blush, but even then, her body was keen to reject it.

She didn't choose to relay it like that - she made the conscious, but stilted effort to come across more relatable, lamenting a failed attempt to eat a burger - that's a Relatable Food, right?

I won't go into detail of everything she said through the whole Elysium, I promise - I just need you to know that the first thing she did once her sire wasn't watching over her was lie. The only people who actually know this are me, the storyteller, and whoever else was in vc while I was memeing on Faith ooc as it played out. In character, I don't think people see her as particularly prone to lying.

Anyway: alchemy nonsense in this particular setting meant there were drink options she could keep down. She settled for a vodka cranberry, her go-to drink after coming of age. The vodka-cranberry will make numerous appearances, including a very, very sweet one later down the line.

There are a few other Kindred at the bar already, but Faith's attention is instead caught by a ghoul - praying in Latin over his glass of water. Blessing it, from what she can tell. He notices her as she notices something else - heads and conversation all around her turning to the man who's just brought a Salubri in on a leash.

The ghoul doesn't let her off the hook, asking her if something is wrong. She bleats out an apology and a "Lord be with you."

He makes some strange comments about her shame - and Faith is ashamed. We were given the task of coming up with our character's secrets at the start of all this, and one of Faith's was a secretly-held shame about what she is, the pleasure she takes in feeding, the pleasure she felt in the embrace - so she starts panicking. She lies again, saying she actually feels quite lucky. He asks why she feels the need to hide with such fervor, and she denies hiding anything.

"I suggest you find a new confessor," he says. She stiffens, horrified, then perseveres - she giggles as if this wasn't devastating, a deepening of the crack, and asks his name, turning to small talk.

He accepts this - introducing himself as Richard McCarthy, a ghoul belonging to a character that was originally going to be someone else's player character, but sadly the player never materialised. A Brujah sitting nearby has been hearing this go down, and intervenes - as soon as the ghoul introduces himself, she introduces herself in turn, Kenna Rake. She gestures for the bartender to get Faith another drink.

Dear reader, these are two of Faith's three new parents. She just doesn't know it yet.

Faith sits by, uneasy, as the pair discuss the Brujah's drifter habits, and the ghouls experiences with Malkavian vitae. Unbeknownst to Faith, the ghoul had an unfortunate outburst of Bard's Tongue before she arrived at the bar. She starts watching the man with the Salubri, for a while, but she doesn't have the context to learn anything from her observations.

Two kindred who were at the bar earlier in the night make their way back over. They seem acquainted with the Brujah. One is a Banu Haqim ancilla. The other is a Setite neonate.

It is worth noting the Banu Haqim's player was kicked from the game, for OOC reasons (though there were quite a few complaints and warnings to the player through their time in the chronicle about their character). This character will eventually sort of randomly stop showing up.

The Banu Haqim character, Clayton, goes to talk with the Keeper soon after arriving back. The Setite assimilates into the conversation - she's in a somewhat bad mood, after an interaction with her sire, and is slightly terse with the ghoul. This does nothing to help Faith's unease. She looks around for her sire, and smiles when she spots him - bolstered by the fact he, while distracted, would likely see if anything bad happened.

The Setite looks over to Faith, and just asks - "so, how new are you?"

She explains she's only been around two weeks, sings her sire's praises, and starts asking the others about themselves. The Setite is open about herself, and Faith takes advantage of this, keeping the focus on her, asking personal questions.

The Setite is called Sage, something Faith will find out later, but I don't want to keep writing "The Setite." I'll do posts about each of the coterie members eventually - Sage was an interesting one.

Sage had been quite timid in life - and now was a sexy, hot prostitute, controlled by her sire. This conversation was brought to an end, however, when the ghoul - a very old looking gentleman - brought out his 30th birthday card. A recent one. He was not actually 30 - and we went on a tangent, so I still don't actually know why he had that. 30 years with his domitor, perhaps?

Sage says she was turned after finishing university, at 24. Faith admits she herself just finished university at 21, and the group talk about their various studies - Faith double-majoring in Business Studies and Economics, while Sage had studied Occultism. Richard confirms with Faith that she is, in fact, Catholic.

I really want someone to know: Faith fucking talked like this at the start of the game:

"I will say, it's odd to think that vampires... actively keep an eye on mortals. I'm a Sales Trader, youngest in the company, so I suppose I've got 'Ventrue' written all over me, but I just... never expected anyone to be paying much attention to me. Least of all the good Father, suppose he paid more attention to my confessions than I thought," she giggles, glancing briefly to Richard, "the idea that the Tremere 'would have got you' is so odd to me, but I suppose it's more than likely true, huh?"

You will not catch her talking like that after her sire went missing, unless it's to another authority figure.

Sage slips Faith a business card as she goes to speak to another Setite, leaving her with Richard. The Brujah's player wasn't around for a while, so she faded into the background. Faith, seeing an opportunity, asked Richard to take a turn about the gardens with her.

Outside, he's much less threatening - he was a priest, once. He seems to hold Faith's sire in low regard, and he spends some time explaining to Faith the less pleasant aspects of Kindred-hood that await her. He's of a Noddist inclination, and shares this with Faith.

A series of events throughout the campaign have actually primed Faith to go Sabbat. I doubt she will, due to lack of opportunity, but fuck me, she'd be the easiest recruit ever, after what she's been through so far.

They discuss whether Cainite's can be free of Cain's curse, and Richard - now known to be centuries old - advises her on her path forward, and gives her a very important gift, with mention of but a single word:

Faith's body language changes as he speaks - she appears to open up slightly, losing the practised nature she carries herself with in the presence of her sire. She wears a soft, seemingly genuine smile - as if relieved to hear this.

"Golconda?" she asks, speaking softly - her voice betraying her desperation to know more, "I'm not familiar with the term."

She's literally a two week old fledgling but my god she is speedrunning.

They debate whether the pursuit of "goodness" is selfish if you're doing it just because you're a vampire. They talk about Richard's experiences as a Cistercian, and now as a ghoul, being passed around from domitor to domitor over many, many years. Over the course of the conversation, she decides Richard is someone she can trust - and successfully makes her first friend - not a kindred, but a ghoul, and one with a rather potent dislike of her sire.

Eventually, they head back inside, after she becomes a little more keenly aware that Father Adrian wouldn't want her outside with a ghoul all evening.