Asali heads up the stairs to the private third floor, followed by Dean, an MIB, and her pure white chihuahua Snowdrop.

"Winter is on the way up to the third floor," the MIB says to no one in particular. It seems as if he has some sort of communication device as two MIBs are waiting outside the conference room.

They step away from you as Asali growls at them, but they gather themselves, and remain at their post.

"I'm here to report," she says. "Step aside!"

Their respect, or is it fear, for her is apparent, but they hold fast. One of them knocks on the door. It takes a while before there is a response. "Enter."

Inside, she looks at the two African American men, starting with the Baron.

"The Big Guy here is a Schimba," she starts. "So I'm taking him home to potty train him." She then heads back out.

"No," the Baron says and Asali freezes before reaching the door. She turns back to face him.

"We still have things to discuss regarding their future. No one is leaving."

"We do not train with an audience," Asali continues.

"Then find a place."

"As you wish." Asali turns around and leaves the conference room.

[African American males portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson and Mike Colter.]

Dean, now bound to Asali by both blood and the will Prince De Vega, seems resigned to follow the woman wherever she led him. He considers peppering her with questions, but seeing her attitude and her ferocity towards the staff, he thinks better of it.

He is lead into the conference room where his mind is both a gesture of respect to both the men and a confirmation of what Asali was saying.  He tenses when the Princes voice contradicts Asalis plan, but the moment passes swiftly.

And just like that they were moving again. He nods his goodbyes and follows his Sire back out onto the hall.

Asali searches all through the floor to find a room that is unlocked and that fits her unstated needs. When she has done so, she commands "Protect!" and the little dog turns around in place, at least as well as a prize-winning show dog, and growls at the MIB following you.

He ignores the dog and starts following you into the room, but Snowdrop bites his leg, hard. The MIB yells in pain. And the dog wrestles him to the ground. Snowdrop then places itself between the MIB and the now closed and locked door to the office she had selected.

"We are shapeshifters and transformers," Asali tells you. "We are more durable than other vampires. And animals like us. Only Schimba can shift, but the other clans can learn 'our' other powers. So in theory, you could be of another clan, but the likelihood of that is infinitesimal. Unless you are older than you say you are."

"The easiest one is this." With a snapping movement of her fingers, her nails have extended into claws.

"Show your power, Big Guy."

Dean can not help but break into a surprised grin as the tiny dog managed to get enough leverage to bring down the attendant. That has to be a shitty job, he thinks to himself. Butler to a bunch of Vampires.

Dean listens with interest. Just as ClanLupator was known for its strength, so was Clan Schimba known to be tough, and apparently he only ones that animals reacted well to. That sounds pretty good to him, all things considered, but the warning was still fresh in his mind. Even if his Clan were the toughest around, most of them still perished early and often from the sounds of things. But how?

When Asali extends her claws Dean instinctually takes a step back. Last time he had seen anything like that he had been gutted like a fish. He looks at them, can practically feel how razor sharp they are. Remembers the feeling of them plunging into his stomach.

"Alright..." Dean accepts the challenge and rolls his shoulders once more. He brings his big hand up to his face, looks at the callouses from practice, his nails cut short, the little hairs on the back. He turns it over two or three times slowly. He nods to her, indicating he is ready.

He imagines that the same claws that Asali has are inside there, can see them in his minds eye like an x-ray, long sharp claws just under the protective caps of his fingertips. Like a bear, or a wolverine. He remembers the X-Men movies and grins faintly.

He takes a deep breath and focuses, and just like the movie he had just envisioned, he flicks his hand down hard towards the floor as if to force the imagined claws out by force of gravity, to force the blood in his arms straight into his fingers.

It took Dean a few times, but soon enough, the claws were his!

"Now that we know that you can learn Big Guy. What do you want to learn next?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:37, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

Dean has trouble trying to describe the sensation. How do you convey using a sort of muscle that you never knew you possessed? The way that it flexes, and relaxes?

It itself the notion that he was now armed, perpetually. No matter where he went, a razor sharp surprise was just waiting there, ready. He felt strange, yet a little proud and more than a little dangerous. Furthermore, the blood of his Clan was all but confirmed

Every time he "extends" it becomes just a little more familiar, until he feels himself growing weaker.



Dean considers the question.

"Asali, when you say most new Vampires don't make it, Younglings from Clan Schimba at least, what usually kills them in the end? Is there anything you can teach me, you know, to at least give me a fighting chance?"

And when appropriate he adds.

"When you say we can change, shift, that's what our Clan is known for. What does that mean? Besides what you've just taught me?"

"What kills the younglings, any youngling, is the war with the werewolves," Asali said. "And now, with our elite task force wiped out, we are at a disadvantage. The only good thing was that the werewolves they took out were even more important to them. So we have an advantage. Even if it cost us dearly."

"To survive, you need to be wise. You need to learn from their mistakes. And avoid making mistakes of your own. Don't be a hero."

"I'm sure you've heard the stories. Vampires changing into wolves or bats or mist. Some are even trying to figure out how to shift into werewolf form so that we can infiltrate their ranks. Which is stupid, pointless waste of time as they walk in daylight."

"That reminds me. How did you die?"

As you answer one question, she asks another.
Do you live alone? [If Dean indicates that the answer isn't about San Diego, she will ask about San Diego.]
If it's clear from Dean's previous answers that no one knows he's dead and that he doesn't live alone, she will ask what his plan is with his family. Pointing out that vanishing into thin air isn't always the best method. And having a funeral for him now to give them closure have their own difficulties.

War. That makes sense. Dean thinks to himself as he tries to absorb the lesson. Those others in the conference room, they would not be the ones on the street. Vampires like himself and Jack, others like Abe and Tom, they were new.

They were expendable.

It would be easy, Dean concludes, to convince, or coerce, their group into joining the conflict. They may not have a choice at all. Asali, despite being eccentric, seems to have given him good advice.

Don't be a Hero. No, really, don't.

Survive.



It is such an odd question, but an accurate one. Dean recollects for a moment before he answers.

"He came through the...hole, that Sparrow made, and he cut me with his claws, from here to here" Dean traces the motion with his fingertips. "Pretty much at the same time somebody came up behind him and put a hand through his chest, he fell on top of me, and...well, I guessed I died right there" Dean looks away and licks his lips.

"I woke up covered in blood."

Dean goes on to explain his situation. How he was attending college out of state, how he had lived with hi parents in Miramar. How they were expecting him.

"What was his name? My blood Sire? What was he like?" Dean figures Asali had to have known him. They were from the same Clan after all. If he was to learn from his Sires mistakes, it could not hurt to at least know who he was.

"Is the Prince going to recruit us for this war? Do we have a choice?" he asks next.

"There were two members of our clan in the strike force," Asali says. "I don't know which one turned you. Something is going on for sure. Normally he would have let us go. So I'm not sure what his plans are."

"So what is your plan with your family? You said they were expecting you. Are you going to vanish, leaving them without closure? Are you going to contact them and break things off? Are you going to go home and play the long game? All of those options have both pros and cons. Or are you going to figure out an option with only pros? Time is ticking."

Dean feels his heart sink as he knows he has to face the problem of his family sooner than later. He fights back tears as he is forced to concede that he is, for their purposes at least, dead. His life is over.

There is a lot there, more than he wants to face in front of Asali. He does not want to break down in front of his new sire, and so he takes a steadying breath before he continues.

"I don't know. I've never had to do anything like this. I might try to just buy some time, get my head on straight. Come up with a real plan, ya know? I mean if I'm going to be in this area I'm going to run across old friends, maybe family. It's complicated." he sighs deeply, then looks to her. "Any advice?" She was already doing a lot for him, he knew, but there were few he could turn to, and she was the voice of experience.

"If you don't want to vanish," Asali begins. "You may consider contacting your family. Letting them know that you are fine and will be late or that your plans have changed. Maybe give them a reason for that. Ha-yoon likes tall men, I'm sure she can give you several."

Dean subconsciously touches his pocket as if making sure something is still there.

"Good to know" he paces a little out of frustration. "I'll work with Jack as well. Talk to him as soon as he's free. He's in the same boat, maybe the others in my cohort too. We can come up with something together."

It would not work to say they all died in a car wreck only to have Tom show up for class like nothing happened.

Dean mentally files that away as a priority. He had a few others on there as well.

"I also need to find a place to sleep, buy new clothes, I don't even have my truck here..." He says half to himself, and glances to Asalis helmet.

"And I'm going to need to find a way to get around, and defend myself, it's like completely starting over" he says as the immensity of the task looms before him.

"I really appreciate this Asali, you taking the time." He knew she probably did not have a choice, but he was grateful. Her warning was still at the forefront of his mind. "Hopefully this is not the only time we'll have together? Can I continue to learn from you? I know you're probably busy, but I can find some way to make it up to you."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:56, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

"I am your Sire," Asali says. "I am here to train you. To make sure you can keep the Secret and stay alive on your own. Spending time with me will be an important part of your nightly routine."

"There is a place we Schimba use for Younglings, I was taking you there before De La Vega stopped us. You can sleep there, unless he has other plans. I also think you should prioritize getting a dog and turning it into a ghoul. As you have seen, they can be quite useful. And they can look after you when you sleep."

"I'm sure we can find some clothes for you too, but they won't be new. A vehicle will be harder."

"Yeah" Dean agrees, his head swimming with everything that he is going to need to learn. All of a sudden he recalls what she had said about their Clan.

"Asali, you mentioned a bat." he cocks his head just a little. "Does that mean some of our Clan can...fly?"

"In that form, yes," Asali says. "I can teach it to you, but it will take time to learn. Knowing how to protect yourself will likely be more important in the short term."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:17, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

It's not all bad then Dean considers I'm technically immortal, and we can fly... as odd as that was to think about.




"Right" Dean agrees and nods sharply. "We should probably focus on that. None of this will matter if I'm gone in a week." says says grimly. "So if the Prince does, ah, draft us I guess. How does that work? Can you tell who they are? are you guys constantly attacking each other like what happened at the Jade Dragon? Have you ever killed one?" he asks as it becomes appropriate.

"The Baron will let us know when he needs us," Asali says. "But the werewolves have pretty much adopted a more nocturnal cycle as they lost more than we did when we were fighting on different schedules."

"Fortunately the war isn't constant. We would all be dead if it had been. And I have put down a few werewolves myself."

She continues to teach you how to draw upon your vampire blood to protect yourself.

Dean attempts to rally and clear his mind of the myriad distractions that continue to press in upon his consciousness. There are things, many things, that demand his attention, but none of them would matter if he followed the fate of his Sire and the majority of his newer Clan mates.

Everything else, his family, a dog, what his new friends were doing elsewhere, money, a vehicle. Everything else would have to wait.

Asali coaches Dean in how to focus and with time, his skin hardens. It doesn't look harder, it doesn't feel harder, but it is harder.

"You have now started experiencing power in two of the areas we are known for. The third is animals and when we select a dog for you, I will help you with that power too. But more important than your powers, is your ability to feed. How do you want to feed?"

Dean works hard to keep up. He imagines people and animals enduring all sorts of horrible things as they work, and in the end he can feel the difference. He feels tougher, he is tougher, like he had the thick hide of some large animal.

It feels really good actually, or t least Dean thinks so. Safer and more secure.

He nods to Asali postponing the third lesson, then considers her question for a moment. The idea seems less distasteful than it first did, although he is still conflicted.

"I was kind of just thinking about just taking it, like find a place where I can get someone alone, like a locker room or something, sneak up behind them and then bam." he snacks a fist into his palm. "How do you do it?"

"That works," Asali says. "As long as you know how to Passify your target, all you need is eye contact and a nearby safe place. I have a cute dog and I'm a woman, so I'm non-threatening. People approach me when I'm out walking the dog. And even if they don't, they don't mind if I approach them. It's win-win-win."

"That makes sense, I would never think that, well..." he shrugged. "You don't exactly scream Vampire"

So he could make feeding simple, he would just have to be smart about it. That and he would not have the advantages of appearing harmless. That was one edge Asali would also have over him.

When Asali mentions the dog the first one to come to mind was his families dog, Raider. But a part of him is hesitant to include the innocent creature in all of this. If they were at war, whichever dog he picked would be in danger, that was just just the way it would be. He needed a working dog, not a pet.

"Alright, so I'm going to be careful, but given enough time, and since I'm new. If something goes wrong and somebody sees something. What do I do? I mean if I can wrestle them down or whatever great, but what then? Do those sorts of things get reported to somebody? The Prince?" Dean asks his Sire.

"Most of us don't scream vampire," Asali says. "And those that do have learned how to hide. Younglings normally spend all their time with their Sire, so if anything happens, the Sire takes care of it. But the Baron seems to have something in mind for you and your friends. So there may be nights when we won't be together. But I expect that I will still be your first line of defense."

Asali's words bring a degree of comfort to Dean. He still has his Cohort, he still has his Sire, Asali, who seems intent on fulfilling her duties in that role. He even had a place to stay, with his beautiful Sire no less.

Unless the Prince delivered some sort of devastating news, he was more confident now that he could make ti through the night and to begin to tackle his myriad problems one by one. With a little help if need be.

He continues to listen and work with Asali.

Asali opened the door, pulled in the MIB waiting outside, and closed the door again.

Dean watched Asali, wondering if this meant that their instruction was done for the moment.

"After you have decided who and where," Asali says. "The first step of feeding safely is eye contact. The second is to do an Obi-Wan Kenobi and mind trick them. You don't have to wave your hand. What you tell them doesn't matter, as long as it keeps them in place without resisting and doesn't go against their convictions. 'Relax' works."

"The third step is actually feeding. And you will sense when you have taken as much as you can safely take. You can take more, but it will be bad for the person you feed on. And you don't know how much more blood you can take without killing them. As step four, you lick their wound so that you don't leave any telltale signs."

"Your suggestion lasts about a minute or two. Sometimes a little longer. And they forget what happened. If you only need to take the edge off, you can feed on the same person every other day. If you need more, you should likely not feed on the same person for a week."

"So let's try that. Look into his eyes and focus on controlling his mind. It may take a while, but you will know when you have succeeded."

At this point in the evening, trying to pull a Jedi style mind trick seemed far more plausible than the other things he had done.

Not trying to invent the wheel, he made solid eye contact with the attendant, pupil to pupil, and then in a low but insistent voice he said "Relax" he repeated this, until he was fairly certain it had worked, and then went in for a snack, and to get a better feel for how much he might be able to take.

If the MIB was resisting or if Dean wasn't doing it right was difficult to know at first. But when it clicks in place in Dean's mind, he knows that it works now and that it hadn't previously. And with the suggestion, Dean can see that it works too on the MIB's demeanor. And Dean steps in and feeds.

"Sweet deliciousness," Hunger says.


"Just a little more," Hunger said. "He can take it. He is a ghoul after all."

Dean had barely felt the first itch of hunger, as he had been so well sated the day before. He felt full in just a few seconds, but the desire to continue just to feel the delicious sensation was there.

All too concious of the eyes of his Sire upon him, he pulled back, paused a moment, then closed the small puncture wounds.

"Good," Asali says. "Now we have covered feeding too. Is there anything you feel we haven't covered?"

Dean thinks for a moment. He had learned so much, but he still wondered how he would fare if he were thrown to the wolves over the next few nights. He had no idea how to fight, and while he was not looking to start trouble, if it comes to him or his Cohort, he wants to be ready.

"Could you teach me a little bit on how to use these things? The claws I mean?"

"Certainly," Asali says. "Do you want something quick and dirty or something more advanced?"

Dean considers the question. If he was actually going up against somebody, something like a werewolf especially, he wanted to be able to truly defend himself.

"I've technically got the rest of eternity, right? Might as well go with the advanced stuff." Dean considers himself an athlete after all. He had a foundation,and believes he can handle the most challenging lessons.

"In theory," Asali says. "But in my experience, everybody dies, Big Guy."

She shows Dean how to punch and kick. Letting him attack empty air and she then corrects his moves to make sure that he makes them properly.

Dean finds it odd, learning to use his arms in a way that he had never imagined. His basic knowledge of anatomy allowed him to easily envision the notional claws catching on flesh, then tearing through ligaments and arteries.

This is not theoretical, not to Dean, and the threat of being killed as a conscript in a millennia long war is as real a danger as he has ever known.

He follows her instruction, realizing that this was likely just the first lesson of many.

"It's time," a MIB shouts from outside the office. And Asali stops the training session. You have been working out for quite some time and should have worked up quite a sweat, but you haven't.

She opens the door and commands "heel," which Snowdrop does.

"Come with me," the MIB says.

Dean braces himself for whatever is about to come on that longest of days and follows the attendant out and back towards to conference room.