The Don’s View from “Poking a Bear”
Notes by Logan
Location: Armandasanti Family Grave Site
Time: Just past 1am
Date: Sometime in the Future
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“Now, when I had given my people the orders regarding Henry, I honestly didn’t have a certain feeling about it. I would have liked for him to come back safe an sound but let’s be honest here...the rage inside can be very hard to shake off…”
Yeah, it’s true, the Beast was a hell of a monster and it almost never wanted to let go. If the Beast had it’s way every time, things would be completely miserable for the person whose skin it was wearing. Something that Vito absolutely hated the idea of. That loss of control was not what he wanted now or ever.
“Luckily for everyone involved, that didn’t happen to be the case. However, as was the case for so many nights in a row, that was not my only concern. A higher up in the family returned my call and was keen on discussing what I needed to tell him. I didn’t feel it was safe over the phone so I had us meet. Jordan made sure to note that wasting his time wasn’t good. I was sure this was going to be something he needed to know.”
A plume of smoke did it’s dalliance with the surrounding air. Leaving the Mafia Don to contemplate the next events. Gods above. What came to the forefront of his mind was the reminder of just how absolutely brutal Kindred Society was. Jordan’s movements and efforts during this time were genuinely inspiring to the young Ventrue that was Vitus. One day, he told himself, one day that would be him.
“Henry returned and was seemingly as normal as I had remembered him. Which was good because Jordan likely wouldn’t have believed me otherwise. Or maybe he could have but I wanted to show my best faith to my Family. Before I could even think of doing that...Henry needed a new suit and shower. I had first thought about giving him to the Tailor but he wasn’t in on my secrets so I couldn’t. I thought Henry could use some tricks but that would be too hard. Instead, I had Howard take the measurements and begin fashioning a suit. With that out of the way, we were off to a really nice club.”
If only he could be open. If only he could be honest about what he really was. What they were really doing. It would make this so much easier. He knew he could never be that forthright. It would be the end of everything he had built and a waste of energy and resources. He’d grown to absolutely hate wasting. Perhaps something he picked up from Barnaby? Perhaps something he learned over time when dealing with the outside world in such a manner.
“We had to pull some magic tricks of our own, of course. Hold a door here, step on a place there, the works. Eventually we did meet with Jordan and as promised I broke down all the details I knew and had Henry do the same thing. Jordan was as polite as I remember him being and twice as professional as he normally is with just members of our Family. However, he determined Henry had known too much and opted to pull a magic trick that members of our Family could do before making Henry wait outside.”
There was certainly a pang of some type of emotion in his voice. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea of simply robbing someone’s mind. He understood that he had to do what he had to do. Under the guise of protection of Henry and the Camarilla at large he could rationalize just about anything in regards to the sacrifice of free will and the liberties that it provided.
“He told me that Henry was something of a spy. Trying to learn about me and the Family at large. Jordan advised that I keep that to myself and work to find these ‘rebels without a cause’ type people. Turns out they may have a link to something much bigger than they realize and I need to find out just what all they took. So I enlisted the help of Henry once more and the two of us put our heads together and remembered where they might hang around. We went in to the car and drove to the spot. An what we found may have ended up being more than we bargained for…”
How was he to confess what happened next? Was there a way he could describe it? Perhaps… in relation to something that happened when he was younger but what about the growth during that event? The stress that pushed his blood all the further? Expanded his mind in ways he couldn’t have imagined it doing so?
“When we got there, deep in enemy Family territory, we came across a scene. Scarlett, you remember how you reacted when that classmate of yours said you looked funny when you were a kid? Yeah, it was a lot like that. Some of the most real anger I had ever seen. Nothing but rage in their eyes. An there was the person it was directed at. This punk rocker type girl. She seemed like the sort I was looking for and this was my chance to get in good with another Family. I got out the car and acted fast.”
A puff of smoke, a flick of the stem, ashes to ashes they all fell down. Recounting the story of how he first met the rest of his group was something he supposed should have enticed more emotion but the meeting itself was far more charged and needed to be reigned in as quickly as possible.
“I told the girl to get in the car as soon as possible. Luckily, it seemed my ability to command was not lessened and she caught wind of a potential escape quickly and acted fast. At least she was smart in that regard. The angry person wouldn’t leave her be that easily and chased her. The punk rocker chick jumped in the car and the feral jumped on top on my car. My very expensive car. Reaching about inside trying to get her. This is where… it gets a little weird actually.”
“So, you remember how I said my new Family has magic tricks they can pull on the mind? Well I could never do it to the same degree. At least, I wasn’t able to just yet. Not until this moment. I locked eyes with this feral creature in the shape of man and told it to calm down. I could feel a new power surge through me like nothing I’d felt before. It was amazing. I could even feel the other mind resisting it. It was a struggle but I won and eventually got the thing to calm down.”
“When everything was finally calmed down enough to talk, I got the story from the both of them. Rose was the feral thing that attacked, I know it’s ironic but I guess every Rose has it’s thorns, and the other was Jinx. Again, the irony that Jinx found herself with a case of bad luck isn’t lost on me at all. Turns out Jinx had made Rose do something humiliating and it caused Rose to go off. Needless to say, I invited them back with me and we were going to have a little discussion about what went down…”