eachdraidh | v. video. open to both courts.

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v. video. open to both courts.

[The Brucolac isn't in his rooms, for those who know what they look like. Rather, the locket shows him cross-legged on the floor of an inn room in Mair, with a ledger on his lap, a teacup in his hand (Alice will recognise it) and a pile of coins set nice and obviously by his knee. The king was in his counting house, etc.]

Who amongst you can restore sight to one blinded?

I'm willing to pay, provided your service is prompt and effective. [Scratching thoughtfully at his neat-trimmed stubble, evidently assessing some mental diary of appointments. He's got to fit in visiting fire-nymphs, hearing Alyosha lecture at the Barrel, potentially roughing up some brothel-owners, selling drugs and, oh, and somehow finding Morla's favour. His mouth turns down with faint, irritable displeasure at the chaos of it all.] Preferably before the end of the month.

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[The Brucolac gives a creaking chuckle.] Oh, haven't we all.

[Then, hesitantly:] Unlucky, to have your kin brought with you. Seems worse, to me, than leaving them behind. Unless this daughter is native?

Oh, she's a recent addition. So rarely does anyone show promise, though, to join as one of my children.

She should be happy to have such a chance, but she insists on throwing angry looks at me routinely.

—ah. A sireling.

[ :( ]

Shouldn't it be less surprising than me bedding a native?

Hardly. But your terminology threw me. We don't address our changelings as daughter or son, or...I don't, unless they were already somehow daughter or son to me.

Is she bound to you?

[Sorry Ys, your eyes are less interesting than talking shop. He's getting 'round to 'em.]

Mmmm. Well, admittedly, I'm an oddity among vampires. Not many Apostles bother with the ones they've turned, afterwards. Most would destroy theirs.

[Roa was excessive even compared to them. Many vampires stayed hidden and kept their territories small--never far beyond their castle. Roa was responsible for destroying cities, villages, towns. It was difficult for him to slow himself down.]

She's bound, yes. Surprisingly, she evolved well beyond what I expected and she could potentially start building her own territory if I allowed her, but--

I admit, I like the company.

[A hissing tut.]

You must be fucking lonely to find company in muzzled dogs, Roa. Let her thrive, and she'll love you better.

I've got a 'take what you can get' attitude, pal.

She's bitter about the transformation as is. If I encourage her to go free, she'll kill off villages on her own and get the worst attention.

It wasn't a mutual arrangement?

[It's out of his mouth before with a flash of guilt so strong it almost makes him laugh cruelly there and then, he realises he's throwing stones from a glass mausoleum.]

—hardly my business, you'll excuse my curiosity.

[Even Roa was taken aback with surprise. That question was borderline irregular, especially coming from a vampire, themselves.]

You can't say anyone wouldn't be surprised by that kind of question. I'm tempted to ask just how young you really are.

[Still, he chuckled in the end, because that was the terribly funny part about it.]

That aside, I'll let it pass. You're free to ask questions and I'm free to answer. Simply put--I was scouting. You and I both know folks rarely join up willingly. Despite that lack of motivation of hers, she was actually an exceptionally rare and gifted candidate.

[Grimly:]

Not young at all. My own recruits have most typically been...those I trust as my lieutenants, who will trust me as their captain.

But then, I was in a unique position to make that possible.

[Pity a poor, homesick bloodsucker.]

It certainly sounds unique. Unnatural, if you ask me. It sounds like you had a pretty chummy set-up.

[He sounded a little bored by that. Roa, who never once had a comrade or even a family member that loved him for even a moment, couldn't sympathize. From the beginning to the end, he was used to and even comforted by the realization that he was utterly alone. 'Mara' was a lovely experiment, but she was something he could cast away in an instant.]

Chummy? Hell, I was a politician. Couldn't surround myself with kin who hated me. They were weaker than me, but they had the numbers. And they made what was in my grasp worth holding onto.

What's the point in your kind of turning?

The benefit is mostly for feeding. I don't have to directly ingest blood if one of my Deads does it for me. Admittedly, I'm aware the local vampires don't function the same way, but--

I prefer direct feeding, if only because second-hand experience is essentially a false orgasm. Sure, I get the power from my Deads easily enough, but it just isn't the same.

[Yeah, let's go down this road, said Roa.]

[...]

A false orgasm.

What a bizarre fuck you must be.

[Hard and dry. Wow. You're disgusting.]

Ah? What do you mean? [You mean you don't get fully aroused when you break someone's neck and watch the life leave their eyes?

Wow, way to judge.]

You are a vampire, right?

Fuck it, I don't know what your kind of bloodsucker is like, but my own haemophagy doesn't mean I like to tug my cock over my godsdamn meals.

Hah! Come on, you'll make me blush.

Now, that said--does my sex life have anything at all to do with helping your friend out?

[YES. DON'T TRUST HIM, MAN]

Never let it be said, Roa, that you ask anything but loaded questions.

I'm going with the Seelie do-gooders. Call me oldfashioned.

Sure, sure. Let the ones who stick to the realm of sensibility handle such a delicate operation.

I'll stick with innovation and improvement, myself.

Ah, stick it up your own realm of sensibility, Roa. Are you telling me you don't get the slightest kick from people not trusting you with their women and children?

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