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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 13:31:53 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 13:31:53 GMT -6
"Of course father." Catherine replied as Gregoire left. It would be her job for the next however long to beat Tyrus into the sort of fighting or ruling shape that the Constantin family required. She suspected she had her work cut out for her, but she didn't know exactly how much. Catherine didn't know how much or how little training Tyrus had ever received outside of sticking his nose in a book. She knew that it was one thing to read about it, but another altogether to begin to apply the concepts.
Turning her attention back to Tyrus, she grimaced, clearly uncomfortable with the situation they were now in. "Neither am I, and by no means do I intend to take the place of your family." Catherine explained with a sigh. What had he even been thinking during the ritual to put them in such a predicament? It wasn't that she so much minded her own turn of personal events, but more so minded what had happened to Tyrus. "For now, I can extend my own capabilities to aid you... but eventually you will have to learn." She paused a moment to think and collect her thoughts, they were still a jumbled mess despite everything.
"Without your little tricks and trinkets too." Catherine added, all too familiar with Tyrus's penchant for short cuts and cheats.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 13:40:40 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 13:40:40 GMT -6
"I'll do my best." He re-iterated. He planned on learning this as swiftly as possible. "Though I admit my first thought was some sort of pendant. I'm going to have to re-tune the rest, so this would be the time to add another." A fourth one though. Three had been pushing it. Four was a step too far, really. But that was the problem. There was really no other way to carry it. Perhaps a wrist cuff? Well, the matter was moot given Catherine had just shot down his preferred short term avenue.
"Well, I'm well fed at least. That's going to be fun to learn to do." Hunting humans was something he had been aware of, but mostly in an academic sense. He didn't exactly have experience with doing it himself. Luckily, he was at least surrounded by vampires so would have plenty of help figuring it out. If he could even trust them at all. Right now he was leery of the idea given he suspected he'd have to deal with political crap all over again. Someone was going to try something again, he knew it.
At least Catherine was taking a break from being a warden. He had a feeling he'd need to use his former family's special brand of magic to survive in the court again. Some idiot would have to be taught that Tyrus was to be feared, fledgling or not. Boiling the blood from their last meals as it coursed through their veins would likely leave a lasting impression and he should only have to do it once.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 16:33:20 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 16:33:20 GMT -6
Catherine just looked at Tyrus with annoyance and shook her head. The man did not know when to shut up, or take the time to do more than acquire a passing knowledge of something. "Tyrus, lesson one.. shut up." He was broadcasting every minute thought as it came through his mind. It wasn't uncommon for new telepaths to do such, but Catherine wasn't sure if she would survive teaching him not to.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 16:38:58 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 16:38:58 GMT -6
Right shut up. He could do that. Tyrus closed his mouth and tried hard to stop thinking. Not that he had any luck on that front, his mind whipping through a thousand possibilities a second wandering down path after path on the implications of what had happened to him, on what it would mean for everything he could do. He tried to stem the flow of thoughts, but they only raced faster and frustrated he pulled away from her and began a moving meditation in the form of a kata until his thoughts slowed down and quieted again.
The kata focused him and cleared his mind. He had never been able to sit and meditate, but a moving meditation was doable for him, his mind quiet and clear within seconds of starting the well memorized movements. He held onto the stillness holding it close. "Is that better?" Was he thinking quieter at least? Everything had stopped racing quite so fast at least, and that was helpful.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 18:43:21 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 18:43:21 GMT -6
"Better." Confirmed Catherine as she sunk down onto the ground. It was cold and hard, and despite the earlier meal she still found herself feeling the cold through the thin silk shift Tyrus had insisted on for the ritual earlier. "But this isn't a thing you learn over night. Right now, even Brandon could likely read you like a book." And her nephew wasn't anywhere close to the class of telepath his aunt was.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 18:51:48 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 18:51:48 GMT -6
"That is not reassuring." He noticed the cold and looked around. "Let's head inside. It's too cold to be out here too long." Vampire or not, he could still feel the cold. He put the cover on the fire pit so the fire would smother itself and headed inside. The idea of Brandon being able to read him easily was not a comforting one at all and he was hoping that he could put an end to that. Catherine was right though. New magic took time to learn, and this was new magic. "At least I live far enough out that I'll be able to practice with some peace." There were the ranch hands, but they didn't tend to come up to the main house often.
"Though I suppose it doesn't count as practice if there's nothing I'm practicing against. And I will have to go out to eat." It was probably a good thing he'd put in the mirror. He'd need to pick up groceries every night as it were.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:04:49 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 19:04:49 GMT -6
"This time of year always is." She agreed, remembering a time when she had been colder. As a child before she had been taken to live with the fae, she had been allowed to wander wild through the country side surrounding her village. Shuttled from home to home among the family in village, a warm place to sleep was uncommon. "But yes, lets go in." Catherine added standing up and brushing the loose grass off herself.
"Skill comes with practice and for now you can practice on me."
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:12:22 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 19:12:22 GMT -6
"Tea? I also have hot chocolate." That's what he was planning on having. He paused a moment and considered it. "Is our line one that can eat human food?" Not all lines could after all, and some lines could handle more than others. If they couldn't, he'd have to figure out what to do with the contents of his fridge and pantry. Give it all away, probably. But it was an older line, one of the oldest, and he had high hopes that he would still be able to eat.
Something other than blood that was. Getting used to having to drink blood and not just having drinks spiked with it at court events was going to be interesting. At least it wouldn't turn his stomach anymore. That was definitely a plus.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:23:32 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 19:23:32 GMT -6
Catherine smiled briefly at the thought of a warm liquid that wasn't blood. While blood was necessary, even essential for their diet, other foods could be consumed in moderation. "To answer it plainly, yes. A more complicated answer is you are roughly 3 or so persons removed from the first. Our line goes back to roughly the 8th century BC, and has ties to the Oracle of Delphi and Italian nobility."
The line was one of the oldest in existence, and now appeared to be stretching unbroken back through the centuries. The first, then Grigore, followed by Catherine, and now Tyrus. It favored powerful psionics and now had produced two extraordinarily powerful magic users, it was easy to see why Grigore considered Catherine's half-sister a failure. When compared to her older sibling, the girl had little chance as the circumstances of her birth had not been nearly as fortunate.
"Since we have time, and I suppose now that I am responsible for you.. we need to get to know one another better."
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:28:16 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 19:28:16 GMT -6
Good. He started warming some milk up on the stove, enough for both of them. Tyrus did hot chocolate the right way, which involved slowly warming the milk carefully so it didn't curdle and adding in the chocolate once it was warm enough. It was gourmet chocolate too, given he was wealthy enough that he might as well indulge himself. "Where should we start?" He shrugged, uncertain. "You know much of my history already after all, or at least the pertinent parts." The major things he was certain she mostly knew. Who is family was. How many sibligns had he had, that he was the youngest.
"Though I suppose there's a lot you don't know too." It was the Unseen. Pasts were not discussed.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:35:22 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 19:35:22 GMT -6
"Well..." Catherine hesitated, thinking about what exactly she knew about the mage, arbiter, and now vampire. The man had largely been an open book, and what he hadn't said was at least hinted at by his actions. "I know quite a bit about you already." She frowned unsure if there was even a good place to start. "But, you're right.. there is still a great deal that remains unknown, likely about both of us."
Catherine had tried her best to keep her own personal details sparse, as a warden they could have been taken advantage of or used in any way against her.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 19:41:38 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Nov 5, 2019 19:41:38 GMT -6
"The question is...what to tell you I suppose." He considered it and then shrugged. "Did you know I have a poli-sci degree? Graduated from SUNY-Albany. It was my first big attempt at finding who I was when I wasn't Prince Khuenre." Who he was away from the court. "Well. The first attempt that didn't have me whipped raw." Convincing his parents had been difficult at best, but they had eventually come around, even if they never took it seriously. "Did you ever do anything like that?"
What was her big rebellion. His had been getting a mundane college degree then attempting to run away.
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Rituals
Nov 5, 2019 20:33:31 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 5, 2019 20:33:31 GMT -6
"Yes, actually I did." She replied settling onto a sofa nearby. The house wasn't the largest, but it was well kept and clean. Comfortable was exactly the word she would have used if asked to describe it. It felt like a home, instead of the absentee emptiness her condo had had. The court meanwhile felt distant, unapproachable, and palatial; which given everything was appropriate. "I married a man... Brandon's uncle." The details were hazy, if only because she had chosen to forget what she had endured in the name of what she had felt was love. "Izaak was wonderful to start with, but after a few years it began to fall apart."
Marrying Izaak had been her choice, everyone had told her not to. Explained that in no way would she be happy nor would her spouse. Some how they had managed to make it work for a time, until Izaak grew jealous of her career and began his race for election as DA. It wouldn't do to have a wife whose job wasn't that of a homemaker or teacher.
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Post by demikara on Nov 6, 2019 8:21:36 GMT -6
"I had wondered how you had a nephew. I didn't think you had siblings, after all." An ex would explain it, though it didn't quite explain how she had custody of him and not her ex. Some sort of legal maneuver had been pulled there, most likely. Either way, it had worked out for both of them, and that was the important thing. The two had been happy together, and that had been the important part, ultimately. Finding happiness could be difficult in the Unseen, where everything was kept quiet and secret for the safety of everyone involved. Paranoia dragged at their culture still, fear of being found out.
"I met Madeline in college. She was unseen, but human enough. By the time college was over, she had been turned into a werewolf in an accident on summer break." He didn't know anyone who was turned into a werewolf on purpose. "Once I graduated, she snuck me down south, to a place called Huntsville. I started my career as an arbiter there. I hid from my parents for four years doing that." Who would look that far south for a city boy after all. Huntsville had been a city but in comparison was a much smaller one than Albany or Dallas. "I found out later they knew where I was the entire time. Balto came to pick me up." And then it was game over, really.
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Rituals
Nov 6, 2019 10:26:08 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Nov 6, 2019 10:26:08 GMT -6
“Well no.. I don’t have any siblings from my father’s relationship with my mother, she passed shortly after I was born. Then there’s Scottlyn, but that’s a different story.” Catherine confirmed. Her relationship with Izaak had been good for a time, and she couldn’t help but feel that it still could have been if not for the fact that the man held such a hatred of the unseen. “Brandon came to Izaak and I shortly after his parents died, and we were already raising Izaak’s daughters from a previous relationship. Eventually we divorced, he got custody of Mary and Emily easily and for a time Brandon too.” She explained. Her ex had known that taking away the children would be a vicious blow to her, and had even gone so far as to make wild and unsubstantiated claims about her. It was an unfortunate situation where one party had almost all of the power in the mundane realm, and the other had none. What ultimately influenced the judge’s decision to award Catherine custody of Brandon, despite not being of immediate blood relation, was that she would be best for the boy. Her career was stable, regardless of Izaak’s claims, and she had shown to be capable.
“Parents tend to let kids think a thing is their idea sometimes, and then sometimes they realize that the kid’s idea is not so terrible.” She had done that a few times with Brandon and her step-daughters. “But it sounds like your version is the fun is over its time to come back home.”
She remembered a similar situation herself, where Tatiana and Oberon had sent Puck to fetch her at behest of Sir William. Apparently she had been spending too much time among the humans and needed to come back home. There was entirely too much to explain and Catherine felt the pressure to get it all right; despite the foggy memories and jumbled thoughts. 1600 years of personal history and experiences couldn’t be gone through in one night, and her fledgling didn’t seem to yet have a good grasp on the concept of how long she had already lived.
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