Number of fucks given in this post: 4
Jack pulls up to the address of Cambusnethan House that Levi had given her. There are some vehicles in a garage to the side but the building in front of her is partly in disrepair. Sections have been repaired from time to time, but there are leaks in the roof and the building is very drafty. The surrounding lands are wooded or empty fields. Jack had approached down a narrow dirt track. She can see that the entrance through the main doors is only blocked by the antique door, which is heavy but aged.
Outside the front Tius is sat on a chair, waiting.
Jack roars up on her sports bike, throwing up mud along the track. She pulls up in front of Levi, and flips up the visor.
“Not what I was expecting” she says, looking about.
A smile plays over Tius’ face, “It was chosen before my time, not gotten around to renovating it yet.”
She asks, “You want me to park over at the garage?”
Tius gets up, “I can have someone tend it if you want but it’s probably best, in case it rains.”
Jack flips the visor back down, kicks the stand back up and gently rides it over to the garage. Then she gets off the bike, takes off the helmet, lays it on the back of the bike and walks back over to Levi.
She glances around the area again, almost as if checking for sniper emplacements, and moves nervously from foot to foot
Tius doesn’t say anything but takes note of Jack’s movements.
Jack can see movement in the building and some out in the forest, likely outer patrols. Inside the garage there is someone working on one of the nondescript black vehicles that scream Tremere (TM). He looks up at the bike arriving, grunts, and goes back to his work.
Heather Jackman: “Right. Where to now?”
Levi Tius: “Right this way please, stay close.”
Tius pulls open the door and heads inside. He leads Jack to a staircase leading down to the basement. This area is much more readily trodden and is in much better condition than the outside would indicate.
Levi Tius: “I’ve asked the students to be busy so we shouldn’t be bothered overly.”
Jack nods in acknowledgement.
Jack and Levi wind their way down and the stairs open up into an underground complex. He leads Jack to a set of double doors and opens one, stepping through he holds it for her, looking through the doorway Jack sees a large ritual circle embedded in the floor, intricately made of some sort of metal. The room is lit by 4 sconces which flicker but there is no smell of smoke so they are probably electric
Levi Tius: “Please step into the circle.”
Jack pauses at the doorway, cautiously looking at the circle. She briefly looks back through the door, clenches a fist, then releases it with a sigh and turns back and walks over to the circle, stepping carefully over the metal.
Waiting, she taps her fingers nervously on her leg as she looks about, seeming to avoid looking at Tius directly.
Tius just waits patiently for her to make her mind up. As she walks in, he closes the door and joins her in the circle, “Now, you’re about to experience a little strobe lighting don’t worry that’s perfectly normal. Ready?”
Heather laughs and stands to brace herself, “I’m about as ready as I’m going to get.”
Levi Tius: “Alright then.”
Tius utters a phrase and, sure enough, Jack’s vision is filled with light, colours flash by your eyes and for a moment she loses sight of the room and Tius. Just as soon as it began it stops. To Jack’s eyes, it looks like they are in the same room and nothing has changed. The 4 sconces flicker away.
Tius walks to the only door and opens it, the decor on the other side is drastically different to when you came though.
Levi Tius: “Not much further now.”
Jack looks about cautiously before following Tius over to the door.
Stepping through the doorway, it’s like she has stepped into a castle with grey stone walls and flagstone floors. Rather than the corridor running left to right it’s now straight and leading to a larger atrium.
Jack checks her phone and sees that it isn’t able to pick up a signal.
Taking up the main centre of the atrium entrance area is a large glass and crystal statue of what looks like students working around a circular table, books and papers whirling in the centre. There are lights that pulse and change, making it look alive.
Levi Tius: “This was a piece I commissioned from our keeper of Elysium Sully, I’m rather fond of it.”
Heather Jackman: Holy shit! Yeah, I can see why you’d be fond of that. How the hell did he make it?
Levi Tius: “I believe he’s quite skilled with things like 3D printing which augment his capabilities for scale, I didn’t question his methods too much.”
Jack looks around the atrium. She can see that the decor itself is quite odd; style wise it’s like a lofty castle with flagstones but the lighting is electrical. It’s cleverly disguised to give the illusion of lit fires but under scrutiny clearly isn’t.
Levi Tius: “This is my primary home, welcome to the Academy. It’s one of my proudest achievements.”
Heather Jackman: I can see why you’d be proud of it!
Levi Tius: “I would love to give you the tour but we should probably be about our business first.”
Heather Jackman: Yeah, maybe another time when I’m less twitchy about the lack of exits.
Levi Tius: “Ah yes, about that. The advantage for this place from a security perspective is that there are no other entrances or exits. You just took the only way in.”
Tius walks along, at ease in the halls, “The outer super structure is designed as an all encompassing Faraday cage and there are various wards and surprises for those who try to force their way in.”
He leads Jack down another corridor, “We’re heading to the quarters now, in total we can comfortably sleep about 300.” They walk past a door with an Egyptian eye painted on the outside.
Jack looks at the features as Levi explains them, paying attention to the details along the corridors. She moves lightly on her feet and might seem cheerful if not for the frequent glances behind and all around.
Tius doesn’t turn to look directly at Jack but he still notices that, despite her apparent ease, she quickly turns to the occasional sound of movement behind a door and keeps space between her and Tius. The corridors are very quiet and Jack can’t even hear the faint hum of a generator to keep the lights on.
They come to a door which Tius opens, finally turning to Jack, “And this is mine, it’s a little bigger than the others but then again, I am the boss.”
Inside it looks like a sitting room come study, it’s quite tidy and there is a large desk over to one side. This is more like a modern apartment than a castle room.
Jack nods, “Comfy”
Levi Tius: “This is where we will be, no one else will come here and I’ll seal us in for the duration.
I like it, but I designed it so I would. We have a few styles of room suites according to how modern or archaic the guests tastes might be.”
Jack wanders about the room having what might be considered a casual look if it wasn’t so thorough. She takes note of the eclectic arrangement of items and curiosities. There are some strange reagents and Tius’s old staff which is on a stand. Alongside it is a sheathed sword and a modern suit of black tactical armour, encompassing helmet to one side. She recognises the tactical armour from the defence of Doyle’s haven from the shovel-head assault.
Incongruously, there is also a two-person couch off to one side with TV and x-box set up in front of it.
Heather Jackman: You decorated it yourself?
Levi Tius: “I did.”
She takes her heavy biker jacket off, “Is there somewhere I can put this?”
Levi Tius: “Sure, let me hang it up for you. I’ll get a hanger.”
Tius crosses the room to another door, peaking through you see a bed, wardrobe, etc.
Jack passes over her jacket to Levi. She raises a hand as if to ask Levi to wait as he starts to take it away. Then she reaches behind her back and pulls out a stake from the sheath there and sticks it in an inside pocket of the jacket. She pauses for a moment and then, deciding, unhooks the chain from her belt with it’s heavy group of keys attached to one end and also puts it in the pocket.
Heather Jackman: “That’s me. Light on weapons today. Well, I left the blade with the bike”
Tius smiles as the arsenal comes out and is stored in the jacket, “Came without the kitchen sink today eh? Good choice.” He walks over and hangs Jack’s jacket besides the armour.”
Levi Tius: “So I’ve got some comfy cushions we can put on the floor for this, seems traditional.”
He’ll pulls off two of the cushions from the couch.
Jack paces on the spot, rubbing her hands, and watches what Tius is doing to set up the cushions.
Levi Tius: “OK so lets get started.”
He dumps the two cushions on the floor, one in front of the other. He sits on one and indicates Jack should sit on the other.
Heather half shrugs as if to say that the setup is odd and sits down cross-legged.
Levi Tius: “Oh damn, I almost forgot.”
He jumps up again and puts his hand on the door. Pooling out from under his palm a sigil of blood forms on the surface, “There we go.” and sits back down facing Jack.
Levi Tius: “Now, we are in an underground castle, accessible via only one entrance. The outer exterior allows no signals in or out so you can’t be tracked by your phone. There are spiritual guardians to keep Garou and such away and we have wardings against ghosts and demons. Would you say you are in a safe place?”
Jack looks around as if to try to see the hidden defences through the walls, “Sure, except for the people inside the castle”
She tries to bring herself back to the conversation and listen to Tius instead of being distracted by the feeling of being locked in.
Levi Tius: “Which brings us to the sigil. That doorway is now sealed to that it would take incredible effort to open. You might be able to manage it but there aren’t many who would be able to. It’s designed to keep Garou out. The only people in here are you and me.”
She stills herself and focuses on Tius, “Okay. Just us.”
Jack then smiles and says as if making a joke, “Are you stuck in here with me, or me with you?”
Then, the focus slips from her a little and she shifts her position and rubs her hands a bit nervously on her trousers again. Although she overall seems a bit calmer than the flighty walk down the corridor earlier.
Tius smiles, “Physically you could over power me very readily. I think at this point you are in the strong position to do as you please… but please don’t.”
Levi Tius: “Now it’s just you and me, no one else. At this point you need to be comfortable around me, accustomed so to speak. You know exactly where I am, so there’s no need to be on the look out.
So I’m just going to chat for a while, get you used to the environment, sound good?”
Heather nods, “Alright.”
Heather Jackman: Should we have whale music or something? No, wait, that’s like massages, right?
Tius is focused on Jack throughout the whole conversation. He doesn’t fidget at all and look measuringly at Jacks body language to see how twitchy she remains and almost experiments to see if he can slowly lower her stress levels.
He laughs, “I think we’d best leave the music and massages for now. The students are already going to be exchanging rumours we’re dating.”
Jack laughs genuinely at that last comment, and her shoulders relax a little.
Heather Jackman: At least now I know who that guy was in the body armour at Doyle’s place when the Sabbat attacked.
Levi Tius: “Guilty as charged, I like the aesthetic more than anything given I don’t go for hand to hand normally.”
Heather is talking a little fast but seems to be making a effort to relax. She is alert but not especially twitchy.
Heather Jackman: I just thought you were some kind of ghoul bodyguard. You guys were up on the roof so I couldn’t really see what you were doing.
Levi Tius: “That would make sense, up their guarding Primrose and Daniel. I try not to use ghouls personally. Gets weird suuuper quickly. That whole thing was a shit show. I can hardly believe we got it covered up so efficiently though.”
Jack thinks about what you are saying, “Kudos to Daniel and whoever else was involved in the cover up. I mean, ‘government cover-ups’ don’t sit well with me, or blaming terrorist threats, but it’s one of those compromises for survival, right? Same as with ghouls. I don’t like what our blood does to people but I still make use of it.”
Levi Tius: “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s any better but I tend to just read their minds to see what they want and use copious amounts of money to get it. Mortals aren’t close to any important operations so it’s not usually long term. A lot of problems can be solved by throwing money at it, cover-ups included.”
Heather Jackman: I have a guy I bring about with me to drive the van and look imposing in pubs so that I don’t get hassle out by myself on the street.
Levi Tius: “Is he effective? I remember the lat time I got jumped on the street. It was pretty amusing given just a touch of dominate got them to fuck off. Such a stark contrast to how it would have gone were I still mortal.”
Jack seems to be relaxing a bit more, “Generally, yeah, it works. He’s ex-military and knows when he needs to step in to get someone to back off. I mean, I can use Presence if I want to go a bit more serious but it doesn’t always work the way you want it to.”
Levi Tius: “Yeah I know what you mean, it’s so rarely necessary. In normal mortal society there just aren’t many credible threats. Maybe stuff along Rick…” Tius’ throat catches a moment, “Ricky’s old line of work there is a higher incident. I got burned pretty bad emotionally last year so I’m taking a break from mortal society as a whole. I tried with this university thing but it didn’t feel right.”
Jack looks on sympathetically, “Maybe once I’m done here it’ll be your turn. I’m handy with a hug as well as the machete.”
Levi Tius: “Maybe, I’m working through it in Spain. I’m not out of options yet for catching his killer.”
Heather Jackman: “It wasn’t one of the Black Hand we got in Hamilton?”
Levi Tius: “No it wasn’t, I mind-read the leader and he didn’t know anything about it.”
Heather Jackman: Huh. I hope whoever it is isn’t still here… I’ve got a bunch of newbies out hunting Sabbat, possibly as we speak. They aren’t up to anything like what we had to fight in Hamilton.
Levi Tius: “I hope they are still about, I’ve got a list. I’ve not ruled out a traitor so keep it under wraps for now.”
Jack looks about the room again, suddenly restless, then she looks back at you as her mind catches up with what you said.
Heather Jackman: Yeah, I’d wondered at a possible traitor, considering what happened with Doyle’s place. And Ricky.
Levi Tius: “Well.. I’ll find out sooner or later. Anyway lets move onto another topic, this is about you for now. How were you after my little nail ritual to dampen down the beast?”
Jack shakes her head, “That was a fucking nightmare. It was great at the time, but by day 3 it was driving me nuts.”
Levi Tius: “Yeah? Like you were missing a limb or something?”
Heather Jackman: Dunno, maybe. It was kinda like when you’ve spent a long time with a particular noise in the background… like air conditioning or a dripping tap or something. And then it stops. Just freaks you out. Maybe like missing a limb, if you keep prodding it to see if it’s still missing.
Jack moves uncomfortably on the cushion.
Levi Tius: “I have a very tight reign on my beast indeed. I would hesitate to say I had mastered it because I’m not sure you ever truly can but I am very adept at keeping its ravenings at bay. I have denied it mortal sustenance for over a year now.”
Tius has remained still, despite the emotive subject. Jack furrows her brow, trying to frame what he said in her own terms.
Heather Jackman: Do you mean, you haven’t drank blood?
She has stopped her shifting to concentrate on what Tius is saying.
Levi Tius: “I have, it’s just not originated from a living being.”
Heather Jackman: From other kindred, then?
Jack looks quizzical.
Levi Tius: “Oh no, nothing like that. I appeased a blood spirit some time ago and it has agreed to sustain me. It is not as good as the real thing but I like having a minimal imprint.”
Jack blinks, “Okay, I can follow that. Sounds like a good plan assuming you can keep it appeased.”
Levi Tius: “One of the big focuses of this facilities research is to try and get a blood substitute going for kindred everywhere. It’s not been that successful and at best can convert 5 pints of kindred vitae to 1 of regular blood. We’ll work it out in time.”
Jack laughs.
As they talk Jack hears a scrape of metal on metal from the direction of the suit of armour. She immediately stops talking and turns suddenly to look at the source of the noise and sees the sword in scabbard rising from its resting place.
Levi Tius: “It’s alright, it’s still just me.”
Jack pauses, “Oh. I’d almost forgotten what we were here for. Well.. kinda.”
She tries to turn back to Levi, but straight away glances back to the sword then tries to drag her eyes away again.
Heather Jackman: So uh what were we talking about?
The sword floats further into her field of view, making a slow pass behind Tius. He doesn’t look at it as it goes, just continues to look at Jack.
Levi Tius: “Its movements are an extension of my will, you’re in no more danger than you were a moment ago. Pay it no mind. We were discussing feeding habits. So were a true blood style substitute to emerge do you think you’d make the switch?”
Jack keeps glancing between the sword and Tius. There is some tension in her body but is otherwise sitting fairly still, which might be a sign all on it’s own.
Heather Jackman: “Um, yeah, I dunno. Never really thought about it as a possibility. I might do. Maybe not all the time, but I can see it being good for alot of stuff. Downside is being assured of a.. pure.. supply.”
The sword continues its journey around them, taking a slow meandering pattern. Occasionally going outside of Jacks natural field of view.
Levi Tius: “Yes that is something many would worry about, but they oddly don’t worry about things like blood bags. I wonder why that is, both are equally easy to tamper with.”
Jack doesn’t turn to follow the sword when it goes briefly out her field of view, but she does sit almost frozen with one hand slightly lifted from her leg.
Heather Jackman: … people don’t worry about the blood bags? I’d never drink blood someone else offered, no matter where it came from.
Levi Tius: “They certainly don’t seem to bring it up when they’re on offer. Around the time of the Sabbat fight Carter and co offered blood bags. I think it’s because it’s packaged in a familiar fashion, they just don’t think about it. I do but only around those I trust. Adam, Barker.. Ricky. I would take blood mead and sustenance from them if needed.”
Heather Jackman: I’d be fucked if I’ll take anything that Carter offers.
Levi Tius: “Yeah, I’m not his biggest fan either. He’s one of the reasons I stepped down as Prince actually. I didn’t want to face needing to kill him and his crew. That’s possibly arrogant and cowardly in equal measures but it was a factor.”
Heather Jackman: Oh yeah, blood mead. I have drunk that.
Jack relaxes a little, remembering the blood mead.
Levi Tius: “Yeah? Was that with Ricky? He was the only one I knew who had any consistent supply going.”
Jack nods, “Yeah, Ricky supplied us for our Rant.”
Levi Tius: “Oh yeah, how did that go? I kept away from that at the time but I know you have some big philosopher about didn’t you?”
Then Jack spots the sword hovering again, and automatically half turns towards it as her right-hand raises as if starting a block.
Tius smiles a little, unable to help himself and the sword floats a little further away. As she is turned Jack sees another object on the move now, this time a black bound tome with gold lettering inlaid on the spine and cover. It floats counter the direction to the sword, a little faster.
Levi Tius: “Uh oh, can’t watch both. Try to focus on me again.”
Jack at first doesn’t look like she’s heard you as she shifts and loosens her shoulders, but the action is more like preparation for movement than relaxation. Her eyes are mostly tracking the sword but she is also automatically trying to turn her upper body to get the book in front of her as much as possible.
In a distracted tone, she replies, “Yeah, it was a good night. Variety of visitors, some good discussion, some drinks, then out to blow off some steam. Mind you, I had to walk part of the way to the club… an enclosed space with a bunch of wound-up predators was a bit much.”
She half laughs in a self-depreciating way.
Tius laughs, “Yeah, who would voluntarily shut themselves in with a wound up Predator. What did you discuss or is that super secret Brujah business?”
The sword stays in Jack’s view but the book circles more to be out of sight.
Heather Jackman: Politics mostly.. or political systems maybe.
Jack keeps an eye mostly on the sword, her shoulders tense more as the book goes out of sight. She moves as if to stand up, then pauses to look at Tius to see what he is doing, her eyes narrowed like she’s doing target calculations.
Tius has remained seated, looking calmly at Jack, “Come on now Jack, focus on me. You are perfectly safe in this room. They are just distractions. They aren’t doing anything are they?”
Jack very slowly and deliberately sits herself back down on the cushion. She rubs a hand across her forehead and then the back of her neck and shifts her shoulders again, this time with subtly different emphasis she tries to relax them, although only manages a little.
Heather Jackman: “Safe. Right. Not doing anything. Okay, I can do this. Getting a bit twitchy.”
She flexes her fingers.
Levi Tius: An eyebrow raise, “I hadn’t noticed.”
Jack laughs, surprised into genuine mirth, “No shit!”
Heather Jackman: “Okay”
Jack shifts more comfortably again and turns back to directly face Tius, the humour having done it’s job. She is now tapping her fingers on her leg but has stopped watching the items floating about.
Tius smiles, clearly pleased with Jack’s behavior. “So this incident that sparked your alertness. Do you know what is built there now?”
Heather Jackman: No, I haven’t been back. I think that it had supposed to be flats, but we torched a lot of it so I don’t know what they did with it. I’d said that I’d tried to find the family of the guys who died? Yeah, I did say that last time.
Levi Tius: “Yeah you mentioned that. Do you still have their details?”
She shakes her head, “No I didn’t keep a hold of it when I left Glasgow.”
Levi Tius: “Never mind, it might have been nice to follow up but we can proceed without it. I think it would be worth a walk around, with bodyguard of course.”
Heather Jackman: What, now?
Levi Tius: “No no, in time.”
Heather Jackman: Thank fuck!
Tius laughs some more, “I would say baby steps but coming here was a pretty big one”
Jack laughs nervously, “Yeah, can’t disagree with that.”
Levi Tius: “What can I say, we’ve been left to base build for a long time. It doubles up as a large scale safe house but like you say, predators in confined spaces is tough.”
Heather Jackman: At least you aren’t literally flashing fang at me. I mean, waving a sword about is close but it’s not the same thing.
Levi Tius: “So I take it now isn’t the time for a ‘just the tip’joke?”
Jack blinks, “Okay, that one just confused my brain. Not that that’s hard.”
Levi Tius: “I’m used to Primrose, whenever she’s annoyed at me you just throw out some inappropriate humour.”
She stands up and moves to shake out the tension in her limbs, “Yeah? i can imagine that working for her. Seems like making jokes helps though.”
Levi Tius: “It’s why I’m not so anxious about being here with you if I’m honest. You should have seen her when I revealed I wasn’t dead.”
Heather Jackman: Maybe I’ll get my Scourge team some joke books so they can talk me down if I get too wound up. So what happened with Primrose?
Levi Tius: “I made her stand in the showers and she still managed to scorch the tiles. Need to get them replaced now I think about it. Hell, when she thought I was Tanis she was going to train me to dodge by throwing fire at me. Thankfully she didn’t go through with it. I find humour helps a lot.”
Heather Jackman: Ha! Not enough laughter in our lives, right?
Levi Tius: “I’d agree with that, Primrose is organising a Disney movie night and a karaoke night so I predict a lot of laughter there.”
Heather Jackman: Eh what? For the Tremere? That’s an image I’m not sure I wanted.
Levi Tius: “Yeah, we’ve got a really nice common room. You should see it around Christmas.”
Heather Jackman: “Huh…. a Santa’s grotto too, like they do in the shopping centres?”
Jack thinks about it.
Heather Jackman: Sorry, that’s maybe a bit cheeky. Just can’t imagine properly celebrating Christmas, I guess.
She is back to shifting nervously from foot to foot but seems more spooked than wound up.
Heather Jackman: So that’s us for tonight, yeah? Meet up later for a field trip?
Tius gets us, “Sounds good. You wanna just get back?”
Heather Jackman: What, like teleport from here? Or do you mean just go back the way we came?
Levi Tius: “Well, we can do either. Which would you prefer?”
Heather Jackman: Eh, let’s walk back. Give me the illusion of control at least. I’m not too wound up right at this moment… but I think I’m on a hair trigger so let’s take it slow, right?
Jack walks over to her jacket and pulls out the stake and puts it back in the sheath and the chain back on her belt. The weapons seem to provide some kind of reassurance. She swings the heavy jacket back on and looks back over to Tius.
Levi Tius: “Alright, we will take it slow.” He gets up, putting the cushions back and the book and sword float back.
Jack still isn’t tracking the floating objects with her previous intensity but she is back to keeping track of them and whatever else is going on in the room.
The items gently return to their place. Now the book is stationary Jack can see it’s has Tius’ name on the spine.
He puts his hand on the blood ward on the door, there’s a flare of light, and it vanishes. The door opens easily.
Heather Jackman: Alrigh’
Levi Tius: “Same route or scenic route?”
Heather Jackman: Eh, let’s save the scenic route for next time. As cool as this place is I think I’d just like to get outta here.
Levi Tius: “Ok, we can just backtrack.”
Heather Jackman: Right.
They walk back the way they came. Jack is obviously keen to get out and keeps slowing herself back down to Levi’s pace.
Once outside, Jack doesn’t hang about for anything more than a brief farewell and thanks, “See you at court? And thanks again… I think.”
Tius give a cheery wave, Thank me if it works. See you at court.”
Jack nods and jogs over to her bike.
