Caught a Lite Sneeze {OPEN}

[Orestes]

Orestes was currently taking refuge by the small bar that the inn had to offer, the rain outside pouring down upon the streets, slicking the roads. It was a torrential downpour - he couldn't even believe anyone was out trying to drive around in it, actually. He himself was soaked, and had thought not to remove his coat, but more so because he desired to keep his gloves on tonight. He'd had a run-in with a subway thug earlier that had left the man waiting for the coroner with something that seemed like an accelerated bubonic plague devouring his body. Indeed, the gloves were going to stay on - which meant the sopping coat did, too, because Orestes didn't prefer the reverse Mickey Mouse look, and he was already thin and pale enough for the jokes to start.

He enjoyed the rain, he found. It usually matched his mood. He rose from the bar finally in favour of the larger fireplace that was set up in the 'sitting area'. He didn't yet feel like retreating to his room, and he enjoyed how this place seemed to be into a lot of low lighting, except for the entrance area by the main lobby. It had a knack for racking up the rather notorious variety of clientèle, and their privacy was always a concern. Nobody came here to do anything besides relax - at least, that's what Orestes did, anyways.

He flopped down in a chair by the fire, only now finally tugging off his gloves slowly, finger at a time. He ordered a wine when the attendant swung through to, well, attend to those who were enjoying the sitting room, and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair, becoming slowly lost in the flames as his attention wandered.

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm was not used to the rain. He was used to the arid climate of the Holy Land. He shivered slightly as the rain soaked through his robe. He needed to find a place to get out of the rain. Clutching his robe tightly he began searching the sidewalks for an open establishment that might provide shelter. He passed a couple bars, but the smoke in the air bothered him, as did the loud, rowdy behavior of most of the patrons. Looking at the signs around him he spotted the Wander's Inn. Ah, an Inn, hopefully this one would be like some of the small inns back in the Holy Land, complete with a lounging area and perhaps some pleasant music.

As soon as he entered he felt it. Vampire...but where? Wilhelm began scanning the room slowly, trying to find the source of power he felt. He wandered into the sitting area and saw a lone figure in an armchair in front of a nice roaring fire. That was him, that was the vampire. Wilhelm was hesitant to approach him, especially since he was not sure how exactly one went about approaching a vampire, even if he was one himself.  Ah well, he would throw caution to the wind. If he knew the vampire was there, the other vampire surely knew Wilhelm was present. Wilhelm approached slowly, making sure the other man saw him and then gestured to the other arm chair in front of the fire.

"Would you mind if I joined you sir?'

[Orestes]

Orestes jumped, surprised. He'd really been zoning out into the fire, thinking about things that were long dust and buried in textbooks and archives. He raised his brows to Wilhelm, and then blinked a few times, as if he was re-processing what had just been said to him.

"Oh. Yeah, sure," he said, suddenly coming back around to earth. "Yeah, sure, have a seat."

Orestes was a little more than wary of another vampire approaching him, especially one so polite. He was really hesitant considering the influence his brother had. Not many refused an ancient Silver vampire's requests. Orestes was on guard, but not visibly.

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm felt bad about startling the vampire, that had not be his intention at all. He simply desired some conversation, he found himself really missing his birds,  and had not realized just how much their simply companionship had meant to him. Perhaps he could even learn a thing or two from this vampire, who was by far the oldest and probably most powerful that Wilhelm had encountered.

"Well this weather is certainly awful is it not? Being that I am used to the weather of the Holy Land, this deluge is quite a new sensation to me. I'm just glad I found this inn to take shelter in. So are you just seeking refuge here from the storm or are you staying here at the inn?"

Wilhelm was sure that the vampire already knew that he was a vampire. But he didn't want to just announce their nature to the whole room, even though there were very few people around. Small talk would be fine, and since he was the younger and weaker of the two, he would be respectful and let his elder bring up the topic of their mutual condition.

[Orestes]

So you're all in an inn....

Orestes watched him as he spoke, alternating between nodding and making little grunting noises in accord, or discord, or whichever emotion he needed to convey through nonverbal means. The vampire speaking to him was old, he could tell, but he had a sort of newness to his aura that Orestes didn't understand. He arched a brow, and turned more towards him, tilting his head to the side a little with interest.

"Holy Land?" he repeated. Wilhelm seemed to be getting that a lot lately. His manner of speech was dated, almost as though he'd not been around much common society. Orestes recognized it, of course, because he was a recluse himself - he had television and the internet to keep him company, though, when it suited him.

"Yes, the weather is quite foul. I prefer it, I suppose. It reminds you that not everything is peaches and cream on the outside," he said. "It's supposed to rain all evening, too. The rooms are cheap, though I suppose you could just blink out in an instant if you really so desired. I could, too, but why waste the effort? Stay and enjoy the fire, I say."

[Wilhelm]

Well, this vampire was not a very talkative sort. But at the moment that suited Wilhelm just fine. He had not come looking for the company of a fellow vampire, just for shelter from the storm. And yes he guessed he could just blink out, but then again he was still kind of skeptical at that ability. Well, at any rate the fire was quite pleasant and perhaps he might be able to glean some sort of knowledge from his ancient companion. Wilhelm had thought himself quite old, but this Vampire was at least twice his age, if not older. What things he must have seen.

"Truthfully I have never had the fortune of viewing the world from such a cheery perspective as peaches and cream. My own existence began in misery, and only recently did I find some semblance of normalcy, but that was shattered rather abruptly through the actions of foolish men. I have arrived in this city only recently and have discovered it is not the paradise I had imagined...it is a new and fascinating place for certain, but with its fair share of pain to go around it seems. And thank you for your invitation to remain, this fire is quite pleasant."

Wilhelm settled back in his chair and just stared off deep into the flames, reminded perhaps of his simpler days when all he had to worry about was keeping his father's fire stoked in the Black Smiths shop.

[Orestes]

"My friend," he said with a heavy sigh, "you will find that there is no such thing as paradise - and it isn't just mortal men and women who made it that way. There are those of our kind who make it their soul purpose to bring the end. I just try to stay as far away from it as I can, and do damage control when I must."

He thought briefly of Thanatos, and shook his head a little. Truth be told, the Kendra was scared enough of his brother that he stayed far away from him. It was a healthy fear.

"Fascination and decay, I've found, usually go hand in hand. There isn't anything 'good' or 'clean' about real fun. Just corruption. That's what makes it so fun," he explained with a small laugh. Orestes was a bit of a pessimist, when you got right down to it.

"Orestes," he finally said, looking at the vampire. "And you, traveler?"

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm sat staring deep into the flames, listening to the words of the elder vampire. He was right, there was no such thing as paradise. The world was a wonderful place if you knew where to look, but there were also places of shocking darkness that could engulf one if you were not careful enough. His words about vampires bringing about the end struck a chord deep within Wilhelm, for so long he had hated what he was, hated what it meant to live forever and watch everything around him crumble..and knowing that to sustain himself he must kill.

"My name is Wilhelm...and I fear that your words are far too true. We are nothing more than a corruption of humanity. Perhaps that is why we find this immortality too fascinating to end it. I detest the killing that sustains me, but I can not bring myself to stop, I can not bring my self to end this existence. And decay...even in my long life, which is just barely a fraction of what you have lived, I have seen humanity decay...the world decay...perhaps the coming of the end will not be so terrible.

The fire rolled and danced across the logs. Wilhelm knew that this vampire next to him could destroy him on a whim, yet he was not afraid. He felt a kind of kindred spirit in him, as if the two were wearied travelers upon the same route...which in fact they perhaps were.

[Orestes]

Orestes canted his head a little. "I don't really kill the people I feed off of. Some of them are willing - have you ever heard of Single Earth? I went there a few times. There are some people who offer up their blood, and then there are some people there who can get you blood from places like hospitals and such. It's a pretty interesting place. I think you'd like it there."

Orestes didn't go there so often, though he didn't mind the place. He just didn't share the pacifistic view most of them seemed to have. That and he had a tendency to make people sick without trying. It was such an awful power to possess, but at the same time, he was thankful - it had kept most people away from him for so long with fear of plague and death.

[Wilhelm]

Single Earth, and willing blood donors? That was an interesting concept indeed. Wilhelm had heard mention of Single Earth before but he really had no concept of it, like so many things in this city. But he was grateful that he had found another level headed vampire, after hearing West tell him of Father Dantes, and his own notions about his kind he had been convinced that he was going to lead another solitary existence in New York. But of course, fate does have a strange way of changing course on those that travel its path for as long as Wilhelm had.

"I have done the hospital feeding trick, though I must confess I did feel a slight bit of guilt for taking from those that need help. My first act as a vampire was to slaughter a whole group of monks that were acting as doctors and care givers, so stealing from a medical establishment does cause me a bit of conflict, but much less than killing in order to feed. Is there anything further that you can tell about Single Earth?

[Orestes]

He sort of just stared at the other vampire as his confession came afoot, and blinked one or two times. He noted the instance, and tucked it away, no visible signs of discomfort or anything else for that matter able to be perceived. Instead, he spoke: "It is easier to take from a hospital by a blood packet than an unwilling victim," he said. "I can understand your apprehension, but really, when you consider the alternatives, there is little room for choice."

"Single Earth is an organization comprised of humans, vampires, and shifters. Most of them believe that we can all coexist with no violence between us. They work to try and patch holes that we have created among one another, and try to find better alternatives to our feeding." He paused. "I say most, because you will find that a few of them don't practice the pacifism that their creed seems to suggest. They err on the side of caution, and I can't blame them."

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm took in his companions explanation of Single Earth while still admiring the fire. It did sound like a place he should check in on. Perhaps they could help him understand the rift that seemed to exist between Shifters and Vampires. And perhaps this old vampire might know something about that.

" That certainly sounds like something I should look in on. If you do not mind my inquisitiveness, I was wondering if perhaps you knew anything about the apparent unease between our kind and the shifters. I have had two young female shifters practically cower in fear of me, and I mean them no harm. In fact I mean harm to no one that has not harmed me first. What sort of horrible things lurk in this city beside our kind?"

If there were indeed strange and horrible things going on, surely a vampire of Orestes age would know of them and be able to give Wilhelm sound enough advice to help him avoid those things.

[Orestes]

"Oh, that," he said languidly. Orestes kind of rolled his head to look at his partner, movements fluid and lazy. His eyes fluttered for a moment as a sigh escaped his lips. He was thinking of his brother, of course. Thanatos had a fancy for female shifters at one point in time, thank the gods he'd finally gotten over it. He rolled his eyes a little, and then licked his lips before speaking. His body turned slightly, and his voice dropped an octave.

"There's a place called Midnight where... " he trailed off. How to begin? "Basically, there's a place somewhere where people go in and become slaves, pets, or worse. A lot of the vampires prefer shapeshifters because many of them are rare, sought after, and either make good slaves or pets or just don't die as easily as the humans, and therefor provide a bit more... sport," he finished, the word 'sport' rolling off his tongue like a bad word.

"I'm not really into it. I've been told I'd be good at it, but it just doesn't strike me. I would rather be left to my own devices. Anyways, the laws there are such that a shifter can't go in unless he or she is sold in by another of their kind or willingly enters - not everyone obeys these laws, mind you." A pause, and then, "Humans are fair game."

[Wilhelm]

Slavery? In this day and time, and in this city? What a horrible notion. Wilhelm was shocked at this revelation. He had no desire to be involved in any such activity, and now it made sense to him why shifters feared his wretched kind. What a horrible notion indeed.

"Has no one ever challenged those that run Midnight? I mean, it seems that if enough of our kind supported the shifters...the place could be brought down. What a horrible thing to exist in this day and time. It seems most of my feeling about the wretchedness of our kind are indeed true...."

Wilhelm's words trailed off as he stared deep into the fire. What sort of person would sell their kin into a place like that? He made a mental note to learn more about this awful place...and to do his best to avoid any of its denizens.

[Orestes]

A deep laughter drew from within Orestes' chest, and he looked over to Wilhelm, shaking his head a little at the naïvety  of it all. "If it were as easy as going up against them, it would have happened already." He turned a little, and tilted his head. "The woman who runs Midnight is powerful, even if she's younger than I am. She's got a lot of influence politically and otherwise, and her powers run in the variety of unique. Not to mention - Midnight... it's almost a necessity."

He paused, trying to figure out how to word it carefully. "It gives a place for those of us that would commit horrible acts that is centralized, as opposed to being scattered about. At least there, you can keep track of them. I know it sounds awful, but honestly... " he trailed off.

"Perhaps I'm a bit too jaded to be on this subject," he concluded.