London by Night 2: The Malkavian
( This post is dedicated to Dashutri, whom made a call for Malkavians. :) )
tElL mE tHe StOrY aGaIn.
Oh but must I? I'm so tired. I'm so cold.
dO iT.
Why is it so dark? Why is it so cold?
BeCaUsE yOu'Re dEaD aNd BuRiEd, rEmeMbER?
Oh. Yes. I suppose I am, aren't I?
TeLl mE aBoUt tHe tAtTeRed pRinCesS.
Very well.
Once, in this very same country long ago, a young cobbler's daughter named Lucille believed she was a princess. She had a friend whom told her so, you see, an unseen man that told her she was a princess. She would spend entire nights awake whispering to her invisible friend and soon became confinced that the real king in his town far away, Henry the Eighth, was her true father.
BeCaUsE tHe InViSiBlE PeOpLe sAiD sO.
At first, Lucille's Mummy and Daddy thought that their daughter playing princess was endearing, and they would sometimes let her pretend to run the household as a princess would run a real castle. But as Lucille grew older, the game stopped being fun for Mummy and Daddy. Lucille refused to milk the cow or collect the eggs, insisting that Mummy and Daddy should hire servants to do such chores as they are beneath the notice of a proper Princess. Finally, when Lucille demanded a retinue of servants directly from London on her sixteenth birthday, Mummy and Daddy grew very angry. The scolded Lucille, told her to stop that nonsense, and that she was not in any fashion a princess. And this made Lucille angry in her turn. Very angry, indeed.
I ReMeMbEr hOw tHeY ScReAmEd. ThErE wAs sO mUcH bLoOd.
Lucille was found by the neighbors, whom brought the constable. The constable took Lucille's ax away from her, and took her to a special hospital and a very special doctor that Lucille only knew as The Severe Man. The neighbors accused Lucille of doing horrible deeds: they said that she had hatcheted her parents to death, and that she had eaten parts of them. The Severe Man only nodded, looked concerned,and spoke gently to Lucille. His voice sounded very much like the voice of her invisible friend.
No, iT wAs aN Ax. tHeY TaSteD lIkE ChRiStMaS gOoSe.
And then the Severe Man came. He was tale, and pale, and always wore black and carried a Bible. he told the physics that he could cure Lucille, and they believed him. The Severe Man spent many long hours every night with Lucille, whispering to her, and praying. And he would show her things. Horrible things, in her head. And Lucille would sometimes scream, and she would sometimes faint. But sometimes, the Severe Man would kiss her.
The Pale Man would visit Lucille in her room every night, and sometimes he was kind enough to take her bindings off. He read to her from the Bible, and told her it was all a lie. A lie! Sometimes he would pray, using strange words Lucille didn't understand like Methuselah and Kindred. And he would get into her head, and he would show her things. Such terrible things: fields that were flowers made of blood, corpses rotting in pits, herself pulling her own intestines from her mouth and then eating them up again. And once in a very great while, he would give her the Special Kiss.
SuCh TeEth SuCh wHiTe tEetH
One night, Lucille died. But she back back to life again. And the Severe Man laughed and said it was no miracle that it could be done. And he opened the door to the cell and he whispered to Lucille: Go forth, my Tattered Princess, and cleanse the world. You will finish my great work. And Lucille killed everyone. Doctors, patients, nurses. Anyone and everyone she found. And she wore their blood like a shroud, and her teeth were so very sharp.
ThE bLoOd TasTeD sO gOoD
And Lucille went with the Severe Man for many years. Many many long years, and she never got older. She never got sick. But she was always hungry. And when the Severe Man would find her in the ditch; or the road; or even the house covered in blood and even her hair stained with it, he would laugh. She would smear the blood over herself and he would laugh, and call her his Tattered Princess.
Lucille and the Severe Man never saw each other again because, you see, she also killed the Severe Man that night in the hospital. So Lucille wandered, all alone and always afraid. And she killed many Breathing People, and sometimes even other people like her: the people with the eyes like eternity that tried to stop her. Once, just once, she even killed a giant walking dog. And everywhere she went, the people with the eyes like eternity would whisper: Tattered Princess. Tattered Princess. And they were afraid.
tAtTeReD PrIncEsS. yOu seE? I tOlD yOu i WaS a ReAl pRinCeSs. i wAnT oUt.
**
~The Last Testimony of the sole Tremere witness~
In retrospect, it is perhaps most fortunate that there were no mortals present the night I saw the Tattered Princess rise from her torpor. Though I am not normally the kind of man to be overly concerned with the fates of blood bags, I would not wish what she did to me upon my worst enemy.
The ground rolled and churned as if nothing less than a great shark had been buried beneath the surface. The sight of the agitation was enough to freeze me to the spot, even more so when a slender white hand erupted from the wet soil and grasped my ankle. As I watched, all Paths and rituals of defense fleeing my mind, the Tattered Princess used me as leverage to haul herself into the moonlight. Her clothing...I can only imagine it had at one time been a hospital gown, was hanging in dirt smothered strips from her slender frame. Her hair was wet and hung down in thick, matted strands. She turned her face upwards to the moonlight, to me, and such eyes never a Kindred beheld. There was nothing human in those solid black pits, no shred of sanity in the least. She was crying too, thick ribbons of blood so potent that even that small amount urged my Beast to feed. Then she screamed, and I realized that--quite against my own will--I was screaming with her.
My god, the things she showed me.
tElL mE tHe StOrY aGaIn.
Oh but must I? I'm so tired. I'm so cold.
dO iT.
Why is it so dark? Why is it so cold?
BeCaUsE yOu'Re dEaD aNd BuRiEd, rEmeMbER?
Oh. Yes. I suppose I am, aren't I?
TeLl mE aBoUt tHe tAtTeRed pRinCesS.
Very well.
Once, in this very same country long ago, a young cobbler's daughter named Lucille believed she was a princess. She had a friend whom told her so, you see, an unseen man that told her she was a princess. She would spend entire nights awake whispering to her invisible friend and soon became confinced that the real king in his town far away, Henry the Eighth, was her true father.
BeCaUsE tHe InViSiBlE PeOpLe sAiD sO.
At first, Lucille's Mummy and Daddy thought that their daughter playing princess was endearing, and they would sometimes let her pretend to run the household as a princess would run a real castle. But as Lucille grew older, the game stopped being fun for Mummy and Daddy. Lucille refused to milk the cow or collect the eggs, insisting that Mummy and Daddy should hire servants to do such chores as they are beneath the notice of a proper Princess. Finally, when Lucille demanded a retinue of servants directly from London on her sixteenth birthday, Mummy and Daddy grew very angry. The scolded Lucille, told her to stop that nonsense, and that she was not in any fashion a princess. And this made Lucille angry in her turn. Very angry, indeed.
I ReMeMbEr hOw tHeY ScReAmEd. ThErE wAs sO mUcH bLoOd.
Lucille was found by the neighbors, whom brought the constable. The constable took Lucille's ax away from her, and took her to a special hospital and a very special doctor that Lucille only knew as The Severe Man. The neighbors accused Lucille of doing horrible deeds: they said that she had hatcheted her parents to death, and that she had eaten parts of them. The Severe Man only nodded, looked concerned,and spoke gently to Lucille. His voice sounded very much like the voice of her invisible friend.
No, iT wAs aN Ax. tHeY TaSteD lIkE ChRiStMaS gOoSe.
And then the Severe Man came. He was tale, and pale, and always wore black and carried a Bible. he told the physics that he could cure Lucille, and they believed him. The Severe Man spent many long hours every night with Lucille, whispering to her, and praying. And he would show her things. Horrible things, in her head. And Lucille would sometimes scream, and she would sometimes faint. But sometimes, the Severe Man would kiss her.
The Pale Man would visit Lucille in her room every night, and sometimes he was kind enough to take her bindings off. He read to her from the Bible, and told her it was all a lie. A lie! Sometimes he would pray, using strange words Lucille didn't understand like Methuselah and Kindred. And he would get into her head, and he would show her things. Such terrible things: fields that were flowers made of blood, corpses rotting in pits, herself pulling her own intestines from her mouth and then eating them up again. And once in a very great while, he would give her the Special Kiss.
SuCh TeEth SuCh wHiTe tEetH
One night, Lucille died. But she back back to life again. And the Severe Man laughed and said it was no miracle that it could be done. And he opened the door to the cell and he whispered to Lucille: Go forth, my Tattered Princess, and cleanse the world. You will finish my great work. And Lucille killed everyone. Doctors, patients, nurses. Anyone and everyone she found. And she wore their blood like a shroud, and her teeth were so very sharp.
ThE bLoOd TasTeD sO gOoD
And Lucille went with the Severe Man for many years. Many many long years, and she never got older. She never got sick. But she was always hungry. And when the Severe Man would find her in the ditch; or the road; or even the house covered in blood and even her hair stained with it, he would laugh. She would smear the blood over herself and he would laugh, and call her his Tattered Princess.
Lucille and the Severe Man never saw each other again because, you see, she also killed the Severe Man that night in the hospital. So Lucille wandered, all alone and always afraid. And she killed many Breathing People, and sometimes even other people like her: the people with the eyes like eternity that tried to stop her. Once, just once, she even killed a giant walking dog. And everywhere she went, the people with the eyes like eternity would whisper: Tattered Princess. Tattered Princess. And they were afraid.
tAtTeReD PrIncEsS. yOu seE? I tOlD yOu i WaS a ReAl pRinCeSs. i wAnT oUt.
**
~The Last Testimony of the sole Tremere witness~
In retrospect, it is perhaps most fortunate that there were no mortals present the night I saw the Tattered Princess rise from her torpor. Though I am not normally the kind of man to be overly concerned with the fates of blood bags, I would not wish what she did to me upon my worst enemy.
The ground rolled and churned as if nothing less than a great shark had been buried beneath the surface. The sight of the agitation was enough to freeze me to the spot, even more so when a slender white hand erupted from the wet soil and grasped my ankle. As I watched, all Paths and rituals of defense fleeing my mind, the Tattered Princess used me as leverage to haul herself into the moonlight. Her clothing...I can only imagine it had at one time been a hospital gown, was hanging in dirt smothered strips from her slender frame. Her hair was wet and hung down in thick, matted strands. She turned her face upwards to the moonlight, to me, and such eyes never a Kindred beheld. There was nothing human in those solid black pits, no shred of sanity in the least. She was crying too, thick ribbons of blood so potent that even that small amount urged my Beast to feed. Then she screamed, and I realized that--quite against my own will--I was screaming with her.
My god, the things she showed me.