Requiem-Bennet: The Wisest of the Wise.
((OOC: This post is written with absolute credit and thanks due to the other players in House Egregoroi. The scene was great, and I believe that the phenomenal interaction I got with the other members really helped me figure out my own PC. Special thanks, without doubt, go to Fed and Trigger, whose PCs were so infuriatingly self-confident that I took my cue on seeing how 'Megalomania' really affected Bennet.))
They will speak forever if I allow them. They will speak forever and say nothing of consequence.
The most noble Vampires of Clan Mekhet had gathered in the Pacific North West to speak of the incident. The members of Domus Egregoroi sat in the study of their Pater Familias, eyeing each other with a variety of emotions and motivations. Bennet, seated in one of the leather chairs, held his timepiece in one hand and his cane in the other. As he listened to Alim drone on he rolled his wrist negligently, watching the patterns of light as they filtered through the crystal head piece of his cane. Alim was intelligent, sophisticated and logical... but he was also an insufferably boring coward.
Do I sound like that when I speak?
On one side of the large room Bennet studied Thomas Kent, the Praefectus accused of violating the Pax Sanguinas. His facial hair trimmed and oiled, his clothing pressed and recently tailored, he could well have been a man out for a Sunday brunch... but for his eyes. His eyes contained a fury and a passion one rarely saw in members of the Clan of Shadows. Pity, that. If he could only control his eyes he may have been able to truly control how others perceived him. But... no. No, even here he kept one of those daggers at his waist. No, Kent was an idiot. Worse, perhaps? Kent was a bored idiot.
Across from him sat Oved, his face and posture carved in lines of hate. He hated Kent with every fiber of his being... which, in and of itself, made him an idiot as well. He did not see the manner in which he could capitalize on the situation. He did not notice the way that Kent admitted guilt - guilt! - with his every word and deed. The poor fool could have traded in an idiotic, psychotic sire for a capable, powerful slave had he only been willing to settle for less that Kent's death. But... no. He stood on principle. Someone must pay for the death of Javhod Masoudi. No, Oved was as stupid as Kent.
Carthians. This really does come back to Carthians, doesn't it? Has there ever been a greater waste of fervor and zeal than the loathsome Carthian Movement? It takes Mekhet - Mekhet of the most noble breeding, no less - and turns them in to children, squabbling over who kills whom and for what cause. It takes two assets of this House and bids them to tilt their lances, to cry out with passion that one shall live and one shall die. It is the greatest factory of simpletons and degenerates since hated Rome. Rome... which would birth the Invictus. If there is a higher power, it surely appreciates irony.
And... what's worse? The barbarian horde has decided to send its mongoloid children to storm the gate! Not five hundred yards from this room sit December Carnivale, Amichai Yarden and the rest of the would-be brute squad. That massive oaf Percival speaks of destroying every member of this House with his own hands. Simpering fool of a Gangrel. I can not help but wonder if he - if any of them - realize why they will survive this 'siege'. They are saved by one individual, and he one who privately loathes the destruction they would inflict.
Yes, Carthians, were it not for Citizen Prince December Carnivale, Domus Egregoroi would crash upon you as completely and with as much fury as the Greeks exhibited unto the Persians at Plataea. But... no. December Carnivale is too important and capable - physically and politically - to be ended here. Much to Mr. Thibideaux's chagrin. I doubt dear Alexander has even the first clue of his import to this House, yet he remains ready to squander his worth all the same. That Vampire would gladly end his Requiem for the chance to fire just one bullet. My Family may be brilliant and capable, but it does not stop me from wishing they had reached my level.
I am standing now, and walking forward. I lift my cane in both hands like a cudgel, hefting it as I step before Praefectus Kent. "You truly don't get it, Thomas? You don't understand why everyone is so upset? No one here truly mourns the loss of Javhod Masoudi - they mourn your exhibition in idiocy! Think, you blundering buffoon!" My cane comes down, striking him on the temple even as Sophia and Ava take his arms, holding him still. "There are hundreds who would sell their souls to have their name recorded as he who ended the Requiem of Javhod Masoudi! They would have offered up the gold of their teeth for the honor of being your hatchet man!" Again it comes down and I relish the feeling of skull giving way to steel. "But no! You had to commit the deed yourself! Never has there been a thorn deeper in the heel of this House, then the sense of 'Honor' you simpletons hold dear!"
Stepping forward I dash my hand across his forehead, coating my palm in the vitae and wiping it across my face. I am anointed in the vitae of my family, marked with the blood of my blood...
No... it was only a pleasant delusion. Professor Ellison is speaking now of the necessity of the Pax... but he is blinded by his desire to assert control. He does not see the necessity for compromise - for internal punishment and external solidarity. I swear by the vitae gifted me by my Rebirth, these Vampires have no notion of how blessed they are to have me...
"The Pax was broken." He spoke, attempting to erase impatience from his tone. "The Pax was broken, and there can be no question of such..."