A much needed backdated post (Johnny) Requiem
“The Visit”
It’s not often I get ta relax these nights. I do a lot, probably more’n I should, but it’s what’s expected o’ me so’s I do it, if for no other reason, then there’s little else worse in the world then makin yer father look at you with them disappointing eyes. But this night, there was nothin’ goin’ on in the domain, things were quiet, and I had a night that I could just sit and relax. Or so I thought.
Ernest. Isaiah’s sire. I always have mixed feelin’s when I see’m. He saved me from the ‘Lochs. Made me Invictus. Cultivated me with learnin’ an’ niceties that I didn’t think I’d ever get again. And he gave me Isaiah. And Isaiah gave me a home. He became the father I’d lost, the mentor I needed, and the reason I should keep going after the years of losing reasons to bother.
The down side to Ernest is that he’s way too old. He just don’t get it. While Ernest is our past, our tradition, and our structure, Isaiah is our future. He’s our inventor, our entry into the new age, our brains, he’ll open the gate to all that our family will become. They could’ve worked well together, but Ernest couldn’t see in Isaiah what I see, he could only see his childer not willing to follow in his footsteps, not willing to become his sire but to attempt to do better than. I realized sometime ago how the family thing worked. Temp would always try ta do better’n me ta try to win my approval. So that I’d be proud o’ her. And no matter how much she grows up she’ll always need ‘n seek that. Much in the same way I’ll always seek it from Isaiah. He can tell me there’s nothing left to teach me and he couldn’t be more proud, and the next night I’ll be out working to reaffirm that pride. And I know it’s works the same way for Isaiah an’ Ernest. The difference bein’ I’ll tell Temp that she makes me proud. I’ll let’r know she’s doin’ good. And Isaiah’ll do the same with me. Ernest, he don’t ever give on somethin’ like that. Not to Isaiah, he just takes dig’s at’m.
So it’s always nice, but not pleasant when I see him show up at the compound. This time it was worse than usual though.
As Ernest walked into Isaiah’s private study to talk, I could see him drunkenly stumbling through the door. This never went well with their conversations, so I extended my ability to hear so that I could see what this one was bout. Isaiah explained he’d been told he’d been kept in servitude to Ernest nearly twice as long as is standard. Ernest laughed at him and then began insultin’ him and threat’n him with me leavin him. Then said he was gunna release me at the same time as Isaiah cause I was a better Invictus. I could feel the beast rise at the sound of the insult that slapped my father in the face. I forced it back down, ta have me come bustin’ through the door would do nothin’ but show that the weakness Ernest claims ta see in Isaiah is solid, when I know it ain’t.
I wait until Ernest leaves the room and I plan to go and see my father, to attempt the best idea I have for comfortin’ him. Then Ernest spots me “Johnny my boy, it’s good to see you, it’s been too long…” I look him up and down and realize that he’s smaller since I was a fifteen year old boy that had been through five years in an Oberloch camp. He wasn’t a champion, or a knight, or a great warrior, he was just a tiny little drunk livin’ off the greatness o’ others and puttin’ them down fer it. And I decided right then, screw the image, it’s time ta have a lil’ chat with’m.
I let my beast rise so he could see what he’d really helped to create. I looked down at him, my skin like it’s metal, my beast so close that even in his drunken state he could see the rage in my eyes. And in that moment, I saw the big Invictus warrior show fear, and he began to back away from me.
I released my claws and lunged forward. Grabbing him by the jacket I slammed him into a wall and held him there so that he couldn’t run. Then I brought myself down so that I was eye to eye with the little drunk.
“I owed you a lot, fer you savin’ me an all. I got that, and I’ve worked ta pay it everyday. But I didn’t owe Isaiah, and he didn’t owe me. We simply respected and cared enough ta do what we’ve done. An’ you had nothin’ ta do with that. I want you ta understand right now, my debt ta you is paid. Ya once saved my life, and right now, this second, I’m payin that back ta you. Cause I swear ta whatever you hold holy, you ever speak down ta that man again an’ you better have a God Damned army with you cause nothin’ short’s gunna stop me from tearin you apart. You understand me?”
His eyes wide, his beast attempting to force him to flee, he nodded his head. He already knew this fight was over before it began and there was no reason to attempt to fight it now. So instead, he submitted. I tried not to, but I couldn’t resist and a smile crept across my face. Fer all the times he humbled Isaiah, I wish my father could see this tiny little drunk now.
I locked eyes with him and said “One more thing, for the next month, you’ll have no alcohol in your system. But you will spend the next forty eight hours thinkin’ about how you screwed this whole thing up.”
He again nodded, and as I let go, I watched him walk out the door to go and do as I commanded his mind to do. Let him exist for a month without the booze to deprive his tiny brain of what little ability it once had, he had this one comin’.
I turned as the door closed to go and tell Isaiah what I’d done. To see the smile and hear the laugh as I retold how I’d humiliated the man that spoke down to him. Then I realized that it may simply upset him. I didn’t always understand why things upset him, we come from two different worlds, so there was always the chance that he’d be displeased with me. So I simply walked back to my room, changed, and decided I’d go patrol tonight anyway. Has to be somethin’ worth beatin down on going on in the city tonight…
It’s not often I get ta relax these nights. I do a lot, probably more’n I should, but it’s what’s expected o’ me so’s I do it, if for no other reason, then there’s little else worse in the world then makin yer father look at you with them disappointing eyes. But this night, there was nothin’ goin’ on in the domain, things were quiet, and I had a night that I could just sit and relax. Or so I thought.
Ernest. Isaiah’s sire. I always have mixed feelin’s when I see’m. He saved me from the ‘Lochs. Made me Invictus. Cultivated me with learnin’ an’ niceties that I didn’t think I’d ever get again. And he gave me Isaiah. And Isaiah gave me a home. He became the father I’d lost, the mentor I needed, and the reason I should keep going after the years of losing reasons to bother.
The down side to Ernest is that he’s way too old. He just don’t get it. While Ernest is our past, our tradition, and our structure, Isaiah is our future. He’s our inventor, our entry into the new age, our brains, he’ll open the gate to all that our family will become. They could’ve worked well together, but Ernest couldn’t see in Isaiah what I see, he could only see his childer not willing to follow in his footsteps, not willing to become his sire but to attempt to do better than. I realized sometime ago how the family thing worked. Temp would always try ta do better’n me ta try to win my approval. So that I’d be proud o’ her. And no matter how much she grows up she’ll always need ‘n seek that. Much in the same way I’ll always seek it from Isaiah. He can tell me there’s nothing left to teach me and he couldn’t be more proud, and the next night I’ll be out working to reaffirm that pride. And I know it’s works the same way for Isaiah an’ Ernest. The difference bein’ I’ll tell Temp that she makes me proud. I’ll let’r know she’s doin’ good. And Isaiah’ll do the same with me. Ernest, he don’t ever give on somethin’ like that. Not to Isaiah, he just takes dig’s at’m.
So it’s always nice, but not pleasant when I see him show up at the compound. This time it was worse than usual though.
As Ernest walked into Isaiah’s private study to talk, I could see him drunkenly stumbling through the door. This never went well with their conversations, so I extended my ability to hear so that I could see what this one was bout. Isaiah explained he’d been told he’d been kept in servitude to Ernest nearly twice as long as is standard. Ernest laughed at him and then began insultin’ him and threat’n him with me leavin him. Then said he was gunna release me at the same time as Isaiah cause I was a better Invictus. I could feel the beast rise at the sound of the insult that slapped my father in the face. I forced it back down, ta have me come bustin’ through the door would do nothin’ but show that the weakness Ernest claims ta see in Isaiah is solid, when I know it ain’t.
I wait until Ernest leaves the room and I plan to go and see my father, to attempt the best idea I have for comfortin’ him. Then Ernest spots me “Johnny my boy, it’s good to see you, it’s been too long…” I look him up and down and realize that he’s smaller since I was a fifteen year old boy that had been through five years in an Oberloch camp. He wasn’t a champion, or a knight, or a great warrior, he was just a tiny little drunk livin’ off the greatness o’ others and puttin’ them down fer it. And I decided right then, screw the image, it’s time ta have a lil’ chat with’m.
I let my beast rise so he could see what he’d really helped to create. I looked down at him, my skin like it’s metal, my beast so close that even in his drunken state he could see the rage in my eyes. And in that moment, I saw the big Invictus warrior show fear, and he began to back away from me.
I released my claws and lunged forward. Grabbing him by the jacket I slammed him into a wall and held him there so that he couldn’t run. Then I brought myself down so that I was eye to eye with the little drunk.
“I owed you a lot, fer you savin’ me an all. I got that, and I’ve worked ta pay it everyday. But I didn’t owe Isaiah, and he didn’t owe me. We simply respected and cared enough ta do what we’ve done. An’ you had nothin’ ta do with that. I want you ta understand right now, my debt ta you is paid. Ya once saved my life, and right now, this second, I’m payin that back ta you. Cause I swear ta whatever you hold holy, you ever speak down ta that man again an’ you better have a God Damned army with you cause nothin’ short’s gunna stop me from tearin you apart. You understand me?”
His eyes wide, his beast attempting to force him to flee, he nodded his head. He already knew this fight was over before it began and there was no reason to attempt to fight it now. So instead, he submitted. I tried not to, but I couldn’t resist and a smile crept across my face. Fer all the times he humbled Isaiah, I wish my father could see this tiny little drunk now.
I locked eyes with him and said “One more thing, for the next month, you’ll have no alcohol in your system. But you will spend the next forty eight hours thinkin’ about how you screwed this whole thing up.”
He again nodded, and as I let go, I watched him walk out the door to go and do as I commanded his mind to do. Let him exist for a month without the booze to deprive his tiny brain of what little ability it once had, he had this one comin’.
I turned as the door closed to go and tell Isaiah what I’d done. To see the smile and hear the laugh as I retold how I’d humiliated the man that spoke down to him. Then I realized that it may simply upset him. I didn’t always understand why things upset him, we come from two different worlds, so there was always the chance that he’d be displeased with me. So I simply walked back to my room, changed, and decided I’d go patrol tonight anyway. Has to be somethin’ worth beatin down on going on in the city tonight…