[21:25] You learned the spell Blood Miasma.
[21:26] Donovan Draskovic says, "Oh right, that. Fucking hell.."
[21:32] Donovan Draskovic says, ".. So I wasn't remembering things wrong, then. You used my waters against me last time."
[21:33] Malentine Invidia says, "Correct... my blessing grants me the ability to steal from others, steal what Fate has given them and not me."
[21:34] Donovan Draskovic says, "Hmnh.."
[21:35] Malentine Invidia asks, "Hm?"
[21:37] Donovan Draskovic says, "Just.. A thought, I've had for a while. Hard to put to words."
[21:37] Malentine Invidia says, "Try me."
[21:37] Malentine Invidia asks, "What's on your mind?"
[21:38] Donovan Draskovic says, "When I was a thrall, when I was a ghoul- Torham's blood always offered something I've yet to find now I've ascended. Not simply the euphoria, but visions. Memories."
[21:38] Donovan Draskovic says, "I uh.."
[21:38] Donovan Draskovic says, "Was thinking-"
[21:38] Donovan Draskovic says, "Perhaps I could take from others that same thing, but I don't know /how/ to go about that."
[21:40] Donovan Draskovic says, "Magic seemed, to my mind, a good starting point. If I could learn how to do what you do, maybe I could apply the same uh.. Logic. I guess."
[21:40] Donovan Draskovic says, "Silly thought, maybe.. I don't know.>"
[21:42] Malentine Invidia says, "Do what I do... Mm... My blessing is part of what I am, not something inherently taught... though... there are plenty of other things I can pass on to.. willing minds."
[21:42] Malentine waves his hand as the air around it distorts.
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[21:52] Donovan Draskovic says, "Whatever you are willing to offer, I am willing to listen, and learn. I /need/ to find a way, whether it helps or no I'd appreciate assistence."
[21:53] Malentine Invidia says, "It will not be easy..."
[21:57] Donovan Draskovic says, "I don't care. If it might help in any way, I'm willing."
[21:58] Donovan Draskovic says, "I need something more than idle chatter and sparring."
[22:00] Malentine tilted his head slightly and extended one hand toward Donovan. With the Black Curtain still in his other, a crack of black lightning shot outward from gem and split the air behind him in two. A rift tore open through the fabric of reality and the elder vampire's small smile glinted in the cold, night light.

"Follow me, if this is the path you wish to walk down."
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[22:13] It was an unsettling display, as always. Donovan had never been particularly 'friendly' with most of the current vampires. Though she spoken with most in passing, Torham and Malentine were the only two she'd had extended conversations with. Far as she could immediately recall, at least.

Still, in comparison, her conversations with the former were like the entire beach next to a grain of sand. That grain of sand being interaction with the latter. The vaguely confusing analogy made her purse her lips.

Good job, brain.

The point was, the younger vampire was apprehensive. And she acknowledged that. Watching the crackling black electricity spark through the air- Anyone might be unnerved. Yet something pushed her onward. A certain need, a desire, for something more. To learn, if nothing else.

It pushed her forward, to step through that rift and follow.
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[22:14] Malentine guided Donovan quietly into the ruins of the Foxfire shrine they had destroyed.
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[22:24] Malentine entered his darkened laboratory, a prison that had now been changed to something far worse. It wreaked in here, but not in an entirely grotesque way. Instead the air was very obviously corrupted. Some blood stains on the carpet gave hint to what the vampire did within here whenever he was alone, but the way the space inside rippled and shifted was entirely disorienting.

The eldest Invidia himself floated off to the side and across a desk of his belongings. Despite the lack of other light sources within the building, Malentine's own sin was giving off that sickly green light, the kind of illumination that would compliment, in some terrible degree, Donovan's own internal Sin.

"Now... explain to me what it is you're after. Precisely. Descending further into your blessing is one thing.. and this--" Malentine waved his hand a jar of something floated into the air. Witha quick flick the vampire closed his fist and glass shattered. Though the contents splattered out toward the two Sins, with another motion of his hand none of the debris found its mark. The telekinetic power caused a further saturation of darkness to take hold within the building. "Is something else entirely."
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[23:17] Apprehension lingered, as one might expect. It brought Donovan to pause at the threshold, vermillion and lavender scanning the interior of the darkened laboratory. Every little ripple that distorted the air. The stains which littered the carpet- a waste- and the shelves which lined the back wall. Each detail was noted in silence before she even took a step in.

She felt as though she stood on a precipice, much the same as she had before. Only, rather than a new path to walk along, this was an entirely separate world. Something far removed from the frost outside, in its own way. Twisted and unique, dark and foreboding. The younger vampire finally drifted forward, setting her feet upon solid ground.

When Malentine spoke once more, all attention turned toward him. Then toward the sound of glass shattering. She flinched away from the debris, unnecessarily so. He brought it to a stop.

Something else entirely..

"Like.. Like I said, it's difficult to put into words."

Difficult for the fact she didn't quite want to say it, perhaps.

"I am hollow, to no end. If.. If that makes any sense. Your blessing has brought you power and freedom, you have desire and you can direct it. You've an end goal. Something to work toward, which you strive toward without hesitation. In short- I don't. I am desire without purpose."

"What I need is direction, most of all. That, and the strength to see it through. That.. idea, I had- Trying to take memories from others- I thought maybe it would be something useful. Something I could finally contribute, rather than being such a burden. Being so damned helpless. If that might be accomplished through delving further, through whatever else you can teach me.. Then.."

At last she trailed off. The words were simply too difficult to grasp.
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[23:28] "Freedom..."

Malentine's eyes shined a little brighter with that green light. The way Donovan spoke of his own Sin didn't seem to make him happy nor feel insulted. He stared down at her, listening intently with a strange, childlike look upon his snow white face. His eyes were impossibly wide and incredibly focused, as if he was trying to scrutinize something far more specific than the fledglings simple motives.

"No direction... Mm..." he exhaled, but still that haunting, doll-like expression remained painted on his face. "Then you're not listening to it, Donovan. It whispers to you... just as you whisper to yourself, just as your thoughts whisper... messages. Urges. Desires.

I have wants that I will never have. Things that are... out of my grasp. That emptiness you feel is the same that I feel. That bottomless... Void. It is the only thing there now. And so you... should listen to it."

His smile widened. The neries-like figure was only betrayed as much by those fangs and red eyes. "I cannot give you your purpose, Lady Donovan. Mine is not something I chose, it is what I have been chosen for.

I am the enemy sent to damage what the zealots and mongrels of this continent would preserve. I have been given the necessary tools to do what I can. I will die doing this work.

But I intend to die among the wreckage of the world and bring as much down burning with me." He canted his head to the other side. "This is not freedom, Donovan. This is not a burden. It is what I am and always have been. It is only now that Tomorrow has finally become Today."
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[00:23] "I've tried to listen."

What had stared toward broken glass before had found his gaze once more as she'd spoken. Vermillion met with crimson- The latter taken by sickly green light when at last the older vampire spoke again. Donovan found it hard to maintain that gaze, dropping her own to stare at the floor between her feet.

No matter the childish expression, or youthful visage, the eldest Invidia's presence was intimidating. It was a different sort of weight than the one which the Exarch carried, but it was heavy nonetheless. Nigh suffocating.

It didn't make finding words much easier.

"Every day I ask where I'm going. Where it's pushing me. But all I get are echoes. The same few words, the same few things. No true response- Only more. It just asks for more."

And that was the problem, at its very core. The short vampire lifted a transparent hand, turning it over slowly before herself. Even before she'd ascended, it had become a habit. Her dagger-like teeth had torn the skin there so many times the scars had muddled together. Almost unrecognizable. It was tempting to take another bite.

"And I've tried to listen. I let it guide me- But every time I do, it only hurts in the end. I've nearly killed Remy before, I tried to hurt Torham when he executed that sarradian girl.. He.. Said I could have the body, but.. Sarradians melt. I didn't know that. He didn't either, but it still urged me to take from him, if I couldn't have her."

"If I've been chosen as you have- If there's.. any reasoning, for me being what I am, I cannot see it. I don't understand it. You've realized your purpose but I just.. I'm.. lost."

And I want more than this.
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:39] Malentine's expression turned to a curious one. Though his own explanations were maddened and vile, there was some sort of driven purpose to them. Those who knew his true intentions were all too aware that if he were to have his way, it would not be the archons who broke the continent, but him. Destruction, as chaotic as it was, gave him a drive that Donovan was finding too hard to walk down.

And so his eyes narrowed and as she made excuse after excuse something inside him sparked. With a loud crack the entirety of the far wall of the torturous laboratory was thrown away like a curtain, only to be replaced by a rippling rift. Though through this space there was absolutely

Nothing. The Void stared back at them, even if neither truly understood what it was. To Malentine it spoke to his emptiness. It was somehow more infinitely bottomless than anything he had ever felt, and soin a strange and horribly twisted way, he empathized with it. And though books and papers were suddenly torn from their resting places and sucked into that vacuum, Malentine continued floating, chaotic waves of telekinesis flying outward from the tear to keep him where he was standing. The display was catastrophic and had the same air as his failure atop the peak Donovan had witnessed so long ago.

But somehow it was so terrifyingly controlled this time.

"You are too scared to embrace it then..." he hissed. "Too weak for your blessing. Nearly killed Remy... nearly hurt Torham… you speak as if you still have some semblance of humanity still within you. A desire not to hurt others you care for, even if they stand between you and satisfaction."

Malentine pulled something out of his pocket, a blue, mythril amulet engraved with orchilacum wires. It was a simple trinket, but something he held aloft before the Glutton. "This is my reminder. This is all I have left of the only person I've ever loved. And I killed her. With out a regret in my mind. I did not bury or freeze her. I threw Deidra from the cliff side and let her be dashed upon the rocks below. Her body is broken and lost beneath the snows now and while the rest of the world will forget I will not."

His own telekinetic grip coiled around the amulet and shot it back into his pocket with some unseen aggravation.

"She was weak. And Stupid. And purposeless. She did not understand what I am, what I aim to become.

You listen to your Sin, Donovan, but that does not stop you from meeting with the heathens of Deseti." Malentine's eyes were still alive with that light, and with this revelation his smile widened to ghoulish proportions. "Oh yes. I know all about that. Your secret meetings. Your little rendezvous. Your home away from home that just...

Can't accept you now." He was enjoying this, an attempt at tormenting her, and that much was obvious. For personal entertainment or for some greater purpose though was unknown. "They will not accept you because you are one of Cain's chosen now. They will not accept you because Sin has become a part of your soul. You fear embracing what you truly are and for that you will be forever stuck between weakness and pity."

Malentine turned and faced the Void himself. By now some of the furniture was shifting and being pulled toward it, but more telekinetic force was wafting through in waves commanded by the vampire to keep what he wanted inside, including Donovan herself. "This is my secret friend, Donovan." If she could see his face, it was almost aglow with that green color and his expression was widened into an absolute frenzy. "This is what I've chosen to follow. Because I know what I am and I am not afraid to be it."
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[02:25] In the few moments which silence reigned, Donovan lifted her hand to her lips. Her gaze was utterly distant as she did so- Searching already for what more she could say. When her teeth broke through transparent skin, she didn't even flinch. By now she was used to that, and the metallic taste which always followed. Anything but satisfying. About as healthy as eating nothing but sweets.

Or nothing at all really, for the nutritional value it gave.

That somewhat distant state shattered with the same loud crack. Not literally- But the point was there. She was startled free of those winding thoughts with a jolt. Her hand fell to her side, the wound already closing even as a few drops of green blood fell to the floor. Vermillion and lavender focused on him. On that expression, curious, and something else.

Then her gaze shifted to the void. Though she was still attentive to his words, she could not help but recall other things. Memories filtered through the back of her mind. That day she'd thought she was going to die- The other, when she had indulged so far and nearly gotten herself drawn in once more. Always she had resisted the call. Metaphorically and literally, she had tried to hold back.

Now was no different.

The stout little vampire held her ground as parchment fluttered toward that gaping maw. She stood resolute, and stared into the darkness. That vast, hollow nothingness which stretched on into.. Eternity. Though they gazed through a limited window, what lay beyond was without boundaries.

In her core she felt that dead, scarred heart of hers shudder. Tearing her gaze away was a tremendous effort, but she forced herself to peer toward Malentine once more. To pay attention to every little detail.

Too scared.

Too weak.

Too human.

She grit her teeth as each word filtered through. Though she tried to keep her expression glassy, the motion of tendons was visible through the skin. It was an obvious shift. Irritation, and a twinge of shame. Just a few splashes of fear, for good measure. When she spoke, all those things were laced through as an undertone.

"There is no satisfaction to be had from that. If I were to kill them, to eat them- I'd lose.. Far too much. And it wouldn't be worth it, I'd be starving again soon after. It wouldn't sate my appetite."

Excuses.

"I couldn't beat Torham- I-.. He's stronger. I tried, I would've torn into him had I won- But he bested me. I wasn't good enough."

Pathetic.

"She made mistakes, you had a reason to kill her- More than one. Plenty. But you still remember- You.. still hold onto that."

You still care, don't you?

"They still spoke to me with civility- That's more than you could hope for from most anyone else. Shezmu still cares about me, he cares about Neo too. It'll just be a matter of time, he'll learn to accept it-"

Delusional.

Those words came to a halt. It might be clear what the heart of that issue was- Or, perhaps it was utterly obscure. That much entirely depended upon how well Malentine could read her. Usually, she was quite the open book.

Her gaze shifted, as she struggled to form the last few thoughts. As she tried to put together something that made any form of sense. Trying to convey what she meant. What she felt. That empty void- Like the one into which she stared once more. Like the one that made up her very core. Vast and hollow.

Too scared. To listen.

Too weak. To take what's desired.

Too human. To be a monster.

I know what I am, and I am not afraid to be it.

I just want..

To feel content. To be satisfied. To understand. To find direction. To learn. To grow. To find my purpose. To be something.

To stop being afraid.
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[02:39] "They will NEVER accept. YOU." The torrent became stronger as Malentine whirled back around. He seemed angry almost now, angry at the fact that Donovan still insisted the humans of this world cared for her in anyway, angry that she couldn't accept her gift as it was.

"You are RIGHT. You will always starve. You will always want more. And so you have your options; chase. And find the End. Or restrain yourself and become something so lowly and disgusting no man nor monster will ever accept you. Caught in the halfway, too scared to cross the threshold."

Frothing matter dripped from the edges of the rift as the Void continued looking on and swallowing the building. A crack in the foundations indicated the entire lab mad collapse or be sucked into it, but the chaotic waves that ran perpendicular to gravity itself continued to power through and keep things in tact. Malentine was straining under the pressure, but still intent on keeping the rift open. He had the power to close it and stop fighting, so why wasn't he?

"The mongrel desert dog does not care for you. The Commander of that empty city does not care for Neo. You are a monster in their eyes and so you must be something else in ours.

These excuses, they are your way out. Your way at grasping at something that is no longer there. You need to learn to let go. Let go of believing this world will ever offer you happiness. Let go of a notion that it has a place for you. We are who were are, branded by sin, bleeding unholy blood.

We should not exist, and the world will try to stamp us out to set things right once again. We're already destined for condemnation and torture, Donovan.

But I'm not going to lie down until I get there. I will wage my war as an army of one against a foe so large and undeniably connected that there is not hope in defeating it. I do not fight for hope. I do not fight for justice. I fight for the chance at maiming that which has maimed me. I accept my new master not because it is my reprieve... but because it is my damnation."

Malentine's eyes were thin slits now and with a wave of his hand the rift snapped shut. The building was a mess and some of the walls were cracked, but the horrible air remained all the same. His glowing red and green eyes gazed down at her, and his smile had become nothing more than a thin crescent.

"I cannot teach you anything until you give up hope. Until you forget. Who you were. Before. You are not Donovan anymore. Nor am I Malentine Invidia.

I am Envy.

And you are...?"

The final statement, in contrast to everything else, was spoken as if he is meeting her for the first time. Even the vampire's expression shifted to that once more of curiosity and politeness, a formality given when introducing oneself. The elder vampire even stuck out his hand and waited to see what would happen.
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:13] Yet fear remained.

It flared as the elder turned on her, ice cold in the core of her form. Tip-toeing its way down her spine, spreading like frost. Donovan felt the urge to step away, to back down, as that unnatural power flared. As sin and chaos tore at the very fabric of reality. As the void tried to consume all in its vicinity.

The sirenian shrank away as he all but shouted. Each angered word poked and prodded, sharp as broken glass. As razorblades. They rattled about inside her head, eliciting a few different responses. Somewhere past the fear there was anger, a will to refute what was said. Alongside it there was pain- An ache which only the barest tatters of her humanity still felt.

There was shame, too, in the face of such a scolding.

Though it offered white noise to ignore that gaping maw within, such emotions would never fill it. They were insubstantial, inconsequential, useless. Besides, ignoring that emptiness was like ignoring a part of herself.Like ignoring the fact she had a right hand. Or the fact she had eyes. Or a nose.

Still she was desperate to believe there was something more. Desperate to find any way to satiate her desire. To fill the void, or tuck it away and ignore it. Or manage it, as though such could be managed. Indulging only every now and then. Holding back when she only wanted more. Starving herself further. Refraining from taking all the world had to offer.

But that was the point, wasn't it? In everything she took, there was naught but emptiness that followed. Brief fits of binge-drinking only left her craving more. Every meal's satisfaction was fleeting. Even when she tore at flesh, it wasn't enough. When she had killed to consume, she wasn't content.

You will always starve.

You will always want more.

The world had nothing to offer. So she should take.

While it was not enough, each moment should be enjoyed.

Holding back only left her worse for wear. Never having enough.

Of course, it would never be enough. There wasn't a thing in the world which might fulfil her needs. So, if nothing else, she could get back at it for being so cruel. She could hoard those fleeting moments of indulgence all to herself. Beyond that there was nothing more to hope for. Nothing to hold on to.

Behind him the rift snapped shut. Inside it still remained. Her gaze finally met his once more. Red and green- So very festive. Lavender, vermillion, and quicksilver stared back. Glimmering faintly, but a sickly light. That very same tone flickered through her veins.

Finally one transparent hand reached forward. Hesitation was forgotten. Hopes, perhaps, still lingered- For something else entirely. And humanity? Vampires could suppress that, filter out those emotions. It was simply that she had never truly tried. Her rough, scarred hand met his.

A simple handshake.

And you are...?

"Gluttony."
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:17] Malentine widens his grin as he returned a horribly cold handshake. "Well then Gluttony, lets return home. And perhaps another lesson.. may be in order later."
(Malentine Invidia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:20] A slight tilt of her head, a slow blink, and she offered a nod in return. There was no smile, just a glassy emptiness. Funny how that worked.

"I believe you're quite right, Envy."
(Donovan Draskovic)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------