#i imagine leo put his head against the window of the car yknow

[eric-the-bmo]

Blood and Silicon Episode 7: New Territory, Part Two (Your Cross to Bear)

[Summary: We explore the territory; Pauline heads to church, Blake chats with a friend, and Leo only has more questions.]

(Putting in a Content Warning for mention of religion, just in case.)

The coterie reaches the territory, parking in front of the San Jose Museum of Art. Blake trails behind the other two, certain that there's a catch to all of this; Pauline is keeping an eye out for any drug dealers, criminals, etc. Leo's headache is pretty bad, and he excuses himself, saying he needs to take care of something. Pauline tells him to be safe as he leaves, and Pauline heads off towards the church on the territory. Blake gets a text but doesn't check it yet, and heads off to one of the sports bars.

As he gets closer to one, he hears something knock over a garbage can- he doesn't get a good look at whatever it was, but it was too big to be a cat. He activates his Eyes of the Beast; there's the end of a fox tail. Blake enters the bar (turning off his eye ability beforehand), and orders a drink. Checking his phone, Blake sees the text is from Wes, a character we haven't met yet, saying that the two of them should talk since it's been a while.

Meanwhile, Leo goes till he's sure the coterie won't see or hear him, and ends up near this circle of palm trees with benches; there's a bit of a weird vibe going on. He uses Auspex to see what's up in the circle; there's a bit of power in the center, but he can check that out later. As he gets closer, he sees someone on a bench- it's Chris, of backstory fame. Leo freezes and wonders how she even got here, he has a lot of questions, but also- he's got shit to deal with. He avoids her, and finds a spot to contact Jeremiah. He tries to ask his sire questions, but Jeremiah is currently frustrated about something, and refuses to elaborate or even answer Leo's questions. They both seem to only agitate each other further; Leo ends the conversation, kinda pissed off, and lights a cigarette as he walks away.

As soon as Pauline gets onto the steps of the church she gets an uneasy feeling. With Eyes of The Unseen, she sees that the place has a bad aura. She looks through a window and sees flyers and the like, advertising Spanish and English services during the day; The latest is at 7-9:30pm. The church is grand inside with stained-glass windows. The giant cross makes her uncomfortable, and she holds onto her own for comfort. She looks at the other flyers; there’s Christmas events that will happen at midnight. Pauline takes a photo of the schedule, planning to come over on Sunday.

She sits on the steps on the church, smoking a cigarette when she sees Leo approach. She asks if he's okay; Leo sits down next to her and grumbles about how Jeremiah never answers. Pauline asks him what he even expected, given how he was sent away with only a coat.

Pauline tells him she was adopted by other Kindred after her sire left her, and that she was raised Protestant. She had a crisis of faith, but it's not that she doesn't believe, its just hard to with everything around them. She doesn't think we’re alone.  (Leo, however, says that he believes in the supernatural, but not in God.) While Pauline believes in God, she doesn't believe in the doctrine, saying how easy it would be for them to manipulate humans through the church, comparing them to dogs on a leash- She then adds that she has no intention of doing that, though.

She says that all Kindred are cut off from god, and that Jeremiah (her dislike of him is clear with how she said his name) cut Leo off from Heaven the moment he brought him back. She wishes she could spare him the pain, she tells him, and he admits that he thought he was going to go to Hell the night he was Embraced.

She asks to show him something, and leads him to the large cross she saw earlier. Leo feels the same unease as she did, and his Beast is afraid; he takes a small step back. Pauline almost reaches out to reassure him. Instead she quotes Leviticus 17:14, and tells Leo that partaking in the blood is the closest they'll ever get to divinity. Leo has a thought, but stays silent.

Meanwhile, Blake continues to text Wes- Wes mentions that unlike Blake, he needs to sleep, and Blake says his schedule recently freed up. They agree to meet the next night. Blake tips the bartender and sees which sports team wins before he leaves. He goes to the palm circle and sits down one or two benches away from Chris- her eyes are closed in meditation almost like she’s trying to focus. Blake sends a text to the group chat [Blake: "Sitting in this palm circle thing. Ready when you are."].

In the church, the Malkavians receive the message and make their way over to him. As they approach Blake at the Palm Circle, Chris finally opens her eyes and heads towards Leo. They both ask each other what the hell they're doing here- Blake looks up at this- and Chris asks what happened to him. She notices his coterie and seems a bit nervous at their presence. She tells Leo that the two of them should talk- but not here- and upon being asked, Leo tells her that Blake and Pauline are his acquaintances. Chris mentions how she doesn't like being as direct, but here, take this- and offers him a folded-up note.

As he goes to grab it, she snatches him by the wrist- he activates Blush of Life in a panic and his Beast whispers Chris is a liability, and she pulls him close and whispers: "You weren't you that month."

Leo gets a horrible feeling. She hurries off. [Blake and Pauline ask if Chris is going to be a problem; Leo tells them she's nothing to worry about. His headache is worse.] They other members once again remind Leo to keep people at an arm's length, and they make a note about predators- and speaking of predators, Blake mentions the fox. Pauline refers to it as a kistune, and Leo tries to explain what yokai are to Blake.

As Blake and Pauline discuss payment methods [Blake gets 400 bucks I think, I didn't get any of that], Leo checks Chris's note; it's a time and place to meet up with her. He writes this down in his notebook as well as other things, because he's connecting some dots in his brain, and scribbles down "We seriously need to fucking talk."

Leo tells the coterie he's going to feed; Blake directs him to the sports bar, and Pauline says if he messes up, just tell her and she'll use Dominate to make them forget. ["I don't want that." "Then don't mess up!" "I won't!"] So Leo heads off and mimics his sire's feeding method, feeding off a drunk man after offering to get him a ride home. His Beast is hyped about this, and he gets very intoxicated as a result of feeding from the guy. His headache lessens.

Leo stumbles his way back to the coterie, where Pauline seems disappointed in him. Blake is all "oh, he's drunk again?" which makes her suspicious. He lies, not wanting her to know about the failed Garage Heist, and says he saw Leo trail after some drunk people after he dropped him off once; Pauline doesn't fully believe this, but it works. Blake tries to find some footprints that could give clues about the fox; Leo is trying his best to ramble about yokai to Pauline. They hop in Blake's car so he can drop them all off home.

Drunkenly, Leo realizes he forgot to tell Pauline how he lost his faith, before realizing he doesn't quite remember how- he reveals to the coterie that J erased his memories a lot. Pauline says people shouldn't do that to those they allegedly care about, and a breath of air comes from Blake’s nose when he hears that. Leo looks conflicted and upset, and holds his hands together. Pauline stares at his shoulder from where she's sitting; she wants to comfort him.

-=+=-

The next night, Blake wakes up at the tattoo shop he stays at, and lets Wes know he'll be up after closing. When the time comes, Blake knocks at the basement door to wait for Wes to open it; Wes waits for Blake to open it ["Are you sure you don't need to be invited in?"]. Eventually the game of chicken ends with Wes opening the door, and the two of them get to cleaning the shop together, bantering along the way.

It turns out Wes is a ghoul, and Blake fills him in on what he's been doing, how the territory he's been given feels like a target on his back, and maybe Wes should stay out of the territory until Blake figures out what it's for. Wes says he has a bad feeling and whats to know if he's safe- he's not on anyone's territory, is he?- but Blake informs him the shop isn't on anyone's turf as far as he knows, but if it comes down to it he can see if Harrison can grab it- Blake claiming the shop as his own territory would be seen as a political thing, and he doesn't wanna deal with that. He catches Wes up on the coterie; Wes says Leo seems odd, and Blake says that it's Pauline he's a bit worried about. Blake also seems to invite Wes to a party, and also tells him to not visit the Asylum until Blake feels more comfortable going there himself; He says Seb is cool and around Wes’s age, but to keep an eye out. Blake adds that it's merely advice, since he cant really tell Wes what to do {“Yeah," Wes agrees, "I'm not your ghoul."}.

Blake closes up the shop and heads out.

Notes/Commentary:

So much is going on with Leo can this man catch a break /lh

Jeremiah seems to be going through something atm, what's up my guy

Literally yelled when Chris showed up btw

Pauline's player came prepared for the Church conversation!! it was insanely impressive, 10/10 dialogue

Leo mentioned he believes in aliens during the church, I love him dropping hints he's a conspiracy theorist it's so fun. Not-local man doesn't believe in God but believes in aliens

LETS GO ONE OF THE THEORIES IS SEMI-CORRECT!! [Context: Kev has a long-winded theory about Ancestral Dominion being used on Leo during that month]

I'm normal about Leo mimicking Jeremiah's feeding method. Like sire like childe [I dont think he likes it]

Not mentioned during the Blake and Wes conversation: Discussing if Pauline is a milf/ Blake learning wtf that means, and the whole entire Blake/Wes conversation being really homoerotic

Wes isn't Blake's ghoul?? Interesting,,,,

Also not seen is Leo waking up, gaining a point of Hunger, and Immediately flipping off his Beast [it grins and flips him off too]