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[Otoha hasn't really noticed what's going on around the city. It's not like he's not usually honest about most things anyway. But tonight has him sitting on a rooftop, staring out at the city. He's asked this question before, in a different place, but he still wants answers. He's never found an answer that's satisfied him.]

Why do people think that killing people is wrong? Sometimes it's the fastest solution for a problem. Yeah, people will be sad, but they'll get over it. It's kind of a pain when people get so upset whenever it's brought up.

... Johnny, you're not allowed to answer. I know your answer.

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What kind of problems? Aside from police attention, but that's easy to figure out.

... Why?

Police attention, normal people's attention... people dying means questions get asked, even if no one's sure what happened. And you can't just solve that one by killing people; that just ends with everybody dead. [~~And you losing your hat. And any plan where you lose your hat is...?~~]

It's part of how I keep the Beast in check. [Whoops, he hadn't meant to say that.] Honestly, I just don't like it. I'll do it if I absolutely have to, but for some reason an awful lot of people seem to think it has to be done a lot more than I do. If I really need somebody dead, it means someone else has probably screwed up badly somewhere.

Beast?

[He shrugs a little bit.]

I grew up with a sword in my hand from the age of twelve or so. I was brought up in the yakuza, and I was an enforcer. Killing people was my job, and I was good at it. So it's not like it was ever seen as something bad. Annoying, but not bad.

It's this weird instinctual inner predator thing, almost like a split personality. Having some sort of moral or ethical code helps resist it. Some of us devote themselves to cosmic balance, some have a specific code of honorable behavior, some just base it on maintaining their own supremacy. But most of us try to hang on to some of our humanity, and part of that is not killing just because it's the most convenient solution. It makes it too easy to see everyone else as prey.

And if I've gone this far I may as well admit that "us" is "vampires".

I don't have a problem with vampires. It's not like my boyfriend isn't one.

[... Why did he use that word.]

I'm not exactly human either. Not anymore, at least. Though I had less of a moral code to follow as a human.

Oh? You must be the guy Johnny mentioned, then. Guess I should also mention I'm not from his world and I have no idea what his kind of vampire is like.

And you might not, but not everyone's quite as... open-minded about such things. Not that I blame them. A lot of vampires are assholes at best. I think it's being apex predator over a species that doesn't usually even know you exist that does it.

I think humans have it easier. It's too easy for a vampire to lose control completely. The Sabbat say it's Caine's curse, I think, but the Sabbat turn being a vampire into a religious experience.

[Maugris slips from philosophical to self pity mode kind of easily.]

I only know because we've spent basically... what is it, two years around each other now?

[He shrugs a little bit at that comment.]

There's things kind of like vampires at home - or there were. I ended up killing them all since they were under Eko's control.

... Have you been feeding?

And what exactly was Eko?

[At least that's sounding like the sort of situation where Maugris would agree killing is necessary, if only because vampires are hard to just incapacitate until you take out what's controlling them.]

Only on animals. Doesn't taste great, but as long as I'm careful it's enough. I had this discussion with Johnny already, actually.

A Karas. A guardian of the city. Except he'd stopped caring about the balance between humans and demons, and just wanted to wipe out humans. That's why I was made the new Karas.

[... He just sighs.]

I don't care if you feed from me too.

See, that's one of those times even I'd say killing is justified. Someone like that has a duty to keep a city safe, not rule it with an iron fist. A lot of Princes I've seen seem to have a shaky grasp on that.

... Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're the one guy he told me was off-limits. Thanks for the offer, but I'll deal with animals.

True. My father - brother - whatever kept a stranglehold on his territory. He claimed he was making it safe, and sure there might have been worse bosses for the local groups, but he was a shitty leader. Probably. It's not like I really know how to tell.

... Johnny...

[It's halfway between a growl and a groan, but he doesn't sound angry - just exasperated.]

He's way too overprotective of me. It's not like I can't take care of myself.

Mm. The Prince before me was like that. He forced me to kill him before I could get rid of him - and by forced, I mean he threatened to kill a bunch of innocent people if I didn't, and the condition was explicitly "kill him first". I think he believed he was doing me a favor.

[He just sighs.] It's probably a good idea if you stick with him anyway. Losing enough blood to keep two vampires fed on a regular basis would probably make you useless for anything else anyway.

My father never wanted to die. He wanted to rule over his corner of Shinjuku forever - or the entire place, whatever.

... I guess. I heal pretty fast though.

Having one ruler forever is a nice idea assuming you can get the perfect one. But there's no such thing as a perfect ruler, and the sort of person who wants to rule forever is almost never anyone who should be in charge at all.

Not the point. And it wasn't meant as an insult. I don't know about Johnny, but a reasonable meal for me is enough to make somebody woozy.

He wasn't fit to raise a kid, let alone rule anything with any sort of concern for someone who wasn't him.

I ended up killing him for sort of related but not totally reasons.

Yeah, see, that's more typical for the sort of guy who'd want to rule forever. [Maugris is gonna go ahead and assume if Otoha's saying this there's not much harm in agreeing.]

And that's pretty typical for how it ends, too, I'm fairly sure.

That's how it usually goes, yeah. Though I don't want his position. Hopefully without him, the group will start to collapse.

I didn't assume you did. If it's your job to guard the city, you want to try and get rid of someone using their power in ways that are bad for it.

And you don't seem like the type to use that as an excuse for a power grab.

Yeah, no. I don't care about power. I wasn't raised to care about it anyway. I was raised to be a tool.

[... annoyed faaaaace.]

That happens way too often. But once would be too often, really.

Yes. It would be.

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