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[bakegarasu]

[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.

Comments

[angryyoungvamp]

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.]

[bakegarasu]

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?

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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.

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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.

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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.

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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.

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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

[angryyoungvamp]

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.

[bakegarasu]

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.]

[angryyoungvamp]

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

[bakegarasu]

Yes. It would be.