Activity Log, January 12, 2001 After the exciting events of the previous evening, I was not surprised to see the subjects gather again to discuss matters. I admit, however, that I had nearly forgotten the issue of Parker's duel after the great things I was able to witness, and so it took me some moments to realize why the subjects were converging at court. Parker arrived with Ethan, who seemed to be acting as his second. Von Brauer allowed Alice to speak for him; it all fit quite nicely with what I recall of the formalities of such things, though of course I have never gone in for such organized brutality. There was quite a large audience, including many of the younger vampires. None of the elders were present except for Julia; I presume that her duties include making certain that the violence does not go beyond prescribed limits. Nicola was also quite present, and made a production of hanging on Von Brauer's arm. I must admit, however, that she hardly shone at all compared to Christine, who was present and wearing very little, as seems to be customary with her. Margot and Melanie were there as well, sniping quite handily at each other. I was able to catch a few of their comments and, I must admit, I am glad I am not at the sharp end of their tongues. Parker chose guns as his weapon, and they agreed to disallow the powers of the blood in the duel. Von Brauer provided a quite elegant set of dueling pistols (single-shot, which made the entire process take far longer that it should have), and the two of them proceeded to try to batter the other into unconsciousness. Naturally this took nearly twenty minutes; each shot was followed by cries of delight and excitement from the gathered crowd. Parker was the loser, but when he regained consciousness, Von Brauer helped him up and seemed to bear no grudge other than insisting he apologize to Nicola for the insult he had offered her. Parker's apology was both rude and half-hearted, and Nicola attempted to take issue with this, but Von Brauer, it seems, had done enough of her bidding for the evening and refused to pursue the matter further. I would be most curious to know what there is between the two of them. I have heard that the blood of the Kindred does not run hot in such matters as does human blood, but their behavior, as well as Christine's provocative dress, suggest otherwise. But I digress from the subject at hand. The group was approached by Roberto Giovanni, who spoke for the Giovanni at the first court, who wanted to meet with them at the office building where they had previously met with Lorenzo. Though Ethan tried to meet elsewhere, Roberto was quite insistent -- I imagine a matter of pride -- and finally the group agreed to meet him later in the evening. The group repaired to their usual haunt, the restaurant in the World Trade Center. I wonder why they choose to meet in such a public space. Perhaps they have some motive to wish to be overheard, or perhaps they are simply unaware of how easy it would be to spy on them. On the other hand, I am glad that they are so naïve; they could certainly make my efforts more difficult if they only knew how. Parker described the group's adventures the previous evening, and also explained the insult he had offered Nicola that led to the duel. Evidently Mobea had made him her accomplice in the taking of Staten Island, asking him to cart away the staked bodies of those she was evicting. I must say that I wonder why she chose to stake and remove the bodies rather than simply destroy them. She may have wished to avoid the blood hunt if possible, though that plan seems to have failed, or she may still have some shreds of conscience left in her withered heart. Parker had revealed himself to Nicola, and she blamed him for his behavior. If his actions of last night become widely known, however, he should be in a much better position socially as well. A shame Julia insisted they keep the matter quiet; I suppose the death of an Archon and the failure to capture Mobea would weaken Jan significantly. The talk eventually turned to other things. They discussed the strength of the blood, sharing their 'generation' (a quaint and largely obsolete term for the power of a vampire, but I suppose that Parker learned it from Mobea). Ethan was the only one of the group who was unsure of his power. Both Cliff and Parker are quite powerful, as might have been guessed from their sires; Ari and Nathaniel were quite a bit less so. They also began a discussion of the weaknesses of the various clans. They knew that the weakness of the Ventrue was to have a refined taste for blood; Ari suggested that Von Brauer's taste might be for Jewish blood, due to his German roots. I was sorry to hear the discussion sidetracked; I would have preferred to hear how the clan weaknesses are experienced 'from the inside', so to speak. Unfortunately, Ari wanted to discuss Angel and Von Brauer. Ari suggested that Von Brauer's supposed weakness might make his gift from Angel more of a threat than a present, as she had given him a document, signed by Von Brauer, allowing him to feed on one of his friends from his mortal days. The others all told Ari that they had gone into debt with Angel to various degrees, and that they felt relatively comfortable with her intentions toward them. Ari suggested that Angel might have good intentions, but that whoever she was working for might feel otherwise. While the group dismissed his suggestion, I thought that he might have an interesting point. After all, Angel did mention that she was the representative of a group of elders. Obviously she is no politician, but perhaps another in her group has some larger ambitions; it might benefit the subjects to know who truly pulls their strings. Sometimes it is so difficult to maintain one's objectivity! After the discussion wound to a close, the group repaired to the Giovanni's building. Roberto was quite apologetic to them, at least as much as an elder generally is to a neonate. It seems that Lorenzo exceeded his authority in his dealings with them; now that the Giovanni understood that the group had powerful patrons, they would of course be willing to make a better offer. The Giovanni agreed that Ethan, Parker and Nathaniel would stay out of their businesses and not interfere in their activities. However, they did have the right to feed on the streets of their territory, and they could also engage in neighborhood cleanup, as long as it did not directly hurt the Giovanni. Ari claimed to have no interest in the neighborhood and managed to escape without making any promises. Cliff remained behind and made a private deal of some sort, but I am not certain what. Spying on the Giovanni is exhausting at the best of times. After Cliff returned, the group again discussed matters. It seems that they need to find a way to undo the damage they may have caused the Giovanni by making them a target of the gangs in Southern Corona. They were unable to find a solution. Appended, January 15, 2001 After a few days of routine, the group realized they had not seen Nathaniel in some time. Upon going to his haven, they found him curled in a ball on the floor, with an extraordinarily impressive painting surrounding him -- quite literally every available surface was painted, except that of the dead body tied to a chair in the middle of the room. It seems that Nathaniel may have gone irretrievably mad. I wonder how much of this is tied to Angel's gift? Cliff, Ari and Parker took Nathaniel to Pitt's and tried to talk to him, but Nathaniel was mostly catatonic at first. Eventually they were able to engage him in a discussion of morality. The Malkavian seemed reluctant to believe that there might be any value to humans, once it became possible to eat them, and was struggling quite strenuously with his religious questions as well. Pitt attempted to help by sharing his own feelings about the Kindred -- it seems that although he did not wish for the Embrace, he is now considering sharing it with another -- but Nathaniel did not want to listen to any of the things the group had to say. A shame, as it was a most interesting discussion: I have sent Thomas a complete transcript, as I know he has some colleagues working on the epistemology of such matters. In the meantime -- and oddly enough, I was able to see quite clearly, perhaps because of Nathaniel's residual essence in that place? -- Ethan was supervising the handling of Nathaniel's work. He called Sophia, who seemed otherwise engaged, and then called Christine who was quite impressed. She arranged for a construction crew to arrive and thanked him on behalf of Angel, who seems to be taking the art into her custody. Perhaps she intended Nathaniel's degeneration so that she might accumulate art? Transcribed and maintained Elizabeth Kent