taxonomites | [Location: The Nest] (Locked to Eric and Jessica, and Dawn later)

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[Location: The Nest] (Locked to Eric and Jessica, and Dawn later)

When Godric walked through the front door, he looked like hell. What was left of his costume was ripped and dirty, his ridiculous Peter Pan hat was gone (thankfully), and there was blood and debris littering his clothes. The expression on his face was thin-lipped and tight, and he closed the door behind him with a bit more force than was necessary.

[ooc: This is backdated to Halloween night, after Godric's fight with The Hulk. This thread will hopefully eventually transition into Dawn's "kidnapping". :3]

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"Recycling," she said it without any real thought, annoyed at everything about this situation. Jessica hated being treated like she was dumb when all it was was her not knowing. What it came across as was sounding tired, putting the cup down on the table in front of her. "That we weren't allowed to hunt. That I had urges and I couldn't control them."

"Ooooh," she sat up a bit straighter, looking at Godric and not Eric. "He taught me how to glamour people. In Dallas."

Ignorant equals dumb, Jessica. Sorry. Only not.

"...Recycling," Eric repeated in disbelief. Considering that was the first thing that came to her mind? What. The. Hell.

The saddest thing was? After a second's thought, it was entirely, totally believable. Even if he'd never wanted the girl, Bill should have stepped up to the responsibility by now.

Godric felt as if the world had momentarily tilted on its axis before righting itself. Yes, Jessica's answer was really that absurd. He took a moment to remind himself that none of this was her fault and sat beside her on the couch. This was going to be a long conversation.

"What did he teach you about glamouring?" He asked with honest curiosity. He very tactfully did not mention the sippy cup.

"Well, Sookie almost got kidnapped by this Fellowship of the Sun guy, right?" She leaned in toward Godric, her excitement at sharing the story clear. She finally felt that she might have done something right here. "Bill glamoured him so he wouldn't run or scream or let anyone know. He let me take over." She left the Becky Eustace part out of it. "He said you went empty, let everything in your mind run out. Then you pull them into that emptiness. It worked. I kept him like that for almost an hour."

Eric nodded as he listened. Yes, Bill had bitched at him about something to that effect. The only sign he gave that he noticed the sippy cup was the slight arch of an eyebrow. Let it never be said Eric lacked self-control.

...He'd mock later.

"That's actually decent for a first try," he admitted, looking over at Godric.

"Very decent," Godric agreed. "You must be careful not to glamour the same person too often. By manipulating someone's mind, you take away a piece of it. Do it too often, and you'll destroy their mind entirely." And Godric didn't encourage such behavior these days.

Warning given, Godric took a moment to consider the next step. "As for the urges Bill spoke of, I'm sure you've felt them. Did he attempt to teach you how to control them?" Because if she couldn't, then Jessica would forever be a slave to her impulses, and vampires were all about impulses.

"Destory their minds? How do you know how much is too much?" She glanced up to Eric, clearly a bit worried by that. "I mean, you can't do it by making them, you know, do things and say things?" Could her one time have hurt that guy? Not that he was a particularly good man, so she wasn't that worried, but still. "This sorta thing needs a handbook."

"Just to resist them," she shrugged a shoulder, "to make sure I fed before I went out around people."

Bill hadn't really told her much, in the end.

"You remember Ginger from the club? That is a good example of too much." He shrugged, less than concerned with the entire concept of addle-brained humans. Because Eric was usually such a poster child for humane treatment. "As long as you don't do it too often, it's not that much of a problem."

He rolled his eyes at that. If Bill hadn't been such a failure and explained any of this in a timely fashion, the handbook wouldn't be required.

Godric just glanced at Eric and decided he probably didn't want to know.

"Yes, the best policy is to use it in moderation. If you can accomplish your goal without using it at all, do so. As for your urges, it's best not to act on impulse, and I'm glad you try your best not to." There you go Jessica, a little praise. "But at times you'll find that the feeling doesn't dissipate even if you ignore it. That's natural. If that happens, one of us will teach you how to work through it."

Generally, 'working through it' meant giving in in one fashion or another, but with a maker's -- or in this case, guardian's -- supervision. Otherwise, it could too easily get out of hand.

She nodded at Eric. Ginger had been a bit... Strange. Dumb, actually, needing to be told things in very short, simple terms. "Alright. Don't use it too much, and don't use it unless I have to."

Even if it had been sorta fun. That wasn't the point, she was quickly discovering.

"What kind of things? I mean, people just keep saying urges. To bite people?" She needed it explained, urges could cover so much. "Or is it something else?"

Eric did his best to look innocent at Godric's glance. After all, it was technically Long Shadow's fault Ginger was the way she was. ...Not that there had been much in the first place, but. Whatever, not Eric's fault and that was all that mattered.

He kept quiet about the rest though. If Godric wanted to teach Remedial Vampirism, then let him. Eric would just sit here looking fabulous.

Oh, Godric is sure Eric has his reasons, and his excuses. But Godric isn't about to berate Eric for something Godric taught him to do. Whoops.

Poor Jessica hadn't even been told the basics. The first lesson one should learn after being turned is what it means to be a vampire. If she'd been taught that lesson, Jessica wouldn't have had to ask.

"Vampires are creatures of indulgence. We want all the time. Blood, sex, even violence. All our most instinctual urges are magnified when we're turned, and they're most uncontrollable when we're young. You're constantly hungry for dozens of different types of stimulation, sometimes simultaneously. Sometimes it's difficult to tell what it is you want at all, you only know you want.

"With time, you'll settle into your new nature and it will all become much easier. Until then, indulging your urges is something you must take care with. Impulsiveness may make you do something you regret. You must remind yourself that you're not a slave to your desires, but also remember that your desires aren't shameful. You can indulge, and I would even encourage you to do so, but with due consideration."

She nodded slowly as Godric spoke, knowing that whatever it was he told her was likely to be important. In truth, she was a little in awe of the older vampire. He seemed so calm all the time, so different from Eric or Bill.

Of course his mention of sex made her think of Hoyt, and Jessica had to worry. "You mean, we might do things we wouldn't have? Before? Cause I think, maybe, some of the things I did I would have done anyway." She just wasn't quite sure. She'd never really had the opportunity. "And when you say give in some of the time, you mean to all my urges?"

Was he trying to tell her to go have sex? That- Well, it wasn't anything she'd expected to hear from any kind of father-figure, Vampire or not. It just wasn't. And Jessica wasn't sure she could do that. "I mean, cause there was a guy back home and I really liked him, and he liked me even though I was like this and he was my first, and I don't know if I can just..."

She'd said too much, clapping her hands over her mouth with preternatural speed. "Oh my god," it came out muffled, "pretend I never said that."

...Hey. Eric can be calm. He just chooses to also be a smug bastard. However, an un-calm smug bastard would have smacked Jessica by now. And he has not. ~~Yet.~~

He was almost feeling nostalgic hearing Godric go on. Ah, to be young and bloodthirsty. Shaking his head, he interrupted. "No. As Godric said, turning only magnifies the urges. It doesn't create them out of nothing."

He arched an eyebrow as she continued to babble on. He wasn't sure at what point Jessica came to believe he cared about the details of her sex life, but maybe if he just ignored the majority of what she was saying... "Better to indulge rather than let things build to the point of you doing something stupid," he replied with a shrug.

Godric will never be embarrassed about sex, whether it's the sex he's having or someone else's. This may be the vampire equivalent of 'the talk', but there is no awkwardness on Godric's part.

"You should give into your urges, within the bounds of reason. Obviously, I'm not encouraging you to slaughter half of Taxon should the bloodthirst move you, but sex is perfectly acceptable. Faithfulness to a single partner isn't a strong point for most vampires, but if you feel you want to be, and can manage to be, then that is your decision. Your life is your own, Jessica. We can guide you so you have the information you need to make informed decisions, but what you do with that information is up to you." She needed boundaries, yes, but not because Godric or Eric sought to control her. She also needed the freedom to discover her own limits and make her own mistakes.

She might not agree that having sex before marriage and with more than one person in her life meant she was going to go to hell. And even if she had, the whole being a vampire thing? It sorta trumped that. But Jessica did have a bit of a hard time with the idea of just sleeping around. "It isn't like he's even here, anyway," she said, shaking her head a bit sadly.

"I guess I should think about all that, then. Sex, and feeding, and stuff." It wasn't so simple, was it? Being a vampire meant freedom, but in a way it was just too much freedom for Jessica. Having Godric tell her things, and Eric too, without the bossiness and randomness of Bill, reassured some part inside of her. "Seemed like it was all so easy at first. I guess nothing is like it seems, huh?"

Silly puritanical American morals. Seriously, why so prudish.

"If you want to take some time and mull it over, go ahead." Apparently just being told that her life was up to her hadn't sunk in yet. At least she wasn't quite as unbearable as she had been during her time at Fangtasia, Eric could admit that much.

"It will become easier," Godric reassured. "And if you have questions, or feel you need advice, you need only ask."

Though, things had changed a lot since he'd turned Eric. Back then, the world was much less civilized, and vampires had yet to make much attempt to blend in. It wasn't until some three hundred years later when they'd started making a concerted effort to live among humans, and even then they'd had to keep moving, keep from revealing too much of themselves. Many of the lessons he'd taught Eric when he'd been new were no longer applicable. In a way, her adjustment would be easier, because it was so much closer to the same way of living she was already used to.

She picked her cup back up, if only because it was nice to have something to hold, and fidgeted with the straw. No, it hadn't sunk in that she had a life in front of her she was completely in control of. Not yet. "I think I should go to bed," she said lamely, her mind whirling with everything they talked about. "Thanks."

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[Location: The Nest] (Locked to Eric and Jessica, and Dawn later)

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