Post Game Coverage

[Saiketsu]

He watched Jake and felt his walls rise, and allowed him his temper without saying anything or trying to stop the reaction. Instead he looked at Jake blankly, disappointment and frustration coloring his thoughts silently. When Damien was offered release from Jake's services, he didn't move, but rather kept steady eyes on the young one.

"You held back your anger, your frustration, your comments until the very end," Damien pointed out quietly. "When things hadn't gone the way you anticipated, you retreated too openly into your safer spaces - your phone. Had that been the first time such a behavior was displayed, I'd bet that you'd still have a phone." He inhaled deeply, adjusted his position in the chair, and spoke on the exhale. "When you hold back your emotions, you must hold back all of them. I understand that it is frustrating for you to be in a room full of people who would rather see you fail, people who would stab you in the back given the opportunity. But it is those people that you do not show your back to.

"Zoheret will look for any excuse to blame you for any wrongs, you already know that - the entire city already knows that. Zeus has every right to hunt for excuses to blame you - and if he's smart, he'll be targeting you somehow during this election. They will hunt you down for every little mistake you make. Any petty behavior, any relapse into the Black Prince is going to give them what they want to see - that you are not fit to be there. They all expect petty things from you. They don't expect them from Zeus or Sabrina. Your enemies will look for any reason to use everything against you. Why would you willingly give them that opportunity?"

He paused, letting his observation sink in. It wasn't a comfortable thing to sit and tell Jake he hadn't succeeded, but their contract was about honesty, was it not? To knock Jake off his own ego if need be? "You must enter every meeting, every gathering, every public-facing situation with full control of yourself. Confidence and control. This entire election depends on it. Don't be your own enemy, Jake, when you have so many staring you in the face."

[Black Philip]

Jake was used to people walking out on him, and if it wasn't that, then he was leaving them. Now, he felt trapped in this office with Damien, but not in a way that was  entirely negative. He radiated discomfort, and slowly his anger dissipated and was replaced by a deep well of doubt and insecurity. This campaign had already taken a serious toll on his perception of his expertise, and he'd forgotten any traits he might have that made for a good leader. Jake wondered if he ended up here by luck and circumstance. Maybe violence and arrogance was all he had to offer. Nothing Damien said was wrong, but it was also deeply saddening.

Damien was point blank telling him that to be successful as a leader he had to stifle every emotion he had, and Jake had so many of them. He felt things strongly. It was his passion, his heart, and everything he liked about himself. Now he was being told that was all wrong and had to go. Jake didn't imagine a world where he'd succeed. Even if he could, did he really want to live like that? His enemies would likely destroy him. He'd go down as a cautionary tale. It didn't matter what he did now.

"Willingly? No. I'll just do whatever you tell me. No more phones. I'll figure out a way to stop all my emotions."

He said nothing more. He simply looked on to receive what else Damien had to say. He had a million thoughts, none of them helpful and none of them he felt comfortable sharing with someone he knew wouldn't understand.

[Saiketsu]

The idea of destroying Jake's walls with one mental hammer throw occurred to Damien fleetingly. It would be easy enough - mental domination being a specialized skill that Lucretia had gifted him early on in his immortal life. All he would have to do is tighten like a spring and launch himself at Jake until he was swimming in the thoughts of pettiness and doubt which were so evident in the tone he used on Damien. Instead, Damien added weight to his presence, pressing upon the other vampire his age like a heavy shroud of grief. His steel grey eyes hardened on Jake and the elder vampire did not move.

"I'm not asking you to obey me," Damien annunciated slowly, pressing every syllable into the flesh of his mouth and lips so that they would carry the proper amount of attention they deserved. Clearly, it needed to be done. "I'm telling you to think about what you are doing before you do it.

"Why should Charon respect you?" He asked sharply, though not with anger or judgement. "Because you belong to a clan that has very little presence here? Because you come from a clan of rulers? No. He should respect you because you were the Anarch Baron of New York, the former Oligarch of vampires who stayed to settle the city after the Oligarchy fell, the Central District Leader. You were a leader well before you even entered this city. You need to remember who you are, not who the fools of this city have made you out to be. They will shout insults from the gutters and put glass beneath your feet. When you complain, they will seize it as an opportunity. When you weep, they will feel their strength increase. When you fight, they will call you dangerous.

"But when you smile humbly, thank them, and then triumph, they will fear what you are capable of."

"I cannot stop you from being the Black Prince." He watched Jake carefully from his seat, having dropped all facade of appearing human. "I am asking you to trust my judgement. And use your head when you are surrounded by snakes."

[Black Philip]

Jake hated when ancients increased their aura's to that choking, heavy shroud. It was normally an intimidation tactic, but after informing Damien he'd do whatever he said, he was even more upset at the idea Damien felt he needed to break him down even further. Damien stated that he wasn't asking to be obeyed, but why then the presence? Why did he feel the need to tear Jake apart for one error out of an otherwise productive night. It was simply a fact that the election being in Central was a win for him, as was Saraekiel's plan failing. There was no middle ground, and so Jake didn't quite believe Damien. To be fair to Damien, Jake considered that maybe Damien didn't recognize the difference any longer between council, collaboration and fealty. Jake could understand needing to think more before he took action, but that was always something he struggled with. His whole life had been about survival, and one doesn't have time to think when they're trying not to die, or let people they care about die.

He also felt Damien's read of the Ventrue clan was not wrong by any means, but hardly applied to Jake. Jake wanted to be respected for all the reasons Damien said after, but he grieved that Damien didn't already know that about him, or recognize the double standard of someone like Charon. He almost felt judged for his clan, like he'd used it as a crutch, but he'd never demanded Damien love his lineage or bow to him based on his blood, and had never once used that logic with a district leader. He believed fate had made him Ventrue so he could rule, but that wasn't quite the same thing. Certain clans had better chances in the world in which Jake came from. He hated Damien didn't understand that being a Ventrue was as much a curse as it was a cause for entitled behavior.

His list of Jake's accomplishments told him that Damien didn't altogether loath him, but they all felt small and pointless currently. The one thing Damien said Jake wholeheartedly believed was this.

You need to remember who you are, not who the fools of this city have made you out to be. 

That was true, but Jake reasoned Damien wouldn't like he who he was, if he really knew. No, what Damien was really saying was be someone better than you are, even though he hadn't phrased it that way. The success or failure binary presented also didn't little to ease Jake's tempest of a mind. Jake often thought in absolutes, and Damien had given him several. Now, the idea of failure was all consuming. He could never do what Damien was suggesting. He would listen, and try, and for a while he might even succeed. However, he knew eventually he'd snap under the pressure and be authentic.

"I do trust your judgement and will do as you recommended," he said quietly. He had nothing more to add, because it was clear to him Damien didn't care to hear any more, lest Jake once again be accused of not listening just because he had a difference of opinion. 

But when you smile humbly, thank them, and then triumph, they will fear what you are capable of.

These words filtered through the depression, the downward mood swing and the anxiety about failure, and seemed to permeate into some deeper level of understanding. Perhaps he'd been thinking about this all wrong. Perhaps Jake needed to see this figure Damien wanted him to be as a character. The mistake he'd made was thinking people wanted authenticity from their leader, but it was clear now Jake would have to do as mortal politicians do, be fake and nothing else.

[Saiketsu]

The tension in the room was palpable and Damien considered repealing his words, backpedaling to get Jake into a more secure headspace. Perhaps he had been too critical? Perhaps he should have led with compliments of Jake's control? He considered as he watched Jake struggle with himself for a long moment, his grey eyes never leaving the District Leader.

"You're showing a change already by not snapping at me for my critique," he reminded Jake quietly with a subtle lift at the corner of his mouth, bringing that profound dimple to the surface on the right side of his face briefly before letting it disappear. With a conserved grace, Damien stood up and readjusted his clothing. "I can see that this conversation is drawing to an end." Damien doubted whether anymore of the meeting could be unpacked tonight and there was much that he had to think upon before he brought a course of action to Jake's attention. He moved closer to the younger vampire, retracting the heaviness of his age and replacing it was a gentle wave of understanding. It would feel like a morning mist, cool and calming and peaceful without the need for change. Soothing, almost. They were on the same side, after all and there were in fact victories to be had.

"This was about business, Jake. It's no more than that." He reminded himself as well, feeling mildly weary about the way they would leave things. Jake was an ally and there was potential for friendship there; the younger vampire needed to remember the difference between being focused on the outcome of the election and being a sympathetic ear. He put a hand on Jake's shoulder, bringing the other vampire square to him. "I advise you to take the rest of the night off. Be with your fledge, friends, whomever. Feed and relax. You've done well, despite Charon's fit. There is nothing more that can be done tonight."

[Black Philip]

Jake knew how much he needed Damien, and the softer approach did more to get through to him. It's not that he didn't hear the earlier parts of what Damien was saying, it was just that they were filtered through rage and defensiveness. Now, he softened, and nodded at Damien's request to end the meeting. The change in his aura was also welcome, like a breath of fresh air. He would have to tell Damien never to put his weight down again. Whatever it was meant to communicate, all it did was fill in pages of an existing, and hostile, narrative regarding ancients.

"Thank you for noticing I'm trying," he said softly. "I am not accustomed to doing things in your way. As you know, after a hundred any real change for our kind takes time."

He was promising to be better without saying so, and he reached out to take Damien's hand in parting. Jake had been about to agree to Damien's request he take the night off, but Lisa-Joe burst into the room.

"Emergency email from Tansy," she said, tossing Jake a fresh Blackberry. "Sabrina is engaging Tess. She requested back up."

Jake became very calm, and quickly gave instructions. "Rouse up a team, nobody under a hundred. Also, call Luke, and tell him to route his patrols there. Sabrina won't mind our people in her turf it's security based. Tell Amy to bring a car around. We leave in three minutes."

With his instructions given, Jake looked to Damien. "It seems time off will have to wait. I must go, but please give my warm feelings to Rachael and Pierre. We'll speak soon," he said, motioning to Damien they should exit the room together.

[Saiketsu]

Something clicked in his mind as he watched Jake move and organize. He was strongest in times of crisis, knowing instinctively what to do when a situation was escalating quickly - just as he had decided what to do with Lazarus when his push came. Damien had read enough, heard enough from others to roughly know what had happened the night of the trial after he himself had gone back home to Rachel.

Jake McCloud may have struggled with diplomacy and keeping his emotions in check when he had time to react upon them. But when it became less personal and faster paced, Jake was the commander he needed to be. It made Damien smirk as he left Lisa-Joe's office and stepped off to the side so that the others could do whatever it was they needed to.

He had recalled the discussion of Thesdea Thane from the District Leader meeting, recalling Jake's reactions and requests, Sabrina's serious accusations of the witch. Damien was unfamiliar with the witch but Jake's emotional reaction told him everything he needed to know. Yes, there was a lot about this meeting that needed digesting before he made a plan of attack.

"I will," he answered with a quick nod. "I'll see myself out, but Jake, be careful and think, yes?"

[Black Philip]

Jake nodded a quick goodbye to Damien, and promised he would think. He didn't want to add that thinking in a situation like this was obvious, and connected the statement more to his earlier behavior. He assumed this was Damien's real target anyway. Lisa-Joe, Manuel and a team of Anarchs loaded into a van and began driving towards the museum. They made good time taking the highway and arrived to see a slather of emergency vehicles. Jake bought himself a few minutes by having Lisa-Joe distract the mortals sent to clean up and investigate. Once he was inside, he made his way to the floor where the fight had taken place. The whole room smelled of ash and death, and not a witch was to be seen. He smelled blood, demon blood, and wondered if it had come from Sabrina. He looked around, but there were no more clues. They were gone.

"I hope you're okay Sabs," Jake whispered into the room. He sent her an email, explaining that he arrived too late to be helpful but that he would connect with her the following day. He didn't fear her death. She was Sabrina after all, and Jake had faith she'd found a way to win this witch fight. He hoped so anyway.