005

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

{Today is a good day for Dietrich! He's not stuck doing paperwork or anything menial, oh no. Now he has a nice puppet to play with and spark any kind of conflict to create the new order that the Orden so wants. But Dietrich doesn't care about that. It's just fun. ♥

But anyways, he's indulging in one of his favorite hobbies. With delicate silk gloves on, Dietrich is carefully reading a book that is obviously very, very old. Turning the pages is a careful process, but he's reading the book with interest. The book, though, is Mein Kampf, which Dietrich was quite happy to get his hands on at all. Such antiquated books are a rarity.}

Comments

[shinypaws.livejournal.com]

[Just lurking here, don't mind the shiny wolf!]

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

{B| Does mind, but ignores}

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

[looking over his shoulder] You've an interest in early twentieth-century literature?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

In literature in general. This book was very difficult to get a hold of. I had to contact two underground crime rings with only rumors to actually get it. But it's a priceless artifact, excluding who wrote it.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

Ah, is it? I've an original copy in my library. The Doctor keeps it only because he cannot understand the man who wrote it and so believes he might someday understand the psychology. A pity that any book should be so rare, however.

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

He doesn't understand? Ah, the Doctor must be a very gentle person not to. It's very clear to me.

{Softly} But any books from before Armageddon are very rare. We have copies made afterwards, but originals are an amazing find. Obviously, to be on the black market. But this is still a late copy; it was printed in 2102. It's lucky to have the whole thing, though, and not the commentary alongside it.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

The Doctor has never been very strong in the field of human psychology.

[tilts her head, then disappears suddenly, reappearing with a book in hand, which she sets down beside him] It is not the original copy, but it is one I've replicated from it, if you care to compare yours?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Ah, he sounded like a complicated person anyways. He wasn't unlike my father, though, when I think about it. My father was obsessed with power to the point that his family didn't matter to him anymore. I feel bitter for vampires taking away my family and my home...but looking back, I can't grieve for him as much as anyone else.

{With a gentle laugh, taking the book to flip through it} Ah, Miss TARDIS, you'll spoil me with all of these books. You're too kind.

[shinypaws.livejournal.com]

[Lurk lurk lurk.]

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

So your family was killed by the vampires? Were they enemies, or killed for killing's sake?

[smiles] It is no matter. Knowledge is something to be shared, after all, and I have so much knowledge to give.

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Simply for killing's sake. I was the only survivor of my village.

It's still very kind of you. {Flipping through} Well, at least there seems like minimal differences. Most likely translation error.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

So, in a way, you are the last of your kind?

Do you need me to retranslate a passage, then?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Of my village, I guess you could say that. Somehow, I was spared. The sisters said it was because God was smiling upon me that day, but...to be honest, I'm not really one for religion. The sisters were very kind and I appreciate them taking care of me, but...I didn't always agree with the things they said. Ah, I guess you would understand that.

Oh, no, it's fine. The meaning is still the same. It's just the choice of words or grammar. When you translate it back into German, it's the same.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, that is something I am quite familiar with. I have been told a great many things I did not agree with during my lifetime. Still, I am curious as to why you were spared. It seems a mystery to be solved, does it not?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

I imagine that for you it would be especially true of things like religion. They aren't very logical, but we humans seem to like them. Ah, but that? Luck, mostly. They killed my father first, and just set the house on fire. Everyone else burned to death, but I managed to get out and hide in the woods until they left. I heard later it was because my father was a noble. Our town was killed by extremists that go by the same kinds of principles as this book.

Methuselah think that they're superior in every way.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

Religion is such a quaint and contradictory belief structure. I have never understood why you humans latch onto deities, especially considering most of them are simply alien races looking to usurp power within your sector of the galaxy. Still, it seems odd no one should have seen you escape, or that you would not have taken any with you. How did you survive the fire in the first place?

[sniffs] Vampires are hardly superior to anything.

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Ah, is that what it really is? It'd be interesting to tell the dogs at the Vatican that. {Simply} Because, even if they're stronger and faster, vampires are very stupid. Even a seven year old boy could outsmart them. I tried to help my family and servants out, but...Mother just wanted me to be safe. The stairs had burned out, and we were on the third floor, so...I jumped. Or, I guess, it's more like Mother threw me. The porch broke my fall, but I still broke and arm and got burned pretty badly from the rubble. {He rolls up the sleeve of his shirt to show a pale scar on his arm; in reality, it was from his early days at the Rozencruez Orden, but a scar is a scar for the purpose of the story} I still have a scar from the wood cutting into my skin, but other than that...I survived.

It hurt more than anything I can remember, but I was so afraid for my life that I just ran into the woods to hide in the river. Vampires have a better sense of smell, but it's like a fox's trick with a dog. In the water, the smell doesn't carry. I had to wait in the river until dawn, but...Well, despite all of that, I'm grateful that I lived at all.

{Simply} Well, I have to admit that they definitely win when it comes to the physical, but I've never met one that's actually smart. But with my line of work, it's always kind of funny to see them squirm when they receive orders from me. They hate it.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

More often than not, yes. And I suppose that is a satisfactory answer, though it still leaves me questioning why no others considered running for the river. Unless you were the only house close enough? Not knowing the layout of your village makes it difficult to assess. Still ... it seems you turned out none the worse for wear after your attack. Is that what turned you to this line of work? Or was it more the chance to see them squirm, as you put it?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Well, it was the noble's house, so it was distanced from everyone else's. As far as I know, no one survived, but who knows? Maybe someone was smart enough to. I had to go to the next village as soon as I could afterwards because of my arm.

{Laughs a little} No, not really. I grew up as a orphan of the church, and it was when an officer of the Orden was wandering by that I decided to go. The church held little for me, despite how much I liked it. It wasn't until I arrived that I found out that it was an organization of vampires. There's only two humans in it; myself and the officer that came through.

[brigadiertardis.livejournal.com]

It would be interesting to find out, at any rate.

So this organisation ... you and the other human are in charge of it? You control the vampires? Don't you fear they may revolt against you?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Ah, no. The person in charge of it is neither vampire nor human. He's a scary person, to say the least. {Laughs} Oh, no, not at all. I'm not towards the top without reason. I can't match their speed or strength without magic, but I have something that I can use to keep them in line.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[glances over] With the people here, it would be simple to get less fragile copies of the books.

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Ah, probably, but that wouldn't be very useful. If I can purchase it from people that whose business methods aren't so reliable, then it's a lot easier to do business with them in the future.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but why not purchase a copy that's easier to deal with, and keep the other as what I would assume to be a valuable antique? Did you lose printing press technology with the rest of things?

[durch-feuer.livejournal.com]

Ah, it's not that. We're still able to make books, and being a writer is one of the most profitable jobs there is. But most books from 900 years ago were lost in fire or rotted away with time. Authentic literature from pre-Armageddon is absolutely priceless, but it's guaranteed to not be changed.

From what I understand, the Vatican of old censored things the same way it does now.