Mortal Combat (open)

"Or it is possible she will tell you the truth and you have been brainwashed not to accept it. By all accounts Joseph was not a good person, but rather a possessive, jealous and vindictive creature. It is only logical he would do all he could to turn you against her. I suspect too that he's used powers to go with those words. I'm a blueblood, I know how that works." The obvious scorn in those last few words suggested that behaving as Joseph did was so tasteless as to be beneath any civilized Kindred.

Victor sipped at his drink. "You can't be with her because of how your mind has been reworked, and I suspect her husband would have any number of concerns as well. You need to set your mind at ease lest you lose what little has been left to you. That means an intermediary."

"I was at the wedding." Victor said softly

"Angelo, you have the ability to look at me, to read me and see if what I say is true or not. Look at me and tell me if I'm not speaking truth. You are a victim. You've been tortured, manipulated and lied to by Joseph. Griselda is not a liar. Look at me now and tell me if I speak the truth."

Victor shook his head. "That's classic abuser talk there Angelo. In the real world it doesn't work that way. You don't inflict pain and suffering on a third party simply because of the actions of another. Her efforts to get away from him do not justify torturing you or causing you damage. Rather, he used the pain he was inflicting on you as a way to weaken your resolve and convince you of his words and way of thinking. You are a victim of abuse Angelo and Joseph was the abuser."

"That's the false memories again." Victor said with some sadness in his voice while sipping at his drink.

"First off, if he didn't want to hurt you, he had the option of not hurting you. He had the choice to not inflict pain and suffering on you and he had the choice not to treat Griselda like his property. He made the wrong decisions though, and has tried to teach that thinking to you."

"That's not true," she said softly, coming up to Victor and Angelo and refilling Victor's glass with the rum that he preferred. She was making bar rounds again.

"I told you on our first date, Angelo. I told you about Joseph and how he would be angry and hurt us both if he thought that our dinner was anything more than me thanking you for saving me from that mugger in the alley. It didn't even need to be true, I told you, that there was anything more than dinner. He would be angry anyway." She glanced at Angelo and then back at Victor. "You said you didn't care. And I was never angry with you."

She listened to Angelo and as she did, her hand came up to cover her mouth. The look of sadness in her eyes was almost heartbreaking.

"I never hit you, Angelo. I never called you weak or a coward. That didn't happen. I would never have done that. My God, what did he fill your head with?" The last was whispered, as if she just couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Victor narrowed his eyes at Angelo.

"I am my own man, capable of making my own informed decisions of my own free will and volition. And I can assure you that when I speak in agreement with Griselda it is based on a subjective analysis of the information given to me. We are not manipulated by mere warlocks."

Full Ventrue. He never went full Ventrue.

"Also, Miyu would like drag me away from here somewhere if she thought I was falling for lies from Griselda. She's more or less morally and contractually obligated to. Then she'd hurt Griselda. I've seen it happen. It's not pretty. She's not popular in some circles of your family you know. Anyway, we can sit here all night doing he said/she said/insane wizard guy said. What burden of proof do you need? What will help you Angelo?"

Reaching over, she put her hand on Victor's arm to get his attention.

"Victor, can I speak with you over here for a second, please?" she tilted her head to indicate that they should move away from Angelo for a moment.

"Sure" he said following her

She walked to the end of the bar and spoke to Victor quietly.

"Okay, I'm a bad person, I admit it. I knew he was following me, so I intentionally wore the hair combs because I knew it would trigger his memories. So, I suck. I'm thinking it's best to get him out of here, away from the general public, to let him process some of this. His Dominate is breaking, little by little and Angelo doesn't react well to being confused. He never has. I can't leave the bar, but could you maybe take him downstairs or even away from this bar entirely and let him start working it out in his head?"

Victor nodded. "Yeah I was trying to think of something to get him out of here. But first tell me how much of a physical threat he is? I can hold my own, hooray for my tough hide, but if he's able to be faster than normal, I haven't figured that little trick out yet myself. And just how much Harry Potter crap can he throw at me?"

She shook her head slowly.

"I honestly don't know. Joseph didn't even tell me that he was still alive until about eight years ago. I have no idea what Joseph taught him or how powerful he is. But I do know Angelo. He's not going to be blatant about it if he wants to attack you. He's patient enough to wait for a time when you're not expecting it and then he'll just be there."

Victor narrowed his eyes at that. "You get to explain it to Miyu. All of it. If he decides to put me on his insane angry list after tonight then she has to know. Alright, give me a couple bottles and do you have any food in this place for him? And any of the red stuff? Young and healthy? I haven't had dinner yet. "

She smiled at that.

"I'll talk to Miyu if it's necessary. Yes to food, yes to the red stuff. Have him open the box I gave him. It's not what he thinks it is."

"Ok. I'll take him downstairs then. If you can send the food and drink down when it's ready, I don't want him getting drunk without food in this frame of mind."

She nodded.

"Can do. Just...take it easy on him, okay? He shouldn't be overwhelmed and bombarded with this. He's spent a great many years with his belief system firmly in place. To shatter it all at once might break him. Let it break gradually and there might actually be something in there worth saving."

"Kinda what I had in mind. Hence having dinner, some drinks and being civilized instead of just sitting back watching him break."

She nodded.

"I'm probably not the best one to help with this. But if you need me, I'll be up here. Use your best judgment; if you think there's something I need to clarify, call me. If nothing else, I can do it over the phone, if seeing me might make it worse."

"Ok" he nodded while starting to head back to the bar "Now see if I was a jerk I'd charge you for this but I have this growing sense of human kindness and decency." He was being teasing to lighten the mood "It's strange. Miyu thinks it's sexy though so I'm good with that."

"Gah!" she said, covering her eyes. She had an active imagination. "I didn't need to know that! Damn you, Victor, I won't get that image out of my head for a week."

She smiled and moved to the computer, to start punching in the order for food and drink.

"Call me if you need anything." She was fretting. Honestly and sincerely fretting about Angelo's well-being. Victor could tell that she genuinely cared for the man with the ruined face.

Victor stifled his laughter and walked up to Angelo.

"Come on friend, I've ordered some food,let's go into another room in case you have a breakdown. This isn't a safe place for it." Look. More honest compassion. It was starting to be a trend.