The Talk (ATTN Dwight)

((Compelling aspects: An offer I couldn't refuse – Dwight, and Hero Complex – Thomas))

Thomas walks up to Dwight’s farmhouse with a brisk, purposeful stride. It had been a short hike up from the nearest bus stop a couple miles down the road, where the sputtering engine of the bus had gratefully deposited the young wizard. Thomas’ long legs had brought him the rest of the way to the place where the suburbs gave way to open farmland and he turned off the road onto Dwight’s long dirt driveway. Now finally the large two story gabled structure of Dwight’s house is before him.

Thomas walks up onto the wraparound porch and knocks several times but to no avail. Then he hears the sound of an axe coming from somewhere around the house not far off. He soon finds the gigantic bear man chopping what will probably be the last batch of firewood he’ll be needing this season for the wood burning stove he uses to heat his house. As Thomas approaches and sees the towering figure bring down the axe into the middle of an enormous section of tree limb and split it as though it were a block of cheese he can’t help be feel nervous. He is not at all sure how this conversation is going to go.

He clears his throat loudly as he approaches so as not to surprise the bear man, although he figures as likely as not Dwight would have caught his scent as he approached. When he turns to face him Thomas walks up and holds out his hand, “Hey, man, we have to talk.

“I know you weren’t happy about the way I handled Kyra and that other vamp girl we found in the park the other day. I wanted to apologize again for bringing Kyra here without talking to you about it first. I hadn’t realized how much of a problem anything vampire-related was for you. I want you to know I have been watching Kyra closely and I believe she really wants to fight her infection and that she has the willpower to do it. As for the new girl, I will be meeting with her to discover whether or not she is a threat to those around her. I only wanted to talk things over with you first.”

Dwight slams his axe into the stump he's been using to chop firewood. "You didn't realize? You didn't REALIZE?!?!" His words become a barely intelligible shout of rage, and he breaths deeply, visibly attempting to regain control. He next words come out soft and cold, in a deep bass whisper. "They killed my mother Thomas, I see it in my mind every time I close my eyes. One of their kind holding her neck to it's lips. The look of utter disdain it's eyes when it tossed her aside like a ragdoll and turned towards me." His chest heaves with ragged breaths, his eyes squeezed shut, his face turned down towards the ground, and in a barely audible murmur "I couldn't save you mother, I wasn't there for you when you needed me." His head comes up and his eyes open to narrow slits as he looks at Thomas, "they're monsters Thomas, and so long as one blood sucking beast walks the land I will search them out destroy them. How is it that you can be friends with them?"

Thomas takes a step back as he watches the change in Dwight’s demeanor. In response to the bear-man’s raw anger and savage ferocity Thomas mentally begins preparing a quick block spell in case he needs to make a fast getaway.

“I’m sorry,” he says again, more timidly than before, “I just didn’t know. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. But you can’t blame yourself. I’m sure you did everything you could to save her.” Thomas hates the way those words sound as soon as he said them. He wishes he could say something helpful instead of a bunch of clichés people say in movies. Probably there was nothing he could say that could help Dwight through his issues anyway, he figures.

“Look,” he adds, “Those infected by vampires are victims too. I promise you I’ve no soft spot for vampires; there is a reason we Wizards are at war with them. But the ones we should be going after are those doing the infecting. And don’t do it for revenge, I don’t think anyone really gets satisfaction that way; it needs to be about helping people. Nothing can ever undo, or make up for what happened; but you’ve got nothing you need to make up for; it wasn’t your fault. Killing innocent people won’t help either, even if those people might also be monsters. Unless someone is a definite threat to those around them we can’t justify killing them outright.”

Dwight frowns, "infected? So far as I know Thomas, there is no cure. Putting an infected victim down would be a mercy killing. A truly good person would want to be stopped before they became a full fledged monster and started hurting people..." He trails off, looks into the distance, and then back at Thomas "If I ever become infected, promise you'll take care of it."

Also finished in the live game. Dwight has...issues with vampires and infected. And has agreed to not kill kyra or the other vampire if they are treated as if the doom of damacles is upon them - and Thomas agrees to help put them down if they kill anyone.