No problem, glad you had fun, and I wish you well on all your classwork, and tests, and. . .All that good stuff!

If I may ask, how old are you? I'm 21, turning 22 next month, if it matters.

Also, Alexi must hate slave auctions too, still probably not as much as Joseph does though.

I am 27, this year. My B-day was in June :P Well, me an my twin sister's b-day :P

Yes, he hates them, but at the same time it provides him an opportunity to rescue slaves, so he's a bit on the fence about the whole thing. Slavery, bad, rescuing slaves from other slavers, good :P

Ahh, cool.

Fair point. Hopefully Joseph will remember the same thing.

Well, I think, now that he knows about Alexi's plan, it may be easier on him. . . .Maybe. . . .Who knows :P

True, but as I said, it's more than just seeing the other slaves. It's the way he's treated there, even though he has to act like he doesn't notice. That bothers him even though he thinks he deserves the treatment.

Still, knowing Alexi's plan should help. Just finding out for certain that Alexi hated slavery and wanted to end it has done wonders for our "perfect butler."

For now I'm assuming that Alexi hid that very well, even from Joseph, prior to the RP. Otherwise, some of the stuff I wrote in the beginning, when I was still figuring the story out, just doesn't make sense.

Alexi played his role very well, not cruel, but strict and aloof. He was a lot more curt with Joseph, since it's easy for the slave to read his "son" he had to be. But now that the plan is in motion, and nothing can knock it off course(Save that one little thing which Joseph doesn't get to know about, but even then, yeah. . Hard broken, he has no chance of really standing in the way) he's acting a lot more like himself around Joseph :P

Also, I wanna play out the scene at the auction. I have a slave in mind for purposes you will find out about later :P I'll intro him when we reach that point :P

Alright, if Alexi was very good at hiding his true opinions, then Joseph's fear and hesitation about revealing his own opinions is a lot more warranted. Otherwise, it was really just me still not fully understanding Alexi yet.

Not that it matters, but Joseph isn't technically hard broken anymore, and hasn't been for several generations. He's soft broken, because that's standard procedure, but he couldn't be hard broken to Alexi, and he wasn't even hard broken to Alexi's father. He's just so naturally obedient and docile at this point that there's no need. At least that's how I understood it.

I'm fine with that. I was wondering if you wanted to play it out, actually. It should be interesting.

*Nods* You're right, however I was referring to the fact that he still has that knee jerk response to obey, and it even hurts him to disobey. So I guess I was referring to a mix of his soft breaking and his long time wiring to listen to the master of the house, that and his trust in Alexi that keeps Joseph from being a factor for the plan in the particular instance I am thinking of.

I think it should be too :P *Plots* I think I do more plotting in this RP than with any other RP since you don't wanna know the whole plan :P

Right, that's what I thought, just making sure we were on the same page. :-) He is forced to obey direct orders by the soft-breaking, but it harms him emotionally too. He feels guilty for even considering helping Erik escape.

That does bring up a point though... Alexi is probably incapable of hard breaking anyone. Even the proper potion still requires him to have a desire to make the other creature submit. He doesn't have that, not really... so I don't think anyone could actually be hard broken to him... just a random thought.

Yeah, I completely believe you. I didn't quite realize when I made that decision just how much work it would leave you with. You're also always welcome to go ahead and tell me so that I could actually help you with the plot. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think you are partially liking playing the Puppetmaster to this whole story.

Anyway, seriously, I wouldn't mind helping. And I don't mind knowing the whole plan now, if you want to tell it to me. It's really up to you.

I promise I usually help a lot more with other plots and other partners. It's just with this one my hands are sort of tied, and on our other one, I'm still getting the hang of the world since we had to stop it for a while.

You are evil, you know that?

Just kidding :P I tease. I'm just now really on the fence about all this. Having gone so far without you guessing the particulars of the plan, but my also wanting to see what you make of it, but I know I could wait and see what you make of it once it reaches fruition, but I wanna tell you now, but at the same time I've come so faaaar. . . .See what I mean?

*Grins* *Rolls around* A part of me just doesn't want the plan over thought, leaving the bare bones in my mind and just using things as they come along to flesh it out, but I know you like fleshing then working, or at least that's how it seems, but I think maybe if I tell you the plan, then we could agree to only adding the flesh when it comes up, I can answer all your questions as far as the bare bones go. . . .It would ruin the surprise, but then again I am curious. . . .

There also is one other part, and this part sounds selfish, and I pray you no take offence to it. . .But if I do tell you the plan, or even if I don't and it just plays out, please. . . .Let the plan work? Don't try and find ways in which it wouldn't work and just go with the idea that it would work? Too much over thinking takes all the romance and heart out of the plan. . . . .*Sniffles* *Sad puppy begging eyes* Pweeese?

But, yeah, one last time, do you REALLY wanna know the plan?

I ... really cant promise I wont find plot holes. I read too much into things. I will try and point them out with a resolution when I see them, and I'll try not to go looking for them.

As far as telling me, this is my take on it. I'm partially enjoying not knowing. It's stopped being terribly annoying and has really becone rather amusing and fun. It's enjoyable to be carried along by the plot and to see how my small decisions affect how you flesh things out.

On the other hand, it leaves you doing the vast majority of the work, and thats not fair to you. At this point, my main motivation would be taking the stress off you, but if I find plot holes, that could also make things more stressful for you.

So when I sayI am ambivalent on it, I mean it.

You really are evil. . . . . . :P

They are not plot holes by the way. In my head, 90% of the plot happens after the plan, and that I have given barely a thought. When I say pointing things out, I mean. . .Alexi has said he has covered every base for freeing all the slaves, so when I say he has it all covered, even if I haven't thought of all the bases, trust that he does, and even if I don't mention a particular base in RP and you find one, just come up with your own idea of how the plan succeeded, rather than telling me "This is why the plan would fail here." Know what I mean? I know after the plan there are a few scenarios where stuff could fall through, but for the plan to work. . . .I just need you to trust that Alexi thought of everything, even if I didn't :P

As for this leaving a lot of wok for me, I know my mind works differently than most people I know, but honestly? It's no work at all. Well, not work in the sense that I feels stressed or even have to go out of my way most of the time. That one part with Erik's thoughts about them already no longer trusting him, well, part of the plan Alexi has is contingent on them still trusting him, so I added the little guy, and the camp chatter, and as far as what I've put into the plot, 99% of the rebellion still trusts him. That is the furthest I've ever had to "go out of my way" but really, I like adding new characters :P And that would be one of those things I'd put forward as a request for the plan working, and one of the reasons I'm contemplating telling you the plan. If I hadn't got that part up, then you very well could have made his fears true and THEN I would have "Work" to do to fix everything. So, yeah. . .That's an example. . . .

Also, I hope you like the thing at the auction. . . .*Grins*

Edit: Oh, and sorry about moving Joseph into the room without asking!

Alright, if you are okay with doing the majority of the plotting, then I'm okay with not knowing the answers. If that changes for whatever reason, you're welcome to tell me then. Right now, it almost works out, simply because my own frustration and eventual acceptance sort of is just playing into my characters. When it is revealed to them, I will know too.

I can do that, if I see a “hole” and a way to fix it, I'll find a way to let you know and/or give credit to fixing it to Alexi, alright?

If there's any problem I have with it at this point, it's simply that Erik is being manipulated to the point that his actions have zero effect on the plot. But in a sense, that's alright. He's a person who has spent years in control, and he's saved thousands of slaves in that time. So it's actually kind of fascinating that his real success is going to be in allowing himself to be a pawn.

Erik's thoughts were meant to just be that, his own personal fears. In his mind, no one can ever trust him again, but what's really happening is that he does not trust himself anymore. He thinks that he has failed so completely as a commander that he can't bring himself to trust his own judgment again. It was not meant to reflect the opinions of the actual rebels. I do think that they will need an explanation though, but I also assumed Alexi had thought of that. If you haven't, then we might need to approach that together at some point.

I'm not actively trying to make the plan fail. At the most, I was trying to throw in a little snag with Joseph attempting to help Erik escape. But that was also intended to be a character development point for Joseph, the fact that he felt strongly enough to disobey so completely. It was not ONLY to actually have some kind of contribution to the plot. :-P

I'm sure I will... I was out all afternoon, but I'm working on writing now.

Moving Joseph surprised me, but I didn't mind it. I have a response for him to say to Mois' question, so can I assume Alexi hesitated on answering? If not, it's actually a rather awkward point to end a post.

That works, thanks [=|:)

Hmmm. . . Interesting way to think about it. . . .In the story itself it may be that he is personally having no affect on the way things roll on, however in my own head, he is actually contributing to it quite a bit. . .As far as my own personal figurings and the never ending flow of ideas and thoughts and. . .Other things :P His thoughts and actions have had a silent impact at this point from your perspective :P

The explenation for the rebels. . . .Should be satisfactory, but when it come to it I'll tell you first and we can work out any plot issues you may have with it then to make it work the way Alexi planned it, but at that point, that's when the real story begins, so your input will become far more called upon by then. You may wanna start coming up with ideas about what happens when all the slave's are freed. I know I have some very VERY vague ideas(Don't wanna plan too far int he future) but I would love to have you drop in some ideas to work about when the time comes, or even store some here as to not forget them :P

Have fun scribbling :P Oh, and again, sorry, I really should have asked, and yeah, I know it was kinda an odd place, but just a note, Alexi is, if you don't mind the assumption, working on the stuff Joseph will need for the auction, and you are free to bring Uwin in should you see fit. I didn't wanna just force Joseph to stand there silent during the whole exchange between the brothers, so I picked a spot he may have something to say, and Alexi is confident that Joseph understands not to say too much in public either :P

Well, I'm glad to know that I'm having some effect. :-P But really, I don't mind. It's rather fun to be surprised, and if you're having fun, and I'm having fun, that's what really counts.

I have some ideas... mostly involving some degree of severe anarchy, but I'm not sure exactly how things will go down, and what steps Alexi has taken to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

I really didn't mind. Assuming that he followed Alexi's instructions is not exactly a leap for his character. ;-P

I'm not sure what I have in mind is good. It could be too obvious or too cryptic for Mois to get, but it sounds good in my head and I want to try it. If it turns out to be "wrong" in either direction then I'll edit and chalk it up to the fact that Joseph might be the perfect butler, but I'm not. :-P

~*~*~

I'm amused at Alexi's take on equivalent exchange by the way. Other than having a severe FMA flashback, I find it amusing that Alexi considers taking Joseph's suggestion to be doing the vampire a favor when it's really to help himself... He's doing something for himself at Joseph's suggestion, and in return Joseph is doing something for him. Obviously, it doesn't matter, just thought it was funny.

And on the list of funny typos "And Joseph, dead Joseph..." :-P

So, you should know that I'm currently in Vegas for a Star Trek convention, then two hacker conventions right after. So replies are currently going to be very slow. Like, last night I had time to do them, but I was so tired just from a half day at the con that I couldn't find the words or energy.

Enjoy! Have fun! I'm ALMOST a Trekie, but not quite :P My fav ST is Voyager :P You enjoy your cons, and don't worry about me :P It's kinda funny, but almost all my partners all have things going on now, like cons, vacas, or surgeries, it's kinda funny, but I still have plenty of RP action, so again, don't worry about me! You rock out, and have a blast!

I'm a major Trekkie, but not as big as some people. I don't know everything about every episode by title, and I've never read a Star Trek book.

That being said, Voyager used to be my favorite series, and Janeway is still my first or second favorite captain. Lately, I realized that DS9 had more consistently awesome writing, and the characters were often more fully developed. Also, I loved the story of a nation recovering from a major war, and the Nazi / PostWar Germany ideas.

So DS9 has replaced Voyager as my favorite series. I still love them both though, and of course TNG.

Anyway, I will get a reply out if I have time tomorrow / Monday, as I have a day with very little to do. No Con stuff, just catching up and preparing for the one on Tuesday. Rebel Vampire is currently second on the list.

Hello again. Just an update.

The Cons are over. It was fun and very tiring. I am flying back tomorrow morning (Aug 12) at 6 (fucking) AM. After that I have a lot of bureaucratic shit to do mostly involving getting myself enrolled at my new school, dealing with financial aid, buying a car (because it's impossible for me to get to class without one), and hopefully getting a work-study job lined up. On top of that I'm volunteering at DragonCon the last weekend of August and I have some trip planning to do, along with scheduling my shifts.

So, I'm not sure how much time I have to post overall. I might wind up trying to keep this 3-5 day pace with Rebel Vampire and ignore the other one entirely for a little longer.

Thanks for being so patient.