Disco Night (open)

Victor nodded "That makes sense. Hopefully it works out for you. Yano... if you decide to ahh keep him. Maybe I could help, so you avoid the messy artificial entanglements that come with that sort of thing"

She shook her head.

"I appreciate the thought, but no. No. If that's a road I choose to travel down, I can't risk you deciding to get pissy at me and trying to basically hold him hostage or get possessive all of a sudden."

Victor actually managed looked offended at that. "I keep my bargains. I always do, to the letter and the spirit."

She nodded, sipping her scotch and leaning close to him. It offered him a good view of her cleavage, but that wasn't the point of it. She sipped her scotch and spoke quietly to him.

"I know you do. I wouldn't mean to imply otherwise. But I don't share very well. I can't risk him growing to resent me because he loves you, as unnatural as that love may be."

"I understand that" he nodded "It was a thought. I'd have even brought him all the way over just to help you and piss off Windsor if it came down to it."

She blinked, tilting her head.

"He'd make a good Ventrue. But we're not at that point. For the love of God, we've been on one date."

Victor smiled, drained his glass and held it out for more. "God I'm getting buzzed. I better stop after this one. Anyway, long term thinking. You expressed your concern with just this situation holding you back before, I am now offering solutions should they be required, which means you can relax and simply focus on building a relationship, knowing that there are all the viable options you need to make it happen longer term."

She refilled his glass and smiled.

"Well, it's something to think about. But honestly, I don't even know if I'll hear from him again. Yes, I've heard from him and that he's busy -- but that doesn't mean that he won't just bail and I'll never see him again. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, it just wouldn't be the first time that sort of thing has happened to me."

"You have a serious issue with optimism. We need to sit down sometime and have a long conversation about the things that are holding you back."

She snorted.

"Got a year to listen to everything? Because it's going to take that long."

Victor sighed and upended his glass.

"Come see me tomorrow. And I will show you where my hope for the future and for a wonderful world of light and brightness comes from. Despite all that surrounds us."

Her brow rose.

"Okay...."

"How do you think I managed this life a cripple for so long? It wasn't because I was bitter, nasty and uncaring."

She laughed softly.

"Victor -- I may be a pessimist, but I'm not a generally cranky or unhappy person. I enjoy being me, I just have no faith in other people."

"See, I'll show you why I do have faith in other people. I had faith in you, and it paid off. "

She waved a hand.

"No, you had faith in my reputation. That's different."

"No, I had faith in the person who stole a mincemeat pie to get buzzed, and who is so awkward with herself that she doesn't even realize half the awkward innuendos she creates. Reputation is important, but reputation is born of the person who makes it. What is my reputation in your eyes?"

She thought about that for a few minutes.

"I think you're a nice guy. A little out of touch, but still nice. And I think you try very hard to be honorable, but I think sometimes you are a little misguided. That's not a bad thing, it makes you more human."

"So my reputation is defined by who I am as a person. And who I am as a person makes my reputation. Know one, you know the other. You know, I would not loan Chase Covington money, but I would want him beside me in a fight. Even though I truly believe he would not cheat me and would pay back exactly what he agreed, I would still not loan him money, because of who he is, but I would give your new friend a million dollars on a handshake. And that is because I already believe in and trust him."

She blinked and tilted her head.

"Why? What have I said that made you think that way?"

Victor pointed to his heart and smiled

"My incurable hope and optimism in humanity and a lifetime of fighting for it."

She chuckled.

"Chase is pretty human."

"Chase is a whoremonger who has unusual ideas I do not subscribe to"

She smiled at that.

"But that doesn't make him less human. It just makes him someone who enjoys the other sex -- maybe a little too much."

"He cheats on his partners and believes in an idealized, non functional agrarian society that exits only to support the very strong. "