Most of my new friends play assorted role playing games and since its required of me to do some background stuff for most of them, I’m making a thread to keep all that kind of crap. Also I still don't have my own computer back so I can’t save anything and can’t print it out, so I’m storing them here.

First up is my character for Vampire: the Masquerade

Nathan Barrister

1965


Nathan paced pensively back and forth across the stage as set peaces were being moved around or final touches painted. His copy of the script looking worn and tattered from rough handling was in his right hand and he spoke his lines out loud to no one in particular. It was the night before the opening show, Nathan knew his lines, he knew the rest of the cast knew their lines. Every move was rehearsed, every nuance crafted by the actors and director to bring the words on the page to life. This was more a ritual for Nathan, he was the only actor on stage, soon he would have to share it, but for now, it was his.

He felt a chill down the back of his neck, instinctively he turned and looked out at the empty theater seats. Walking down the center isle was a woman, tall and slender, dark hair and eyes. Her gown was rich and finely crafted to extenuate her feminine qualities.

“I’ve been watching you for a while.” The woman’s voice carried the distance from half way down the isle and up to the stage. She knew how to project her voice, an actress then?

“Then I hope you found the show worth your while.”

She smiled, “Indeed I did. But I’m sure you know, amole people like us, watching is never enough. We all need to play our parts.”

“Have we met before?” Nathan climbed down from the stage and down into the orchestra pit, then out to join the woman in the isle. “You look familiar.”

“I hear that often, but no. We haven't met, but I’ve been to all your plays, learned all that I can about you. You have a great deal of potential.”

“Is that so? You have me at a disadvantage, you know a great deal about me, and I know nothing about you.” Nathan gave a formal bow, “Perhaps we can endeavor to resolve this problem?”

The woman smiled and something wicked was in her eyes, “perhaps”


2005


“What am I going to do with you Nathan?”

Nathan swirled the red wine in his glass, “You could just kill me, God knows everyone else is trying.” Nathan and the woman he was speaking with sat across a table from each other in a back corner both of an up-scale London Tavern.

“The Masquerade is not some suggestion you can just use or discard whenever it suits your needs.” The woman’s eyes betrayed the anger she kept out of her voice. She had been a talented actress once, long ago. But that life was far behind her, and her eyes betrayed her age and emotions all too often now.

“I wasn’t the one who broke the masquerade, in fact, if I hadn’t blown off that fool’s head when he started to frenzy he would have turned the Royal Arts Society dinner into a bloodbath.”

The woman sighed, picking up a cup of tea and inhaled the aroma. Nathan had picked up a similar habit from her. The two of them spend far more time holding drinks than actually drinking them. “I know it wasn’t your fault, if that were the case, I would have killed you myself.” She set the cup down, “But that fool as you called him had ties to the prince. You have to leave London, England as well. Go to the United States.”

“I can handle myself here, I’ve already taken out three of the wretches sent after me.”

“And you think that’ll make things easer? The harder you make it for them to get you, the harder they’ll come after you, before too long you’ll be in over your head and I can’t step in to help you. Get out now, before they start looking too hard for you.”

Nathan wanted to protest, but words failed him under the steady gaze of his Sire. “Fine, I can be on a cruse liner before sunrise tomorrow.” Nathan got up to leave, he only had a few more hours until sunrise and there would still be much to do.

“If I knew you were going to be this much trouble when I Sired you...”

Nathan stopped and turned to look back at the woman, “Why did you?” it was something neither of them talked about in the forty years they had known each other. If Nathan was leaving this might be the last chance for him to find out.

The woman apparently realized this as well, “Because you’re like me, or how I used to be. And neither of us know how to let go of the trappings of our old lives.”