User blog:NyricTheDeceiver/Sins of the Dead (Mage: The Awakening)

“Now, Mordecai, how frequent are the voices and hallucinations as of late? With the new medicine I prescribed you, they should be dying down, so are they?” Alissa asked Mordecai.

“Well, about that….” Mordecai replied.

Alissa’s brow furrowed and her lips pursed. “Mordecai, don’t tell me you haven’t been taking the medicine?” she asked, her tone stern.

“Wait, wait! Hear me out here. That medicine causes drowsiness, which leads to sleep, which leads to me not having enough time to research. And besides, I’m fine. I haven’t seen any white rabbits or heard Alan and Dust for hours now.” Mordecai replied hesitantly.

Alissa leaned back in her leather chair, her beautiful green eyes focused intently on Mordecai. He stared back at her unsurely, his wild grey eyes on hers. An awkward silence fell over the room for what seemed like an eternity, though they both knew only mere minutes had past before they both spoke a word again.

“Mordecai, I know you Moros’ love to research and experiment, but at some point you have to know when to stop. You’re running your body ragged and it’s obviously taking a toll on you; just look at those bags under your eyes.” Mordecai stopped for a moment to rub under his eyes. To his dull horror, she was right. However, this didn’t mean he was going to stop staying up until midnight to research some elixir of immortality or how to create A.I. using Spirit and Forces Arcana. He was a scientist and scientists were willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of discovery. There were rotes to stave off bodily needs, right?

“Okay, maybe you have a point. But, for the record, I feel great.”

“Mordecai, I’m only looking out for your well-being, as your friend and your cabalmate. That’s why I prescribed you that medicine, to help you, so please try to take it and work less, alright?”

“Fine, but I promise nothing, Alissa,” Mordecai said with a coy smile.

Alissa smiled back. “Now, speaking of your work….” Alissa started, her voice trailing off.

Oh boy, Mordecai knew exactly what she meant by that. Last night, he may or may not have had an accidental run in with a couple vampires during one of his episodes, a meeting that ended with vampiric bloodshed. In his defense, Mordecai needed the vampire blood to test its effects on living tissue. Or perhaps she meant what he had did to those Sleepers during a separate incident of which he was also hallucinating at the time.

“The Guardians of the Veil and the Consilium -this took a lot of argumentation and convincing, Mordecai- are willing to overlook your recent...sprees if you do some work for the Guardians. Meaning, if you complete their tasks and do what they say, the Consilium won’t imprison you or worse.” Alissa said firmly.

“I don’t want to work with those regressive fascists! I’d rather be consumed by an acamoth or some other Abyssal creature than work with those authoritarian scum-sucking-”

“I know how much you hate the Guardians, hell, the entire cabal knows, but there’s no room for compromise here. It’s either this or, worst case scenario, execution. Take your pick.”

“Fine, what do I have to do?”

