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Post by victor william ashford on Aug 6, 2012 19:45:01 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true;][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #1a1a1a; height:250px; width:416px; padding:10px;]Oh, superman, where are you now? When everything's gone wrong somehow?
A king often worked through both night and day. Being in power did request a terrible price for its upkeep. Victor had found the title to be gloriously expensive to maintain. At long last he had found himself forced to leave the company in the care of a child. This was a child at the humble age of three hundred and four, of course, but still no more than a child. Pius leeched profits out of his treasury, this much he knew. But replacing him at this point would prove even more costly as the company changing hands once more could hurt its reputation. Victor would not stand for it! One could only imagine the backlash. Humanity had devised idiotic concepts to derive money from and these were very volatile with regards to public opinion. A hundred million a year seemed like an exceptionally good price if he was allowed to garner four times that figure for himself.
Copper, steel and gold were not even a third of his product. Accounting for a good nine/tenth of his personal income was oil Really, in the end, Ashford Industries produced and or thieved it all. Humanity and even the vampires amongst them had grown dependent on the contraptions of the twentieth century in order to move from one place to another. These contraptions were in turn dependent on oil. So if one were to anger him, hmm? Victor would simply raise the prices of gasoline in one territory and lower them somewhere else in a manner so peevishly devilish that it would attract the attention of masters and royals alike. This he could do with near impunity as there were concepts such as peak oil and scarcity that allowed for such means to be implemented. He would simply have public relations draft a story on how they had depleted one oil well and how their prospectors were currently working on opening up another. Of course he could move pumping jacks by the hundreds in a single week if he really wanted to, but why bother? It sure as hell wasn't his problem if all the gas stations in New York were to run out of liquid gold.
Victor thoroughly enjoyed abusing what power he had. It was a pet peeve of his. Rivorn and Faelben had been the only exceptions, and Achaphen was one by default. He had come a long way from the cotton and tobacco of his early days, but of course, it was never enough. Markets were ever changing, ever adapting. The world had gone from sturdy coins of gold and silver to monopoly money one could print at will. Perpetual wars were waged at will over reasons significant as mosquitoes turned to elephants by lies and propaganda. It would never be enough! In this he was really just a rather willing participant. He had long since realized that he was only one man with a fairly annoying sense of reason. For every individual blessed with the brains to see there were thousands that droned along with the masses. If one could not defeat nor break the system, one better exploit it for one's own gain.
Seated behind his oaken desk with the skyline of Austin in the background he could help but realize, once more, what a bothersome asshole he could be if he really wanted to. Such things made him happy. The thought gave him strength. Surely he enjoyed being friendly but, at times, nothing would be more amusing to him than to raise some hell. A knock to the door caught his attention and for a second he waited, knowing it would annoy the man being the door to no end. "Come in!" the king finally responded with a smile, straightening his tie. words (627!) tags (Maddox!) muse (Quite good!) comments (I hope it works!) lyrics (Land of Confusion by Disturbed)
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Post by maddox lorcan ehren on Aug 31, 2012 10:58:03 GMT -5
[style=font-family: arial; font-size: 36px; text-shadow: 0px 2px 3px #666; color: #cccccc;]LAUGHING AT THE GRAVE - - - He swears he's gunna give up  The man behind the door did exactly as Victor Ashford would have thought. He grew annoyed with the pause, though this wasn't unusual for Maddox, for he grew annoyed with things fairly easy. He drew in a sharp breath, his eyes staring at the door in front of him, wanting nothing more than to burn it down all because no one was answering him within a split second. The beast of a vampire blinked a few times after Victor finally decided to answer and Maddox let out a sigh before turning the knob and letting himself into the office of yet another King. The King of Longhorns and fat people, Maddox would make himself laugh at the thought. Sure, it was smart for Victor to have made settlement here, where there was oil, there was money. Maddox just always liked to downsize what everyone else had, even those he considered partners. Out of all the regions in the United States, the only other vampire Maddox had trusted (for lack of a better word) was Victor. They were so similar that Maddox couldn't pass up the idea of the two of them talking and becoming 'friends'. It wasn't a poker night kind of friend, but the best Maddox could ever get.
He gave his friend a weak smile as he entered the room, running his hand through his blond hair before sighing. The faint click of the door sounded as it closed behind him, and as he stood while Victor sat at his desk, Maddox didn't know how he was going to say all of this. He had to ask from one King to another, if this was right. He wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy. His icy blue eyes locked onto Victor's face, the man didn't even say hello, something else was on his mind. Something big, and he just blurted it out, "I just closed the rivalry between Illyri and Rivorn. " It was true. Just two days ago he'd taken a blood oath with Liliana, the Queen of Illyri, ending the feud that had been set in stone between the two covens. His eyes averted Victor for a moment as he looked out the window, watching as a helicopter went by in the distance. "Was that a stupid or smart decision? I want your honest opinion." Maddox's tone was serious, but he knew the man would give him nothing but the truth... even if it did hurt.
Maddox had wandered into the building with jeans on, and a pale blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He hadn't been dressed for work, even since the treaty had been signed he was distracted from work. Wondering whether it was a smart idea or not. The members of his coven would certainly be furious with his choice. If they'd known what he did to the Queen of Illyri after the blood oath... well he wouldn't be surprised if they left him behind. The look of guilt was heavy set in those blue eyes, but he tried to hold him bearings and actually look like a Vampire King.....
### WORDS FOR TARA ANN CALDER
LYRICS ARE FROM THE END BY KINGS OF LEON |
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Post by victor william ashford on Sept 16, 2012 1:29:08 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true;][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #1a1a1a; height:250px; width:416px; padding:10px;]Oh, superman, where are you now? When everything's gone wrong somehow?
"Well, well. What brings you here, old friend?" Victor questioned with a smile, regarding Rivorn's king as he walked into his office. It wasn't often that they conversed in person. Monarchs were busy men and, of course, the fact that they each operated and controlled assets that dwarfed the property of human billionaires didn't help either, really. Yet money was power, and he would settle for the endless amounts of paperwork if it but allowed him to keep the advantages that kept his realm together. Storm clouds formed, yet he was confident that the redheaded hippy in charge of Colorado had insufficient power to even dent his regime, much less topple it. It was simple psychology. Man was greedy, mormons were greedier and Vampires were the greediest of them all. Thus each and every one of his fledglings knew that Iris was bad news for their assets and Human-Vampire relations.
Victor was startled by the man's words, taken aback, visibly upset. Taking hold of his glasses as he gently places them upon the oaken top of his desk. Next he turned toward the figures that were his family's bodyguard, facing the scribe that had moments before been a jovial drinking partner and eyes drilling through the all too cute fledgling he had called in for eye candy. He merely spat, "Anyone who is not Maddox or that delightful bottle of scotch, vacate the room." The order was simple enough and they didn't even dare look back. Though Victor was mild mannered and soft spoken most of the time, when agitated, he could turn out to be exact opposite. "You did what!?" rising from his chair, he raised his voice in such a manner that he feared downtown Austin would hear it. "Have you any idea how foolish this makes me look? Makes us both look? In fact, do you have any idea of what you've done at all?" Victor's tone did not diminish and he was sure that many were listening to the ordeal.
Finally he sat down, and his tone turned to an almost cold whisper. If blood did still pump through his veins, his face sure would've turned purple. Returning his spectacles to the position they had occupied before, Victor regarded his friend with a stare cold as ice. "Are you, sir, fucking insane or did a cupid squirt fairy dust all over your facial features?" words (398!) tags (Maddox!) muse (Quite good!) comments (I hope it works!) lyrics (Land of Confusion by Disturbed)
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Post by maddox lorcan ehren on Sept 21, 2012 11:12:53 GMT -5
[style=font-family: arial; font-size: 36px; text-shadow: 0px 2px 3px #666; color: #cccccc;]LAUGHING AT THE GRAVE - - - He swears he's gunna give up Maddox watched with a dark look as everyone but himself filed out of the room. From then on he knew the verdict wasn't a good one. Victor might have been older than Maddox, thus making him stronger, but it was very rare that Maddox ever felt threatened by the fellow vampire. Then again, he didn't fear a lot of things, but as Victor rose from his chair and screamed, all Maddox could do was silently feud about Lily, it really wasn't that great of an idea.
He felt like a scolded child and he stood there with his blue eyes resting on Victor's face, he didn't falter he just stayed quiet. Once the man was finished, the blond vampire shifted and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I'll take that as it was a bad idea..." he muttered slightly, though loud enough for his friend to hear.
With a slight sigh, Maddox looked away from Victor, "I... I wasn't thinking...." He looked at his friend with a certain flare in his eyes. "I couldn't really think... at the time...." After his friend relaxed somewhat and sat in his chair, Maddox remained standing. "I don't think it was a cupid fairy...." He said with more of an edge to his voice. That was certainly not love making what they did... far from it.
The King of Rivorn started to pace back and forth. "I fucked her Victor." he spat out the words rather harshly, and the thought of that night made him shiver. He didn't know what to do and for once in his life he felt helpless. His friend had been doing this longer than him, he figured he could help him. Instead he just pissed him off. "I screwed up and need to know what to do next." He said, stopping to look out the window again....
### WORDS FOR TARA ANN CALDER
LYRICS ARE FROM THE END BY KINGS OF LEON |
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Post by victor william ashford on Sept 23, 2012 3:50:15 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true;][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #1a1a1a; height:250px; width:416px; padding:10px;]Oh, superman, where are you now? When everything's gone wrong somehow?
"If understating the matter were to be considered a crime in Lareth, I would have you meet the sun this instant." Victor retorted, having calmed down sufficiently. He had been in power for well over a century, an exceptional feat in itself. Yet one only remained in power by enforcing the law, the code, the commandments or whatever one sought to call it did not matter, the rules had to be enforced with the strictest, the harshest of penalties in appliance. He had sent fledglings flying out a window in broad daylight, their crimes were only minor. Vampirekind could not afford to be arrogant; his kind would not benefit from the trivialization of threats. "You weren't thinking?" said the king, his expectations confirmed by his friend's own words. "Such a habit is dangerous for any ruler to indulge in, my friend." Victor added with a tone less cold than it had been before.
Slumping back into the chair he had occupied only moments before, Victor eyes his companion. "We can't afford not to consider the consequences of our actions, for if we do so, they shall be grave indeed." he advised, his tone calm and polite as always. Taking hold of the pair of glasses in a gentle manner, he returned them to their rightful place. "You... fucked her?" he snapped, though it wasn't unexpected. Victor had long since asserted that Maddox was a true vampire who took great pride in his condition. For a moment he considered how different he was from his friend and, deriving pride from that, smiled.
How was she? he questioned both humorously as well as rhetorically. He wouldn't deny that the queen of Illyri was to be considered a man's ultimate conquest; however, the strategic disadvantages both of their realms would experience as a result of his friend's escapades would greatly limit their opportunities. "The enemy encroaches on our lands and businesses, Maddox, I cannot afford to deal with an ally who is in any way afflicted with the gravest of conditions - stupidity." he noted, referring to the danger that had supposedly left to slumber in Achaphen. "I've received word that the Russian has been quite the busy bee." A true Bolshevik, their enemy would do everything to end their companies and wealth. Very much like a beast, Aleksandra would soon emerge from her supposes torpor and their realms would know horror unlike anything they had ever had to weather before. words (406!) tags (Maddox!) muse (Quite good!) comments (I hope it works!) lyrics (Land of Confusion by Disturbed)
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