Temperance Thornton

Everything had been a rush. One minute she heard Kain barking across the hall from Zek’s room, the next Laurent was dead. The stillness, the sudden absence of a person screamed at her magic. Laurent was dead, and his soul would be free to run to the Shadowland or whereeverWorgens went after death.

She had held his angry violent soul, letting it beat violently against her giving her the challenge of her life to keep him inside his body. It was only ask Zek had resurected Laurent that Temperance felt the emotions crash around her. Flying thoughts that had zoomed past her crashed around in a brilliant wreckage that she was stuck watching. When the medics arrived she slipped out of the room, she needed time, she needed to be away so she could figure out what was happening.

Falling to the ground outside his room she covered her face in her hands. She could smell the vomit, the sweat, the sour smell of the alcohol. It’s putrid scent kept her grounded in the moment, in the painful realization that burned her heart.

‘You know, I shouldn’t be suprised he’s alive still. I think some say that dogs are hard to kill.’ Son’ispa’s voice slithered up from the back of Temperance’s mind. The once comforting voice had turned into something Temperance fought against. ‘Why are you crying? He’s alive.’

But she couldn’t stop cryig, even if he was alive, the pain in her chest reminded her about what she almost lost. Her voice was a whisper, as she didn’t want Laurent to overhear her. She didn’t know how good his hearing was. “I still lost him for that moment Son. I feel that pain.”

‘You haven’t even seen him for the last month, why do you care?’

She knew why. Temperance felt Kain sit beside her and she wrapped her arms around the large dog. The contact was what she needed and she looked at Kain with a greatful look. “You did such a good job, thank you for getting me.” She kissed the pup on top of it’s large head but her body still lowered and made her let out a long breath.

‘He’s going to be fine, probably up to his normal boring antics in a matter of days. Just, get your crying out and we can move on.’

But a small rush of annoyance she had to say it. “I watched someone I love die and I didn’t tell him.”

The silence was palpable in Temperance’s head.

‘Did you say that you love that man?’

The question was so simple, but it was villed with a poison that Temperance feared. Son had made Temperance promise to not fall in love with Laurent. But emotions were not things you could plan. 

“I am. I love him and I know he doesn’t love me. So shut up.” Temperance’s voice was harsher. “I don’t want you whispering in my ear about him being a mess, that he’s unworthy, just... stop it. He might be fine, but I know he doesn’t care about me like that. And that’s fine.”

She rest her head against the hall wall. “That’s... just fine.” She said the words and felt her heart turn in her chest. “He’s in love with a woman who didn’t love him. I at least get to be his friend still. It’s alright. I wanted him as a crush so he didn’t use me. Being in love with him is... more of the same, just I know I need to accept I’m going to be alone but be his friend.”

Son’Ispa coiled up in a frothy mess in the back of Termperance’s mind. ‘You lied to me.’

“You lied to me too. In Panadaria. This is me rebelling.”

‘I was trying to help you.’

“And I’m trying to grow up.”

Son’ispa was quiet for a moment, but the entity spoke. ‘What if he hurts you.’

“There are a million ways to be hurt. I’m going to get hurt. I’ve been hurt. You’ve hurt me. He won’t mean to hurt me. He’s not going to know he’s hurting me. Which is fine. He has enough on his plate.”

‘No truer words were spoken Ducky... You’re lucky Alexander likes him. Priest won him over with that level of devotion... If you get angry with him, can I then hurt him?’

“No. I won’t let you or Alexander hurt him. If you do that. I’ll hate you both, forever.” Temperance opened her eyes and looked at Kain. “You dad’s a good man, he’s just needing a lot of help.”

‘I’m never going to get you away from him... I might as well get used to the fact my daughter prefers to spend her time with priests than other void users and witches. I would wonder where I went wrong, But... I think this is just you, isn’t it? I somehow got a beautiful empathic daughter... who has the worst taste in men.’

Tempernace rolled her eyes. “You have bad taste in men. Laurent doesn’t mean to hurt me. Unlike the guys you try to hook me up with.”

‘I would have a snarky remark, but I can’t think of any right now. So. Enjoy your victory.’

Congratulations! You are a Toreador. Vampires often say that if the Ventrue are the mind of the Camarilla, the Toreador are its soul. And if you ever meet a Toreador, this paradigm makes sense - they are the epitome of beauty, lust and passion. Seductive, emotional and glamorous, the Toreador are mainly responsible for the stereotype of the vampire that seduces prey with their beauty and sensuality. And if you were chosen for this clan, you probably held that belief too.

Toreador are possibly the most ‘’human’’ out of all the vampire clans. Paradoxically, this is also their curse, as Toreadors will spend more time than any other vampires lamenting their lost humanity. As such, Toreadors channel their inner melancholy into admiring, and even creating works of art. As a Toreador, you play an essential role in maintaining the image of grace and civility of the Camarilla, the ruling body of vampire society.

Traditionally speaking, Toreador is the clan of artists, actors, musicians, writers and poets. In the modern times, the progressive wing of the clan has taken to embracing members of the newer arts, such as graphic designers, graffiti artists, CGI technicians, Wall Street brokers, and game developers. While members of the old guard see this as a dilution of their values, younger vampires view it as a necessary step to stay relevant in the modern times.

Nevertheless, Toreadors bickering over what can be considered true art is as eternal as their curse. And now you’re going to take part in that debate for God knows how many hundreds of years. Who knows, maybe you’re going to be the one that finally solves it.

Clan Traits:

Physical beauty

Closer to humans than any other vampires

Empathy

Accomplished artists, musicians, actors, writers, poets

Influential leaders of vampiric society

((OOC LOL, man temperance would get so annoyed with Toreadores. She cares about people, and she wants to be striking physically as a shield, but she doesn’t deal with ‘artists’ very well. She’s a lot more down to earth. But for VTM’s clans this is as close as she could get.))

Tagged by: @netherstrike​

Tagging: @laurent-price​, @emily-barker​

Oh boy. *Laughs*

So for those of you who don’t know me... I love clothing. I love fashion. Downside is NONE OF MY TOONS LIKE WEARING PRETTY SHIT. When I made Temperance I knew I wanted her to love looking beautiful. So I’m giving her my love of pretty things.

Generally Temperance likes dresses in what I call ‘peacock colors’. If you can find the color on a peacock, she’d wear it and wear it well. She likes to wear blacks when she doesn’t want to try hard at dressing up, but she loves expensive fabrics and is learning to love the way well made clothes fit on her.

And now. I am not sorry. Enjoy her current closet!

((LOTS of pictures below))

33. Do they own any objects of significant personal importance?

The main object that Temperance owns that she finds the most important are her bells, and her spellbook. The bells were given to her by her many great grandfather (He’s more distantly related but I’m not writing down that many greats), and the book came from his wife. They are relics of who her family once was. Temperance keeps the book locked away and the bells are always on her now as she’s learning to use her necromantic powers better.

What D&D alignment are they?

I personally hate D&D alignments. They put people in too big of boxes and I never can find an alignment to fit one of my characters. Minus Alle, she’s lawful neutral. Temperance likes to follow the rules of the governments she belongs too, accept when they would see her stripped of her family. I know she’s a good person but a lot of the stuff she does could be considered questionable. I might just call her straight Good, but even then it doesn’t fit her well. Ya, see? Eh, I’m just not a big fan of it so I’m probably not thinking about it the right way.

The chocolate cake was sitting there on the counter of Temperance’s kitchen. Normally the kitchen was her domain, but someone had snuck in and left a nice dark chocolate slice on one of the plates. Looking around the room once she looked between the cake and to the nothing around her.

Finally, her curiosity got the better of her. “Alexander! Are you home?” She called out into the nothing.

“Yes.” The voice was nowhere but everywhere at once. “I arrived home this morning and am taking a nap.”

Temperance scrunched her face up and nodded. “Is this cake yours?”

“No.” The voice said. “It is yours. Cook said you deserved cake after your last few weeks. So enjoy. Now let me rest.”

‘It doesn’t do well to disturb sleeping void creatures.’ Son’Ispa warned though her voice was weaker now. ‘For we like our sleep more than we like the subjugation of Azeroth.’

Nodding Temperance picked up the plate of cake and wouldn’t ask another question about it. 

Being inside the Church Temperance felt peace, this is what she missed at any other moment in the day. She desperately wanted the stillness of her own mind, not having Son’Ispa coiling around whispering and reminding her of how things could go horribly wrong.

Closing the door of the confessional booth she nervously clasped and unclasped her hands in thought. How long had it been? The Light was still something she wanted to avoid, but the person she would speak to was the whole source of what had happened. 

“B-Bless me, Father, I have sinned.” She winced knowing the next part was going to be telling. “It’s been three years since my last confession.”

The other side, behind the screen she couldn’t look through a softer lower voice spoke back. His accent reminded her of people from Westfall. “That’s a good little chunk of time, tell me about your sins.”

Where did she start?

“There’s.. a lot to this Father.” She closed her eyes to savor the silence before speaking. “I lied to someone I care about. One of my only friends. After I lied he grew distant and didn’t want to be around me. I... I think it’s my fault and I don’t know what to do. He’s been, everything this last month.”

Getting to the end of her statement, she didn’t feel better. Wasn’t confession supposed to help? Her heart was twisting in her chest and she wished she hadn’t come to the Church for guidance.

The voice on the other side of the screen remained calm and spoke slowly for her. “Now, Miss, I think your gonna have t’give me more information than that. What did you lie about?”

And there she knew everything had to come out.

“You’re not allowed to tell anyone, or do anything about what I say? Right?” She asked, having to be sure.

“That is right.” The priest said but now she could hear a light curiosity grow. “Why you askin’?”

“I have a void entity in my head. We share a body because of a botched ritual my family tried to do... The entity has cared for me like a mother after everyone else I knew died. I decided I wanted to go to Pandaria to learn some of the cooking styles that are there. But... she sensed the other void entities that were fighting and called them. Summoned them to get me. She, she sees me as her daughter and I was introduced to entity after entity with names that would drive people insane.”

Temperance then shivered. “They noticed I was immune to the madness. And they wanted to see how much they could test me.” She could feel it even at that moment. “They told me to go into the Vision of N’Zoth. With... nothing, just myself.”

“You sound quite sane.” The voice said.

“I am. As sane as you can be when you realize the one person who’s been there for you really has no idea on how you can be happy. She, she didn’t get it. That I didn’t belong in the void with her and her Master. I found one of the champions of Azeroth and I got us out of there. But... I still feel it. I feel the cold. I feel the pain.” Temperance hugged herself shivering again. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”

The silence from the other room was almost too heavy. Was the man signaling others to pull her out fo the booth? Were they going to rip Son from her, like any other priest might? 

“That’s an awful amount of shit to happen to you.” His voice didn’t carry the judgment she was waiting for. “You had to lie to your friend then?”

“He asked me if I was alright... and, I said I was fine.” She shook her head. “Then he got quiet, so, so quiet. He’s not the kind to go quite like that. He’s not serious and I love that about him. But he bottled up, he got this look, like someone insulted his dog. As soon as I was back in Stormwind he left, just... marched off without talking to me.”

Temperance’s voice cracked and she was shocked how much it hurt. It hurt to know someone she trusted had wanted nothing to do with her. Much of her thoughts spun around that moment and she had already cried once in fear she had hurt her friend.

“It’s my fault. I’m able to stand against the void but I let her trick me. I let her push me to go into the Visions. If I had more control he wouldn’t have come, I would have been the strong friend he didn’t have to worry about. Instead, I’m like every other girl he’s met.” Her throat was getting tighter and she covered her face as she started to cry.

“I’ve lost everyone in my life except for the entity in my head. If he goes... If he thinks I’m not worth dealing with. Who could put up with me?”

She broke into a sob, a wet unattractive sob that made her wish her face could split open so she could let all the pain and sadness out without the prolonged release of tears.

The sound of wood sliding on woodcut through her sobs and she looked to see the Priest. He was younger than she thought he was. He sounded so much older behind the screen Dark hair, bright eyes, with an expression of empathy that she didn’t get often.

“Missy, why did you lie to him?”

“If I told him what happened he would have taken Son from me, maybe even killed my other guardian because he’s also a void entity. I’ve never lived without Son before. I only get moments of rest when I’m in a church. But... I don’t know how I’ll survive without her. She’s protected me since I was an infant.”

The Priest nodded but he had no judgment on his face, it was such a relief to see someone who wasn’t angry outright about this. “Sounds like she might have once protected you, but she’s also a bad influence on you as well. Not saying because she’s of the void. Everything has its own path to the Light. Sometimes the best way to bring the Light the most grace is to stand in the shadows. But she made you do something against your will. She tricked you into doing something that is hurting you. You’re shivering. Your mind made it out safe, but the rest of you didn’t.”

He continued to speak, his voice soft but not bullshitting her. “It wasn’t right what she did. If she wanted to protect you she wouldn’t have sent you into a vision of an old god. You’re allowed to be in pain, to be angry with her. It wasn’t right.”

But Temperance hugged herself. “She’s not able to take over my body anymore, but I don’t know how to fix what happened with my friend. I’m scared he hates me now, that he could tell I was lying and is writing me off.”

She noticed the sympathy in the priest’s eyes. “There’s not much you can do for that right now. The lie was told unless you go to him to confess you’re not alright, there’s no real way of changing what happened. He might be angry that you didn’t tell him the truth. He might get rid of your.. guardian.”

“It’s my fault. I should have known Son was going to do something. Once she was quiet in Pandaria I should have known she was planning something. I should have left.” She said the words pulling out the pain she had been suffering for the last few days.

“No.” The Priest’s voice was firmer. “It an’t your fault. You’re keeping the peace between a creature of the void and your friend. If you want to not do that anymore, you need to understand your Guardian is going to be removed from you one day. You need to be ready for it.”

“I can’t get away from her.” She shook her head touching her head. “She’s always here.”

“She’s not there when you’re in the church.” He said and then offered a smile. “You want absolution? You’re going to come to the church whenever you have a day off. You come here. You ask for me. Father Shields. While you’re here you can be by yourself or near me and explore what it’s like to be alone. If you learn you can do it, when your friend gets angry and asks for your guardian to be removed, you’ll be able to do it without fear.”

Temperance didn’t think that being around the church might make some of her issues harder, instead, she saw what the Priest was offering. Quiet and time before one-day Son’Ispa would be gone from her for good. Alexander had already stated that he was looking for a replacement home for Son, as soon as he was able to find one he would lunch his plan and make sure his mate was somewhere that she could do less harm.

“I’ll do it.” She met the man’s hazel gaze, finding a moment of peace. “I’ll get comfortable with being alone, as soon as I know she can leave, I’ll tell him what happened. That way fewer people get hurt.”

Father Shields nodded with a half-smile. “That’s a right good idea.” He let out a breath and held a hand out to her.

“I have rough hands.” Temperance muttered.

“I don’t right care, I’m from Westfall. Woman with soft hands means she’s never lived.” He nodded to his outstretched hand and this time she took it. “By the Grace of the Light, I absolve you of your guilt and of your sin. You’re free. Go with peace and I’ll be seein’ you when you come here for your penance. Ya hear?”

Temperance felt a small rush of the light and it was so utterly foreign to her. The Light always chased Son away but it did no harm the rest of her. One day soon she would be free of the entity, and she just might be able to stand beside her friends with the Light. If she still had a friend at the end of all of this.

“Yes Father.” She said bowing her head. “Thank you, for not judging me.”

“You are actually torn up about this, it’s what you need at the moment.” He bowed his head and closed the screen between them. “Go with the Light and your Shadows.”

When Temperance has a comfortable bed to sleep on she tends to sleep on her side in a slightly curled position. It’s a self-comforting position she leaned when she was at the hospital, taking up as little space as she can and balancing on her side. To me it speaks to her internal insecurity that she’s always going to have, but in time she’ll learn to work with it and be a stronger person.

Getting too little sleep is cuter for Temperance. She has a hard time focusing and tends to be funny and loopy until she can get something to wake her up. She’ll stumble more, blink in confusion as people talk around her. She’s not angry when she doesn’t get sleep, but is does get very very confused about what’s going on. It doesn’t help that Son is normally wide awake and makes Temperance focus on her while not being fully awake to deal with the whispers of the void.

Temperance and I share the same birthday, September 12th. I partly did this because I have a million characters and none of them have yet shared my birthday. She’s not a spot on Virgo, I think once she gets into her own place and is able to figure stuff out on her own she’ll be more organized.

This also means her guardian Alexander has the same birthday as well since his body was born on the same day Temperance was born.