Tag: Season 1

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Samael (2)
Loading
/

Samael (2) is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Soleil Golden.

Transcript:

George Gataker spent two days on the road from London to Norwich where he had been sent to work. Night passengers might find a carriage and driver comfortable enough to risk attacks, pot-holes, and wheel-damage under the moon-sky with miles between villages and farmers unlikely to help a stranger of even George’s standing. He was hardly a noble or a captain of industry; the son of a moderately successful storekeep and tanner in a wool suit too fine for him, sent to Norfolk county for purposes that seemed even unclear to him. William, his employer, wished for him to “maintain a presence in Norfolk, watch for newcomers, and especially those landing in seaside towns without announcement or papers.”

George clutched a bound ledger of the contacts he was to meet. They were scattered throughout the coast, far enough apart that it was impossible to see more than two a day. Exhausted, buttocks numb from the coach’s rocking, he was relieved to see the spire of Norwich Cathedral piercing up through the darkened city that was to become his home.

(“His.” They never liked “his.” There was something demoralizing about it, a host of duties for which they were not prepared nor interested in serving.)

The coach pulled to a stop by the short town estate coated in stones pressed into concrete. It wouldn’t keep warm, but nothing did, even in London; not that George needed heat anymore. Still, he looked forward to spreading the contents of his suitcase around rooms ten times the size of his former flat. He stepped from the carriage and was promptly handed his bag.

“I’ve got to get to my cousin’s for the night,” the driver said, and waited on the coins George had ready to press into his palm.

George almost broke off the heavy iron key in the ancient door’s lock. Inside, the place smelled foul, of mildew and mice, obviously kept in William’s family from long before the Restoration and only now opened in the past hundred years. George checked room after room, guest quarters, servant quarters, kitchen, for a space where there would be no guests but he, no servants but he, for a man who did not eat from kitchens. In the basement, a mouse-eaten straw bed lay in stupor, collapsing into dust when George sat on it. He groaned. For all of William’s pretty promises, George had been dumped to the coast of England where he would have to make the best of it. Certainly no one here would help. The nearest address in George’s ledger was a three hour carriage ride away. And George was hungry.

He bundled himself up to disguise his tall proportions and took to the streets. The cathedral was a short walk away; a stone wonder to the glory of man and god. But no, the town vicar would be easily missed and the driver would have announced George’s arrival to someone.

George wandered the streets, alone, a house cat taken far away and abandoned in the woods, unfamiliar with scent or space, unsure how he would make a new life here. George rested on a small wooden staircase, put his head in his hands, and if he could have, he would have wept.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Judith (1)
Loading
/

Judith (1) is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Dee Arbacauskas.

Transcript:

[Read as Judith] I have always been a terrible musician. I blame it on my terrible taste in music. My latest obsession is Taylor Swift, from albums sent to me on burned Compact Discs from Esther. I hate how music has disappeared from people’s homes. Records were fine, as were cassettes and Compact Discs but then music you owned yourself vanished. You needed a phone to beg a company somewhere to send you a cut-down version of a song and my ears are very sensitive. A whole society lost control of its music and I have to beg Esther for any pop artists with music made after 2008.

I used to be in more music scenes, always in the back row of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, or the Ramones, or the Cars (I hate the Cars) in some punk club. Music was accessible then. Today, I hang out in the rafters or VIP boxes of Sodo clubs to hear what the kids are into these days, and I can’t handle all 100 of the gecs, no matter how many mushrooms I hand out to the kids around me.

Then Esther tells me that Taylor Swift is coming to Seattle. In person. At one of the stadiums, the one to the south, whatever company has branded it now. I am not known for my squeals. If anything, I’m known for causing them, both pleasurable and otherwise, but Swift’s arrival is enough to have me emit my own. Of course, long gone were the days when I could pay anyone to stand in line for tickets, and they sell out online in seconds. And I quickly determine that none of the scalpers had tickets for the VIP box seats in which I need to hide. Esther informs me I need to suck it up and talk to someone who can help. The worst person who I never want to speak to without my full compliment of bruisers ready to throw down.

Lorea agrees to meet me and yes, she has VIP box seat tickets for Swift. We meet in a small bar by the waterfront, that we break into after hours. Lorea thinks she is being clever by arriving an hour early but I have already been there for two. I will not be stood up. Everything is a power play. Lorea pours herself a shot of something and offers to get me a drink, but no, I had two hours to myself and emptied the bar of my favorite cocktails. I’m good.

We get down to business. I can sneak into Lorea’s private box at the stadium, provided I stand for the entire concert. The terms are not negotiable. If I can grow mushrooms in my belly, I have the patience to stand that long.

I retorts that I will stand provided that Lorea lets Esther come in tow. And that Lorea provides refreshments. In return, I agree to look away exactly once the next time Lorea tries to smuggle in something for which Aaralyn would typically demand a tax. Usually drugs.

The night of the show, the Link is packed. The roads are packed. The parking garages are packed. People are renting out their apartments’ driveways as parking. The streets are packed with Swifties and T-shirt salespeople. The turnstiles are packed. I am very good at sneaking but the stadium has nowhere to hide. I cover myself in a hoodie and face mask, and grudgingly join the crowd, having no idea how to reach Lorea’s VIP box otherwise. I will suffer for Swift, and then, who knows who will suffer for me.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Aaralyn
Loading
/

Aaralyn is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Amber Ashe.

Transcript:

Aaralyn despises the world because the world smells of smoke. She despises polite society because society smells like men. She spends her days in her laboratory reading the chemistry periodicals, and the magical works of Agrippa, trying to synthesize the two among her beakers, flasks, and burners. She confirms every new development herself, unaffected by sulfurous plumes or mercurial spills, yet always feels years behind the scientific world. She wants to make a discovery someday that will get her name printed on the front of her favorite journals, or be referenced in the footnotes of students. While she understands the potential of her discoveries, releasing energy or clarifying water, she is not their driver, their trailblazer, and many a flask has suffered by her hand.

Aaralyn is called to attend a fundraising party by her clan. She pulls out the usual case of party tricks; demonstrating sublimation and glowing substrates. She is prepared to be bored to tears. The parties always smell like smoke. They are always dominated by men. This one will be no different.

Aaralyn dresses herself in her hoitiest, toitiest fashion and pretends to be interested in her introduction to Prussian royalty. She downs several cups from the drinks table and heads out to the balcony to watch the clouds roll by – cumulus tonight. She is not expecting a French heiress to come sit by her a full minute before speaking. “You hate it here,” the heiress says.

“Come with me,” Aaralyn says. She returns inside and evades conversations until she finds an unoccupied sitting room, filthy with tobacco. The heiress is still in tow.

“What are you looking for?” the heiress says.

“Like always,” Aaralyn says. “Money.”

“And what would you do with it, if you were to come into some?” the heiress says.

“I would buy sulfur, platinum, various salts, and I would figure out a way to burn this motherfucking society to the ground,” Aaralyn says. “If we’re being honest with each other.”

“Would that include me?” the heiress says.

“It depends,” Aaralyn says. “What are you looking for?”

“Nothing so grand,” the heiress says. “I simply want to live forever.”

“You’ll need money,” Aaralyn says.

“So do you,” the heiress says. “How much?”

It is not Aaralyn’s decision. It is not one she needs to make immediately. But this woman does not smell of smoke and does not smell of men, and Aaralyn could make this transaction easily. So very easily, like sublimation or producing glow in a glass.

“I want to be known forever,” Aaralyn says. “And for now, like you, I must continue existing without this. But come. Let’s talk.”

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Lorea
Loading
/

Lorea is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Katherine Cross.

Transcript:

When Lorea visits her collective, as they gather to discuss resource distribution, leftist gossip, and who petted the cutest cat that week, she is at a disadvantage. The structure is supposed to be flat, the hierarchy eliminated, which is difficult to do when you own your own warehouse and fleet of trucks. Lorea works with the ships coming in on Puget Sound, bearing their goods to the waterfront for the next stage of transport. She is skilled in international shipping, ensuring all the correct forms meet their requirements. She employs a lawyer whom she has never dated.

She regularly sends trucks across international borders to Canada and has rarely been caught bringing drugs into the country without smoothing the matter over first. Lorea knows how to get the best Japanese whiskey flowing in the apartment she keeps in a nice South Seattle gentrified neighborhood, although visitors rarely find her there, married to the job as she is. She has crash space in the top of her warehouse where she regularly disappears when the jobs are coming in hot and heavy.

It’s feast or famine in shipping but Lorea still finds time for darts and pool at the south end bars and the occasional one night stand through Lexx. It’s just that other members of her collective squat in decaying houses, or in tent cities under bridges. Some cluster-rent in old apartments built for migrant workers in the 70s. Some still pan-handle or busk, work graveyard gigs, or have online hustles that they are too busy to talk about.

And here’s Lorea, nails done perfectly, black leather vest with eyes that must have taken a half hour to get right, bringing up that maybe the collective should look into building five-over-ones near the Ike’s over by the Lake. Yes, the money is there but also Lorea handles that kind of cash for funsies on a weekend at the Sodo strip clubs. No one’s voice should mean any more than anyone else’s and yet this thirty-year-old looking woman who has probably killed a man in front of cops has opinions that pass through their minds with the weight of icebergs. When they tell her “no,” she nods and folds her hands and thinks whatever they decide is cute. She knows the point of this collective. She knows her power. And she is very careful not to whip it out and lay it on the table, bare for all to see and fear.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Amanda and Penelope
Loading
/

Amanda and Penelope is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Trunk Slamchest.

Transcript:

Amanda doesn’t have to breathe anymore. It took over a year for her to stop trying and even now her autonomic nervous system will just start inhaling on its own, without her noticing until Simon, her partner in crime, starts laughing. When this happens, she pulls out her vape pen and takes a drag. Might as well. She does feel the smoke even though it won’t wake or calm her as it once did. She goes through a lot of vape pens. They get crusty.

Her throat is dry most of the time, except after she’s had a cocktail or another drink and she loves having another drink. She used to drink regularly at Wildrose until she stopped getting older and just before they started noticing. But, damn, she wants Penelope to notice.

Penelope had always been a huge piece of shit to Amanda, talking down whatever cracked-ass leathers Amanda wore and stealing her dates. Penelope was an old school Seattle dyke, old enough to remember 1980s Q patrol in Capitol Hill, and any bitches starting something on her turf better pay her respect first. Amanda never did. She moved in from St. Paul and starting dating girls and taking bouncer gigs like she’d always been there. She couldn’t take Penelope’s whole “bow down before me and then we’ll talk” schtick.

The bartenders hated when the two were at Wildrose the same night, sending hate-drinks to each other, some watered down Natty Light to Amanda and some shit-ass sour to Penelope. The bartenders would have cut them off if they hadn’t tipped so well and kept their fights to the street. It got to the point, Amanda would just nod to Penelope and they’d drop whatever they were doing. It was on.

Amanda always had a temper. Her family could go fuck itself and thank the gods most of them were dead by this point. As the decades passed, Penelope stopped coming out so often. She mostly stays at home with her cats and her partner Lou-Anne. Amanda still catches glimpses of her in the front yard, staring down the college kids, the young queers, and the puppies like something somewhere broke. Amanda sees her at the Safeway sometimes, hunting for Gatorade bottles and supermarket cookies. Amanda stays back, wandering around a corner or putting a KN95 mask over her face, as if she could catch COVID anymore. As if she needs to ever exhale. (Curse her ancient reptile brain.)

One night, Amanda finds an old photo of herself and Penelope at an early 2000s Trans Day of Remembrance gathering. Under which was a discussion from Penelope taking credit for organizing the whole thing. Bitch didn’t organize shit. She’s taking over real history now.

Amanda rides the Link over to Cap Hill and wanders out in the dead of night, past midnight when the bars are starting to trickle their clients out. Up Republican Street and over 14th, Amanda finds Penelope’s house. A little gingerbread cottage surrounded by apartments. One of Penelope’s cats stares out the window. Amanda looks right back at the cat. Go get your mom. The cat jumps off the sill, fluffy white tail streaking the darkened glass. And Amanda waits, unsure she can even talk to cats now.

She hopes Penelope will come to the window. She wants so badly for Penelope to see her, not having aged a day since the early 2000s. She wants Penelope to stare and let the horrible truth set in. That perhaps Penelope shouldn’t be trying to rewrite history when history itself can come knocking and exhale a breath of smoke.

Of course, after that, Amanda would just leave, with Penelope wondering if she had seen a ghost, or a dream, or a warning, or a cancer, or the end of the fucking world. That would be great. That would be the best fucking night for Amanda. She takes out her vape, sucks a deep, unnecessary breath in, and waits.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Cassandra
Loading
/

Cassandra is written by Alicia E. Goranson and read by Rachel K. Zall.

Transcript:

Cassandra sometimes thinks about her childhood if she had known she was a girl earlier than age nineteen, despite being openly queer, bisexual, actively crossdressing, and with her own pair of falsies she’d picked up at a convention. She remembers her father rising her from sleep at five in the morning, hurrying out to the truck, and driving to the lake to get poles in the water before sunrise. She sat on the blue foam seat beside her dad’s in the rented motorboat, and felt the bow rise as the boat cut through the water’s surface, saturating the air. Soon, her father would stop and set down the anchor, choose a lure, and toss it through the water’s surface. He showed her how to throw a line, pull it taut, left, then right, and then to reel it in slowly, waiting for a hit, and then to jerk it quick. She hadn’t really wanted to even be there. She preferred fishing from the docks, where the boat didn’t continually face the wind, where she could set up music and dangle her toes in the water. Out here on the lake, she couldn’t tell what her father was trying to teach her. It was as if she had pulled him from his bed early and made him wait in a line with her at a convention center, puling him into multiple panels, the dealer’s room, and the art exhibits without ever telling him about the experience he should expect at a con. And what he would find interesting about it.

Cassandra remembered when her birthday parties grew smaller as she grew older. It eventually occurred to her that her parties weren’t going to get any larger as her friend group shrank and the kids formed cliques and Cassandra became one of the weird kids whose parties were only for her two friends, one of whom typically couldn’t make it, always being busy that day. Her mother commissioned cakes for her, and as the cakes got fancier, fewer people were there to appreciate them.

Cassandra distinctly recalled a seventh grade birthday when her friends stopped bringing presents and only brought themselves, which was enough, she had supposed. But the fact was she loved what birthdays had been and was disappointed at what they were becoming until her first year of living alone at community college, when she stopped having birthdays. Her own became a bit of trivia – yes, truly, today was her birthday. Would you look at that. It’s been a whole ass year. Whatever has become of the time.

It wasn’t unheard of to raise trans kids in the 90s and 2000s. But, Cassandra thinks, it would have been hard mode for her parents. If they had decided to honor her gender at all. If her father had understood that his fishing lessons were not going to reach her and her mother would have wondered how such a child could have been so happy while strange. They would have read no books about trans parentage or visited any online site about it. Cassandra had been the first to try and educate them. And then to flee when the education did not take. When the shouting replaced it. And the continuous questions about why everything had to be so difficult with her. She was such a lovely child who seemed so happy and yet so bored. She will not tell them of her first sexual experience, far too young, with another boy, also far too young, where she got to be the girl, for the first time, and loved it. Loved it so very much. And never got to be that way again for years, after many experiences and online forums and other rough times and ground her into someone without many friends, in a queer circle where she just wasn’t queer enough, but at least not in the middle of a lake with her father, learning to be someone she was not.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology. An series of vignettes from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Anthology - Season 1 - Samael (1)
Loading
/

Samael (1) is written by Alicia E. Goranson, and read by Soleil Golden.

Transcript:

Jess didn’t know what to make of the elderly gentleman who entered her gas station at three in the morning. He was balding but his haircut was immaculate, as was his black suit and white shirt, fine enough not to need a tie. He seemed eager to show off his money to someone, not her. She only worked here and “working” (in quotes) only took half her time.

“Excuse me,” the elderly gentleman said as he entered. “One hundred dollars for pump four, please.”

He set down a hundred dollar bill in front of her. She simply shook her head.

“We don’t accept anything over a twenty,” she said. “Store policy.”

“Oh,” the gentleman said. He was about to depart when he noticed the paperback she had been reading. “I say, is that Hawthorne?”

“’The Scarlet Letter,’” Jess said. “It’s pretty good.”

“It’s fascinating how surreal it is,” the gentleman said. “Of course, Hawthorne would have no idea what ‘surreal’ meant. But I’d like to think he had an inkling of magical realism before the movement took off.”

“I don’t know,” Jess said. “It’s kinda slow.”

“Compared with books today, yes,” the gentleman said. “But it’s what I like. Careful. Deliberate. Well revised. What do you like about it?”

“I like Hester,” Jess said. “I can relate. She gets screwed over so bad but at least she’s got space for herself and her daughter.”

“Do you need space?” the gentleman said. “Is this station as overwhelming and constrictive for you as it is for me?”

“It’s fine,” Jess said. “I guess. Are you from management or something?”

“I assure you, I am not,” the gentleman said. “Not from your company at least. I am familiar with working at a shop though. My father ran a shop like this in many ways. Cramped. With baubles and cheap foods for the workers. I spent many on hour behind the counter. Like you. And I remember the feast or famine of my time. Either no one in line or the line out the door, working as fast as possible. At least that ghastly machine makes most of the decisions for you, regarding price. I would mischarge for people’s orders all the time. It wasn’t pleasant, but I did have the luxury of undercharging friends, who I knew would undercharge me and my family at their own businesses.”

“What store did you work for?” Jess said.

“You wouldn’t have heard of it,” the gentleman said. “Anyhow. I must have my gasoline. Here are five twenties. I hope they can cover the minimum price for the pump’s use?”

Jess accepted the twenties and activated the pump. The gentleman bowed to her and walked out. Jess watched his driver fill the car with seventy dollars worth of gas. And then, to her surprise, the car drove off without its change.

Jess rang up the transaction, checking the bills that had been left behind. To her horror, she noticed they had become hundreds. Perhaps they always were. Perhaps the gentleman had had nothing smaller, and so had given her five hundreds and somehow…

Somehow…

Jess didn’t know what to think of the elderly gentleman then.

-END-

Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

Fuck, there was so much pressure on me when I wrote this one. We had been recording since I finished Episode 5, I believe? I continued to write as we recorded – I remember Rachel and Dee were recording Episode 6 when literally Tony’s edits came in for the scene they were doing. I had to mark up their scripts with the edits because we didn’t have time to reprint them.

Anyhow, when I got to Episode 8, I had to bring all this show together. I had to deliver a satisfying ending. The outline had the ending I had been building up to, and mostly the one I used. The outline had some odd bits like Judith being there, and required a lot of logistics to make the final script flow well. The planning/script outline stage took some time, and I still don’t know whether the result nailed it like I’d hoped it would. I guess that’s on you to decide – Season 1 is done and out of my hands now, off in the court of public opinion and people seem to be liking it.

For all this show’s pretense of grand Seattle vampire drama, it’s ultimately a very intimate show, and the ending was always going to reflect that. This is the end of Cassandra’s journey, and also a new optimistic beginning. Everything has been building to her reunion with Samael. But her nativity is not the end – she must escape the base and face off against Leviathan, and only after these labors is she free. Her freedom must be earned. That is my contract with the listener.

We start with the bad news – for those who thought Cassandra would wake up Embraced, that was never going to happen. Even in the original outline where Cassandra went back to her original apartment (which she had been still paying rent on? Why? Past me, what were you thinking?), she was still going to be “saved” by Lorea and Siobhan. The Embrace was going to be botched as Zachery was high and with untreated bipolar or something. Cassandra was out for most of it. Anyhow, she’s dying, and like a 1980’s action hero, she has nothing to lose.

Poor Stephanie has to deal with a very pained and frustrated Cassandra who just wants her money to go to a good place. She really needs a day to think about whether to accept the cash, but Cassandra doesn’t have a day to give her so… things were said and money was taken. Becky did a fantastic job with Rachel. And we finally get the callback line:

STEPHANIE: (BEAT) I don’t have to sign it in blood, do I?
BLOOD DOLL: No. (BEAT) The lawyers hate that.

… with absolute seriousness and sadness. I did appreciate that I was able to take an ancient vampire joke and give it a tragic take.

Cassandra next plans with Lorea to infiltrate Kitsap for one last shot at finding Samael. She doesn’t expect it to work. But the hope is all she has left to go on. Lorea gives her a pair of GPS earrings which are still a little too James Bond for this episode but I wasn’t going to get Lorea to reveal her switch of invader later in the episode without them. Also I needed a way for Esther to find Cassandra, etc. etc.

Next, poor Amanda. Partially bullied, partially convinced to do Cassandra a favor. At least she was well-paid for her betrayal of the Camarilla. I’m still unhappy with my performance as Amanda but I have another season upcoming to figure out how I’m going to play her so… yeah… I have no idea how I’m going to distinguish her voice from my own a little more. Anyhow…

I love Rachel’s farewell letter to Elijio. It’s one of those 19th century Victorian tragic letters that fits in tone with the show. I can imagine Elijio tearing up on reading this (vampires cry blood, you know) and then thinking, wait, I’m in Seattle. I can see her again.

Once again, Cassandra returns to Kitsap with another offering in tow. This time it is Zachery’s body. Good luck figuring out anything about it, Navy, it’s a corpse.

On Cassandra’s second visit to the underworld, I imagined her absolutely sick of every Kindred’s shit. She’s furious at Thin Bloods for killing her and furious at the Sabbat for destroying her club. This is her opportunity to lash out. Cynthia and Laughing Sabbat don’t deserve this treatment. I was worried that I’d lose the audience here in which Cassandra is clearly the villain. I didn’t want the audience to be exactly on her side here. I wanted the audience to face that everyone in this scene is in a bad place and this is what happens when you have a lot of hurt people in a room together, with a complex power exchange. Cassandra’s lashing out doesn’t rescind any of her pain with Cynthia, but she does feel good about getting one over on the Sabbat. And Cynthia and the Sabbat are satisfied knowing that she will die soon. And that’s that.

Kitsap base doesn’t have that many Kindred imprisoned, or many Army Kindred left – that’ll be explained more in Season 2. Anyway, Cassandra’s final gambit pays off. The Naval Liaison takes her to Samael.

I thought a lot about this scene months before I started to write it. Actually putting it to paper was anticlimactic. I had put all this thought into it, revising the scene from a well-lit metal and glass hemisphere laboratory prison to a dark concrete cell, and when it came time to write it, I just wrote it. And cried while writing it, of course. And then looking back at what I’d written and it seemed too short. That’s not true, it was the perfect length for that scene. And yet after all the build-up that had happened, the scene itself didn’t seem long enough to pay off what had been built. But of course, it was. The scene is beautiful. In hindsight.

We start with Samael exorcising their own demons, reciting Psalm 91 over and over as they have for years, as a mantra to keep their sanity and to gain what power they can in their cell. (Soleil jokingly told me that was the only time they’d be caught reciting the Bible.) Soleil fucking nailed their line, “I will not harm that one” when Cassandra is having trouble getting inside. I love adding the lion growls to their performance in post for that extra edge.

Back in Episode 1, I had used a heavy reverb for the scenes in Lorea’s warehouse. Rachel told me that the reverb was excessive, so I backed off of it and used a lighter reverb in those scenes. I went back to that heavy reverb for Samael here. And I sent Rachel a sample and asked if it was okay if I used the heavy reverb again. She said that it was appropriate for a cell, and so yay. It works here. Always ask your crew for a second opinion of your editing work!

Finally, Samael reveals their human birth name, George Gataker, which I had intended to reveal earlier in the Blood Doll Anthology (being released next week). I just didn’t have the time and bandwidth to release the Anthology earlier, so this is when the audience learns it, for all the good that learning someone’s deadname does.

A close friend of mine has been telling me every time she feels that I’m stretching her credulity in the show, and I’m sure when I speak with her again, she’ll tell me the same about the Liaison going away and leaving Cassandra alone in a cell with Samael. Well, as reality has taught us, sometimes people in power do dumb things when they want to get an edge, and this is one of them. I just hope it wasn’t too unbelievable for her to leave. It was important that Cassandra and Samael get to see each other one last time.

You notice I cut the reverb down once they are together to show the intimacy of the moment. As always, Rachel and Soleil recorded the scene twice. At the time, we had thought that the first take would be the one I would use, but when I was editing, no, I used parts of both takes to make this scene as devastating as it turned out to be. I’m especially proud of Samael’s moment when they chide Cassandra for her “Considering my alternatives” line. They reveal how proud they are to be Kindred. This is almost the climax of the show. Be fucking proud of who you are. And Cassandra must be very proud of herself before she can be saved, if becoming cursed as a Kindred counts as this. She must also leave behind her role as Blood Doll. She will not be able to enjoy The Kiss again. Kindred don’t change, but she will have to.

It was one of the earliest concepts I had for this show, Samael biting off their tongue to feed their blood to Cassandra, and then Cassandra finding the tongue on her foot. The idea came from the film Quills, starring Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade and Kate Winslet as a woman encouraging him to write. Near the end, de Sade’s tongue is cut off to prevent him from inciting the other prisoners in his jail to riot. It was also a horribly romantic way to sacrifice oneself, particularly as a vampire, but also a very simple way to sacrifice oneself, which fit the tone of the show and the scene. I try to write everything organically happening in the plot as much as I can.

If this scene were to be shot in video, Cassandra’s face would be covered in blood by her tears, quickly wiped away when the Liaison returns with the alarms going off. Once more, I thought about Cassandra dying through what I’d learned as a Wilderness First Responder, and as Lorea had already described the process, Cassandra only needed to give the Cliff Notes version. But what’s done is done. Now Cassandra is a Kindred and Samael is no more. The listener has learned what diablerie is, and now has seen that it can be self-inflicted.

The alarm and the Liaison tear the listener out of the scene, back into what’s happening in the base. Some group is attacking them and whoops! Cassandra has a very hungry Beast now, also performed to perfection by Soleil since I try to voice all Beasts by their sires. I was also very much looking forward to this scene since Cassandra would have to mask herself (autistically-speaking) as long as she possibly could. I added the spray to worry the listener constantly – will she get found out? I originally had no idea how she would pass the vampire-detection spray until I realized I hadn’t paid the bit of Samael’s tongue off yet. Two hanging threads solved each other and Samael’s body turns to dust.

I remember excitedly (autistically) telling everyone involved with the project, “And then Cassandra has to mask her way out!” In retrospect, this scene seems a little long for teasing out whether or not she will be discovered, or maybe it’s perfect. I don’t know. Anyway, the TAM established back in Episode 3 that after diablerizing a Kindred, the living Kindred inherits the mind of the diablerized Kindred as an alter. And so Samael reveals themselves, that they are with Cassandra from here on, as a part of her.

In the next scene in the truck – come on, I wasn’t going to let Cassandra mask her way off the base. Her Beast is too strong and it wouldn’t be any fun if there wasn’t a high stakes climax to the show! Rachel especially liked shouting “This is who I am!” and definitely did it more than twice. Anyhow, her first murder! And it doesn’t sate her thirst because she’s a Ventrue like Samael! And her curse demands she have a “refined palate” and can only drink from a subset of humans – they must have a preference and only feed on that preference. And boy howdy, do I have thoughts about this! Sarah, who played Vanishing Girl, knows more about VtM than I do, and insisted that this is because Ventrue are supposed to be nobility and so have very particular tastes. Of course, that’s some classist-ass bullshit because who do you know who hasn’t got particular tastes? Some people prefer McDonald’s over Burger King. Some people like M&Ms over gourmet chocolate. You eat what you’re used to, and rich people are actually more likely to eat from a wider amount of styles of cuisine than folks who need to prepare it themselves. You know who are picky eaters? Autistic people, and we’re everywhere in every socioeconomic strata.

Anyhow, the whole “Venture are picky eaters” thing comes off even worse in Paradox’s Fifth Edition Laws of the Night where their victim’s body types and lifestyles all help determine what a Ventrue can or can’t eat. To me, like many things in Vampire: The Masquerade, this feels like a holdover from the 1990s where cishet guys kept telling each other they had “types”, as in “I’m an ass man,” “I like blondes,” “I like them young,” etc etc you know where this is going. “Types” were bullshit back then and “types” are… well, people are allowed to have preferences. That’s fine. But limiting their preferences to “things cishets like” feels like cowardice. Earlier versions of these lore books said that “homosexuals” were a preference and vampires already have this whole preoccupation with attacking vulnerable communities and “people that 1990s Karens would rather not see on the street” and let’s not get into that here or this rant will go on longer than it already has.

So I made it simple – Cassandra’s bane is attraction. It’s not specific to waist measurements or what type of underwear you wear on Wednesdays. Just plain simple attraction.

I also appreciate that Soleil voices three characters in this one scene (Cassandra’s Beast, Samael, and the truck driver). Well fucking done.

And Lorea’s final lines in Season 1 are admitting that she got the Sabbat to invade the base. Originally I thought the Anarchs would be going in but then I thought, hey, you know what a good twist would be? Also it doesn’t make sense for the Anarchs to risk themselves like that.

Anyhow, Cassandra needs to eat before she has enough strength to escape. So she meets Ruth. And SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 – Ruth is going to be an important character. And I was like, fuck, I need to cast someone as Ruth who will be around to record next season but who I haven’t already cast and I’m running out of polycule here! Aurora was a friend of a friend of a partner who had recently moved to Seattle and I was like, let’s see how she does! And she’s going to be great next season.

So Cassandra kills a bunch of soldiers as they fuck up her body with bullets. More SFX! Even more SFX! And then consent! As much consent as Ruth can possibly give at that moment.

Also apologies to Soleil for making Samael say “carotid” in their accent as many times as I did. It wasn’t easy to speak all those, and I have the recordings to prove it.

I wanted to show Cassandra getting into her role as a god as soon as possible. She understands the risks she’s facing in trying to escape capture, and also how weak she is. The bluff scene with the other soldiers was a good way for her to use her human cunning instead of just more SFX gore and snaps.

I really should have cut the scene where she hides from the drones inside the buildings but it’s fine and it shows her learning to use her Dominating power and get a truck key. So, I don’t know. It would have required a new shorter bridge scene and more studio time. I think I’m good.

And then we have a little action scene where Cassandra jumps a fence. Fun times. And then…

Well, it wouldn’t be fair if Cassandra didn’t have to face other Kindred during her escape, particularly ones she knows. Vanishing Girl is back, as is Esther! And Cassandra is freshly made and doesn’t have a clue about how to wield her power and her body. It’s not looking good for her! But yes, they’ve been tracking her on the base and as a vampire, she is unauthorized. She needs to die.

Thank goodness Elijio shows up. Rachel was telling me that Dillon seemed excited when she told them that Elijio has a big sweeps-into-action sequence. Yay!

So, regarding Cassandra’s chasing off Esther, I’ve thought a lot about drones. I wrote a whole show about them. So I figured they could use a little cameo here to help scare off Esther. Not much else was going to save Cassandra and her shattered, broken body.

Finally, she escapes into the water and makes it onto a boat, just like she planned.

So I grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I know boats. And the thing that terrified me going into this scene was whether or not I was going to get the foley to sound just right. I wanted Cassandra to escape on a Boston Whaler and those boats have a very particular sound. I also had to make sure that I used water sounds from lakes, not the ocean, because this scene takes place in Puget Sound, which does not have waves like the ocean. I was scared I would have to find a boat myself in dry dock and record the effects myself, which I preferred not to do because I was on a deadline to finish this episode. Fortunately, I was able to find sounds close enough to what I remember Boston Whalers sounding like, such that the final Jaws sequence with Leviathan sounds all right to me.

I needed one last battle for Cassandra, just as she thought she had escaped. You know those scenes where you think the killer is dead and then they… anyway I had always planned for this fight sequence to happen. I even had a lot of the details down in the outline, including Leviathan flipping the boat and Cassandra having to climb on the hull. Yet again this was a complex scene to foley but I was expecting it and I especially liked how the “swimming underwear” portions sounded. I like this Old Man and the Sea battle against the natural world that Cassandra must endure before she earns her freedom. And she earns it by doing a thing no other Kindred has ever done – survive an encounter with Leviathan.

And then we have our ending, which bookends with Milton’s Paradise Lost quote again, that we started the show with. The end echoes the beginning and Cassandra has her whole new life ahead of her.

Unlife.

You know what the fuck I mean.

See you in Season 2.

…

Now, this show is nothing without the wonderful people who comprise the Not Ready for Opsec Players, and I want to give thanks to all of them.

To Katherine Cross, seduced by her wife’s reading of the scripts enough to join the cast, your diabolical spirit brought Lorea to life in ways I never anticipated, especially in your crowning soliloquy in Episode 5. You brought strength to the strongest character and warmth to Rachel’s performance.

To Michael A. Wolfe, I know that Brian was the furthest from Berry that I could take a character, and you rose to the challenge and delivered the most slimiest and techbro of performances. I will never stop hearing “kidding!” in your voice.

To Trunk Slamchest, we’ve been working together for a while, through Brittle Tourniquet and such, and your vocal range sends my jaw to the floor every time. I can’t imagine anyone else doing intros and especially TAM’s sleazy game show host voice. Terrify me more, please.

To Dee Arbacauskas, what the fuck am I going to say to you here that I haven’t told you in person? Your delivery is astonishing every time, you are the ultimate scream queen, and your Judith had my editor Tony begging for more of you. I cannot wait to have your voice invigorate the show again next season as Josephine.

To Cait Motter, your Esther had me and everyone else who heard the show swooning. You absolute glorious ham. You’re amazing and charismatic as fuck. I’m so glad to have you on the cast again, traumatizing the listeners in a different way this time.

To Alyrian Sigil, I wasn’t sure we could pull Siobhan off and you made me believe. Your range from Rachel to Cynthia blew my mind. I should just follow you around with an H4N because you lead such an amazing life and I’m privileged that you came and shared some of that with us here on the show.

Ed Astra knows what he did.

To Just Another Twink, you did fantastic for your first audio work, and I see only greatness coming for you in the future. You showed Peter’s growth from a little bitch into a tragic hero. Definitely going to bring you back for the next season if you’ll come.

To Dillon, I’m glad that Rachel and I broke your monotone into a fabulous emotional range, giving Elijio a seductive, nurturing and caring voice to cut through Cassandra’s defenses. I can hear your smirk in your delivery – well done.

To Ellu, this show may have felt like a lark to you, but it hits me stone hard in the gut every time, and your Simon was an instrumental part of it. Thank you thank you for coming to my studio and saying these stupid words into a mic and turning them into a believable, if silly, character.

To Sangria, you were amazing as always. I’m sorry I didn’t give you as much vocal range as I did on Brittle Tourniquet because you have such incredible talent. You gave me the best Arturo I could hope for. I’ll see what else I can do for you next season.

To Amber Ashe, fuck you, you’re incredible, keep telling me how I keep fucking up VtM lore. Your Aaralyn was spotless, on point, and you understood the assignment. I so want to do that TTRPG with you.

To Becky Haston, Stephanie was written for you, and then you went and took Stephanie, made her your own and gave her right back to me. I can’t think of a better performer for her than you. Well fucking done. You’re amazing as always and you fucking nailed it.

To Julia Lunetta, we’ve worked together for so long, I can’t imagine doing a show without you, even if you can’t come to my studio. You’re fresh, solid, and I’ve always been jealous of your voice. You are an entertainer through and through. Please keep doing that, even in these silly bit parts.

To Sarah Frost, your impish voice and incredible sense of humor shine through all your performances, from Annette to Vanishing Girl. You’re just divine and I hope we have you again next season.

To Maeve O., fucking hell, girl. You did two voices on my show and each of them slap. You did the fucking Cassandra’s Choice scene with Judith, with only me and you in the studio, and people talk about that as being one of the highlights of Episode 4. Well fucking done.

To Slip, fuuuuuuck, you did some of the hardest scenes, including the cliffhanger of Episode 7 as Zachery. And you delivered. Thank you thank you for everything you gave.

To Patrick Colvin, I cannot thank you enough for playing such a despicable character and playing him well. It was your first gig and you got there. You truly got there. You helped tie the end of Episode 4 together with your fantastic Mr. Boswill. Holy hell, well done!

To Myra Vixen, you were in one of the most intense scenes as Mandy and you did so much with so little variation in the dialogue. The listeners could feel you shaking from full defensive mode to opening up toe Lorea. You delivered. Thank you.

To Thomas Hale, thank you for putting up with my bullshit. You truly rocked. Felix was great. Also everybody should listen to Flash in the Pan, the podcast about early 2000s Flash animation. You’ll be glad you did.

To Kelsey Astra, yaaaaaay thank you for being on my show! Your Nichole was a lovely wisecrack-spreading vampire woman and you broke hearts in that last scene. You sold that character and I will be forever grateful.

To KC, you were tight as Sophia. Aw, damn, you were gooooood. Keep that smarm up. Thanks for showing up in my studio and we’ll do it again next time, please?

To Aurora Basile, we’ll have more for you to say next time. A lot more. Trust me, and Rachel will probably agree with me on this – you will be sick of recording by the time we’re done. Thank you so much for popping your head in this season. You were definitely cute getting bitten.

To my editor, Tony Amato, we’ve been working together years before even Supervillainz. You have steered me in directions I might have otherwise been afraid to go. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for everything you’ve given me and I hope I’ve given enough back.

To my artist, Charles Schneeflock Snow, everybody loves everything you’ve done and those stickers you designed fucking rock too. The whole cast thinks the Blood Doll drawing is incredible and, no joke, one person on a Discord said they’d listen to Blood Doll because of your art. Thank you again.

And now the two biggest thank yous I could possibly give.

Soleil, you made Samael happen. You know what this means. You broke hearts. You made people love Samael. You made Cassandra love Samael. And you made me love Samael more than I thought I possibly ever could. You made this show happen. I remember when you called me after I sent you the final reunion scene, crying because of the words I had you say. Well, I was crying too, because of your delivery. And Jotham – sweet sweet badass Jotham – you brought him to life too. Fuck, hon. You made this happen. Thank you thank you thank you. I want you to know what an incredible fucking performer you are. I couldn’t write this stuff without having someone who could make it sound natural and you do that almost effortlessly. Well, well, well fucking done. I want so much for you. I want other casting directors to hear you and hear what I hear from you. I want you to charm the fucking world because you’re so good at it.

And finally, Rachel. Rachel, this is your show. The amount of time and dedication and rehearsal you’ve put into Cassandra is just incredible. I am beyond words trying to think about how to thank you. You took Cassandra through a god damned plethora of emotional experiences, from assault to ecstasy to telling off a room full of bloodthirsty vampires. From submission to dominance, you took Cassandra further than I possibly could have with any other actor. You always half-joke about being the star but really, truly, you are the star. You fucking made this show. The listener could always count on you to set the emotional tone of every scene. I could always count on you to elevate my ridiculous vampire story to a sweeping epic about a trans woman’s big break into power – and her descent back down the mountain. How dare you be this good, Rachel. How fucking dare you.

-Alicia E. Goranson, Writer, Editor, Director, Producer for the Not Ready for Opsec Players

Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll, Episode 8. An audio drama from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Slowly, two shadowy figures come into focus, one behind the other with their hand on the other's neck. Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll, Episode 8. An audio drama from the Not Ready for Opsec Players and Alicia E. Goranson.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll Audio Drama
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll - Season 1 Ending, Episode 8 - Exalt the Blood Doll - Season 1 End
Loading
/

Cassandra reaches the end of her journey.

Transcript for Episode 8 is available at this link (PDF).

Listen to our show on:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
Podcast Addict
Stitcher
Pandora

Content Warning
Content warning for Adult language, Blood, Violence, Firearms, Abduction and discussion of government disappearances, Frank discussion of mentioned character death, Intoxication and Consensual drug use, implied torture, and Consensual Dominance and Submission.

Credits
Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Doll, Episode 8, Exalt the Blood Doll – the final episode of Season 1 – was written, directed, and edited by Alicia E. Goranson, and performed by the Not Ready for Opsec Players. Featuring:

  • Rachel K. Zall as CASSANDRA, the BLOOD DOLL
  • Katherine Cross as NAVAL LIAISON and LOREA
  • Alyrian Sigil as CYNTHIA and SIOBHAN
  • Cait Motter as ESTHER
  • Becky Haston as STEPHANIE
  • Dillon as ELIJIO
  • Sarah Frost as VANISHING GIRL
  • Maeve O. as LAUGHING SABBAT
  • Trunk Slamchest as SOLDIER 2 and the CREDITS
  • Alicia E. Goranson as AMANDA, and SOLDIER 1
  • And Soleil Golden as DRIVER, CASSANDRA’S BEAST, and SAMAEL
  • And introducing Aurora Basile as RUTH

The show’s intro and credit themes were composed by Avian Invasion, and mastered by Hausmanmusic.
The show’s artwork is by Charles Schneeflock Snow.
The Script Editor was Tony Amato.
For more information about the show, see our website blooddollpod.com.
If you enjoyed this show, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcasting service.
Thank you for listening.
Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.

This audio drama is released under a Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Spoilers: This show has always been about loss. One of the prime motivating factors I had for this show was losing my cat in February this year. And as an author, you typically go, “Hey, how do I make other people feel what I’m feeling now?”

The terrible thing about loss is that you have to go on. For years. As Cassandra says, it becomes the new normal. But so does the pain.

I have tinnitus. I have never known what it’s like to hear without a constant high pitched ringing. And that’s okay – I can hear fine otherwise. Obviously. I do edit these audio dramas which my actors assure me sound incredibly good. But the pain of loss is like that. It’s always there. And for Cassandra, it’s also mixed with the guilt of having caused that loss, in some way, no matter what reassurances Elijio gives.

So, welcome to the time skip episode, as popularized by your favorite manga. I had first considered skipping five years, and then three years, but when it came time to do the writing, I figured two years was the sweet spot for moving on but still having some remnants of hope. Cassandra has a full time job now, working both sides like Jean Marsh in Upstairs, Downstairs. Originally, I didn’t have the two slice-of-life scenes in the intro of Cassandra interacting with the Upstairs and Downstairs security, respectively. My editor Tony insisted that I add them so we can see what her life is like, before going into how she spends her off-hours. (Also, what was I supposed to do, not drop a Vampire Survivors reference in the show?)

Nichole was originally going to be a pro-domme but then the story necessitated that she and Cassandra be dating so Nichole changed into a girlfriend. I really appreciate that Kelsey was willing to do the role. I’d been wanting to get Kelsey in an audio drama since Brittle Tourniquet. But she was hesitant. The role of Nichole was enticing enough though, she said, and so we finally got her. Yay! Because she nailed the character.

When I was thinking about how Cassandra would be living her life, I always knew that she would want to continue Samael’s salons with someone. (Hell, I would like to have a scene like that someone – tops can HMU on my DMs.) And it’s amusing that we start on their discussion on the nature of evil but the episode quickly gets serious about it, so it’s more emotional and tragic when we see Nichole for the final time.

Also note that Nichole says, “I will nightdream all about it.” Because Kindred aren’t up during the day. So they can’t daydream. … I’ll see myself out.

Minor trivia – Nichole is from St. Louis because a friend of mine is also from there. As well, for the line: “You create the words, “God is great.” But then you have to consider the possibility of “God is not great.” And then it slips from your mind into the world.” I actually got this concept from another Mastodon person (who probably would not prefer to be linked to) who was putting together a conlang, and posted something similar to: “I wrote ‘[Name] is pretty’ but then I had to consider that you could also write ‘[Name] is not pretty.’ And that made me very sad.” I definitely feel for that critter.

So in the original primordial outline, Cassandra was dating Amanda too, but I thought, eh, that’s kinda a lot, and I wasn’t convinced of my acting chops being able to maintain chemistry with Rachel. Anyhow, we find out what Amanda’s been doing – working guard duty with the new sheriff. Someone has to since Brian took out so many of Judith’s gang.

Incidentally, I may not have been clear in the show, but Cassandra is still alive despite having killed Judith because it was politically convenient for the Ventrue to be able to put their own sheriff in charge. Now, everyone has their eyes on Cassandra in case she does that again. But the months after Judith’s murder were full of strife and Cassandra was not a priority at the time, especially since she was funding both war efforts.

Now, Cassandra and Amanda lament that Simon has disappeared. Where has he gone? Will you find out in Season 2? Spoilers, I have no idea yet. I just didn’t really have a good place for him in Episode 7 so I sorta dropped him for now. His arc was pretty much finalized in Episode 5 and I didn’t really have anything for him to do except worry the main characters about what may have happened to him.

Now, clever-eared folks may have been wondering all this time, “why haven’t there been any murders in Harbinger’s? Don’t Kindred lose control of their Beasts sometimes?” (A friend of mine literally told me recently that it took her out of the story a bit.) Well, here you go. Murders have been happening and Cassandra is just dealing with them. I adore Rachel’s performance where Cassandra describes “We had to puppet him out, arrange for his body to be shipped to a hotel, and set him up with his face in a pile of coke.” Cassandra has had to grow hard to survive as the Temple Warden. Poor girl. But hey, great opportunity for acting!

At last, we meet the new Prince Sophia, dumped by the Ventrue onto Seattle probably because of her availability. Sophia is an awful manager. She is perfect for her bosses because she knows how to present results to them and assign blame as needed. She is absolute hell to work for because she doesn’t have a fucking clue about working with people. Everything she knows about managing is probably from some 18th century manuscript on organizing buffers between yourself and the lower classes. Sophia calls Cassandra by her last name and is frustrated that Cassandra can’t solve Sophia’s money problems. Those aren’t Cassandra’s problems but Sophia is saddled with Harbinger’s and over the past year or so has lost sight of what it protects her against. Sophia never saw what Seattle was like without Harbinger’s. She’s also terrible at working with people because she doesn’t like them. Just her upper-crust friends. Bleh. Anyhow, Sophia is the power structure Cassandra is saddled with, and so she serves to the best of her ability.

Writing Cassandra standing before Sophia required a great deal of mental gymnastics, to be able to “yes, and” her as well as speaking as truthful as she can without criticizing her.

Anyhow, Harbinger’s is clearly screwed and on borrowed time. Could Cassandra save it? Probably not.

Also I fucking love Cassandra’s retort to Esther, “We all live with our choices. But mine are small. Yours are the choices of gods. And I am your result!” About the nicest “fuck you” she could give to Esther and still keep her life. Again, I was very surprised a line of that quality came out of me.

So Siobhan has left her warehouse job, not entirely by choice. The war burnt out Lorea and someone needed to pick up her slack. Burnout is real, especially in leftist circles. And often no one is available to do the missing work. And life goes on. Anyhow, we see how Cassandra has changed, having to be more of a Camarilla mouthpiece because she knows they will read her mind. Siobhan hasn’t changed though. She’s just back at her organizing work. Probably a lot changed after the war for her too. Getting back in Cassandra’s good graces wasn’t a priority.

Also, could Sophia be more blatant that she was planning to attack the Anarchs? Sheesh. What did she think was going to happen, Siobhan would just give Cassandra more security and have fewer bodies to protect Anarch territory? Oh please. More reasons why she’s awful.

And we come to Harbinger’s final night. At last, the Sabbat attack. We always knew they were going to attack. And here they are. Sabbat voice actor Maeve came to me expressly looking to play a hammy villain and I did not disappoint her. Nothing gold can stay. Nichole’s girlfriend gets fridged, but loss isn’t unique to Nichole. I wanted this scene quick to be done with it. I also wanted Cassandra to be able to blame herself for it – she could have shut down the feeding chamber early. She’s probably done it before. But she kept it open because Kindred needed feeding and what’s the worst that could happen?

What did I say about complacency? Especially after two years where she’s handled murders before.

Cassandra has held onto that contact information for the Naval Liaison for some time. And she never had a good reason to call it without something to offer. And now she finally has it.

I didn’t know who I was going to cast as the Naval Liaison. But so many of our voice actors have comedy voices that they do on the side. Trunk Slamchest’s Penelope was a joke elderly voice originally, until I perverted it into a dramatic role. Similarly, the Naval Liaison is Katherine Cross doing a suburban Karen voice. It’s a joke when you do it for friends. It’s drama when you do it for me. (That said, Just Another Twink did a whole range of cartoon voices for me that I couldn’t think of a single way to use. Sorry, dear.)

So Sophia is horrified by the loss of a slightly profitable club, and by Cassandra passing over one of her people (even if they were a Sabbat) to the military/Second Inquisition. At last, Cassandra finds the one bit of natural rights among Kindred – we don’t hand each other over to the humans. (Unless it becomes politically convenient to do so but that’s another story and certainly not in a human’s hands.) Writing Cassandra in this scene was particularly tricky because she is twisting everything Sophia says into a positive. She’s trying to keep her club. This fiasco is manageable. Really. It is. Uh huh. But it’s all she can do. “I am not allowed subterfuge in this court.” Because they can read her mind. And it’s grating on Cassandra that she is not allowed to participate in the backstabbing that makes the court – that Esther has perfected.

Exiled home, Cassandra uses Lorea as an escape excuse (an extremely flimsy one) and as a reason to catch up now that the club is probably a goner. Cassandra fills Lorea in with her plan to try to get access to the Kindred on the Kitsap base. Maybe Samael is still there. Or Silver. Who knows?

(I know and I’m not telling you. Just keep in mind that this is, in Rachel’s words, a romantic tragedy.)

Lorea does offer Cassandra an Embrace here. But Cassandra certainly wouldn’t be able to stay in Seattle. And she’s not good at hiding. She is tempted but her pragmatism wins out.

Finally, Cassandra descends into the Underworld. At Kitsap base, she is taken underground in a bunker and speaks with three captured Kindred, including the Laughing Sabbat. I used this scene as an excuse for Cassandra to embrace her own dark manipulative side. To show off how much she’s learned working with Kindred night in, night out. To show how desperate she is that the next Kindred she sees in the Underworld is Samael.

Rachel originally wanted to play the Laughing Sabbat scene by ridiculing the Sabbat (“The Dark Father destroys all. The Dark Father destroys all.” in a mocking tone). I had to insist, no. She’s trying to get in the Sabbat’s head. She’s making the Sabbat uneasy with her, being honest with the Sabbat and then setting them off-kilter until they make a mistake and reveal too much – “Elixir.”

Next is Cynthia, a poor Thin Blood who got picked up. I think I described her to Alyrian as a beach hippie? Her purpose is her connection to Zachery, who we last saw in Episode 4. (Yes, I set up a lot of things in advance.) She’s obviously a victim in all this and I wanted to show Cassandra’s sympathy for her. Unlike with the Sabbat, Cassandra’s honesty is kind, but still manipulative. Cynthia gives her name away in hope that something better will come from Cassandra down the line.

The last visit is with Silver, who is not doing well, but to whom Cassandra gives Lorea’s message of hope. All of these poor Kindred in detention. It really makes me mad.

Finally, the Naval Liaison reveals that she suspects Cassandra of being a Kindred herself, even though she’s seen her in the day. Cynthia can probably daywalk though. The Naval Liaison doesn’t know everything about Kindred, except that their sensitive noses react badly to a particular spray. We discussed Kindred’s smelling sensitivity in Episode 4 and I wanted to focus on scent as a sign of one being a Kindred. Even in Episode 1, Samael told Cassandra that Kindred can smell her wherever she goes. But it’s also a detriment when you can’t turn it off.

Anyway, Cassandra is pissed about being tested but at the same time, she doesn’t want to anger the Liaison. She wants back in.

After informing Lorea that her message got to Silver, Cassandra is picked up by Esther. Things are not going to go well and Cassandra is unrepentant. What would be the point of an apology anyway? As Cassandra says, “Which is worse? A lie in defiance? Or the truth in shame?” And Esther completely misses what Cassandra is saying. She just goes for the lie immediately. She doesn’t have a fucking clue.

Cassandra is very lucky that Sophia knows what vengeance Lorea and the Anarchs might wreak were they to hear that Sophia killed Cassandra. Sophia does have half a brain after all, so she frees Cassandra from servitude and banishes her. If you know me, this is a major theme in my writing. Back in the 90s, I was able to participate in the Boston fetish/BDSM scene but after transitioning, no one was interested in playing with me. So I was essentially cast out and it still hurts me to this day. I want my audience to feel it to, although in Cassandra’s case, it is a blessing in disguise. She no longer needs to be useful among the Kindred to survive. They trust her to keep their secrets as she knows intimately what will happen if she does not.

Trivia: originally Cassandra’s final words to the court were something like, “I need to pick up my car from the Anarchs” where it was parked. But obviously, that’s not a particular good final line. So I let that plot point slide.

Banishment from the Kindred’s world also means Samael’s rooms, so Cassandra says her parting words to Esther there. She’s going to have to start her life on her own.

The next scene with Nichole I believe is what sold the part to Kelsey. Nichole chooses not to Embrace her girlfriend. To do so wouldn’t just be unethical – it would risk losing her girlfriend if she didn’t want to be Embraced or if she found the concept of being a Kindred horrific. More reasons not to do so than to do it. Kelsey really knocks this scene out of the park. Bravo.

And Cassandra is back in the human world. With a huge pile of cash, of course. Sophia has to leave her something if she is to live and keep her trap shut. So after buying a new place to live (and presumably staying in a hotel until the paperwork goes through), Cassandra gets bored of being alone and returns to her touchstone, Stephanie. Like with Siobhan, Cassandra is not looking for forgiveness. She’s going to pay her dues. She starts volunteering at, what I imagine, is Southside Commons in Columbia City. And Stephanie recognizes that she’s putting in the work. They reconnect in a friendly way.

And then Cassandra runs into Zachery again. It makes sense – Cassandra has met all the Seattle Kindred, so non-zero chance she was going to run into one after her banishment. Zachery is sympathetic (although a little manic). He eagerly accepts a drink and Cassandra enjoys hers again. He seems mostly harmless. He wishes her the best from within the Kindred world to which she can’t belong.

And now a side note – this is bad practice but I do search for Blood Doll references on the Internet. And one of the things I find is posts from people talking shit about Blood Dolls. I won’t name names, but they’re all talking about how laugh-inducing it is for humans to get addicted to the Kiss. How sad and weak of them. We should pity them.

First off, fuck you with your fucking slut shaming, addiction-shaming bullshit. If people are having a good time together, fuck you, it’s none of your fucking business. Being a slut if you want to be is fantastic. Highly recommend. What fucking patriarchal asshole did you climb out of where you want to control people’s sexuality. And if you’re dropping addiction metaphors into this too, fuck you with a rusty crowbar on Sundays. You’re why politicians keep closing down harm reduction centers where people can use needles safely which have been proven to fucking work. Go jump in a volcano and stop listening to my fucking show. We don’t need your Puritanical self-righteous bullshit.

Whew. Okay, back to the show notes.

I wanted to show Cassandra getting used to being in the human world again, so I wrote about Stephanie taking her out for drinks. They’re warming up to each other again. Cassandra still likes her expensive whiskey (like me!) to show she’s not the same person who Stephanie originally fell in love with. And we get a “Kanpai” call back to Episode 1!

But who’s that at the bar? When I was working on the primordial outline, I imagined this scene – Peter and Rachel meeting up with Cassandra again! Catching up after everything that’s happened. Except Peter and Rachel aren’t the same either. They’re ghouls now. They’ll be in service to Esther for as long as they live. They’ll never be entirely their own people. Like I keep saying, this story is about loss and tragedy. I wanted to send them off in a sad state for the listener.

And then Cassandra is ready to leave her old life in the Kindred world behind. She sets out a candle for Samael, who she will love forever. And that’s that.

…

This was a hard scene to write and record. I discussed this with Slip and Rachel separately. I wanted to make Slip understand that this is an assault on Cassandra. Zachery isn’t thinking clearly. He’s maniced out, for whatever reason, he’s not thinking straight. He’s been thinking to himself since he met with Cassandra, this isn’t fair. She did so much good for so many Kindred. She deserves a chance to become Kindred herself. She deserves that chance and no one else will offer it to her.

Zachery is not listening to her at all.

This is a hard scene. Thank you for making it through it. I promise, Episode 8 will be worth your time and everything you went through to get here.

It

Will

Be

Worth

Everything.