Desmond Cusick's Diary

( 'If she is dead, there's nothing I can do, but if she isn't and I don't try, then I'm not much of a friend, now am I?' [Alistair] )

Desmond pays a visit to Alistair, and they decide to go looking for Ilse. Again. There is angst.

OOC Note: Backdated a few days.

Alistair gave me a name--Marcello or Marcellus Diggs--which Ilse had given him. I still do not understand how he fits into things. He is another vampire, but there was not much more information. I will ask Ilse about it when I can, but I will investigate myself as well.

Huruma mentioned being emotionally attached to Alistair and his home. She said that it keeps her calm, prevents her from causing chaos. Curious. I wonder if Alistair is at all aware of this?

Ilse is alive, but she is not here with me now. At least I know she is alive. I wonder if I ought to keep tags on her, as Huruma suggested. "If found, please return to Desmond Cusick, 283 Sundowner Townhomes, Upper Level."

Perhaps I shall have it engraved on her ring.

( 'She was... speaking as though I might never see her again. I'll admit it was a touch disconcerting.' [Huruma, Alistair] )

Desmond follows Ilse's scent to Alistair's house and makes a few inquiries there. Desmond and Huruma briefly talk about her "captivity".

OOC Note: This entry is backdated by a couple of days, but I'm too lazy to do it. SO MEH.

If Alistair Sharpe's current charges wish to stay in their cages, let them. However, if he can purchase and rehabilitate others, that will be the true service he can provide. He is really a pleasant sort, and he is as against hunters as I am. An ally is an ally.

( 'I'd love to hear a tale of how Muldoon *squirmed* with anger.' [Alistair, Ilse] )

Desmond and Ilse convince Alistair to go to Muldoon about Vasili breaking into the zoo. Wine is consumed. The trio become familiar on a first-name basis.

Earl Alistair Sharpe is not such a terrible man, I suppose. He seems willing to listen--willing to help our kind instead of enslave them. I still do not agree with his practices, but we at least share common enemies.

Those words about Gretchen were said so easily, yet I am not sure I believe them entirely. Has she truly become a lackey of Guild Hall? One would almost think so. She has taken up with Babenkov, gone to great lengths to protect him, and now it seems that she and this Caleb Ward are working to drive stakes into alliances that would bring the Blood Meridian further into power. Is she trying to become my enemy? What did I do to her to deserve such loathing? Or was it Babenkov? Did the rat poison her mind?

I am uncertain.

This alliance might prove fruitful. If Alistair Sharpe does decide to purchase and rehabilitate slaves instead of squirreling them away in his basement, the Meridian will have more to supplement our numbers. More shifters with an ingrained loathing for slavers and hunters. We will not have to spend the time and energy working with them, as I did with Amy. We can focus our sights on action instead of building. We can tap into a vein of recruitment that will never run dry.

The oppressors will stand no chance.

( 'You, good sir, seem to be a central piece in every one of my problematic puzzles, these days. By God.' [Alistair, Ilse, NPCed Aaron] )

Desmond, Ilse, and Aaron meet with Alistair Sharpe, and a tentative, if not unlikely alliance is forged.