<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/XJroK22.jpg)</div><strong>Barir bin Yasha</strong>- Appearance 3, Black stain of Diablerie in his aura for those with who succeed on Auspex II roll<br/><br/>Barir was unsure why, but he felt as though the initial smile was ... wooden? Was that the correct word in English? Perhaps "artificial" might be a better one. There was a better word for it in his native language for the combination of forced posture and the mask in place, but unfortunately either there was no analaog for the precise connotations that the word meant. He wondered how many other vampires kept masks in place, how often they let those masks go, and just what the kind of pressure of wearing a mask for years, decades, perhaps centuries, did to a person. Certainly, they all had the Beast inside of them, but there was still a remnant of something human there too, with all the irrationalities, delusions, neuroticisms, and more that made each one what they were. He didn't even notice as she changed subjects, too engrossed with his own thoughts.<br/><br/>"Anee... meh?" he asked her with a cocked eyebrow, removing the card from his jacket pocket once more to examine the strange drawing. "Japanese...?" both eyebrows rose this time in obvious skepticism. Was her establishment located in Little Tokyo or some other similar place? Or was this the effect of globalization that he had heard so much about lately? As she explained the reason he nodded a little, though his gaze still seemed to hold a dubious note as he pocketed the card once more. He was also unsure why she brought up slitted eyes, and wondered if there was some clan that always had their eyes slitted, but that thought too melted away as she responded to his next question.<br/><br/>"Some of the more... plentiful aspects?" Another cocked eyebrow as he tried to translate her words into a different tongue before stumbling upon what she meant--or rather what he thought she meant. "Oooooh, you mean sex. Yes, I have heard it is given and taken as easily a handshake here in America," he said before lifting a finger and shaking it ruefully in her direction, "but no, no, temptress, you shall not corrupt me so easily, mesu bedshet," he said the Arabic name for the Followers of Set with a shrewd smile upon his face, thinking himself to have dodged a trap.<br/><br/>At the next turn of the conversation, Barir looked more pensive than before, almost a combination of taciturn and melancholy coloring his features. "From what I've seen, most people can be nice. Most of the Kindred, however, are only nice when there is something to gain from it. Play on words, threats from the darkness, a hidden knife in the shadows, dragon's breath shotgun rounds--all these are ways to get what you want, to achieve a goal, to put someone out of action. The difference is," he raises a single finger to emphasize his words, "that words are cheapest, easily taken back or turned around, and can be just as sharp as any knife or burn as brightly as any flame."<br/><br/>"The reason people rarely speak to the Nosferatu is not because they're hard to approach," he responds. "It's because they are hideous, twisted beings whose very flesh is a constant reminder of the Beast within us all. They just wear their Beasts on the outside as well, not just on the inside like the rest of us have the common decency to do," his pensiveness coninues, and his hands impulsively clench into fists before he notices them and relaxes.<br/><br/>"Serpents of Light?" he asks at the offer. "Who--or what--are they, and..." he looks wary, "what kinds of favors? I hear that having a favor of the Followers of Set is almost as bad as owing them a favor--though I've heard similar things of most of the other clans," he quickly tries to soften his ill-thought words clumsily spoken by one with little social finesse who had not grown as a Kindred in the hallowed halls of Elysium.