Akira Matsui

From SuspireWiki

((Under heavy construction. OOC knowledge, of course))

The mandate and the mission is in the Blood. I saw the proof of my power over the mortal sheep and the hungry wolves had been stirred into the cistern of my heart. That is the miraculous mixture that raises the Predator above the Prey. Blood burns like oil and thunders like a storm. It stains the earth eternal, as we only appear to. I had to become its master or forever be its slave.

— The Testament of Longinus

1 Lineage
2 Mortal Life
3 Requiem
- 3.1 Assets

[edit]

Lineage

Vizconde Diego Marquez de Andalusia, Viscount of Sevilla, 1792 - ??
- Don Alejandro Polavieja de Andalusia, Prince of Miami, 1843 - present
  - Señora Nadine Samonte de Andalusia, Seneschal of Miami, 1924 - 2008, torpored in Miami
    - Akira Matsui, 2008 - Present

[edit]

Mortal Life

I was 15 when my family migrated from Tokyo, Japan to Miami, Florida. We settled in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Dad got a job on a construction firm, while Mom stayed at home and took care of the house. Mom spoke no English so I have to act as her translator every time she goes out or to the grocery.

Dad saved and scrimped every cent he earned to send me to a private school. He reasoned that immigrants like me might only end up getting picked upon on public high schools. In a private school, he says, I could at least have some breathing space.

He could never be more wrong.

I entered St. Francis High School, a private school where the “quite affluent” of Miami attend. High school life reared its ugly head. Being an Asian immigrant who has limited English proficiency (let alone Spanish) in a predominantly Hispanic private school is tough. But I know how to play things out.

This is not my obstacle.

This may be my battleground, but not quite.

This is the herd I have to tame.

A change of view on the paradigm is all what is needed. Humans are so predictable. Just like sheep that a sheepdog herds, a specific nudge can bring them running to your favored direction.

Just play it right.

What I lacked in resources, I made up with my social and academic skills. At late nights, I study triple time. Learning English and Spanish wasn’t easy, but I did it. At days, I work to spread my influence. A favor done to someone would never go unrewarded or unnoticed. A help in a Math assignment is a free lunch. A help in a Literature projects is an influence point gained. A smooth talk on the popular girl, plus some assistance to set up a date on another guy I helped before, is a gratitude gained. Spreading your sphere of influence.

You get the picture.

I slowly understood the postulates of high school ecology.

Smart, but not nerdy.

Popular, but not a schmuck.

Athletic, but not the stereotypical jock.

Given enough resources, I could have enslaved the whole St. Francis High. But this is not slavery. This is a complex web of alliances, bonds, gratitude, which ultimately centers unto me. My system relies on the first and simple premise: favors need to be recognized and returned.

This went on during my college years. I maintained a complex web of alliances. Friends? I never considered them friends. They are my allies, cohorts, cronies, followers, but never friends.

I am good to them as much as how I could be of benefit to them, and so they are to me. This is the second premise of my system: you are what you give.

The third premise of my system: take care of the people in your network, even the most insignificant underling. You can never guess when you will require their aid.

What I lacked in money, I made up for my vast network. What I lacked in my abilities, I made up with the strength of my cohorts. I could have conquered the whole college if I haven’t met her.

Her, the she-devil herself. Nadine Samonte de Andalusia.

Apparently, my talent for network building didn’t go unnoticed. In the shadows, she watched me. In the shadows, she lurks and observes me in silence as I expanded my network. In one party that I attended, that’s when she made her presence known.

The wickedness of her beauty. Her sultry voice, her piercing stare, crimson lips.

There, she revealed something to me. A life immortal. An existence not as ephemeral as our human lives. But all with a price…

After all, nothing in this world if for free.

I felt her Embrace. Unlife flowed though my veins, through my system. I lost my mortal life, but transcended to something higher.

[edit]

Requiem

Lady Nadine taught me the basics of the Kindred way, as a mother teaches her child to take his few steps. She taught me how to feed, and more importantly, the Kindred Traditions. She introduced me to the Kindred of Miami, to the ruling elite, and to the Prince. She took me as an apprentice, for she was the Seneschal of Miami, the childe of Don Alejandro Polavieja de Andalusia, the Prince of Miami.

Little did I know that Kindred politics is very much different from human ones. Expect no friends here, only allies and enemies. Little that I know that my Embrace stirred the hornet’s nest. But these, I never understood because of that tragic night.

That night, in the Elysium of Miami, and elder openly provoked my Mistress into attacking him in a heated debate. He knew her strength, and ironically, her weakness: her pride. He openly insulted her. My Mistress kept her composure for as long as she could, but his insults were too much for her. Her pride, and her Beast, can’t take any more punishment, and right there, she killed him. Right inside the Elysium.

She killed and fed on his blood. This sent shockwaves throughout the Kindred of Miami. This was a mortal sin. The Prince, though my mistress was his closest ally, has no choice but to call for her execution. She did not resist such sentence. On the night of her execution, she faced the Court without any trace of emotions.

“I perish blameless.” Those were her last words before she was staked. It was only barely three weeks since my Embrace when she perished. I lost my mentor, my sister, my love.

It was a conspiracy, I knew it. There were talks of ousting her as the Seneschal. There were even murmurs of a coup d’etat against the Prince. The insult was a deliberate. The victim was a sacrificial lamb for some ulterior motives. I am going to uncover it, whatever it takes.

Before I could even make any move, the Prince summoned me secretly. He gave me a special order: run, flee, and never return to Miami as long as he is in praxis.

Is this a death sentence? A sentence parallel to my Mistress?!

No, he says. He knew that the enemies of my Mistress would stop at nothing to erase any traces of Nadine Samonte de Andalusia in Miami. Though I’m not yet in actual danger, it pays to pre-empt such efforts before they were beyond control. The Prince could offer protection, but for how long, he cannot assure. My Mistress’ enemies are far too clever. The best way is for me to leave this city.

He arranged secretly for my death to be staged. His ghoul was to take me to a far-off city, where the Kindred population would be less hostile (or so he supposes). He said I would be sent to Atlanta. He personally doesn’t know the Prince of Atlanta nor the guarantee of my safety, but it’s better than for me to stay here in Miami and be annihilated. I am to be smuggled inside a container truck to Atlanta.

At the crack of dusk, the container truck headed to Atlanta. Inside a wooden crate, I laid silent, somewhat hesitant to leave Miami. Somewhat regretful of the night I accepted the Embrace, the moment I become of the Kindred. But this is my choice, my path, my destiny: to walk in the path of the Damned, to sway to the tune of Danse Macabre.

When darkness fell, the prince’s ghoul opened my crate and led me outside. This is Atlanta, alright. After entrusting me the things the Prince sent with me to help me survive my new environment, and after he saluted me and bid me goodluck and farewell, I felt so lonely. Never in my life I felt this loneliness. But this is my unlife. A fresh new start.

Akira Matsui have died in Miami, staked publicly by the Prince of Miami. Akira Matsui, childe of Nadine Samonte de Andalusia, is no more. Akira Matsui now lives in Atlanta.

[edit]