A strangely lucid conversation for the Doctor...but he can be quite precise when he wants something. This was written as a Kindred: the Embraced piece. For a while, Dr. Robert inhabited the world of the Masquerade. If you are not familiar with the jargon of the game, don't worry, it will make sense for the most part in context.

If you have questions, please feel free to e-mail Dr. Robert -- he loves explaining things.

San Francisco: The Night of November 9th

It was perhaps an hour and a half before dawn. Dr. Robert was alone in the casino. After he hung up the phone from talking to Lucy, he had sent all those pesky Brujah ghouls away, knowing that the day staff would be arriving soon enough. He would have little enough time alone...to case the joint, to figure out the best way to make the pass off of Tyler to Nathan without being caught. Of course, someone else would do the passing. Robert wasn't stupid enough to let himself be implicated. Lucy would have his guts for garters if he was.

Poor foolish girl, he thought and he walked through the dark, empty building. She needed to learn that kine were dinner, nothing else. She had always had the problem of becoming obsessed with her prey. It was part of what had caused the rift between her and her sire, Christophe, all those many years ago. But only part. Christophe had betrayed his Lucy as well. Kept secrets. Drawn her anger.

Robert adored Lucy, she was fabulous, he thought. He only wanted her to be happy. And Nathan, if that were possible. Ol' Prince Lucifer deserved a little love...they'd make a wonderful couple, like Rhett and Scarlett...once Tyler was consumed and forgotten...and when they took over the world, Dr. Robert would finally gain the respect he deserved from his fellows. No kine child must stand in the way of that, despite how pretty and winning this one might be. He was impeding progress...but not for much longer.

There came a knock at the door.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "Lucy? Ya in there?"

Dr. Robert rubbed his temples. He wasn't up to dealing with any more brain-dead Brujah or ghouls tonight. Still, he went down the hallway and yanked open the front door without looking through the peephole.

"Miss Lucy's out of town, so if you'd kindly come back at a later date, I'm sure she'd be glad to--" Dr. Robert trailed off. It was, what was his name? Toes? The big galout who was married to the woman with the strange babies.

"Can I come in?" Thumbs asked worriedly.

"I'd really rather you didn't, darling," Robert began, but the huge man pushed past him, forcing the Malkavian to follow him inside.

Thumbs had blood on his mouth. Robert stared at it fixedly. Thumbs wiped the back of one of his huge, meaty paws over his lips and saw the smear of fluid. He shrugged. "Threw the body in the river. Weighted down. Had to feed, you know."

"What do you want?" Dr. Robert asked icily.

"I thought Lucy might give me shelter for the day," said Thumbs.

"Why on earth would she do that when you have that big beeeautiful house where you live with your...wife...and those precious little gifts from heaven?"

"Or from Hell," Thumbs rumbled. "One of them fucked up her mind. Sleeps with her and makes her think its all right. Made her think I never loved her. The marriage is over."

"Toes, darling--"

"Thumbs," Thumbs corrected him with a hint of a smile. "Toes is my cousin."

"Don't you have a normal name?" Dr. Robert snapped.

Thumbs considered. Only Dena and his mother had ever called him Eugene. Hearing that name would be too painful. "No."

"Fine, Thumbs, then, how on earth did you allow yourself to be roped into marriage anyway? We, as kindred, are not bound by such laws. By any laws or morals. Your Dena, for example, you complain that she slept with her child. Why should she not?"

"If it were her mortal child, I might be inclined to agree," said Thumbs. "After all, our kind are sterile. But she actually gave birth to those...things... As a kindred. An impossibility in itself, which tells us they were obviously not created in the natural way."

"Does that mean they should be destroyed?" Dr. Robert asked.

"They are Sabbat fleshcraft. That alone is enough to damn them. The Prince should have had them slain for that reason alone. He seems to be far too tolerant for someone in that position. Whether they were born evil or not is neither here nor there. Who knows what havoc they may wreak later, and they are only destroying Dena with it. If they were dead, she could mourn and get over it. What do you think, Robert?"

"DOCTOR Robert. So why did you marry her? Why would ANY kindred marry? When one lives forever it is completely unrealistic to think one will stay with the same partner for all time. In fact I never HEARD of vampires getting married, and to each other, after the embrace until I came to San Francisco."

"My mind was manipulated."

"Didn't she say you could leave if you wanted?"

"Yes, but you see, Doctor, my mind had not been functioning properly for some decades, now. When Eddie Fiori embraced me, I had just had a bomb explode in my face and the damage was never healed."

"You seem to be quite coherant now."

"Go figure. Somebody...began to fix things...but as they did, the more I could see that things were not right between me and Dena. I loved her, yes, but she never loved me. She wanted me for my name and to be a father to her spawn, but never for myself. My wounds are still healing and sometimes I didn't act when I should have, or even in character for myself, because I thought it would hurt her, or because that little brat bastard moved in front of me. I tried to do...or not do...what she wanted but I only came off looking like a stupid fool."

Dr. Robert looked Thumbs up and down. "I can see where that would happen."

Thumbs glowered at him. "I can't fight creatures with that sort of power. Not on my own."

"Well, don't look to me for help. Personally, darling, I think its too late. You're never going to win back your Dena...if that's what you want. What DO you want?"

"No, I don't want her back. I can't keep her in line. And no woman is going to walk all over me. Fuck her. I've had enough. I tried as hard as I could to do right by her. But she didn't know what she wanted from me, or if she did she refused to tell me, even when I asked. And I've never been much of a mind reader. Maybe I should leave town."

"Maybe." Dr. Robert yawned. This long-winded broken-hearted Brujah was boring as hell.

"I sure as hell miss the days when Eddie was in charge. He would never let this happen to him. That's why he left town, because of those satanic creatures. Never expected that to happen, but maybe Dena was manipulating him as well. I don't know."

"So go look for Eddie," Dr. Robert suggested. Please. "Otherwise, you stay and see what Cameron has for you...or... well, Miss Lucy might well give you some work at the casino if you need it...or...guarding the little kine lad."

"Tyler? Yeah, he's a good kid. I don't know why Dena wasn't satisfied with just him as her son... The kid loves her. And he was one of the few who was kind to me, even before my brain...improved. Still," Thumbs shrugged, "I don't expect him to live long in Lucy's company."

Dr. Robert arched an eyebrow and said nothing.

"Cameron, well, Cameron's changed. He's not strong any more. And he's apparently stupid enough to fall into this marriage trap, too...and with a Ventrue. Ventrues don't like Brujah, they can't help it, they look down on us, I don't care what anyone says. And marriage, well, I'm sworn against that for kindred and kine alike."

"Well, me lad, I'm going to sleep in the back," Dr. Robert said, getting up. At least with Lucy not here, he could sleep in the bed tonight. "When I hear from Lucy again I'll tell her you're in need of some guidance."

"Whatever," Thumbs grumbled, going to the bar to look for a bottle of vitae.

When he turned away, Dr. Robert smiled coldly. He pulled out a small Beretta and took aim. It took only one shot to the back of the huge man's head to take him down. Thumbs fell to the floor with a thud.

Robert put the gun away and went into the back room to sleep for the day.