Donor: A Vampire Victim's Tale [GAME RELEASED!]

And now a little flash fiction:

Richard to Samantha: “Why aren’t you playing with that new iPad I bought you?”

Samantha: “Mommy says I can’t have it back for a week because I called my teacher the b-word at school again.”

Richard (throwing his hands up in the air): “How many times have we been over this?! You’re supposed to call her the C-word. ‘C-*-N-T’ with a C!”

:grin:

In all seriousness, Rich and Paul probably wouldn’t have an issue with Samantha cursing around the house just as long as she understood there was a time and a place for such language (e.g. not at school).

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If there’s one thing everyone knows about children, it’s their ability to determine ‘the right time’ for anything they say :stuck_out_tongue:

Here’s my Christmas present for you, Elena. MORE questions.

  1. Why ARE Rich and Paul friends? They seem to get on each other’s nerves a lot and disagree pretty much everywhere. Is that just because Paul has changed a lot? Were they more alike as children? Is it a ‘familiarity breeds friendship’ sort of thing?

And, in a similar vein,

  1. What did Paul mean when he said Charles changed and annoyed him after becoming a vampire? Was it because Charles wasn’t afraid of him anymore and thus no longer reminded him of a younger sibling?
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In the fanfiction story I’m currently working on, I’ve explored the possibility that Richard and Paul are possibly only friends after over 80 years, because of their shared nature and the need to co-operate/get along in order to survive on their special diets. I think if they were still both human, they would have drifted apart as they aged.

But I like your point about Paul having changed over the course of time! That could be part of their background issues - with Richard being stuck in his ways.

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This is a good possibility! It might just be because they have to be around each other. They certainly have a lot of differences. The only thing that thwarts the idea is it was mentioned they were friends when they were younger and working in the speakeasy. We just don’t know how deep that friendship went.

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‘…it was mentioned they were friends when they were younger and working in the speakeasy. We just don’t know how deep that friendship went.’

All true - and they grew up together. However, from reading the different ways the game can end, we have clues from Elena to mull over.

From the ‘An unlikely Ally’ ending, over the phone Paul doesn’t seem to be mad at Charles for killing Richard - and Paul is glad that Lenore/the MC is still alive. Now, he could be acting, in order to get Lenore/the MC back into his care, but Paul actually says: “I’m not mad about Rich. He had it coming. He wasn’t a good guy…”

In Chapter 9, dependent on whether the player surrenders to Paul - and if he/she has made a good relationship with Paul - we can see Paul vary from rage, declaring to Lenore/the MC that ‘Rich’s life was worth many more times than yours’ (words to that effect); or we could see him cry, saying something like: “I miss Charlie. I miss Rich. God! I’m so alone”, and then possibly let Lenore/the MC go. Which would mean that he forgives her for killing Richard, despite that he’s known her for far less time that Richard - and knowing that her fate would have been to eventually die so that Richard could survive.

So, my guess is that the relationship between Richard and Paul is something like 60-70%, to compare it to the MC’s relationships with the guys around her.

I do think you bought up a great question about why Richard and Paul are friends! Over to Elena for her thoughts… :smiley:

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Hey @FoxalypticWorld & @DenaFan thanks for your patience on this, been a little crazy getting back into the swing of things after my time off… :sweat_smile:

Great question! As I’ve mentioned before in this forum, Richard is from a wealthy family, and I imagine that Paul was the son of their housekeeper. As young children, Richard and Paul would play together, and they managed to maintain their friendship in spite of attending different schools (Richard would’ve attended an exclusive prep school whereas Paul would’ve gone to public school, etc) and belonging to vastly different social circles.

Richard would’ve relished his relationship with Paul because:

  • Maintaining the friendship would’ve irritated his parents, who were obsessed with status and appearance
  • Paul was the only person in Richard’s life who didn’t kiss his ass
  • Paul, charismatic and outgoing, would have introduced Richard to people and places that he wouldn’t otherwise have had access to
  • He genuinely liked Paul

And Paul would’ve relished his relationship with Richard because:

  • Snubbing Richard might’ve negatively affected his mother’s employment
  • He felt sorry for Richard, who was clearly lonely and didn’t have many other friends (at least not real friends)
  • Richard, wealthy and connected, would’ve introduced Paul to people and places that he wouldn’t otherwise have had access to
  • He genuinely liked Rich

So it was only natural that after such a longstanding friendship, Richard would’ve hired Paul as his right-hand-man when he went into business for himself.

I think this is 100% true. While Richard and Paul would’ve probably kept in touch throughout their lives, as people often do with family, their boss/employee relationship was already a heavy strain on their friendship and I doubt it would’ve lasted much longer if they hadn’t been turned.

You got it. Richard’s behavior as a vamp kinda horrifies Paul, and has made him question his friendship with him on multiple occasions. Don’t get me wrong – both men have a dark side, and Paul still adores Rich. But in his mind, his friend has turned into an actual monster over the years.

Once Charlie was turned, he proceeded to exact revenge on all the vamps whom he felt had wronged him. I imagine he stirred up a bit of trouble at Paul’s favorite vampire club, Thorn. And, now a persona non grata through association, that’s the real reason that Paul needs Lenore to hunt for him after Charlie’s dead.

Heh, so Charlie probably still felt like a younger sibling to Paul even after he was turned, but the kind of younger sibling who’s ruining your life… :wink:

Hope those answers made sense! And a belated happy new year!!!

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I DIDN’T KNOW YOU’D MADE A SEQUEL. I spent like 14 hours of my Sunday doing nothing but reading Bait from start to finish lol (I read slow but steady :yum:)

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I’m the same way - either slow AF or I skim so much that I couldn’t tell you what the story is about :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I also love your answers so much! You’re very thorough :slight_smile:

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If someone takes the time to read my books, the very least I can do is take the time to answer their questions. :slight_smile:

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huff As if Paul himself isn’t one huff

But you have made clear of Paul’s mindset at this point: he doesn’t think himself as much of a monster as Rich. Sad.

Ohhh so Charlie hunted down more people before he went for Rich? That’s really surprising, I’d imagine that Rich is his biggest target.

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Gotta make sure you’re strong enough to take on the boss!

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:laughing: Especially when you consider how Richard thinks the exact same thing about him.

Biggest target, but not the easiest to access. Charlie had to wait for the right moment to snatch Paul’s keys. Walking right into a club, on the other hand…

And there’s that! :rofl:

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Hi Elena. I’ve got some questions about something that never seemed to come up in the game. Only touched upon in that Richard pretended that the apartment block was first owned by his great-grandfather (or similar)…

Given that your vampires are ageless (i.e. immortal, until actually killed), are Richard and Paul actually called Richard and Paul? Are they known to the human world by other names? Do they bother to fill in the census? How many times have they changed their identities to the wider world, to hide that the fact that they aren’t aging? (I imagine that your vampire community has a team of forgers, and possibly some agents inside local governments and police forces, as safeguarding mechanisms)

Just something I’d thought about whilst I’m writing my latest fanfiction take on the ‘Donor’ game!

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Hey @DenaFan! Sorry for the delay…

Oooh great question. You’re correct that in Donor’s universe, Richard and Paul certainly have access to resources to change their identity every few decades or so. But the extent to which they leverage these resources leans toward lazy/overconfident to downright irresponsible.

To get a feel for Richard’s attitude on this topic, here’s an except from a conversation he has with Lenore in Bait:

Lenore: “You’ve had this building for a long time now. Haven’t the residents noticed you aren’t getting older? No one’s ever gotten suspicious?”

Richard: “Who knows. But—realistically—what are they going to do about it? Report me to the authorities for aging well?”

So I’d say that other than updating things like “date of birth” on their driver’s license every so often, Rich and Paul are content to hide in plain sight. Probably not the smartest move, and I doubt the more careful members of their community approve, but they’ve gotten away with it so far…

Lol and I can’t imagine Richard filling out the census. But I could imagine Paul doing it as a joke. :wink:

Hope that helps!

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Thanks Elena! So that indicates that Richard and Paul might well be their actual birth names? I’ll run with that, unless you tell me otherwise. I’ve not read the books (I know - naughty of me! But I’ve got a busy enough life…) - but have you got allocated surnames for them?

So, nobody in the local community (including the authorities) have noticed that the owners of a certain apartment block have ever aged or maybe not changed their identities over the decades… Okay…

Your answer has given me some ideas to put into my story. :thinking: Thank you! :smiley:

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Yep, Richard Nadir and Paul Towers.

Oh, I’m sure people have noticed, it’s just a question of what they’d actually do about it.

For instance, if I noticed someone wasn’t aging, I’d probably do a lot of mental gymnastics to convince myself that it was all in my head. And even if I still had doubts, I’d keep it to myself. I mean, suggesting that your landlord might be immortal - that’s crazy talk. Especially if I were old enough to notice a substantial difference in our appearance (in my 60’s or so) - people might start to think I was senile. :older_woman:

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I see your point, Elena about the ‘noticing (them not ageing), but still being in denial’… The ‘in denial’ response seems to happen a lot with witnesses, in reported encounters with the unexplained.

Yep, Richard Nadir and Paul Towers.

Ha! Because Richard lives in the basement, and Paul lives in the penthouse? Or because Richard’s morals are ‘below par?’ :grinning:

Thank you!

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YES :laughing:

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Just to keep you updated, Elena (plus anyone else who’s interested).

I’m still working on the new fanfiction story. It’s snowballed from my original concept (now too long for one chapter)! Hope to start getting it onto the internet by the end of this month (all being well)!

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