Striving was part of the problem. [Now he's reminiscing about vampire politics, and it's not the happiest topic, especially in context. Would it have made a difference, in the end? He wants to say no, but he genuinely doesn't know.] What cause? Whose cause? Under whose name? Someone was always holding the banner, someone benefited... everything always traceable to some great game that we couldn't see...

[He sighs with a note of disgust again, but it's a sad one this time, more than frustration.] I think... that is one of the things Caine tried to tell me, in the end. That we should have found a path of our own. Free will, if you would - but how do you break old patterns when you're dead?