A Little About Darragh O’Brien:
An AI depiction of Chairman Darragh O’Brien
From the files of Arlo Freeman, Punk Bunks Concierge and Covenant Operative:
Guest Survey:
In accordance with Covenant transparency guidelines and the Punk Bunks Customer Satisfaction Protocol, please complete the following survey. Your responses will be used to evaluate guest experience and potential world-ending risk factors.
Visitor name: Darragh O’Brien, Chairman of the Union of Seers
Date of visit/stay: September 5th – 6th
1. How did you hear about us:
Through a joint investigation conducted by the Agency of Preternatural Affairs and the Union of Seers. Although I have been having prophetic visions involving Kenny Jones for upwards of two centuries, so there’s that.
2. How would you rate your overall stay?
Ten out of ten! A gourmet extravaganza! Exquisite beer, mouthwatering food, good music, and wonderful company. We had a fabulous stay!
3. Was your room accurately described, or did it contain any unexpected occupants?
The Orbit City Suite was spacious and beautifully appointed. It really felt like we were in an atompunk city of the future! Rosy was the only unexpected occupant, and she’s a delight! We particularly enjoyed her Roomba imitation. That still cracks me up!
4. Did the room’s unique features behave as intended?
Quite so! I don’t fully understand how the anti-gravity lounger works, but it was an experience! The mood-syncing wallpaper and the biometric thermostat really enhanced our stay, and the ionized shower blew my mind. My skin has never been so soft! And the Dream-Data Converter Mattress was eerily insightful.
5. Would you recommend Punk Bunks to a friend, enemy, or entity of uncertain moral alignment?
No! Absolutely not! Punk Bunks is too popular already; I once mentioned Charmaine’s Lounge and Cigar Room in passing to an acquaintance, and you can guess how that turned out! The quiet sophistication was forever ruined! I’ve booked Halloween week at Punk Bunks for next year, and I already have ideas for the costume contest! No need to stiffen the competition.
Notes from overheard and initiated conversations:
1. As a Seer, you spend a lot of time building other people’s futures. What would yours look like if you stopped interfering?
I enjoy working with my hands. If I put myself first, Rena and I would go to some obscure village and open a bakery —not to make delicate, French patisserie, but crusty loaves suitable for dipping in a hearty stew. We wouldn’t have cellphones or the internet. We’d find a place with a view of the sea and watch the fishermen go out in the wee hours of the morning and have a fire in the hearth in the evenings.
2. You often sound like you’re amused by the threat of an apocalypse. Are you, or is that pretence?
Seeing the future or the past is not the gift most people think it is. It is not control. That said, I have learned that things are rarely as bad as they might seem. But most folks see disaster around every corner. If someone who sees the future can laugh, however, it’s a reminder that there is hope.
3. Do you ever regret how much you know about people?
Oh, yes. People treat seers differently. Half the time, they think we’re insane, a ticking time bomb, or that we know all their secrets. Sometimes we do; it can make it hard to invest yourself in someone when you know how despicable they could choose to be. Dating can be hell, but you appreciate it all the more when you find someone whom you trust and who trusts you.
4. What’s harder — controlling a plan or admitting when you’ve lost control of it?
Trusting your instinct. There is no control; what I do is, at best, an educated guess. Seers are fallible, and visions are visceral. We’re emotional beings driven by instinct, but through hard work and discipline, we can tame our emotional responses and think through the possibilities logically—often coming near what could and should happen. Only then should we act.
5. You’ve been accused of manipulating everyone you claim to protect. Is that fair, or just efficient?
The two are not mutually exclusive. When one is blessed with farsight, it is nigh on impossible to prevent oneself from meddling, even subconsciously. I would rather embrace the challenge and do so judiciously, navigating humanity around calamity, even if it damages my interpersonal relationships.
6. Do you ever wish someone would outsmart you — or would that ruin the fun?
Many have. Many more will. Every seer needs to come up short now and again—or we start worshiping our own God-given abilities. I don’t know why I was given this talent—if it’s a tool or a punishment—so I try to do the best I can with it. How I measure up remains to be seen.
7. On a scale of one to “cat with a PhD,” how smug do you feel on an average day?
On the average day, I feel like a mouse who managed to nab the crumbs but got its tail caught in the trap while the cat with the PhD looms overhead with a sinister smirk.
8. How do you justify the cost of the truths you expose?
I don’t expose secrets lightly—after all, I’d hate having it done to me. However, when I know that the cost of discretion outweighs the violation, I must act. It’s a heavy burden…and isolating.
9. What does redemption look like to a man who can rewrite the story?
Redemption? There is no redemption for my failures—and worse still, it is others who pay the price. Would that I could rewrite the story. No, my work is an existential hallucination—temptation and denial, my constant adversaries. It’s a balancing act without reprieve, and the closest thing to a happy ending is those I love surviving another day. It’s exhausting.
10. How many cups of coffee (or beer) does it take to fuel a conspiracy?
Whiskey, and plenty of it. I could drain a distillery.
11. When you disappear for weeks, are you saving the world or avoiding paperwork?
Why can’t it be both? My secretary must have her chance to rifle through my drawers and find my super-secret journal where I write down all my devious machinations and sell me out to my enemies in exchange for tickets to the Met Gala. And a dress.
12. Is your dress code “eccentric genius” or “forgot laundry day again”?
I am a man of mystery, and my wardrobe reflects that. As a seer, I never forget to do laundry. If I’m caught wearing naught but pajamas and a robe, rest assured, it is the appropriate garb for the day.
13. When people call you manipulative, do you send them a thank-you note or a fruit basket?
Almond croissants.
14. If someone wrote a biography of you, what would the title be — The Secret-Keeping Mentor, Lord of the Side-Eye, or Oops, I Plotted Again?
Define Sanity and Give Three Examples.
15. You and Dorrit in the same room: brilliant collaboration or inevitable homicide?
Fortunately for me, Special Agent Dorrit detests extraneous violence and has too great a respect for my meager talents to employ such crude measures. For my part, I would never sink to such uncivilized behavior as fisticuffs.
16. If sarcasm were a magical element, would you be over your daily limit?
You mean it’s not? I’ve found its effects to be enchanting. It’s a rare thing, indeed, when I’m forced to admit that I’ve pushed it too far. It’s all in the company you keep, I suppose, and I’m a member of the Quorum.
17. Do you believe redemption requires honesty, or can a good lie save a soul?
Redemption requires us to be honest with ourselves, something most outright refuse to do, and with good reason. Honest reflection is a painful process, but ultimately freeing.
18. When you look at Kenny, do you see the person she is — or the role you need her to play?
I’m not certain that I am capable of separating the two. She has appeared in my visions, just in flashes, for two centuries. Knowing of her before she even existed skews one’s perspective. Intellectually, I know she is an individual with free will, intriguing and unique, but the crossroads have trained me quite thoroughly. Her potential must trump any personal attachment I have for her.
19. Are you satisfied?
When I shuffle off this mortal coil, yes, I believe I shall be. Until then, there’s work yet to do.
Covenant Analysis:
Name: Darragh O’Brien
Classification: Born Vampire/Seer
Position: Chairman of the Union of Seers
Known Aliases: N/A
Affiliations: The Quorum, Union of Seers, the Covenant
Known associates: Director Gilles-Eugene Serrecold, Special Agent John Dorrit, Special Agent Keith Ridel, Special Agent Annie MacDonnell, Special Agent Noemi Sarduy, Special Agent Brandon Young, Special Agent Dakota Blake, Melisande Waites
Status: Active
Apparent Sanity: Functionally sane, but volatile
Behavioral Markers: Charismatic, Unpredictable, Cunning
Emotional Predictability: Low
Susceptible to Influence: N/A
Cognitive Anchors: Service and Loyalty
Known Triggers: Baking, Orange Sweet Rolls with extra icing
Documented Feats: The subject has made fifty recorded prophecies, all classified as eight or higher (ten being the highest) in importance, over three hundred years, with a ninety-six percent success rate. Anything over seventy-two is considered extremely successful.
Potential for Collateral Damage: High
Containment Difficulty: High
Artifacts in Possession: Seven ancient constructs that he has successfully interacted with.
Alliances: Although serving on the Quorum, he has formed an alliance with the Covenant.
Threat Classification: Apocalyptic
Personal Notes from the Analyst: He is friendly, engaging, and, while volatile, he does not become angry or violent. His good humor does come across as strained at times. Not much is known about him prior to 1713. He is believed to have been born in Ireland, although this is unconfirmed. He is known to have worked as an astrologer, a tailor, a scriptorium clerk, a baker, a ship’s surgeon, a psychical researcher, an actor, a crisis PR manager, and as a Union Seer . His late wife, Fiadh O’Brien, died after being struck by lightning in 1944, at which time he began to pursue a life in public service. His baking is phenomenal.
Filed by Arlo Freeman, who maintains that the subject’s croissants are a mitigating factor, should he ever act against the Covenant.
