Terun Veillon's Story

"Things have certainly changed, and like always this planet is going to shit," Zosimos indulged in the blood powder, too much to taste any good. Daemala's mouth dropped open at his words. He waved a hand and forgave her manners. It was true. There were too many military presences for anyone to be entirely relevant. Stocks were down, though war seemed to be up. Ridgecrest City was aflame, and Casren was nowhere to be found.

Which left Daemala in charge, which was certainly no good for their coffers. Ulrich Paternosta and Riesel Dracul slipped in with a child, who was upon closer inspection not a child at all. Zosimos sniffed the air. Who was that? That smell was familiar...

"We are hosting a ball," Daemala said firmly, glaring a hole into Zosimos, who pretended not to notice. She pulled a bundle of millennial pink envelopes from a fold in her dress and threw them on the table. There was enough for everyone in the Detente, and the pile seemed to grow by the second.

Akio was sitting at the table, with his feet raised. If one were to ask why he was sitting there, he might say "Because it seemed fun" or "Because it looked interesting". Of course, whether it was the truth or not was all dependent. After all, Akio had a habit of being cryptic. His own name was technically an alias, but he never used his original name anymore so it became his official name. The vampire who appeared as a ten year old was typically hard to read, because sometimes he would act childish, and other times he would formulate advanced plans and stratagies.

He was a bit all over the place.

As he took one of the pink letters, he grumbled a little. "Pink? I mean, I know black would be cliché and all, so would red, but what about green? Or teal? Or purple with orange pokadots? Now that would be fun! Hehe".

Akio randomly mentioned some things as he held up the envelop. He considered the possibility of just changing the color himself with an otherwise useless color changing spell he picked up, but that might seem poor in taste.

Akio was completely disinterested in the wars, or the planet, so he did not bring them up. As someone who lost his home village, was kidnapped and turned into a vampire, and then lost the next place he had stayed at, Akio was not particularly attached to one place anymore. Although he did prefer places such as where he was now would remain, Akio could easily get over such a loss. However, one did not need to worry much about him, because he rather enjoyed the company.

Even if he was an oddball.

A crunching sound came from the back of the room. It went on and off, pausing for a few seconds at a time and then resuming. Each time there was silence, a sense of hope was felt in the air, only to turn to annoyance when the sound came back. This went on for a new minutes, until a small sigh led to a pause.

“Really, Derry? Now, of all times?”

A handful of finger bones were put back in their pouch. The fellow eating them clacked his teeth to get the splinters out, looking faintly apologetic. The tone of his voice implied that he had explained the reason for his actions multiple times in short period of time, however, and that he was beginning to do it on reflex.

“Ate all the soft bits on the way over, boss. Got no time as of late for digging, seeing to your travels.”

A nod of acknowledgement. Without the sleeplessness of the ghoul, there likely would have been a lot more sun-related difficulties. How he managed to set up multiple train-rides to be night-only, he’d never really know. Getting the coffin booked as carry-on was something he’d hold over him for years. Still, a retort was required.

“Could you not have some of this lovely blood? I know you prefer it...brown, but it’s quite good, I can assure you.”

“Got my own drink, boss. Figure now you should focus on the...what is this, some type of meeting?”

Now it was his turn to look exasperated. The vampire watched his friend produce a musty bottle of something that smelled like ash, rubbing his temples.

“The Detente, Derry. I’ve explained this multiple times. You were the one who urged me to do this, godammit.”

“Boss, you’re getting a touch of rigour being cooped up in that crypt. If anything, this is getting you a free lunch. One that ain’t on me.”

“You know damn well why I’m in that crypt, you colossal ass.”

“Yeah. And now where are you now?”

“...Not in the crypt.”

There was the sound of very smug ghoul patting a very annoyed vampire on the shoulder, followed by the familiar sound of chewed bone.

“Eat yer blood, boss. Have some fun.”

"Yes,fun" Daemala's mouth formed a prim line. She slowly stirred her tea. The Detente was due to come out of their hole once again.

"We're to improve relations, across the board. Fun is a start."

Zosimos mock-yawned. He put his feet on the table, much to Daemala's annoyance; the old vampire wasn't paying her any mind.

"I just hope the people that come are interesting..." Akio mentioned as he adjusted himself in his chair, and he sipped something from a wine glass. It was actually pure blood though, freshly harvested from a "donator". It wasn't anyone the people would miss however, the scum bag had committed crimes against children after all. And his blood was unexpectedly pure, even if the man himself was scum.

"That said, I suppose that means we should try to keep the hijinks, and general level of chaos low, despite it being the chaos ball? Or, do I have permission to turn off the gravity halfway through for some zero gravity dancing?"

Akio thought it would be more interesting if a few of them got into fights, because then he could test his new toys out on them.

"That said, we should also get some good entertainment...I wonder, who would be the most fun?"

Sitting in his usual chair, which had been a Bean Bag chair he just carried in one day, plopped down, and sat as if nothing was wrong, he was actually concerned with security, but in truth he was not sure how to improve it until his research was a bit more completed.

"I know a good band, myself. Good men, willin' the lash themselves down if the world goes crosswise, yeah?" Dermot chuckled at the bemused expression shot his way. Old bat had no sense of humor. He gave a gesture of mock-confusion to his friend, shrugging.

"I mean, unless you prefer stayin' grounded or what have you. Might make the less...what's the word, boss?"

"Supernatural, Derry. It's what we all are, and you know that. It's better than that term you used back in...where are you from again?"

Another shrug, this one genuine. They both had their boundaries. The old bat must be pretty steamed if he was willing to drag his origins up.

"Easy, boss. I'm from all over, same as you. 'Eaters', fer the record. 'Cause at the end of the night, it's all about what we can get down our gullets."

Ignoring the snort of derision, he continued.

"Might make the humans a bit funny in the head, having everythin' go screwy on 'em. Speaking of, what's the grub going to be? Blood's just the tops for you lot, but some of us have a different tastes."

The vampiric lawyer frowned as he entered into the Room of Reason only to look and listen to what all had been said. He would always remain somewhat fashionably late but one could not simply take into account who would arrive next or why.

"Pink is an appropriate color considering that October is usually associated with Breast Cancer awareness however I cannot argue if this color choice was the reason why our fair Lady Tauvyr picked it or if she just fancied the bright abomination that stings they eyes and the very presence of ones soul." He simply removed his jacket and placed it upon a stand by the door only to cross his arms and look directly towards Daemala and then the others. "I also assume that you had called upon every member of this little club of ours and I'm simply following the conclusions that I'm early or this is all that showed." Regardless of her answer Louis walked by a few of his Blood just to grab a book from one of the shelves and plop himself down awaiting for business to begin as usual.

Louis was a man for details though it was this evening he found himself distracted as he simply held the title page before him and glanced upon the two vampiric children only to wonder why someone would bring such a curse to anyone so young. This was to say that he was not mocking or showing disrespect as he kept his glances to a minimum. Laws and edicts had always been of primary concern and even Louis knew the need for such parties but there was a hope that maybe the dynamic would change and that something interesting would happen.....after all, if nothing changed, there was still his current client who had something to hide.

"It's a good color," Daemala remarked, stiffening with annoyance. Zosimos barked a laugh. How the two belonged to the same bloodline was almost unfathomable until you considered who connected them together.

"However, it's true we are all here for a greater cause. This little club," She swept her gaze around the room, landing a glare on Louis, "Is all that protects us."

The thought hung in the air for half a second. Ulrich Paternosta cleared his throat and broke the silence. He was crucially aware of the situations beyond the Cursed Wood. Terra was going to hell, and it wasn't the first time. This time, however... It worried him.

"I've...news," Ulrich spoke up of change, "Strange mortals. They be...spawning," he could think of no other word, "Seemin'ly anywhur. In our own backyard, ya like it? Backn' the Castle. Tha's why I'm late. This one," Ulrich elbowed the kid-pyre, who looked very agitated with the present situation, "Crawling round the side o'the house."

"Is that Lessard? blood I smell?" Zosimos slowly took his feet from the table and planted them firmly on the ground. He honed in on the Terun, who flashed his teeth in return. The tension between them was palpable. Daemala sighed and took off her white gloves. She slapped them to the table with frustration.

"Improving relations is our only chance for survival on this cesspool of a planetary body we've become so invested in! If the two of you can't turn your noses off for five minutes while we discuss the fate of our people! We are confined to these trees. I, for one, am tired of my containment. Especially considering our home can barely be called such, if mortals can simply appear in our backyard! Horrific circumstance, we are in!"

Speaking of the backyard, Daemala turned to the bone cruncher and gave it a sweet smile. There would be many more bodies buried back there. Plenty of flesh for the diggings! She snapped her fingers and the room attendant jumped up to facilitate another round of tea.

In a moment that might shock everyone, as he took a sip of blood from his wine glass, he also took a sip of tea afterwards. While a wine glass might not fit someone of his appearance, it was pure blood so as a vampire it fit. But Akio had never been seen drinking tea before, so anyone who witnessed it might be a bit surprised. But what might be more surprising is that his expression changed.

Normally, Akio held an expression that was child like. Even when fighting, working, or talking about matters, he often looked innocent and child like. But this expression, even when worn by a child, was different. It was an expression someone with a child's face could only make if they had undergone quite a few trials, had years or decades of experience, or both. It was something most if not all at this table had never seen from one of their newest members.

"Aside from the ball, the situation is getting serious. I do not want to get involved with the wars of mortals, certainly not with their governments who would only seek to exploit us, but we do have to communicate with them on some level or they will try to claim us as their own. And I am in no mood to get drawn into that sort of conflict. I might like a good fight, but there is a realm of distance between a fight and a war. That means, we have to flex our influence as well as our power, without antagonizing anyone, to not become prisoners and to expand our freedom. And this ball is the best way to do it. That is my opinion anyways".

Akio spoke a lot more then usual, in a voice he had never used in this company before. Truly, it was not the voice of a child, but an old man who normally had a child's personality. His form of vampirism made him preserve his personality, but that did not mean he could not grow as a person. It just meant he kept his childish vigor, curiosity, and fun loving attitude. He could still grow as a person and make use of his experience.

"That is why, we should go all out for this Chaos. Let us not serve just normal meat, but meat from the rarest and most dangerous of beasts that only exemplary individuals can hunt. Let us procure the best wine, and make them marvel at it. But let us also display some of our capabilities. The ability to manipulate gravity for something as trivial as a dance, the ability to engulf a room in fireworks without anyone getting harmed because we choose to, the ability to have the best of the best tailors create red carpet clothing, that can also act as armor stronger then platemail. Let us show them that we are not afraid, we will not submit, and we will stand up for ourselves, without giving them an excuse by antagonizing them".

Somewhere in his words, Akio, one of the newest members of the group, had stood up and taken a tone he had never used with them before. He did not talk down to them, nor did he talk up to them. He spoke to them from his honest opinion, respectfully but with a bit of willpower in there. From experience and wisdom, mixed with his own opinion.

The newest member had just taken a step forward, and officially established his presence. Akio sat back down, and took another sip of blood, with a calm smile on his face. And if one paid attention, he had even responded to Dermot's question of food, provided his words had been accepted and agreed with in that section at least.

Remilia Scarlet had been remaining silent in the back for some time now, her eyes closed as she sipped a single cup of tea. More often than not she was a passive observer in the Detente's various events. After all, she had very little to insert. More often than not she watched, packed up, left, and then repeated the cycle. But this time there was someone new about. Someone similar to her in appearance - young on the outside but much older on the inside.

Remilia set down her tea. "Sounds like a lot of resources would be required for something like this...I'm hoping you have the money and manpower backing you to assist in something like this...unless, you expect others to expend their resources on something that expensive." She sat back in her sea, grinning to Akio. "I don't blame you for such grand aspirations, though."

If the former Vampire Hunter now with extreme arrested development and the sadistic edge had been paying attention, no one would know. She was sat in the corner playing with a doll that was spattered with blood. Anamarie dressed in an opulent dress with messed up hair, preoccupied with her own fantasies. Too far gone to care for the politics instead, only interested in her dolls she had sat down while in the centre was a human heart. Where it came from, no one knew, but she acted so innocently about it, "Okay, which one of you did it? Confess who ripped out that nice man heart who showed me home? If you tell, I won't spank you." pausing her eyes regarded each of the toys, "Was it you Mr Fuzz Fuzz? Or was it you Teddy? We talked about this, only get blood from the home..." this went on a little while before she sighed shaking her head, "MR CUTENESS, HOW COULD YOU?" speaking rather loudly she grabbed the plush animal and immediately tore its head off rather viciously.

As it registered in her mind what she did, she immediately ran over to Zosimos with the plush animal head in one hand and the body in the other, "HE LIED, I PUNISHED HIM, GET ME BETTER TEDDY!" even if Zosimos was busy, she would keep pestering and poking him until he paid attention.

Louis brought his gaze up towards the long broken Anamaria only to wonder why she was even kept around. Actually it was a wonder that this house even stood as it did sense the people of Terra cared little for the vampires. This of course was not at all strange considering that any monster would cause fear and terror.

"Akio you wish to not involve ourselves with the conflicts that these so called 'mortals' get into but I think we need to remove our presence all together. Are you aware that a body was found within Wing City in which it looked as if one of our kin slayed a poor woman and drained her dry?" Louis spoke up only to then look levelly at the entire group present. The vampiric lawyer simply closed his book and stood up from his seat just to lean against the table. "If we are to still have the soiree then so be it but I believe we should fall upon the old ways and accept that a Masquerade is required in order to hide away from all of this."

Louis had looked over several documents and possible avenues of escaping this situation only to recall a hacker or two who would be willing to wipe clean his slate and allow him to move more freely to a new home or even another world if need be.

Zosimos pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He stared daggers into Louis, contemplating hard the return of the Masquerade. It wasn't the worst idea. It was far from the best idea. But, it was an idea. He swept his gaze next across the children. A dangerous thing, vampire children.

And then there was Anamaria.

Daemala flattened her hand to the table, "The ball will go on! I agree with our newest member, Akio," She nodded though her smile was a thin line, "I think you have grand ideas." She snapped her fingers and a servant scrambled to attention. Daemala whispered in his ear, he nodded and left.

"The coffers are yours," She gave Akio a small curtsy, glared at Zosimos, and plopped herself down with her tea. The Ball of Chaos would go on. Reisel slipped from the room.

"Of course I have resources of my own, and I have plans to get what we might need" he spoke to Remilia Scarlet, with a look between happy and invigorated. "After all, you cant have fun without a bit of effort".

After that, Dem spoke, and her words reached Akio clearly. Akio could not help but have a thin smile of his own when he heard that, and finished off his drink. But that thin smile was just a concealed great smile, as this meant he would be able to go all out with the preparations for the party. Surely enough, his mind and body were already in gear, and he could already see the extravagance play out before him.

"Excellent. Then let us go all out and ensure the chance for failure is less then zero, or as low as we can possibly get it".

Akio finished his other drink now, having started two drinks at once, and then stood up.

"After all, we are not ones who should hide, but stand tall and proud or else we will get pushed around and used. Let us stop hiding in the shadows that have imprisoned us, and move forward to forge our future".

At that point, in his smile which looked innocent on the surface, there was a feeling as if it was almost something sinister was being held behind it. Not evil, not malicious, not planning anything dark for the event, but rather, Akio's own ambitions were being fulfilled in some way. But Akio's ambitions were plentiful, so knowing which one they were would be difficult...

...and it would probably shock everyone to know it was partially just the childish desire to be praised.

"I will start making preparations at once" he said as he raised his wand, which looked like a staff taller then him. He did not carry this in here notably, nor did it summon. One could not even say it appeared out of thin air. It just appeared, at some gap when no one was looking. He waved it around, and then headed out. It was so that, should anything else occur while he was going off to prepare things, he would be notified of what was said.

"Let the fun begin" he muttered gleefully as he left to make the preparations.

"Then I shall take my leave." Louis offered his condolences as he stood up only to give a mock nod of respect towards his peers. The vampiric lawyer had heard plenty of this council and could only wonder why on earth things seemed to be so easily ignored. Vampires are and will always be cursed beings forced to walk to realms with a constant hunger and never truly able to enjoy life as it should be. Instead this Gala would once more happen allowing these dark creatures to prance around with others as if they had never been cursed or seen as a blight to the lives of those who actually had a pulse within their warm hearts.

"I wish to pull myself from this organization and take solace in my ideals." with those words Louis made his way towards the door and out of the Room of Reason and into the dark world. If the party went off with a hitch then maybe the Vankoryth Détente deserved so much more and yet Louis had other plans in mind.

Akio was the first one to enter, for a very drastic change, but that was probably because he was the one who called the meeting in the first place. He plopped himself on his bean bag chair, and then had the floor it was sitting on elevate to give him a better position. He was not sure how many would show up to his invitation, given how although he was likely older then most of them, he was new to the group itself.

However, they had an incredibly important topic to discuss. The defense treaty for Terra. Although Akio himself was not really enthusiastic about it, and he was very distrustful of mortals and to be fair anyone, he recognized the...uses...this treaty could have. Mainly, about how they could be seen more as equals, and solidify their own indepedence more. If they allowed this organization to go on with out them, to protect all of Terra which included themselves without them, then Akio could see it being used to say that they were lesser then them, that they needed protection, that they had nothing to contribute.

That sort of thinking and plotting could undo a lot of the work they did, such as during the Chaos Ball, and that was something Akio did not plan to allow, at least not without a fight.

"We absolutely cannot let this go on without some input ourselves. Yes, the Detente either has to be a part of this treaty...or, we must destroy it from becoming a force that will be recognized..."

Of course, Akio had no intention of limiting himself to one solution either. He believed there were only two choices for the Detente. To support it and become equals, or to destroy it entirely and prevent the risk from ever forming in the first place. The question was, what would the other members believe?

Louis Ancroft Vernon, The Prince of Montague's Gambit, arrived within the room wearing a sleek black Brioni suit with a red tie and accents to match his apparel and shoes. The vampiric lawyer simply dressed as was appropriate for someone of his station whilst looking with mild irritation at his peers who would arrive whilst keeping the majority of his ire in check as a cool indifference towards Akio Revela. Had his intentions not have been clear the last time he spoke to the majority within this room or did they simply forget or ignored the statement of wishing for this foolishness to end. Instead Mr. Vernon simply found his old seat and produced a few files to go over the legality of the situation before attempting to speak his ideals once more.

"I say we disband and allow the Masquerade to begin anew."

Louis finally spoke up regardless of whoever decided to listen. The obvious answer was to allow the entropy to take hold of what was present and begin again regardless of distractions or fears that the others might produce. The blood sucking lawyer simply brought his gaze around to each and every member who would be present only to collect his thoughts before speaking again.

"We are vampires, an undeniable truth, a majority of Terra and her inhabitants know of our existence only through the actions that we commit to here presently. I say we allow ourselves to fade from the public light and move to subtly change the directions of the political world around us......"

Louis paused for a moment to consider his next words only to take a needless breath and rise from his seat whilst resting his hands upon the table and leaning forward to look at his fellow councilors.

"Allow the Masquerade to come to fruition once more. Let humanity remember us only as a bedtime story to frighten their children into submission whilst we move among the shadows unseen and unhindered by the constraints of legal binding and pointless debate. I suggest that if we are to truly thrive we must consider how open we are to this world and public now and see how foolish it is to not expect any rogue with deathly intent to walk in here and attempt to kill us all."

Mr. Vernon simply frowned as he looked around only to then bring his cold attention over to Akio.

"Mr. Revela, forgive me, I have no intention of inciting a riot or creating an argument that would belittle your concerns of the current situation. In fact I pity and feel that this situation could have been remedied much sooner if my words had been listened to from the previous meeting. This is why I feel as strongly as I do about disbanding this sham and allowing things like ourselves to broadcast our intentions to the known public."

"He has a point," Daemala had arrived. She sidled into her usual spot, snapping her fingers, a freshly corked bottle of Blud brought to her. It was, after all, her drink.

"The mortals could give a damn, and this planet is hell in a hand basket. I think it a grand idea to fade from the spotlight-"

"But what of Verinotte Hollow?" Interrupted Zosimos, his eyes glittering. Daemala shot him an incredulous look. She opened her mouth to rip him a new one when she remembered her tavern, and instead bit her lip. Her tavern was like a child to her, the patrons exhaustive and the business ho-hum. The money, though, and having the front which she did...

"Ah, yes. We've created a haven for those like us and now we seek to abandon it. How very..." He flopped out a hand, "Consistent to the nature of what we are. We create, we destroy. We are as walking gods except we can still ourselves be destroyed. Tell me," Zosimos turned to Luis, "How would you see this castle haunted? How would you propose going underground, when the very nature of everything we've done has been to raise our status to equality-though facing the facts we were never truly able to be equal, were we?" He hissed this last sentence in Daemala's direction. She herself was a vampyric supremacist, though she tried her hardest to deny it in certain company.

"If we're speaking politics," He continued, looking now to Akio, "Fading from the spotlight as being what we are may not be in our best interests. The discovery of subterfuge is all too common in the modern day. No, we must be clever. "

Zosimos grinned, and Daemala shifted in her seat. She took a long drink from her glass and considered the options. For her, fading back into the shadows might be as easy as a change of hair. Not many, other than her staff, knew what she was despite the looming implications. Her mind began to churn.

"Wha'bou' the Hollow? I reckon we can't just be comin' up as our own, yer sayin. Disband th'wholatha govrment n' just what?'" Ulrich didn't say much, but when he did, he had good questions.

Out of this so-called "Pool of Nyx" popped a little lady, 4'5" (135 cm) in height, she quickly climbed out of the pool and flopped on the ground. After flopping on her stomach, she looked around in both awe and major confusion. She stood up and dusted herself off and shook her top hat out, which had released a couple minnows which were accidentally caught in the world she was in before.

"Ewww...Slimy fishies....Where did that weird water thing bring me? Ohhh! Look at the pretty flowers!"

Upon saying this, she'd go up to a bed of them and just stare at the flowers for a while with a big friendly smile on her face.

Terun had grown tired of the politics and macabre of the Castle Vankoryth, escaping to a spot nearby which he secretly loved. The Scarlet Devil Mansion's Garden was illustrious and grand, filled with exotic plants he loved to study. Suddenly a girl was ejected from the pool. She wore a top hat and was instantly attracted to the flowers, seeming not to notice the pale boy among them.

"Hello," Terun greeted her softly, "I like your hat."

The little girl's wings fluttered a little as she turned to face the pale boy who had called out to her. She first wore a face of confusion but it quickly became her usual, iconic smile as she threw up her right hand and enthusiastically waved at the boy.

"Hihi! Look at all the pretty flowers, mister!"

After finishing talking she begins to run around the place to look closely at every single flower, all with a wide-eyed look of amazement.

Terun watched the winged girl flit around the garden. He smiled, his little fangs exposing, for he hadn’t seen happiness like this in a while.

“This one is my favorite,” He pointed to a large violet flower, it’s bulbous and curling petals streaked with sparkling gold.

The girl turned around and admired the flower from afar as snow fell around her in the immediate range of a 1 foot diameter circle, centered around her.

"Oh wow! I didn't see that one! It looks so pretty!!" she exclaims as she hops up and down.

Back to the snow, it's more that she was freezing the moisture in the air without meaning and it was falling to the ground as snow.

"Hey, how are you doing that?" Terun marveled at the snow, getting up and moving closer to the winged girl. Snow didn't just fall like that! He wished he had cooler powers.

The girl looked around, at first with confusion, until she saw the snow and let out a short "Ack!" before making it all go away with a rather flustered flailing of her arms. The air was somewhat cooler around her by 10 degrees Celsius than the normal temperature would be. She turned back to face the boy.

"I... Um...I can do magic things...Though I'm not good at them and they tend to happen when I'm not thinking about it"