WEEK 7.

[trustwellness]

WEEK 7 Oerba Dia Vanille, Phi, and Gangrel have joined the deceased, dropping your number even further. This is the second week that the death toll has risen by three, just by way of murder alone. With well over half of your number deceased, how much longer can this go on? Saturday is given to regrouping and rest; on Sunday morning the clock chimes as it always has, but at least there are no bodies to find today. It seems you're safe for now. The night before wasn't necessarily a peaceful one, however; you'll probably feel a bit groggy when you wake up, and it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... As before, it seems that door at the bottom of the stairwell has been unlocked, allowing you to descend even further into the depths of the university; perhaps the new floor holds something promising for you. Or perhaps you'll "christen" this one with another murder. Given the current pattern, that probably wouldn't be a surprise. APPRENTICES REMAINING: 12

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[OOC: Welcome to week seven of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Wordsmith, you can do so through letters or the switchboard!]

Comments

[matchbreaker]

That's not very cynical of you, Hanyuu.

[ She laughs, still nuzzling her.

God she loves this woman. She is certain of it all over again, every morning. She wonders how silly she must look, sometimes. Maybe some of it is desperation... she hopes not. Elda Marker loves strongly though, and just as she once swooned over James Marker, now that she has flipped the switch, so to speak, and fallen for another- well.

There'll probably be a lot of hand nips. ]

[oyashiromama]

[Gosh, Elda is so bitey, Riku was never bitey! ...It makes sense, of course, it's just something to get used to.

It inspires a giggle, and she runs her other hand over Elda's forehead.]

I'm not feeling very cynical right now. Something horrible may still happen and tragedy can still strike, but it's not assured. Not as long as everyone works for their happiness.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . So like.

It's probably just the being tired, but there are definitely swimming bright eyes looking up at Hanyuu. Loving. Adoring. Swooning.

She loves being stroked like this. ]

You really do look best with a smile, Hanyuu.

[oyashiromama]

[Who would've thought that Elda's a huge softy? ...She should've, in their first conversation she just lost it reflecting over James.

Hanyuu hopes...at least a little...that she can-]

As do you.

[...Is- should she- caught up in the moment, she leans down and kisses Elda's forehead.]

[matchbreaker]

[ UM? YES? YES....

So this is a gentle moment, and Elda Marker should just savor that kiss. And she does, giggling, squirming. But once she savored it for just a moment, she reaches her arm up to wrap around Hanyuu's neck, keeping her down there so elda can lean up and plant a short, soft kiss on the woman's lips too. ]

[oyashiromama]

[Ah...!! Ah......!!! Hanyuu, you started this, you can't get flustered...! The moment the kiss ends, Hanyuu lets out a tiny au, her face red. Though she can't stay bent over for too long without it getting uncomfortable (and her hair, it's just everywhere), she doesn't seem to mind right now.

It's a gentle, nice moment, and she basks in it.]

[matchbreaker]

[ It's true, Elda's face is probably covered in hair tbh. There's enough hair here from both of them that there might as well be some hairy child here.

Either way though, Elda...

Is proud of herself? Basking in this moment, she can almost forget her dream. ]

[oyashiromama]

[Almost...

Hanyuu can't forget that Elda's regained something too. She can't forget that look. So, eventually, after some time of just staying there, she...]

Elda... What...what did you remember...?

[matchbreaker]

[ A.... ah. ]

... I remembered why we came into conflict with the Brownlicks. I had mentioned that, right? I returned from punishing those villains before Henry had to tell me something secret. Well, I now remember going to punish them, and saving Henry.

[ . . . ]

They had kidnapped Karin, you see. [ She... hm. How much of this does she want to tell Hanyuu. She doesn't want to hurt her? And the confusion comes up in the form of bringing a nail to her lips so she might bite it ]

[oyashiromama]

Karin...?! Your granddaughter, but- but why? [...WELL WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO TELL HER, SHE'S ASKING. It seems so much revolves around this poor girl...

Like Rika. Hanyuu worries for her, especially... She worries for Karin, and for what the memories might do to Elda.]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . She won't bring up that the half-breed she nearly killed was involved in that. That would be petty, at this point. Because at the time Elda nearly slew her, if she has her memories in order she did so before she even knew she was an enemy. ]

... The truth about Karin which I've now remembered is far stranger than if she were a half-- if she were half-human. [ . . . ] No, Karin... is a vampire that makes blood, instead of taking it. Her body produces and excess of blood that she needs to inject somewhere, lest it explode out of her.

[ . . . ]

[oyashiromama]

[Yes that'd probably be A Mistake.

The only way to describe Hanyuu's look is utterly baffled, because that just...goes against everything she's heard about vampires so all she can say is:]

Wh...what...? Has there every been someone like that before?

[matchbreaker]

[ Details amirite?

But Elda's face is just as puzzled, trying to work through her memories ]

I.... I don't know! I'd never heard of it, but we sent Calera back to her family home - the Armash family's a hidden family - to work out some more information, and I'd been studying James's journal to see if he knew anything he never told me. After all, he picked out Calera to be Henry's wife.

[ . . . ]

There probably has, based on what all we've figured out, but it's been a secret. [ that she can remember, anyway ]

[oyashiromama]

[So much of this is confusing, and poor Elda... Her memories all out of order. At least Hanyuu, so far, has had the luxury of hers seeming in order. ...Some missing decades but, well. She knows how those went, and she'd rather not recall the gory details.

She squeezes Elda's hand.] Why... What would another vampire family need with her, with what she can do? Do you have any idea?

[matchbreaker]

[ Thinking, thinking... think...

... And then, she's not sure if it's an epiphany or a collection of memories coming together but it hits her all at once and her face drains of color. She really appreciates the squeeze now because she says, in a strange, surprised voice: ]

Her blood. Her damned blood! It's a medicine! That's right, a blood making vampire's blood is a medicine for the birth rate!

[oyashiromama]

Wh- what...?!

[Vampire birth rates are something she has no idea about, and she stammers.]

Do- is there a need for such a thing...?

[matchbreaker]

[ She's only told a few people this, hasn't she- ]

There's only ... there's got to be less than three hundred vampires in Japan these days, and my family's the only one who've had more than two children since we moved to Japan. Hell, apart from them I'm pretty sure there's not ben a single child born in the last twenty years. And there were only a handful in the last twenty before that. These days, our number of dead actually outweighs the new births year in and year out.

[ > Vampires are dying off ]

[oyashiromama]

[...That sounds upsettingly familiar- okay, not exactly but there's an aspect of similarity.]

Why...? What's causing such a horrible thing?

[matchbreaker]

I don't know. No one really knows. The Assembly's been worried about it for decades.

[ . . . ]

[oyashiromama]

And...another family found out about Karin, and...tried to use her to solve their problems...

[That poor girl.]

Why not...just talk to her...? Ask her, let her know...

[matchbreaker]

... Isn't it obvious?

[ . . . Maybe it isn't. No, no. Hanyuu isn't a vampire, there's no way it could be: ]

I've said this before: Blood is life, to a vampire. Even a vampire as abormal as my granddaughter is. If you're producing blood, that means you're speeding up the production of your life. If you give that blood to someone, that means you're giving up some of your life.

[ . . . Karin won't last. Taking her blood, enough blood to actually make a difference to the vampire population: That will kill her. Would kill her, if they didn't save her. ]

[oyashiromama]

[...]

They wanted to...drain her dry.

[Horror dawns on her.]

belatedly realized (tw: implied potential rape) sorry

[matchbreaker]

Yes.

[ . . . There's more, Elda knows in the back of her mind. They would need to continue the bloodline, so they could control it. They would need to make sure Karin had a child before they killed her.

But she... can't bring herself to say that horror. The sheer idea of Karin's death like that is enough to make her curl in on herself in Hanyuu's lap. ]

NO WORRIES thanks

[oyashiromama]

[It's hard for Hanyuu to wrap her mind around, because it's horrifying, but... No, it makes complete sense to her. After all, Rika, for the past hundred years...

She runs her hands over Elda's head and back, soothingly.]

I... I'm so sorry...your family, that she has to experience this. When we are out, I... I want to do anything I can to help.

[She isn't sure what that would entail right now, but she knows if she confers with the others...]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Hah. That's so backwards.

In fact, it's so backwards Elda can't help but respond in kind: ]

I had intended to be your spear, you know. And here you are, offering to help with my family's burdens.

[ she said this into Hanyuu's stomach though, her head now turned to get the mot body contact possible. ]