trusthell | Love of mine, someday you will die, but I'll be close behind

Please join us in the greenhouse should you feel able or need company. There will be food and comfort. None of us should be alone right now.

-Hanyuu, Jasper, and Silver

[That's the note that gets slid under everyone's doors after such a somber and saddening trial; it's not like it's going to be a big ordeal anymore given how few of them there are, but that doesn't mean that they should spend it alone.

The location of their setup is the greenhouse! ...The greenhouse has had a new addition; there is a massive blanket fort set up using an absurd amount of rope, blankets, and duct tape. The blankets span across three trees to make a considerable amount of space roughly shaped like a triangle for them to hang out under. Under the fort is a small pile of scissors taken from the sewing and art rooms. Next to them are a couple of flower crowns. They're relatively simple and don't involve many different flowers, but they're good examples of what the pile of scissors are there for.

There's also food, of course; a blanket is laid out on the floor with a large set of plates, a massive amount of eggs and rice, some of Elda's spicy fries, and... Sandwiches. Jasper's made everyone sandwiches, and the sandwiches are absolutely absurd in size due to how many cold cuts she's stacked into them. But don't worry! They aren't all meat. There's a lot of mustard, too. Luckily, they're still of a reasonably edible size.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How old was your father anyway?

[ When he died, of course. But- ]

He lived a good couple centuries, along with his brother.

How far back is that? To Queen Elizabeth?

[Pretty much the only 'old' monarch Watanuki actually knows.]

My Uncle lived in Urbino for some time when Federico da Montefeltro reigned, though he was born with my father in northern France. Our family attained our lesser nobility in my grandfather's day.... Truth told, I don't know the king in their youth.

[ . . . ]

Regardless, the point is that while it does irritate me, specially now, one fact becomes obvious: humans are the ones who drive society, and we vampires have ever followed. Neither can really be superior to the other, though.

I think it might be nice, for vampires to help drive society. Like you said, neither is superior to the other, so helping each other out would be great.

[Oh look he's done with that flower crown. It looks like it could fall apart easily but he tried. And now he's putting it on Elda's head.]

[ She... snorts at that. she snorts and then reaches a hand out to poke him in the cheek, digging her nail in ]

That would require those of us who are "immortal" to interact with "mere mortals," you know.

[ She grins ]

I suppose your romance can attest to that, though.

First off, I'm still human, and still mortal. My 'time' is just stopped.

[Yeah, have fun with that one.]

Secondly, there's nothing wrong with immortals and mortals interacting.

[He's not gonna protest the romance bit though. He really does love Orihime, and would never argue about it or hide it.]

Pretty sure that makes you more immortal than me! I still age.

Yeah, but you get all the cool vampire stuff. I'm just a normal human who doesn't get any older.

Kimihiro, you can grant wishes.

I've granted one wish.

[...wait.]

Two. Two wishes. That I remember at least. And I didn't even have to use magic for either of those.

... How do you grant wishes without magic?

[ :T ]

One of the wishes was 'I want to learn how to cook.'

[ . . . ]

Who the hell would wish for that?

[ She asks, adjusting her crown ]

Someone who actually had a lot of personal issues that were tangentially related to her cooking skills.

[Yeah, that. That whole thing was a trip.]

[ Weird.

... Well, whatever. ]

... So, Kimihiro. Are you going to make it through the night?

Yes, I'll be fine.

[He is absolutely not looking forward to sleeping alone for the first time in several weeks.]

...as fine as I can be, I suppose. I. It's weird, I know I'm going to see her again, but it still hurts a lot.

How do you know?

Because I promised to rescue them all, one way or another. That includes her.

So are you assured of that?

[ entirely? ]

Hopefully. I've been working on it for a while now.

[He's been doing stuff in secret.]

And I'd rather not think about the possibility of making those promises only to fail in the end. It's already depressing enough here.