week 4 ( monday )

[subordinacy]

[It's a bright new week (and by that I mean it's probably been an awkward start to the week for two certain plotters), and Setz is peering curiously at Worth Every Penne, because finally! A place to eat that isn't McDonald's again! But he's taking a look before he heads inside.

Yo, Akira.]

Comments

[subordinacy]

[sorry he's a socially awkward loser, akira]

O-Okay.

[???]

[purrtagonist]

[it's fine, he likes him anyway]

Pancakes.

[a cute maid is bouncing over to their table to serve them pancakes. they have whipped cream! and strawberries!! how delicious]

[no garlic]

[subordinacy]

... Looks good, I guess.

[purrtagonist]

Looks aren't the most important thing.

[it's taste]

[subordinacy]

True enough.

[He's going to take a bite, then??]

[purrtagonist]

[it's probably delicious? how does one fuck up pancakes]

[the Maid makes a cute face and winks at him as he takes a bite. Iyaaaaa, Master, how does it taaaa~ste?]

[subordinacy]

[.............

OKAY THAT IS WEIRD AS HECK AND HE JUST. Freezes up out of awkwardness.]

[purrtagonist]

[POOR. . . SETZ]

[leans over to mutter]

Acting like that is part of the job.

[subordinacy]

But... maids don't act like that...?

[purrtagonist]

She's a maid.

And she's acting like that.

[a beat]

I don't really know what to tell you, Setz.

[subordinacy]

[..............

HE'S JUST GOING TO IGNORE THIS ENTIRE THING and change the subject. And hope the maid goes away.]

... By the way, if you want to ask about the vampire thing, I don't mind. Now that you know, it's not really a secret anymore...

[purrtagonist]

[this is probably a safer topic than maids???]

Ah-- I did want to ask a few questions, but I thought it might be rude. . .

[he's never met a vampire before, sooooo]

[subordinacy]

Don't worry about it. I've kept it a secret mostly because I don't need people knowing they can incapacitate me by throwing enough garlic in my direction.

[purrtagonist]

[maybe he won't tell Setz about the time Ranpo suggested they do just that, even though it was mostly in jest :/]

I don't blame you. This is the kind of environment where you don't want people knowing your weaknesses.

. . . is that why the sky is different where you come from?

[subordinacy]

[are you sure :/]

Yeah. We used to live in the same world as humans... but a long time ago, vampires split into two factions: those who hated humans and those who no longer wanted to fight with them.

The latter ended up creating an artificial world for vampires to live in, away from humans. My... father [you know, the dick (even if he wasn't one at the time)] was a part of that group. I was born in the world they created.

[purrtagonist]

[I'M SURE :/!!!]

Ah. . .

[that's impressive?]

How did they manage to create an entire artificial world?

[subordinacy]

... One of the vampires then had the ability to turn dreams into reality. It [sort of] cost her her life to create our world, but in a way... it could be thought of as her dream.

[purrtagonist]

[oh. . .]

It must have been, if she sacrificed that much to create it.

[subordinacy]

[...]

Yeah. Well, the entire thing is... complicated, but that's the gist of it. The world negated our need to drink blood, which is why I haven't...

[Needed, uh, that. Akira gets the idea, hopefully.]

We haven't had contact with humans for centuries. Most vampires don't even know about their existence. I'd only met one before this Game, actually.

[purrtagonist]

[he does, no worries]

How'd you wind up meeting a human, if your entire species resides on a different world?

[subordinacy]

My household had access to a portal that leads to the outside—to our original world. When I was little, I... snuck through it a few times. I wasn't a very cautious child.

[purrtagonist]

[that actually gets Akira to grin]

Neither was I.

[he relates]

I bet sneaking out helped expand your worldview, though.

[subordinacy]

... Well, I couldn't explore too much. I would've been in grave danger if I actually encountered any humans, as red eyes, where I'm from, only belong to "monsters". They would've given me away.

Looking back on it now, I was very lucky that the only human I met was a boy my age.

[purrtagonist]

Obviously, the humans from that world haven't seen real monsters.

[Setz is the furthest thing from a monster in Akira's eyes]

Tell me about him?

[subordinacy]

[He blinks, a little surprised by the comment—but he appreciates it.]

... The first thing you should probably know is... [How to start this.] He had red eyes, despite being a human. The reasons why are pretty complicated, so I won't get into that, but they meant he was ostracized by those around him.

So we... became friends quickly. [Because they both had no one else.] But then he was going to be sent to an orphanage, and we were worried about being separated, so I...

[Ugh, this sounds worse when he recounts it as a teenager.]

I brought him to my world—the world of vampires. [He cringes a tad.] Which I suppose was a rather drastic move, but... I was six.

[All he'd cared about then was not losing his first and only friend.]