"Right, well, enough of that. I'm interested as to whether or not you saw anything that maybe looked good, or even made you take a second look." Kyubi said as she stepped forward slightly, almost as if she was looking for the "sensitive material" he had been inspecting.

"Unfortunately not, a lot of the stuff I was reading was pretty unnatractive to be honest. I was about to give up and resort to asking the guys what they're into, but it's so damn awkward."

"Yeah, Gillian would just knock door to door and ask for people's opinions and ideas and Blanc would upload a poll to our slate network." Klaire agreed with the assessment that he didn't have a particularly good well of help to draw from.

"Maybe a cherub could help you figure it out? The issue is that they aren't fans of anything that isn't monogamy. I have an idea, why don't you try just watching us get started?"

"Kyubi, you just want me close enough to drag me into it."

"Well yes, but maybe that's what you need. You're a softie and you probably don't like the idea of neglecting one of us while you have fun with the other."

Klaire wasn't so sure about that line of thinking, but admired how reasonable she made the argument sound and was impressed that it even made Carl consider it for a moment.

"No, I don't think I'm ready for that, sorry."

The moment it was shot down, the selfish motivation behind the suggestion was revealed as Kyubi snapped her her fingers in frustration and bit her thumb.

"Okay, fine, but I've been a good girl and I need to start feeding soon since starving myself could cause underdevelopment to a growing vampiric banshee. So here's my idea..."

[ GROUP MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ALYSSE : UGH, SO I'M IMMORTAL NOW, LAME. GOT SUPER TIRED AND PASSED OUT AND NOW EVERYTHING IS TOO EASY. B-T-DUBS, THANKS FOR THE PERMISSION, I HAD A GREAT NIGHT WITH OMEDRA DESPITE TIAMAT'S BEST EFFORTS... NOT THAT GREAT, WAIT, GREAT BUT IN A SAPPY WAY, NOT THAT SHE ISN'T AS HOT AS YOU TWO... UGH! SHUT UP, SIGN THE CONTRACT, NO LOOKING AT IT THOUGH. ]

[ GROUP MESSAGE SENT FROM CARL : ALYSSE, BREATHE, WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE OVERBEARING. I MESSED UP MAKING HER MATURE NAIVE, BUT SHE CHOSE A GREAT HALF-GNOME. CONGRATS ON IMMORTALITY, PARTY WHEN WE GET BACK AND ABSOLUTELY NOT. YOU'RE MY GRANDMA'S FAVOURITE FOR A REASON, IF YOU WANT IT SIGNED WITHOUT READING, TEACH RAZIEL HOW TO MAKE THEM. ]

[ GROUP MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ALYSSE : SERIOUSLY, SHE'S AWESOME AND HOT AND AWESOME. CONGRATS WHAT, IMMORTALITY IS BORING. GOOD CALL, I WAS GOING TO GET YOU TO OWE ME ANOTHER ARTI. ]

After that brief exchange, he quickly told Tiamutael it was a false alarm and then he took a deep breath of relief and an anxious gulp as he wasn't sure whether the look in his paramours' eyes was for better or worse.

---Blanck, Sophie and Scylla---

"So, out of curiosity, and sorry if this is rude, but how long have you two been together exactly?" Scylla asked, not actually curious, just a bit uncomfortable in the silence that Blanc alone was enjoying.

"Not long, we got together after the packs had joined actually. From what I've heard we actually have Gillian to thank."

"No need to spare my feelings, Soph. I have Gillian to thank, you have him to blame." Blanc's words evoked nothing but a shake of Sophie's head.

"He does like sticking his nose in..." Scylla muttered. "...Can I ask a bit more? Is Blanc's personality common among blue caps? I heard they were quite social for spirits that liked deep and dark."

"They are, I'm just broken. Blame the orphanage, I wasn't strong enough to act in spite of my tormentors, that's why I admire Sophie so much."

Scylla bit her tongue, thinking she had stepped on a landmine for him. "Don't worry, he isn't gonna break down. He forgets that he's stronger than the average combat-type and could trounce most utility types without noticing."

"You're telling me..." Scylla growled. "...Gillian told me about your "hive dives", you could probably outclass me pretty easily. Are you bummed you won't get to burn the orphanages down?"

"Nah, I was, but this is better. We can make things right this way, same end goal less steps. Sorry, but why don't you ask what you want to ask?"

Sophie sighed as Scylla chuckled a bit nervously. "Sorry, I was building up to it. How do I help the faction? I've been thinking, but everywhere I look, there are people better qualified to do the job."

"You're being stupid, do what you can, where you can. Whether you do one job constantly or do an hour at one or two dozen. We need all the hands we can get and just because the jobs are specialist ones, doesn't mean that every task is. Data entry for basic reports, door to door support, cleaning the hospital, preparing food, making sure idiots like me, Carl and Sis eat when it's brought there.

If you want to do something, but aren't qualified, ask the person doing it to teach you or even just let you watch."

"Wow, you make it sound so simple." Scylla grunted to Sophie's amusement.

"It is, didn't you hear Gillian talking to Bakunawa? Talking is easy, listening is easy. If he as a mortal, can make an immortal learn, then the power of talking really is more than we give it credit for."

"Please don't use my fiancé as an example. It makes me very concerned about the future of the faction. Where abouts are we headed anyway?!

"Oh right, Carl told us about it at dinner once. Head south to the dead river, then head west to the bridge, then descend into the dungeon. At least that's where they used to be, but no one goes there out of respect, Carl just ended up there one day."

"Oh great, more mystery. I don't know how you guys don't care more, I prefer to know my leader, but ours doesn't even know himself. Scylla grumbled.

"You want to know Carl? Simple, he'll do whatever needs to be done, back when we nearly got Gillian killed he begged Kyubi and Lillim to help when something went wrong. He doesn't get caught up with pride, ego and appearances, he'll throw himself on the fire if it helps us stay warm."

"He'll also rip your species boogeyman apart if they try to attack our faction."

"Yeah okay, I guess I can't really argue with that one, Sophie. Did you ever tell him about that video?"

"No, I didn't, it's not the kind of thing he cares about and the immortals gave it a good look to make sure nothing could be gleaned from it that would be harmful."

"Still, maybe just seeing Carl wipe the floor with the mythical vampire king could be harmful. I don't really get all this, but surely there are some that won't like having the first of their species made to look like a toy. What if half-vampires start getting picked on?"

"It's not worth worrying about, we're not exactly common, there were three of us on all of SATS. In retrospect, we were probably only even made so that Dracula could spy on the humans and only permitted there so the humans could try and reach him."

"I guess that makes sense. On the bright side, he certainly won't be in a hurry to side with any of Carl's enemies."

After that, the conversation quickly died out, returning to Blanc's preferred silence. It was a painful venture for Scylla, who was used to the almost endless noise of Gillian droning on and on about everything with absolutely no filter on topic or sensitivity.

The truth was, she already knew pretty much everything about them because Gillian had told her. She hoped it might have been somewhat different from the way he had described, but finding out it was exactly that way was a little disappointing.

Carl was something of a sensitive topic to her as well, she hated how much Gillian talked about all of them to her, yet they knew absolutely nothing about her when she arrived.

She had gotten to know them better, but she couldn't help but feel that Carl was off in a way that she couldn't quite place and no one else seemed to notice. It was a frustrating endeavor she had taken upon herself to find someone else that shared that sense.

At first, she would have been lying if she said otherwise, but now she genuinely wanted to overcome it for Carl's own interest. She wasn't particularly bothered either way about him as a person and didn't understand why everyone else was obsessed with him, but she did respect him as her leader.

He had proven powerful, able to make solid decisions and impressions when it was needed and his ability to make allies and admit when those allies are better suited to a task made him effective.

What she didn't like, were those times when he seemed like a stranger, or something other than what he was usually.

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