Buffy the Vampire Slayer's A Perfectly Normal University Student's Socialization
Some Time After Grave Peril, Winter of 2001-2002
Billy Borden was out late again. Now, that wasn't exactly unusual for a university student, but most students (or people) were not going to go running around on all fours, especially not as a wolf. It had taken Billy and his pack quite some time to adjust properly to their lupine forms, and it was probably a good thing that they had learned from Tera, otherwise they may have ended up like those crazy FBI agents.
Well…Billy had to admit, deciding to run a werewolf patrol in the face of spiking crime was probably not the sanest decision. He didn't regret it though. Now he actually could do something about a problem he could only sigh about before.
That did come with risks, though, and most of his pack had collected some variety of scars, but that was worth the reduced danger of monster attacks on or near campus. At least, before Halloween. Things had gotten a lot messier since then.
Before, it was the occasional ghoul or some wyldfae, which weren't too big of a problem for a pack of wolves. The increase in vampire attacks on the other hand, was a bit trickier to deal with, especially with their skin suits. They still smelled wrong, but it was harder to pick them out when they were disguised. The fact that Greek life recruitment finished recently also meant the vampires had a lot more drunk prey to stalk.
The girl Billy and Georgia were tailing didn't look drunk, but she was alone and seemed completely unaware of her surroundings. They had sent Kirby and Andi to loop forward to make sure the vampire wasn't waiting to jump them or the girl. It did not help that the girl insisted on taking alleys and low visibility areas, not to mention her occasionally shaking them off her tail somehow, it was almost if she wanted to get jumped!
She turned a blind corner. Damn it! Stop making it so hard to help!
Billy and Georgia loped forward, following her around the corner, only to find no trace of the girl. Georgia chuffed in annoyance, and the two wolves stalked forward silently, noses twitching as they tried to locate either the girl or the vampire.
Kirby skidded around another corner down the street from them, bounding towards them, before screeching to a stop. Andi followed him shortly after.
Shit! Where'd the vampire go?!
The four wolves padded towards each other cautiously, sniffing the air–they were close!
Another alleyway split off suddenly to the right, having been hidden from view. The four wolves gathered around its entrance, before rushing forward.
The girl from before ambled towards a dead end nonchalantly as the bat-like vampire pounced from the side of the building–
A flash of light–Gah, his eyes!
The scent of blood fountained into the alley and a hideous screech echoed off the brick walls.
Billy thrashed his muzzle side to side and blinked his eyes clear. His vision returned just in time to see the alleyway painted with blood and the girl spring over the dead end wall, an eviscerated bat monster in tow–
Wait, what?
♤♤♤♤
Tania shut and secured the door to her ersatz laboratory. During the Second World War, the Manhattan project had taken place in the tunnels below the University of Chicago. Said excavations had since been largely abandoned by humans, and proved an excellent place to store these vampire corpses so she could study them more carefully, not to mention avoiding leaving such obvious traces of her…activities. Professor de Rossi most certainly deserved his doctorate!
It was just a public service (and not a bad habit)! These creatures were a menace that normal police could not handle, and while volunteering for civic duty was respectable, she was also getting paid, at least to some extent. At this point, Tania would strongly consider her Hunger taking a nap as payment rather than currency or a favor. How did others get anything done with this kind of incessant distraction?!
Unfortunately, Tania was not a zoologist, so all her impromptu dissection revealed to her was a few more weak points on the bat-like monsters (most of which would be difficult to exploit) and the fact that their flesh tasted as rancid as their blood. That would probably be the extent of what she could do, unless there happened to be zoologists, or even medical students, who would not be overly terrified by dead supernatural monstrosities.
She would have to find a more permanent solution to their corpses soon, maybe during a school break. For now, this would have to suffice. Tania slinked back out of the tunnels, making use of her improved night vision and supernatural grace to stalk unseen.
She pushed through an old, heavy door and returned to the darkened hallways of a surface building closer to her apartment. Hold on, why was there a light on in that room?
Tania flicked her knife out again, creeping slowly towards the potential threat, her Hunger rumbling back to the surface in anticipation.
Was that the smell of wet dog?
The door opened and a mostly undressed man glanced out, joined by an unusually colored wolf. What?!
The three stared at each other awkwardly, the man's face reddening in embarrassment, some traces of residual lust hanging over him. Huh, Tania knew American college students had a reputation, but even her sex-crazed family didn't do that!
She turned and walked away. It was not really her place to judge, given her family, and she wasn't supposed to be here either. Best to pretend they never saw each other.
"Hey, wait! This isn't what it looks like!" They were following her. Why?!
"What you decide to do in your free time is none of my business, good night." She picked up her pace.
"Huh? No, it's not like that dammit!"
"Whatever you're thinking we were doing, we weren't doing it," came a different, feminine voice. Tania whirled around, knife at the ready, causing the two–humans(?) to flinch backwards.
The man had been joined by a red-haired woman in a similar state of dress. Where did the wolf go?! Unless…
"We're werewolves, not…whatever you were thinking." Of course they were…hold on…
"It is not a full moon, or are you some other variant?"
"Nah, that's a loup garou, much nastier and less sane." Because of course there were different kinds of werewolves. "We just learned how to change our shape."
"Andi! You can't just blurt it out like that!"
"C'mon Kirby, she just saw us, and I'd rather not have animal control get called our asses. Plus," the red haired woman cocked her head accusingly, "she's out late where she isn't supposed to be too." That…was sort of correct.
"I will concede that much, if you like, and I will keep my knowledge of your nightly…excursions quiet, if you, in exchange, forget that I was here."
The two glanced uncertainly at each other, suddenly much more cautious of her. What in the world? They were more suspicious when she offered to do exactly what they presumably wanted?
"Kirby, Andi! What's going on?" Another man, dressed fairly normally, for a change, stepped out of the room (oh, it was a group event). He was quite short, actually shorter than Tania was, and wore large glasses that made him look like a stereotypical nerd. Appearances can be deceiving, especially about more licentious things.
He blinked in surprise upon spotting her. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Curious, somewhat suspicious, but friendly enough.
"It is a tad rude to demand my name before introducing yourselves, is it not?" Tania shot back.
The three werewolves glanced at each other cautiously, before their apparent leader continued. "I'm Billy, this is Kirby and Andi."
Tania smiled politely, which did not put them at ease. "I am Tania, pleased to meet you." She curtsied slightly, but did not take her eyes off of them.
This did not seem to mollify them in the slightest. They glanced at her jacket, then at her face. "This may sound like a strange question, but are you human? And are you really a student here?"
"Of course I'm a student here!" Tania exclaimed indignantly, "Do I look elderly enough to be a professor? I doubt I look like janitorial staff either." She narrowed her eyes at the three werewolves, "Are
you students here?" An answer for answer and a question for a question seemed fair enough to her.
"Um, yeah, we are…" replied Andi hesitantly. Was her original otaku assumption correct, and these people were simply bad at interacting with people?
"Okay, so you're a student," Billy cut in, his stance shifting into something more aggressive. Tania's Hunger curled defiantly, and she shifted her feet, debating if she should flee. "We've been patrolling campus, driving off some of the monsters that roam around–"
"Truly?" Tania interrupted, "That is a respectable endeavor." She hadn't really noticed, but it did make a degree of sense, as UChicago and parts of its nearby neighborhoods were noticeably safer than the surrounding area. If this was a normal world, the higher police presence would be a more likely explanation, but police were not a very effective deterrent against vampires. Another wolf slinked out of the room, this one a tawny yellow.
This situation was starting to get out of hand.
Billy paused, relaxing slightly. "Uh, I can't help but notice that you haven't answered the human question…" Kirby pointed out awkwardly, causing the werewolves to stiffen, eyes gleaming yellow.
Human question? What did the meaning of life have to do with this?! Tania didn't step back, retreating from a predator would result in a chase. What was it they had actually asked? Oh. "I was human, as of about a week ago. My condition has since then changed."
The werewolves did not relax, but ceased increasing their threat display. What the hell was wrong with these people?! Normal human interaction draws hostile reactions while admitting to not being human caused a neutral reaction. It seemed that furries being socially impaired was not inaccurate.
"What does that mean," mumbled Andi.
"Changeling?" asked a tall blonde as she shifted out of her wolf form.
"White Court Vampire," Tania answered honestly, since it seemed this group of people responded better to the obviously wrong answer. True enough, while they remained tense, they did not attack her.
Billy's eyes narrowed, "We were just hunting a vampire, but you don't smell like that one." Stupid! Stupid! She should have considered scent based tracking! Wait…
"Do you mean the Red Court Vampire?" The werewolves did not seem to recognize the term. "The bloodsucking bat monsters." That, they recognized.
"Yes, if that's what they are called–"
"What about it?" The blonde cut Billy off. Slightly rude, but getting to the main question was forgivable.
"I killed it."
"That was you?!"
"Dude, that was some Buffy the Vampire Slayer shit!"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Was that some sort of Ronin vampire obsessed with duels?
"Is that one of the 'dead but still pretty' characters?"
The werewolves, apparently offended by her lack of recognition, began attempting to explain the strange television show to her. Was that all that was required for them to consider her friendly? It seemed violence was still the answer with these furries.
♤♤♤♤
Did becoming werewolves affect a person's social behavior? Tania knew that wolves were pack animals, while human socialization was more familial or companion based. For some reason, the "Alphas" (and wasn't that an illogical nickname?) seemed to have concluded that since she was also a paranormal creature interested in nighttime service, she was part of their pack, or something.
Whatever the cause, Tania usually found herself encountering one of two members of the group on campus during the day. Georgia, the tall blonde werewolf, at least had the excuse of having a class in the same building and timeslot as Tania, the others' explanations were not as convincing.
Perhaps the male werewolves were simply affected by her Hunger? It seemed interested in them, but it did not push her very hard towards anything untowards. Which was probably a good thing, since she had somehow been roped into eating lunch at a dining court with the pack. Tania did not regret cooking her own food if this was the alternative (still far superior to K-Brot).
"Come on, Tania," cajoled Andi, "A girl like you
has to have some tips on using makeup." This was rather strange, Tania could not recall having such a conversation in middle or high school…though that might be more due to how aside from Molly and Karolina, she did not have that many female friends, and neither of them were particularly invested in it (though Molly did have quite a lot of practice covering up bruises).
"I suppose," Tania shrugged, "I have some experience, but I would hardly call myself an expert." Her elder sisters had taught the twins a
lot about physical presentation, of which makeup was a part, but she had never really put those lessons into practice, and Inari had grown to prefer more subtle touches as she matured.
Andi frowned, "Are you saying you aren't wearing makeup right now?"
"I am not," Tania replied, shaking her head, "I overslept slightly." Which was true, but would not have affected her use of makeup.
Billy and Kirby, who had largely tuned out the conversation, talking about some hobby of theirs, paused and glanced at her in surprise, while Georgia and Marci scrutinized her face. What was this about?
"Whoa, really?" Kirby blurted out, "is always looking good…uh…you know, part of the deal?" That was rather incoherent, but fortunately for him, it was clear to her he was talking about vampirism.
Tania shrugged, "Perhaps, it could also be genetic, my siblings are all considered rather good looking" After growing up around supernaturally well sculpted family members and the mostly attractive staff (and wasn't that quite…disturbing in greater context), her sense of what passed as good looks might be somewhat distorted.
The female werewolves looked at her with no small amount of envy. Tania did not quite understand; none of them could be easily called ugly.
Kirby failed to notice, and plowed on, seemingly remembering something. "Hey, are you related to Lara Romany?"
"Kirby!" chided Georgia.
"One of the creators of
Witchflight, what's wrong with that?!" he shot back.
"She is my elder sister," Tania supplied. She did not know why her eldest sister used her surname from a previous marriage as an alias, Tania did not know Lara to be that sentimental about her…conquests.
"Dude! That's cool!" exclaimed Kirby, "Does that mean you play
Witchflight?" Georgia turned beet red.
"As a matter of fact, I do." She
did write the rules, simplified or not, after all.
♤♤♤♤
To Tania's surprise, and mild embarrassment, there was already a sort of club for
Witchflight. Strictly speaking, it was a club for tabletop board games, but it had gradually been largely taken over by wargame players, and in recent days,
Witchflight had become the game of choice. It made a certain degree of sense, the typical college student was at the age where they were easily distracted by attractive people, meaning that Lara's marketing strategy had worked, which Tania was both happy about, given the money, and slightly miffed by, given the crude nature of the marketing material.
On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she would feel all that different if the game had been as widely popular with the usual demographic of middle aged men.
Speaking of which… "Professor de Rossi? I didn't know you were interested in this kind of game." Clubs did sometimes have a faculty sponsor, but Tania hadn't expected this club to be one of them. Though, perhaps this did explain why wargames were more popular than usual.
"Hmm, welcome, Ms. Raith," the copper haired man greeted, "It is good to see you again, it is especially good to see you having some fun." Was her social life so lacking that even lecturers were commenting on it?!
"Thank you, professor," Tania replied, slightly off balance, "but I must insist that your lessons are quite enjoyable."
"Yeah! Learning is fun!" chimed a lean student at one of the tables. Of course Charles was here too.
The professor chuckled good naturedly. "Just roll, dammit!" Charles' opponent did not seem to be as amused. Tania walked over to see what he was so annoyed about–oh, it was the irascible student from a while ago.
"Kyle, keep it civil," Professor de Rossi said reprovingly.
The angry student growled, "Fine, fine!" He gestured angrily at the board, "but you can't tell me it's not freaking stupid for him to be able to field this many units!"
"You have more guys than he does though," Billy pointed out. A quick glance at their armies showed that they were actually fairly even numerically.
"Yeah, sure, but he's got more better units, and better dice."
"He always says that," Billy grumbled under his breath.
It seemed that Kyle was fielding the Russy Federation, using a rather typical conscript swarm to hold ground, while using most of his supplies to support a large squadron of aerial mages centered around Katyusha.
"Hey now! I let you use my dice, and I usually roll pretty average. I've done the statistical analysis!" Charles rattled a handful of dice in anticipation.
As it turns out, he was running something a bit more unorthodox. Instead of investing heavily into the excellent firepower available to the Unified States as was common, he was leaning on Liberty Belle's ability to circumvent some command structure requirements to put more boots on the ground. Ah, and using Rangers for independent action. That…did give him a lot more elite infantry on the ground, with the trade off of lacking heavy firepower from artillery or mages.
"Screw you and your math! You're still cheesing!"
Charles waved at the angry player's Night Witch squadron, which had been forced to maneuver far out of position by the small reconnaissance and Ranger mage flights interrupting their pathing.
"Hey, you're the one with the death star blob, I'm just tying it up."
That was indeed one way to counter large squadrons. The smaller squadron would almost certainly be driven off or destroyed, but they could prevent the larger squadron from coordinating attack runs on the ground, where Charles' superior infantry, in spite of lesser numbers, was having little difficulty keeping the conscript units off of critical locations.
That…was not how she had intended for the Unified States to be played, but she supposed that having more independent units allowed for some unusual strategies, and Americans were known for being a bit unpredictable. It was just surprising to see someone choose to take more infantry in lieu of big guns.
"Fuck you and your suicide delaying squads! They should not be able to hold so long!"
"Normally, no, but Liberty buffs morale Army-wide. It doesn't help that the Night Witches are better at ground attack than they are at dogfighting or melee."
"That's pretty freaking broken man!"
"Eh, there are other ways to do similar things, but she's a bit undercosted for what she does, it's just that she doesn't really add much to the big guns."
The angry student scoffed, "A
bit undercosted?!"
"I mean, like, she hasn't done much this game besides rally and take a few potshots," a scruffy looking student commented. "Her attack is pretty average for a flagship girl."
"There is nothing legally or mechanically wrong with how Charles is playing, he is simply mitigating your strengths better than you are his," Tania commented. Charles shrugged, in thanks? The angry student whipped around and upon seeing her, reddened like a nail left in the rain and nearly choked.
"Huh, I think you're…like…the first girl I've seen interested in this game," the scruffy looking student rolled out awkwardly, as if he was intoxicated. If he could play this game in such a state it would be pretty impressive.
In a manner of speaking, he was also correct. "What the hell?!" growled the angry student. "Are you following me around just to piss me off?!"
"I don't even know who you are." That appeared to be the wrong answer as the irascible student puffed up angrily. It seems that he was just always this way.
"This is Kyle," Charles introduced helpfully, which did not improve the angry student's mood.
"Dammit Charles! Now she'll know how to find me!"
"Seriously, Kyle? Come on, Tania is not really the type to do that." A larger student (perhaps a few inches shorter than Mr. Carpenter) strode over with a pleasant smile. Huh, Xander was here too. From what little Tania knew of her amiable classmate, it wasn't that surprising to find him here, given his enthusiasm for history.
"Xander, you weren't there, she made Shirley eat dirt and didn't even look at her like she was trash!"
"She did tell me not to look down on her," Tania said in her own defense. The other students stopped and stared at her in confusion.
Charles snickered loudly, drawing Kyle's ire towards him. But Charles was not fazed by the glare, face turning serious for a moment before bursting into laughter. "What? Shirley was acting like a bitch and picked a fight with a fifteen year old and lost to the sidewalk, I ain't gonna feel sorry for her."
"She also tripped, which is not illegal and had nothing to do with me," Tania added.
"She cried for like an hour after that! Don't you have any sympathy for her?" Wow, what kind of favor allowed such a failure to get into UChicago?
"Sure," Charles replied, "I have an idea what she was feeling, which is why it's hilarious. She got jealous of a fifteen year old for stealing your attention and then fell over."
"That's a little harsh, isn't it?" asked Xander, looking confused. "What exactly happened, anyways?"
"Charles is largely correct," Professor de Rossi finally interjected, having apparently been content to sit on the sidelines until now. "Kyle and Shirley were a bit agitated due to…unsatisfactory interaction with the Greek societies that day, and so the debate was already quite heated when Miss Raith here joined in." He glanced at Kyle and Charles reproving. "After which, Shirley took offense to some of her comments and ran towards her before falling over, which, as Miss Raith pointed out, is not a crime."
He held up a hand, cutting off Kyle's incoming retort, "Whoever was at fault then does not have any bearing right at this moment." Professor de Rossi strode over to the table and glanced over the pieces more thoroughly, before looking back at the angry student. "If you wish to concede, be a good sport about it, alright?"
Kyle sighed, "Fine, fine! I'll just play the damned game." Charles finally rolled the handful of dice he had been shaking the entire conversation, and Kyle groaned upon seeing the results. "God dammit! My luck is terrible."
"With the ladies," appended Scruffy.
"You know what?" Kyle growled, "I think you've got me Charles. Shaggy, I'm going to beat you up."
The scruffy student shrugged, "Ok, we've got enough time for another game, I think."
That whole business finally concluded, Tania and the two werewolves made it an empty table and began unpacking their miniatures. Xander and Charles ambled over, somehow having gotten to the topic of badgers.
Kirby seemed to have built a list around Lone Star and assault troops, while Billy had a combined arms Germanian list, headed by Silbervogel…Tania kept herself from glaring at the miniature, but only just. Damn meddling sisters! She had done her best not to touch that miniature, it was too eerily similar to what she remembered of her past life, even technically a child soldier, though not nearly as young as she had been.
Her own preferred list was a Lechland force led by Wiktoria and a few Wings of Hussars for their excellent dogfighting skills, anchored by the dependable, if relatively poorly equipped Lech ground forces.
As she unpacked her sculpt of Wiktoria, Charles blinked and narrowed his eyes at it. "Hey…haven't I seen that mini before?" Tania glanced at him in confusion.
"Heh, good ol' Wiky, I see you like aerial combat too!" Xander gave it a cursory appreciative glance, while Charles scrutinized it closely.
"Really nice paint job you got here," he complimented, before frowning. "You know, it looks a hell of a lot like the mini on the rulebook."
Oh. It actually was. "Yeah, I haven't seen any other base like it before!" Charles glanced up at Tania curiously, before his face blanked in startled realization.
"Wow, I'm retarded!" he laughed. "Your name's on the first page of the rulebook!" To be fair, most people tended not to read that page.
"Wait, she's
Tania Raith! I didn't know this game was written by a kid!" She was around seven when she first wrote the basics of the rules, it had taken a lot of refining to get it to the acceptable state it was in right now.
The room exploded in noise, and Tania blinked in surprise as she was suddenly swarmed by
Witchflight players. Oh no. Did this turn into a fanclub?
"So why did you make the Empire include both Germany and Austria, was having two Germanic factions too boring?"
"Why did you pick pin-up girls to base the flight mages on? Not that I'm complaining. "
"Why are distances measured in these weird, arbitrary sticks?"
This…was going to take some time. Needless to say, she didn't actually end up playing a match that night
♤♤♤♤
By the time the club members began to leave for the night, Tania was oddly exhausted. Just how does Inari manage to interact with so many people without ending up so fatigued?! Sometimes Tania envied her little sister's seemingly boundless energy, not to mention her ability to effortlessly befriend nearly everyone.
On one hand, the amount of curiosity the players of
Witchflight had was a good sign for its future prospects, at least with this demographic. On the other, it would have been better if the question session had been more organized. Though, to be fair, many of their questions were actually pretty reasonable, including a few cases where the rules were not written with as much clarity as she thought. They should set up a system for collating player questions and publish corrections or FAQs, perhaps in some sort of yearly or semi-yearly print? If she remembered correctly, some other large miniature sellers did something of the sort.
She took a breath, then stepped out of the women's bathroom and headed back to collect her miniatures and other accessories. Professor de Rossi leaned against the wall near the door to the room the club was using for the night, apparently waiting for her.
"Is there something you need, Professor?"
The older man sighed, "Not exactly, I just wanted to ask if the boys were making you uncomfortable, they can get a little pushy about these things. They are mostly decent kids, so try not to hold their…enthusiasm against them, if you can."
Tania shrugged, "I admit, their…enthusiasm…as you say, was a bit unexpected." She grinned, thinking about the potential future sales, "But it does bode well for the future of the game."
The professor looked at her questioningly. "That may be true, but I was more asking about whether they seemed untowards in their behavior."
Tania shook her head, "If what I have seen of them holds true, they may be a bit rude when riled up, but most of their questions were relevant and reasonable."
Professor de Rossi raised an eyebrow, "Even the demands you dress up like Silbervogel?"
Ah, right, Tania was trying to forget about that. She groaned, "My sisters modeled her after me. I try not to think about it."
The Professor snorted, "Sounds like them." He glanced to the side thoughtfully, "That outfit is actually fairly tame for something they designed. Though to be fair, the source material is…not the most conservative clothing."
Tania's right eye twitched, "The original design my sister showed me was…ridiculous." It could barely be counted as clothes, let alone a flight suit, at least the final design could pass for a uniform!
Hold on…She narrowed her eyes at the Professor, "You have met my sisters?"
He nodded, "I have encountered Lara before, I see you share some of her determination, if channeled into a different direction."
"In what capacity?" Tania knew her eldest sister had some…less than reputable dealings in the past, and it was a strange thought that the apparently straight-laced man would know of Lara in that persona.
Professor de Rossi hummed thoughtfully, "Most recently, when was it? Ah, I believe it was about some objects of historical interest from Italy. Some letters dating back to just before the First World War, if I remember correctly." He looked back at her, "Your family has a long history."
That was true, and Tania knew that their family had their fingers in some historical excavations from what she saw of their finances. She hadn't known Lara was that specifically interested in such things though, unless…
"If it is not too rude to ask," she started, continuing at the amused look in the professor's eyes, "were you one of my sister's…lovers at one time?" Why did she ask that?! She really didn't need to know this kind of information!
Professor de Rossi laughed, "No, my wife would try to kill me." He paused, a glint of amusement in his eyes and his elaborate mustache tilted upwards in a slight grin. "Though, she would probably agree to such an arrangement before trying to kill me. Crazy minx." He shook his head.
Tania wasn't sure if he was talking about her sister or his wife. She thoroughly regretted bringing up this topic of conversation, though…the Professor might be the man least affected by Lara's charms that she had met. That spoke well of his commitment to marriage, perhaps to agreements in general?
"All that aside," he continued, giving her a serious look, "I do owe your sister a favor, so if you need any assistance, such as in the case of a similar incident to what occurred with Shirley, feel free to call me." He passed her a business card. Ah! Networking! Tania had expected it to take a bit longer, but it seems like it was a start. She took the card thankfully and the Professor leaned over her conspiratorially. "Of course, there are some things I need not tell your sister if she asks," he added with a smirk, "just let me know."
Tania smiled up at him, glad to have made a good first impression on a faculty member. She was definitely going to take one of his classes at some point, perhaps a history minor? It was a shame the economics professors didn't have these kinds of hobbies. "Please don't tell my sister of my lack of romantic interests, I am still too young to seriously consider such things."
The Professor nodded, smiling slightly. "That is fair, you are a very bright young woman, and there is no need to have
all parts of your life be advanced as your learning. That is, unless you have a sweetheart you plan on eloping with?"
Tania boggled at him, "What?! No! Why would you think that?"
Professor de Rossi laughed, "Well, I can tell your sister that she need not fear for your virtue."
"That isn't what she's afraid of," Tania grumbled mulishly.
"Hmm…I suppose that is true, your sister might say Lust is a virtue, in which case she might despair if you do not leave behind a string of broken hearts."
Tania tried not to think about the hearts she had examined from her kills. "Let her despair, then," she frowned, "or better yet, just tell her I've made some friends." Hopefully Lara would not start trying to set her up on a date, like she tried with Jayden and Connor. Fortunately, both of them had thought that to be a little creepy.
The Professor snorted, "She would be overjoyed that you have a little fanclub now, especially since quite a few of them are unused to female attention, particularly positive."
Lara was almost certainly going to draw the wrong conclusion from that. Tania pursed her lips, "On second thought, it'd be better if she didn't know about that particular fact."
Professor de Rossi nodded solemnly.
♤♤♤♤
January 2002
Tania wrapped her burgundy jacket around herself a little tighter as she and Inari stepped out of Saint Mary of the Angel's into the brisk Chicago winter, but it wasn't because of the cold. She has actually grown fairly comfortable attending Mass there, as it was a solemn place where she could be sure most of her family wouldn't bother her. Ever since she had turned, another world has opened up to her, and she was forced to confront the fact that there was very real power in this place, to the extent that entering the church was enough to quiet her Hunger. Part of her feared that time would stop and that Accursed Being X would show its face, or that she would be struck down on the spot.
Her sister had no such reservations, in fact, she almost glowed, a bouncier spring in her already upbeat step. Tania told herself that was because of what they were planning on doing next, but that thought rang quite hollow. Inari took to the Carpenter's Faith quite seriously, to the point where people could be forgiven for thinking she was actually one of the Carpenters.
As such, attending Mass was the most consistent event the twins did together, now they were at seperate schools, and in effect, living in different worlds. It was hard to hide things from Inari, both in the sense that Tania hated the thought of her little sister unknowingly running into (or becoming) a monster and that Inari was a lot more perceptive than her cheery attitude might suggest.
But telling Inari the truth would almost certainly put her in greater danger. Her twin imprinted on Mr. Carpenter too much, and she lacked a large sword to fend off the things she would undoubtedly wish to defend people from.
Fortunately for Tania, her sister took her pensiveness to be caused by today's planned activity: shopping for clothes. In her second life, malnutrition and combat stress had stunted her development. In this life, without any of those barriers, and with their family's impressive genes, puberty hit her hard, and it wasn't through with her yet.
None of her clothes fit properly anymore (unless she wanted to look like a prostitute or professional titillator), she kept on bumping into things, and some of the pains had been so bad that her professor has actually sent her home, making her miss class! At least she wouldn't be mistaken for a child in this life, nor would she likely ever be confused for a male, something that she thought should have bothered her more, but it seems she had become accustomed to it.
"Oh come on Tania, it won't be as bad as you're thinking!" Inari snaked her arm around her twin's neck, pulling the two cheek to cheek. "It'll just be you and me, Sis, and I'm not going to foist the stuff Lara or Lisa wanna stick you in on ya." She winked conspiratorially as she pulled back. "No matter how good you look in it!"
Tania endured her twin's affection with due grace, responding with a playful nudge in turn. Whatever anyone said, the claims she enjoyed such cuddling were lies and slander!
"It won't just be us, though," Tania replied, "Margaret and Rosalina will be coming with us, and so will Andi and Georgia."
Inari grinned, and Tania was struck by just how brilliant it looked now that her twin no longer looked like a child. Was she going to have to threaten unwanted suitors soon? Were there ones already in need of threatening? "I'm so glad you've made friends at school, sis!" Never mind, Inari should be perfectly capable of dealing with unpleasant humans herself.
"Don't give me that look, Tania," Inari pouted, "we both know that between schoolwork and socializing you're gonna pick schoolwork two out of three times," her nose scrunched up adorably, "maybe more like eighty percent if I'm not there to drag you off your butt before it falls asleep!"
Despite the insult to her social skills, Tania couldn't help but laugh. This was just Inari's way of fussing. "I don't have the same boundless patience for people you do, sister." She gave her twin a sly, side-eyed glance, "Do I need to remind you to keep track of your studies?"
Inari huffed indignantly, "They are going perfectly fine, thanks for asking!" She held her face in an offended scowl for a second before breaking into a fit of giggling. Tania laughed with her, she did not
giggle.
They walked into the parking lot, heading towards the van that Georgia and the Furries ('Alphas' was just such a silly name…though it did help cover as a fraternity offshoot) used for their extracurricular activities. Inari had even managed to rope everyone else into attending Mass, and odd as this was, Tania supposed it wasn't that surprising for werewolves to be vulnerable to puppy eyes.
Rounding a pickup truck (Americans and their large vehicles!), they spotted the "Scooby" van, as Andi called it. They also saw Margaret Carpenter and Rosalina Ferrari at odds once again.
The two young women were squared off in the parking lot, a confused looking Georgia and Andi holding back the taller red haired girl, while Margaret's brothers tried to calm her down. Strangely enough, it was Matthew who looked agitated, while Daniel looked resigned. Tania palmed her face. "This was a mistake."
Inari frowned, "I don't see why they just can't get along. Alina's always really nice around me!"
"Inari, most everyone is nice around you." Even people as…mind controlled as John and Jane Doe. Anyone that was not kind to Inari most likely had no soul.
"Well there's an easy solution then!" Inari strode forward determinedly. "Oh, stop it, you two! There's no need to fight."
The male Carpenters glanced at her in relief, and Margaret and Rosalina
did actually immediately tamp down their anger. Georgia and Andi stared at Inari like the world had inverted, before realization dawned on their faces and they remembered Tania had an identical twin.
This reaction was always rather amusing to watch. Tania didn't usually tell people she met that she had an identical twin. Honestly, she had gotten so used to Inari's presence in her life that she sometimes forgot it would be confusing for other people, as it was rather hard to confuse yourself with your twin, unless you were trying to pick each other apart in a photograph or the like. Tania and Inari also never bothered to act the same, so it was typically quite easy to tell one from the other.
Margaret scoffed, "There'd be no reason if this creep stops hanging around my brothers like some lunatic stalker." Daniel sighed and shook his head, while Matthew glanced between his irate sister, the similarly angry redhead and Inari, clearly unsure of what to do.
"Oh come on, Mollywobble," drawled Rosalina, provoking an irritated hiss from Margaret, who hated being called a nickname, "You don't own your brothers, they are allowed to have friends of their own."
"Yeah right, you want to be
friends," Margaret sneered, crossing her arms, "That's why you follow us around all the time."
"Alina!" Inari chided, "Don't you remember what we talked about? Stop antagonizing people when you don't need to, it's rude, and you're gonna get in trouble one day!"
The redhead scowled, but didn't respond. Margaret scoffed, "One day? I'm surprised she hasn't been expelled for assault already." Rosalina glared at the younger blonde, but Inari's disapproving look kept her from interjecting.
"That goes for you too, Molls!" Inari rounded on her first friend, "If you think there's a problem, you know you can bring it up with your mom or dad, right?" Rosalina blanched, while Margaret sighed.
"To be fair," Tania commented, "if you are looking to pick a fight with Mr. and/or Mrs. Carpenter, stalking their children is a good bet." She doubted that Mr. Carpenter would seriously hurt Rosalina, but Mrs. Carpenter was a different story. Rosalina schooled her expression, but the thought clearly unnerved her; she must have an idea of how dangerous they could be.
"Uh, for what it's worth, she doesn't really do anything, just kind of sits and stares off into space," Matthew chimed in, finally having enough of people talking about him as if he wasn't there. "I know that's pretty weird," he continued quickly, as the group collectively gave him a questioning look, "but she doesn't ever talk to me, and she usually doesn't even look at me."
Was…Rosalina…shy? That did not compute. Inari tilted her head questioningly, "Alina…being quiet? Matthew, what did you do to her?"
The younger Carpenter flushed, shaking his head in denial, "I didn't do anything to her! Well, aside from asking if she was okay." He glanced over to Rosalina quizzically, "Unless you've never gotten asked that before?" The older girl looked away awkwardly.
Daniel coughed, a tired look in his eyes. "Please tell me you aren't going to drag us along for this trip too? There's no way we can carry all the stuff you all will end up buying." This shopping group was continuously expanding.
"Perhaps we should be on our way," Tania suggested firmly, "We only have so many hours in the day." And it was probably best to get started before they ended up attracting more interested shoppers, particularly Mrs. Carpenter. That woman was true to her name with what she had, but by God she collected coupons like ammunition.
The less agitated members of the group quickly piled into the van, dragging Margaret and Rosalina with them, making sure to keep them as far as possible from one another. To their chagrin, Daniel and Matthew were dragged along as well. This was going to be awkward.
And it was, but not for the reasons Tania expected. Neither of the Carpenter boys were fazed by the girls shopping for some personal items (they still pointedly avoided standing near the changing room), though that may have been due to annoyance at being made to carry their sister's selections, and Rosalina's for some reason. Tania carried her own selections like a normal person, which got her some thankful looks from the two boys.
Instead, what turned out to be awkward was how uncomfortable Andi looked when discussing cost. Georgia, Tania and Inari were from very affluent families, and while the Carpenters were not absurdly wealthy monetarily, Margaret and her brothers had known the twins for a long time, so they were more used to it. Not that Tania or Inari were known for collecting closets full of frivolous clothing.
It seemed that Andi's family was not nearly at the same level of wealth. From what Tania remembered, she probably would not have been able to attend UChicago without some scholarship grants. Respectable, but it meant that she also did not have as much money to spend on accessories.
Georgia offering to cover her costs had helped, but also appeared to embarrass her. Tania understood that feeling, charity was respectable, but having to depend on it was not good for one's self image, and taking advantage of it was reprehensible.
Rosalina also did not know what to make of herself. Her family was quite wealthy, so it was not the prices that concerned her. Rather, it was the atmosphere of the stores (she didn't like the "hoity toity" rich places) and her strange attempts to impress Matthew. Tania had no idea what the redhead found so fascinating about the younger boy. Not that Matthew wasn't perfectly respectable, especially for his age… She was starting to see some of Margaret's concerns.
"So, what do you think?" Rosalina asked, dressed in a garish array of colors and an odd combination of clothes that seem to strongly offend Georgia's and Andi's sensibilities. Even Inari wrinkled her nose at the ensemble.
"You look like a pile of construction paper scraps," answered Daniel in an annoyed tone, keeping between his brother and the older girl, who glared at him. Tania didn't quite understand why some of her female friends(?) asked for these opinions and got angry when they received them.
"I think you look fine," Matthew chimed in around his brother, ignoring Margaret's abortive motions from behind Rosalina. "The clothes would look better if they matched though. I don't think the polka dots fit very well with the dress pants."
Margaret bit down a frustrated growl, Inari covered her mouth with a hand to smother her laughter and Georgia and Andi shared a surprised glance. What was she missing here? Tania and Daniel shared a look of mutual cluelessness, while Matthew continued making some suggestions and Rosalina's face reddened almost to the same point as her scarlet hair.
Tania prodded her Hunger, which metaphorically sniffed Margaret's anger, Inari's amusement and the two werewolves' surprise and sight envy? What? Tania and her Hunger shared a metaphorical shrug over Rosalina's abject embarrassment, both agreeing that Daniel's clear desire to go home was the most reasonable.
She stepped over to her twin, trying to ignore the strange byplay. "This should be enough for the two of us." Tania lifted her handful of bags, failing to catch Inari's attention, as she was too busy eying Rosalina speculatively, though with less amusement than before.
Inari blinked and glanced over to Tania, biting her lip in thought. "Hmm, you're probably right, Tanya, I think we're not done growing yet, it might be best not to get too carried away."
That wasn't actually what Tania was thinking, as she had simply had her fill of clothes shopping for the day, but did seem quite rational, if their sisters were anything to go by. Though the younger twins were still a lot more lanky and coltish than their more filled out siblings.
"Damn it Matt—!"
"Language, Marge!"
"Oh, shut up Danny! Matt you don't have to be nice to her, especially not when she's dressed like she's colorblind! Who mixes mauve and puke colors?"
Rosalina blinked. "I'm wearing green?" she muttered under her breath, soft enough that only Tania's sharpened senses picked it up. How odd, Rosalina was definitely not colorblind, as far as she knew.
"Marge!" Daniel snapped, "Chill out before we get security called on our asses!"
"Language," commented Matthew drily.
"You chill out!" Margaret shot back, "He shouldn't have to deal with a creeper!"
Inari pouted petulantly, making to interrupt.
"Hey!" Matthew interjected, "We should go get ice cream, maybe cool down a bit?"
The group blinked at him in surprise. Margaret and Daniel looked slightly chastened while Rosalina shivered like someone had slipped ice down the back of her shirt. Tania chuckled, nudging Inari slightly. "The youngest one here, and already so mature."
Her twin hummed in agreement, "Yeah, I think he'll make a girl really happy one day." Possibly, Matthew was diligent and respectful, but that did not necessarily mean he would be successful romantically. Margaret's awkward attempts suggested that even having such a properly functioning example was no guarantee of the lessons transferring.
"I imagine he will be more successful than Margaret in that regard, or at least more stable," Tania muttered to her twin.
Inari elbowed her reprovingly, "Tanya! Don't say that, Molls is sensitive about it."
Unrepentant, Tania shrugged, "I'm not sure why she puts so much stake in such things. We are still a bit young for serious relationships, and the only ones of our friend group who's had longer term romantic endeavors were Jayden and Karolina." From what Inari told her about her new friend, Rosalina hadn't had much success there either, and Tania could see why.
"Good idea, Matt, I'm getting sick of carrying all this anyways," Daniel turned and marched out of the store and headed towards the mall's food court, leveraging the power carrying his sister's selections gave him.
"Hey, get back here!" Margaret rushed after her brother, successfully distracted from the original source of her ire.
Matthew smiled apologetically up at Rosalina, "Sorry about them, they take being older siblings very seriously." He paused and shrugged his shoulders, "I do too, I guess, but I don't think you want to do anything bad to me. If you need help, you can just ask." He then left waddled after his siblings, still carrying a couple large bags, leaving the older girl sputtering.
Georgia and Andi, having already made their purchases, left with them, most likely also desiring to leave the awkward situation. Tania and Inari glanced at Rosalina questioningly. The redhead grumbled and went to change back into her own clothes. The twins eyed each other, before nodding and following her.
Leaning against the wall outside her stall, they waited for some of the muttering to die down before interjecting. "Rosalina," Tania began, "what exactly are your intentions with Matthew?"
Rosalina let out a frustrated sound, "Why does everyone think I'm a creep?" Tania had not made any such accusations. "It's just weird, I haven't met anyone as patient as him, even adults!" the older girl went on, "How is that possible?!"
Inari frowned, "Seriously, Alina? That's what bothers you about him? Not how he seems to have a bit of a crush on you?"
"Wait, what?!" Rosalina shrieked, something clattered noisily against the wall within the stall, "No, no, it's not like that! Wait, is that what everyone else thinks?! Fuck!"
Tania nudged her twin reassuringly as she flinched from the outburst. Inari was usually quite good at reading people, but Tania's Hunger did not detect any such affection between the two. "I think Matthew is similarly understanding with most people, Inari." She paused, glancing at the stall, "Which, as you say, Rosalina, is rather unusual for most anyone."
The redhead snorted, "You know, coming from you, that kinda means a lot?"
"What do you mean?" huffed Inari, puffing her cheeks out in outrage.
"Hey, come on," Rosalina said placatingly, while swinging the stall door open, "you two are pretty weird too." She had changed back into her original clothes, which, now that Tania paid more attention to them, were also an odd mix of colors. Perhaps Rosalina simply had strange aesthetic tastes.
"Hmmph!" Inari crossed her arms and pouted, "If you want to keep picking fights with Molly, you shouldn't do it in public." Her eyes widened with an idea, "Hey, I know! Maybe you should try fencing with her, then you can get all your frustrations out in a more constructive manner!"
Tania and Rosalina gave her a skeptical look, to which Inari just shrugged, "Hey, it worked for Jayden and Connor." That was true.
Rosalina just scoffed and shook her head, "I'm gonna go get ice cream." She actually did buy the clothes, but Inari picked out the colors.
♤♤♤♤
"Oh, uh, fancy seeing you here, Georgia."
The blonde in question eyed her boyfriend pointedly as he shuffled his feet awkwardly. "What was that you said about being too busy to go shopping with me?"
Billy waved his hands placatingly, "Hey, you never told me you were going shopping! You just asked me if I was busy today, and I said I was. If you'd said you were coming here I'd have suggested we come together."
"I mean, you could still go shopping together," Inari suggested, "but what were you doing here anyways? And who are you, person I haven't met before?" She waved happily, as she tended to do when meeting a new person.
Billy stared blankly at Inari, doing a double take as he saw Tania over her shoulder. Georgia sighed, "This is my boyfriend Billy, he's a dork."
"Hey!"
"Don't deny it, you nerd," Georgia prodded affectionately, "and Billy, this is–"
"Hi! My name is Inari, and it's nice to meet you!" Inari waved again, undeterred by Billy's poleaxed expression.
"She is my identical twin, if it was not already obvious," Tania commented, moving to stand next to her twin. "She is a lot more excitable than I am." Inari bumped her slightly in protest, and Tania scoffed, giving her a challenging look. Inari puffed out her cheeks in outrage, but did not deny the truth.
Billy nodded, still off balance. "Uh, me and a few other friends were checking out the game store here. Something about ten-sided dice." Georgia raised an eyebrow, her hands on her hip. "And the new Witchflight releases."
"Oh, hey! Georgia, Tania," Xander greeted as he and Charles walked back to Billy's table with ice cream in hand. He handed a cone to Billy, while Charles slid some change over to the werewolf. Ah, so that was who he meant.
"Good guess, Billy, you only had a nickel over." Charles waved at the group of girls, "Fancy seeing you here too, Tania…?"
Upon seeing Inari the two men shared a confused look. Tania and her twin had been through this reaction enough times they'd lost count, but Inari still found it funny. True to form, she could not stop from giggling.
Xander, amiable as usual, just smiled. Charles looked at Inari then at Tania, waved at Tania, then looked at Inari again, before he nodded.
"Are you Inari or Lara Raith?" he asked, "I had assumed you were related, but I didn't know you had a twin, Tania, or are you triplets?" He must have gleaned that from the rule book.
"I'm Inari! Lara is our big sister!"
"Nice to meet you Inari," Xander said, offering to shake her hand. Inari grinned, shook his hand, then dragged Charles into a handshake as well.
"Nice to meet you too! It's nice to see Tania's making friends at school!"
"Huh, how'd you figure we're her friends? Are we friends?" Charles glanced at Tania questioningly. She nodded magnanimously, just so Inari would move on. Xander gestured for the Carpenter boys to take a seat at the table Billy had been holding, and Charles shuffled out of their way. "Whose little brothers did you kidnap for child labor?"
"We were not kidnapped," Daniel grumbled, "but we were conscripted."
"I came along because I wanted to," countered Matthew guilelessly.
"So one crime, instead of two," chuckled Xander.
"I thought conscription was only something the government could do legally?" Charles asked, again going off on a tangent.
"Hey!" Inari poked him in the side in alarm, "your ice cream!"
Charles stared at her, his face void of understanding, before handing his ice cream cone to her. Inari blinked owlishly at him, "It was melting…"
The lanky student shrugged, some embarrassment and amusement rolling off of him in waves. "Well, that's your problem now."
"Uh…thanks?" Inari looked down at her newly acquired ice cream cone. "Ah! It's melting!" She began licking the ice cream, determined not to let it go to waste. "Oh, hey! I love strawberry!"
"And here we have an example of optimal exchange in the wild," Xander narrated theatrically.
Charles held up a hand in objection, "But she didn't hit me over the head for it."
"Huh?! Why would I do that?!"
"That's what makes it optimal," Tania answered, "She acquired the goods without expending resources."
"I wasn't trying to!"
"Technically, talking does take energy," countered Charles, bobbing his head contemplatively.
"And time is also a resource," Xander added, "One which we can never seem to get enough of."
"That makes sense, at least!"
"Indeed," Tania conceded, "though strictly speaking, talking expends less resources than physical force."
Xander and Charles nodded in acceptance.
"Wouldn't it be more optimal for me to have bought my own ice cream?" Inari chimed in, nose scrunched in confusion.
The other three shook their heads.
"Nope, since you are trading a more valuable resource for the ice cream, and more of it too." Xander replied.
"I dunno," Charles challenged, "you can get five bucks just about anywhere, talking to Inari is probably not so readily available."
"Yes, but for Inari, the two seconds and words required to acquire ice cream were less valuable than the five dollars she would have had to otherwise spend on the ice cream."
Charles nodded, apparently satisfied with Tania's rebuttal. "Fair enough."
"For the rest of us, Inari talking would be a finite resource, which might be worth five dollars." Xander shrugged, before continuing, "In the same way that public speakers get paid for their words, but their talks are not worth much to themselves since they already know the stuff."
"Is this what Tania feels like when we talk about clothes?" Inari mumbled distractedly to herself.
"That seems an apt comparison," mused Tania, "and that
is the basic principle of free exchange: exchange something you have for something else that has more value to you, ideally with a person for whom what you exchange has more value than what they give you."
"This isn't about taking over the world again, is it?"
"Yeah, in that case, trading ice cream for conversation sounds fine to me!" Charles declared.
"Do you hear that, Inari?" Tania nudged her sister teasingly, "He's willing to buy you ice cream just to talk to you."
Charles blinked, embarrassment flowing off of him, even as his face blanked. Xander chuckled, "Well, if you put it that way…"
Inari's eyes widened in surprise, confusion and embarrassment flooding her before being drowned in genuine concern. She narrowed her eyes at her twin, "Who are you and what have you done with Tania?!"
Tania eyed her twin questioningly, "I have to pay you back for all your teasing sometime."
Charles snickered, distracting the twins from humor accounting. "Hey now, Inari, Tania's pretty funny when she wants to be." What did he mean by that? She did not make many jokes at school, that would be inappropriate! "Also when she isn't trying to be." Tania was not sure if this was supposed to be an insult or a compliment.
Inari giggled and wrapped her arm around her twin. "Hehe, I'm glad you've met people who seem to understand the stuff you always talk about."
"I think you understand me quite well, Sister."
At this point, the Carpenters and the Furries returned with ice cream, drawing Xander and Charles' attention. The group seemed bothered by something, judging by their frowns and the helpless feelings.
"Something happen?" Charles asked.
Billy shook his head, "Not really, just a friend of ours is in a bad spot, and we've been trying to get him to stop being a shut-in."
"Oh, what happened?" Xander asked, "If you don't mind the question."
Billy shrugged, "His girlfriend was killed. It was that incident back on Halloween, and he's been obsessed with finding a way to get back at the ones who did it."
The two students unaware of the supernatural nodded, though they likely only knew of the cover story.
"Oh, that's definitely a terrible thing to go through," Xander commiserated.
Charles frowned, "Are you talking about the guy who says he's a wizard? Herr Dresden, or something?"
Oh, they were talking about Mr. Dresden. The werewolves glanced at each other, hesitant to say too much to someone entirely mundane. "Mr. Dresden is pretty weird," Margaret cut in, "but he's a good man."
"Wasn't he involved in that Faith Astor case? And the Three-eye gang war?" Charles would probably be able to tell they were withholding something, but was easily redirected–
"Ah, Xander! Your ice cream!" Inari yelled.
Xander looked at the melting ice cream cone he had forgotten he was holding, then slapped himself in the forehead with his other hand. "D'oh!"
The silliness of that picture lightened the mood of the group, but Tania's thoughts turned to the eccentric wizard (was that redundant?). His research into countermeasures against Red Court Vampires could potentially be useful, but it would not produce good results if he was overly stressed. Similarly, he would not likely be able to make much headway without enough samples…
♤♤♤♤
Tania carefully packed a pair of Red Court Vampire heads into a cooler, then sprayed the container liberally with deodorant. Their stomachs would likely have been useful to Mr. Dresden, but unfortunately, she had inflicted rather severe trauma to that particular organ, so they were not in any useful shape. She had not managed to set up a functional freezer in her ersatz laboratory until last month, but fortunately, the winter chill had preserved the corpses fairly well. They were still not all that fresh, but they should be useful as a reference for Mr. Dresden, if nothing else.
The heads were in boxes, to prevent further damage, and she had filled the rest of the cooler with ice. Since Mr. Dresden had an icebox, this was a potentially useful cover. Hopefully no one would question things.
Unfortunately, she was not yet old enough to acquire a driver's license, though she did have her permit and her required hours. Normally, the trip to Mr. Dresden's apartment could be done by taxi or bicycle, but neither of those options allowed for her to haul around a cooler. It was fortunate that Antonio was free to give her a ride today.
She hauled the cooler up out of the tunnels to where Antonio was waiting. He had also brought Mark as a chauffeur. "How are you doing this afternoon, Miss Raith?" Antonio said in greeting, leaning against their car, relaxed, but alert. He raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses at the cooler. "And is that something I need to worry about?"
"Good afternoon, Antonio," Tania replied, "and no, this should not require your concern." The vampire heads were dead, and these were not the undead type, so she was fairly certain they would remain inert. Though if the Red Court ever did attack her in public, it would certainly be something Antonio would be concerned about.
Ever dutiful, Antonio just shrugged, "As you say, Miss Raith, though I am obligated to say that we should post someone near you, especially now that the city has gotten more dangerous than ever." He opened the car door and Tania hefted the cooler into the back and got into the car. Antonio kept a wary eye on their surroundings, before taking a seat himself.
The drive was relatively pleasant, despite the traffic, as Antonio chatted about his wife and new son, as well as mentioning some of Inari's escapades. Apparently, she had discovered some other people who found her strange cuisine ideas palatable or even interesting. Of course she did. Mark, as usual, said nothing.
As they pulled up to Mr. Dresden's apartment building, Antonio gave her a warning look. "I know this guy has helped you out before, and if he does actually work for Marcone, he isn't going to try anything, but you've got to be watch out for yourself, ok? Especially since I'm not going to be around you all the time anymore." Tania smiled, thankful for Antonio's dedication, though it was probably a good thing he had not been with her when she was attacked, or else Claudia would have been a widow.
"Of course, Antonio, though the state is incredibly inconsiderate about this matter." She had acquired a handgun, as was her constitutional right, she was just waiting for the city government to recognize it. At what point were they illegitimate, if they attempted to thus deny her pursuit of life?
Her bodyguard snorted, "Just between you and me," he glanced at their driver, "and Mark, you shouldn't let the government get between you and protecting yourself." He shrugged, "Now, the cops will probably be willing to look out for you, but most of 'em are real corrupt these days. Well, since forever, really." That was indeed an unfortunate problem of living in Chicago.
"Thank you for your concern, Antonio, I will keep your advice in mind."
She waited for him to step out and check the surroundings, before opening the door and hauling out the cooler herself. "Please wait outside, Antonio, Mr. Dresden will be much more hostile if he sees you with me." Antonio scowled, but nodded, cautious enough of the Wizard's reputation, even among normal humans. The fact that Tania had already talked to Mr. Dresden several times without incident also helped.
She pulled the cooler to Mr. Dresden's door and knocked sharply on it three times. A scrabbling sound followed and Mister the oversized cat meowed insistently from the other side of the door, her co-conspirator in attempting to drag Mr. Dresden out of his hikikomori act.
The Wizards' own footsteps followed some time later. "Alright Mister, I'm coming, I'm coming!" The door swung open, and the large cat rammed into Tania's leg in greeting. Mr. Dresden blinked, before running a hand over his face. "Oh, hey Tania."
"Good afternoon, Mr. Dresden."
He paused, giving her a confused look, which, combined with his unshaven and ungroomed appearance made him look addled indeed. "What are you here for? I don't think it's time for you to drag me out for groceries again yet." Why did he have to make performing a basic task required for survival sound like such a chore?
Tania pulled the cooler slightly towards him, and Mister hissed at it, hackles raised. She tilted her head, asking if Mr. Dresden would let her inside. He had avoided explicitly inviting her inside, and she did not bother asking. Having her Hunger calmed for some time was not something she disliked, and Mr. Dresden could just extend an invitation if more force was needed inside for whatever reason.
The wizard narrowed his eyes at her, "It's not Mac's Beer is it?" Curses, she should have thought of that!
Tania shook her head, "Mr. Dresden, I cannot legally purchase alcohol, even at Mac's."
Mr. Dresden smacked himself in the head. "She's still a kid, Harry, still a kid," he mumbled to himself. With a sigh, he stepped to the side and let her in. Tania let out a breath as her Hunger went to sleep.
"Not that I don't appreciate your cooking tips," the wizard continued, shifting periodically like someone who was chronically sleep deprived, "but why the secrecy about this?"
Tania set her hands on her hips, and looked him over. He no longer looked like a vagrant like he did a few months ago, but he still looked about as unkempt as an overstressed university student.
"Did you go out to the football game looking like that?" Tania pursed her lips and angled her head, "I suppose that attire is fine for football."
Mr. Dresden blinked, "How did you learn about that?"
"Why didn't you tell me about the pack of werewolves on campus?" Tania asked in lieu of directly implicating them.
The Wizard's eyes widened, "Oh, so you've met the Alphas? I didn't expect you to get along with a bunch of nerds."
Tania smirked, "They are providing a public good by patrolling campus, I can give some respect to any such individual."
"Well, I guess that's one way to defend yourself against vampires…" he paused, "You…did tell them you're a different Court, right?"
"Of course, it would be rude not to share what I am after they shared what they were," Tania replied, "and they were surprisingly understanding."
Harry frowned, "I probably should have told them more about other monsters." Ah, that was a convenient topic.
"Speaking of which, Mr. Dresden, how has your research into Red Court venom been progressing?"
The Wizard scowled, "No real luck, I can find ways to purge poisons, but that only works after the fact." He sighed, collapsing into his chair, "But that's not really what I've been spending most of my time on."
Tania pursed her lips, considering how to encourage the defeated looking wizard. "If you could find a way to reverse those who are turned, it would indeed be a great thing, but that is a task which seems to be outside your usual skillset."
Dresden glared at her, "So what, I should just forget about helping Susan? I can't help thinking you've got some ulterior motives here, Candy." Damn! Perhaps she should be less indirect? Oh, what was she thinking? This was Harry Dresden.
Tania shook her head, "Of course not, but are you even sure where Ms. Rodriguez is at the moment? Assisting a paramour who is going through a difficult time is perfectly reasonable, but how are you going to do so when they have quite thoroughly cut ties?"
"So what do you want me to do!" Harry shot up in his seat, eyes blazing in fury and in anguish, "She shouldn't have been at that damn party, and it's my fault she's in this whole mess in the first place!" He fell back into his chair, energy apparently expended. "But what can I fucking do now?" It was clear that he needed more sleep.
"From where I'm standing, Mr. Dresden, it looks like you could use more rest." He scoffed, but Tania continued before he could interject, "I understand you feel responsible, but you will not be able to make consistent progress if you are burnt out." She glanced meaningfully at his icebox, "I think you'd be half-starved by this point without my insistence."
He winced in embarrassment and self-loathing, but seemed a bit more amenable to her advice.
"I just overheard Billy and Georgia talking about their concern for you the other day. Perhaps you should take some time to visit with them, perhaps play Dungeons & Dragons."
Dresden stared at her blankly, "Did you just say Dungeons Ampersand Dragons?"
"Is…that not what it's called?"
He snorted, swallowing his mirth, but Tania could see him shaking. She did not understand what was so funny. "Hah!" The wizard failed to contain his laughter, bursting out almost maniacally. Tania smiled slightly, trying to pretend that she had made a joke and that was not simply how she had read the title.
It took a surprisingly long amount of time for Dresden to calm down. She knew he was rather irreverent, but she had thought he could become serious if things called for it. Though…she supposed that there was a need right now for him to be
less serious, so she bore with the awkwardness.
"Hah, I'm not sure why that was so funny." It seems they agreed on that much.
"I am not here to comment on your sense of humor," Tania continued, attempting to pretend she had not just been interrupted, "I am here to suggest that you take a break before you return to your work. Working day in and out is more a sign of poor time management than diligence."
The wizard looked at her disbelievingly.
"I, for one, make sure to schedule some time for leisure activities." Dresden snorted again. What? Did he really think that she couldn't have fun?
"Yeah, that sounds like you, Candy," his face returned to a more serious state (as serious as it could be on his unkempt face), "but I don't think I can take time to play around."
Tania slid the cooler over towards him. "It need not merely be play. The Furries–" Dresden snickered, but she continued on, "have managed to take down a few Red Court, so offering them your advice could help prevent others from suffering the same fate as Ms. Rodriguez. While killing a few of the monsters won't help very much in the long run, I believe it would at least help with inspiration."
She flipped open the cooler, extracting one of the subjects from its container, "Furthermore, I believe your research would be aided by some tangible samples." The wizard's eyes widened at the sight of the Red Court heads, a strange mix of excitement, confused disgust and vindictive glee playing out through him. "I will leave these with you here, if you visit with the Furries later. Perhaps we can collect fresher samples together."
Dresden looked from the cooler to her, then back again, apparently still unsure. Damn! What else could convince him?!
"I will also be cooking food for the event."
In the end, Mr. Dresden did attend the event, even if she had to drag him through the door by his collar. She really shouldn't have been surprised he played a barbarian.
During the events of Summer Knight, June 2002
Of all the things her father would take interest in,
Witchflight was near the last thing Tania would have expected. Perhaps the tactical thought involved intrigued him, given that he presumably had to think in a similar way on occasion. Or maybe he needed an excuse to keep an eye on his youngest daughters now they were away from home for most of the time.
Strictly speaking, it wouldn't be too great a hassle to commute to school, especially for Inari, but she had insisted on living on campus. Tania had never told her explicitly what the true nature of their family was, but Inari knew her twin well enough to sense there was something wrong. That, or the more gregarious twin simply preferred being near new people to befriend and drag into her inescapable orbit. Her ability to remember faces and menial details about others' lives was frankly rather terrifying.
Now that it was summer, the two of them were back at the Raith residence. There weren't that many internship opportunities for freshmen, though Inari had apparently nearly been conscripted to play for her school's women's basketball team. Americans were weird about their sports. Admittedly, the twins had been quite good at that game when they occasionally played in school.
Regardless, being at home meant having to deal with her Vampire Lord father more. Of all the things Tania had thought he could have been, that had not been high on the list, and playing a tabletop miniatures game with a supposedly centuries old lust leech was not something she had imagined doing even in her most disturbed dreams.
To her chagrin, her father proved quite adept at the game, despite likely having little to no experience with such activities. Perhaps he had some military experience in his long life, though Tania got the sense he preferred to be the Gray Eminence rather than the public leader.
Either that, or the Germanian faction functioned properly as the beginner faction, given the clear army building plan it worked around. Well, unless you were Charles. It might be a good idea to hire him as a playtester, if he kept on finding strange rules interactions.
"I find myself curious, dear Tania," her father began, idly fondling his Silbervogel miniature as he considered where best to deploy her, "Why is it that you prefer playing a different faction than the one which bears your likeness?" He placed the miniature towards his right flank, along with the greater portion of his aerial mage units. This suggested that he was planning on overloading one side, but Silbervogel's maneuverability meant that these units could threaten most of the critical locations on the map in short order.
"I try not to draw attention to that fact, Father," she replied, placing infantry units in the center of her deployment zone with a clear line of sight to the central critical location. "It would not do to seem too narcissistic."
"So modest, dear daughter," father chided, setting the greater part of his infantry on his left flank, but noticeably holding his elite units in reserve. "You are possessed of such great potential, it would be a shame for you to deny it for so long."
"This character is Inari and Lara's credit, in truth," Tania demurred, deploying more of her infantry on her right flank, away from father's main mage forces and across from the main bulk of the Empire infantry. "I am not sure why they chose to use me as a likeness."
Father chuckled, reaching over the table to stroke her head. Tania forced herself to remain relaxed at the intrusion. "Why would they not? You and Inari are both fine specimens of beauty, especially now that you have grown so much." He set down his elite infantry in the center, which would make it difficult for her center to advance, assuming she could neutralize the mage flight sweep.
Tania eyed the board, considering where to place her Hussar Wings. Lechland flight mages were some of the best in the game, and Wiktoria was the best aerial duelist in the game. Silbervogel was a dangerous mage, but the main problem was that she also increased the effectiveness of mage flights under her command. The Germanian Empire also had the ability to move their units rapidly out of their deployment zone on their first turn. While Lechland infantry were comparable, if not slightly better, they would not be able to dislodge the numerically superior Germanian infantry once they had hopped off their trains onto critical locations.
She placed her mage flights near her center. The Lechland faction had three major strengths: Their impressive aerial mage units, their high morale, and their faction ability allowing them to take the initiative.
They shook hands, as was tradition, though she could do without the condescending pats. She was not a child! As was not particularly surprising, given his greater number of commanders, the first leader card drawn was his, but it was his Sturmtruppen leader, so Tania let him move his center infantry forward.
When one of Silbervogel's cards came up next, Tania interrupted with Wiktoria's unit, sending a wing of Hussars rocketing into the Germanian aerial mage squadrons. Father smirked, revealing Silbervogel's flight path, which flipped her and her unit behind Wiktoria's squadron, but that was fine, what was important was that she had blocked the path of the other Empire mage flights, forcing them to adjust course and preventing them from sweeping down her weak flank, at least for now. Wiktoria's abilities made her thrive in aerial duels, as did the Hussars, so this could be a lengthy combat.
Her next action caused father to raise a curious eyebrow, as Tania sent her Light Air Cavalry to the critical location on her right flank, employing a rarely used mechanic to land them in the fortified location. They would not be able to deal much damage when on the ground, and they would not last long once the Germanian infantry moved forward, but this meant that the Empire infantry would not be able to hold that location for at least another turn.
"How deliciously ruthless, sending these men to die just to slow the inevitable." Perhaps, but this was a tabletop game. Something like this would be a waste of potential in the real world, but the game units did not gain experience as in real life (or in her original ruleset).
"Their sacrifice will be rewarded posthumously," Tania said grimly, pretending for a moment to be a cold-hearted commander sending young mages off on impossible missions, "For our freedom, and for yours!" It was perhaps not so surprising that so many Polish immigrated to the US, when their national sentiment was similar in this way.
Father laughed, before sending the regulars on his left flank choosing to have about half his forces there bypass the critical location, instead arraying them to block her infantry from approaching. Per the rules, they could not attack the turn after they used Strategic Deployment, as they had to reorganize, so Tania would score points for that location for at least one turn. That still meant one of her mage units was effectively trapped, as trying to pull them out would likely incur enough losses to make them ineffectual.
The rest of the game progressed about as expected, Empire flight mages were stronger in ground support roles, but Silbervogel was as deadly against aerial opponents as she was against ground targets. Despite that, and some impressive rolling, Wiktoria and her Hussars gave about as good as they got, with both sides taking substantial losses, though the Germanian mages were still prevented from attacking Tania's ground forces by careful maneuvering.
In the following turns, father's Sturmtruppen rushed down the center, claiming that objective, though they were unable to completely destroy her regulars unit, which was kept from breaking due to their higher morale.
On her right flank, their infantry skirmished inconclusively, though Tania's forces were able to push forwards some distance. What was remarkable was the Germanian Regulars' failure to dislodge the Light Air Cavalry. Father rolled well, but the grounded mages rolled better. The fortified position helped, as did the mages' ability to create shields, even while grounded, but the numbers disparity was still incredibly lopsided.
Oddly enough, far from seeming annoyed by this turn of events, father seemed amused, even pleased, only idly fingering his dice. What was he planning?
It became clear enough the next turn, when he broke his mage flight hard away from their opponents, choosing to suffer more casualties in exchange for laying heavy fire into Tania's center. Her regulars managed to stubbornly remain in place, though it seemed their chances of dislodging the Sturmtruppen would now be greatly diminished. Silbervogel and her unit remained in place, now holding Tania's flight mages in place, though they suffered for it, now that they faced the Hussars' undivided attention.
In response, Tania folded her right flank, turning some of her reserve infantry to attack the Sturmtruppen from the side, while keeping a few units to ensure the Empire regulars remained engaged. Given her Light Air Cavalry had proved surprisingly resilient, she played a card to boost their last stand.
"Oh, how it must burn, to see your comrades turn away," Father laughed, rolling for his infantry's assault on the fortified objective.
"A sadly familiar fate for the Polish," Tania commented idly, wincing at the result. Father certainly had good luck. She rolled for their resolve, and blinked. While suffering some damage, the Light Air Cavalry remained in place still. "I suppose that is also familiar."
Father laughed, "Impressive, but will it mean anything, in the end?" It meant she was actually scoring more victory points, at least for more now.
The game continued. Silbervogel's unit was scattered and she was forced to retreat, which allowed Wiktoria and her Hussars to cut into the Germanian mage flights, which were now vulnerable after separating to perform ground assaults. Too late to save much of her center, but enough to ensure her right flank could push the Sturmtruppen off of the central critical location, at least for this turn. The left side of the board was largely deserted, the both of them only retaining a token force to hold those objectives.
Father pushed his left flank forward, punching through her blocking force and threatening her home objective, as well as moving to encircle her remaining infantry force. Against all odds, her Light Air Cavalry still refused to die, though at least now it no longer seemed as ridiculous as the consistent artillery bombardments she had been calling on the clumped Empire infantry took their toll.
The center objective changed hands again, father's Sturmtruppen scattering her battered Regulars, even as her flight mages chased the much reduced Germanian flight mage units. Now freed up, Wiktoria and her Hussars managed to provide air support for her home objective on the right flank, stymying the Empire infantry push. Unfortunately, her left flank was driven to flight by good rolling from one of the remaining Germanian aerial mage units.
At this rate, while she would control the skies, she would not be able to hold ground for long. Well, it seemed to have worked alright turn one; Tania landed most of her mages, leaving just enough to finish off the remaining Germanian flights. Hopefully, the game would end before her ground units were defeated.
Bolstered by her mage units, she reclaimed the central objective, at least temporarily, while contesting father's previously unmolested home objective. The mage units suffered heavily in return, but her luck held, and the game ended, leaving Tania victorious based on points, even if the amount of forces she had left looked paltry in comparison. It was about as expected for a Polish victory.
Father seemed unperturbed by his defeat (why should he? It was just a game), patting her on the shoulder in congratulations. "Fascinating game, as always, dear daughter." He leaned around her, having come around the table to look over the table from her side. "I see you have already begun to understand the management of human resources, I am pleased."
Tania puffed up, a bit indignant, "Of course, Father, that is a very important skill, after all." After two careers involving such management, she would hope she possessed some skill in the matter.
"It is a shame that Inari lacks the proper mindset," Father sighed, "She has such a wide circle of connections, if only she would leverage it for more than mere amusement." He sighed and shook his head slightly, "She should not become so close to her lessers."
Tania swallowed. Inari remained human, and it might well have been her genuine Faith that kept her that way. Had she been less dedicated to the idea of marriage, she might well have eaten someone in the activities that college students tended to get up to.
"What of you, dear daughter?" Father turned to her, "You have made quite the interesting group of acquaintances, haven't you? I heard you have befriended a few scions of wealthy families, not to mention Cleph." He narrowed his eyes, "He has not troubled you overmuch, has he?"
Tania shook her head, "No, he has been a perfect gentleman. How do you know of him, Father?" Professor de Rossi had said he was acquainted with Lara, so it was not that surprising that he would be similarly acquainted with father as well. Perhaps he was also more than he seemed?
"We have worked together in the past on some things of historical note," Father replied dismissively, "He should be of no concern." He seemed to be trying to diminish the work of a quite dedicated historian, but it was not surprising her father would not find such a profession respectable aside from their ability to identify things of value. "And what of your classmates? How are they?" Father gazed at her with feigned concern, and Tania bit down her unease at his gaze.
"They have been largely welcoming, even in spite of my younger age." Hopefully that would be enough to satisfy this topic.
"Good," Father stroked her shoulder in what might be considered a fond fashion, "Good. Do tell me if any of them catches your fancy." He smiled, trying to pass this off as a father's concern about his daughter's potential suitors, but the predatory look in his eyes told another story.
"Of course, Father." That was not something that was likely to happen anytime soon.
A pair of footsteps signaled Inari's arrival. "Food's ready!" she cheered. Tania had made sure they would always be at the manor as a pair, so that she would not leave Inari alone with their Vampire Lord father. She did not know how long that could last.
"Ah, and what fascinating arrangement have you created, dear daughter?"
Entering the room after Inari, Natalia shook her head discreetly. Well, maybe father will stop asking after Inari's cooking after this, but given his possessive nature, he would assuredly find another excuse to keep them close.
Tania would have to do something, but what?
![A Young Vampire's Cohabitation Arrangements [Youjo Senki/Dresden Files]](/data/threadmark-index-icons/l/66/66229.jpg?1667685563){kind=icon}
