Scene #323: Vampires and Hunters

Owner	Pose
Zero Kiryu	Cross Academy is located fairly near to a reasonably sized town. The town is nameless, but has long been a nexus point of activity for the supernatural creatures of this world... and their would-be killers. It is here, in an old apartment building in this familiar old town, that Zero brought Yuuki until she could determine where it is they were going to go. He had, unfortunately, been a fairly poor host only a little ways into the whole experience. After fixing some bland noodles for a late dinner, he had disappeared into a small study, shut the door, and locked it. This left the rest of the apartment for Yuuki to explore, though there is little enough to see. It all looks very familiar -- vaguely messy in the places that are the most lived in, but not unclean. The most noteworthy feature of the room is, perhaps, the scattering of old blood tablet containers. There's far more of them in that room than a vampire like Zero should be needing. As for Zero, he had spent some time simply suffering in not-quite-silence. It was not loud enough to be heard from the outside of the study he had locked himself in, but between the near starvation he's put himself through and putting up a good front to keep Yuuki out, he really didn't have anything left to endure the pain with. Eventually, after the sun had come up, he had drifted off to sleep. Assuming one were to force their way in, Zero could be found sitting upright against a small desk with his head inclined and eyes mostly closed. A half-eaten container of blood tablets has been scattered across the floor around him, and he lingers halfway between awake and asleep. Bloody Rose hangs to the side of him, its holster hung loosely along the back of a chair.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki's exploration had mostly consisted of finding, much to her mounting horror, every single discarded blood tablet container. These were collected in a small trash bag, as well as there rest of the horrifying clutter, before being disposed of in trash can. Then, dusting her hands, Yuuki... Waits. She kicks her feet, sitting in a chair. She reads a book. Then, she realizes OH WAIT, she should clean in Zero's room! She jiggles the lock, rattles the door a bit, and then realizes it's locked. Well she now has VAMPIRE POWERS and this is a good place to test them. Twenty minutes and a lot of squinting and pointing later... The door is a fine wooden powder, the sound of an explosion having rocked the small apartment. Yuuki just stands there, covered in door-dust, horrified, her eyes aglow. "Oh no oh no oh no..."
D	Another world menaced by vampirekind. Given the similarity of theme to his own world, it's no wonder D should become curious about Yuuki Kuran's. He does not hesitate to reach out to the vampire girl for guidance once he determines a visit would be more worthwhile than any research from afar. He isn't surprised to find himself so welcome; she's friendly and outgoing, two traits he finds difficulty mustering in himself, but has come to find valuable in others. It's possible the Hunter doesn't look so out of place in the setting. The traveler's cape he favors may look antiquated compared to the style of those around him, but the remainder of his worn black uniform is too simple to draw much critique. His hat low, its wide brim casting a concealing darkness across his countenance, he presents an image of total apathy for the world around him, like he is nothing more than a shadow passing by -- harmless, temporary, and not worth noticing. At least he is not riding his cyborg horse. He comes to the village on foot, his journey not so long to test his patience. If either Yuuki or Zero should look out their apartment's window, D will be seen approaching their front door. He is tall, pale, and too graceful for anything human. The sword on his back marks him as a potential threat. He raises his knuckle to knock on the door -- The door shudders. Was that an explosion? D attempts to force his way inside the apartment, calling out in alarm: "Yuuki!"
Zero Kiryu	There are two things that wake Zero from his half-sleep. The first of them is Yuuki vaporizing his door, which doesn't get a confused reaction so much as an immediately defensive one. He jerks Bloody Rose out of its holster before he's even fully aware of what's going on, and it's very nearly trained on the 'intruder' before he realizes that it's just Yuuki being stupid again. The second is the approach of somebody or something that he can't quite identify, but isn't really willing to do a lot of gambling about. It might be a vampire, after all. "I'm not deaf. Knock next time." He scolds Yuuki, as he moves past her into position to shoot whatever is coming. Quite surprisingly however, the person that comes calling just tears his door right open and comes in shouting for Yuuki. If not for that, the warning shots that he snaps off at D's feet would have been aimed fairly lethally. Pretty WELL-AIMED, too, even with a split second's notice and limited information he adjusted for somebody who isn't necessarily an enemy. The silver-haired man, who looks very much like he just sprung out of bed half-dressed because that is exactly what he did, looks incredibly irate. "Who is this, and why is he breaking into my apartment?" He demands, gun and gaze alike still locked firmly upon D.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki is standing there, her fingers pointing 'into' the doorframe, still a bit stunned. "I-I was just trying to unlock the door." She breathes, absolutely floored that a little bit of concen and a lottabit of power had instead of 'unlocking' the poor door absolutely annihilated it. "I've not gotten a chance to try out my powers more, and I was just coming in to clean up and..." She tries, before OH LOOK, IT'S D! Oh look, Zero is SHOOTING at D. In his direction. Generally. Yuuki slips between Zero and D, throwing her arms out and frowning. "He's... an acquaintance! I met him in the Union's big library. He's D, and I helped him out by giving him my blood tablets. To help with his /condition/." She turns, with a helpless look. "I'm sorry, I didn't know my own strength... This is Zero. My... bodyguard."
D	The pair of shots stops D in his tracks almost as soon as his left hand leaves the doorknob and his right reaches for his sword's curving hilt. Not even an inch of steel is bared before he freezes in place, and a good thing, too -- he has a policy never to draw his weapon unless he means to use it. "The bodyguard," D murmurs. His voice is much more placid than it has any right to be. "You've chosen well, Yuuki. He is a formiddable marksman." Another moment passes before D relaxes the grip he's taken on his sword; either he wants to be /sure/ he does not need it, or he wants Zero to understand what was intended. It is not quite a threatening act, but like Zero's shots, an act of warning. The Hunter is not helpless. Yuuki's loud reference to D's 'condition' may explain that well enough already. He straightens where he stands. The black cape he wears settles neatly around his broad shoulders, and drapes nearly to the floor. At over six feet in height, he cuts an imposing figure, though not, he thinks, for the likes of Zero and Yuuki. "Greetings. My name is D. I apologize for the damage done to your door; I did not realize Yuuki was not in danger."
Zero Kiryu	The exasperation with the situation only builds when Yuuki gets in the way and explains things to him more thoroughly. Zero sloooowly relaxes, easing Bloody Rose onto the back of his trouser's waistband for lack of anywhere else to put it just now. He gestures for D to enter the apartment (or at least, come in further than he had already), and takes a moment to wedge the messed-up door back into its frame. It isn't really particularly effective, but at least it isn't just standing completely wide open, and evidently that's all the hunter was looking to avoid. It's only once this is done that he looks towards D again. Had Yuuki not explained that she had given him blood tablets, he would at this point have merely concluded that this man is another hunter. Based on the sheer size of that sword and how rapidly he managed to force his way through the door, Zero can only conclude that he's pretty formidable in more ways than one. "Don't break anything else." It's the closest thing to a proper greeting that D is going to get, evidently. Zero isn't particularly pleased with the presence of yet another vampire, and while Yuuki vouching for him is worth something, it's not worth enough that he's interacting like a normal person with D just yet. It'll probably take a while. After this exchange, Zero wanders away to fetch a broom and start cleaning up what's left of his study's door. There really isn't much. Splinters and wood dust, all of which is aggravating to deal with. He spares a glance at the other two while he works and asks flatly, "Why did somebody from off-world show up at my front door so suddenly to start with?"
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki gives a helpless shrug, being fairly certain that any further use of her powers was foolish at this juncture. This is because she is unsure if she wants to ever use her powers, ever again, holy shit, rip that door. The Pureblood Princess blanches as D and Zero square off, waving her arms in a 'hello yes I am here, standing between you two, please stahp'. "D! Zero!" She calls, before things CHILL OUT. On their own. Without her childish flailing. With a huge heaving sigh, Yuuki gestures to D. "He wanted to come. I um... Have a radio! Well, actually it's my phone, but I'm now part of some big organization? The Union? Anyway, vampires from his world work differently. And, as it sounds like, are somehow worse then vampire from..." She begins, before becoming crestfallen. Again. "Well, like us." She finishes, before moving to the kitchen. "Tea, you two? I don't trust Zero's cooking right now. He's probaby groggy. I... sort of woke him up. Accidentally. By exploding his door."
D	"I asked Yuuki for a small favor. After she told me something of your world, I became curious enough to visit, as my world and yours share certain similarities, as mentioned. I thought she might orient me enough to avoid any foolish missteps." He pauses long enough to turn his head and consider the tilted door. "...any /other/ missteps." A chilly brand of reticence keeps D from saying much more. Yuuki had made a good impression -- enough to counteract D's preference for deliberate self-isolation -- but Zero is something else altogether. The Hunter is as guarded as he is calm. Little in the way of emotion flavors his low voice. He is not rude, but he isn't friendly, either. Is it making Yuuki uncomfortable? "Yes...I'll take a tea." He'll follow Yuuki to the kitchen, either graciously permitting Zero to go ahead of him, or going first, depending on Zero's preferences. "I met Yuuki through the Union," he says, after the silence begins to weigh even on him. "The organization she's joined. She was kind enough to provide some blood tablets to me...these are not easily come by, where I'm from."
Zero Kiryu	"I just told you that I'm not deaf." Zero reacts to Yuuki's vocal protests, setting his broom aside and giving her a stern look. To begin with, he had adjusted to the possibility that this wasn't a person he needed to kill. It probably didn't look that way to her though, and given his history of shooting lethal weapons at people arguably unnecessarily, he supposes he can't blame her for getting in the way and making a bunch of noise. If it weren't for her, Aido would be a pile of dust by now, a fact that even Zero would have cause to regret. In the year that followed, Aido had proven himself ... harmless, and useful. Among other things. The continued explanation of D and his circumstances half-assuage, half-worry Zero. It isn't that difficult to convince Yuuki that you're alright, and he wouldn't put it past a particularly clever beast to be able to charm her. After all, she had played the part of HIS victim before now, and this fellow seems much more pleasant than he does. Zero trails along with the other two into the kitchen, pulling up a seat and falling into it with uncharacteristically open weariness. His cabinets are far from bare, and there are the fixings for tea, but all of what he has is very basic. There's also LOTs of blood tablets stored in here. As for the man himself, he's fixated on D. "What made you decide to take substitutes instead of blood?" He asks D bluntly, and it's clear by the razor-edged tone of his voice that Zero will be judging D extremely critically based on his answer. Zero doesn't end his questioning with D though, turning a sharp look towards Yuuki, "... and if you gave him yours, what have YOU been eating?"
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki looks perfectly fine, totally composed, and entirely well put-together as she shuffles around sparse cabinets for cups and tea leaves, finding a pot and a little ball-strainer for the tea and then scooping some loose leaves into the metal contraption. Then, all there was left to do was to fill a kettle and set it to boil - both easily done. "It sounded like D's world was worse off than ours, so I was happy to help. And... No! No, no the doors were my fault, don't worry about that. I can just ask some of the servants to fix it, I think." She offers offhandedly. Then she catches herself. "When did servants become a normal thing for me?" She wonders quietly, before smiling her bright smile. "Anyway, I helped D out with his blood tablet problem, and then I enjoyed the Union's giant tree-base. After that, it took me a day or so to find my way home, so..." Yuuki counts on her fingers quickly. "Three days, I've not 'eaten' anything?" She offers, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Oh, well, I ate at a nice cafe on the way back to the mansion. I was sort of expecting to /get/ to the mansion, and not get tossed over your shoulder, but there you have it." She laughs, before pouring and serving the hot teapot and the two cups to the two men. For her sake, she TOTALLY SURRPTICIOUSLY dumps an entire small container of blood tablets into a cup and fills with tapwater, before greedily sucking that down. She only grimaces and looks disgusted for, like, two minutes, honest!
D	After removing his sword and leaning it up against the kitchen wall, the Hunter claims his own seat caddycorner to Zero. D keeps a keen eye on his interrogator, and answers without deception. "I abstain from feeding on humans. Doing so would lead me down a dangerous and self-destructive path. I am only a half-breed; a dhampir, we're called. My mother was human...my progenitor was vampire. Like a vampire, I am sustained through the consumption of blood alone, but capsules suffice in place of a living victim." "You are a vampire yourself, I take it." A slight nod is made to indicate the cabinets and their contents. "In my world, you would be hardly more than a very intelligent and ruthless monster. We call them 'Nobles', but there is very little about their demeanor deserving of the name. Pretenses are kept, I suppose, and not /all/ their kind are wholly evil; however, men of my profession exist for good reason." For all the loathing behind his vocabulary, he lacks obvious and open contempt. He provides information in the matter-of-fact manner of a documentary's narrator. "Thank you for your hospitality." D takes the tea, and politely drinks; then, the tables are turned. "You are very protective of Yuuki, and yet it sounds like you brought her here not by her own request." All it takes is an arched brow to ask 'why.' He is also very polite about ignoring Yuuki's dinner.
Zero Kiryu	"I don't want any of your servants near my home... and besides, they aren't responsible for breaking my doors." Zero replies to Yuuki, sharply. A few of the servants of the Kuran household are familiar with him, but even then he doesn't really want them skulking around the place that he sleeps. It's bad enough to deal with Yuuki being like this, and dragging unrelated people in similar situations into their problems. At least she did THAT with the intent to help them, and she legitimately appears to have succeeded. The silver-haired man issues a puff of air and says, "And if you're going to share your tablets take more of them with you. You're not somebody who has any trouble getting things you need, so you don't have an excuse for going so long without eating." "You're too dangerous to be so irresponsible." Zero's attention turns back to D when his questions begin to be answered. He grows visibly agitated, but does not disagree. Quite the contrary, when he opens his mouth to answer, the self-hatred he feels is about as obvious as anything can be. "I am a very ruthless and intelligent monster." "And she can leave whenever she likes. I will be obligated by the orders issued to me by the Hunter's Association to follow and guard her if that's what she chooses." He looks away from D and Yuuki both, thinking on whether or not he wants to share his reason for bringing Yuuki here. After a moment he goes on, "But that isn't what you asked. I brought her here because she was panicking and hurting herself in an unfriendly place. It's hard to guard someone in those circumstances."
Yuuki Kuran	"It's funny, really. In our world, you'd just be a vampire. Perhaps thin-blooded, but to be entirely fair..." Yuuki offers to D, her smile resolute, even as she 'drinks' her dinner. It's almost pitiful! She is an immortal vampire pureblood, purest of blood and strongest of powers. And she's drinking fake blood-pill slurry out of a mug. A part of her is more revolted than the rest of her, the part that tells her to instead satiate herself with the entirety of another being, the kind that compels her to go out into the world, find a human that catches her eye, and exsanguinate them until they are nothing but a pile of white ash. Thankfully, that part of her is so repressed that even her starvation tendencies couldn't bring it to the fore. "I miss the days I could eat normal food and be satiated. I also miss waking up in the morning, but... well, it's not that bad. The powers are... nice? ... Except I don't really have a handle on them." She sighs, growing more and more depressed and angsty. "Hey, the servants are nice! If... very... deferential." She retorts quietly, as if she didn't really want to be reminded that all her servants were also mindslaves. It was hard enough to cope with having (mindslave) servants in the first place. Even if that monstrous part of her practically demanded such lesser beings in her presence. "I'm not dangerous - I'm trying to /help/ people. I'm not drinking blood, or hurting people, or snatching children, or anything. And... and no!" Yuuki slams her hands on the table, with enough force to crack the poor table in half. RIP, table-kun. The remaining tea goes everywhere. Mostly on Yuuki. Thankfully, scalding hot liquid is not that bad. It is bad, however, when the teapot neatly pirouhuettes through the air and then dumps itself out on her head, before clonking her in the noggin. Throughout the whole ordeal, Yuuki doesn't even seem to care. She just stares across the table at Zero, looking... Totally irate. And sad. Sadrate. Irad. SHE IS SO IRAD. "You are a kind, and caring, and wonderful person. Stop... Stop hurting yourself! Saying such hateful things about yourself! Stop... Just stop before you really do something that'll be too horrible to think of." Then she sags back into her chair. She could have inflected that as an order. Instead, she just looks down. "... S-sorry about your table." "Also... How is /my own mansion/ an unfriendly place?"
D	The look given to Yuuki is one of sympathetic melancholy. D understands her desire for sunlight, and for the normalcy offered by human existence. If he had a way of helping her, he likely would; unfortunately, in his world, the only solution to her sadness involves a sharp stake. Not a very friendly offer to go making someone on their second meeting. The shift in tone keeps the black-dressed Hunter silent throughout the exchange between his hosts. He says nothing in response to Yuuki's outburst, not right away; that, he thinks, is for Zero alone. The argument feels very personal, and as the table falls into ruin before him, he begins to feel out of place. It wouldn't be the first time he's been the fly on the wall, and he knows better than to speak out of turn. Instead of saying anything, he watches. The lean he takes in his chair becomes more comfortable, and he goes so far as to prop his left ankle up on his right knee. D still has his teacup; he drinks slowly, his serenity a palpable, unshakeable force amid the room's turmoil. Perhaps his calm apathy would prevent the argument from going out of hand? Finally, he does say something -- interjecting once it seems tactical to do so. His voice is as gentle as his appearance. He addresses Zero, rather than embarrass Yuuki by engaging her while she's still dripping wet with spilled tea. "You said the Hunter's Association has charged you to guard Miss Kuran. Can you explain? Is this why you took her from her mansion?" Maybe by answering D, he'll also answer Yuuki.
Zero Kiryu	"They don't have a choice to be anything else." Zero answers, plainly. He knows that this isn't entirely the case, and for that matter that Kaname isn't prone to exercising his authority over other vampires. Nevertheless, he doesn't want the man's toadies roaming around getting into his things. Hanabusa is tolerable, as are a few of the other Night Class vampires, but his host of servants? No sir. Those people would do well to stay away from here. It's at this point that Yuuki starts flipping her lid, and... Zero merely looks dispassionately towards his broken table while she rages. He does meet her gaze, eventually, but only once he's good and ready. A bitter smile reaches his lips then, and he says simply, "I already have." It isn't entirely truthful. There are things he has done, in the heat of the moment, that he has regretted intensely. But he's not a monster the way she is describing. There are plenty of things he's done, though, that might qualify. Zero does not specify what he is referring to, leaving it a mystery. The calm and withdrawn demeanor of D does not go unnoticed, and it may be the reason that Zero kept his own cool for the time being. The question that he asks, though, is one that Yuuki demanded an answer to as well. He sighs exasperatedly, draping an arm over the back of his chair. "The Hunter's Association and the remnants of the Vampire's governing body work in cooperation to smooth things out between humans and vampires. Normally a hunter wouldn't be assigned to guard a vampire..." His gaze flits towards Yuuki, "... but if the Vampire King has to worry about her getting into trouble all the time, nothing will get done, and we'll all suffer." "My reasons are partially personal, and partially professional. The mansion is filled with vampires, and Yuuki's blood is highly desirable to vampires. She drew her own blood thoughtlessly when we met, and because of that I chose to take her away." That seems to be all Zero is willing to share at this exact moment, because he trails off after a moment of appearing to be on the edge of going on. Evidently whatever the other reason is, is too personal to share with somebody he only just met. Given how hard a time Yuuki is having just getting him to stop acting like he's barely worth the air he breathes, this should probably not come as much of a surprise.
Yuuki Kuran	"It's probably because of my older brother, yes. I... Don't really know what would happen if I got in any real danger - or if someone or something actually managed to really hurt or kill me. I'm pretty sure it would be disasterous. The last time vampires really threatened me... Actually, every time I've been threatened meaningfully, Kaname or Zero have destroyed whatever tried to hurt me. Uncle Rido, the vampire in the snow, uncle Rido again, the various vampires that snuck onto campus, the entire vampire council... It's selfishly natural to find Zero protecting me now, probably at Kaname's request." Yuuki admits, a bit sheepishly. Her skin had grown red and scalded-looking for a brief moment when the tea had poured over her, but now, only a few moments later, she looked normal - if damp and tea-stained. "You haven't... You're still so hard on yourself, Zero. And I'm pretty sure that... Well, I just know Zero truly hates vampires like me for what they do... erm, what they did to him." She admits, gesturing across the table. "He wasn't born a vampire - a revenge-mad pureblood turned him five years ago. He has his reasons for not liking vampires, but..." Yuuki just kind of slumps in her chair, defeated and deflated. "After brother killed the old Council, things have become dangerous in our world, with the feral vampires running rampant and the Nobles in hiding so they don't get killed too. The peace my brother and Chairman Cross worked so hard towards was seemingly wiped out in an instant, replaced by fear and madness."
D	The notion of a 'Vampire King' raises D's brow. "I see. The balance you've achieved was an ideal preached by someone I once knew. I have never quite seen it managed; humankind is too defiant to remain 'oppressed' for long -- " Spoken with some sarcasm, of course. " -- and vampirekind too bloodthirsty to set aside their ambitions for the sake of peace." He gazes into the bottom of his teacup as if looking on another world; for a long moment, he is lost to his brooding. But not so long he fails to catch Zero's remark about Yuuki's blood. "Yes. If you will forgive me for saying so, Miss Kuran, you do have a remarkable quality. I can understand why it would incite a...frenzy...and why you would require special protection." He is smart enough to look Zero's way and nod in unspoken reassurance: he has no intent to bring harm to Yuuki. Returning his full attention to Yuuki, he continues. "Yet you have a desire to protect your society and strengthen it. You do not want to remain cloistered inside your mansion while you have the power to counter your world's evils. You wish to work against the madness, don't you? And that's why you've joined the Union." D finishes his tea, but, as he no longer has anywhere to put his empty cup, he keeps it in his hands. He could probably just throw it over his shoulder, but that seems unnecessarily rude. "Perhaps Zero should follow in your footsteps if he intends to fulfill his duty. Hiding here will not enable you to achieve your goals, either, even if it shelters you for the moment." D's next words are meant for Zero. "Other solutions exist aside from total destruction of your enemies. Protecting Yuuki doesn't need to be a chore of genocide...but I am sure you have already thought of this. Perhaps with others to share your duty, you might have the opportunity to act on those options."
Zero Kiryu	"Chairman Cross is the one who allocated me to this assignment, among other things. I don't care about Kaname's requests." Zero states, coldly. It's pretty clear that he has nothing but contempt for this vampire king, and there's plenty of reasons for it. They are natural opposites, for one thing, but the other is simply that he doesn't like being used as a pawn. While it was Kaname's actions that allowed him to keep on existing as much as Yuuki's, the reasons for it are unbearably obnoxious. His overt aggravation becomes visible unease when Yuuki starts speaking about his feelings concerning vampires. He'd already expressed them of course, but he doesn't really want Yuuki or anybody talking too much about all of it. Especially not to a person who is... for now at least, more-or-less a stranger. Judging by his demeanor, Zero wouldn't be surprised if D would be every bit as agitated as he is right now if their situations were reversed. He grudgingly admits, "There are vampires that I can tolerate, but they are a minority. And they're not without their fatal flaws." For example, that time Aido bit Yuuki and Zero nearly shot him to death. Good times, good times. To D, he says, "Humankind is not especially subservient, and Vampires go about their business in secret. One side only bothers the other when somebody steps out of line. It's not a perfect system, and Pureblooded vampires are a pain to deal with. Vampires regard them as sacred, so killing one who breaks a law that will get them lawfully executed is still inordinately difficult." Zero accepts D's reassurance in equal silence, evidenced largely by the fact that he doesn't get growly or cast any sharp looks at the other hunter. It's probably not an easy exchange to perceive, since there's a whole lot of 'nothing' going on in it. While they speak, Zero takes the time to get the ruined table out of the way. He drags it to one side and leans it against the wall. He'll fix it in some way or another later. Probably crudely. Nothing in this apartment looks new or particularly kindly treated. Regarding membership in the Union, and methods of achieving goals, he says, "I'm already slated to become the Association's liaison to the Union, whether I like it or not. My desire to kill vampires is separate from my duty to protect Yuuki. If circumstances weren't as they are, I wouldn't have chosen to act as her bodyguard. At this point it isn't a job that I'm willing to discard, but it wasn't my primary objective until recently." "We hadn't even seen each other for a year, until I took her from her mansion." He adds, as he slides the second piece of table out of the way.
Yuuki Kuran	"It may invite retribution, but there's something about our world that's different than yours, D - Hunters carry a vampire-like power in their bloodlines, and Hunter families are close enough to Vampires that with their weapons they are usually more than a match for an upstart or two. Compound that with the fact that it's not illegal, from a Human standpoint, to kill a vampire... It's a strange give-and-take. An aggressive one. The Hunters could kill any Vampire they wanted, but they don't, because that would spark open war. The Purebloods could do just about anything they want, but they are desireable by the Vampires and watched by just about everyone." Yuuki explains, looking conflicted. "So there's a sort of cold-war peace. The Vampires are kept in check by the Hunters and the Council for the benefit of the Council, and somewhat the Purebloods. The Hunters are kept in check by the Purebloods and the tenuous peace - all out war was already fought. They 'won', but I don't know if they could win again. Probably. There's only thirty or so purebloods left, and more than half of them sleep away the centuries. My brother and I are two of about a dozen active ones. Plus, the Nobles love playing politics and using their long lives to live comfortably in the world of Humans." She continues, trying to wipe off her hair with her sleeve and failing to do anything but transfer dampness from one object to another. "And there's always humans who want to live longer, who wish to become Vampires, who offer themselves willingly to purebloods. It's not against the law to turn them... Even if I don't think I would want to do that to many people. It's a selfish sort of gift, I think." She mutters, a dark look crossing her face. If she had been asked by one friend, and only that one, she would have done it. But that one friend was well beyond her reach now. Now... "My adoptive father is also Zero's - that's why the Chairman cares so much about me, I think. Plus, it's a perfect political move. Kaname is very protective, even if I don't need all that protecting. So, D, has any of this helped you?" Yuuki wonders curiously, and more than a little hopefully.
D	"I see. Forgive my incorrect assumptions; I have much more to learn. As to the Union...I'm glad to be spared the work of recruiting you, then. It's not a task I enjoy." And his is not exactly the Union's kindest face. He and Zero may be uniquely suited to understanding one another, but if D were to try and recruit anyone else who wasn't so like himself, it would be a laughable exercise at best, and a disaster at worst. He simply doesn't have much patience for the foolishness of others. "But I suppose I would have made the effort to convince you anyway, in spite of that." A small concession. Yuuki seems eager to spare D further embarrassment by providing a longwinded explanation of her world's political scheme and governance. He is attentive to the recitation throughout, of course, and sometimes nods his understanding. Blanks are filled, and missing pieces added to the puzzle. His confusion largely cleared, he tips his hat in a gesture of gratitude. "You have helped, yes. There are aspects of this I find fascinating. I can look on my own history and see what roads could have been taken to find a similar level of...agreement between species, if not true peace." D stands up. He takes his tea cup to the kitchen's counter, and leaves it resting a safe distance from the counter's edge. At least, he presumes it is a safe distance. Yuuki seems unnaturally capable of defying all logic and grace, at times. He slides the tea cup another inch back. "For now, I'll stop imposing on your hospitality. I've intruded long enough for one day. Thank you for welcoming me as you did, and for taking the time to share your knowledge. I believe you have given me enough to think about." He proceeds toward the kitchen doorway, where he stops, and adds a final remark. "I am available to either of you should you have need. I look forward to working together." Assuming either Yuuki or Zero care to see him out, he will wait for their escort; otherwise, he manages it alone. He is very careful to try and close the door in such a way that its damage is not so...obvious.
Zero Kiryu	"There's nothing to forgive." Zero has little to say about the rest. He doesn't know how he feels about the Union yet. The paperwork has already been filed and he's already been subject to examinations, but it still isn't formalized. There's just not that much to say about it. It occurs to him, briefly, how unusual it must be to find something approximating a vampire that deliberately chooses blood tablets when they are nearly impossible to come by where he is from. He catches sight of D putting the teacup faaaaar away from the edge of the counter, and snorts audibly. It's probably the closest thing to a laugh you're going to get out of him. Wordlessly, Zero sees D to the door, inclining his head slightly in a silent goodbye. It'll do. This isn't a guy who needs a lot of pleasantries or words. The door, however, remains open in the aftermath. Once D is well on his way out of the building, Zero gives an impressive sigh. He draaaags himself over to the broken table, grabs half of it, and draaaaags it out to throw it away. There's no sense in putting this thing back together again. Maybe if it were broken more evenly... but no. And that is how the aftermath of this meeting comes to a close: With one of the hosts rattling around dragging violently destroyed furniture to the dumpster.