Baska Town’s streets were crowded with merchants; a local festival was taking place inside the village and it had become a hotspot for travelers within the north. Seira Navillera decided to delay her departure due to said event and although the area was still below her standards, the vampire was slowly taking a liking to the diversity the place has had to offer. She’d run into a few familiar faces already — her human lover and a rather problematic elf for example — and in spite of the lack of opportunities, she no longer despised the nightly turmoils and questionable incidents happening within the dark alleys of Baska.

Seira was feeling social, now more so than ever, and she was in a jolly mood; in spite of the terrible food most restaurants served (the inn’s here were complete garbage, seriously) the woman had discovered a raw diamond among all the shitholes that considered themselves ‘bars’ — The Boar Hat Pub. She felt embarrassed saying its cheesy name out loud and while the food was still filthy, the alcoholic beverages certainly were not. Seira spent most of her free time inside said pub and more often than not it was merely so she could listen to the stories and gossip other wanderers were willing to share — in the end information was key, and she knew this quite well.

The sound of heels hitting the pavement echoed through the alleyway and suddenly became silent when she halted in front of the wooden doors of the pub. A strange smile crept onto the vampire’s lips and for the first time ever she made a little promise: tonight alcohol shall be the only thing she would be drinking. Seira pushed the door open and entered. It was cramped inside, but this was no unusual sight. Sometimes visitors arrived in groups and took a table, whereas others huddled together in corners and prepared to get drunk, and still others were already drunk asleep in the remaining corners.

Seira approached the bar counter, took off her coat and found herself a seat. Due to certain happenings with a very particular blonde human she had sworn off the slutty dresses and now wore a black pullover with a tight fitting skirt in the same colour instead. Of course the pullover still had a low neckline and the skirt was still short, but ‘he’ would simply have to deal with that. Seira crossed her legs and waved at the bartender, quietly gesturing him to bring her something to drink. When he arrived with a jug of beer, the vampire eagerly took a few gulps and began looking around.

Even when Seira wasn’t hunting she was still unintentionally looking for interesting targets; more often than not she searched for beauty, a mysterious aura or perhaps even strange items she had never seen before — someone she wanted to keep an eye on for the sake of her own entertainment. The vampire found that person across the room, on the edge of the bar counter. There, wrapped up in a dark green peacoat, sat a petite form hidden underneath layers of snow white hair. ”You have got to be kidding me,” muttering something under her breath before grabbing her beer and quickly heading over, Seira’s expression as well as her voice were stained in disbelief.

”Ivana?”

After the other woman refused to react, Seira slid onto the chair next to hers and forcefully turned her around; a quick look into the female’s face was enough to confirm her suspicions however, and a wide smile spread across the vampire’s lips. ”You bitch,” her voice still carried a tone that gave away how surprised she was and she placed her beer onto the table before giving ‘Ivana’ a gentle slap against her left thigh. ”A smoke signal, a telegram, a letter — I’ve been worried sick about you!” Seira broke into laughter and gave her friend a genuine smirk. ”You are dressed like a schoolgirl, so I almost didn’t recognized you. Where in the world have you been?”

Seira was happy; this was her favourite (and only) demon friend after all.

The crowd was noisy; voices and laughter echoed through the hall, a man sitting to her left was singing and another one — drunk and completely out of his mind — started an attempt at flirting. Seira rolled her eyes, ”Shut up, I’m trying to talk!” hissed at the male and with a quick, well aimed kick, she pushed him back into the masses that had gathered not too far from where they sat. The circumstances weren’t exactly beneficial, especially if you intended on speaking calmly with another person, but the vampire had gotten used to the clamour. ”This place has always been terrible,” Seira muttered and softly shook her head, causing wisps of lilac hair to bounce around her skull.

Ivana’s response delayed, her reaction was different from what she’d expected and confusion and shock adorned her pretty face — she seemed to have been caught off guard by Seira’s friendly approach, and that alone was not right. ”That’s not possible,” said the vampire while furrowing her brows.

Ivana and Seira had been part of a merchant group in late summer — the frost demon from Nanuq was her partner in crime for approximately two weeks; a lot had happened since then, but she would have never forgotten a face (especially not her face) in such a short amount of time. Ivana’s reaction seemed genuine however, which caused even more confusion on Seira’s end. "We worked together for nearly two weeks, just a few months ago,” she said and leaned her back against the edge of the table.

Seira remembered Ivana’s personality to be ruthless, chaotic and manipulative; the stereotypical demon: they had no good intentions, and they only ever played for one side: their own. Ivana was fun to have around and in spite of her selfish nature, she was a reliable and strong partner. Seira had enjoyed working with her and the two women bonded over a rather similar characteristic: the lack of humanity.

”It’s Seira,” the vampire explained and lifted the glass of beer to her mouth.  ”We worked together and bonded over,” she paused and took a look around before continuing, ”lets call it shared features,” no eyes were on them (the only good thing about drunkards, hardly ever did they pay attention to their surroundings) and for a split second, Seira revealed her vampire fangs and flashed her companion a toothy smile.

Snowflake.

It’s a beautiful name; unique, although it was likely not the one her parents had given to her. Her hair was the same as always, a beautiful glistening mane of translucent white cascading down the length of her body — her allure was exclusive, her charm quite particular and even though she knew so little of this stranger who sat to her left, Seira couldn’t help but wonder how many other qualities she shared with her former friend.

“It’s a pretty name,” said the vampiress. She’d gotten quieter now, seemingly calmed down and ignoring the noisy environment. Seira had absolutely no explanation for what she found before her very eyes; this was Ivana. The Frost Demon’s visual appeal was there without a doubt, but she behaved differently now. There was something soft about this girl (not just the way she dressed, but how she carried herself as well), she acted almost timid and very hesitant; Ivana had been strong and full of confidence — not to say that this girl wasn’t, but there had always been a certain amount of aggression in everything her friend used to do and her approach was much different from this.

“Is that your real name, or simply an alias you are using?”

Seira decided to be straight forward with her questions and while she was curious, she had no intentions of jumping the poor girl — especially now, that so many bombs had been dropped on her during such a short amount of time. “You have to forgive me if I came off as rude, I didn’t think it was possible for someone to look so much like another person,” the woman scoffed and shook her head, causing a few of the lilac strands framing her features to fall into her vision.

“The woman I’ve mistaken you for looked just like you and her name was Ivana,” Seira was uncertain as to how much of an explanation was needed here — the girl seemed to be caught off guard at the sight of her fangs, which made the entire situation a little more awkward, especially if she was mortal and thereby human. “She liked snow too actually,” Ivana’s magic was different from anything Seira had ever seen before; powerful & unforgiving. “In that regard we had no similarities, she wasn’t like me nor was I anything like her — frost demons happen to be quite rare,” a nervous chuckle escaped her lips and Seira drank a little bit more of her beer.

It’s not as though vampires were more common. She merely considered them ‘alike’ due to the fact that they were both creatures of the blackest night; a lovely thing to share when you lived in a world filled with humans.

The Vampiress’ gaze shifted from Snowflake’s eyes down to her mouth — she had crystalline blue orbs and full, pinkish lips. Seira felt strange now; the other woman’s presence was no longer familiar, although she found it difficult to explain whether or not meeting her was a happy or unfortunate coincidence. She didn’t care that much about Ivana (in the end, all they’d been was partners over a short amount of time)  but hearing about her fate still affected her — she was shocked. Seira shook her head in disappointment and a heavy sigh rolled over her tongue. “It’s strange,” she began and took a sip from her beer, “you would think we are strong enough to survive as sorceresses and immortals, but it’s never that easy, not even when you are like us.”

Snowflake’s story was quite unbelievable; she couldn’t think of a reason as to why the other woman would be lying to her, but it made so little sense that Seira had a hard time following her words. The Vampiress believed in many things now — all due to her very own transformation and in spite of what she thought was right or wrong, she no longer judged the creatures of this world, nor did she deny the existence of certain things without knowing better. Still, Snowflake’s explanation remained absurd.

“I don’t understand,” she admitted helplessly.

A weak smile had snuck onto Seira’s lips. She wasn’t drunk yet, but it seemed as though the alcohol was slowly beginning to impair her ability to think. “What exactly do you mean by that?” Seira hadn’t been around much — she’d never heard of Machia, Lycans and all the other races out there; she didn’t understand the things that were possible and it was therefore impossible for her to grasp how a person could have been placed into another person’s body — just like that. “Ivana is dead and you took over her body,” she made an attempt at following Snowflake’s words, “in that case you have never been human?” The woman was beginning to believe that there wasn’t enough alcohol in this entire bar that could help her through this conversation.

She was too jaded to question the moral aspect of this whole ordeal — instead, Seira quietly listened to what Snowflake had to say and decided to respond accordingly. ”It was a part of her she embraced and it was the source of her power, that is all I know unfortunately.” She drifted off for a moment and her hand climbed back to the glass of beer, when the vampire’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise and she gasped audibly. ”Wait — does that mean you have it too? The Demon?” She didn’t know how she would feel about that. It would make the situation a lot more interesting, but also a lot more complicated.

”Snowflake, forgive me my curiosity, but who exactly are you anyways? Are you a Sorceress? What brings you to Baska? I can tell you are not from here, you are way too uncomfortable in this bar to be a citizen of this town.”

“It’s worthless.”

Slowly, the stone cold façade crumbled away with every word passing her lips. There was fear, but also concern. “I don’t think it’s true, I hope it isn’t,” said the vampire in response to Snowflake’s assumptions; her voice was dry now, it had lost its colour. “Immortality, in every aspect, is worthless when everything around you still dies,” the never ending troubles of the undead—of course she had a strong opinion on this, she was in love with a human after all. Seira didn’t want something she couldn’t share with Finn, especially not an endless life; he was the only ray of sunshine she could truly enjoy and without him her world would be grey and meaningless.

Snowflake was quick to explain herself: the words came pouring out of her little mouth like a waterfall, but rather than insight they brought more confusion. Seira didn’t think the girl was a liar (far from it actually) but her story was hardly believable after the first listen, which brought a frown to the older woman’s face. She had no intentions of interrupting her and as Snowflake when on about how her life changed drastically, eventually leading her to where she was today, Seira waved at the bartender and ordered another drink once she’d finished her beer—a stronger one this time.

“Okay,” she began, pointing towards her with the same hand carrying the whiskey glass—a huge chunk of the amber liquid had disappeared into her throat moments before, never to be seen again. “So, you are a human turned into a cyborg—but still kinda human, because everything else would be too weird—turned into another person who just so happened to be possessed by a demon,” Seira needed a little break here, barking at the bartender to refill her glass, “who also happened to be a deceased friend of mine and you are also a sorceress of Blue Pegasus and the guild master of thereof,” arching both brows, the fair vampiress exhaled a deep breath.  

“Impressive.”

Snowflake’s story was interesting—every part of it caught her attention in the end—and Seira became quiet (in spite of asking for another refill) for a while, slowly going through every sentence she’d just heard, picking it apart to fit the pieces together and ask the questions which remained. She found Snowflake’s way of describing the demon most peculiar; speaking as if the entity was a separate one from her own, yet both possessed the same body. It merely confirmed what Seira had thought before: demons, like in the lore of the church, possessed human bodies, whereas vampires were independent beings, much like elves.

Perhaps there is a cure for her, perhaps she can be saved.

Snowflake’s apparent alliance with Blue Pegasus was a whole different story—she was highly curious about this (mostly due to her relationship with Finn) and after the recent events she’d been wondering who was in charge of them now; she looked nothing like a leader however and if she spoke the truth nonetheless, she must have been blessed with both wisdom and strength, otherwise she would have never been chosen for such a position. “I met one of your guild mates before,” she began with a smile, “he showed me his guild tattoo, do you mind showing me yours?” If she had it, Seira would believe her.

“I’m here because I was looking for work,” unlike most people, her own reasons for traveling were rather underwhelming. “I don’t belong anywhere, so I go wherever my feet take me that day and hope for the best, although I do believe I could have done better than this.” With a swift gesture of her right hand, Seira pointed around and at the rundown bar they found themselves in.

Seira Navillera sat in silence for a while; she was musing quietly, with her legs crossed and her nails nervously tapping the wooden surface of the table—just how much should she give away in regards to her relationship with Finn? She’d never asked the human whether or not he wanted this to be public knowledge and of course Seira had never expected to run into one of his guild mates either. Eventually, the vampire decided to respect her lover’s privacy; if Finn wanted anyone to know, surely he’d tell them himself when the time came. Snowflake seemed like a trustworthy and genuine person however, and therefore Seira had no problems with revealing her connection to him.

“That’s quite the daring location,” she remarked and swiftly picked up Snowflake’s small hand. Her fingers traced the outlines of the white insignia—placed onto the back of her hand, for everyone to see—it was beautiful, the emblem of Blue Pegasus. She couldn’t help but find it funny how Finn was part of such a elegant group of people and just from the things she’d seen and heard about the Blue Pegasus guild he seemed completely out of place in more than one aspect.

“Finn Mertins,” said the vampiress; when she thought of her boyfriend, she found herself unable to hide the genuine smile now taking place on her lips. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, about this tall,” she lifted her hand up high to give Snowflake an approximate estimate as to what he looked like, “likes swords and dogs a lot. He and I are partners,” she coughed, quickly shaking her head. “I mean, we work together. Sometimes. We’re acquaintances, basically.” A nervous chuckle escaped her lips and she immediately reached for the alcohol. The only reason Seira wasn’t with her partner in these moments was his current absence; Finn & Jake had decided to take on a few jobs, leaving the vampire alone for a night or two. Since she was left with nothing else to do, she’d decided to go out and visit the bar—surely he wouldn’t like this, but he didn’t have to know.

Seira was stuttering; insecure, perhaps not as much as she used to be, the vampiress felt a certain lack of confidence overcome her when Finn’s name made its way into their conversation—how unfortunate. Seira was almost a little shy when it came to her boyfriend (she didn’t even knew this until now, but she felt flustered thinking about what it might be like if mutual friends knew) and she hadn’t thought this through at all; Snowflake’s very straight forward questions caught the poor girl off guard. Rather than responding immediately, the white haired reached out with her hands, searching for drinks on the table or anything else she could snack on for the sake of calming her nerves. She ended up snatching some peanuts from the plate of the person sitting next to her, before turning back to Snowflake.

“We met in Magnolia Town,” the vampiress began and without knowing, a genuine smile had found its way to her lips once more. “It’s been only a few months since then. I got lost on my way home through the woodlands before the city—stupid, I know—and he somehow found me and guided me home safely.” Seira kept going back to that fateful summer’s day a lot in her mind, wondering whether or not it’d been love at first sight. Most likely not, but whenever she thought of Finn, she couldn’t help but notice how easily her feelings for him had developed and how strong they’d become over such a short amount of time.

“We spent the rest of the day together in order for me to express my gratitude, but separated shortly after—I had things to do, and places to be.”

Seira decided that it was perhaps for the best if she left out the fact that they’d met several times over the past few months and now thought of each other as lovers — after all, if Finn and Snowflake were close he’d certainly tell her about this eventually — so rather than explaining any further, the girl gave her companion a helpless shrug. “It was also then, when he introduced himself to me as a member of the Blue Pegasus guild,” she continued and decided to order another drink from the bar: water. “Honestly, I was surprised to learn that someone like Finn, who doesn’t seem to be capable of using magic whatsoever, became part of a wizard’s guild like Blue Pegasus—but it seems as though none of you really mind, right?” This was something Seira was genuinely curious about and had been ever since she’d found out about it.  

“He explained his reasons to me, and I definitely do not doubt his potential or strength. It’s different for you though, isn’t it? You are a sorceress after all—is that why you joined a guild, Snowflake?”

“It doesn’t,” the vampire remarked briefly.

Seira found Snowflake’s short — yet informative — response almost comical; whereas it did bring clarity, the woman was mostly pleased to learn that other members of the wizard’s guild were appreciative of Finn’s presence and the environment her dearly beloved found himself in was a friendly one. Once she’d come to realize that much, Seira sighed in relief and smiled at the demoness. “I’m happy to hear that he’s welcome in Blue Pegasus,” she began and folded her hands together. For a moment the nightwalker forgot about Snowflake’s lack of knowledge in regards to her relationship with the human and the works she spoke were far too loving and caring to come from a neutral bystander. “It’s important to me that he has a place to return to, some place he can call home that consists of more than just himself and Jake,” Seira flashed the other girl a meek smile and shrugged.

When Snowflake brought Seira into the loop of the rather simple circumstances that eventually lead to her becoming a part of Blue Pegasus, the vampire appeared genuinely surprised. Finn’s story was almost similar; it was easy, he wasn’t anything or anyone special in particular and somehow Lance — the former guildmaster — had found a way to recruit them, where they’d eventually grow and prosper. Seira arched a brow and sat up in her chair, straightening her back while she turned towards Snowflake. “That’s strange,” the tone of her voice indicated curiosity, “this person seems to be quite accepting of all kinds of people, as it seems. Lance of Blue Pegasus,” she paused for a moment, allowing for that name to roll over her tongue. “He must be a very good person,” she eventually came to the conclusion that the former leader of the guild was as open minded as the other two members she’d met — which only made sense, the more she thought about it.

The question was almost a little awkward, causing Seira to chuckle lightly and shake her head as she responded. She’d never thought about guilds — never even considered them a possibility, to be honest — and even though she was more familiar with them now, after meeting members of guilds and speaking to them and such, the vampire still hadn’t thought about joining one on her own. “I’m a Sorceress, but in spite of that I have never thought about guilds too much,” she admitted to the other woman and began playing with the tips of her hair. “I haven’t really bonded with anyone up until recently, so I suppose that thought simply never occurred to me.” Granted, Seira had been alone her entire life up until the day Finn showed up. She’d nothing to offer except for problematic vampire behavior and the occasional emptied human blood bag in the trash can and even though Finn was her partner now, she’d never entertained the idea of joining a guild in order to be closer to him as well.

That being said, it wasn’t necessarily what Seira wanted either. Blue Pegasus was Finn’s guild — not hers. This was his personal space, something he treasured and something that was close to him and from Seira’s perspective she had little to no right to burst into that bubble of his. Of course she couldn’t know how wrong she was in that regard and that this was precisely what guilds were all about (keeping the people you care for close to you), but the vampire was clueless when it came to such things, so she didn’t dare to speak up.

Seira laughed.

“You are so genuine,” the woman remarked, “all of you are. There’s some similarity between you and the human and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of Blue Pegasus,” she rarely referred to Finn as human—more often than not it was merely a thought, something she kept in mind since she considered him her human; it simply came out when she was with Snowflake and once the demon suggested for the vampire to become a part of their guild as well, a bright smile spread across Seira’s face.

It’s nothing she would have agreed on without rethinking and reconsidering, even though the circumstances she found herself in were strangely unique. Nonetheless, Seira allowed herself a moment in silence to work through everything on her mind—there were a number of things, but none of them too concerning. She’d wondered if creatures of the night—such as herself—were even tolerated in light guilds; Snowflake’s existence was proof that this was indeed possible and Seira decided not to worry about it for even another moment.

Seira thought highly of herself—independence was important and especially now, that she’d promised herself to always be by Finn’s side she thought it was important to remember that—in spite of their bond—they were still their own people and they needed room to breathe. Seira didn’t want to take away from that by joining a group he’d been a part of prior to their relationship, but she also knew that this idea was as considerate as it was ridiculous; Finn was quite the social butterfly, he’d hinted at the idea of her joining Blue Pegasus before and would likely be thrilled to find out.

If not, she’d could always leave again.

Lastly, Snowflake—the current master of the guild—herself. Seira learned that both, the lady and the human had been recruited by the previous master and the vampire found the fact that she’d been invited by the current one rather pleasing. Snowflake saw a connection, as did Seira and she appreciated the bond that was slowly forming between the two women—perhaps there would be more like this? She’d never been part of a guild, she had little to no experience with these things but it was certainly never too late to stop learning, right?

Seira slowly nodded her head.

“Thank you,” she began, “you’re very kind. I would love to, I have been lonely for far too long,” a chuckle escaped her lips. “I hope that’s not a selfish thing to say,” nonetheless, it was the truth. And Seira didn’t want to be alone anymore.