Minna is trying to be reasonable, she is. But these are vampires and, despite everything having been explained to her in fair detail, she's still petrified as she walks up with the vampire who had escorted her here, looking up at the keep and taking a deep breath. How did her life get so strange, so fast? She's an astronomer. An astronomer. A scientist, not a...goddess. She still isn't sure she believes that, anyway.

The floating towers drive home the point that she's really, truly in a whole other world, now, and her gaze is fixed on them for several moments.

Ian Connely avoids observing her for the most part. What Minna is going through right now is hard enough without the milk-white eyes of a vampire staring at her. Dressed in a fetching black suit with a red undershirt, very 1885 American West, and standing about six feet tall, he is just about as close to the picture of a vampire male as it comes. Charming, classy, a little pale, and an un-missable presence.

"Is there anything I can do to make this transition simpler for you?" he inquires in a cool voice.

"You have thus far...thank you." Minna looks over at him and manages an only slightly weak smile. "It's just...a lot to think about. I was a college professor only distinguishable by white hair two days ago."

"Normal is a difficult thing to leave behind," Ian nods slowly as he answers. "Allow yourself to think of other things often. Rest your mind from the worries and confusion of this change, and it will assimilate in time." He turns his head a little. "I wonder how your body of knowledge has changed since yesterday."

"Considering its confusion, I would say it's hit puberty."

Ian chuckles softly, shaking his head. "Lean on that sense of humor and you'll be fine. Are you hungry at all, Minna? In need of drink?"

"A drink would be welcome, thank you." Minna smiles and nods. She's thirsty, but hadn't really wanted to say so. Vampire. Thirsty. Yeah. That'll take some getting used to.

Ian gives her a knowing glance, snaps his fingers once. "Bring some tea for her, please." 

An initiate, hidden in the shadows, takes of to do as the master bids. Ian loves doing that sort of thing. Totally unnecessary, but it makes him look cool.

Minna blinks and glances the way of the person who had been in the shadows, just barely catching a glimpse. Unnecessary or not, she's certainly impressed, and smiles only a little nervously. "Thank you." She has some amount of grudging trust in Ian. Even if the incident just now freaks her out in a way. Something tells her she's going to get snuck up on a lot. She adjusts her bag a little on her shoulder. Dan had sent a couple of things with her that she likes...just a few, and only small things. A thunderbird trinket, a leather-bound notebook, and a repair kit for her leg. She's wearing a cloak that Dan's allies had given her. She's not aware that it muffles her energy signature to a fair extent, but it works just fine despite that. And it's warm.

"I'm sure that someone else has told you. But we are not here to garrote you. Because of your albinism I believe your blood would not be proper for us to drink anyway, so please, try to be at ease." Ian pecks on the table. "This is my clan. If any member here tried to touch you there would be life-altering repercussions. So... try to smile without quivering, dear."

Minna nods...tries to smile more sincerly after a few seconds. She's trying to be brave, damnit, she really is. But this is freaky. "Right. I'll work on that. So...what exactly will I be expected to do here? I wouldn't ask to stay without being willing to pull my own weight." Not that she'd asked anyway. Eh. Details.

"Do whatever it is you did before at first. You will be asked to stay within sight of a clan member when not inside the walls, but other than that, you are basically free to do as you please." He glances up when the shade returns, a glass of iced tea in hand. "Thank you. You may leave now." He looks back to Minna. "A telescope and observatory have been prepared for your use. Here is your tea."

Minna's taken aback at the bits about the telescope and observatory...accepts the glass, and sips it most gratfully. "Thank you." Not just for the tea. She thinks a moment...glances to where it strikes her as most logical to have an observatory, given the basic layout she'd seen on the approach. Sure enough, she catches a glimpse of the top of it. She's truly, deeply grateful, she really is. And Ian is really doing a job relaxing her a bit. "I have to admit...it will be really, really nice having most everyone else conduct their business at night as well," she observes, nodding a bit. A smile tugs at the edges of her lips at the thought despite herself.

"Well yes... empathy comes in the strangest places. Rarely will you see one of us swat a mosquito, you see." Ian chuckles. "We are keeping you here, yes. You cannot leave. But we would vastly prefer if the experience was not a bad one for either party."

Minna nods. It's already been discussed that she can send letters to her family now and then, when the proper messengers are available and heading that way anyway, so long as she doesn't give out certain pieces of info...so she's not as distressed about all of this as she might otherwise have been. She has just enouh sense of adventure to make this something like an interesting experience. Were it not for the "hey you're a junior-grade goddess" thing, she might find the whole thing, if a bit frightening, borderline enjoyable. As it is, it's certainly intriguing, and she can't help but be terribly interested in her surroundings, which shows. She smiles a little, and nods. "Well...I would rather something so interesting happens, than spend the rest of my life explaining the concepts of spacetime and the theory of relativity to a room of semi-teens whose intellectual goal involves easy credit hours."

Ian tilts his head just a little bit. "Credit hours, dear?"

"Ehm...a hallow measure of advancement in higher education. Sorry." She smiles sheepishly. Oh yeah. Long way from home.

"I see. Like a goal that must be fulfilled, then, to reach higher levels of teaching?" The vampire leans forward on his elbows. Other worlds fascinate him, though he could never say why. "What did you teach exactly?"

Minna nods, relaxing a little again. "Precisely. It's the school's way of keeping track what has already been completed. I teach two levels of astronomy, a whort spectrography class, and also an introduction to quantum physics."

"Ah!" Ian snaps his fingers. "I have heard of this quantum physics. Is it not a popular cult in your world? A religion where postulation replaces evidence and is wholeheartedly accepted as fact?"

Minna grins. She's not really especially defensive of it; it's not her specialty. "Something like that. It's not accepted as fact, really, so much as..." she thinks for a moment. "Nearly all the scientists of our society have agreed to assume and test a single theory together and share assumptions until we can come to more solid conclusions one way or the other. The only thing about it that's not religious is the fact that if a solid disproval is found, we'll all move on."

Ian tilts his head. "Like the witch trials?"

"Yes, minus the mass murders and general nastiness." Minna smiles that close-eyed little expression of hers.

"Ah, so the process has streamlined. This is excellent news." Ian chuckles a debutante chuckle. "Minna, are you aware that others seek you, even now?"

Her expression fades, and she nods. "Well...Gerant mentioned that they might. He didn't really say why. He danced around it."

Ian considers this dutifully. "Of course, those, but others. Scouts have sent word that a strange pink creature, a tiny girl, and a tall man have been asking questions. Are you familiar with any of these descriptions?"

Minna thinks for a few moments, and then shakes her head. "No...I don't think so." "Tall" makes her think of a lanky fellow. Kaies is "big."

"Then we shall be on the watch. Most likely you will get to see for yourself, though most likely they will be bound for your safety. Should they turn out to be friends, we will release them. Enemies, we will destroy them."

Minna nods slowly...her eyes trail down to her drink though. "Isn't that a little...off, though? One person being protected when several others are hurt?" Granted, several aggressors...but still.

"You are a professor. Are you familiar with baboons, my dear?" Ian smiles his charming little smile.

"Certainly." Minna nods. "I did some graduate study in primatology."

"When a young baboon is attacked by, say, a jackal. How do the adult baboons react?" Ian tilts his head the other way.

"If the jackal doesn't run, it will be torn apart by the adults," she admits.

"It is for your continued safety, dear. You are sympathetic because you are are selfless." Ian reaches out, sets his ring-adorned hand upon the table. "We make up for your vulnerability."

Minna still isn't sure what to say. Or to think. But she does smile a little, after a moment, truly gratefully. Not surely. But gratefully. "Thank you." She nods.

At this point, Kaies, Hal, and, about twenty feet away, a startled Sesarius appear well within the boundaries of the keep. The vampire's eyes dart around, confirming their surroundings, and he finally grits his teeth, fangs bared. His stance could not be more defensive. Shit. Shit shit shit.

Hal bounces. "Yay! We're here!"

"Here?" Kaies looks up at the castle before them, blinking. "Yes, this fits right into the current ten on my weird shit-o-meter."

Above, a single shade darts into the castle, to inform Ian of their presence.

Sesarius sighs tensely, and glances away from the keep. No. There are sentries that way. "Hal?"

"Yes?"

"If I survive this, I'm going to stuff you in a sack and toss you into a dog kennel."

"Yay! I hate cats!"

"...pardon? Nevermind. Just nevermind."

"I suppose Linna and I could knock on the front door..." Kaies glances at it. "We aren't a threat, for sure. It's worth a shot."

"... I see." Above, Ian rises from the table. "Excuse me, miss Minna, but they are here. You may wander if you like, while I deal with this."

Minna nods. "Be careful?"

"Of course, my dear. Back in a moment." Ian smiles again, a little confused that she seems to care at all. He heads down the stairs, humming to himself.

"Right." Kaies trots up to the gate, looming massive before him. Pecks on it.

Hal trots right up next to him and plops down as though on a posie-lined porch, looking pleased with herself.

Sesarius hangs back, alert as alert can be, tense. He keeps his hands from his weapons, though.

It isn't long before Ian appears atop the parapet. Looking down, very much playing the part of the elder vampire.

"What can we do for you today?" he asks quietly, his eyes locked upon Sesarius. "Kitten, brute, and little lost sheep."

Sesarius remains silent.

"We're looking for the big guy's friend her name's Minna she has white hair. The old Gentan-guy said she was here your clothes are cool," Hal declares in typial fashion.

Amused, Ian descends from the parapet and touches down lightly before them. "Thank you. I have an imaginative tailor. So, do you have proof that Gentan sent you?"

Kaies produces the ring, holds it out. Ian examines it for a moment, expression inscrutable.

Linna, though silent, is practically bouncing in her seat. Another vampire! So the first wasn't a freak occurence.

"The pink one and the tall one may enter. Vampire, you have no business here. Be glad it was I and not my clan who came to greet you." Ian smiles prettily. "Flee."

"Tell any sentries to not shoot me on sight, and I'd be happy to leave." Sesarius, while not a kid, is much younger and significantly less powerful than Ian, solidly mid-ranked in his clan, and he knows the score. He's not about to posture, much.

Ian tilts his head. "Are you still here? Pity."

Kaies glances at Hal. "Could you transport him out? Quick-like?"

"Nope! It's kinda a high-level trick, I can't use it machine-gun ish." Hal smiles prettily, wiggling her nose.

Sesarius glares half-heartedly at her. "Doggie chow," he mutters, and turns and walks away from the keep at a fair step, senses alert and very much defensive. He is having such a bad day.

Ian closes his eyes, silently relays instructions to his sentries. Once Sesarius is out of earshot...

"My sentries will harry him. He will get out alive, but they will make him think he is in real danger." He grins at the three of them. "The illusion of threat is just as effective as real threat. Shall we?"

Hal purrs. "Yay!" She trots right past Ian. "Ooo...cool floaty towers!" Her tail swishes excitedly.

Ian wastes no time in showing them back to where Minna last was. Kaies follows quietly, absorbing the surrealty of it all.

Minna is sitting not far from there, sitting on a step where there's a better view. There had been a small rock wedged in the wrong place in her prosthetic, so her limp's been unduly bad...she's taking these few moments to prepare for whatever surprise comes next, and is busily cleaning that joint with a screwdriver, prosthetic in her lap.

She looks up...then blinks. Twice. Her eyes widen. "Kaies? How did you...? I mean...?" She's glad to to see him, God she's glad to see him.

"See, this is why we check." Ian glances at Kaies. "What a horrible name for such a brute. You should be Thunder."

Kaies ignores him. "Are you alright, Minna? Have they harmed you at all?"

"No, not at all...except for the 'drugged and kidnnapped' detail, everyone's been very kind, and answer a lot of questions. How on earth did you get here?"

Hal looks up at Ian. "What should I be named?"

Ian grins sidelong at Hal. "You reek of 'Precious'."

"I was sent here by that hooded fellow I met the other night. You can imagine how the mind of an engineer is stretching around all this." Kaies shakes his head. "It doesn't matter so long as you are all right."

"Yay! You're all right...mouse!" Hal pounces, clawed little hands scrambling against the wall. Had no hope of catching it, it darts into a hole, but it was fun. She'd known she wouldn't get it.

"Yes, I can imagine...are you okay, though? And who's this?" Minna glances to Hal. She doesn't know where to even begin talking to Kaies.

"Other than being convinced that any moment I will wake up in bed with a bottle of pills in my hand, I am fine." Kaies snickers. "This is Hal. A goddess, believe it or not."

Minna is very interested in that, which shows immediately in her visage. She finally finishes tightening the prosthetic on her stump at the same time, though, and she finally manages to stand up. She's not sure whether it's appropriate to hug Kaies or not. After all, she barely knows him. But she does. She's just...so relieved to see anyone familiar. Damnit, all this is weird...and she's scared.

He doesn't think a thing of it, and reciprocates the gesture. "Remind me to kick Dan's ass when I see him next," he laughs. "I don't know if there's anyway to get you out of here, though. I think... it may be safer for you here than anywhere else."

Minna's eyes drop, and she nods. Something about a normal person being here drives the strangeness of everything home, a needed contrast and point of reference. She swallows hard. "I know. I don't want to be here, but...I don't not want to be here. Does that even make sense?"

"I say that every time I'm home," Kaies admits. "At least here things will be safe, though. And you'll have time to figure it out."

By now Minna has stepped back politely. After all, she's not his wife. She nods. "Yeah...I think so." Her eyes travel aside for a few moments. "So...I guess Dan can settle my affairs. Resign from my positions after a period of time passes." It's a hard statement to make, albeit a very practical one. She'd worked hard for those.

"If I leave him any teeth, probably." Kaies sighs a little bit on her behalf. This is not fair.

"I believe the position you have attained far outranks anything with the word 'adjunct' as a qualifier, Minna." Ian nods.

Minna smiles weakly at Ian. "Maybe. It's just hard to wake up one morning, be told that you're somehow divine, and believe it. I've seen pranks more elaborate than this. No offense." She does keep waiting for someone to jump out with cameras.

"You are not the only normal person who lacks normalcy." Ian glances at Kaies. "Right, summoner?"

Kaies just looks away.

"Summoner?" Minna looks back at Kaies, eyes questioning. Has he been hiding an entire nature from her, too? She's really not sure she can take too much more of that.

"That is what everyone keeps telling me. I knew nothing about it until I came here, Minna." The big dumb bastard thinks that he has a handle on how she's feeling right now. "Hal kept mentioning it."

"What does that even mean, though?"

"It means that he can call lots of cool creatures from the nether realm or hell or some other plane depending on how good he is to help him when he needs it. Or they can eat him. That happens sometimes." Hal smiles, purring. She's sitting near Ian's feet.

"See what I mean?" Kaies sighs. "Science would faint as a whole if it saw this sort of thing."

Ian reaches down and pats Hal's head.

Hal grins up at the elder vampire. "Yup...'precious' and don't'cha forget it!" She wraps her tail around herself happily and looks over at Kaies. "So, muscles, you found your other white-haired girlfriend. Picky. Now whatcha going to do?"

"I'm trying to figure that out," he admits. "I have not yet figured out which course of action is best."

"Stay here with her, or leave," Ian answers for him, "but she cannot leave. My apologies."

Minna looks down, but doesn't try to rebuke.

Hal grins. "Aw, come on. You fit right in with magic people, you do. Kinda. In a geeky science kinda way." She pokes Kaies with a claw, though it doesn't really damage his pant leg.

"I have a wife at home, Hal. I could not abandon her." Though in a way, he feels he ought to. Like where he is right now is where he actually belongs. "She would kill me." He grins. Minna should understand.

Minna manages a smile, and nods. "I really appreciate your having come all this way to find me, Kaies, I do. But I'm sure that Kintune's ire has faded into worry by now."

"Attention, Kaies! If you are worried about Minna, you can leave me with her." Linna pokes him inside his shirt pocket.

Ian blinks. "I thought that was a doll."

Linna salutes. "Thank you!"

Even Minna has to smile, and Hal snickers. "She is! She's a walking talking one with smart-ass action!"

"Oh, you're one to talk Hal." Kaies reaches down and pokes her. "Would that make you happy, Minna? I mean... what's a few million in research when a friend's happiness is at stake?"

Hal bites the offending finger.

Kaies jumps. "Gah!"

Hal just goes back to looking cute, ears cocked just so and well-equipped for the task.

Minna's eyes sparkle quietly at the nip, then looks back up to Kaies. "That's very kind, Kaies...but I couldn't take Linna. You've invested too much in her...not just money, but time and hope, too. You're never as enthusiastic as when you talk about your hopes for her."

"Linna is a research robot, dear," Kaies replies, "she would be extremely useful here."

"But would you be able to retrieve her?" Prudent.

Kaies looks at Ian.

"Oh, very well. You should know the routine. If anyone follows you, I will kill you. And so forth." 

He looks back to Minna. "I will come as often as I can."

Minna offers both Ian and Kaies a grateful smile at that, and bows her head to the elder vampire before looking back to the engineer. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Though it feels sort of awkward, Kaies reaches into his pocket and lifts Linna out, handing her to her new boss. "Linna, learn as much as you can here. Minna, her battery is actually, ah, a nuclear cell, so she does need to be switched off occasionally."

Takes Linna gingerly, and is a bit surprised at her weight. "Are there any warning signs of a meltdown that I should particularly watch out for?"

Kaies chuckles. "She isn't a power plant, dear. She just has to mediate the amount of radiation in her body. If there is a problem she will warn you."

Minna smiles sheepishly, and nods. "Right." She tilts her head, holding Linna up closer to face level. "Well. You're going to have a bit of a lifestyle change right along with me, huh?"

"It is so!" Linna winks. "But it is not so different. The air is the same. The water is the same."

Minna has to smile a bit at that. "Smart for a wind-up doll, aren't you?"

"Smarter than you," Linna smiles, "but I forgive you."

"You may be a supercomputer, but you do realize that there isn't an internet connection here, don't you?"

"Affirmative! There is no electricity mass-produced here. Therefore the internet is kaputsky."

"Just making sure." Minna pats the computer-girl's head. She looks up, and smiles. Awkwardly, she doesn't know what to say.

Hal watches her tail twitch for a few seconds. "Soooo...who likes pie?"

"Pie is good," Kaies nods.

"Does this awkward pause end soon?" Ian asks, not too pointedly.

"Well I did my best!" Hal points out. Her tail whips around her curtly as she pouts.

Minna smiles a bit at Hal. "I think this is the part where Kaies has so kindly been looking for me for days, but now has found me and what to do next is in question."

Ian gazes curiously at Kaies. Wonders at the contemplative look on his face. For a regular person this is a no-brainer. You go home, drink, and convince your spouse that make-up sex is for the best, then get back to reality. That he's stopping to think at all makes him wonder.

Kaies, for his part, knows he must leave, but is having trouble making his feet agree.

Minna's eyes finally soften. She tilts her head. "Well. There are a lot of questions I have about myself. But, you're in a good place to find the answers to questions you have about yourself, too."

"It sounds moronic. But leaving feels like the wrong choice." He looks at Hal, then Ian. "What?"

"I am just looking at a person who ended up in the wrong life, is all." 

"Come again?"

"Oh, drop the idiot pretense. The urge to serve is practically crawling up your spine. Tell me that you didn't feel it as soon as you came into contact with Minna." Ian crosses his arms over his chest, waiting.

"I have a wife..."

"Not that, you dunderheaded gargantuan boob. As in, the urge to protect. Watch over." He waits.

Kaies just glances helplessly at the others.

"Hmmm..." Hal watches her wagging tail most attentively. "You know, a fair number of reincarnations chose to return to the mortal plane for either a specific person or a specific situation. Once they find that, instinct holds them firmly to their goal even before their minds recall that it had originally existed. But, um..." She smiles a dopey little smile. "I'm just a little kitty."

Ian pats her head again. "And I am a just an Irishman." He rolls his eyes.

Kaies glances at Minna again. Eyes soften. "I have to think about this."

"Idiot. The more you think, the more you will find that it serves no purpose. Summoner." The vampire shrugs. "You are what you are. Fight it if you like, but I guarantee you will be back here, begging to be her retainer." He looks to Minna, silently asking her input.

Minna's eyes travel down after a few moments of Ian's gaze. "This is getting...really complicated. Both of us being...something different than we thought, is a difficult thing to swallow, but...literally destined to be involved in some way? Or someone else being destined to protect me? That seems...odd."

Hal trots away from the vampire on all fours, and rubs her cheek on Minna's knee with a reassuring little purr. She feels a bit protective of Minna, the way a human would of a lost child. "Come on, kid...the universe is a complicated place. It's not always--or usually--as simple as one person serving another. If someone's meant to protect a specific person, then he probably chose to at some point, or just has it in his nature."

Kaies raises his eyes at last, their sparkle a bit more determined than before. "Well then. I suppose I am going to have to figure out how to be a retainer. Kintune is going to kick my ass..." he smiles. "All of this does not tell me why this has happened. Not a bit of it. But it feels the way it should feel, somehow."

Minna blinks. "If nothing else has changed, Kaies...I'm not allowed to leave here." She looks to Ian for confirmation that this is still the case despite new developments, eyes hopeful. Please please. She can hope.

Ian seems to be mulling it over. "If he is worth anything under that moronic human exterior, such may not be the case, Minna." He looks again at Kaies. "But there is quite a layer of imbecile to plow through..."

Hal pokes Kaies's pant leg with a claw. "Defend yourself!"

He looks down to the little kitten-elf.

"Point. Listen, humor me," he looks to Ian, "and lay off the belittling. This is hard enough without listening to some bored vampire taking rehearsed shots at me."

"I could just send you away."

"You could also send the moon to the sink, but that doesn't mean it would happen." He looks at Minna. "Minna, do you think this is something we ought to chance? See how it works out?"

Minna isn't really sure what to say. It's a tremendous amount to ask of another person. And totally out of character for her to do so. But, she wants to go home. Very much, actually. She doesn't want to have to forsake everything there. Everyone there. She can't ask it, but...

And then Hal nips her real shin, to a jump. "Hmph. She wants to, she just won't say so," the pink kitty sniffs.

"I have a better idea," Ian cuts in, "why do you not simply stay here for a while, summoner? That way the both of you can consider, while you sink down into your new role."

"Maybe..." Kaies glances at Minna again. "That might be the best course of action, Minna."

Minna nods slowly. "Probably, yes...there's a lot for both of us to figure out."

Hal trots back over to Ian. "Hey, you should tell your clanfolk to not eat him like the other vampire tried to," she purrs.

"My clanfolk are more civilized than that," Ian is quick to snap, "not only do we carefully ration our feedings, but we can spell our own names."

"Really? 'Cause I think you've got a silent 'n' in there maybe," Hal prreows. "So that's why you don't like the other guy's folk right?" They consider themselves hunters and superior to humans, rendering the latter quite disposable.

"No. We dislike them because they have no sense of decorum." Ian huffs quietly. "They are practically apes."

"Apes have fleas," Hal expertly observes. "I met one and then I had fleas. It sucked. Even I'm not flexible enough to do that much scratching." She taps the back of her head with a foot.

"Teach humanoid women to do what you just did, Hal, and you will not be an unknown goddess anymore." Ian's eyebrow lifts a bit. "Banter aside. I have a room set up for Minna. One will be set up for you, medium."

Kaies nods a little. "Right."

Minna smiles a bit, and nods. "Thank you. That's very kind." She isn't really aware how much a vampire's keep has to gain from helping her. Altruistic or not, there are two sides.

"I will go see to that. You two feel free to explore." Ian bows his head a bit and heads off. "Oh, and all of you," he says as he goes, "trying to leave with her will just get you tortured. Savvy?"

Minna bites her lip, and glances at Kaies. Hal just wags her tail, looking oblivious.

Kaies just shrugs, as if to say 'whatever you say, ass hat'.

"So... now what?" he inquires after a moment.

"I'm not sure...maybe have a look around?" Minna is fidgeting. She's uncomfortable beyond all discomfort.

"What's the matter," Kaies begins, grinning a bit, "would be a stupid question. But for now, tell me what I can do to make this less irksome for you." He looks down the hall. "That looks like a fountain. Want to sit there?"

Minna smiles a bit, and nods. "Sure. That sounds nice." She glances that way...is quiet at first as they start to walk. "I can't believe you came all this way," she says finally. "Instead of just going to the police or somesuch."

"I had a debt to you, Minna. I can't walk away from that." Kaies thrusts his hands into his pockets. "I went to the university to find you, but found a hooded man instead, who sent me here. Well... to this plane anyway. A long walk from here."

Minna looks to Hal, who's poking around a short distance away, after taking a few moments to digest that. "Wow. And...your friend? Have you known her long?"

"No. We only met after I arrived. I smacked her with my briefcase." Kaies snickers. "Hal was a little bit forward in saying hello, and frightened me."

---

Guardian Topaz (11:35:19 PM): It's been a week now since Minna had arrived, and just a day less for Kaies. The fountain had become a favorite spot outside of the observatory she very dedicatedly, very interestedly works in for full hours. She's sitting on the edge of the fountain, wearing a rather old-styled jacket that a tailor had given her to help make her feel welcome. Tonight, her thoughts are buzzing. She just watches the moon with quiet intensity, quiet for a very long time.

Guardian Topaz (11:35:40 PM): "Kaies...I don't want to go back. Not with any permanence, anyway."

Gabriel Orr (11:41:03 PM): Kaies's eyes open slowly, dreamily, from the meditative trance he'd fallen into. With a bit of guidance from some of the clan he has started to fall into the role written up for him before his birth, and such is not a terribly uncommon occurence with him this week.

"What changed your mind, Minna?"

Guardian Topaz (11:47:29 PM): "This place is...wonderful. The blood drinking thing is frightening, sure, but that seems controlled. Everyone's up and awake at night, and there are places to go in low light at any hour. And things just get done; the beauracracy isn't there. There's something more sincere about the way things are done." She's speaking somewhat slowly, considering each statement.

Gabriel Orr (11:56:53 PM): Her apparent retainer considers this carefully, looking at her, but not for any length of time. "Maybe all this was for the best. Fate seems to have an interesting way of dealing with you thus far. Perhaps it was supposed to be this way." He stands up, stretches his arms. "It is a hard place to dislike."

Guardian Topaz (11:59:50 PM): Minna smiles a little, though somewhat seriously, and nods. Her smile brightens and softens after a few moments. "Yeah. She really is warming up to a quite inexplicable sense of belonging. "So...how are you adjusting to you? You seem...different. Less like you're looking for something you're missing."

Gabriel Orr (12:06:51 AM): "For a little while, I thought that not having my wife yelling at me would cause me to forget who I was." He chuckles a quiet chuckle, a bit more characteristic of him lately than before. "I thought that it was a temporary thing. But the longer I sit here, learning these things, the more I feel as though the knowledge fits me only here. As if taking it back with me would taint it."

Guardian Topaz (12:08:20 AM): Minna tilts her head. "What are you suggesting? Are you really considering not going back?

Gabriel Orr (12:09:06 AM): Kaies looks at her directly this time. "Does that sound wrong?"

Guardian Topaz (12:10:02 AM): Minna's quiet, consider. "I don't know. Not overall, for certain.

Guardian Topaz (12:10:17 AM): what about your wife, though?"

Gabriel Orr (12:14:18 AM): "I haven't worked that part out yet." He laughs again, though nervously this time, as though exposing an avenue he had failed to consider.  "Things are changing. You know that scar that was on my hand?" He holds up the referred to appendage, recently encased in a black glove. With a tug of his other hand he removes the glove, showing a hand that is now lined with designs that look like tattooes. "She would fuss for a week over this."

Guardian Topaz (12:25:36 AM): "Hm...there'a lot she's going to need to be made to understand

Gabriel Orr (12:28:36 AM): "When with a few silly looking gestures I can summon beautiful women to do my will, yes, I think there will be a lot of explaining to do." He looks at her again, wondering. "Are the stars really so different here, Minna?"

Guardian Topaz (12:30:30 AM): A little...not extremely. Brightnesses are mixed up, and the moon's shadows are turned as well. It's like we're seeing the same thing from a differnet angle, but not terribly far away.

Gabriel Orr (12:31:34 AM): "Different is refreshing, you know. Perhaps you and both simply overstayed our welcomes back home?"

Guardian Topaz (12:33:29 AM): "Maybe...or maybe we never belonged there in the first place?

Gabriel Orr (12:35:18 AM): Kaies moves to sit next to her, lays his hands upon his knees. "Do you really think so, Minna? I am not so sure."

Guardian Topaz (12:38:07 AM): Minna glances aside. "I'm really not sure. I'm...sure that I never really felt like I belonged anywhere at home. I mean, between the albinism and my leg and other things. I know I'm not exactly like everyone here, but...it's closer, somehow."

Gabriel Orr (12:41:06 AM): "Well... thus far, time has changed our perceptions of the place. Perhaps it has not finished yet." He smiles at her. "We'll see?"

Guardian Topaz (12:47:22 AM): Minna smiles in return, and nods. "Yes. I'm sure we will...bit by bit."

Apparently Kaies's suggestion is a powerful thing. Because only seconds later, the entire keep rumbles faintly. Minna blinks. "Did you feel that?" Shades are streaking through the air, warning of an incoming attack

Gabriel Orr (12:50:29 AM): "I felt something..."

"Children, up." Ian's voice cuts across Kaies's but a moment later, the elder vampire showing his face in a hurry. "Some dead men have apparently decided to darken our doorstep. I will ask the two of you to retire below ground. Now."

Guardian Topaz (12:55:06 AM): Minna's eyes widen just a little, but then return to normal. She nods and stands up, glancing to Kaies as she does.

Ian slaps Kaies's shoulder, a full head above his. "What are you waiting for? Go with her. Guard her with your life or I will take it myself."

Kaies, for the first time since arriving, lets his feelings show in his face. "Try me if you have no use for your head." Still, he turns to go with Minna, ignoring the rush of vampires and monsters rising to meet the impending threat.

Minna just nods...says nothing, though her face is expressively frightened, concerned, startled, and so on. She hurries along beside Kaies to the lower levels of the keep, step showing the limp she develops when she's walking fast.

The threat outside the keep seems straightforward enough, though faint energy whispers and physical rumbles may indicate otherwise. The attackers are staying pretty low themselves, and the first wave of attack is controlled by a grinning summoner with a mostly-stable command over several very large, fire elemental serpents.

Featherlight feet bear Ian Connely to the crest of his keep. From this vantage point he can clearly survey the entire scope of a newborn battle, guiding his own forces via telepathy. Figure eights streaming in ignition warn him of the presence of summoners or elementalists, neither of which pose a dire threat to his keep. Minna was brought here for a reason, after all. 

"Keep your head, Minna. We're both in very good hands." Kaies speaks with the reassuring tone of someone concealing a fair bit of fear. His feet know better, and keep a steady pace for Minna's benefit.

Minna nods a bit...smiles weakly. "Yeah...what do you suppose it is?" Do you think someone really came for me?

"It could be a common occurence here. Who knows? I would think that you are at the heart of it, though." Honesty sometimes is not the best policy. "Monsters attacking monsters. The kind of thing that gets conspiracy nuts tossed in jail back home."

Minna nods a bit. Smiles a little. "So," she notes as they walk along... "how likely do you suppose it is one of us hit their head in that coffee shop thing and the other is a figment of someone's coma?"

"I tested this theory when I got in a fight with a vampire the day I arrived. Kind of like 'pinch me' only with fists." Kaies chuckles. "We are where we are, dear."

"Didn't you already test the 'fight with a vampire' theory before that? Wasn't a good idea then, either?" Minna smiles, nervously teasing.

"It's never a good idea unless it's a barfight. I have known these vampires for a week and I can already tell you that they hold their liquor like anorexic Amish children."

Minna has to titter at that.

At the same moment, one of the fire elementals, after circling with its companions, dives, flaming claws bared, at the guards on a turret.

"Abandon the turrets! Send out sorties, aim for the summoners!" Ian Connely calls out to his clan in a booming voice, the tone of a commander. In response, many of the targetted vampires leap from their position, some taking to the ground and speeding for the source of the assault.

The elemental screeches, enraged, when its targets all scramble out of the reach of its flaming, wavering claws.

About a minute and a half's worth of false or failed attacks on the impressively fortified keep, a smaller elementl, not apparently attack-endowed, waggles through the air towards Ian. Messenger...the summoners aren't yet out of the picture, it seems.

The elder vampire watches the messenger, hands steady in defensive position. 

"I hope you're delivering a surrender," he smirks to the elemental, wondering if it can understand.

The much smaller elemental twists in the air, but does settle into a slow hover around the elder vampire. "Certainly not. We couldn't fell your keep...but we're not trying to. We can keep this going nigh infinitely while your death toal just keeps rising, however slowly. All that we need to leave, is a certain goddess-to-be in your possession. Certainly not worth balancing against a single one of your kinsmen's."

Ian tilts his head a bit. "Uh-huh. You think to make threats when you've seen only minutes of our defense? You people are new at this, right?"

"You presume to know our offense after seeing the same amount. We're simply offering to avoid larger conflict at all. We have no quarrel with your clan." The serpant twists impatiently.

"You do now. Tell your superiors to fall back, and this will end peacefully." Ian notices, and deliberately slows his words. "Or be branded vampire hunters and have very clan from here to Parashka waiting to break your bones."

"We are not vampire hunters. We are balance keepers. We have no interest in vampires; some in our ranks are vampires themselves." One is but hey. "We take the power housed in infused mortals and put it to better use than to let a potential megalomaniac throw off the balance of an already reasonably stable power balance in the world."

"Just because you aren't does not mean you may not be branded as such." Ian tilts his head at the last. "So you are not just meddlers, but greedy meddlers as well. I'll bet your mothers are terribly proud of you. I'll ask them when I visit the brothel tonight."

The serpent hisses. "We'll be in touch." And it flits away.

Felara, seated quietly quite near the keep, out of sight and perfecting some illusion spells, sighs to herself when a very faint tremor splits the ground. A summoned earth elemental messing with the foundations deep below the keep, she's sure. Amateurs. Freaking...amateurs. She closes her eyes for a few moments.

Minna eeps, jumping when a tremendous jolt rocks the entire keep from its foundation up.

Kaies's hands are there, of course, to steady her. He feels the presence of the elementals somehow, deep in the recesses of his subconscious memory, and narrows his eyes in response. 

"Someone wants more trouble than we may be equipped to handle, Minna. Are you okay?" Mostly, he's asking if she's nervous.

The albino nods and just swallows hard. She hopes the vampires above have this under control.

"Attention enemy assholes," Ian shouts from his perch, "time is up! Gentlemen, if you please, the static infinihedron!"

Vampires from all sides of the keep take a suddenly crisp formation. It only takes a few moments... their upraised hands and building sorcerous energy flares to life a translucent blue barricade over the entire keep. Electrical energy flickers along its entire surface, though it is a solid beast.

Two elementals dash themselves against the barrier, snarling, before all retreat, circling above it and brooding.

Felara closes her eyes, and her rare smirk slithers across her lips. Oh. A challenge. How cute. If she can't get at the keep...well, let's make these buffoons look smarter than they are. The next thing that shifts isn't in the keep...but a large boulder just below. It jerks over about fifteen feet, crushing or destabilizing just enough to make for some very real consequences.

And then she waits, interested, for any rebuttle.

The vampires all react in fair unison. Ian shuts his eyes and rises a bit from the keep along with his clan, in efforts to escape the immediate consequences of changes from beneath. The stakes are suddenly higher, though... he knows that they have someone hidden, now.

Quite suddenly, Kaies's hands slide away from Minna and to his forehead. He steps back from her, eyes squeezing tightly shut. The scar on his hand, glows to life, followed shortly by the tattooes all over his upper body.

Minna's eyes widen even as her hands shoot out to steady her retainer. "Kaies! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Just pressure... behind my eyes. It is just like when I fought Ser... Sauru... that vampire man." The tattooes brighten a little bit.

Outside, the sky darkens in a concentric circle just above the static shield. Pressure builds as all at once the clouds shoot off to either side and the air splits with a concussive bang. 

In the chasing cloud-trails there floats a solitary man, thin, and allover pale blue. He blinks his starry eyes, and almost at once does the sky open up in a torrential rainstorm that spits hail and sleet in even quantities, all over the field.

Minna's eyes widen a little, and she shudders lightly, closing them. She doesn't know what's going on...but somehow, something in her feels something big. Then she looks back to Kaies, just putting a hand on his shoulder, eyes still wide and concerned.

Felara shivers, growls, and looks up to the sky, just interested in the new development as she pulls her hood over her head and her cloak closer around her shoulders. And who is this?

Lightning splits the sky as snow begins to fall, mingling with the hail as the sleet and rain freeze. Ian stares skyward, wondering, but not really. He knows that reaction. The summoner must be in total control of the situation.

Kaies has no idea what the hell is going on. "I summoned something, I think," he explains to Minna. "Maybe? It feels like it."

The blue man ignores the summoners below. His eyes search the mountains for something else, the only noticeably large power signature in the area. Partially hidden, it takes him a moment longer to sense it than he might normally require.

A bolt of lightning hurtles towards Felara's place, not quite accurate. But warning shots never are.

Only cold alarm races through the telekinetic's mind at first. Felara leaps back, enough to keep a painful spray of rock from piercing her in uncomfortable places. She narrows her eyes. She can't create a largescale battle. Can't give away her position, reveal the nature of her power too deeply. That could lead back to her identity and so Istra's involvement.

She just hunkers low for the moment, awaiting its next move and cloaking her power signature further. Not being a full psychic hampers the effort. It's not perfect.

Not perfect, but not bad.

Ian turns that way, looks up again to the sky. The strange weather-being floats idly for a moment though the snow has escalated to a full scale blizzard. It's as if he had seen Felara, but not, and was only testing to see if she was there. 

Kaies sits upon a stool. He's beginning to feel the effects of such a large scale summoning, though if it had been his choice to make it would not have been such a powerful creature.

Felara pulls her cloak over her mouth to ease breathing against the intense cold, and just waits, eyes narrow and fixed on the sky above...to where the weather being had been, as she can't see him for the snow sticking to her eyelashes.

The deity-hunting summoners, by now, are quite clearly swarming and confused. The fire elementals are having a hard time, needless to say...the serpents finally streak upwards, shrieking and claws bared, towards the weather being.

Minna is right there to steady Kaies. Her eyes are wide, concerned...and, in a strange way, understanding. But she remains quiet, doing her best to be supportive but not distracting.

The being responds to the elementals' assault by intensifying the snow, but doesn't really move to dodge. It should be apparent that, while a tremendously powerful being, its abilities are limited to the supernatural. Its physical prowess is nothing noteworthy.

Supernatural is enough for the moment. One of the fire elementals sputters and finally falls in the snow. Another goes farther and higher...but finally whimpers, extinguished, and topples as well. The result is a tremendous, serpentine body twisting and tumbling at angle towards the center of the keep.

Strangely enough, a gust of wind blows to bouy the elementals, guided by the weather-being's hands... trying to save them.

Kaies shakes his head. "No killing..." he mutters, as if in a trance.

Minna isn't sure what's going on, but her eyes soften. Yeah. Somehow, she and Kaies really must really be destined to have intertwined paths. She just remains quietly by his side, calmer somehow.

The elementals are badly stunned and in serious trouble--they need their summoners to dispell them back to their region of origin, which isn't happening--but the weather being's efforts do slow their falls beneath fatal. Still, the one is still headed for the keep...and ends up draped limply over a massive wall, weak but breathing. The snow is still killing them, but at least the fall didn't finish it.

Felara narrows her eyes. How interesting. Summoned? She thinks it may be...this needs to be reported to Istra. The plan needs to change. Cloak wrapped tightly around her neck, she begins a quick jog away, under as much cover as possible and aided by visual distortion spells, though keeping an eye on everything that's going on for further development.

Kaies lowers his head. The weather being vanishes, and with it, the snowstorm. What has fallen remains, of course, but the downpour does abate.

"Get those monsters out of here," Ian screeches to those down below. "Or next time we will not stop!" Hey, they don't know it wasn't intentional.

The lead hunter growls. That did not go at all as planned...who knew they had such a powerful summoner? Time to fall back, regroup, and rethink. Hopefully they'll be able to track the infused human's next movement. But for now...the elementals are finally, mercifully dispelled, after being thus abused by their summoners. The hunters retreat...and, except unseasonal snow, things sink quickly into an eary sense of normalcy.

Ian nods to his fellows, and the static shield dissipates completely. Some faint, others pant... it had been a hard lot. He himself heads straightway for the lower levels, to check on Minna, and find out if the summoner fried his brain or not.

"Remind me," Kaies slowly says to Minna, "to find out how to control that."

Minna nods, smiles a little. "Yeah. I will." On a whim, she hugs Kaies lightly around the shoulders. "I think you may just have saved us...whatever you did. You did it well. Thank you, Kaies."

The big man laughs a quiet, humble sort of laugh. "Now if I could only do it on purpose. But... yeah. So long as you're safe." He beams at her.

"Is he alive?" An arriving Ian demands, "and Minna?"

Minna's hands are sitting on one of Kaies's shoulders, and she nods, smiling a bit for emphasis. "Yes. We're both fine, thank you. If everyone okay?"

"A few injuries, nothing too serious. It reeks of a distraction." Ian looks Minna over, decides she's really okay. "That was some trick. Next time, don't go so big, Kaies."

Kaies grumbles.

"A distraction? From what?" Minna tilts her head just a little, interested.

"Well, we assumed that the target was you, correct?" Ian shrugs. "Even powerful fools do not attack a vampire clan keep head on, making such a show of it."

Minna nods a bit. "Do you know who they were?"