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Rednal Ak'Thias

Rednal winced at Kanade's words... but didn't look very surprised, either. "Her heart, I mean. The accident. Her family, mostly her father, wanted her to be a very... proper sort of girl. Y'know, Yamato Nadeshiko and all that. The doctors never did figure out exactly what the problem was, but like me, she was born with heart problems. Daddy couldn't accept that his little girl was less than perfect in every way, and he told her as much after we woke up from the surgery. All her life she'd been pressured to be perfect, all her life she'd tried as hard as she possibly could, and he abandoned her for something she couldn't possibly control." His hands were clenched so tightly that a bit of blood began to seep down his palm. "Any father who tells his daughter that she shouldn't even be alive..." his voice trailed off. He didn't even know what he wanted to happen; nothing he could come up with felt like it would be a satisfactory end for that man, including converting to a different religion and hoping that some netherworld deity would claim that man's soul for torment. Or maybe some righteous deity; that might be okay, too. "I kinda gave her a reason to live after that... she's literally dedicated everything to me because she doesn't have anything else that she thinks is worth living for. In a fairly literal way, I gave her a second chance at life." he lifted up his shirt for a moment to reveal the massive scar on his chest. Yidhra's magic had never healed it... but then, maybe he didn't want it to be healed, either. "I think she wants to live, and... if I ever die, she'll probably kill herself on the spot. But I keep throwing myself into situations, knowing that what we do is even more important than my life... and more important than hers, too. But she can't protect me from deities or monsters. She doesn't even know the half of it, but she knows enough to realize the danger, so I think she wanted to get me away from all of it... whether I like it or not." he sighed, clearly frustrated. "I don't know how to fix her, either. This isn't something that can be cured by a group therapy session and a round of hugs. She's out of her mind, but I'm not even sure she has a mind to go back to... you can't fix something if there's no base to build off of." And it bothered him. Immensely.

Rednal Ak'Thias

"You have no idea how much I hope that's true." Rednal said. "If she does have a self beyond obsession, there might actually be some hope." It was probably best if Faust didn't know about his contingency plans. Which were exactly that... contingencies. Not his first choice, not the good choice, but... desperate last resort. He'd far prefer something else to happen. "Don't be too quick to impose your own beliefs on her actions, though. It's very easy to see what you want to see in the way someone else behaves, and if Keira's good at anything, it's hiding her feelings. Her father made sure of that." Back in the early days, when she'd been less set in her ways, he'd pried the information out of her... first in idle interest, then the sort of curiosity people felt when watching a train wreck and they just couldn't look away. "Where is she, anyway? And Kana, I'm probably going to need your help. Sorry, but it looks like I'll be imposing on you for a little bit longer."

Rednal Ak'Thias

"Well, simply put, I think she needs you as a friend." Rednal said brightly. "If she doesn't feel like what she cares about is in danger of being taken away, I think it'll be easier to get her to change. Also, you're a good influence. She's clearly in the wrong here, and I'll understand if you don't want to be around her anymore, but even so... she's my responsibility. I don't like unhappy endings." Slowly, he moved his legs to the side of the couch and got to his feet. "Well, no time like the present to see if we can get things started." Slowly, he made his way over to the basement door, then cracked it open slightly and looked in.



Bam.

Rednal took a few deep breaths. "You mean there IS a vampire in my basement? I thought I was imagining that..."

Rednal Ak'Thias

Rednal nodded to Aselia, and the monosyllabic girl nodded back, then darted outside to go investigate. In the meantime, Rednal looked at the door he'd slammed shut, then slowly rubbed his eyes. Right... Aselia hadn't looked surprised at the presence of a supernatural monster in his basement, and she was the local team leader for the Yatagarasu, at least for the lower-level members. She was nowhere near Kuzunoha-level, obviously, but... yeah. Okay. If she knew it was there and she wasn't worried, then it was probably all good, and she just hadn't had the chance to tell him about it. Which made sense, because he hadn't exactly been bursting with free time since he got home, so she hadn't had a chance to explain it to him. If Keira had been put with the vampire while he was out, it was probably with Aselia's approval, which meant it was all fine and good. Also, he wasn't going to forget his first sight of her anytime soon. He slowly took another deep breath, then opened the door again and took a few steps down the stairs and-

Whoa. Sometime when he'd been out, somebody had seriously redecorated the place. The vampire girl from before (oh, he had to ask about those wings sometime... what the heck were those?) was sitting crouched in the far part of the basement, well away from the illuminated spot, with Yuno sitting beside her, holding her head.

Aselia Bluespirit

"Nn." Aselia affirmed as she smiled at Jo(shu). Well, mostly well. Ish. Close enough. Everyone was still alive, which was good, though right now they were probably interrogating the girl and meeting Flan. Well, they could handle that just fine. She'd just needed to come check out the noises out here and determine what, exactly, all the trouble was. Although she WAS a little worried about having been tracked... "Nn?" she inquired. Did he have something he wanted to know? He was authorized to get reports from her, so if he asked, she was more-or-less obligated to answer.