Reignhart savoir vivre

A long time ago, when he rose from a street rat into the British upper class, Samiel had to force himself to learn which spoon was used for what, when to clear his palate, when to wash his hands during the meal and how he should fold a handkerchief.

Now he was supposed to learn the savoir vivre of vampires, how to hunt without making a huge mess out of himself and his meal. And it honestly felt more useful than which fork was supposed to be used for salads and which one for fish...

As promised, he arrived at Kesi's residence, well-rested and ready. Mentally refreshed. Ready to soak in knowledge...

He rung the bell.

attirew/ various gold bangles/jewelry/old necklaces you get the gist lol

---

Kesi was waiting, though her waiting was her patiently running a comb through her hair before adding pins to it to keep the locks out of her face. She wasn't going to be hunting but instead encouraging a new vampire in his hunt, what a fun night for him. She prayed that he'd have a good first hunt tonight and as her buzzer rang, she got up and went to let him in.

To her door, she opened it as she slipped on her shoes, "Samiel, how are we this evening? "

Samiel smiled politely, he himself dressed rather casually in a woolen coat and comfy pair of jeans. First hunt, huh...

"Good evening!" he bowed his head. "I'm actually... quite alright, if a bit anxious."

He was actually relatively at peace after their parting words yesterday...

Kesi placed a hand on his arm, grabbing a small pouch and guiding him out. There was no time to waste on his first hunt! And they needed to head a bit out of town to respect the no feeding rules here.

"Very normal feelings but you'll do fine, come, we have a short walk to get to where we will hunt. Now, we don't hunt here so as to not let others know we're here, alright?" she told him as she'd already start to lead him down her drive once the door was shut.

"Now, what do you know of suggestions? "

"Very well." Samiel nodded as he followed her through the driveway, just listening intently to what she had to say. And first came a question... ah. The fledgeling vampire was well-acquianted with suggestion.

He paused with a sigh.
"I can make people obey my orders without struggle. And erase their memories. The orders might last a day or forever..." Samiel listed what he learned through experience. "And sometimes magic might just not work."

Nodding, her hands tucked behind her back as she walked beside him on the path she often took when she didn't want to bother with a car or flight.

"Very good but you forgot the most important part...you need eye contact. Even brief but you need to be able to look into their eyes with your own. Some people know to avoid eye contact entirely but that is if they know what you are...if they figured it out, it's best to play it off as casual and try and show you mean them no harm. Most times, it earns you some trust and helps build a possible friendship where they might allow you to bite without suggestion...but those are rare, " she told him honestly, a small shrug of her shoulders.

So that's why this rat bastard called him out on lack of eye contact... Samiel winced and shook his head. No need to get angry, just... relax.

"I see. Need to maintain eye contact."

Nodding to that.

"Yes. It's important for any suggestion. Now, the wording is key. Say I wanted you to calm down, I would say' You will calm down this instant' but you need to make sure it is one thing not, 'you will calm down and stop fighting this instant'. You need it to be one whole phrase with no and in it, do you understand? "

"One command at the time, got it." Samiel nodded as well, clasped hands behind his back as he walked. "I assume it's also best be very exact and specific with my wording? One time a vampire said don't move and I just... got stuck for the whole day."

Shudder. Terrible.

That made her grimace a little hearing that, "Yes. If you can, place a time on it like...you can not move for an hour. Reasonable amount time to do what must be done while also allowing them to leave after a certain amount of time...otherwise you or they are stuck like that for a whole day and that is not enjoyable by anyone. " Kesi told him with a small chuckle to that. No, not fun at all.

Samiel nodded in silence. That seemed to be easy enough and just hoped his luck won't do him dirty, like it loved to do in the recent days.

"Let's say, I absolutely fail my suggestions. What's the best course of action then?" he didn't wanted to kill anyone, but if he had to... well...

Thinking for a moment, "It depends on the situation...if they are a danger then you must either keep them in place and call myself or...you must kill them. The latter is last ditch and only if there is danger to being found out or death- it's a grey area honestly," she told him as she tried to think back on her own experiences.

"When suggestions have failed for myself; and it will happen no matter how young or old you are into this life, I called another to help and kept the person in place until then or if it was no possible i made the judgement call if they would be a danger or not and went from there. "

That was reasonable.

"Seems like a big advantage of being in a group. In case of things going south, you can always ask someone for help." he hummed. Well, that was all he needed to know for now. "Let's put that into practice then."

Samiel was hungry...

Nodding, "Yes but also know that you can do this without one as well just know that having fellow vampiric friends is rather helpful since they can offer suggestions as well if they have them to spare to help, " she told him as she led him through to the safety another area now.

She started to look around, her arm casually looping through his to make it look less strange.

"Now...look around at the people...what sort of target do you think you should go for? Them or him? " she asked as she pointed to the pair of women talking but then to the solo gentleman who was off and giving the vibe of leave me be.

Samiel hummed, looking at the two choices that were presented to him. Then he said quietly, making sure only Kesi can hear him.

"A man approaching another man to ask about something tends to be less frowned upon." He said, as he explained his reasoning. "Besides that, he's alone and single targets are easier to corner. Let's say, I manage to take one of these women into more private place, but the other comes to check on her friend. I'd need to use suggestion on both of them, spreading my odds thinner."

Kesi listened to him, leaning in as she took in his reasoning and nodded her head proudly.

"Very good...now, do you feel confident to approach him or would you like to find another? " she asked. She didn't want to just shove him straight off the cliff with no parachute but basically that was what this life was sometimes. You sink or swim but she at least could offer him something to help him out on the journey down to his feet.

Arslan was deeply tired. He'd just finished work for the evening, and was zoning out on a bench. Had plenty of time to go before he had to head home, but.

Just wanted a minute to himself before that.

That lonely man looked unapproachable. Clearly wanted to be left alone, so Samiel wouldn't really try to poke him. His eyes turned to the sleepy man on the bench... now, that looked almost like a perfect set up.

"How about this one?" he asked Kesi for her opinion, though. "Lonely, sleepy, younger so would likely take blood loss better..."

Kesi's eyes drifted over the one he saw. The sweet smell hit her nose on the wind, oh boy, a psychic for the first time. Well...it was best he learn now than later.

"Good...now, quick advice; Once you get closer, you'll be able to notice that he isn't a regular human but a psychic. Now...if your gut tells you to leave, just do it but I will be right here should anything happen. Get his eyes, go simple tell him that he will allow you to feed from, alright? " she told him as she let go and stepped to the side from him. He needed to do this alone without her and so she could only hope that he would be able to figure it out.

Until he needed her though, she'd be off to the side staring down at her phone seemingly.

Arslan was unaware that he was prey yet.

Samiel nodded at Kesi and decided to approach the young man. And there it was, the alluring smell of psychic blood. Damn... was this how he smelled like to Tempest and Monty? When he was still... uh, alive that is...

He used his natural paternal instinct of worry about the boy and he never felt so disgusted himself in his entire life. Not even when he had to lie and cheat for sake of gathering intel... Still, gentle smile on his face, off he went.

"You okay there...?" The vampire asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

It took him a second, but he realized after a second he was being spoken to.

Looking up at the man, Arslan blinked, but did make eye contact. "Oh. Uh. Yeah?"

Samiel decided to go with something natural, that wouldn't raise as many questions in case of failure. It was getting cold after all...

"I'm waiting for a ride. So..." Pause for a new sentence. "Let's wait somewhere warmer together."

And there it was. The sense of rather bad failure.

"...if you want." He added with a shrug.

---

*sad trombone*

As he came closer, there was a mixture of feelings Arslan could feel off him. It was perplexing, underlined with a sense of... uncertainty.

Which made the very odd request from this very old man even worse.

"Sorry. I'm... not into men."

Old men, especially.

Jesus Christ, how embarrassing.

Samiel didn't even bothered not to cringe, yeah, that was... He didn't even considered how it might sound. Ah, he blew it.

"Yeah, me neither. Sorry for that." he said and he set off back to Kesi. "Have a nice evening."

That was so strange. Arslan felt the embarrassment overwhelm him, at least until the man moved far enough away.

Weird... but he didn't let it make him leave, at least.

---

skippable unless interacted with, no tagging needed

Kesi had been watching from the shadows, an arm crossed lazily under her chest and the other dangling over it as she watched Samiel try to suggest the man and...fail. Oh how sad but what made it worse was what the man said and she had to cover her mouth to stifle a small laugh that left her as her pupal approached her.

"It was a good first try...would you like my help? " she asked him, trying to keep herself from being amused but it was rather difficult. Leaning a bit, she looked to make sure the psychic was still in place.

"Go ahead a laugh, I deserve it." Samiel blurted out once he returned to his teacher, shaking his head. Just feeling utterly humiliated either way. Perhaps he should chose an older target, making it less weird. "Not sure how it could be salvaged... I completely blew it."

Kesi bit her lip, smiling as she reached up to touch his face, "Calm yourself, we all screw up on our first try, " most did at least and she still smiled at him, her head shaking some. "It can be, give me a moment, hmm? " she asked him and if he didn't protest she'd head on over to the psychic now.

"I'm terribly sorry sir, do you happen to have some quarters I could use for the payphone over there, please? My cell phone's dead and I need to call a cab, " Kesi would ask the hopefully still sleepy psychic. Her eyes searched for his, hoping to catch his gaze for a moment.

... Why was he being talked to so soon. Did he have a sign on his back or something?

Arslan looked up, meeting her eyes. She looked like some kind of actress or professional model, way too pretty and decked out to be living in Ridgefield, Colorado. "Oh," was all he'd manage to say in his awe, as he started to hold up his phone instead.

Because it was 2021. Who used payphones anymore?

Kesi smiled at him, giving a bit of a sad lost look to him as he spoke. While she had his eye though, she quickly spoke.

"Sawf tasmah lana bialtaghdhiat mink dun 'ayi aihtijaj, " she told him swiftly, her body relaxing as she felt the magic take hold of him as he handed her his phone.

"Thank you kindly, please, will you come with me? " she would ask the psychic, hoping he will take her hand to come with her.

---

IT WORK
Translation: You will allow us to feed from you without any protest

Something shifted, not that he could feel it, but in his deeply internal interests. He could not understand her words, though he could identify it as Arabic; a consequence of knowing the sound of the language from having memorized sections of the Quran, but unable to translate it.

Regardless, she asked him to go with her. It was not explicitly demanded, but it did seem like a worthwhile idea.

"Okay," he answered. She still had his phone. He wondered why.

Kesi smiled sweetly at the man as seemed to agree and hopefully followed her down a bit to a more secluded area.

Walking there, she'd look to Samiel and motion for him to follow her here. This was all about teaching so, she needed to at least show him how to handle himself with a psychic.

Looking back at the sweet young man, she handed him his phone back as she would seek his eyes once more. If not, it was no big deal really, she'd let Samiel then handle wiping his memory as she waited for her pupal.

As soon as he noticed Kesi's gesture, Samiel followed along with her. Damn... he was hungry. And how easily she got this kid to follow her, made him a bit jealous and even more embarrassed for a second.

But only thing he did was giving his teacher a questioning look. What was the next step...?

He did take his phone back, but it was the appearance of the other man again that drew his attention. This was strange, and amidst the foreign feeling embarrassment there was confusion. These two things, Arslan absorbed.

"Why are you here?" he asked, less accusatory and more confused. Intensely.

Kesi gave a look to Samiel and then to the psychic, "To learn...now, mind tilting your head to the side a bit love? " she asked him sweetly. Her gaze went to Samiel, visually telling him to watch and see, to stay calm even if things seem strange.

She rested a hand on his chest, her hand there mostly to slam him into the wall should she have to keep him from leaving them.

Samiel was... hungry. But focused on the lessons he had to learn. However, he didn't felt comfortable biting into the young man's neck.

"I can take the arm, it will be better, I think." He said quietly.

Less... sex pest-y.

Tilting his head. Taking the arm. Things that didn't make much sense to him, but he did it anyway. Awful, how he did it anyway.

Kesi nodded, "Could to ten in your head and then pull away," she told him as the psychic complied with them.

She went and bit but as she did she felt the strangest sensation that made her bite into the psychic a little harder than she normally would have as she took only a few small mouthfuls before pulling away shaking.

A snapping feeling. Something broken. Something gone. The clutch remained but there was also a gap in it that made the muscles in her abdomen clench and eyes water. She needed a moment and would just keep her hand on his chest so Samiel could feed in peace while the vampire processed this feeling to try and understand it while high.

Hungry...

Samiel eagerly bit into psychic's arm and begin counting and he drank blood. Numbers became fuzzy, colors became a bit more vibrant and began to swirl a little. But it was nothing unfamiliar to him, reminded him on being on LSD in the training facility. Funnily enough, what happened there only gave him slight resistance to drugs and no kick to his psychic abilities.

At 10 he pulled away with a content sigh. Hunger satisfied, he felt warm, fuzzy and safe... but he still was lucid enough to notice that Kesi's mood changed.

"Whass wrong, did I... do something bad...?" he wondered.

Half the unknown magic satisfied as one pulled away, he still felt radiating pain from the woman's bite. But he couldn't move, couldn't make a bit of disagreement. He could think how much he hated this, though.

They could talk to each other and he'd still be here as long as one was still going. How they had this power, he didn't know.

That didn't mean he was doing nothing, as her strain hit him emotionally.

Slowly, he started to take on a different form — body and face and hair changing, becoming more female, gradually, a mirror reflection of herself even while she sucked his blood like a filthy tick.

when she was away from his neck, she understood the feeling a little more and knew there was a lot wrong and she needed to return home quickly. Needed to search for their leader but first the psychic. He had- or well she now?

Staring at him, "Look at me, please, " she asked the strange psychic who now made her feel like she was looking into a mirror.

The question from Samiel though made her head shake to him, "No...it is something else. I need to leave but we must make sure he is taken care of first memory wise, " she told him as her voice wavered still. This was the strangest mirror she'd ever gazed into and right now, she couldn't even marvel at it.

"Ah..." Samiel raised a finger as if he wanted to say something, but perhaps it was best not to reveal to the psychic that they had a similar ability. In case they fumble the suggestion. He decided to ask a different thing. "Mmmmay I try?"

After all, he came here to learn.

Pardon?

Memory wise?

"No," he answered in her voice, scrunching his eyes shut. Was that how they did it? He should have known.

Nodding to him as she looked to the psychic who looked like her.

"Listen to me...you want to continue on with your night easily, without problems, allow this. You will be just fine, if not I am not afraid to pry your eyelids open and hold your eyes still to look at me. Do you understand? " Kesi was cold now, she had things to do. And even though she barely knew her clutch, she wanted to check on them because that pain was reverberating through her right now.

That sudden change of Kesi's demeanor didn't escaped Samiel even though he felt like he just hit a bong and the stuff in it was definitely spiked with something.

"Huhhh... We should get him back to normal too, he'll look in the mirror and remember you." He noticed. That would be something he'd do himself if he needed to remember someone before a memory wipe.

Arslan was having none of this. Who would agree to having their memories wiped willingly? What kind of moron did they take him for? Now he was doubling down, and aside from that, he was not so unaware that he didn't know that there had been other people around not all that far from here.

He scrunched his eyes tightly and fell into a piercingly loud scream, his fear permeating outwards towards them and intending to take hold over their own emotions. Shove the rest out so that all they felt was fear.

"HELP!!! ANYONE!!! VAMPIRES!!!"

It was going to be a long night and Vanessa had decided to visit this cute little coffeeshop to get some coffee to help stay awake for it. Ugh. Her case was difficult and the other lawyer was an asshole who definitely requested the court case to be moved up to cause her problems. But fine, whatever. Vanessa could be a ruthless bitch even on no sleep. Perhaps even more so on no sleep.

Coffee freshly secured, the redhead was heading back to her home when she heard someone yell. She wasn't what she'd call a hero, but damn, after the thing with Rosemarie, she felt like maybe she could offer help. She heard vampires definitely and she felt scared. She remembered being fed on when she adopted her cat. It had seemed so casual. But this? This didn't seem casual. This was someone screaming in fear, and she had to help.

Dropping her coffee, she ran towards the sound of the voice, coming upon three people rather quickly. With barely any thought put into it, her eyes lit up orange as each hand produced a fireball. "Get away!" she shouted at all three, unsure who was vampire and who wasn't.

Joseph was the guy in the car who slowed when he heard the yelling. His music was blaring, so granted, he missed a few words, but he had a good line of sight on the woman who was running down the sidewalk.

Glancing to the rearview, he stopped at the curb, pulling the window down and leaning over. Secretive as it was, he couldn't see much. Only a real life fireball--holy crap.

"Over here!" Joseph called loudly to whoever needed the help, leaving an avenue of safety open if they chose to take it.

Talk about getting home peacefully when you lived in Ridgefield County.

Kesi quickly noticed the crowd that they'd drawn without meaning to and she didn't have the time nor patience to deal with them but she had to force away any feelings she had as she looked from him and then to the redhead. Psychic. Another psychic that made it tricky as she could suggest them all.

Looking down the ally and then back to the woman. Fuck.

"This is a misunderstanding...he was calling me crude names and when I confronted him like this he started to scream...wanting to get out of any trouble instead of facing the consequences of being a crass human. Have you ever been catcalled? The feeling from it? " she asked the woman, her eyes looking to her as she willingly showed pain and fear as she spoke. Sorry fella, you were going to get the short stick on this one for causing a scene right now.

The fear was unintentional, having not expected to feel it not show it but she was now. Kesi now wanted to escape this whole mess without causing an incident or death. She tried to stay calm and level but her hands were shaking from the invasive emotion that she didn't want to show through right now and had little control over.

Looking to Samiel now, with fear in her eyes; was he ok? He had to be because if he lost it then there was a whole new problem to be at hand.