A Date With Lunacy

Reisen blushed at the sudden kiss. And then immediately felt guilty because she knew he only did it because she had messed with his mind.

"I suppose." she said to Luna. "I- uh, I've never been here before. Is there anything you would recommend?"

"Well the croissants are pretty nice.And you can choose what you want inside of them from a small selection such as butter. As for the coffee, there is the latte, vanilla and mocha are the most popular here. If coffee is not to your taste, they also have several brand of tea." The service waiter has come by to hand Soma and Reisen their menu to allow them to choose.

"Hmmm...I might go for a cup of coffee, myself. Maybe a croissant as well. What about you, Reisen?" Soma gave a nod as thanks to the waiter, before going through the menu.

"Ah, I guess... I'll take the croissant with butter and a vanilla coffee, then?" Reisen told the waitress.

The waiter bow before he goes to the back with the order. Luna turns to the couple before smiling as she starts up a conversation. "So is there anything you both wish to tell me of yourselves? You do not have to if you do not wish though." She is mindful that Reisen may still be skittish of this pursuer and Luna is still relatively an unknown, if not socialble person.

What was there to say about her. "I'm just your average person. I do things like, abandoning my duty as a soldier, fleeing to the Impure Land and brainwashing this nice young man into thinking I'm his girlfriend."

Yeah, saying any of that would go over real well. But what else was there to say about her?

"I..." Reisen sighed as she swept a hand through her lavender locks. "I... I used to work under the Lunarian princesses back home."

Soma scratched the side of his cheek. She asked a question...And she wasn't exactly normal, so....

"And..I'm the reincarnation of Dracula. Not exactly by choice, but...yeah."

"Lunarian...princess? You are not speaking about the council?" She speaks as if this is actually a foreign concept to her. The way she seems to fear rabbits even though rabbits are generally low-tone. It was then that she made a bit of a revelation. "I suspect that even if we are of the same kind, our culture is not the same, as if we are from entirely different countries."

Soma's answer, however, is even more peculiar. She heard of the name Dracula only in myth and did not have much recollection in it other than that he is a vampire long ago. Her eyes search Soma for a bit and finds out surprisingly that there seems to be no deception of any sort (though that strange mental pattern may need investigation later). "I see that even vampires can potentially enter the cycle of life and death, though to be truthful, I am uncertain if reincarnation is possible. How did you come about this information?"

"You mean aside from his castle appearing in my town, and all the people who not only said, to my face, that I'm his reincarnation, but the people trying to get me to awaken to Dracula's power? Then...I dunno, Wikipedia or something."

This time, it was Reisen who put a comforting hand on Soma's shoulder.

"Maybe?" She replied awkwardly to Luna. "I mean... Wait." Something suddenly occurred to her. "Earlier, you said you only ever met one other moon rabbit. Are... Are you not from the moon?"

Luna response with shaking her head to Luna. "No, we are not from the moon. We draw much of our being and aspect from it yes, but not directly living there. Are you saying that you are from the moon? What is it like there?" How curious, moon rabbits that actually live there?

She turns towards Soma. "Sadly there is little advice I can offer to your plight. However, I knew of another that seem to share a similar plight though his is more of a world ending dragon manifested within him."

She then scoots back a bit to look at the two odd couples before putting something together. She gestures a hand to Soma. "So if you are you the night as you say...." Then she gestures to Reisen. "Then that makes you the moon that shines within the night."

Reisen wasn't sure how to feel about being compared to the moon. But Luna making it sound like she and Soma were meant to be together, that felt like a stab to the heart.

The fugitive pushed those thoughts from her mind and focused on her old home. "It's a Pure Land. Time doesn't seem to flow there. There's no difference between day and night. Or an eternity and a single moment. It's also beautiful, with a breathtaking view of the earth always over the horizon." She recalled fondly.

"A dragon? Huh...." Standing up, Soma gave Reisen a smile. "I'll be right back, love. Need to use the little Dark Lord's room. I'll be back." With that, he went towards the bathroom, leaving Reisen and Luna alone to chat.

Luna's eyes has been catching this pattern with Reisen of late. At first, she didn't look at it as closely but as they spoke, she can constantly see flashes of pain within the other moon rabbit's expression whenever Soma displays affection to Reisen or just now the depiction of them together just through Luna's word.

"Reisen. Is something troubling you?" In the meanwhile, the waiter has arrive with Reisen and Soma's beverage and treat to go with their drinks.

Reisen sighed before nibbling at her food. Huh, not bad. "No... not at all." She lied as her eyes followed Soma as he walked away.

Luna knew that wasn't quite true but doesn't press the issue. She didn't want Reisen to suffer from what is bugging her but not infriginging on her wishes is more important. When Reisen, Luna is sure she will let her know. "I see, my apologies then." She says solemnly.

Reisen let out a sigh before taking a sip of her coffee. "So there are moon rabbits native to this world, huh? Wish I knew that before I tried to pass myself off as a midara." She muttered.

Luna nods in response. "Though we are relatively few in numbers within this part of land, but it is not unheard of for moon rabbit to leave our home, it is also relatively rare. There is no rules against it though much is already provided within our home and most moon rabbit finds safety there more desirable than venturing out. Especially with many midara used to find our favorite prey."

"So, I'd still stand out if I was honest about what I was. Just not as much as I thought I would." Reisen mused. "Your home country sounds interesting. Back on the moon, us rabbits were treated as... Well, we were the ones who did all the grunt work: tending crops, hauling, serving in the army. If it was a job that required physical labor, odds are that most of the ones doing it were rabbits."

"Well people respond less negatively if you didn't identify yourself as a midara since many fear the midaras for enthralling people against their initial will and whisking them away. Nowaday, it is less common than before since there are a growing amount of midaras that can co-exist with others but there are still many midaras that still ethralls others and the fear is still prevalent in many regions. Moon rabbits are an oddity but not treated with hostility, though at times I have been mistaken for a midara." Luna explains. If Reisen looks around, there had been a few glances but more of curiosity rather than adversarial looks.

Luna stops to listen to Reisen's home, the look of concern growing on the moon courier as she is starting to understand what prompted some of the events around Reisen. "You speak as if you are on the lower end of a caste system. Is that why you are here?"

"No, I..." Despite the coffee, Reisen was suddenly feeling exhausted. "I was in the army. There's just... just been so much fighting. Armies of monsters invading, a Lunarian trying to destroy everything because of a personal grudge... I just got tired of it. Tired of seeing my comrades die. So, I..." Reisen lowered her head in shame. "I deserted."

Ah, now it makes complete sense. Reisen was fearful of her initially because she feared that someone from her ranks is seeking to capture her and bring her back for deserting. And then her plight of desertion, it seems like battle weariness and disillusion of war caused her to desert. Luna moves to rub the poor ex-soldier's back gently. "They did not have counseling within the army? Constant combat wears on ones mental fatigue and health..." Luna considers herself very lucky that she served during relatively peaceful time.

Reisen tense at the sudden contact, but when she realized it wasn't to initiate some kind of attack, she calmed down slightly.

"No." Reisen replied as she stared into her drink.

Luna sighs. She ends up falling to her old habit of comforting someone forgot that she is still a battle-weary and deserter in fear. "My apologies, I should have not have done that without your consent." With her hands lowers to her lap she sighs. "I do not blame you to have broken rank. Especially to what you have described that you have seen."

"You don't, but I do." Reisen replied as her self loathing was brought to the surface. "I hate myself for what I've done, but... I just can't bring myself to go back."