A Game of Faux and Mouse

Although Silver (Lauren) is a full blooded vampire, she is different than most. Vampires are very similar to humans, except they are nigh on immortal and can live to be upwards of a 10,000 years old. Lauren herself is almost three centuries old. Vampires can have children, and reach their full body maturity at the age of 21, where they seemingly stop growing old.

When vampires reach the age of one hundred, their vampiric nature will begin to take over their feelings and ideals. Almost all vampires will integrate a large portion of their humanity into their mindset, allowing them to fit into society better. Lauren is different. During that night full of hell fire, her humanity split itself from her vampiric side. As a result, they grew separate from each other. Her green eyes are symbols of her former humanity, and her red eyes, a symbol of her vampirism. With her feelings separated, her vampirism is more ruthless and cunning, while her humanity is caring and kind. Her two mindsets have a symbiotic relationship. Whenever her humanity is flooded with negative feelings, her vampirism will consume them. Whenever her humanity is happy, her vampirism will pick up on that, and respond in kind. This relationship keeps her from falling into insanity. Lauren herself has little to no control over these feelings, and they manifest themselves based upon her mood. The only thing that her moods share, is their rage.

.....

After resting for half an hour, Silver got up. She had finally recovered from her previous experiments. She headed down towards the tavern area and sat at a table. She ordered a bottle of the "house's special wine". Filling her wine glass and twirling it, she took a sip and smiled. She always loved wine. She considered herself a connoisseur of sorts. She had tasted many great wines over the course of her life. She was pleasantly surprised at how smooth this wine was. Although she couldn't get drunk, she greatly enjoyed the taste.

When the bottle of wine was almost empty, Faux entered the door. Silver smiled and thought 'Just in time. I didn't expect him to actually show. Perhaps I misjudged his nature?'

She twirled her glass once more and took a sip. Faux sat down in front of her. Silver said nothing until the waiter came over. She ordered another bottle, and filled a second glass. She slid it towards Faux and smiled.

"So, what did you want to talk about? I hope it's important. I was enjoying some great wine."

Faux was stunned. Silver wasn't cloaked in shadows, nor was she hiding anything. She wore her combat gear, and had her scythe placed at the wall adjacent to the table. She could easily reach it before he even moved. He looked at her before steeling himself. "I wish for you to join my guild. Your companions are welcome to join as well. You'll all be-"

He was cut off by Silver, who held her hand up. She sipped her wine glass and looked at him. "I'm not joining any guild. My freedom is important to me. Truly, that isn't all you wanted, is it?" Silver sat her glass down on the table and used her Crimson Shadow mana to create a floating hand. The formerly dark shadow like mana was now a pitch black and had streaks of red highlights flowing through it. The hand picked up her glass and brought it to her mouth. She took a sip.

Silver's plan was working. She was using her charm to unsettle him, and her strength to intimidate him. Every time she looked at Faux, he would shiver. He gulped and spoke "No, it wasn't all I wanted. I would also like for you to help us out. I want my guild and you to have a connection. We help you out, and you help us. What do you say..?"

Silver used her shadow hand to take another sip. She smirked and set the glass down. Chains wrapped around Faux, and he was powerless to stop them. He struggled but couldn't break free. She looked at him coldly.

"In other words, you want to take us out before we have a chance to be a threat." Faux tried to speak but the chains only tightened around him. "No speaking. Only listening." Silver took a sip of her wine and turned towards Faux. "I can read you like an open book, you know. Sure, you might want a connection with me, but, with my personality, it would only be a matter of time before you attempted to stab me in the back. Now, I'm not fond of people who would stab me at the first sign of danger. To further my point, you consider me a potential threat. 'If I can't have her, no one can', am I right?" She sipped her wine once more. "I'll let you go without killing you, but you and your guild mates will leave this city within a week. In exchange, I won't hunt your 'guild', one member at a time. How does that sound?" Silver smirked, and her eyes were mad. She resembled a psychopath and she stared at Faux without blinking.

Faux was scared out of his mind, he nodded, unable to say anything.

Silver smiled and waved as she took a sip of wine. Her glass was now empty. "Now shoo. I would like to enjoy my wine with some friends." Silver didn't wait for him to reply. She used her magic to pick him up and throw him out. After he was gone, Silver stood up and bowed to everyone in the tavern. "Apologies for that unsightly display. Some trash had wandered in here to speak with me. As a gift, I have bought everyone a round. I hope you enjoy." The NPC's all cheered, while most of the players were shocked that the guild leader of Valiant Widowmakers was kicked out and called trash.

Silver messaged her friends to come and join her at the table. A few minutes later, everyone was enjoying their night, well, except for one person.

.....

Faux had just entered his office. He shuddered, thinking back to what happened at the tavern. He inwardly frowned. 'Her strength is far greater than what I had imagined previously. She isn't on anyone's level anymore. She's undoubtedly the strongest player within Corvat, maybe the game itself. I should comply with her demand. She wasn't kidding when she spoke about hunting every member down. I would hate for my guild to be ruined. I'm not dumb, so I won't be poking the sleeping dragon anymore. Just to be safe, we'll leave Larun altogether.' Faux messaged his vice commander.

Faux: "We're leaving Larun. Gather anyone that is on, and make sure everyone is informed. I have accidentally stirred a dragon, managing to get away with a slap on the wrist. Anyone still remaining in Corvat after a week will no longer be a part of Valiant Widowmakers."

.....

Silver was speaking to Tora and Divine. "What do you guys think we should do next? The world quest is waiting for us to reach level 15 so we can enter the capital. I'm only 4 levels away, what level are you guys?"

Tora was the first one to speak. "I'm level 9 now."

Divine was next. "I'm level 10. You must have just beat me to opening the menu." She stuck her tongue out playfully

Silver nodded. "Alright, then we'll focus on leveling for now. Once we get to the city, we'll focus on the world quest. I am worried about the price of failure. Based on the evidence, Echidna will likely destroy the realm should we fail."