//------------------------------// // Arc XI Episode V: A Family Meal // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// The vamp-boy and the sirens all sat down for a nice meal together and spent time talking to each other for what seemed like hours… “MMm! This is so darn good!” Sonata squealed as she ate through multiple pieces of fried poultry goodness. “Where did you learn to make this? This totes doesn’t exist in Equestria.” “It’s a human recipe,” Keiji explained, “The humans of the Far East like to eat fried chicken around the holidays so I figured…well, why not, ya know? But I needed taste-testers to confirm whether or not my dish was good.” “It was stellar,” Adagio said while looking down at her empty plate, “I finished everything. Bones and all.” Indeed--all due to their origin as sea monsters. Mere bird bones were an extra delicacy added onto the tastiness of the meat. Aria in particular had just finished sucking the marrow out of a bone. “Hot damn. This was good. What kinda seasonings did you use?” “Well, a few peppers in particular--and ones that I can’t quite reveal,” he replied with an uneasy smile, “Not all of it is of this world.” BZZZ! “Hm?” Aria looked down at her pocket, realizing that her phone was vibrating. “‘Scuse me, guys.” She washed her hands of the greasy chicken oils and proceeded to walk away from the table to take the call. “Yo.” And who was on the other end? Sugarcoat. “Hey Aria, I could maybe kinda like, use a bit of your help.” “What’s up, Shuggs?” Aria replied as she sat down on the couch. “It’s about Sour Sweet,” she went on in her usual, stoic tone, “One of my friends. She’s been calling me about having weird dreams lately and frankly, I’m at a loss as far as what to do. Think you could come by her place with me and see what her deal is?” “Another case of this stuff? Okay, this is getting way out of hand now,” is what she thought to herself before giving a verbal response. “Yeah, no problem. Are you free right now?” “Sure,” Sugarcoat replied, “That’d be just fine. See you in twenty minutes.” And without any extra words, Sugarcoat hung up the phone. “Damn…” Aria muttered to herself as she looked at the call time displayed on her phone--one minute exactly. “She sure knows how to keep things brief and to the point.” “Who was that, sis?” Sonata asked. “Sugarcoat,” Aria said, “Something about one of her friends having a dream issue.” That’s when Keiji spoke up. “Seriously? Rumble phone-messaged me something similar. I wonder if the situations are related…” Sonata stopped sipping from a soda can to say, “This is getting freakier by the second. Ugh. And I really wanted to ask you about your powers…” “Don’t trip,” Aria said as she got up, “I’m gonna go on ahead. You guys can chill here if you want. Merry Christmas, Keiji.” The boy replied with a smile. “Y-yeah. Merry Christmas.” “Bye, sis!” Sonata said. “See you later,” Adagio added. “Yeah yeah, see ya’ll both soon.” As Aria left the room and eventually the building, Sonata turned to Keiji and asked. “So…I wanna know something. Your powers. And all the blood and stuff. Do you really need blood to survive?” “Yeah it’s…kinda unavoidable as a vampony,” he replied as he took a seat at the table, “Batponies can get by on fruit, but vamponies need blood so it’s a bit more difficult for us.” “Ohhh…I haven’t met one before, so I was just checking,” Sonata replied. Adagio turned to him and asked, “Do you need help with finding blood? I’m sure there’s a way we could acquire some for you.” Keiji shook his head. “Nah, no need. I’ve…already got something set up in place just for that.” “Well that’s good,” Sonata replied, “I’d have thought it would’ve been super hard for you, but you’ve totally nailed living and surviving here up until this point. It took us quite a while to figure things out.” “Don’t remind me,” Adagio commented. BZZZZ! Sonata looked down at her pocket and tilted her head. “Hm?” She took out her phone, and realized who was calling her. “That’s weird. What could Trixie want? Be right back, guys.” She turned and left the room to step into the hallway. In the meantime, Adagio took a look around the room, and noticed a little crocheted doll that was sitting on the coffee table in the living room. “Hm? What’s that over there?” Keiji looked over to what she had been referring to and acknowledged it. “Ah. That it’s…well, it’s complicated.” “I’ve got time,” Adagio got up and washed her hands, waxing poetic with a giggle, “Hopefully no one decides to spring me with a random phone call next.” “Yeah I’d hope not,” the boy lamented in return as he walked over to the couch and picked up the little knitted doll. It was about the side of his hand and shaped like a mosquito. “Anyhow…this is one of the things I would use to extract blood back in Equestria. It was enchanted with a hex that allowed blood to flow into it and dispense into say, a beaker or a test tube that I could then use for…testing.” “Woah…” The orange siren was in awe as she took a seat next to him. As disgusting as real mosquitoes were, this plush version was actually somewhat inviting. “It’s…oddly cute. So blood would go into the doll itself?” “Something like that,” he put it down and went on, “I basically used magic yarn that I crocheted into these things that would allow blood to pass through the yarn itself…almost like blood vessels if that makes any sense.” Her face lit up with an invested smile. “Oh no, it does. I think I’d like to know more if I’m being honest.” Moments later, Sonata entered the room and made an announcement. “Sorry guys, I gotta get going. Trixie said she needs my help with something…weird. It’s an emergency apparently.” “I see,” Keiji nodded, “Don’t worry, I understand completely. Thank you for everything, Sonata.” “I hope she’s alright…” Adagio said, “Let me know if you need my help, alright?” Sonata waved her hand and scoffed. “Pfft. I got this. I’m Blitzen. Blitzen handles everything around the holidays!” And with that, she turned to leave the room. As Sonata left, Adagio looked at Keiji with a request. “Do you think you could show me how to make those? Non-cursed ones of course.” “...Huh…” he processed the fact that she was interested, and eventually agreed. He got up from the couch and said, “No problem at all. Let me get the supplies.”