#kind people if you can excuse the armed robbery they committed which led to their arrest

[newtinaboot]

Remembering the time I probably dined at a Russian mob restaurant. The my food was okay, and they found it cool that my bio mum is Russian/Uzbek (Tashkent). My tortellini was actually pretty good. My parents’ was....not good. They seemed to like me tho, so that was nice. They did get arrested tho. Idk man.

[ikevampeventarchive]

[ERS] Trap of Temptation ～ Leonardo & Faust

Duration: 10/25 (Fri) 04:00 PM ～ 11/1 (Fri) 09:00 PM

Called to a graveyard, the one who greets you and Leonardo is a calm and collected priest by the name of Faust. In front of a young boy who wishes for “eternal life,” the two men give completely contradictory answers...? 

Faust’s cold and pointed words sends tremors through your heart ——

Route Preview

[This is an unofficial work based on fan-translation. Copyright belongs to Cybird.]

Common Route

The story starts out with Leonardo and MC visiting the grave of Leonardo’s old friend. MC asks if it’s OK that she picked out the flowers instead of Leonardo, to which he says that his friend would much rather prefer someone young and pretty like MC to give the flowers as opposed to him. Leo then jokes that he decided that he should visit before his friend gets angry in the afterlife. They continue to converse, and MC notes that Leonardo must have many memories from all the years he’s lived. Then, they overhear the voice of a man — Faust.

Faust: Mourn not, for those who enter the land of the Lord are awarded with unending life, and shall live in unending happiness. 

He’s at the cemetery to perform a funeral, and beside him are a woman and a boy who looks to be around 14 years old. As MC looks on, she notices that Faust’s eyes are calm, eerily so, as if they’re frozen ice. Faust looks up and their eyes meet, Faust sending a simple nod at MC before turning away. Leonardo suggests to MC that the two of them leave, and they make for the exit of the graveyard. 

However, before they get too far, the 14 year-old boy from earlier runs up to them, asking if Leonardo and MC had seen his brother around; a boy around 6 years old. They agree to help, with Leonardo instructing the teen to stay with his mother. The older brother thanks them for the help, introducing himself as Kevin and his younger brother as Paul. 

Leonardo and MC leave to search for Paul, only to find him sitting on a bench outside the cemetery with a picture book. He says that he doesn’t want to go back to the grave, nor does he want to say goodbye to his deceased father. MC feels like it would be too cruel to force him to go back, and Leonardo suggests that they just stay here for now. Thus, MC and Paul sit on the bench and look at the picture book together. Paul flips to an entry with the picture of a vampire, asking what it is. MC flounders on how to explain, and just as Leonardo is about to chime in, Faust interrupts. 

Leonardo: Heh… Paul, a vampire is a creature of legends —

Faust: — A monster that lives by drinking the blood of humans. 

Faust introduces himself as a minister, explaining that he came to search for Paul now that the burial ceremony is complete. 

Paul: Father, are vampires scary people? 

Faust: That’s correct. It is because they target human beings, and prey upon them. 

Paul: … Prey? 

Faust: Furthermore, they neither age nor die, and live for an eternity. These are beings that are completely different from humans. 

Hearing Faust say such things, MC starts to interrupt, but Leonardo quickly gestures for her to stop. Paul latches onto the immortality aspect of being a vampire, and wistfully says that he also wants to become one. When Leonardo asks Paul why he wants to become a vampire, the young boy replies that he wants to be immortal to stay with his loved ones forever. Hearing this, MC feels sorry for Paul, as this desire clearly stemmed from the recent loss of his father.

Leonardo ruffles the boy’s hair, saying that while immortality is tempting, the longer one lives, the more sorrow there is to be found — so it’s better to just live each second the best that he could. However, Faust disagrees, saying that if one could find relief from suffering without having to die, then immortality might not be a bad choice. Then, he proceeds to ask for MC’s opinion on the topic. 

MC wavers back and forth between the two stances, both remembering the kindness of the residents of the mansion, but also unable to deny the logic in Faust’s words. In the end, Faust breaks the tension by excusing himself for saying something pointless, thanking the two of them for finding Paul before returning to the cemetery with the boy. Leo comments to MC that it’s not as if he doesn’t understand Faust’s line of thinking, and the two of them decide to head home. MC wonders about what Faust has experienced to lead him to his conclusion, his sharp eyes leaving a strong impression on her. 

A few days following the meeting at the cemetery, the scene opens with Kevin confessing to Faust that he has robbed and committed crimes to keep his family alive. They have no money nor food left, and at this rate, both his mother and Paul will soon fall ill and die. Faust eases his mind, saying that God recognizes his sin but forgives it all. Kevin is heartened by those words and bows low, but Faust’s eyes remain cold and emotionless behind his glasses as he gazes down. 

At the same time, MC is heading home from shopping when she runs into Kevin exiting the church, knocking her off balance and spilling apples everywhere. Kevin runs off, but Faust soon emerges and helps her retrieve the groceries, followed by an invitation to continue talking inside the church. MC asks if this is the church Faust works at, but he replies contrary. 

Faust: This church’s own minister has come down with an illness, and thus I came to assist after hearing it from Charlot… the town doctor. 

MC is once again struck by how still and frigid the air Faust is — almost like ice. Changing the topic, she then asks if the young man who walked out earlier was Kevin. Faust confirms that the teen had something to talk about and confess. MC then thinks about how a minister handles various tasks, seeing the different sides of life and human experiences, subsequently voicing these thoughts to the man himself. However, Faust merely sighs and grins.

Faust: Yes, you’re right. At times, a guide to lead the dead back to the Lord, and at other times, a stand-in to forgive the sins of others in place of the Lord…. Even though — I’ve never laid eyes on anything that could be called God. 

Hearing Faust say that, MC started feeling extremely uncomfortable and ended up blurting out that it seemed like Faust didn’t believe in God — an odd thing for a minister to say. Faust laughs again, commenting that she’s quite straightforward. He goes on to say that he feels like the unknown is for investigating and researching, be it humans or immortal monsters. 

Faust then grabs MC’s chin and tilts her head up, proposing she become his test subject as well. MC is shocked into silence, and Leonardo appears at this moment to intervene, telling Faust to let MC go. Faust does as told and excuses himself, taking his leave after a sarcastic comment on Leonardo’s overprotective-ness. 

Leonardo and MC exit the church and Leonardo explains that he was doing some work nearby when he spotted MC entering. Since it was somewhat unusual, Leonardo got worried and followed her in, coming onto that scene. MC apologizes for troubling him, to which Leonardo replies that it was him who was overprotective, like Faust said. Following this, a client comes up to Leonardo and requests him to repair their device, and MC and Leonardo part ways. 

As MC is walking down the path towards the mansion, a yell of “thief!” cuts through the air. She turns around and sees the young man from earlier, Kevin, barreling down the street with a pair of shoes in his arms and a small knife in his hand. Kevin heads straight for MC, and without time for Kevin to stop or MC to dodge, all she can do is shut her eyes and brace for collision. That is, until someone suddenly grabs her arm and pulls her out of the way. 

—

Sweet End

Deep in his eyes, glows an irresistible passion. 

“I’ll carve out proof that you’re my woman, cara mia.”

—

Leonardo pulls MC behind his back, telling her to take cover before turning to Kevin and tackling the boy to the ground. Faust also comes onto the scene, taking in what happened and muttering: “So forgiveness was meaningless, after all.” He then turns to MC, and points out that her arm is cut and bleeding. Leonardo procures medicine and bandages from a nearby house, which Faust uses to treat MC’s injury. 

MC: … Ouch. 

Faust: Please endure it.

Leonardo: Can’t you take it a bit easier, Father? 

Faust: … Monsieur Overprotective is, as expected, overprotective. 

Faust chuckles to himself, and MC feels a bit embarrassed hearing someone else mention it, though she appreciates that Leonardo obviously treasures her a lot. Arm wrapped, MC thanks Faust, who brushes it off. However, he also leans in to whisper to MC that her face when grimacing in pain was quite interesting is well. Faust then leaves, and Leonardo comes over, expressing that he’s glad MC wasn’t hurt too badly. 

That night, MC and Leonardo are in Leonardo’s room, where he’s explaining Kevin’s confession from the police station.

Leonardo: It seems like after Kevin’s father died, fear of his sick mother and younger brother going hungry led him to robbery. He said that even though it was to stay alive… his conscience was against it. 

MC's expression falls, and Leonardo hugs her, saying that she shouldn’t worry too much about it — their situation is not something that MC is involved in. However, MC elaborates that she feels a sense of helplessness; after all, a minister couldn’t do anything, what could she do? But she still wished there was something that could’ve been done for Kevin if they had known about his situation. Leonardo reassures her, saying that life goes on and they will find a way to continue on. MC is struck by how kind Leonardo is in his belief in human strength and hugs him back. 

Leonardo warns MC against opening her wound by moving around too much, to which MC replies that Faust did a good job bandaging the wound, so she’s fine. Leonardo frowns, and pushes MC over on the bed. He asks MC about what Faust whispered to her earlier on and MC tells him, to which it’s revealed that Leonardo got jealous at the interaction and over Faust’s handsy attitude around MC. 

MC feels a bit happy to see this side of Leonardo, and he affirms that he’s not going to hand over MC to anyone before kissing her. Leonardo sighs, saying that even though he’s being childish, he’s going to make sure everyone knows who MC’s lover is. After this, they spend the night together. 

Note: This is where the paid Epilogue starts.

—

Premium End

Bewitched by a dangerous allure, you fall into the palm of his hand  —

“Is there a certain special type of blood flowing within your veins? What an awfully alluring scent it has.”  

—

Faust gave MC’s arm a strong tug before pushing her away, wasting no time before moving to pin Kevin onto the ground. Leonardo also rushed over, prying the knife from Kevin’s hands. He remarks that Faust spares no mercy even against children, to which Faust replies that it’s standard procedure to act quickly to capture one’s quarry. 

With Kevin apprehended, Leonardo and a few of the surrounding adults escort Kevin to the police station, while Faust stays behind with MC. He asks her to show the arm where she got injured, but picks it up without waiting and starts inspecting the wound. To MC’s surprise, Faust comments that her blood looks “rather delicious,” and licks it up. MC is chilled by this action, and thinks that he’s almost like a vampire. 

However, Faust quickly returns to normal, and excuses the action by saying that it was a stopgap in the absence of antiseptic. He then quickly tears off a few shreds of MC’s sleeve and bandages the wound.  Leonardo returns to the scene and Faust hands MC’s care to him, leaving without another glance. 

As MC and Leonardo are heading home, Leonardo explains to MC the story he heard from Kevin at the police station similar to Leonardo’s end. Hearing this, MC thinks back to what Faust muttered earlier when he saved her, concluding that after all, those words were like arctic ice. 

Faust: … As expected; God saves none.

The scene then cuts to after the situation settled down, with MC opening the doors of a beautiful church in the woods. 

It turns out that MC is here to give Faust a basket of pastries as thanks for his aid the other day, having found out the location of this church from the one they were at earlier. Instead of accepting the gift, Faust remarks that MC seems to be someone with lots of free time, only taking the basket after MC got irritated by his words and pushed it towards him. She then gives a report on the situation of Kevin’s family, saying that the younger brother Paul is currently being looked after by the orphanage and their mother’s condition being managed by some neighbors. However, Faust’s only comment is that the neighbors are quite generous. MC is puzzled by this lack of concern, wondering if Faust didn’t care about Kevin or his family at all. 

They then have a conversation about whether Kevin could’ve been helped, had they knew of the circumstances beforehand. MC poses the question, while Faust mentions that there are many people like Kevin in Paris, and just because he forgives their sins and listens to their confessions day, doesn’t mean he can give them bread tomorrow. MC feels disheartened over his words, but cannot deny the truth they contain. She thinks that it’s almost as if Faust does not believe in a single thing in this world. 

Watching MC think, Faust starts chuckling and brings back the conversation about vampires from earlier, asking her what she would do if he was an actual vampire. He lays his hand over the wound on MC’s arm, and she suddenly remembers the feeling of his tongue with vivid clarity. 

Faust: I haven’t forgotten about it… the taste of your blood. Ha… I wonder if there’s a special type of blood flowing in your veins? What an awfully alluring scent it has. 

MC: You’re… a real vampire? 

Faust: It would be quite interesting to perform some research on vampire ecology with your blood and my fangs, as well. 

The two of them stand in silence, the tension stretching thin — before Faust starts laughing. He teases MC, saying that he already mentioned that there’s no way vampires exist and remarks that he understands why Leonardo is so overprotective when MC just walks into an isolated place with another man. MC gets flustered, embarrassed that she had fallen for such a joke, and thinks to herself that Faust is quite sadistic. Faust bids her goodbye after telling her to be careful on the trip home. 

That night, Vlad inquires about the girl that paid Faust a visit and Faust admonished him for watching, calling him an “ill-humoured old man.” Charles then chimes in with interest, and Vlad said that MC is quite a nice young lady, bringing sweets for Faust. The three banter back and for and both of them Vlad and Charles express surprise that Faust let MC get away. Faust ends up saying that while it would be simple to catch prey, MC could prove to be quite an interesting guinea pig. And thus, their conversations fade into the night.

—

Epilogue Preview ～ Leonardo

Drown in his body heat,  dripping with possessiveness —— 

MC: Leonardo... ah....

Leonardo throws his coat to the floor below, moving right to ravishing my mouth.

Entwining with the tongue that slips between my teeth, our sighs mix together in the space between our lips. 

Leonardo: MC....

Leonardo: Love of you is driving me crazy.... 

MC: — Nhn, ah...! 

Leonardo’s fingers slip under my skirt and gently rubs against my most sensitive place. 

His eyes narrow when a high voice slips leaks from me. 

Leonardo: The face you make while you can feel nothing else but me is... so lewdly admirable I can’t get enough of it.

MC: S-saying it like that is... ah....

Leonardo: I’m praising you. You’re adorable. 

—

Event Info | Napoleon/Vlad Route | Arthur/Charles Route

[the-stick-scribblers]

The Womb

Crime is up five hundred percent since the Academy opened The Womb.

Twenty years ago, some newish academics who were still in their first century and therefore still hopeful, published a groundbreaking study on crime. They said the problem was simple: people committed crimes because somewhere in their past or current reality, they lacked security and love. Becoming a criminal was simply a call for help, too late. That part wasn't groundbreaking, but it bore repeating (and repeating, and repeating - hit the boring nail on the head, they did). Here's the important bit: they then asked what would happen if criminals could return to their childhoods and start from scratch, supported by the state? The ultimate rehabilitation program? 

Instead of prisons, they imagined a system of homes with specially trained and vetted "parents" to provide love; instead of cells, there would be small rooms they called nurseries filled with safely approved enrichment toys and lots of soft things for squeezing; there would still be community service opportunities and classes and career preparation, but capital punishment was firmly nixed.

It hinged on some pretty wild de-aging technology, but once they'd made the proposal it was only a couple of years before the tech caught up and then it was all hands-on deck "for the future of all children" and other such meaningless shit. There were some modifications - the cells are simply called rooms instead of nurseries, for example - but when they rolled out The Womb it was pretty much as presented.

Let's say you commit a crime. It's a little one, like maybe you didn't pay a traffic ticket, or some dick egged your apartment and you told them where they could shove it in front of the wrong soccer mom. The judge says hey, okay, that wasn't very good. But it was probably just a little lesson you forgot to learn along the way that led you to your Mistake, so you're sentenced to be de-aged a year and you're given a counselor who's supposed to help guide you onto a better path this time around.

But let's say the crime is bigger. You threw a major party and then drove drunk and high on heroin and ran over someone's dog. You commit armed robbery. Someone got seriously hurt, repeatedly. A guidance counselor for a year isn't going to cut it, so that's when the jury steps in and tries to figure out where your life went wrong. Was it at sixteen the first time you shoplifted and got away with it? At ten, when your teacher told you your work would never be any good? At eight, when your mom started working three jobs because she was suddenly raising you alone? And then you get zapped back to the pivotal age and placed in The Womb so you can be Reborn.

Somehow in all their planning the academics and the politicians forgot to bank on the allure of avoiding all those five hundred-year-old wrinkles and arthritis for a couple hundred extra years. Most people when they hit four hundred rob a bank at fake-gunpoint. That's the biggest crime that's least likely to get them killed rather than de-aged. That, or they get involved in some sort of tax fraud scheme. What's losing access to a couple million when you're going to die soon anyway? A second chance at life has got to be worth at least that.

The worst offenders get de-aged all the way back to babies, but that doesn't happen very often. It can seriously shorten your life if you end up a repeat offender, and anyway raising babies is more resource-intensive than the other kids. You have to kill a whole lot of people in a whole lot of lives to make it worth the parents' time.

The years you de-age get borrowed off the end of your life. As long as you avoid any more Mistakes, you get those years back and get to live out your original life span in full, with the bonus of a second childhood thrown in. But if you make another Mistake, you lose them forever, and have to live with it. That's how come I've only got two years left to take over the world.

I have been twelve years-old seven times. The last time I was Reborn, I'd made it all the way to age three hundred and fifty before I made another Mistake.

"You gonna eat that?"

We Reborn may have to use our manners, but for some reason the Womb Workers are exempt.

I sit up straight, elbows off the table, and look at my pudding. "My spoon is dirty."

They pick up the spoon, squint at it, rub it on their apron, then return it to the table. "You going to eat that now?"

The pudding looks delicious, actually, full of real chocolate shavings and cherry jam and cream liquor. If I let myself look at it any longer, I might cave. So I look at the Worker instead. They look like they could use some prune juice.

"This spoon is dirty. I would like a new spoon." 

The Worker opens their mouth, probably to tell me where I can shove the spoon, when Ren interrupts in a tiny voice, "You've got to say please."

This is Ren's second time Reborn. She's six years old now. When she was twenty-one she was sent back for planting an eco-bomb, and for again stealing an entire corporate farm when she was ninety. She's got an impressive file; we could be a good team eventually. I like her. But, regretfully, I no longer have the time.

"Please," I say, and smile real sweet.

The Worker takes the spoon from my hand with a measured precision that means they would much rather stab me with it, and give a little bow.

"Tell Jeremy he needs to pay more attention; the spoon was dirty!" I holler after them after they've passed into the kitchen, to everyone else at the table's disapproval.

Because this is my seventh time in The Womb, I've been placed in a high-security house, with experienced Grandparents rather than normal Parents and bars on all the windows under the cheerful blue and yellow curtains. I've also only got five siblings rather than the usual nine; Ren is the littlest, and Matthew is the oldest at seventeen. The rest of us hover around the dining room table in the throws of those terrible years right on the cusp of puberty, and we've all got the lanky self-awareness to match. Really, the jury should have forgiven me the second they realized my pivotal moment was at twelve, or at least written me off as a lost cause. What preteen doesn't want to take over the world? How was living through that desire again and again supposed to make me desire it any less? But we've established the establishment isn't very smart about the details of redemption. They just want to Save the Children, or at least look enough like they are to appeal to the constituents a couple times a year. Statistics to the contrary are handily swept aside as anti-love.

Everyone here has taken a wood chipper to someone else's moral fabric, most more than once. Even the Grandparents have been Reborn once each, although they won't tell me how come. Just that it's part of the job requirement, so they can relate to where we're at on our journeys or something disgustingly syrupy like that. I'll miss them the least.

The Womb Worker reappears at my left elbow. Another little bow, definitely sarcastic this time, and then they hold out a silvered fork. "Jeremy says all the spoons are dirty, but he offered an extra fork. The pudding is thick; this should serve just as well."

Finally. I accept the fork and dig in with an admirably restrained glee, I think. The pudding tastes sweeter knowing that it will be my last meal in this place.

Jeremy is old hat, been with the place since it opened basically, and is the only Worker authorized to visit every Home because he's worked his way up from day cook to Head of the Households. The first time I met him (on accident, during a poorly planned slip during my first sentence, involving a new bouquet of flowers every day until the home was buried in chrysanthemums and little baby's daisies and Womb Workers had to come and confiscate them all) he told me about his First Home, in Libya. It's taboo to talk about First Homes, not because it's illegal or anything or even really frowned upon. It just makes people sad. But Jeremy smiled as he told me about the fried dates and bsisa, the ironic wetlands and sprawling steppes and the big sky full of birds over everything all the time, the migrations. About the little lizards, the way they sashayed when he chased them down the streets. He made me forget almost everything and believe I'd grown up in Libya too. I volunteered for kitchen duty every night after in hopes he'd be that night's cook.

He climbed the ladder and I followed behind him to each new role, begging for stories about Libya, and about The Womb too, since he knows everything there is to know about it. Including, of course, how to get out. It wasn't hard to bribe him. Just two more rebirths of a little bit of smiling, a little bit of begging, and I've now had six life cycles to practice my hand at money laundering. Jeremy is four hundred and ninety-five this year. It's time for him to bail.

The pudding is gone too soon, and I lick my lips and immediately wish I had some Vasoline. They’re dry, and they sting. "I'm not feeling well. May I please be excused?"

Ren's tiny face looks doubtful and a couple of the other kids look intrigued, but Grandnanna is a warm, benevolent rock. "Do you need me to grab a basket?"

"I don't think so. I think I just need to lie down."

"Let me feel your head."

"It's my stomach," I protest, but go to her nonetheless. I'm up from the table, which means I'm almost in the clear.

She puts the back of her hand against my forehead and cheeks, then turns to rattle in the credenza behind her seat at the head of the table. "Richard, can you grab me the thermometer please? I forgot I moved it to the study when that cough went around last month."

"I'm kind of dizzy. I just want to lie down." I cross my arms and hunch my shoulders and do my best to turn excitement into flush agitation. Grandnanna (what a laugh; she's younger than me by a century, at least) purses her lips.

Then she steps back, and sighs. Good for her – she’s learned how to pick her battles. Probably why she’s still only been reborn once. "Grab a clean towel from the cupboard on your way up."

I finished my part of our plan this morning - digging out each of the security features in the home and bypassing them with a wire or a code I custom-wrote before my latest de-age debacle. The bars are just a formality now. But that's the most I could do on my own. It was up to Jeremy to arrange the rest - reaching out to my old contacts, setting up the weekend lecture series, making sure the Grandparents are out, finding a Sitter with enough moral ambiguity to agree to pack their overnight stuff in over-large luggage and to not ask questions. It was a lot of work, and he hasn’t said it but he’s going to negotiate for a better cut once we're free and clear. At least fifty percent. That's a cliché, but it’s fine. I can do those too. Not everyone makes it to five hundred. There won't be any questions when he’s never heard from again.

The corridor to my room is lined with photos doctored to look original, of the seven of us in this home, and each door has an initial painted in well-meaning green that comes off as military in the dim light. I dutifully grab a towel from the closet and go to my room, draping the towel over my pillow and curling up under the fluffy comforter. Once I bust out there will be no niceties, at least for a couple of months. Definitely no pudding. I close my eyes and sink into the bed. I dream myself a feast.

~D.E. Scevers