> "Big bro's cooking tonight. Something called 'pizza'?
> I've never heard of it, but Meiling seems excited," she added with a grin.

Two questions unanswered: How good of a home pizza chef is G (especially without, one assumes, specialized equipment?)And are the Scarlet sisters right-thinking sentient beings who enjoy pizza, or heathens who deny its inarguable tastiness?

> " People don't accept creatures like us any more; they haven't for a long time.
> If we showed ourselves, they would only turn on us. They'd see us as no better
> than the Neuroi." She shook her head. "We're better off apart from them."

This was a curveball after the opening of the letter shown in the bit above the title. Well played.

> "Well. It appears Flandre's adolescence proceeds apace."

You know, I could've sworn Remilia just chided her sister for being 'deliberately obtuse'. Perhaps this is a side effect of her not having someone around to boldly challenge her in quite some time.
(It was a funny line, and I know she starts to see Flandre's actual point shortly afterward, but still.)

> "I should be back in a couple hours," he told her.
> "I just hope we don't get a sortie that night. Tonight. You know what I mean."

My own imperfect memory of the datestamps in the stories made me wonder if this temptation of fate would bite, and it very nearly did.

> "I know, little sister. I know. We'll figure it out. Just... be patient
> with me." Leaning back to catch her sister's eye, Remilia gave her a
> self-deprecating little smile. "I'm old now, and set in my ways."
> Flandre rolled her eyes. "You're only four hundred 'n forty-two."
> Remilia laughed and, hooking an arm around Flandre's shoulders, took her inside.

Well, at least they know how to move past the spats quickly. Lingering resentment can be a common symptom of being siblings sometimes, I should probably have more faith in the Scarlet sisters.

> Remilia nodded. "Yes. The weather is fine tonight; I should like to fly
> up to Ribeauvillé and see these witches of Benjamin's for myself."

Flandre isn't the only impulsive sister, at least once prodded a bit, I see.

> "You smell nice," Erica mumbled. "Roses and... candle smoke?
> Where've you been?"
> But they were both asleep before he could think of an answer.
> His closing thought for the day was,
> Shoot. We didn't think of that.

Probably a stroke of luck for G that Erica was apparently tired enough to not really recall not getting an answer the next morning.

> "Is it serious?"
> "Well, we're engaged, I suppose you could call that serious..."

Just don't call him Shirley, she's down the hall.

> Erica's eyes went wide. "You're engaged?!" she squeaked. "Why haven't you
> brought her here? We need to meet her! You can't get married without the
> approval of the whole wing! Those are the rules I just made up!"

This makes me wonder how well Flandre would get along with Erica, that could be dangerous.

> (Initial introduction of Remilia to the 501st witches in G's room not quoted for some semblance of brevity.)

That forum banter cleaned up rather nicely into an actual scene, and the witches' reactions to everything were deeply amusing to read. Though they handle it with a bit less boggle than I might have expected actually, I guess a side effect of the inherent oddity of their lives, and the inherent oddity of G's existence in their lives to boot.

I am somewhat surprised Trude didn't blush to the point of combustion by the end.

> Gryphon chuckled and finished tying his shoe. "Indeed. I'm even a count!"

I forgot about the (mostly honorary though with Kaiser Fritz who can tell) enobling G received until now. The question is, when Remilia was being dramatic about her own, did -he- forget, not want to tempt fate and possible vampiric irritation, or just save it as an ace in the hole in case of emergency?

> Her magical sensitivity to patterns of force and power, even operating at its
> subliminal out-of-combat level, was whispering to her that the tiny woman
> standing here laughing and bantering with her witches was a formidable
> presence, one who could be a powerful ally or an implacable enemy, and Minna
> would much prefer the former.

Is Minna the only witch likely to have mojo radar, or just the most sensitive?
Also, always a good idea to not poke the bear, especially when it seems happy. Though I don't think Remilia's temper is quite that Mercurial.

> Remilia gave her a serene smile and replied with perfect unconcern, "Yes,
> Major Schnaufer. I am a vampire."
> Heidemarie, her query short-circuited, blinked. "Ah."

This might tie into my previous question, or might just be keen observational skills, but how did Heidemarie know to ask?

> (Initial introduction of Remilia to the 501st witches in living room not quoted for some, rapidly failing, semblance of brevity.)

Watching Remilia work a room makes one see one possible source for tales of vampires having the ability to dominate minds and charm people into being dinner. No sense that any supernatural shenanigans were going on here, other than her existing, mind you, just I can see where a myth might be born.

Also, this group seems to take the whole 'vampires are real yo' thing even more in stride. The 501st are quite the resilient and flexible lot.

> As they approached, Remilia stopped and just... looked at it for a moment,
> then asked, "What is this?"

The sane and proper reaction of any decent being to the Belv.

> "Benjamin, mon amour, tu essaies de me faire peur à mort?!” Remilia demanded.

I speak no French, and didn't think to Google translate, but the writing in this scene left no doubt about the message being delivered here. Though it is amusing that an ageless, nearly immortal vampire would be terrified by riding in a Belv.

> Grinning, Gryphon withdrew the envelope Hannelore had given him from his
> jacket and handed her the heavier of the two papers in it, switching on the
> dome light as he did so (it only occurred to him later that she didn't need it).

And so the purpose of the earlier delivery is revealed. I had suspected this might be it based on the description, but wasn't sure since a lot of official type paperwork can be described in similar ways.

> "Monsieur, do you see these wings? They're not humorous."

I am sure there are situations where they might be, but saying so would be... unwise.
Also, how jaded of a public servant was that clerk? He didn't take it in stride precisely, but he air of 'seen it all' is quite potent.

> "Never fear, mon cheval," she said, tapping the sling bag again. "Sakuya has
> provided. And I find B-negative always goes well with bouillabaisse on a night
> like this.

A testament to G's willpower to not make some horse appropriate noise at that comment.
Sakuya will always provide if she is at all able, it's a law of the universe at this point.
So blood types have flavors, and we know illnesses can be tasted to some extent, is it a thing for vampires in UF to go the route of VtM kindred and snack on the inebriated if they are looking to partake of recreational pharmaceuticals? Seems like the Scarlets, at least, might not strictly need to, though they would need truly mythical quantities of whatever substance to get past their regeneration I'd guess.

> "Why did you leave it up to me if it wasn't up to me?"

Seems like the same deal as the question "what do you want for dinner?"

> They left the Belv parked near the end of the track leading up to the house.
> In absolute terms, it wouldn't be there long, since Gryphon's plan was to
> come back out on the next full moon and repeat the looping process—and so,
> thanks to the good offices of The World, his one-month-older self would
> appear shortly after this point and drive the car back to Ribeauvillé,
> appearing to his wingmates as if he'd just returned from his date.

It's very good that G doesn't age, if keeps this up he'll be many years older than himself.
Also, given all the commentary about how fraught this maneuver is, repeating it, and seemingly planning to do so more often, seems like a bit of tempting fate. But I may just be paranoid due to other authors, and, you know, real life.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "At least, this being UF, we can have faith that even a tempted fate won't be insurmountably cruel."