Techno found it utterly remarkable how the mood of the entire house seemed to have shifted for the better ever since Kristin arrived.

Phil stopped locking himself up in his office the entire day, Tommy wasn't complaining half as much, even Wilbur was around more, though he still had a lot of errands to run.

Techno supposed it made sense. He didn't spend a lot of thought before on how much it sucked for Phil, Wilbur, and Tommy to never have Kristin around. For Phil especially, who had to live a majority of his undead existence without his wife being with him. Simping aside - and that was something Techno would gladly poke fun at him over - not having your loved ones near was hard.

Or Techno assumed it was, growing up without a family and all he didn't have a ton of experience. His uncle didn't count. Techno only started to feel very recently that he could kind of relate to those sorts of things.

For his own part, he was simply glad that he didn't have to go through the same rough patch with Kristin that he did with Phil. Logically, Techno knew Kristin was ancient, a sire in her own right, probably stronger and more dangerous than Phil. And yet, he just couldn't bring it in himself to be intimidated. Maybe he got too used to being around Phil all the time, and that had dulled the part of Techno's brain that would naturally feel on edge around vampires. Maybe Kristin was better at acting human, with her dark eyes and the dimples in her cheeks when she smiled and the kind of warmth that exuded out of her that would never remind Techno of a corpse the way it sometimes did when Phil or the others touched him.

Or maybe he couldn't see somebody struggling with a microwave and stay scared of them for long.

"Don't beep at me," Kristin said lowly to the device, perhaps not intending for anybody to overhear, although Techno found it hard to believe she wouldn't have noticed him entering the room behind her. She couldn't be that distracted by the confounding intricacies of modern kitchen appliances.

She pressed another button. Predictably, the microwave beeped at her.

"Stupid fucking thing," Kristin said to it with venom.

"Do you uh, need help?" Techno asked, clearing his throat.

Kristin not immediately looking over at him solidified his belief she knew he was there the moment he came through the door, but she pressed a few more buttons before smiling sheepishly at him. The expression was a bit similar to Phil. Either they rubbed off on each other through the long centuries of marriage, or all sires practiced in the mirror together to attempt facial expressions that were not frightening to humans.

"I don't know how to get this dumb microwave to do what I want it to," Kristin admitted. "I swear, every decade or so they completely change the design of these things just to make my life harder."

Techno chuckled as he went to stand next to her. Kristin smelled strongly of flowers, a scent that was suspiciously similar to the garden those few times Techno went out there to enjoy the nice weather. A fragrance of fresh peonies. Maybe Phil loved those flowers so much because they reminded him of his wife too.

Yeah, definitely a simp.

"What do you want it to do?" Techno asked for confirmation. He only then noticed a plastic bag of blood inside the microwave.

His blood, presumably. Straight from the fridge.

Still, he wanted to be sure. "Is that my blood?"

"Unless Phil has another human stashed away here somewhere. And just warm it up a bit is fine," Kristin said, pushing another button. "I don't like cold blood." The appliance beeped in protest once more. Naturally, since Kristin had somehow navigated into the clock settings. She relented with a sigh, taking a step back so Techno could take over.

"Yeah, we usually warm it up for Tommy too," Techno said. He turned the microwave on for about three minutes, which should bring the blood to the temperature Tommy preferred his feedings at.

"Thank you," Kristin said, smiling. "You've been taking very good care of him."

Techno tucked some of his hair behind his ear to hide that the comment made him frown a little, embarrassingly self-conscious with the praise. "I mean, I don't really-"

"The entire coven," Kristin amended quickly, picking up on his shifty reaction. "Being away for long stretches of time, I get worried. But you all seem to be doing fine without me around. Taking care of each other and such. Playing nice with our allies. It's a relief. We need each other more than ever in these troubling times."

Techno shrugged. "I guess. Living here has been pretty great, I don't want to mess it up."

The bottom line was that vampires and humans were both community-driven species. Humans had shifted what that meant for them in modern society and vampires had their own interesting takes on the functions of community. But Techno didn't feel a connection with any of it. He didn't even feel a connection with the concept of family. He barely knew what his place within the coven was anymore, only that he couldn't deny he was definitely part of it.

Good thing Niki wasn't there, she would tell Techno to go to therapy again. And he didn't have the excuse of being low on funds to get her to back off this time.

"Mess it up?" Kristin asked, confused.

"Yeah, what if something I do is actually super insulting to vampires? I can't be homeless, I'm already a liberal arts major," Techno said. "Like, pick a struggle, right?"

Stunned, Kristin blinked at him before bursting into laughter. Again, it sounded so alive. No rough edges or the slight tilting of a voice made unnatural through death. Unlike Wilbur, Kristin lacked any archaic speech if she put an effort into it.

She poked an elbow into his side. "Vampires are not that precious about good manners."

"That's not what you guys led me to believe at your party," Techno said. They stressed quite a bit how important it was for Tommy to behave himself.

"Ah, well, vampires care about courtesies from other vampires. It's a hierarchy, you can't go insulting somebody who is of higher standing than you," Kristin said off-handedly. "But a vampire being insulted by something a human says or does would be so silly. That's like getting mad at a toddler, they don't know any better."

Techno opened his mouth to reply - perhaps to point out that this comparison was inaccurate and concerning - but the microwave must have developed an excellent comedic timing because it beeped right before he could.

"I think there's a much higher chance of us unintentionally insulting you," Kristin added as she carefully retrieved the plastic baggie from inside. "It's so easy for the little things to slip away from us sometimes."

"Tommy does get clingy," Techno answered. Which was only scratching the surface of it, and also a major understatement. But he thought he understood what Kristin meant regardless.

"You'd think immortality would make us more patient, but nothing is less true," Kristin said. She walked over to the table and took a seat, the blood bag being kneaded idly by her long, graceful fingers. "Just like you'd think immortality would make us better at dealing with fear or loss." She smiled at him. "Phil was very worried about accidentally scaring you off at first."

"He came across as a little… intense," Techno admitted. Again, an understatement.

"There's a reason I let Wilbur deal with any jobs that require interacting with humans. The older you get, the harder it gets. Unless you keep up the practice, but Phil isolated himself for decades at a time since I turned him."

"Really?" Techno asked. While Phil did strike him as more of an introvert than Wilbur, he would not have guessed that.

"Even those that get turned willingly sometimes struggle with the reality of being a vampire," Kristin said simply. "My point is, we can be a little weird. Or really fucking weird. And we're glad you stuck with us through all that."

"Nothing too bad has happened yet," Techno lied. He didn't know if Phil told Kristin about Tommy's little feeding incident. Or that time Wilbur almost killed him.

"That's good." Kristin hadn't stopped smiling at him, continuing to rub the bag between her palms to prevent the blood from congealing again. "Oh, also, you don't have to keep worrying about doing something to upset us, you know. You're part of the coven, that basically gives you infinite leeway for forgiveness. I got baby pictures somewhere of when Tommy almost beheaded Wilbur."

"Unsurprising," Techno said. Because it truly was somehow the part of this entire conversation that made the most sense to him. Kristin chuckled in response.

She finally brought the bag to her lips and bit into it, sucking down the blood noiselessly. You'd think the act of drinking from a plastic bag would be messy, but Kristin somehow made even that look elegant. Techno didn't feel as weirded out by watching vampires feed anymore either.

But Techno did remember that they told him a vampire's need to consume blood lessens with age. And after several months, Phil hadn't so much as let it slip that he was getting peckish.

"Were you hungry?" Techno asked.

"Not at all," Kristin answered immediately. "Just curious."

"About?"

"What your blood tastes like." Again, Kristin grinned, showing her teeth. Despite her best effort to swipe over them with her tongue, they were stained a pinkish tinge.

"And what's the verdict?"

Kristin stood again to throw the bag into the trash, casual as ever. "My verdict is that it's a good thing Phil didn't scare you off. What a waste that would have been."

She winked at him as she swept out of the room.

When next Tubbo and Ranboo came by, Techno finally decided that he'd get to see what all this vampire training montage stuff was about. He was done with midterms, he had time to spare. And also, for once, Wilbur was going with them too. So it'd be a little cringe if he were the only one who'd sit this one out.

"Oh, uh, are you coming to watch?" Ranboo asked, a bit stilted.

Phil, Kristin, Wilbur, and Tubbo had already gone ahead down the stairs. Stairs that Techno hadn't known were there until literally five minutes ago. Phil's office was on the second floor, so he had no idea that Phil had a hidden staircase that led into a secret basement. It was all a little sus, if you asked him.

Techno shrugged. "You guys said I could."

"Y-yeah, no, of course. I just didn't think you'd be interested. It's a bit uh, boring," Ranboo said quickly, holding up his hands. "Please don't expect us to start throwing cars around."

"What?" Techno said, feigning disappointment. "Bruh, I thought you were doing main character stuff down there."

"Main character stuff?" Ranboo repeated.

"Like throwing cars," Techno said.

"I'm literally dying here waiting for you two," Tommy complained from over by the door, which he was tugging back and forth by the knob. He was holding it open for them. "Are you coming, Techno?"

"Yup." Techno grabbed the banister as he went down the first steps. How nice of Phil to install those in case a human wanted to visit the undisclosed training slash murder basement.

"I think today is going to be the day," Tommy singsonged behind him, following him down.

"The day you unlock your powers?" Ranboo asked skeptically.

"My eyes changed color, it has to be a good sign," Tommy insisted. Ranboo hummed, not sounding more convinced.

"What do you think your power will be?" Techno asked.

"Throwing cars," Ranboo said without missing a beat. Techno laughed.

"Tommy does have main character energy," he said.

Tommy scoffed. "That's a compliment, right?" When Techno didn't reply right away, he repeated louder. "That's a compliment, right Techno?"

"No comment," Techno said.

He drew up his eyebrows when he saw the room the staircase ended in. He made some jokes about it being used for training montages before, but the truth wasn't too far off. The size was massive, the walls made of stone, but the ground of some sort of squishy material reminiscent of the gym Techno went to exactly twice before he gave up on that whole thing. There were some gauges too, as if a giant hand with claws had descended from the sky and scratched up the floor.

"What the heck?" Techno said.

"Yeah, Phil goes kinda crazy sometimes," Tommy said, walking past him. "But we're mostly here for Tubbo."

"His power is the only one we can really practice in any meaningful way," Phil said, picking up on the conversation. He took a small metal ball from a table nearby and tossed it at Tubbo, who caught it in both hands.

Techno looked around. "And all this other stuff?"

The room had a large amount of seemingly random equipment in it, most of it scattered throughout without obvious rhyme or reason. A lot of it only solidified the impression that this could be the world's dampest, worst illuminated gym, but some of the items were downright medieval. Literally so. Several guns and swords were hanging on the wall, and Techno saw some fencing equipment too.

"You never know what you're going to need," Wilbur said. "Gifts can be very random."

"And yet Tubbo is the only one who can practice here?"

"Well, Phil and I don't really need to 'practice' anymore," Kristin said, using her fingers to indicate her unserious use of that particular word. "Phil can mess around if he wants, enrichment and all." She grinned at Techno. "But I wouldn't want to hurt any of you by accident."

"And my Gift is basically just a glorified lie detector," Wilbur said. "Ranboo is in the same boat. His memory erasure only works on humans."

"I've only used it a couple of times," Ranboo said. Then flinched as if somebody had said or done anything, holding up his hands. "With permission. Promise."

Techno looked at him. "You got permission from people to erase their memories?"

Ranboo's expression shifted under his mask. "Not exactly-"

"The council sometimes feels it is better for a human to forget something they're really better off not knowing," Kristin interrupted, voice calm. "For their own safety."

"I'm done," Tubbo said, shaking his hand so the half-melted chunk of metal could fall to the ground, no longer the shape of a sphere.

"Try something more refined," Phil complained. Tubbo rolled his eyes, kicking at the chunk and going to pick up another ball. Phil walked over to help him, and Kristin followed.

"So none of you actually fence?" Techno asked. He got excited seeing the foils on the wall. He hadn't sparred since high school.

"I do," Wilbur said.

"Of course you do," Techno said with narrowed eyes. If any of them did, it would be Wilbur, right?

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Techno walked to the wall and picked up one of the foils. "Wanna try a match?"

"That hardly seems fair," Wilbur laughed.

Techno rotated his wrist, feeling the weight of the sword. He was probably rusty at it, but it was an Italian foil and Techno had practiced that more often than French foil. He pulled the strap over his wrist and tightened it. "Scared I'll beat you?"

Wilbur snorted. "I'm literally a vampire, Techno. That's what I meant when I said it wouldn't be fair."

"Then fence me without using any of your vampire advantages," Techno said, flicking the sword again. Nice and smooth.

"I can't turn off my heightened senses," Wilbur protested. But Techno really wanted to fence after not doing so for a long time. He wouldn't give up that easily.

"Try. For me?" He would fake a pout if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want to stoop to Tommy's level.

"Fine, since you're going to be stubborn about it." Wilbur grabbed a foil too. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Techno shook his head as they got into position. He doubted Wilbur being a vampire would make that much of a difference, as long as he was making a deliberate effort not to use his strength or speed. Techno just had to beat his reflexes.

Wilbur stood across from him and very deliberately closed his eyes. Techno almost laughed.

He counted to five before moving.

To his credit, Wilbur did evade the first swipe of Techno's foil and the second swipe too, but the third one tapped against his hip. Wilbur opened his eyes and frowned. "I-" Techno tapped his shoulder with the tip of his foil before he finished the sentence. Wilbur batted the sword away with his hand. "Stop that."

"I thought we were sparring?"

"Your form is weird, I wasn't prepared," Wilbur protested. Techno looked down at his own feet. They were further apart than Wilbur's, knees more bent. This was how Techno was taught to fence, compared to Wilbur, who might have learned techniques that had become outdated.

"Sounds like a skill issue," Techno said back.

"Yeah, kick his ass!" Tommy cheered from the sideline. Maybe just to get under Wilbur's skin.

And it worked, because Wilbur's entire face squished in irritation, and he stepped back, readjusting the strap. They took their position again.

This time, Wilbur was the first to move, and Techno could tell he was holding back but not by nearly as much. His movements were fluid and quick, though not reaching a vampiric level. Techno could still sidestep, snap his foil up to catch Wilbur's strikes, and on one occasion, get into the offensive himself. Though he wasn't hitting anymore.

Then Wilbur swiped at his elbow.

Techno spun, catching the bottom of Wilbur's wrist, and knocked the foil out of his hand. It clattered against the ground on the other side of the room. Wilbur's eyes widened in surprise.

"Hell yeah!" Tommy hollered, pretty much jumping up and down at this point.

"I want to go again," Wilbur said quickly. But when he turned, he shrank in on himself, lowering his head. The reaction was so instant, Techno didn't realize what had caused it until he noticed Phil was glaring daggers at them. Mostly at Wilbur.

"If you're going to do shit like that can you at least bother to put on the protective gear?" Phil said, sounding angry.

Ah, they did neglect to do that. Techno didn't think it mattered much until he saw how pissed off it made Phil.

"It's fine," he said. Phil glanced at him, but mainly kept scowling at Wilbur.

"I don't want to hear it, mate. Either of you could have gotten yourself hurt."

The fact that he was mostly talking about Techno felt silently implied. A little fencing foil would never in a million years harm a vampire.

"Dear, don't be too hard on the little ones," Kristin huffed, turning away from where she had been helping Tubbo. The metal ball was gaining a more deliberate shape this time as he used his powers to heat and warp the material. "They're just playing."

"Playing with swords," Phil replied flatly.

Techno was caught between being flattered that Phil felt worried about him or insulted that they were being treated like children.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Tommy asked, appearing beside him as if out of thin air. His blue eyes shone with wonder. Or with opportunity. An opportunity to cause new mayhem through sword shenanigans.

"Sure," Techno said.

"You are quite good at it," Kristin said. "I'm impressed. Maybe we should have gotten you a sword instead."

Techno put the foil back on the wall. "Hm?"

"We got you a present," she said, beaming. "This is as good a time as any to give it to you."

From a box on one of the tables, she retrieved a piece of cloth, which upon closer inspection was actually a thing that was wrapped in said cloth. Standing close to him, Kristin slowly peeled away the layers, but stayed careful to keep the cloth where her hands were so she wouldn't actually touch the item she was unwrapping.

Every inch of cloth pushed away revealed a gleaming silver.

Eventually, only the last part of the handle was wrapped, and Kristin could very carefully hand the dagger over to him without letting the silver touch her. Techno held the weapon with some reluctance. Not because he felt uncomfortable at the fact that it was a weapon in itself, but because Kristin had treated it as if it was a live bomb.

"You're giving me a dagger?" Techno asked.

"Silver soaked in lemon juice," Kristin said. "Your trick with the bracelet gave me some ideas."

That explained why Kristin handled it with care, and why Phil had tugged Tommy away a bit, all of them standing at a slightly bigger distance than usual. The lightest brush of his silver could burn the skin of a vampire and cause excruciating pain. And being stabbed by it…

Techno could kill a vampire with this.

"Let's hope you never see the need to use it," Kristin said softly, reaching out to brush her fingers against his cheek tenderly. Techno's eyes flicked up to meet her face, the affectionate gesture catching him by surprise. Her expression too, the small smile playing around the corners of her lips. "We'll always be there to protect you. But if not, you'll need to be able to defend yourself. You're part of our coven. We can't let anything happen to you."

Techno clenched his jaw, at a loss for words. Before he swallowed. "Thank you."

Kristin pulled away a bit, handing him the cloth so he could go about wrapping the dagger up again. "Don't tell anybody you got this, by the way. Not Niki, not Skeppy, nobody outside of this room can know. It could put them in danger too if they knew about its existence."

"The council is very strict on these matters," Phil added on. He didn't need to explain why.

A dagger that could kill vampires, even sires. Ancient ones, if used in the right circumstances. Having such a weapon out there would already be vexing enough, to have it in the hands of a human was like rubbing salt in the wound. Techno wasn't particularly scared of the council finding out. He wasn't expecting to ever be in a position to need it, just as Kristin had said.

But he was taken aback by the immense amount of trust they must have in him.

They gave him something that could hurt them. They gave Techno something that could kill Phil, that could kill Kristin. They wouldn't do that if there was any inkling of doubt in their mind that Techno would ever use it against them.

"Thank you," he said again, because there was not much else to say.

He curled his hand around the handle of the dagger, the coldness of it not feeling any different from the coldness of his coven's skin.

Another great thing about midterms being over was that Techno could reintroduce afternoon naps into his schedule.

He kept up with his supplement routines almost religiously, in part because Phil had set reminders for him and would always ask if he'd taken them yet. He was more mindful about eating balanced and regular meals, drinking a lot of water, and getting proper sleep. Again, in part because Phil was helping him keep track. All in all, he was looking after his health more, because he needed to be able to donate blood properly for Tommy.

But despite all that, Techno was still tired constantly.

Seemingly, the others had noticed, since they hadn't been drawing his blood as often. Tommy was acting a little perkier lately, so they could just pretend he needed to feed less often, though Techno found it hard to say if it was Kristin's presence cheering him up or his sickness actually getting somewhat better. If it was the latter, nobody had dared to express that hope out loud. Phil mentioned it when Tommy's eyes changed color too, that he didn't want to jump to any conclusions that only set them up for disappointment if Tommy got ill again.

A knocking on his door woke Techno up, and he rubbed his face while mumbling a semi-coherent permission to come in against his pillow.

"Kristin wants us to- Are you sleeping?" Tommy interrupted himself with a scandalized tone.

"Taking a nap," Techno said. He sat up and yawned. Tommy hurried over to crawl onto the bed with him.

"Tell me next time. I'm missing out," he said.

"On what?"

"Nap time."

"You just want to cuddle again. Cringe."

Tommy did not deny the allegation, but he did tilt his head. "You could use the nest. It's comfier than this lumpy thing." He poked one finger into Techno's mattress.

"There's nothing wrong with my bed. Get out of it, if it bothers you that much," Techno said, grabbing Tommy's shoulder and shoving him off so he landed on the floor. He laughed at Tommy's fuming. "What did Kristin want?"

"Oh, I don't know, I was just supposed to get you. It's important."

Techno fell back onto the pillow with a roll of his eyes. Typical.

"I'm also getting you a gift," Tommy offered suddenly.

"A gift?" Techno asked. Man, he was tempted to go right back to sleep. Whatever important vampire stuff Kristin had going on didn't need him, did it?

"Yeah, Wilbur got you the violin and Kristin got you the dagger. I need to beat Phil."

"It's not a competition," Techno said half-heartedly. Then again, if there was a competition to be won by giving him free stuff, maybe he shouldn't complain. Techno loved free stuff.

Tommy didn't reply. He reached up and grabbed Techno's ankle, pulling him off the bed. "Come on, we need to go before they get grumpy."

Techno was the only one feeling grumpy, being woken up from a nap and literally pulled out of his comfy bed. But he didn't mention that. He followed Tommy downstairs, where the other three were waiting in the living room.

He sobered up a bit at the expression on Phil's face.

"The council picked a date for the assembly," Kristin said. "It's a bit sooner than we expected."

Techno sat down on the couch with Tommy next to him. Wilbur shot up straight where he'd previously been lounging on one of the armchairs. "How much sooner?"

"Next week," Kristin said.

Techno didn't know the significance of that, but could tell it came as a surprise to Wilbur. Tommy looked as uncomprehending as him. And Phil probably already knew.

"Nobody leaves the house until then," Kristin continued. "I'm sorry, Techno. If you have any in-person classes, you're going to have to skip them."

Techno nodded. He didn't mind too much, he tried to take as many of his classes as he could online anyway.

"We'll have some preparations to make, clothes to tailor, travel arrangements to sort out. And we don't want anything to throw a wrench in our plans. If we fuck this up, it'll be a pain to deal with."

"You're making it sound worse than it is," Wilbur said, glancing at Techno and Tommy.

"It's better that they know what they're in for," Phil interjected sharply. "You're not going to do them any good by sugar coating it."

Wilbur opened his mouth as if he was going to snap back, then deflated and slumped back into the couch.

As had become the norm, Kristin was the one who calmed the storm. She walked up to Phil and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "You're right. We need to be honest. But we also shouldn't scare them. We'll take this one step at a time."

Tommy looked at Techno and shrugged. Techno shrugged back. At least it was nice that he wasn't the only one completely new to this for once.

"Techno," Phil said, "I'll have to bite you again for the assembly. We can't bring you there unclaimed, so… just as a heads up."

Automatically, Techno's finger rubbed the scar Tommy had left. "I thought that was what the official registration was for."

"That's the legal part. Nobody is going to ask for your paperwork in the middle of a party," Kristin laughed. "A visible mark is much easier."

"Tommy, you can't cover yours up either," Phil said. Tommy shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything, fidgeting with the fabric that covered his neck.

"Does it matter where the mark is?" Techno asked.

"Not really. Most vampires use the bite that turned them," Kristin said. "The throat is a classic, but anywhere is fine."

"You could let Phil mark your wrist," Wilbur suggested, pulling up his own sleeve. Techno had seen the scar of his turning many times, since Wilbur was clearly not ashamed of it nor trying to hide it in any way. "We could be twins."

"That works," Techno said. The wrist was also where he let them feed on him, and it was the place Techno felt the most comfortable with being bitten by vampires.

Besides, it would be a good place to keep uncovered while still wearing normal clothes. Tommy's scar was on his neck, so it should also be easy enough to expose. And Phil… Actually, Techno didn't think he'd ever seen Phil's scar.

Seeing his gaze travel towards the sire, Wilbur chuckled. "Phil will need to have Kristin bite him again specifically for the assembly. He can't show the one from when he was turned."

Kristin giggled and Phil looked away. Techno had the impression that if his heart was capable of it, a lot of blood would be rushing into Phil's cheeks at this very moment. He looked totally embarrassed.

"Seriously?" Techno asked.

"It was an intimate moment," Phil mumbled. "But I can't be wearing pants that short to a fucking formal event."

Techno gasped and covered Tommy's ears with his hands. "Phil, there are minors in the room."

Tommy pushed him away. "You're literally younger than me, bitch."

Laughing, Techno fell back against the pillows and closed his eyes. The couch was honestly pretty great too, he could continue to nap right there. Especially as the others carried on talking, their voices a soft cadence, Tommy's body half-settling on his legs. Techno really wasn't too uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. And since Kristin came around, Techno stopped locking himself in his room as often. It just felt nicer to be around everybody.

This, right here, felt nice.

And creepy vampire assemblies could totally be a worry for next week.