Ranger
Chapter 180: Food
By Wanderer D
The ADVENT Limousine followed a long line of similar vehicles, all with the same final destination. Inside, Sunset glanced out the window. Bradford refused to look at her, and Elena had only shaken her head and muttered, "Ah, to be young again."
Sunset had to admit, the Miranda Special did make her look sexy. How had she put it? Slutty but formal? Something along those lines, and she had been surprised to see that her dress wasn't the most daring—or revealing—of the lot.
Other young women wore dresses that she could definitely remove the formal part of her assessment from. Sweetie Belle had been right. Sunset took a deep breath, promising herself to acknowledge this fact to the former ADVENT public figure, and looked at the lock of black hair that had fallen across her vision.
It was really odd to have black hair. It made her feel different, somehow, more reserved, and even though the others knew exactly who she was, she was also treated slightly differently. Luna had said that people treated others differently on any number of factors, from how they smiled, to their hair color.
She hadn't believed it. Until now.
She resisted the urge to touch the skin just above her breasts. Hiding her gem felt… dirty, as if she was embarrassed by it, but necessity demanded it. At least she had been able to reabsorb it, as the book had promised.
"We're here," Elena said in her regular droll.
"Time to face the crowds," Sunset said. "Better get that smile going, dad."
Bradford growled, then stepped out when the door was opened for him. Elena followed out, and immediately after, Sunset did.
The mansion was surprisingly, not built in the style of ADVENT's fascist-like sensibilities, but rather seemed a shout-out to olden times. It was a massive building made of stone blocks, with some inlays of new tech and design in them, never overwhelming it, however.
The foyer's thick oak doors were open, revealing several columns on either sides of it, all illuminated by bright spotlights. Music could be faintly heard in the distance, past the din of hundreds of conversations taking place around them.
They were surrounded by several other VIPs and their bodyguards (all ADVENT assigned) and Sunset relished the attention of all men and women who came to exchange greetings with them, flirting with the reporter's cameras and—daringly—sending a kiss to the viewers.
One of ADVENT's reporters, Susan Cerendis, who Sunset was familiar with—due to the constant attacks on XCOM said reporter did on the news—approached them. Sunset restrained herself. This woman had a habit of making things worse every time by twisting even things on audio and video to reflect her twisted logic of the events, making up excuses for ADVENT and justifying the most deplorable acts to her viewers as the actions of caring leaders.
She was cute in person, but Sunset loathed her.
"And here we have Mr. Brian Bloom, long supporter of the Elders and ADVENT from their initial arrival to the transformation of the entire West Coast of the former regime into our new, glorious present. He is accompanied by Elora Bloom and their daughter, Eli Bloom. Mr. Bloom, may we have a moment of your time?"
Bradford didn't look pleased, but stopped as the woman all but stood in his way. With brutal efficiency, the ADVENT Patrol assigned to the entrance, however, pushed the reporters out of the way, barking out an order in their language.
Sunset smirked. The officer had called Susan a pretentious bitch. So much for the appreciation of her overlords. However, her eyes couldn't help but roam up and down Susan's circulatory system. Whatever else the woman was, she kept good care of her health. Her heartbeat was strong and steady, her blood flowed uninterrupted.
Sunset licked her lips.
Susan glared at the ADVENT Captain, but understood the message, waving the cameraman away. She was about to follow him when Sunset grabbed her arm.
Sunset leaned in, smiling seductively at the woman, her grin widening when the reporter's eyes studied her body with obvious interest. "Meet me inside when they let you in," Sunset whispered quickly, before turning to run after her "father".
This would be an interesting night.
Unseen, a small drone hovered right behind one of the spotlights lighting the way into the mansion, its lenses focusing on the trio as they navigated through the masses and made it into the building.
Deep bellow, in a small room full of towels and cleaning rags, Jane nodded. She quickly made her way out, straightening her white uniform as she stepped back into the kitchen. She walked among the rows of working cooks, ignoring the guards next to the stairs.
ADVENT officers knew as much about cooking as she herself knew about the biology of invertebrates. She knew they somehow functioned, but that was as far as the mechanics interested her, and they were the same way about cooking.
Mox had explained to her once that ADVENT didn't believe in food as humans understood it, and it took some time for any Skirmisher to really start to even understand what they were tasting and whether it tasted good or bad.
ADVENT apparently fed them some paste of some sort, and that left little for them to aim for in culinary pursuits.
Reaching her work station, she sided up to Laetitia, who was chopping onions like a pro. "Team is in."
Laetitia nodded, keeping her eyes on the food. "Stir this into the pan, keep the heat low," she instructed, her french accent making the simple task seem somehow more dignified. "A sprinkle of salt, then let it simmer as you stir. No stopping."
"Right right, I'll follow your orders, oh, chef," Jane whispered back, glad that one of them knew how to cook like a real chef. Although Wittbecker had a regular catering company, they hired new chefs as often as possible for large events like these, and it had been all thanks to Laetitia's Chou Farci that they had been allowed in at all.
Jane had no idea what it even meant.
"Even if ADVENT does not recognize food, we still must appear professional, oui?" Laetitia asked, her eyes straying to meet Jane's for a moment. "We do not know when things might go to Tartaruous, comprenez vous?"
"Tartarus? What's that? French hell?"
Laetitia shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Something I learned recently, come, let's concentrate on this, oui?"
"Wee." Jane sighed, glancing at the ADVENT troopers and hoping they hadn't noticed anything weird. The mission still had to mature before any actions were taken, after all.
A curse made her jump and look towards a cook that was holding his hand up. The others around him were laughing and shaking their heads, and even he was chuckling at the cut on his finger. Jane watched the blood slowly trickle down his hand as he moved away from the food and walked towards the bathroom to clean up.
She glanced at the ruby drops on the table where the chef had been working.
Jane licked her lips.
o.0.o End Chapter 180 o.0.o
Oh nooooo. Jane's affected and this is gonna get crazy.
Oh boy! The corruption is spreading!
WELL THEN! I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS AT ALL!
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/261/711/f17.png
Yep, blood magic going wild.
And signs that our favorite templar is actually a princess.
Oh come on, really?
Sunset has created a fledgling vampire?
Mission is a Go
SUNSET, STOP RUINING EVERYTHING. YOU'RE TOO PRECIOUS TO BE HORRIBLE.
I can dig Vampire Sunset, but I'd rather have a snekpone or demon, honestly.
Well at least we do know she loves Angel and that if both survive there will be snekpone foals in the future. Let's just hope that Sunset can keep sane enough for that...
And that she choses the snek way
First order of business when the portal reopens is to rip that book from Sunset's paws, then toss it through. From there, Celestia can banish it to the sun.
I would seriously consider paying money for a scene where Sunset and Jane are doing blood witch things on the avenger finishing up with something along the lines of "And no one will find out until it's too late!" when there's suddenly a polite cough from behind them. They turn around and it's Applebloom, followed by,
"Um, have you been there the whole time?"
"Eeyup"
Sunset paused as she grimaced and took in just how much blood she and Jane were standing and covered in.
"This doesn't look good does it."
"Eenope"
End chapter
"columns on either sides of it, all"
"columns on either side of it, all"?
"the attention of all men and women who came"
"the attention of all the men and women who came"?
"flirting with the reporter's cameras"
"flirting with the reporters' cameras"?
"Deep bellow, in a small room"
"Deep below, in a small room"?
"she sided up to Laetitia"
"she sidled up to Laetitia"?
Somewhere, in another canon universe, Alucard suddenly felt depressed.
”I feel there are some bitches that love cannons that I really want to introduce the Police Girl to, yet never will.”
Oh dear... We got two Blood Witches... Hold it together you two!! I can guess this is related to why Laetitia got soul-transfered in Equestria. Luna had to take over.
Well... Things are going bloody swell so far. Guess the switch couldn't have happened at a better time. It's not Friday in the story yet is it? If it is, that'd be Freaky.
Luna’s first slip. I wonder what will happen first, either she gets found out by someone on the avenger or a message from Equestria spills the beans?
9245588
SO true!
9245607
9245618
9245583
I don't think the transfer has happend yet.
There is a certian time displasment between chapters. All is happaning at the same time.
I think...
9245583
😘
Oh Hell no.
The blood lust has spread to Jane, Sunset wants to consume the journalist (in more ways than one), this mission was already in the sink hole at the beginning and it just went even deeper.
9245536
Snekpone vampire foals judging by how both Sunset and Jane is acting.
9245607
Was that on purpose?
Huh. When did Luna learn to cook fancy? I thought that was her sister's bailiwick.
I once likened the "more dangerous magics" as fire compared to the "more ordinary magics" as sticks... but this book seems more like a chunk of uranium by that analogy.
9245715
Yes.
9245841
Do you think we can find more blood jokes?
9245893
I joke by chapter content so we'll see how later on eh?
Well, things keep finding ways to become more ominous.
Welp. Mental contamination all around. Now it's just a question of how badly this will go.
(Also, West Coast? I thought this was Innsmouth.)
9245416
Big-tittied soldier girl!
9245988
Innsmouth is on whatever coast it wants to be.
Oh no... when they mean orgy they really mean it... a bloody one at that. Dang it jane! Now off to rule 34!
9245988 Innsmouth is East Coast, but Bradford's "character" is from the West Coast.
9245588 Not exactly.
9245576 Fixed!
9245607 I see what you did there. I see I'm not the only one!
And that‘s how Clan Tremere came into being...
Everything is fine.
No its not, everything is stacking up to have this place look like the last facility I raided when its over.
Twi needs to get her ass in gear, Sunny two's about to jump down the rabbit hole taking Jane with her.
9246516
how so? dead bodys everywhere? most of the place already in ruins? both things?
Okay, yeah, I have concerns.
Please do not drink this evil woman's blood, Sunset.
Luna sure brings a level of class to the proceedings.
This isn't getting better.
Yiyikes. Awesome. There was something one of the Sirens implied about Sunset having spread the blood magic, wasn't there? We knew it had given Jane parseltongue; makes sense that it'd have the creepier effects too.
That moment where Sunset saved Jane with the blood transfusion after Julian's first betrayal has certain set up a lot of consequences. I wonder how far into the future Wanderer foresaw (had planned) when you wrote that all that time ago?
Why is Sunset being so flirty with the reporter she dislikes? Is she planning to get her alone and then, like, drink all her blood or something?
Also, weird and interesting that Sunset can cause the gem to appear and disappear (protrude and absorb?) at will.
So, when Sunset inevitably corrupts Laetitia too, we'll have a new "sisters" trio to replace the Sirens, yeah?
9245972
OK but Sunset is gonna turn that party into a literal bloody marie.
Yes! I made a joke and a reference to hellsing abridged at the same time.
Welp, there might be a vampire epidemic soon...
9246845
Place was leveled, Had enough Toxic Clouds and acids to look like ww1 A nearby car lot was exploding and Advent Flares were landing all over.
9248202
Sounds cheery.
9248202
well damn!
As one wise XCOM operative once said during the first invasion: "That is not good."
Hey I just met you
and this is crazy
but I smell your blood
and it smells tasty
This conversation made me realize something. It may have started as spying on Sunset, but this interaction between Luna and Laetitia is changed. Now it’s all about the bond between the two, and Luna helping to keep Sunset safe, both for Celestia and Laetitia.
How is it going to effect Luna when the woman she has been sharing memories with for months(?) dies?
Also, that last line is nothing good.
Jane is slowly getting corrupted as well? I hope Sunset can keep herself from bonding with anyone else, at least until she figures out how to control whatever the corruption is.
oh no
Well Shit... Sunset passivly infect Jane via blood bond.
That can't possible fire back