[Aug 9th night] Explaination (Dristan/Mary/Matilda)

"Why can't the questions be answered? Questions always have answers, even if I don't like them, they still have answers. That doesn't make any sense Dad." She said taking the water, having a sip and putting it down. "The camera was easy to figure out. I can't wait to put some of it to pictures. I even got one of you in wolf form yesterday. When you were sneaking around." She grinned.

"I wish I had one of mom in her form. it would help me paint her better." She said with a grin. "Is Aunt Mary sick? Is that why we need to talk?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Dristan was about to try and explain why certain questions could not be answered and then he glanced over and saw the shadows start to darken and smiled. As Mary appears Dristan looks to Matilda and wraps his arm around her. "It is alright. You have nothing to fear. Her way of coming for a visit Mattie." Her dad whispers in her ear and looks to Mary.

"Oh not at all. Please join us." He smiles hoping that Mattie would not freak and this would all go smoothly. "Remember she has different magic then me." He whispers to Mattie and looks to Mary. He noticed the raven on her shoulder and had a very good idea who it was.

"Hello Matilda. In many ways the shadows are a part of me, and me of them. But this is a magic no witch or wizard can learn, I'm sorry." Mary walks closer, coming to sit on the other end of the couch, with Matilda between her and Dristan. "This," she turns and looks at the bird, "is Balthazar. He's my ... familiar, for want of a better term. Would you like to touch him? Be careful, though, he is very cold."

Mary smiles at Dristan. "Have you told her anything yet?" She asks him.

Mattie puts her hand on the bird, it is cold and she pulls her hand back and eyes him. "Is a familiar like Morticia is to me? Because we can understand each other and feed off of each other's emotions. I read it somewhere in one of your books upstairs." She looks back to her father and then back to the bird and pets it again.

"He is cold. Doesn't it bother him to be cold? He has no feather's either." She runs a finger down his back. She smiles at his eyes. "Can he change like shadows do?" She looked up to Aunt Mary and back to Dad and then to Balthazar. "It is a pleasure to meet you Balthazar." She says with a smile. "You feel weird though, not really like a bird. Does it bother you?" She started talking to the bird the way she would other animals, wondering if she could get a sense from him like she did the dogs or cats, or other various wild life she had found.

Dristan remains quiet for the moment watching Mattie interact with Balthazar and Mary. It brought a smile to his face honestly to see just how curious his daughter was. But at the same time he would have to watch her to make sure your curiosity never got her into any trouble.

When Mary asked Mattie if she could guess what they wanted to talk to her about for the moment he would wait to hear Mattie's answer.

Mary smiles, "So many questions! And such a considerate child. Balthazar likes his home, but he also likes being with me. We have a magical bond, which helps us communicate. And you are right, your father and I aren't really brother and sister, but we are very good friends for a while now, so it's close. Your father and I have a close bond, too." She looks up at Dristan, then back at Mattie. "That's right, I teach Muggle studies because I have a very long experience in the muggle world. I also teach another subject with your father." She pauses, then finishes the thought. "I also teach Vampire Studies."

Matilda looked up. "There is a vampire class?" She said with shock in her voice. "Why would y... ooooo" She said then looking up at her with bigger eyes. Her world just got a lot bigger.

"Miss Masters told me not all vampires were bad when we were at camp together. I guess she knows of one." She blinks her voice barely a whisper then her voice picked up again. "Can you fly? Like they do in the books? Crawl on the walls? I mean shadows crawl, but can you? Did you have to die to become one? How old are you really? Do you actually drink blood from people also? Are vampires more like Lestat or Dracula, or are you more like Blade or Angel? Most of the things I know are from books or tv shows. Please tell me you are nothing like that horrible movie they came out with a few years back! That would be heart breaking." She looked at her with such a different light and so many more questions came flooding out of her mouth.

Dristan caught the Twilight reference and so did his best not to bust out laughing right now. But for a brief moment he imagined Mary sparkling and he smiled and just shook his head. Now the rest Mattie spoke about some of the characters he read and watched and other he did not. "No sweetheart Mary does not sparkle in sunlight like the vampires in Twilight." Dristan stifled a chuckled and composed himself. For the rest he let Mary explain about herself and he rubbed his chin a bit.

Dristan smiles when Mary smiles at him and winks at her. "One of the reasons why we fell in love with her. I look very forward to teaching her this year."

Mary laughs. "Ah, yes, Twilight. I have heard of that. An unfortunate fiction. As for the rest, I teach Muggle Studies, yes, but the fiction of the current age is not a part of the curriculum. Though I have found myself enjoying some of the popular culture of this age. I quite like the Star Wars and the Caribbean Pirates, two I have recently viewed."

She scritches Balthazar, pats her lap, and he flaps down, shifting form as he lands, then steps across to Matilda, rubbing his cat head against her hand.

"And yes, I know of Vlad Dracul. He is a little before my time and from all reports not a nice man."

Mary reaches for Balthazar, pets him.

"Balthazar can and does eat when he wishes. He can eat whatever you might like to offer him, but he is rather partial to mice. Maybe one night you will get to see me crawl on a wall, but not tonight. No, I do not need to kill when I drink blood. Yes, I have tasted your Dad's. No, I haven't tasted your mother's. No, it doesn't hurt. No, I do not enjoy animal blood. Yes, there are more like me. Yes, there are many different kinds, just as there are different kinds of people. Not all manipulate shadow. Some change shape, or are strong, or become invisible. Some are not as nice as me, and would eat a little girl all alone, so promise me you will never try to seek them out."

Mary looks to Dristan. "Do her questions have an end?" She laughs.

"You can try take my picture if you like, but it will not work. And Balthazae would prefer his not be taken. He likes to remain anonymous! But you are welcome to paint our pictures. I would like that very much."

Matilda's eyes grow big again as she looks at Balthazar change forms right in front of her. She lets out a giggle as he comes into her lap. She pets him and smiles, then looks back down at him. "Morticia knows all the best places around here for catching mice. I am sure she would love to get a few. Maybe at the school, you can help show her around, Balthazar so she can find food also?" She speaks to the familiar even though she can't feel him the same way as she would other animals. She keeps petting him and looks up to them. 

"I haven't seen any of the new Star Wars yet but I did watch the first three. Also I think you mean Pirates of the Caribbean. Jack Sparrow is my favorite in the movie." She chuckles softly. "No, Vlad was't a nice man by any accounts from what I have read." She says quietly shuttering the thought of that report she wrote last year. Her teacher was surprised Matilda had chosen such a gory subject but the girl did like her history. 

"Does blood taste different to a vampire then to us? I mean, I have cut myself before while doing art projects and most common thing is to put the finger in your mouth." She looks to her father. "Does mom know she bites you?" She lifts her brow at him. "Also why would let her? Isn't that dangerous?" She turns back to Aunt Mary. "No offense." She smiles sweetly and looks back to her father. "Isn't that like cheating on Mommy? How does she feel about this? I mean, if the bite doesn't hurt, does it feel good? Or does it just feel like a bug bite? I wonder if it Mom feels betrayed, like she would if you kissed someone else or had sex with someone else." She says like a little adult woman. "Do you two have sex also? If so does that mean I have two mom's or still just one? You are marrying mom soon.
Does that effect what you and Mary have?"

"I think it would be cool to see all the different kinds. Is there a catalog? To learn? Like a book for the class? Because I don't remember seeing much in the Defense Against Dark Arts book that mentioned this." She looked back towards Aunt Mary. "I have no reason to seek them out unless there comes a time when my research doesn't give me the answers I am looking for. Then I would seek them out, namely you because you are the only vampire I know. As for eating me, that won't happen. Dad won't let it. Also I am sure he will teach me out to defend myself should something happen. Besides no one can get through life with out seeking answers to things. That would be a dull life." She says with a smile.

"You can't have pictures? That must be sad. So you have no reflection?" She looks to her father when he adds the reflection part. "I guess that makes sense with some things I have read in our books. I shall not take pictures of you Balthazar." She smiles and pets him again. "I think I would love to paint you both though. Do you have a preference of form you wish to be painted in Balthazar?" She asks him. 

"Also, my questions do end at some point. When my curiosity is satisfied." She stuck her tongue out at her Dad playfully. 

Dristan was trying his best to keep up with Mattie's question and then came the questions in regards to Mary and himself and their relationship and honestly he could understand where Mattie was coming from but at the same time as Mary had just told her there was an agreement between the three of them and it was not about to change. Perhaps when she was older he would sit down with her to speak about such intimate things and definitely his head was spinning at the moment when Mattie asked if he and Mary had sex, she was eleven for crying out loud!

"As Mary said. Your mom, Mary and I have an agreement. Your mom understands." Dristan speaks calmly and watches Mary move to the mirror above the fireplace casting no reflection. The way Balthazar joined Mary he could not help but smile. Made him wonder about the portrait that was already done for Mary that he had never showed her. What her reaction would be.

"So Mattie....anything else you would like to know sweetheart?"

"Adult stuff is complicated, yes. Even for adults! As for what I will teach ... most is related to staying safe. To protect our Masquerade I rarely use names, or specifics, but you will learn enough. And, as my niece, even if only because daddy and I are such very good friends, you can always ask me more in private. How much more I can say will vary, though. I can't divulge all our secrets, or they wouldn't be secrets!"

She watches Matilda with Balthazar. It seems the imp had made another friend. She wondered if she'd see him at all once school went back. "He is lovey. He comes from a place we call the Abyss. He is a creature of that world, and takes shadow form while here. It is a world I can access, but it is dangerous. When you are older, with your father's permission, I might show you."

She glances up at Dristan, then back to Matilda. "Yes, they are well. But they have become entangled, and will find it difficult to break free. People can be brutal, yes, and kindred were once people, and in many ways we are more brutal then men." For a moment, her eyes are cold almost glacial in their green, then she smiles again. "I meant a lady's maid. A beautician would ask about my reflection, and then there would be trouble. As for your daddy's portraits ... I don't expect it to move, just the style. I had one painted once, so very long ago, but it wouldn't look anything like me now."

Mary is silent, then looks at Matilda with a grin.

"Tell me what you are looking forward to most at school."

"Staying safe is simple enough. I presume you can't come out in daylight, so I should be fine during the daylight hours. As long as there aren't more of you who can slip through the shadows, I think I am safe as well. If Dad trust's you enough to meet me and tell me these things, then why shouldn't I? Also, why can you know all of our secrets but we can't know yours? That makes no sense. You are a vampire teaching at a wizarding school. I gather they wanted you there to teach us more about your kind then just how to stay safe. You get to see everything that goes on, how we are taught and what not, but we can't see your side? It seems like the vampires get the better end of that." She says looking at her.

"Abyss? Like nothingness?" It was the only word that came to her mind when the word abyss was brought up. "The ocean has an abyss, at least that is what they call it I think. Speaking of ocean. How did you know about the movie not being correct? Did you sail like that also?" She quirked an eyebrow up at her. "Wouldn't a lady's maid ask the same thing?" She asked.

"I shall do my best then on your painting. It might take me some time though." She said beaming up at her feeling as though she was just hired. "School? I don't know. I am just excited about all of it really. Being able to finally learn how to do magic instead of watch and read about it. Dad and Dmitry have taught me a bunch of things but it is hard to put it to practice when you aren't in school. Which sucks but I deal. I look forward to not being the weird kid though. I was pretty much an outcast aside from my friend Sarah and the animals in the city. I didn't mind but it did get lonely at times. It allowed me to do other things though. I have been top of my class since second grade. I was going to push my goals to become top of my class in high school also and become valedictorian and hopefully get a full paid scholarship to any school of my choice. Though, I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do yet. Does Hogwarts have something like that? And is their a college?" She asks

Dristan eyes beamed fatherly when Mary said that Mattie was destined to become a great witch. In truth he wanted all of his children to excel far more than he ever could. As all parents feel in regards to their children. He would give Mattie and all of his children all the tools that he could to help them all excel into greatness.

Now his eyebrow did raise hearing Mary say she was a pirate at one point and sailed under a black flag. See he was still learning about Mary and her past from time to time. He glances at Mary with a seductive look and back to his daughter gliding his fingers through Mattie's hair.

He was so happy that the adoption from the MACUSA had gone through and he was her father legally.