• They first met in the sewers.

    Met was not even an appropriate term: encounter was more like it.

    He first encountered her in the Barton Sewers.

    He had been halfway done with his lap, and was descending down the stairwell when he saw a pile of Gramsters jumping and nibbling away at a motionless figure standing by the bridge rail. And so he whipped and lashed at the pile of green fluff with his Mantis until they were all reduced to a quivering green mass on the floor and until then did he look upon the figure that remained motionless throughout its entire ordeal.

    It was a Kuro; In fact, he didn't even know if all Dark Elves could be referred to as Kuro. The Racial segregation in Gaia had once been so intense that each race knew little about each other. And besides, saying Dark Elves was a mouthful. Kuro was much easier. And he didn't care; vampires weren't known for astute politeness.
    The Kuro's face and neck were bleeding; its white hair and white overcoat covered with both fresh and dried blood. The vampire looked closer; it seemed impossible for the Kuro to stand upright after what it had been through. But he was in for a shock.
    The Kuro was asleep.
    "Oy." The vampire nudged the Kuro gently at first, harder the next. "Oy. Kuro. Wake up!" He nudged it so hard the Kuro almost toppled over. "Wake up!"
    The Kuro's eyes fluttered open, the gray orbs floating around unfocused before it ruffled its short hair and shrugged off its overcoat to wipe at the wounds. It was then that the vampire noticed the feminine curves underneath the white dress it was wearing. IT was a girl.
    "What are you looking at?" she asked in a gentle voice. It seemed like she had only been alerted to his presence just then.
    "Uh." The vampire blinked. "You were...you didn't..? The gramsters..."
    "Oh." The Kuro said. Then she began laughing, even playfully slapping the vampire's arm as if he were an old friend. "It was the lag."
    "What?"
    The Kuro kept laughing; there were tears in her eyes, "It just happens; I fall asleep without warning then wake up like nothing happened. I know right, it's weird!"
    The vampire stared. "Right. Well. You seem fine now, so. I'll be going." And so he went.
    "Hey. I didn't catch your name!" The Kuro called back at him.
    THe vampire looked over his shoulder, unsure of telling some loony Kuro his name. "It's uh. It's Mick."
    "Mick. Hm." The Kuro said, putting back her coat. "Im Felquis by the way. Thanks for the help!"
    She might have even been waving at him, but thavampire didn't turn back again to look.