Puzzled

The werewolf walks back in with a tray of snacks, an assortment of items. Fruits, meats, cheeses. Even some cookies and crackers. He's also brought two glasses of sparkling juice for the two of them.

"What the Hell is this? A full course meal?" Mortas asks. Rona sets the tray down, onto the coffee table in front of them.

"Is something the matter? I couldn't quite decide what to get," Rona sits back down, grabbing a glass. Mortas just sighs.

"Whatever, so how are we gonna do this?"

"Hmm," Rona hums, thinking. He looks at the chess board sitting on the coffee table. "Why don't we use this?" He points.

"That? The board?" Mortas raises a brow, grabbing his own glass, and taking a sip.

"Yes, look." Rona sets his glass down, moving his hand to the board. "We can pretend the pieces represent our clans. Lycanis will be white, and the Dracul can be black. Sound good?"

"Yes, I see." Mortas sits forward.

"Okay, so we'll pretend that the board is the land. My clan says that yours is on our territory, yours says otherwise. On top of that, your clan has a food shortage that claims to be my clans fault. Sound about right as well?"

"It doesn't just sound right, it's flat out correct." Mortas sips at his drink. Rona frowns.

"Can you be serious? Stop that," Rona sighs, going on. "So, I belive that the Lycanis can afford to give up some land. I know the Dracul population is increasing. However, moving the Lycanis population that's already living near the boarder will be a puzzle, so what do you th-"

"Hold on," Mortas interrupts. "Why don't we just do this?" He slides all the black pieces across the board. "Just give the Dracul all the land we want, regardless of Lycanis living there or not. Problem solved!" Rona scoffs.

"Mortas, really? This isn't a game. Of course that's not an option." Rona moves the pieces back. "Like I was saying, it would be a better option to-"

"You're right, you're right. It would be a better option to just move the Lycanis out instead, silly me!" Mortas slides the white pieces off the board entirely.

"Mortas! What's the matter with you?" Rona moves to pick up the pieces, but as he does so, Mortas had also moved to mess with his pieces. Now this wouldn't work, as they are sitting opposite of their chess piece color, so now their faces are very close together. Had they moved an inch closer, they'd accidentally kiss. They stay like this for a second, processing. "Ahem," Rona clears his throat, moving away. "Maybe you were right for once. We should just pick this up again tomorrow."

"I agree." Mortas says, adjusting his shirt collar.

"I guess, we have free time, then." Rona picks up the their tray, setting out to leave the room.

"Wait," Mortas stops him.

"Ah, yes?" Rona turns.

"Where are you going with that?"

"Oh, I assumed you didn't want it."

"So what? You're going to keep it all to yourself? What a waste. Bring it to the bedroom."

"That's not what I was going to do..." Rona sighs, but does what's asked of him, nonetheless. Whatever it takes so he can leave the room. God, that was so awkward. The werewolf shakes his head, quickly getting over it.

He enters the bedroom, placing the tray of snacks down, picking up a piece of fruit after he does so. Rona smiles as he chews the fruit. It's so good! Juicy and sweet. The flesh is plump, and the skin has a snap to it. Rona eats some more.

"Are you going to eat the entire tray?" Mortas asks, walking in.

"I've only had three pieces..." Rona frowns, quickly adding another grape into his mouth. "You're so mean to me."

"Yeah, yeah." Mortas waves Rona off dismissively, sitting down. "You have a sweet tooth?"

"What makes you say that?" Rona asks with a cookie in his hand.

"Nevermind it. I'm going to take a nap now, wake me up when it's time for dinner." Mortas leans back in his chair, closing his eyes.

"A nap? At this time? What about lunch?"

"What about it?"

"Erm, well then, why nap in that chair? Why not on the bed?"

"Because you're making crumbs all over it, like a little mouse." Mortas opens an eye.

"Am I?" Rona looks at the bed. "You're just exaggerating, per usual."

"Ah, really? So there's no crumbs, then?" Rona looks back at the bed again, and swipes his hand across the sheets. "So there is!"

"N-No! I was just making sure, I was proving my point, Mortas!" He exclaims.

"Sure, little mouse. Or should I say rat?"

"Rat?" Rona crosses his arms.

"Yup, rat."

"Rats are actually very clean creatures, you know." Rona states, moving the tray away from the bed.

"Yeah? They're also fat and ugly."

"Fat?" Rona pouts, looking at his stomach. "If I were a girl, would you still have said that to me?"

"One hundred percent."

"Well, now I can safely assume you've never had any girlfriends." Rona looks back at the bed. "There, I cleaned it. Happy?"

"What? And I'm supposed to believe you have?" Mortas gets up, walking over to Rona. "I bet all the women of your clan tower over you. You're the size of a puppy."

"Puppy?" Rona scoffs. "Are you calling me short?"

"I'm literally looking down on you." Mortas says, before stretching his neck out.

"Oh please, I'm only a few inches shorter than you." Rona steps away from Mortas. "Whatever, go on and take your nap already."

"Gladly." Mortas lies down on the bed, getting comfortable. Rona turns the light out to the lamp before he leaves, closing the door. Mortas sighs. "Now, why did you have to do all of that?" He thinks to himself.

"Where is Sir Dracul? Is he not coming down for lunch?" One of the servants asks, as Rona sits at the dining table.

"Ah, no, he isn't. He's taking a nap, you see. He's asked not to be disturbed until dinner."

"Oh, but, we've already prepared two servings... What do you wish for us to do with it?"

"Erm," Rona thinks. "I'll take it. I'll bring it to Mortas, in case he wakes up and decides he's hungry later." The servants nod, and serve Rona his lunch first.

After eating, Rona does as he said he would, and brings Mortas's lunch up to the bedroom. He knocks on the door. No response, but that's expected. Rona opens the door, placing Mortas's plate down next to the tray he left there earlier. "Hm?" Rona looks at the bed. "What the?" There's no one there! Where did Mortas go? Not again! Rona sighs. He has to go look for Mortas again! Why can't that vampire just stay still?

Rona can't let the servants know Mortas isn't where he said he'd be, so he avoids them. He needs to find Mortas, and bring him back quickly. Rona searches in all the places he did before inside the mansion, but finds no vampire. "Okay, well then he must be outside." Rona concludes to himself. He heads out back, where he found Mortas last time, but... he's not here either!

"Mortas, just where did you go?" Rona looks around. All he sees is grass, and some trees farther back. Is he missing something? Rona's mind starts to race. Did Mortas seriously run away, or did something worse happen? Maybe Rona just didn't look hard enough, yeah. The werewolf returns inside, searching the house quietly again.