Clayton found himself at the foot of a large dining table inside a small yet lavishly designed dining room. On the other side of the table sat his captor, analyzing Clayton. He had changed into his white satin dining clothes. Clayton himself was in new and obscenely high fashioned white satin. He had been changed out of his clothes, bathed and his wound's treated by his staff. Only his assistant remained in the same clothes as before and sat in the middle of left side of the table. She seemed completely disinterested in her master or his captive. Clayton was hungry and his last meal had been literally garbage, but his uncertainty made it difficult to appreciate his beautifully garnished chicken course. The heat radiating from the hearth only served to make him feel like a cooking piece of meat. He had to eat, however, he was being judged.
Clayton patiently waited for his host to officially begin the meal, putting the napkin in his lap, picking up his fork to begin eating, none of that happened. Instead, he seemed content just gazing at him. As the moments went by, the atmosphere became increasing awkward. Each slight shift of the body did not go unnoticed. "I'm being tested." Clayton thought. "He's seeing if I'm just some common street rat. Little does he know, being nobility myself, I've been required to use proper dinner etiquette since I was young. He's foolish if he thinks I can't control myself." Clayton politely sat there, pretending not to notice his stare, until the master finally broke the silence. "Aren't you going to eat, Clayton?" he asked. "It's bad manners to start eating before the host starts." "Ah, that's right. That's very well mannered of you. Why don't you just start, then?" "Very well." And with that, the dinner commenced.
"Now, first off, allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Count Johann Haxton Vasquez. This is my esteemed assistant, Delphi." Clayton recognized the Count's name. "You are THE Count Vasquez? Co-Chairman over the city council?" "So you know my name, then?" "It's always good to know what's going on around you. You must forgive me for not recognizing you right away. You have been rather scarce from the public eye, but never the public ear." More like nonexistent. The Vasquez bloodline is notorious for being reclusive. "I tend to let the council run themselves. They have been selected to represent Dorter's local interests, so let them. I trust they know what's best for the city." This small talk began to slightly loosen Clayton up. "You are quite the opposite of the baron then. He's been quite on a crusade against crime recently. I imagine yesterday's events have him in fits." The Baron has always been tough on crime, but he has recently been cracking down in recent years. He believes that the criminal element will eventually introduce the Black Platypus into the city, but it's ironically the crime scene itself that prevented the Black Platypus from getting a hold in this city. "I'm glad you brought that up, because that is precisely why I brought you here."
"To be quite frank, you have brought much discord into my city, young man. When you brought that boy Taichii into the city, you brought disaster. The Black Platypus is set to infiltrate our good city, the church is set to quarantine the entire city for vampirism, massive damage, the entire city is in a panic. These are dark days for Dorter. That being said and depending on what you tell me tonight, I may let you go. I am not doing this on the behalf of the city, so what you tell me does not leave this room. I do not care about your connections, former connections, with the mob or your current wanted status. I just need answers."
