As Roderick and Calum left in the typical whirlwind fashion, with Calum's typical disapproving shake of the head and apology for his lord's eccentricity, the others went to the back door to ensure it was locked and then headed off to find the best place to get clothes.
It was a bit more crowded on the streets than usual and the three of them were forced to bow incessantly and return greetings, the entire process a live-action example of why they needed Lilly.
It was, to Jonah at least, a massive inconvenience.
Then a man sprinted past them with no signs of respect, dressed in some kind of uniform in the same colours as the guards. His audacity at running past an Angel and not showing any deference earned gasps, but then he came to a stop and started ringing a bell.
"Hear ye! Hear ye! By official request of Angel Jonah! He seeks and requires no noble deference....." The words were music to his ears, he thought they would have been dispatched the previous day and that his neighbours simply refused to heed the message, so hearing it announced now was relieving.
"Ah, apologies Jonah..." A man said looking rather embarrassed as they had just finished paying their respects. "...I am your neighbour two doors down to the right of your property. Welcome to our community and please feel free to call if you need anything."
"Think nothing of it, human customs are a mystery to me, I didn't wish to cause offence by telling everyone personally that special treatment is unwarranted. I hope we can continue to make our community a peaceful one, these are my charges, Orcette and Kayla."
"Greetings, a pleasure to meet you all. Where are you all off to?"
Jonah explained that they were simply seeking a clothes shop so they could make use of their new bath and rid themselves of their adventure's filth and the man chuckled, offering his suggestion of where they should go. "....Sofia over at Golden hem would be a good place, do you know the area?"
The moment he had said it, Jonah looked to be thinking while he checked his map. "Ah yes, that business a few streets over, I remember seeing that they do repairs, custom requests and adjustments."
"Yes, precisely. The girl there may be young, but she is incredibly skilled. Her parents, gods rest their souls, managed to impart everything they had to teach before their untimely deaths during the last war."
"I'll offer my blessing to her as well then, children of misfortune deserve it the most." The man nodded then bid them good day and continued on his way as Jonah began routing.
Thankfully it was so close, it would have been easy to make it there in a few moments if they hadn't just been told-off for running around like lunatics. It wasn't that much of a bother though and still only took a few minutes to get there.
The outside was a mix of large panes of glass, wooden frames painted bright pink and enough greenery to help anyone mistake the place for a florist shop rather than a clothing shop. The addition of a small table and chairs sitting outside also added a tinge of confusion as to whether it was just a low volume café.
When they walked in, a soft bell chimed three days and amongst a varied ocean of clothing, that seemed to contain all styles, materials and be suitable for almost all species and genders, were two young women and an Angel suddenly feeling like he was trespassing as they turned to look at him.
"Apologies, Master. Duke Roderick told me I would not be starting until tonight, so I thought I had time to have his crest removed from my uniforms. I will retrieve them and accompany you now if you wish."
The woman was stunning, the vision of her left them all a little enchanted.
Her skin was pure white, so much so that albinism would not have explained it, simply absent of all colour. That absence of colour simply seemed to enrich the lavender hue of her eyes, the cherry blossom pink of her hair, the navy blue of her sleeveless dress and the black of her elbow high gloves and heeled shoes to an almost impossible degree.
It also explained why she carried a parasol of deep-black and dark crimson, the three of them couldn't imagine how easily skin so fair would burn, even in the cool sun of morning.
"Master?..." Jonah couldn't have hidden his confusion in that instant even if he tried to. "...Oh! You must be Miss. Lilly. No, we didn't come here to rush you, apologies. We will return later." Orcette and Kayla both nudged him with their elbows as he tripped over his words.
"Please don't trouble yourself, Master. I imagine your needs are more urgent than my own and Sofia's business shouldn't suffer either."
Looking into her eyes made Jonah lost, at first he thought it was simply an introvert finding someone attractive, but realised there was more to it than that.
They approached together and apologised for the awkward meeting, then they made proper introductions and expressed they would prefer to use names rather than titles.
"Well then, I am Lilly Nightreign, apologies if you find my curse offensive, Jonah. I did suggest it might be ill received, but Duke King-Mason refused to hear it."
"I thought so, the disorientation your eyes inflict made me wonder. I have no issues with your kind, but I am ignorant of them and curious if you refer to it as a curse for my sake, a classification or your actual opinion."
"A classification, though since I am a purebred, I admit I find it a little offensive. I am not cursed, simply am as I was born."
"Then under no circumstances do you refer to yourself as cursed under our employ..." Jonah went on to withdraw five gold coins and gave them to her for the purpose of buying blackout curtains to make her work more comfortable.
Lilly's expressions were unreadable and she looked between them and the seemingly joyful Sofia, then bowed and told Sofia she would collect her uniforms later before leaving in haste.
"Thank you for that, sweet girl didn't know what to do with herself. I am Sofia Headway, owner of this business in my parents' stead. What can I do for you?"
Jonah gave both free reign to put a basket together, then asked if she had anything similar to his now tattered jeans.
"...They really are an oddity, apologies but I don't, if you want to leave them with me I can try to replicate them though."
Jonah laughed and considered it a moment, then realised that he was also still wearing modern boxers.
As Jonah began to see passive income forming in the form of a partnership, he mused the idea aloud.
"...If my attire is that unusual, I'd be more than happy to enter an agreement to let you try to create a range of them for resale if you think they would sell."
"I do, but what kind of arrangement? The normal would be fifty-fifty, but with Angelic attire it feels wrong."
"Indeed. Why don't we say five for me, seventy for you and the remainder to charitable causes for those who lost loved ones to war?"
Jonah felt bad for striking at a cause so personal to manipulate her desire to take part in the affair, but washed his conscience with the incredibly generous donation.
He was operating on the assumption that the exclusive production of jeans and boxers would be an incredibly popular product in the new world, just as they were in the last and so even measly five percent would be incredibly lucrative.
"That truly is a remarkable offer, I'd love to partner with you on it..." They spoke a bit and Jonah asked to be a nameless partner and for her to prepare a contract.
The biggest issue was how quickly she wanted to move ahead. Jonah didn't feel comfortable giving her the jeans and boxers without a thorough cleaning first, despite her insistence that she was capable of washing them.
In the end Jonah found himself sitting outside at the table alone in replacement trousers and underwear before he knew it. Sipping tea as he tried to forget what would have been a lawsuit in his last life, listening to the unyielding laughter coming from the girls.
When they were finally satisfied, they thought it would be a good idea to head straight home until the town criers had thoroughly finished their rounds. Not least of all so they could get bathed and let Jonah recover from the panic only a true introvert feels upon having their personal space violated so casually.
When they did get back, Kayla ran off with one bag of clothes to go and have her bath, leaving the other two to wait patiently.
About an hour later, Kayla emerged with her twin-tails unified into an unruly ponytail. "Okay, Jonah. You better go and bathe, I need to get this one's hair sorted before it gets entirely unmanageable."
"Take my twin-tails and I'll never forgive you. I want them back immediately, my parents never let me do anything with my hair because the school had a strict dress code. Even though they were hardly ever home, they had my brother spend what little time he was actually at home, report everything and send photos..."
Kayla dove into a long tirade that neither Jonah nor Orcette were equipped to deal with in the slightest, all they knew was even taking her age into account, her life back home was oppressive and controlled.
Even as she described getting into heavy metal like a lot of kids looking for an acceptable and easy way to rebel. It was done under strict supervision and containment, she was allowed to wear the clothes and decorate, but not any piercings or dye, even make-up of any kind was banned.
On top of that, they used that interest as a way to force her into music lessons, art lessons and creative writing classes. She was given no allowance, or even an answer when she asked for things, she sent a message and it either arrived or it didn't.
When her parents were around, they did nothing but point out areas of improvement and when she said it was too much, they sent her to therapy saying she was suddenly depressed and lacking all motivation.
In the end, it painted a picture of an abusive childhood, her home was nothing but a prison and suddenly it made sense how a girl her age followed Jonah's instructions so well when they first met.
Orcette was about to give her a hug, but then realised she was still covered in the adventure's remnants having only washed their hands and faces with a wet cloth in the morning.
Orcette sighed, then told Jonah there was a change of plans, that she was going to have a bath and cut it short, then have some girl time with Kayla. A plan Jonah was happy to see happen and asked the only clean one of them to help him with something in the meantime, if only to show that he wasn't trying to wash his hands of pain.
All they did was take stock of the food in the larder, which was packed to the brim and made Jonah realise that people were clearly excited for the housewarming. "...Ugh, Kayla, we've had."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when Roderick said Lilly was starting tonight? Well, that was his way of saying everyone is coming for the housewarming and we needed someone to prepare a feast. It's no accident he picked a vampire either, he wanted to pick a maid that would be awake as much as me."
"Would it be polite to offer her blood, or rude?"
"Kayla, if you want to become a vampire, I won't stop you. I just want you to take the time to weigh up what that means and make sure it is an informed decision."
"Oh, I just meant it as a snack..." Kayla laughed, entirely unable to contain her disbelief at her newfound freedom. It's that she was ready to go all in on the idea of thinking of Jonah and Orcette as family, but she was certainly willing to let them try to persuade her.
Seeing her laugh made Jonah happy, though it was temporarily spoiled when there was a knock at the door and the two of them went to investigate. They felt a bit silly for not realising who it was, afterall, Jonah had sent her off to buy things with the potential to be bulky.
When he opened the door and they saw her deceptively fragile form standing there with one hand holding her parasol and one pulling what was definitely supposed to be a horse-drawn cart, they both immediately felt bad.
"Lilly, I am so sorry, I should have gone with you to help." She immediately averted her eyes and began spinning her parasol in one hand.
"Think nothing of it. As a vampire, I'm far stronger than I look, but I will need to wait a while until I bring eve-" Jonah and Kayla both shook their heads, then split-up, Kayla dragging her in and down to the basement, whilst Jonah fetched one of the dining chairs down for her.
When she was comfortable, they asked if she had fetched all the necessary supplies and equipment, which she confirmed and then told her to wait while they installed it all. Though they heard Orcette yelp with surprise when she got out of the bath and saw someone she wasn't expecting.
It wasn't long before Orcette was helping them though and before long, all the curtains were installed and they had brought her up to have a look.
"You needn't have troubled yourselves so much on my account." She was almost entirely unable to look at them now and they worried they had made her uncomfortable, so Jonah asked the girls to chat with her whilst he got washed up.
As the three of them sat in the lounge, they did their best not to make her feel like she was being interrogated, but they were both ridiculously curious about her.
"...I asked Jonah this earlier, but none of us really know anything about vampires. Would it be rude to offer you some blood as a snack?" Kayla finally asked when she had worked up the courage.
"That's very sweet, no it isn't rude. Laws regarding vampires are very strict though, I am not allowed to turn anyone, unless it has been conducted..." She seemed to get very bashful all of a sudden and struggled to finish her sentence. "...Well it is conducted almost like a wedding. As for snacking, it's fine, but I can't drink from the donor, only the blessed chalice I received with citizenship."
"Cool! Go get it and I'll cut my hand, or do you have equipment."
"I have equipment. We are given all the tools and training we need to feed safely, it's why those who break the law are punished so severely. I understand though, vampires like my parents were monsters and they killed many innocents."
Kayla walked over and hugged her, destroying the last bits of her professional demeanor as she got embarrassed and fell off her chair, careful to make sure Kayla landed softly. "I'm sorry, that must be a difficult thing to know. Please ask for a snack whenever you need one, we'll keep a chart to monitor your feeding and help you handle it if you get too hungry."
Kayla's words seemed to paralyse her, which made it obvious that she had not had an easy time since then, she was likely just as guilty in the eyes of her parents' victims' families.
"If you like Orc, you can snack on me too, but it might not agree with you drinking Jonah's. Who knows what angel blood will do."
"Indeed, it is not something that has ever happened, angels usually kill vampires on sig-"
"Kayla, make a note we have a duke to punish later."
"Done."
Lilly looked mortified to hear that, but they just explained they meant a lecture, not that it made Lilly feel any better or less guilty about having caused the conflict with thoughtless speaking.
When Jonah returned, they were all looking far too casual, but mostly he was surprised to see that Orcette hadn't forgotten to do Kayla's hair. He decided that they should part ways for a bit, he would take Lilly to return the cart and see if Lilly's uniforms had been altered, then whilst she returned to finish the stock take and plan the party, he'd go and formally invite the guests and not warn them the duke was going to be there.
In the meantime, Kayla claimed Jonah's shield and Orcette's staff and locked herself away to start designing what would be their coat of arms.
Orcette had forgotten that bit of the plan and decided to take a nap and see if the monstrosity she had ordered was worth the lecture she received. The answer was... It definitely was.
As Jonah and Lilly bid a good day to the incredibly nice shop clerk who loaned her the cart, she tried to return the leftover money, but Jonah told her to keep it as a welcoming bonus.
"I can't, I don't have any real need for money, the monitored housing I live in is-"
"Monitored housing?"
"To make sure I don't get blood crazed, I have to live under the supervision of either my employer or the kingdom, as do succubi and other monster adjacent species."
"Well then, before we go back, we'll tell them that you are staying under our supervision. Since I don't sleep either, you can help tutor me. Unless you would prefer separate accommodations of course."
"No! I mean, thank you, I don't like the monitored living. I don't keep many possessions. Just my bloodletting equipment, uniform and clothes."
Jonah smiled, then they continued on their way...