Vanitas x OC : The Moon's curse

A tense discussion

"I do apologize." Lord Ruthven started saying as we were following him to his study with Noé, Vanitas, Jeanne and Luca. "Personally, I wanted to speak with you two immediately, but...
...I've unfortunately had my hands full with work. I'm afraid I've kept you waiting a very long time." He explained.

"No, um..." Noé tried to dismiss his apology, looking around everywhere he could. I chuckled beside Vanitas, seeing him being so excited over nothing was amusing.

"We're terribly honored that you've taken valuable time to meet with us, even though you're very busy. Thank you very m...
...uch !" Noé said, distracted and with stars in his eyes. The only reason he was still walking among us was Luca, holding onto his hand.

"Hey Noé. Watch where you're going." Vanitas told the vampire. "Luca, whatever you do, don't let go of his hand." He warned the young boy.

"You can count on me !" Was his response.

"All right. Come on in." Lord Ruthven invited us, opening the door to his office, a room pack with so much book we could also be in a library.

"I do call it my office, but it's rather like a hobby room for me. Make yourselves at home." The noble said, putting away some books and parchments.

I stayed near one of the shelves, scanning the books with my finger sliding through the spine of the many volumes, keeping an ear on the conversation.

"Is something wrong ?" The red haired vampire got Noé out of his thoughts.

"No. Nothing. I'm sorry." He apologized for spacing out. "I was just remembering Domi had told me I couldn't possibly not know about you." He admitted, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

"Ah. Don't worry about that. When I heard you were the Shapeless one's child, it all made sense."

I turned around when a servant offered to me a cup of tea but I politely declined the cup, shaking my head with a smile.

"To be perfectly frank... ...your teacher detests me !" The man claimed with a laugh. I turned to look at Lord Ruthven, surprised by the statement. "He hated even saying my name. I doubt he'd need much of a reason to strike it from all his books."

"That..." Noé started, looking like he was about to defend his teacher. "That does sound like something my teacher might do."

'Nevermind.'

"Doesn't it though !?" Lord Ruthven agreed, still laughing.

"What would happen between them for this man to go to such extent...?" I muttered to myself, still looking through the books.

"Speaking of names, what is your teacher calling himself now ? He changes his name to suit his current mood frequently, doesn't he ?" He asked Noé.

"I'm sorry. I haven't seen him in nearly half a year, so...
...I don't...
...know..." He started answering before his eyes kept glancing at the many devices in the room.

"Hm ? Does this machine interest you ?"

Noé nodded frantically.

"It's a difference engine I got from Marquis Machina. This is a light that runs on astermite. This one is..." Lord Ruthven was about to go on but got cut off.

"Lord Ruthven." Vanitas called out, seemingly breaking their bubble. "Sorry to interrupt your fun, but... ...I'd like to get to the main topic." Vanitas said with a disinterested look on his face and I now noticed that I ended up travelling to the bookshelf being where he was seated.

"My apologies. You're right." The nobleman agreed.

"Noé, Cyndelle, Vanitas... ...Allow me to first thank you for your courageous actions." The older vampire started. "Lucius told me the whole story. Because of you, our comrades' sacrifices were kept to a minimum that day."