Flaming Iced Coffee [Vee/Alastair]

A look of silent surprise dawned on her face as she heard the surprisingly irritated tone of her Coordinator towards the extremely old yet stubbornly held idea of structure her family held. Sure, when she was growing up she had experienced others seeming a little taken aback towards her household's order, but nobody really seemed to have the guts or lasting feelings to actually express distaste towards it. So to actually hear someone validate exactly how she felt and thought her entire life, kind of made her somewhat giddy, but for it to come out of someone who presented themselves as a stoic figure, it was a bit surprising, even if it was merely an undertone rather than expressively loud disgust.

However, when Alastair went on to talk about his own household, and especially their swearing off of the Vandenreich, Vivyan was rather surprised - she had read a little on how things had broken down, but she never really got the fullest scope of it from just a textbook.

"Yeah, all of that was just a bit of a surprise. I'd been led to believe that everyone was still pretty, on the same terms? Even when the Vandenreich broke apart; that it was only that way cause of the extermination, and that when there was enough of us again we'd just come back together and get on with the previous idea. Not that I really got to know what was thought as 'the plan' for today," She'd roll her eyes, "Or what my family THOUGHT it was. Da was soooo excited to 'rejoin our own' that he snagged all my siblings with outstanding abilities and left for a good while. And ya see where that got us."

She'd gently shake her head, "Kinda feel dumb for ever wanting to go. I less wanted to do this whole 'greater purpose' stuff Da preached and more just... I guess I wanted to be like my siblings. But now? He hates what it's become, I disagreed, and that's why I ran off to come here."

She'd smirk, as if she had just gotten away with the most amazing scheme ever, "And he hates this place sooo much, he won't even come here to drag me home. And, who cares? I'm doing way better here than being trained up to be some housewife."

"Your father does appear to be a most disagreeable person, and that is not something I offer out lightly. The Vandenreich of before was a husk of that which we have today. The foolish dreams of weaker men, who sought to turn our people into little better than the monsters we were bred to destroy. You will learn of them in time, for it is still a part of our history and a catalyst for the eventual change that befell us, and I trust you will see their mistakes clearly too."

Alastair was actually quite animated compared to his usually stoic demeanour. Truth be told, the topic had actually gotten under his skin. This still meant that he displayed perhaps the slightest look of displeasure, but hopefully it was enough to make it clear to Vivyan. Perhaps because it was all so needlessly petty, there was simply no need for any of what had occurred to have happened. One man just chose to be that way.

"I welcome him to come here, to see what the true Vandenreich is capable of. Perhaps it will liberate him from these false assumptions that have corrupted his family so."

Man, he really was shaking it up, huh? It honestly felt validating to see someone as miffed about her Da's absolute garbage as she felt, though she didn't imagine that such a quiet guy like Alastair could get so riled, or well, his version of riled. He definitely ran some complicated sentences when he was upset, for certain...

Vee couldn't help but give a faint, child-like smile as he went on about exactly how she felt, even if it was a lot more wordy than she would've put it.

"..Weird question, but, were you the quiet kid in your house?" She'd tilt her head his way, raising a questioning eyebrow, "Cause even casually you're a pretty quiet man, sir. Apart from how upset you are now, which.. Honestly? Still pretty quiet by my standards. Most guys i've ever seen get mad were like, loud mad. Like, to the point I didn't even think guys could be quiet-mad."

She'd chuckle softly, but dropped her smile for a moment, "But yeah. He sucks. He won't come here because he's a stubborn old fart, but whatever. Good!"

Alastair smiled wistfully, listening to her commentary on his usual demeanour as the emotion already began to drain from his features. It was not that he felt challenged by her remark, rather that he simply could not maintain such a state for any prolonged amount of time. It just was not who he was. Pragmatic to a fault, as always.

"I had two older sisters that did enough talking for the three of us. Being loud would have been counterproductive, not that I never needed to express myself but I did not see the appeal of making a scene about it."

"A man that easily loses his composure over the slightest of matters is hardly a man in my eyes, with a temperament more befitting of a child. There is a time to scream and rage, but it is not in public."

He chuckled softly for a moment too, matching with Vee's own. "There are a lot of children in this world."