A rest before heading home.

Gin didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea or draw attention them on the way back so instead of heading directly to the Black Flag Tavern, he walked along the shore of the continent until Marcy woke up. Once she did, he knew she would still be out of it a little and moved her to ride piggy back. The feel of her body pressed against his own wasn't lost on him, though, he never acknowledged it completely either. He had caught himself caressing her smooth legs once and scolded himself for doing something like that. He was still a male with his own hormonal needs, and sometimes they seemed to influence his actions just like anyone else.

"Are you fine to walk yet, imouto?" He would ask as they began to approach the Black Flag Tavern. The giant flag that waved wildly in the wind marked the spot. The giant skull and crossbones were merely for show since even the low life's that hung around never started any problems publicly.

-Marcelle lied cradled in her brother's arms, sleeping peacefully. Passing out shortly before their departure from the graveyard, she remember hearing her brother's soft voice telling her to dream well. Thanks to his reinforcement, Marcelle didn't have a nightmare this time and slept with a small smile on her pale face. Once they neared the Black Flag Tavern, Marcy began to stir a bit in her sleep, opening her eyes and revealing their icy-green color.-

"Hm...? Aniki?"

-She asked quietly, turning a slight pink and cuddling up to his chest. Soon she was moved to a piggy back position, something she didn't really mind. Her body lied pressed against his back and her arms gently wrapped around his neck. Marcy's breath was cold and would tickle the hairs on Gin's neck as breathed softly.-

"That tickles, aniki."

-Marcy said softly as she felt Gin caress her legs. The vampire girl enjoyed the touch and went to nuzzling her brother. In a matter of minutes Marcelle started to wake up more and had seen that they had left the Cemetery.-

"Good morning, Gin-chan!"

-She said in a cheery voice, stretching out as she continued to ride on his back.-

"You can let me down now, if you'd like. I think I can manage."

"If you insist." Gin would let Marcy down just a bit before they reached the tavern. All they would need was some food and little relaxation before they would be ready to head back to Esperanza City. However, Gin was a bit worried that normal food wouldn't cut it for them with as much energy as they had expended. It had been a while since Gin himself had taken in any good blood. Small animals could only get him so far, and though one wouldn't know it, his thirst was far more powerful than even Marcy's.

"Come, let's get something to eat." Gin would enter the Tavern and head to a booth off to the right side of the building. It would make them less conspicuous to be away from the more crowded areas of the bar. The place wasn't as loud as usual either seeing as it was almost 2 in the morning. Most people were at home asleep or preparing for work anyway.

-Marcelle would grip onto Gin's arm and hugged it closely. The act would have caused his arms to slip snuggly between her breasts and she'd look up at him. A loud growling noise would be heard from her stomach and a blush would take to her.-

"I-I hope they have good food! I'm starving, let's go!"

-She'd say quite happily, but soon that little bit of bravado and energy left a little, as they entered the Tavern. Good thing it wasn't crowded or else her social anxiety would have kicked in a bit, and when it did... Anyways, they were off into a nice cozy booth away from the locale. Marcelle sat across from her brother and preferred to look him in the eyes, smiling wide. The young girl placed her hands beneath her chin and looked like a happy school girl going out on a date with her crush.-

"What will you be having to eat, aniki? I'm thinking a really bloody steak or probably just the whole animal!"

-Just as she said that, a cheerful and upbeat looking, brown-haired boy came running to their table. He'd have glistening blue eyes and gave them a thumbs up.-

"Yo, what's up you two!? Having a little date I see there! What would you two like to order?"

-The waiter would quickly take out an ordering pad and pen. He'd be prepared to scrawl their orders as quickly as possible, and seemed to have taken a bit of a shine to Marcy. He'd smile at her every so often. She of course, showed no interest and sat away a little bit.-

Gin's eyes narrowed upon sight of the waiter, but it was subconsciously because Marcy seemed to be feeling a little uncomfortable with his presence. However, not trying to be rude, Gin set a Knight's chess piece on the table with a sharp audible tap, drawing the boy's attention.

"I'd like to order your time to be as scarce as possible from the visage of my sister, as well as two rare steaks, no onions." Gin's voice was natural and held no edge to it, though the darkening cold that welled around him from the sheer amount of killing intent that seemed to leak from the chess piece on the table would probably make those nearby swallow lumps in their throats. As oblivious as always, Gin still didn't understand his reason for being so protective of Marcy was well beyond him being a good big brother.

-The brown haired boy froze in his spot and turned his attention towards Gin. He was deftly scared and everybody else seemed to avoid looking their way entirely. The boy's hands shook as he scrawled their order. Without a word, he turned and bolted back to the kitchen where he'd flag the order.

Marcelle would smile towards Gin and placed a finger atop the head of the knight.-

"My knight in shining armor."

-She'd say with a wink and a sultry smile. Marcelle continued to study the chess piece afterwards and realized that the princess inside of her wanted to play a game of ruler vs ruler (chess). The vampire girl shot a mischievous look towards her older brother.-

"You, me, the chessboard. Now."

-Marcy said, grinning and bouncing in her seat.-

Gin smirked and shook his head. He loved Marcy's competitive moods, but she should have known not to challenge him to chess. Gin would never turn down a game, nor would he take it easy on anyone, including Marcy. With a snap of his finger, the platinum chess board materialized on the table, the pieces set and ready for play. "Are you sure you want to do this, imouto? You're not exactly the most graceful loser." Gin teased her.

He held his hand out, showing that he would allow her the first move. Regardless of what she did, though, Gin had already planned three steps ahead of any possible move she could make on the first turn.

"Pffft! I'll show you. Whether its a win or a loss, my grace never loses itself!

-She'd say, smiling and looking down at the chessboard. Her first move started with using her favorite piece, the pawn. She'd move one of them down two squares and had known that her brother couldn't tell what she were about to do. This plan was ingenious and so the young girl giggled and playfully glared towards him.-

"Checkmate." Gin said for the fifth time since they started playing only 4 minutes ago. Taking a sip of his water, Gin let out an over dramatic 'Ah!' and smirked at his younger sister. "Our food should be here soon, do you want to keep playing? We could always switch to a card game?" He continued to tease her, though it was only because seeing Marcelle lose her cool a bit was always adorable.

-Marcy's face was flushed a bright red as she spent the last four minutes hearing her brother repeat the phrase "checkmate" over and over. Her blood was literally boiling, as one could see her gloves writhing with an unnatural amount of fluidity. Nonetheless, Marcelle kept a good grip on her emotions this time around and merely smiled in annoyance.-

"L-Let's play a card game! Letting you win at chess is getting boring!"

-She'd announce, trying to resist the urge to slap the pieces everywhere. Marcelle dug into her coat sleeves and pulled out 25 cards from each arm. She'd shuffle them much like a magician performing a trick.

The waiter would have arrived with their bloody steaks, no onions. He'd watch as Marcy shuffled the cards and was getting ready to smile, however, he saw the knight piece seemingly staring at him from across the chessboard. Accompanying this piece, was the man who set it previously. He just placed their food at the table, bowed and then ran off.-

"Oh, yippee! The food is here, Gin-chan!"

-Marcy would deal each card and stacked them perfectly atop each other to complete the deck. After that, she handed her brother his plate and stared at the blood on hers. The girl slowly licked her fangs and lips.-

"Come to Mama Marcy, hehehe..."

Gin sort of sweat dropped when Marcy brought out the cards. Maybe he shouldn't have goaded her so much. Gin knew Marcy would slaughter him in any card game just as bad as he beat her in chess. As Marcy began to dig in to her food, Gin lazily picked up one of the cards. He cringed as it was just the 2 of Hearts. He was sure if Marcy picked up a card it would have undoubtedly been the Ace of Spades.

"Don't make a mess Mar-chan." Gin scolded, almost forgetting that he was talking to a being over 200 years old. Somethings died hard and it was on rare occasions that Gin wondered if he were coddling Marcy too much? Maybe trying to make up for the times he hadn't been there for her in the Castle...

He stopped his train of thought and simply began to eat his own steak, drawing in the trace amounts of blood before devouring the meat with gusto. Manners be damned, this steak was good.

"I promise I won't make a mess, aniki! Oh, and can you draw my card for me?"

-She asked, shooting him a devious smile. The young vampire girl already knew what card would have been drawn. The way how she shuffled the deck, along with the knowledge of how many cards, suits and probabilities of each card coming out, made her very deadly at the table. Her brother may have been an expert at cornering and killing one on the chessboard, but she was a calculating and coldblooded killer with her cards.

While Gintama drew into his fated end, Marcelle started to drip blood from her fangs into some of the blood that the steak gave off. She was practicing her assimilation technique that her blood was capable of doing. When her blood fell into the light-red tinted steak blood, it changed the steak blood into a more darker color. One could see it writhing and changing into Marcelle's own blood within an instant. After it did, she'd begin to use the small blood puddle to lift the steak up to her lips. She'd lick it a little before stabbing her fangs into it, drinking out all of the non-assimilated blood and finishing the rest up.-

Gin reluctantly placed Marcy's cards in front of her before finishing the remainder of his steak. It took less than 10 seconds for him to eat and he was still hungry. He was so tantalized by the steak, he didn't even comment on Marcy playing with her food. Instead, he indeed up calling another waiter over and ordering 5 more steaks.

"What game are we playing?" He asked absentmindedly as he watched a waitress carrying a steak to another table and debating whether or not he should just snatch it or not.

"We're playing poker."

-She'd say quickly, making excited bounces in her seat after ordering more steaks herself. The puddle of assimilated blood responded to Marcelle's own excitement at knowing her brother was going to be decimated in this game. It jiggled and swirled around in the same sort of excitement. Most of the people in the tavern silently looked at her display of blood control.-

Gin's head hit the table as soon as she said those words. He hated poker. Out of all the card games invented in the world, that was the worst possible one for Gin. He almost completely forgot about the steaks.

Almost.

"Be right back imouto." Gin said as the smell of the steak being set on the nearby table was just too much to take anymore. Gin moved swiftly, grabbing the steak before the couple at the table could even reach for it.

Male: "Hey! What the hell are you doing! That's ours!"

Gintama looked into the man's eyes. With a quick flash of red, the man went still and then shook his head.

Male: "What am I saying? Go ahead and take the steak, it's all yours!"

Female: "Honey!? I've been asking for a steak for months! You can't-"

Gin looked the woman in the eye and another flash of red appeared.

Female: "Oh screw the steak! I could lose some weight anyway!"

"Damn straight." Gin replied and then went back to sit with Marcy.

-Marcelle watched Ginatama's entire thievery display. When he returned he looked all happy, with that shit-eating grin of his. Marcy wasn't having any of that, she had a raised eyebrow, her cards in her hands, Gin's cards drawn for him, and their new order of steaks arriving. Gin could listen closely and hear Marcy's footsteps tapping in an impatient, and lecturing manner.-

"Anikiiii! No, you give that steak back to the lady! She's been waiting months for such a delicious meal. Now go! Give it back!"

-She said in her less cute, deeper-toned, voice. Marcelle had sounded like a full-grown woman, speaking in such a commanding way. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she made sure her older brother understood how serious she was.-

In another rare moment of losing character, Gin would start chewing on the steak immediately, but when Marcy scolded him and told him to put it back, Gin began to growl like an angry dog. He put his arm in front of his plate and stuck his head down before the sounds of flesh being devoured permeated the restaurant. When Gin looked up, the plates would even be gone and his eyes would be glowing a sinister red. His canine teeth seemed to be elongating and his nails grew out just a bit more. However, it passed quickly, and Gin's features returned to normal without him even realizing there was a change.

"Man...I'm still hungry." He sighed.

"A-Aniki!"

-She yelled out in shock, as he began to change more and more into his vampiric form. Marcelle cautiously looked around the restaurant with a very worried look on her face. They had already received odd looks already, but now they were going to get judged severely. Marcy didn't want to have to deal with all the people, so she quickly got up from the table, picked up all 52 of her cards, and grabbed her brother by the arm.-

"We're leaving!"

-Marcy said, her face a shade of pink from how embarrassed she felt. She started to walk out the tavern, dragging her brother along with her, but not without using her little blood puddle to pick up the rest of the steaks they had ordered. Once they were outside, Marcelle continued to gain a bit more distance away from the tavern, and sighed once it was out of sight.-

"Finally... Geez, aniki, what got into you. That wasn't like you at all..."

Gin stumbled out after Marcy, a very confused look on his face.

"What's wrong, imouto?" He asked, noticing the embarrassed look on her face. "Was it that waiter? Want me to stomp a hole in his posterior?"

Once they were out of sight and Marcelle accused Gin of being weird, Gin's eyebrow rose further. "What do you mean that wasn't like me? I was just having a little fun. It's not like those steaks were expensive anyway." He spoke, still missing the point Marcy was making. It was like Gin didn't even know what had just happened. Like he wasn't even there. He placed a hand upon Marcy's head with a small smirk on his face. "Are you sure you're okay, imouto?"

-Marcelle puffed her cheeks out and turned away from her brother, as he remained oblivious to the events that just unfolded within the tavern. The vampire crossed her arms and let out a huff-

"You admonish me for... Eating the way I do, but you'll use your powers, and eat voraciously when it comes to your food. How unfair!"

-She shouted, the brat within her coming out a bit. Tis true nonetheless, Marcelle hadn't really fed in a long time. Marcy longed for the time to trap her prey of any kind, into a bloody trap, flay their skin, drain their blood, and devour their flesh and bones. However, she couldn't do that. Not when her brother was around, because she wouldn't want to be anymore of a freak than she already was. She loved her brother dearly and didn't want to disappoint them.-

"I-I'm sorry..."

Gin's eyes widened but his mouth cemented itself shut. Though Marcy seemed to become childish with her words, Gin was able to read between the lines. He understood what she was saying, and how much of a bigot he seemed like. Though he didn't want to let it happen, somehow in the back of his mind, he knew it needed to happen.

With a heavy sigh Gin placed his hands in his pockets and turned from Marcy, even after her apology. The air around him seemed to chill as he began to walk away. "Come on...I'll let you eat." He simply said in a monotone as he headed towards the Mylania Wilderness between the Harbor and Esperanza City.

"A-Aniki..."

-She said softly, turning to see that her brother had already set off into the wilderness. There was a heaviness in her heart as she felt bad for lashing out like that. Marcelle didn't want to set him off like that and the monotonous tone he used when saying he'd let her eat, made her feel even worse. Marcy took a few struggling steps behind her brother, going into the wilderness, and following quietly. She bit into her lip to keep from being a nuisance, to calm herself down if anything.-