How did Vera and her Sire meet? Why was she picked for Embrace? :3c
thank you for asking Wiz!!!
so, the year was 1891, and Veronica was a 22 year old prostitute working at a rather fancy brothel. her hobbies included literature, painting, and getting her clients and other people she talks to share their secrets with her. she didn't really do anything with the information, didn't use or sell it, but she enjoyed the sense of power that holding those secrets granted her.
that last part was mainly what caught Ferdinand's attention. he was at the brothel for some unrelated reason, but Veronica caught his eye. part of that was the clan curse, since she was definitely quite beautiful, but he overheard some of the conversations she had while mingling with guests and was impressed by her.
he hired her a couple times - he had enough money to convince whoever needed to be convinced to let him take her home instead of spending the evening at the brothel. most of that time he spent talking to her, trying to see if her wit was really as sharp as it seemed, although there was always time for some tumbling in the sheets in between conversations. he fed on her as well, which meant Vera would remember those nights as particularly pleasurable.
at some point during that time, Ferdinand requested the Right of Progeny from the prince. the prince wanted proof that she would truly be an useful member of the court, so Ferdinand devised a test. one night, he took her to a social event, told her to mingle, and to extract specific information from a specific guest. she succeeded and shared the information with him (as well as the harpy, who was also present at the event for this specific purpose).
so, Ferdinand was granted the Right of Progeny, and he returned to Vera to ask her to spend eternity at his side. and because Vera had no idea about all of the vampire bullshit happening behind the scenes, she took it to mean that he was proposing to her.
from Veronica's point of view, this was literally a dream come true. she was always a romantic, she liked imagining a knight in shining armour who would one day come and save her. and now here was Ferdinand, a beautiful, rich man (who also wasn't that far off from being a knight due to his interest in swordfighting and him owning an actual horse). and he was offering her a better life. of course she accepted.
she was worried about the fact that he'd probably expect her to bear his children, because becoming a mother was something she'd always been terrified of, but it was probably still worth it, right?
but well. she didn't have to worry about that for too long, because he Embraced her on that very night. he even prepared a snack for her, which she drained in a frenzy and then immediately (and understandably) freaked out. she was absolutely terrified. so, part of the reason why he just started giving her his own vitae during those first nights was to help her calm down and stop her from trying to escape. which did the trick, i suppose
