venti the bard !

*he continues fidgeting and fiddling with the spider-silk, as he tries to figure out how best to explain. His hands never falling completely still for long like a spider making a web* "I would like to tell you but first you gotta tell me if you got scratched or anything when you saw him" *he didnt want to get either himself or venti in trouble*

"Oh, okay." He puts his hand under his chin as he tried to recall the events that happened before. It didn't take too long, though. "We didn't make any physical contact, and he most certainly didnt scratch me. The only thing he did was lead me to some strange place."

"Eh? A strange pla- oh that...huh weird...then again he probably figured out that you were more familiar with the majority of people having some kind of supernatural ability or other rather than that being the minority...." *he starts to ask before realizing you probably meant the infinity fortress, he then begins muttering as he guesses at why he would have taken you there before asking another slightly more pressing question* "anyway did he give you anything or eat or drink?"

"Uhh, well, he just gave me tea to drink." Venti says with a smile. His smile falters the moment the thought of getting drugged with whatever could've been in the tea went through his mind.. "I'm just hoping there wasn't anything in it.. haha.. but uhh, considering I havent paased out thw past few hours, I think I'm fine."

*a look of concern crosses his face when you mention that you were given something* "Venti this is really important, did anything odd happen right after" *he knew well there were plenty of way to turn someone into a demon and that included ingesting demon blood that had been snuck into ones food or drink. And if He had figured out what Venti really is there was no doubt in Rui's mimd that He would try to get him on his side by force*

"Uh, well, I suppose..? I felt a bit lightheaded during the conversation after consuming it, but other than that, I felt normal." Venti says with a shrug. He was unsure why Rui was asking these questions but seeing the concerned look on his face made it clear these questions were necessary.

"Your sure you felt fine afterwards?" *he asked seeming more worried. It seemed that taking anything from that man was a bad idea. Rui sniffed curiously but subtly and tried to pick up even the fainted scent of a new demon*

*he takes a deep breath and weighs his options...technically speaking his curse was broken so he would not be triggering the curse if he were to explain but he is thus far unsure if venti got turned or not but it would probably be better to explain* "Okay, that man you ran into is the king of demons, basically the one who has turned the majority of us demons into demons, the place he took you is called the infinity fortress, its basically a pocket dimension that his right hand woman can access at any time. It is also where the twelve kizuki, a group of his strongest demons; or whats left of it meets up for the occasional meeting. Up until recently i was part of the six weaker members of the group or the lower moons, due to a misunderstanding the lower moons have since been disbanded. Anyway to be turned into a demon you have to either ingest some of that mans blood, get some of his blood injected into you or have some of his blood come into contact with an open wound....thats why I was freaking out, because i can only imagine what he could pull off if he had a literal deity under his thumb"

"And that isn't even the worst part either...but there are two ways to know whether you're safe or not but they are both really risky" *he explains before glancing at the sky and seeing that thankfully its not yet dawn but it would be in an hour or so* "either running your hand through sunlight and seeing if you burn or not or passing by wisteria without feeling sick"

"Oh.." He chuckles nervously. Venti carefully weighed the options inn his head. "The thpught of burning was rather unpleasant so perhaps.." he mumbles quietly to himself. After a few seconds he made a conclusion. "I think passing by wisteria would do. I'd rather feel sick than feel the sense of burning."

"That would probably be for the best...um...now where would the nearest wisteria bloom even be?" *he wondered aloud before using his threads to pull him up to one of his families basically invisible web-ways to look around* "hm...."

"Uh.. I'm not so su--" Venti cut himself off when he saw Rui basically started walking on air. Well, atleast in his perspective. It was like he had question marks in his head but he didn't really bother to ask. Right now, its probably more important to figure out where wisteria blooms.

*After spotting it a relatively safe two miles further up the mountain and across the river he looks down about to call out to venti that he found it and notices his confused expression. He then dangles himself down on a thicker and more visible rope of webbing* "Ah that probably looked odd huh...anyway i found the wisteria bloom"

"Haha, yeah. Though I'll probably find myself getting used to eventually." He shrugs as he looked up to Rui. "Back on topic, is it close from here?" He says as he put his hand down near him and used it to support himself.

"Its a safe two miles up the mountain but for a demon like me its a quick trip up there as long as i dont accidentally push myself to hard" *he offers venti a hand up*

"Well remember how i mentioned earlier how demons were kind of like vampires? Our more common abilities are shared with vampires, which are basically supernatural speed, supernatural strength, supernatural agility and heightened senses. Though most of those tend to vary slightly depending on the person and how long they have been a demon. Then there are the magical abilities which heavily vary from person to person when or if a demon gets strong enough to develop them and can technically be shared by stronger demons. Like for example i have spider abilities and have since i developed them but when i found the rest of my adoptive family they were still too weak to develop their own abilities so i shared mine with them." *Rui explains as he uses one of his demon arts to make the webway more visible and turning it bright red before lifting him up onto the webway*

Venti listened intently and made an 'o' shape with his mouth when he realized Rui being a demon allowed him to lift him with ease. "So only stronger demons have certain powers? Then that means the weaker ones are just human with just a few perks then." He looks on the web they were standing on and was amazed. "Thats very generous of you to share your ability with so many people" he says with a smile "i bet theyre really grateful.'

"Well stronger usually means either ""have been demons for longer than a month"" or ""haven't been starved due to extenuating circumstance"" but aside from being immortal, being immune to diseases and the like, as well as the vast majority of poisons, yes very similar to humans..." *he explains before remembering that he had forgotten to mention that part as well* "ah right, forgot to mention that...demons are also immortal and mostly invulnerable as we only have three fatal weaknesses, also similar to vampires...I have several theories as to why that is but I can explain those later" *he informs you as he starts to lead the way toward where he saw the wisteria bloom and remembering he will more than likely have to ask Douma to handle it for him sooner or later since if it were to spread to far it could effect him as well. Though his family regarding their demon arts coming from him was a bit of an awkward subject considering how rocky everything had been until the last demon slayer raid. Thankfully for all of them Rui had been working hard to better himself and they had decided to follow along in support* "I suppose so, though I have overheard them wondering what theirs would have been had they developed their own...though unfortunately most of them were turned against their will and those who were not turned against their will were tricked like I was...so they weren't exactly ecstatic about being demons in general"

Venti follows closely behind Rui, but made sure there was enough space between the both of them so that they could walk easily "Huh, only three.." he pauses, lowering his gaze as he thought to himself for a moment before speaking again; "I guess thats where the quote 'With great power comes with great responsibility' comes in. With enough strength with a mix of intelligence, you'll be unstoppable." He replies, with a tone of both awe and a slight tinge of concern. As Venti listened quietly to what he said, a certain part stood out to him the most.. "Hm? Most of them? So does that imply that some of them willingly became one?" He slightly tilts his head in curiousity. He wondered just how much greed or desperation one would have to just want to become a demon. "Say.. Rui, were you forced to become a demon?"

"Probably, but that is also why i freaked out when you mentioned running into that man..." *he remembers that in the anxiety of the moment he had neglected to explain that as well* "and those weaknesses are excluding the multi-part curse placed on every demon he has created and only a lucky few, myself and my family included; have managed to get out of unscathed...part of it forbids any demon from saying his name out loud or they will die, and i am refraining from saying it incase it triggers from hearing someone else say his name" *he explains that part as well* "Anyway, thats a bit of a loaded question, those of us who were not turned against our will were tricked into allowing ourselves to be turned in one way or another..." *he explains before sighing and continuing* "Yes and no...I was turned when I was twelve and a half about twenty years ago...I was born sickly and weak but I never got better, if anything the older I got the worse I became...by the time I was eleven I could barely walk across a room without needing to stop and catch my breath or risk falling onto my face...and no treatment or medicine I took ever helped not that the jerk of a so called doctor ever cared to figure anything out as long as he could keep me quiet enough to swindle my parents out of more money, and a few months before I was turned I overheard my parents being told I would be lucky if I made it to my fifteenth birthday and later on overheard that my parents might not have been able to afford a new doctor after the doctor i had all that time was found out to be a scam artist...so when That Man approached me in the middle of a particularly cold night that winter and told me he could make me better in one night, I was desperate and wanted to make my parents happy and relieve their stress...but he did not explain how what he was going to do would make me better until it was to late..." *he explained as he continued leading the way. It was a tragedy to say the least, to have gone through so much at such a young age* "as for the rest who were tricked like I was...they don't like talking about it...Izumi mentioned once that he was told he could use his new strength and speed to save someone dear to him and Father was in a similar situation...Hana tried to tell me once but couldn't get much past her tears besides her reason having something to do with her mother...I overheard Mother say her reason had something to do with an older sibling of hers and Himari doesn't quite remember much besides feeling like she was tricked..."

"Was the curse put on every demon to stop them from telling information? Because I dont see any other reason why the curse would be placed unless theres a reason to." He chuckles. As the conversation went on, his expression turned solemn. He witnessed many fall into deception out of desperation in his lifetime, and one thing knows for sure, noone deserves that kind of fate. "How dare he take advantage of individuals at their weakest.", he thought to himself. "I'm.. sorry to hear that." Venti spoke with an empathetic look on his face. "But even if you've all turned into a demon, you're still humans in a way. For whoever has tasted the joys and sorrows of life in the human realm is human. Whoever has loved and lost, cried with grief, howled with rage at the tragedy of death that eclipses the miracle of life… they are human, too."

"Much like there are multiple parts to it, there are multiple reasons for the curse to be in place...but the majority of it is for keeping all of us on a tight leash...but at-least i'm all better now and free of the curse too" *he listened and nodded, he knew that well and considered all demons as people but at the same time he knew well that plenty were far from human now* "true...however most of us are not fortunate enough to even remember being human...and those of us who do...our lives were filled with tragedy in one way or another..."

"....probably not for the reasons you might be thinking but you aren't wrong..." *Rui noticed as well and wondered why they seemed to shine brighter than usual and tilted his head to the side curiously. He had always liked nighttime especially how beautiful the sky was at night, it was part of the reason he figured he was better off as a demon and part of the reason why he didn't quite understand why Muzan wanted to be able to walk in the sun so badly, from what he remembered when he was human looking outside during the day still hurt his eyes with how bright it was, the sun still burned but it was worse in his opinion because the burning stuck around and the sunburns itched and made his frequent fevers worse, and the sky wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He smiled softly as he received more head-pats* "I think I might be, but it's hard to tell just yet....but I hope so too..." *he came to a stop when he got close enough to the wisteria bloom for it to be clearly visible and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. He could already smell its foul stench from here and tried his hardest not to gag but he was already looking a bit ill. He coughed slightly* "we're close enough..."

"Haha, yeah.. I don't really know him all that much after all. All I know is that hes not someone to be trusted." As they inch closer to the wisteria, he noticed Rui's expression from his peripheral. "Are you okay?" Venti spoke with a look of concern on his face. His left hand moved down to his shoulder as he looked at the wisteria bloom up ahead. Slowly but surely, Venti felt slightly sick from just he scent of wisteria even just from this distance. This might not be a good sign. "Ugh.. has wisteria always smelled this bad..?"

*Rui gulped loudly before speaking and tried not to let the wisteria get to him.* "I'll be fine...just my sense of smell is strong for a demons to make up for my bad vision so the smell is already really strong from over here..." *He had never been around wisteria as a human, his parents knew it produced a lot of pollen in the spring and that it was technically poisonous to humans if to much was ingested and feared it would make him worse so it was avoided even if it could repel demons with its scent alone. So speaking from personal experience he couldn't say, But he knew that it smelled like this to most if not all demons from talking to others and his eyes widened when he heard you speak again* "It's not supposed to smell bad to anyone that isn't a demon....but that depends, what does it smell like to you?" *despite the sinking dread he has to check and make sure it isn't a fluke of Venti being from a different universe that makes it smell bad to him. He sneezed squeakily into his elbow a few times as though his body was trying to avoid smelling it as much as possible*

"I think maybe being at this distance is pretty safe enough. I don't want you to go further in if you're already feeling sick. ..and its definitely gonna get worse if we go further in." Venti clears his throat before speaking once more "As for the smell.. i'm not sure. All I know is that it smells awful." Venti began suspecting that maybe he did turn into a demon, but how would he turn into one without realizing? He lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Does it smell like that weird wet, sickeningly sweet, decaying stench that comes from rotting plants mixed with a really stinky animal pelt?" *he asked, as that was the best way he could explain how it smelled to him.* "there is a safer way to tell but i didn't mention it until now because you would probably think it's gross..." *he explained as he turned to head back home and carefully maneuvering himself so he is in the lead again* "largely because it involves blood"

"Hmm.." he hums, trying to smell the scent again. He coughed and covered his nostrils with his hand "Now that I think about it, yeah it does." "Oh, blood? That doesn't sound too bad. I've seen.. plenty, in my lifetime, haha.." he chuckled nervously. Venti witnessed bloodshed time and time again for thousands of years, and not once has he ever gotten used to it. He turns around to face Rui's back. "Would you mind telling me the alternative?"

"Very concerning...but the alternative is seeing your reaction to a certain type of blood...one that is basically a delicacy for demons..." *he explains as he leads the way back. As he speaks he finds it hard to tell whether or not his mouthwatering is from the thought of getting into that particular type of blood or from speaking too much while still within smelling range of the wisteria.* "hopefully that stink doesn't stick to our clothes..."

"Oh? So its like-- a demon's favorite meal of some sorts then?" He says with curiousity. He follows closely behind Rui on the path back, the smell still lingering in his nose. He smiles as he speaks,"If it does then both of us will be in.. quite the predicament if it does." He chuckles softly. He was amused and horrified at the scenario. A cold breeze passed by, sending shivers down Venti's spine for a second or two.

"I suppose that's one way to put it, but in the way that it is usually reserved for a treat since it isn't common and usually makes us a lot stronger than normal blood does..." *obviously there were certain circumstances where it wouldn't affect a demon as much as it normally would such as a power-plato but one full gallon of marechi blood equalled to about 100 gallons of normal blood in both satisfaction and power gain, so one had to balance it out. Considering it was around dinner time for him and his family of demons it wasn't surprising that Rui was hungry, but he didn't let it show. Introducing a new demon into nightly demon life without freaking them out is already a delicate procedure and he was fairly sure that would be especially so if said potentially/new demon was from an alternate universe* "exactly, that man is already very strong as it is and if you, a literal deity who is literally from a different universe have in-fact been turned into a demon that means that he has managed to get far stronger than anyone alive realizes among other things and could quite literally become a world ending natural disaster..." *he explains as he continues walking before sneezing a couple more times*

His eyes light up from how amazed he was "Ah, so its a rare type of blood? Huh. That sounds interesting." As one mentioned that Muzan was already very strong, Venti couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Its a 50/50 chance that he might've actually turned into a demon, and assuming that demons are usually at his beck and call by force made him even more worried. He lets out a deep sigh "lets just hope the consequences won't be too severe if we did confirm that I indeed turned into one. Being the reason why a dangerous individual has the upperhand.. Its hard to imagine."

"Yes exactly, though not in the sense of actual blood-typing, it's hard to explain outside of some kind of genetic anomaly" *the existence of marechi blood was a mystery he or any other demon had yet to solve, that was to say it was a genetic anomaly that effected all blood types, was notably inconsistent based on familial lines and thus far did not have any external notifiers and the only way a demon could tell if someone had it was by smell and taste. Wondering about it was admittedly making him more hungry so he pushed his wondering aside for the moment to respond* "Hopefully....and there are ways to fix it, so to speak...." *admittedly mentioning this was toeing the line but it was important knowledge. Not long later both of you had returned to the clearing just in time to catch his family heading inside* "we're back"

"Basically a weird thing that happens with people's bodies before they are born that sticks around for the rest of their life either helping or hindering them" *he explains a bit better* "yes kind of, and in the future most likely completely because of an ally of sorts to the demon slayer corp" *he tells you as he helps you to the ground and leads you inside after making sure the scent of wisteria did not stick to either of you. The inside of his house is relatively tidy, if a little dusty. He leads the way to the living room where everyone save for his parents are playing a card game that seems to have the goal of being the first to have no cards in your hand* "Okay, mind waiting here for a moment?"

"Oh, I see.." he hums shorltly afterwards. "I suppose theres still a way to turn the tides." he says, as he silently took in the surroundings. Venti slowed down his pace as his lips curled up into a smile upon noticing Rui's family members enjoying themselves with a game. Though they've probably all gone through hell, he was glad they had their moments of peace, even as a demon. Hes unsure why he cares so much about demons he just met but he didn't think too much of it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it just came naturally to him. Venti shakes his head in a no to Rui's question "I don't mind at all! Take your time."

*It could be any number of reasons, a group of demons playing pretend and house like a group of children making believe, or the fact that they are trying to have some semblance of normalcy despite their circumstances that makes them so pitiable, but either-way they seem content in their moments of peace. Rui nods before scampering off for a minute or two, during which there are multiple near wins before Izumi who gets his hands on the temporarily winning had has to get more cards. Upon his return Rui comes back with two corked, black, ceramic bottles before striding over to an unoccupied couch that, judging by the many sewn on patches; has seen better nights, and takes a seat, gesturing for you to sit by him* "alright lets test this out..." "Eh? What are you up to Rui?" *Masami asked curiously while waiting his turn* "Checking whether or not Venti somehow got turned" "Ah...Did you remember to ask if he ate anything recently?" "........confound it all I knew I was forgetting something, thank you masami" *Rui facepalms at his own forgetfulness* "your welcome- Wait why are we switching hands again i thought nobody- oh someone had a zero card that's why"

Venti chuckles as he watched them play. The smile never left his fsce as he was reminded of his old group of friends millenias ago. Sometimes, he can't believe how long its been since their passing. How long its been since the rebellion. He lost himself in thought before he noticed Rui returning. He looked at the corked ceramic bottles before sitting down next to him. "..hm." he hums in curiousity. "I assume this is the blood you were talking about earlier?"

*Rui nodded in response to your question* "Yes it is, are you ready for this?" *he asked to be sure, he knew from interacting with his siblings when they were newly turned that finding this out could be jarring*

"Ready as I'll ever be." He says with a tone of confidence. The look in his eyes assured that he is prepared for whatever may come. ..even if it does turn out thst hes a demon.

"Alright" *he nods reassuringly before he uncorks the bottle. The all to tantalizing scent flooding the room drawing the curious attention of all of his siblings, causing them to look over and making him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either downing the entire bottle right away or visibly drooling. Though a not-so-subtle growl from his stomach gave away exactly what he was thinking. He looked over to you to gauge your reaction and readied his mental tally.* "well?"

His eyes lit up at the scent, and savored it every moment he breathed. Venti couldn't tell if he was just hungry but he couldn't help but crave the blood inside. He lightly clenched his fists, and they were slightly shaking too, as if he was resisting the urge to just take the bottle from Rui's hand. "I.." he looked down at the floor before turning his gaze back to the bottle. "Oh archons above., this isnt good."

*Rui quickly re-corked the bottle and tucked it away into his sleeve for now* "agreed...thats two of three..." *not only was this a problem for this universe, but a problem for Venti's as well. He wasn't exactly sure how deities worked in venti's universe but from what he knew having them randomly disappear and then come back with new aspects not of their world, most notably including a taste for flesh and blood, was very bad. Not to mention figuring out how to get him home* "there is one last thing we can check but it will have to wait until tomorrow night as it would be to risky to go outside right now, but for now I have written down important notes for newly turned demons if you are interested in reading that"

He lets out a deep sigh of relief once the bottle was re-corked. The scent slowly but surely disappeared, so did his craving. "Two out of three.. oh dear.." The feeling of dread washes over Venti's mind at those words alone. He puts his hand underneath his chin with furrowed eyebrows. He mumbles to himself; "if demons eat humans and don't like sunlight then.. theres possibly not way that I can return to Mondstadt like this.. I'd end up eating them one by one--" Then, he stopped and focused his mind back onto the present. "Oh.. you.. you do? May I read them?" He says with a slight smile.

*Rui nods before getting up from his seat, walking to a bookshelf, selecting a leather bound notebook and returning to you with it* "This is a compilation of my notes on living as a demon, even if this is hopefully only temporary it's still good knowledge to have incase this lasts longer than expected or hoped." *he heard venti muttering and nodded in agreement, that was how introducing a new demon to a previously demon-free environment usually went.* "that is something else I was worried about..." *he opens the other bottle he had brought with him, while this one contained normal blood it was still enough to make him drool slightly as he quickly, eagerly, drank from the bottle and re-corked it before it drew to much attention.* "however there is good news, much like how i was when i was first turned; you have a surprisingly strong sense of self control, seem to have retained the overwhelming majority of your humanity and memories"

*Rui listened patiently to your questions before answering* "well firstly, thus far I have only heard you say his first name and assuming he didn't tell you his last name that would be for the best until we are sure if you even still have the curse or managed to break it without realizing. Secondly that would be because you are still pretty early into the ""newly turned"" stage so you only have to worry about claws and fangs for now" *he explains before carefully showing off his fangs and claws. Granted his claws are nibbled shorter on the edges out of a nervous habit and painted a bright teal but he shows them off regardless* "see? But yes those are signs of what is definitely the best possible outcome"

"Exactly...now there is a way to tell if you have the curse or not but the question itself may sound a bit..odd to say the least..." *he explains, then taking another long drink from the bottle of normal blood before continuing* "That question being, do you feel like your thoughts are still completely your own and private in your own mind?"

"Oh.. o-oh my. Thats a rather deep question, but in all honesty.." he stops to think for a moment to reaffirm himself that he still does have control of his own mind. "Hmm.. well, I have a strong feeling I do."

"Both parts pf the question are important, it's a good sign that you feel like they are still all your own. Because something HE doesn't tell any of us at first, is that he can read our minds and thinking about him will draw his attention if there isn't anything he deems to be a more pressing matter...." *he explains a bit anxiously. He was trying hard not to freak venti out while not getting himself in trouble* "the best way i can describe the feeling is like the sensation of being watched by a heavy and borderline painful gaze from somewhere behind you but every time you turn around you find that you are the only one around for miles"

As the realization that Muzan can read theor minds, a thought passed through his brain; "Hmm.. would it be funny if he read my intrusive thoughts, i wonder.." After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Noticing Rui became a bit more anxiois as he explained, Venti puts a hand on his shoulder in hopes to provide some sort of comfort. "So its kinda like chasing your own tail in a way?"

*He hated how much talking about this sort of thing made him worry, but it was not without reason. As just talking about what he knew and what could be done to get loose of the curse was almost literally walking a blade's edge. He took a moment to breathe before answering venti's question* "I suppose that could be an accurate comparison...though more often then not lately he has been focused on other matters"

Venti gently rubs his shoulder with his thumb. He could tell there was somehing making him feel tensed while explaining, but decided to not ask. "Phew.." ,he says, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed "i would rather live knowing my thoughts are completely but, i suppose we're gonna constantly run on some 50/50 and hope for the best."

"May as well just come right out and say it then...." *he says and mentally prays to whatever spirits or deities may be listening that muzan isn't* "I know of someone who can check if you even got the curse placed on you and help break it if you did, that same person is also working on a way to turn demons back into humans but thus far it has only made new demons more docile and reduced their cravings to at most a pint of blood a week. Which is more progress than one would think..." *he starts* "however she is considered a fugitive and a traitor because she broke her curse and chose not to defend the demon king while he was being attacked by the most powerful demon slayer to date who has long since passed away. If either of us get caught going to her for help, I don't even want to think of what will happen but it will be as messy as it is deadly."

"Oh, I see." Venti looks down and taps on his lap with his index finger. He hated how their movement is so restricted.. and yet some in the few who were turned into demon willingly became one, which makes him feel perplexed on why. "The situation of being a demon is already far too messy already.. what more if he catches either of us acting against him? And you.." his voice trails ofd, and his expression grows softer as he turns back to Rui "I'd rather you don't get harmed. I'm already putting you at this much risk having you help me.."

"True as that may be, you would probably get lost taking the safest way there. Thankfully the only people who know about the safe way are either friends or family of mine who would never snitch for one reason or other so as far as I know He doesn't know about it. That and I'm the only one who knows the cipher for the signs so if He were to find it the signs would make little sense." *He smiled softly if a bit uneasily, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started sneakily rebelling and as such he should have figured that there would be times where walking on the blades edge was a necessity.* "But the person we need to visit insisted that the safe way there should not lead directly into her rather small but very well hidden territory for security reasons. So we would still need to be sneaky."

"I meaaaannn.. i did get lost a few times before getting to Asakusa.." Venti listened intently to the words that came out of Rui's mouth, almost as if trying to etch them into his mind for future reterence. He lets out a deep, sigh of relief knowing he is unaware about all of this, though it gives all the more reason to be extra careful. "Well, I can see why shes being cautious about its location.. i think we should be fine though." He says, emphasizing the word 'think' before adding on " There shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we know what we're doing."

"One would think that...however other demons have gotten caught and in trouble for far smaller..." *he nods before downing the rest of the bottle he snagged for himself* "shall we get going then? It should be just after moon-rise by the time we get there"

"oh!" He tenses for a moment at the statement and had a visibly nervous expression on his face. Venti shakes his head lightly and had a moment to recompose himself. "We shall. Its best not to waste time after all, ehe."

*Rui stands and walks over to the kotatsu where his siblings were finishing playing their game* "everyone, Venti and I need to get to the tunnels..." *he says drawing their attention.* "Alright, we all need to go get washed up for dinner anyways" *Kaito says agreeably before standing and gesturing for the rest of the siblings to do the same, which they do. Once they were all on their way to the bathroom to wash up Rui pushes the kotatsu across the floor, revealing a trap-door in the cabins floor which he then opens to another trap-door but this one is in the actual dirt below the house, he then opens the second trap door which opens to a large tunnel lit only by a single lantern* "Down here"

Venti soon followed just a second after Rui moved. He turns to his siblings and watched them leave, and decided to give a small wave to say 'bye' silently, even if they didn't notice it at all... Once he heard a trap door opening, he turns his head and focused back to the now-opened entrance. "Hm." Venti hums in response as he nods lightly. He then steps into the tunnel.

*The tunnel itself is actually rather large once you are actually all the way down inside of it, about seven feet tall and seven feet wide. The walls are smoothed around the roots of the plants and ancient trees, but on them grow various plants that need very little light; lichen, moss, mushrooms and a handful of ferns. Rui closes the trap doors behind you both and then grabs the lantern from the one root that it dangles from, ready to lead the way* "not to creepy down here for you is it?"

"Alright, just I know that some people get freaked out by long, dark caves so I thought I would ask" *He led the way down the tunnel, and you can hear a faint dripping noise coming from somewhere ahead* "I actually dug this out a while ago incase of an emergency but I have since expanded on it quite a bit" *As soon as you see the first sign you see why someone would get confused if they didn't know what they were looking for. It's a sign at a crossroads between multiple tunnels with a sign pointing in each direction, and each sign has odd symbols in place of letters or kanji as well as a depiction of an animal or insect. He leads you down the one marked with what looks like a snowy owl*

"That's still very thoughtful of you to ask regardless. Thank you." He says with a small nod with a smile. Venti couldn't help but be amazed at the fact Rui himself dug this out. One couldn't help but wonder just how much he strength he can exert without breaking a single sweat as a demon.. As the two went deeper, he, of course, noticed the signs and it symbols. While he can understand bits of kanji since Japan and Inazuma's language are almost practically the same, the symbols made it difficult to decipher. 'How strange', he thought to himself. "Say.. what do these mean?"

*Rui pauses at the next sign that pops up to answer your question, this sign post also has signs pointing in multiple directions down multiple tunnels once again each one has those markings* "Ah these are why it is difficult for others to travel down here by themselves, it is a code that i made up a while ago before i figured out how to put spells on objects. For example-" *he holds the lantern up to the sign that points back the way you came which has a spider and a web carved into it* "The spider and the web is used to refer to my territory, or more accurately the spider refers to myself and my family and the web since it is a normal spiders home and hunting grounds is used to refer to our territory"

His attentuon turned to where the lantern was being held up at, looking up at the sign. Venti took nental note of what the signs meant, just for future reference. "very clever." He comments with a small smile on his face. "And very useful too. Maybe I should suggest this trick to the Traveler.." he mutters, as he placed his hand in his hip. "I can tell you put a lot of thought into this"

*He does not explain what the rest of the symbols on the respective signs mean but some might be easy to guess, as most of them are a single carving of a different type of beetles and beetles are a spider's prey, one could reasonably assume that those lead to different towns. The other symbols on their respective signs were harder to guess since they probably required more context; a sleeping cat with a train, a snowy owl with a tree, a raccoon with a drum. He might explain them later once muzan is no longer able to access your mind.* "Why thank you, i'm rather proud of it, though most of them require a fair bit of context"

"Its alright it takes everyone a but of time to get used to" *he pats you on the head. He hoped Tamayo will have something to fix this quickly but he was not entirely sure if she would. At the least She could help him break loose of the curse* "Mhm...we have about...half an hour before its just dark enough to get there"

Venti smiles at the small action. Infact, he found it quite adorable. (i do have to ask, how tall is your Rui? :O) "ah, alright. A bit off topic but.." he pauses, taking the moment to collect his train of thought before speaking again. "How did he manage to turn you into a demon? You don't have to answer if its too personal, of course. I'm just curious."

"..." Venti let out a deep sigh the moment his words sunk into his mind. He felt his heaet ache at the thought of what Rui had to go through. It felt as if there was a lump forming in his throat. Just from hearing it made his heart ache for the child. "I.. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you never had to go through such thing," he says softly.

"It's okay...I wish I hadn't either sometimes but then if i didn't I wouldn't be here tonight..." *he sighed softly. He was tempted to check what time it was but he doubted it was safely dark out yet. He fiddled with his sleeves to sooth himself, he knew he was missing parts of what happened the night he had finally snapped but he could never seem to place them*

Venti gently placed a hand on Rui's shoulder and said; "Sorry that I brought your past up. I can only imagine how painful it was for you." He paused, glancing at his side before continuing "I wish fate wasn't so cruel to you."

*Rui gives a soft, though still slightly sad smile and gently pats your hand* "It's alright, it doesn't hurt as much as it used to..." *He used to often wish that was the case and sometimes still does but then again he knows that if that were the case he likely would not have met his friends especially since there would still have been the potential of getting eaten by a demon.* "I used to wish the same...but then I might not have met you or any of my other friends..." *he reached into his sleeve and looked at a watch he borrowed from his brother to check the time* "hmm should be dark enough to be safe to climb out now..."

*Rui nodded and climbed up the ladder, he hummed as the thought* "technically speaking its been extended by a lot, especially now that i dont have to do anything in specific" *he says before lifting the lid to the hatch and peeking out into the night from under what to those on the surface looks like a large paving stone in a dark, quiet alley. It being the city there were still people about, Venti still looked mostly like a human but he would have to shift into his human disguise. He closes it momentarily* "there are still people out there so i will have to disguise myself but you should be fine..." *he shifts into his human disguise and looks how he had when you both first met* "ready?"

*Rui nodded and quietly lifted the hatch all the way and climbed out, then helping you out and closing the hatch behind you. He hummed softly before spinning up a small hair-tie and tying up his hair into a short ponytail as to attempt to mask his appearance further. He then realized just how much your outfit stood out in comparison to the others on the street* "Ah..you would not happen to be able to make yourself look like you are wearing something less...noticeable, would you?" *he asked as he kept an eye on the road where there were more people, looking for a gap that would be just unnoticeable enough for the both of you to just slip into and blend into the crowd*

*Rui pauses from looking over his outfit and glances around before responding* "Try something more like what I have on, what you are wearing is way to similar to what rich people from about half a century ago wore" *he explains, gesturing to his much more simple kimono and haori which he could easily blend into the crowd with. For a moment he thinks he spots lady Tamayo's assistant/nurse Yushiro in the crowd but he isn't certain and sends one of his spiders to check*

*he continues fidgeting and fiddling with the spider-silk, as he tries to figure out how best to explain. His hands never falling completely still for long like a spider making a web* "I would like to tell you but first you gotta tell me if you got scratched or anything when you saw him" *he didnt want to get either himself or venti in trouble*

"Oh, okay." He puts his hand under his chin as he tried to recall the events that happened before. It didn't take too long, though. "We didn't make any physical contact, and he most certainly didnt scratch me. The only thing he did was lead me to some strange place."

"Eh? A strange pla- oh that...huh weird...then again he probably figured out that you were more familiar with the majority of people having some kind of supernatural ability or other rather than that being the minority...." *he starts to ask before realizing you probably meant the infinity fortress, he then begins muttering as he guesses at why he would have taken you there before asking another slightly more pressing question* "anyway did he give you anything or eat or drink?"

"Uhh, well, he just gave me tea to drink." Venti says with a smile. His smile falters the moment the thought of getting drugged with whatever could've been in the tea went through his mind.. "I'm just hoping there wasn't anything in it.. haha.. but uhh, considering I havent paased out thw past few hours, I think I'm fine."

*a look of concern crosses his face when you mention that you were given something* "Venti this is really important, did anything odd happen right after" *he knew well there were plenty of way to turn someone into a demon and that included ingesting demon blood that had been snuck into ones food or drink. And if He had figured out what Venti really is there was no doubt in Rui's mimd that He would try to get him on his side by force*

"Uh, well, I suppose..? I felt a bit lightheaded during the conversation after consuming it, but other than that, I felt normal." Venti says with a shrug. He was unsure why Rui was asking these questions but seeing the concerned look on his face made it clear these questions were necessary.

"Your sure you felt fine afterwards?" *he asked seeming more worried. It seemed that taking anything from that man was a bad idea. Rui sniffed curiously but subtly and tried to pick up even the fainted scent of a new demon*

*he takes a deep breath and weighs his options...technically speaking his curse was broken so he would not be triggering the curse if he were to explain but he is thus far unsure if venti got turned or not but it would probably be better to explain* "Okay, that man you ran into is the king of demons, basically the one who has turned the majority of us demons into demons, the place he took you is called the infinity fortress, its basically a pocket dimension that his right hand woman can access at any time. It is also where the twelve kizuki, a group of his strongest demons; or whats left of it meets up for the occasional meeting. Up until recently i was part of the six weaker members of the group or the lower moons, due to a misunderstanding the lower moons have since been disbanded. Anyway to be turned into a demon you have to either ingest some of that mans blood, get some of his blood injected into you or have some of his blood come into contact with an open wound....thats why I was freaking out, because i can only imagine what he could pull off if he had a literal deity under his thumb"

"And that isn't even the worst part either...but there are two ways to know whether you're safe or not but they are both really risky" *he explains before glancing at the sky and seeing that thankfully its not yet dawn but it would be in an hour or so* "either running your hand through sunlight and seeing if you burn or not or passing by wisteria without feeling sick"

"Oh.." He chuckles nervously. Venti carefully weighed the options inn his head. "The thpught of burning was rather unpleasant so perhaps.." he mumbles quietly to himself. After a few seconds he made a conclusion. "I think passing by wisteria would do. I'd rather feel sick than feel the sense of burning."

"That would probably be for the best...um...now where would the nearest wisteria bloom even be?" *he wondered aloud before using his threads to pull him up to one of his families basically invisible web-ways to look around* "hm...."

"Uh.. I'm not so su--" Venti cut himself off when he saw Rui basically started walking on air. Well, atleast in his perspective. It was like he had question marks in his head but he didn't really bother to ask. Right now, its probably more important to figure out where wisteria blooms.

*After spotting it a relatively safe two miles further up the mountain and across the river he looks down about to call out to venti that he found it and notices his confused expression. He then dangles himself down on a thicker and more visible rope of webbing* "Ah that probably looked odd huh...anyway i found the wisteria bloom"

"Haha, yeah. Though I'll probably find myself getting used to eventually." He shrugs as he looked up to Rui. "Back on topic, is it close from here?" He says as he put his hand down near him and used it to support himself.

"Its a safe two miles up the mountain but for a demon like me its a quick trip up there as long as i dont accidentally push myself to hard" *he offers venti a hand up*

"Well remember how i mentioned earlier how demons were kind of like vampires? Our more common abilities are shared with vampires, which are basically supernatural speed, supernatural strength, supernatural agility and heightened senses. Though most of those tend to vary slightly depending on the person and how long they have been a demon. Then there are the magical abilities which heavily vary from person to person when or if a demon gets strong enough to develop them and can technically be shared by stronger demons. Like for example i have spider abilities and have since i developed them but when i found the rest of my adoptive family they were still too weak to develop their own abilities so i shared mine with them." *Rui explains as he uses one of his demon arts to make the webway more visible and turning it bright red before lifting him up onto the webway*

Venti listened intently and made an 'o' shape with his mouth when he realized Rui being a demon allowed him to lift him with ease. "So only stronger demons have certain powers? Then that means the weaker ones are just human with just a few perks then." He looks on the web they were standing on and was amazed. "Thats very generous of you to share your ability with so many people" he says with a smile "i bet theyre really grateful.'

"Well stronger usually means either ""have been demons for longer than a month"" or ""haven't been starved due to extenuating circumstance"" but aside from being immortal, being immune to diseases and the like, as well as the vast majority of poisons, yes very similar to humans..." *he explains before remembering that he had forgotten to mention that part as well* "ah right, forgot to mention that...demons are also immortal and mostly invulnerable as we only have three fatal weaknesses, also similar to vampires...I have several theories as to why that is but I can explain those later" *he informs you as he starts to lead the way toward where he saw the wisteria bloom and remembering he will more than likely have to ask Douma to handle it for him sooner or later since if it were to spread to far it could effect him as well. Though his family regarding their demon arts coming from him was a bit of an awkward subject considering how rocky everything had been until the last demon slayer raid. Thankfully for all of them Rui had been working hard to better himself and they had decided to follow along in support* "I suppose so, though I have overheard them wondering what theirs would have been had they developed their own...though unfortunately most of them were turned against their will and those who were not turned against their will were tricked like I was...so they weren't exactly ecstatic about being demons in general"

Venti follows closely behind Rui, but made sure there was enough space between the both of them so that they could walk easily "Huh, only three.." he pauses, lowering his gaze as he thought to himself for a moment before speaking again; "I guess thats where the quote 'With great power comes with great responsibility' comes in. With enough strength with a mix of intelligence, you'll be unstoppable." He replies, with a tone of both awe and a slight tinge of concern. As Venti listened quietly to what he said, a certain part stood out to him the most.. "Hm? Most of them? So does that imply that some of them willingly became one?" He slightly tilts his head in curiousity. He wondered just how much greed or desperation one would have to just want to become a demon. "Say.. Rui, were you forced to become a demon?"

"Probably, but that is also why i freaked out when you mentioned running into that man..." *he remembers that in the anxiety of the moment he had neglected to explain that as well* "and those weaknesses are excluding the multi-part curse placed on every demon he has created and only a lucky few, myself and my family included; have managed to get out of unscathed...part of it forbids any demon from saying his name out loud or they will die, and i am refraining from saying it incase it triggers from hearing someone else say his name" *he explains that part as well* "Anyway, thats a bit of a loaded question, those of us who were not turned against our will were tricked into allowing ourselves to be turned in one way or another..." *he explains before sighing and continuing* "Yes and no...I was turned when I was twelve and a half about twenty years ago...I was born sickly and weak but I never got better, if anything the older I got the worse I became...by the time I was eleven I could barely walk across a room without needing to stop and catch my breath or risk falling onto my face...and no treatment or medicine I took ever helped not that the jerk of a so called doctor ever cared to figure anything out as long as he could keep me quiet enough to swindle my parents out of more money, and a few months before I was turned I overheard my parents being told I would be lucky if I made it to my fifteenth birthday and later on overheard that my parents might not have been able to afford a new doctor after the doctor i had all that time was found out to be a scam artist...so when That Man approached me in the middle of a particularly cold night that winter and told me he could make me better in one night, I was desperate and wanted to make my parents happy and relieve their stress...but he did not explain how what he was going to do would make me better until it was to late..." *he explained as he continued leading the way. It was a tragedy to say the least, to have gone through so much at such a young age* "as for the rest who were tricked like I was...they don't like talking about it...Izumi mentioned once that he was told he could use his new strength and speed to save someone dear to him and Father was in a similar situation...Hana tried to tell me once but couldn't get much past her tears besides her reason having something to do with her mother...I overheard Mother say her reason had something to do with an older sibling of hers and Himari doesn't quite remember much besides feeling like she was tricked..."

"Was the curse put on every demon to stop them from telling information? Because I dont see any other reason why the curse would be placed unless theres a reason to." He chuckles. As the conversation went on, his expression turned solemn. He witnessed many fall into deception out of desperation in his lifetime, and one thing knows for sure, noone deserves that kind of fate. "How dare he take advantage of individuals at their weakest.", he thought to himself. "I'm.. sorry to hear that." Venti spoke with an empathetic look on his face. "But even if you've all turned into a demon, you're still humans in a way. For whoever has tasted the joys and sorrows of life in the human realm is human. Whoever has loved and lost, cried with grief, howled with rage at the tragedy of death that eclipses the miracle of life… they are human, too."

"Much like there are multiple parts to it, there are multiple reasons for the curse to be in place...but the majority of it is for keeping all of us on a tight leash...but at-least i'm all better now and free of the curse too" *he listened and nodded, he knew that well and considered all demons as people but at the same time he knew well that plenty were far from human now* "true...however most of us are not fortunate enough to even remember being human...and those of us who do...our lives were filled with tragedy in one way or another..."

"....probably not for the reasons you might be thinking but you aren't wrong..." *Rui noticed as well and wondered why they seemed to shine brighter than usual and tilted his head to the side curiously. He had always liked nighttime especially how beautiful the sky was at night, it was part of the reason he figured he was better off as a demon and part of the reason why he didn't quite understand why Muzan wanted to be able to walk in the sun so badly, from what he remembered when he was human looking outside during the day still hurt his eyes with how bright it was, the sun still burned but it was worse in his opinion because the burning stuck around and the sunburns itched and made his frequent fevers worse, and the sky wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He smiled softly as he received more head-pats* "I think I might be, but it's hard to tell just yet....but I hope so too..." *he came to a stop when he got close enough to the wisteria bloom for it to be clearly visible and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. He could already smell its foul stench from here and tried his hardest not to gag but he was already looking a bit ill. He coughed slightly* "we're close enough..."

"Haha, yeah.. I don't really know him all that much after all. All I know is that hes not someone to be trusted." As they inch closer to the wisteria, he noticed Rui's expression from his peripheral. "Are you okay?" Venti spoke with a look of concern on his face. His left hand moved down to his shoulder as he looked at the wisteria bloom up ahead. Slowly but surely, Venti felt slightly sick from just he scent of wisteria even just from this distance. This might not be a good sign. "Ugh.. has wisteria always smelled this bad..?"

*Rui gulped loudly before speaking and tried not to let the wisteria get to him.* "I'll be fine...just my sense of smell is strong for a demons to make up for my bad vision so the smell is already really strong from over here..." *He had never been around wisteria as a human, his parents knew it produced a lot of pollen in the spring and that it was technically poisonous to humans if to much was ingested and feared it would make him worse so it was avoided even if it could repel demons with its scent alone. So speaking from personal experience he couldn't say, But he knew that it smelled like this to most if not all demons from talking to others and his eyes widened when he heard you speak again* "It's not supposed to smell bad to anyone that isn't a demon....but that depends, what does it smell like to you?" *despite the sinking dread he has to check and make sure it isn't a fluke of Venti being from a different universe that makes it smell bad to him. He sneezed squeakily into his elbow a few times as though his body was trying to avoid smelling it as much as possible*

"I think maybe being at this distance is pretty safe enough. I don't want you to go further in if you're already feeling sick. ..and its definitely gonna get worse if we go further in." Venti clears his throat before speaking once more "As for the smell.. i'm not sure. All I know is that it smells awful." Venti began suspecting that maybe he did turn into a demon, but how would he turn into one without realizing? He lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Does it smell like that weird wet, sickeningly sweet, decaying stench that comes from rotting plants mixed with a really stinky animal pelt?" *he asked, as that was the best way he could explain how it smelled to him.* "there is a safer way to tell but i didn't mention it until now because you would probably think it's gross..." *he explained as he turned to head back home and carefully maneuvering himself so he is in the lead again* "largely because it involves blood"

"Hmm.." he hums, trying to smell the scent again. He coughed and covered his nostrils with his hand "Now that I think about it, yeah it does." "Oh, blood? That doesn't sound too bad. I've seen.. plenty, in my lifetime, haha.." he chuckled nervously. Venti witnessed bloodshed time and time again for thousands of years, and not once has he ever gotten used to it. He turns around to face Rui's back. "Would you mind telling me the alternative?"

"Very concerning...but the alternative is seeing your reaction to a certain type of blood...one that is basically a delicacy for demons..." *he explains as he leads the way back. As he speaks he finds it hard to tell whether or not his mouthwatering is from the thought of getting into that particular type of blood or from speaking too much while still within smelling range of the wisteria.* "hopefully that stink doesn't stick to our clothes..."

"Oh? So its like-- a demon's favorite meal of some sorts then?" He says with curiousity. He follows closely behind Rui on the path back, the smell still lingering in his nose. He smiles as he speaks,"If it does then both of us will be in.. quite the predicament if it does." He chuckles softly. He was amused and horrified at the scenario. A cold breeze passed by, sending shivers down Venti's spine for a second or two.

"I suppose that's one way to put it, but in the way that it is usually reserved for a treat since it isn't common and usually makes us a lot stronger than normal blood does..." *obviously there were certain circumstances where it wouldn't affect a demon as much as it normally would such as a power-plato but one full gallon of marechi blood equalled to about 100 gallons of normal blood in both satisfaction and power gain, so one had to balance it out. Considering it was around dinner time for him and his family of demons it wasn't surprising that Rui was hungry, but he didn't let it show. Introducing a new demon into nightly demon life without freaking them out is already a delicate procedure and he was fairly sure that would be especially so if said potentially/new demon was from an alternate universe* "exactly, that man is already very strong as it is and if you, a literal deity who is literally from a different universe have in-fact been turned into a demon that means that he has managed to get far stronger than anyone alive realizes among other things and could quite literally become a world ending natural disaster..." *he explains as he continues walking before sneezing a couple more times*

His eyes light up from how amazed he was "Ah, so its a rare type of blood? Huh. That sounds interesting." As one mentioned that Muzan was already very strong, Venti couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Its a 50/50 chance that he might've actually turned into a demon, and assuming that demons are usually at his beck and call by force made him even more worried. He lets out a deep sigh "lets just hope the consequences won't be too severe if we did confirm that I indeed turned into one. Being the reason why a dangerous individual has the upperhand.. Its hard to imagine."

"Yes exactly, though not in the sense of actual blood-typing, it's hard to explain outside of some kind of genetic anomaly" *the existence of marechi blood was a mystery he or any other demon had yet to solve, that was to say it was a genetic anomaly that effected all blood types, was notably inconsistent based on familial lines and thus far did not have any external notifiers and the only way a demon could tell if someone had it was by smell and taste. Wondering about it was admittedly making him more hungry so he pushed his wondering aside for the moment to respond* "Hopefully....and there are ways to fix it, so to speak...." *admittedly mentioning this was toeing the line but it was important knowledge. Not long later both of you had returned to the clearing just in time to catch his family heading inside* "we're back"

"Basically a weird thing that happens with people's bodies before they are born that sticks around for the rest of their life either helping or hindering them" *he explains a bit better* "yes kind of, and in the future most likely completely because of an ally of sorts to the demon slayer corp" *he tells you as he helps you to the ground and leads you inside after making sure the scent of wisteria did not stick to either of you. The inside of his house is relatively tidy, if a little dusty. He leads the way to the living room where everyone save for his parents are playing a card game that seems to have the goal of being the first to have no cards in your hand* "Okay, mind waiting here for a moment?"

"Oh, I see.." he hums shorltly afterwards. "I suppose theres still a way to turn the tides." he says, as he silently took in the surroundings. Venti slowed down his pace as his lips curled up into a smile upon noticing Rui's family members enjoying themselves with a game. Though they've probably all gone through hell, he was glad they had their moments of peace, even as a demon. Hes unsure why he cares so much about demons he just met but he didn't think too much of it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it just came naturally to him. Venti shakes his head in a no to Rui's question "I don't mind at all! Take your time."

*It could be any number of reasons, a group of demons playing pretend and house like a group of children making believe, or the fact that they are trying to have some semblance of normalcy despite their circumstances that makes them so pitiable, but either-way they seem content in their moments of peace. Rui nods before scampering off for a minute or two, during which there are multiple near wins before Izumi who gets his hands on the temporarily winning had has to get more cards. Upon his return Rui comes back with two corked, black, ceramic bottles before striding over to an unoccupied couch that, judging by the many sewn on patches; has seen better nights, and takes a seat, gesturing for you to sit by him* "alright lets test this out..." "Eh? What are you up to Rui?" *Masami asked curiously while waiting his turn* "Checking whether or not Venti somehow got turned" "Ah...Did you remember to ask if he ate anything recently?" "........confound it all I knew I was forgetting something, thank you masami" *Rui facepalms at his own forgetfulness* "your welcome- Wait why are we switching hands again i thought nobody- oh someone had a zero card that's why"

Venti chuckles as he watched them play. The smile never left his fsce as he was reminded of his old group of friends millenias ago. Sometimes, he can't believe how long its been since their passing. How long its been since the rebellion. He lost himself in thought before he noticed Rui returning. He looked at the corked ceramic bottles before sitting down next to him. "..hm." he hums in curiousity. "I assume this is the blood you were talking about earlier?"

*Rui nodded in response to your question* "Yes it is, are you ready for this?" *he asked to be sure, he knew from interacting with his siblings when they were newly turned that finding this out could be jarring*

"Ready as I'll ever be." He says with a tone of confidence. The look in his eyes assured that he is prepared for whatever may come. ..even if it does turn out thst hes a demon.

"Alright" *he nods reassuringly before he uncorks the bottle. The all to tantalizing scent flooding the room drawing the curious attention of all of his siblings, causing them to look over and making him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either downing the entire bottle right away or visibly drooling. Though a not-so-subtle growl from his stomach gave away exactly what he was thinking. He looked over to you to gauge your reaction and readied his mental tally.* "well?"

His eyes lit up at the scent, and savored it every moment he breathed. Venti couldn't tell if he was just hungry but he couldn't help but crave the blood inside. He lightly clenched his fists, and they were slightly shaking too, as if he was resisting the urge to just take the bottle from Rui's hand. "I.." he looked down at the floor before turning his gaze back to the bottle. "Oh archons above., this isnt good."

*Rui quickly re-corked the bottle and tucked it away into his sleeve for now* "agreed...thats two of three..." *not only was this a problem for this universe, but a problem for Venti's as well. He wasn't exactly sure how deities worked in venti's universe but from what he knew having them randomly disappear and then come back with new aspects not of their world, most notably including a taste for flesh and blood, was very bad. Not to mention figuring out how to get him home* "there is one last thing we can check but it will have to wait until tomorrow night as it would be to risky to go outside right now, but for now I have written down important notes for newly turned demons if you are interested in reading that"

He lets out a deep sigh of relief once the bottle was re-corked. The scent slowly but surely disappeared, so did his craving. "Two out of three.. oh dear.." The feeling of dread washes over Venti's mind at those words alone. He puts his hand underneath his chin with furrowed eyebrows. He mumbles to himself; "if demons eat humans and don't like sunlight then.. theres possibly not way that I can return to Mondstadt like this.. I'd end up eating them one by one--" Then, he stopped and focused his mind back onto the present. "Oh.. you.. you do? May I read them?" He says with a slight smile.

*Rui nods before getting up from his seat, walking to a bookshelf, selecting a leather bound notebook and returning to you with it* "This is a compilation of my notes on living as a demon, even if this is hopefully only temporary it's still good knowledge to have incase this lasts longer than expected or hoped." *he heard venti muttering and nodded in agreement, that was how introducing a new demon to a previously demon-free environment usually went.* "that is something else I was worried about..." *he opens the other bottle he had brought with him, while this one contained normal blood it was still enough to make him drool slightly as he quickly, eagerly, drank from the bottle and re-corked it before it drew to much attention.* "however there is good news, much like how i was when i was first turned; you have a surprisingly strong sense of self control, seem to have retained the overwhelming majority of your humanity and memories"

*Rui listened patiently to your questions before answering* "well firstly, thus far I have only heard you say his first name and assuming he didn't tell you his last name that would be for the best until we are sure if you even still have the curse or managed to break it without realizing. Secondly that would be because you are still pretty early into the ""newly turned"" stage so you only have to worry about claws and fangs for now" *he explains before carefully showing off his fangs and claws. Granted his claws are nibbled shorter on the edges out of a nervous habit and painted a bright teal but he shows them off regardless* "see? But yes those are signs of what is definitely the best possible outcome"

"Exactly...now there is a way to tell if you have the curse or not but the question itself may sound a bit..odd to say the least..." *he explains, then taking another long drink from the bottle of normal blood before continuing* "That question being, do you feel like your thoughts are still completely your own and private in your own mind?"

"Oh.. o-oh my. Thats a rather deep question, but in all honesty.." he stops to think for a moment to reaffirm himself that he still does have control of his own mind. "Hmm.. well, I have a strong feeling I do."

"Both parts pf the question are important, it's a good sign that you feel like they are still all your own. Because something HE doesn't tell any of us at first, is that he can read our minds and thinking about him will draw his attention if there isn't anything he deems to be a more pressing matter...." *he explains a bit anxiously. He was trying hard not to freak venti out while not getting himself in trouble* "the best way i can describe the feeling is like the sensation of being watched by a heavy and borderline painful gaze from somewhere behind you but every time you turn around you find that you are the only one around for miles"

As the realization that Muzan can read theor minds, a thought passed through his brain; "Hmm.. would it be funny if he read my intrusive thoughts, i wonder.." After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Noticing Rui became a bit more anxiois as he explained, Venti puts a hand on his shoulder in hopes to provide some sort of comfort. "So its kinda like chasing your own tail in a way?"

*He hated how much talking about this sort of thing made him worry, but it was not without reason. As just talking about what he knew and what could be done to get loose of the curse was almost literally walking a blade's edge. He took a moment to breathe before answering venti's question* "I suppose that could be an accurate comparison...though more often then not lately he has been focused on other matters"

Venti gently rubs his shoulder with his thumb. He could tell there was somehing making him feel tensed while explaining, but decided to not ask. "Phew.." ,he says, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed "i would rather live knowing my thoughts are completely but, i suppose we're gonna constantly run on some 50/50 and hope for the best."

"May as well just come right out and say it then...." *he says and mentally prays to whatever spirits or deities may be listening that muzan isn't* "I know of someone who can check if you even got the curse placed on you and help break it if you did, that same person is also working on a way to turn demons back into humans but thus far it has only made new demons more docile and reduced their cravings to at most a pint of blood a week. Which is more progress than one would think..." *he starts* "however she is considered a fugitive and a traitor because she broke her curse and chose not to defend the demon king while he was being attacked by the most powerful demon slayer to date who has long since passed away. If either of us get caught going to her for help, I don't even want to think of what will happen but it will be as messy as it is deadly."

"Oh, I see." Venti looks down and taps on his lap with his index finger. He hated how their movement is so restricted.. and yet some in the few who were turned into demon willingly became one, which makes him feel perplexed on why. "The situation of being a demon is already far too messy already.. what more if he catches either of us acting against him? And you.." his voice trails ofd, and his expression grows softer as he turns back to Rui "I'd rather you don't get harmed. I'm already putting you at this much risk having you help me.."

"True as that may be, you would probably get lost taking the safest way there. Thankfully the only people who know about the safe way are either friends or family of mine who would never snitch for one reason or other so as far as I know He doesn't know about it. That and I'm the only one who knows the cipher for the signs so if He were to find it the signs would make little sense." *He smiled softly if a bit uneasily, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started sneakily rebelling and as such he should have figured that there would be times where walking on the blades edge was a necessity.* "But the person we need to visit insisted that the safe way there should not lead directly into her rather small but very well hidden territory for security reasons. So we would still need to be sneaky."

"I meaaaannn.. i did get lost a few times before getting to Asakusa.." Venti listened intently to the words that came out of Rui's mouth, almost as if trying to etch them into his mind for future reterence. He lets out a deep, sigh of relief knowing he is unaware about all of this, though it gives all the more reason to be extra careful. "Well, I can see why shes being cautious about its location.. i think we should be fine though." He says, emphasizing the word 'think' before adding on " There shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we know what we're doing."

"One would think that...however other demons have gotten caught and in trouble for far smaller..." *he nods before downing the rest of the bottle he snagged for himself* "shall we get going then? It should be just after moon-rise by the time we get there"

"oh!" He tenses for a moment at the statement and had a visibly nervous expression on his face. Venti shakes his head lightly and had a moment to recompose himself. "We shall. Its best not to waste time after all, ehe."

*Rui stands and walks over to the kotatsu where his siblings were finishing playing their game* "everyone, Venti and I need to get to the tunnels..." *he says drawing their attention.* "Alright, we all need to go get washed up for dinner anyways" *Kaito says agreeably before standing and gesturing for the rest of the siblings to do the same, which they do. Once they were all on their way to the bathroom to wash up Rui pushes the kotatsu across the floor, revealing a trap-door in the cabins floor which he then opens to another trap-door but this one is in the actual dirt below the house, he then opens the second trap door which opens to a large tunnel lit only by a single lantern* "Down here"

Venti soon followed just a second after Rui moved. He turns to his siblings and watched them leave, and decided to give a small wave to say 'bye' silently, even if they didn't notice it at all... Once he heard a trap door opening, he turns his head and focused back to the now-opened entrance. "Hm." Venti hums in response as he nods lightly. He then steps into the tunnel.

*The tunnel itself is actually rather large once you are actually all the way down inside of it, about seven feet tall and seven feet wide. The walls are smoothed around the roots of the plants and ancient trees, but on them grow various plants that need very little light; lichen, moss, mushrooms and a handful of ferns. Rui closes the trap doors behind you both and then grabs the lantern from the one root that it dangles from, ready to lead the way* "not to creepy down here for you is it?"

"Alright, just I know that some people get freaked out by long, dark caves so I thought I would ask" *He led the way down the tunnel, and you can hear a faint dripping noise coming from somewhere ahead* "I actually dug this out a while ago incase of an emergency but I have since expanded on it quite a bit" *As soon as you see the first sign you see why someone would get confused if they didn't know what they were looking for. It's a sign at a crossroads between multiple tunnels with a sign pointing in each direction, and each sign has odd symbols in place of letters or kanji as well as a depiction of an animal or insect. He leads you down the one marked with what looks like a snowy owl*

"That's still very thoughtful of you to ask regardless. Thank you." He says with a small nod with a smile. Venti couldn't help but be amazed at the fact Rui himself dug this out. One couldn't help but wonder just how much he strength he can exert without breaking a single sweat as a demon.. As the two went deeper, he, of course, noticed the signs and it symbols. While he can understand bits of kanji since Japan and Inazuma's language are almost practically the same, the symbols made it difficult to decipher. 'How strange', he thought to himself. "Say.. what do these mean?"

*Rui pauses at the next sign that pops up to answer your question, this sign post also has signs pointing in multiple directions down multiple tunnels once again each one has those markings* "Ah these are why it is difficult for others to travel down here by themselves, it is a code that i made up a while ago before i figured out how to put spells on objects. For example-" *he holds the lantern up to the sign that points back the way you came which has a spider and a web carved into it* "The spider and the web is used to refer to my territory, or more accurately the spider refers to myself and my family and the web since it is a normal spiders home and hunting grounds is used to refer to our territory"

His attentuon turned to where the lantern was being held up at, looking up at the sign. Venti took nental note of what the signs meant, just for future reference. "very clever." He comments with a small smile on his face. "And very useful too. Maybe I should suggest this trick to the Traveler.." he mutters, as he placed his hand in his hip. "I can tell you put a lot of thought into this"

*He does not explain what the rest of the symbols on the respective signs mean but some might be easy to guess, as most of them are a single carving of a different type of beetles and beetles are a spider's prey, one could reasonably assume that those lead to different towns. The other symbols on their respective signs were harder to guess since they probably required more context; a sleeping cat with a train, a snowy owl with a tree, a raccoon with a drum. He might explain them later once muzan is no longer able to access your mind.* "Why thank you, i'm rather proud of it, though most of them require a fair bit of context"

"Its alright it takes everyone a but of time to get used to" *he pats you on the head. He hoped Tamayo will have something to fix this quickly but he was not entirely sure if she would. At the least She could help him break loose of the curse* "Mhm...we have about...half an hour before its just dark enough to get there"

Venti smiles at the small action. Infact, he found it quite adorable. (i do have to ask, how tall is your Rui? :O) "ah, alright. A bit off topic but.." he pauses, taking the moment to collect his train of thought before speaking again. "How did he manage to turn you into a demon? You don't have to answer if its too personal, of course. I'm just curious."

"..." Venti let out a deep sigh the moment his words sunk into his mind. He felt his heaet ache at the thought of what Rui had to go through. It felt as if there was a lump forming in his throat. Just from hearing it made his heart ache for the child. "I.. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you never had to go through such thing," he says softly.

"It's okay...I wish I hadn't either sometimes but then if i didn't I wouldn't be here tonight..." *he sighed softly. He was tempted to check what time it was but he doubted it was safely dark out yet. He fiddled with his sleeves to sooth himself, he knew he was missing parts of what happened the night he had finally snapped but he could never seem to place them*

Venti gently placed a hand on Rui's shoulder and said; "Sorry that I brought your past up. I can only imagine how painful it was for you." He paused, glancing at his side before continuing "I wish fate wasn't so cruel to you."

*Rui gives a soft, though still slightly sad smile and gently pats your hand* "It's alright, it doesn't hurt as much as it used to..." *He used to often wish that was the case and sometimes still does but then again he knows that if that were the case he likely would not have met his friends especially since there would still have been the potential of getting eaten by a demon.* "I used to wish the same...but then I might not have met you or any of my other friends..." *he reached into his sleeve and looked at a watch he borrowed from his brother to check the time* "hmm should be dark enough to be safe to climb out now..."

*Rui nodded and climbed up the ladder, he hummed as the thought* "technically speaking its been extended by a lot, especially now that i dont have to do anything in specific" *he says before lifting the lid to the hatch and peeking out into the night from under what to those on the surface looks like a large paving stone in a dark, quiet alley. It being the city there were still people about, Venti still looked mostly like a human but he would have to shift into his human disguise. He closes it momentarily* "there are still people out there so i will have to disguise myself but you should be fine..." *he shifts into his human disguise and looks how he had when you both first met* "ready?"

*Rui nodded and quietly lifted the hatch all the way and climbed out, then helping you out and closing the hatch behind you. He hummed softly before spinning up a small hair-tie and tying up his hair into a short ponytail as to attempt to mask his appearance further. He then realized just how much your outfit stood out in comparison to the others on the street* "Ah..you would not happen to be able to make yourself look like you are wearing something less...noticeable, would you?" *he asked as he kept an eye on the road where there were more people, looking for a gap that would be just unnoticeable enough for the both of you to just slip into and blend into the crowd*

*he continues fidgeting and fiddling with the spider-silk, as he tries to figure out how best to explain. His hands never falling completely still for long like a spider making a web* "I would like to tell you but first you gotta tell me if you got scratched or anything when you saw him" *he didnt want to get either himself or venti in trouble*

"Oh, okay." He puts his hand under his chin as he tried to recall the events that happened before. It didn't take too long, though. "We didn't make any physical contact, and he most certainly didnt scratch me. The only thing he did was lead me to some strange place."

"Eh? A strange pla- oh that...huh weird...then again he probably figured out that you were more familiar with the majority of people having some kind of supernatural ability or other rather than that being the minority...." *he starts to ask before realizing you probably meant the infinity fortress, he then begins muttering as he guesses at why he would have taken you there before asking another slightly more pressing question* "anyway did he give you anything or eat or drink?"

"Uhh, well, he just gave me tea to drink." Venti says with a smile. His smile falters the moment the thought of getting drugged with whatever could've been in the tea went through his mind.. "I'm just hoping there wasn't anything in it.. haha.. but uhh, considering I havent paased out thw past few hours, I think I'm fine."

*a look of concern crosses his face when you mention that you were given something* "Venti this is really important, did anything odd happen right after" *he knew well there were plenty of way to turn someone into a demon and that included ingesting demon blood that had been snuck into ones food or drink. And if He had figured out what Venti really is there was no doubt in Rui's mimd that He would try to get him on his side by force*

"Uh, well, I suppose..? I felt a bit lightheaded during the conversation after consuming it, but other than that, I felt normal." Venti says with a shrug. He was unsure why Rui was asking these questions but seeing the concerned look on his face made it clear these questions were necessary.

"Your sure you felt fine afterwards?" *he asked seeming more worried. It seemed that taking anything from that man was a bad idea. Rui sniffed curiously but subtly and tried to pick up even the fainted scent of a new demon*

*he takes a deep breath and weighs his options...technically speaking his curse was broken so he would not be triggering the curse if he were to explain but he is thus far unsure if venti got turned or not but it would probably be better to explain* "Okay, that man you ran into is the king of demons, basically the one who has turned the majority of us demons into demons, the place he took you is called the infinity fortress, its basically a pocket dimension that his right hand woman can access at any time. It is also where the twelve kizuki, a group of his strongest demons; or whats left of it meets up for the occasional meeting. Up until recently i was part of the six weaker members of the group or the lower moons, due to a misunderstanding the lower moons have since been disbanded. Anyway to be turned into a demon you have to either ingest some of that mans blood, get some of his blood injected into you or have some of his blood come into contact with an open wound....thats why I was freaking out, because i can only imagine what he could pull off if he had a literal deity under his thumb"

"And that isn't even the worst part either...but there are two ways to know whether you're safe or not but they are both really risky" *he explains before glancing at the sky and seeing that thankfully its not yet dawn but it would be in an hour or so* "either running your hand through sunlight and seeing if you burn or not or passing by wisteria without feeling sick"

"Oh.." He chuckles nervously. Venti carefully weighed the options inn his head. "The thpught of burning was rather unpleasant so perhaps.." he mumbles quietly to himself. After a few seconds he made a conclusion. "I think passing by wisteria would do. I'd rather feel sick than feel the sense of burning."

"That would probably be for the best...um...now where would the nearest wisteria bloom even be?" *he wondered aloud before using his threads to pull him up to one of his families basically invisible web-ways to look around* "hm...."

"Uh.. I'm not so su--" Venti cut himself off when he saw Rui basically started walking on air. Well, atleast in his perspective. It was like he had question marks in his head but he didn't really bother to ask. Right now, its probably more important to figure out where wisteria blooms.

*After spotting it a relatively safe two miles further up the mountain and across the river he looks down about to call out to venti that he found it and notices his confused expression. He then dangles himself down on a thicker and more visible rope of webbing* "Ah that probably looked odd huh...anyway i found the wisteria bloom"

"Haha, yeah. Though I'll probably find myself getting used to eventually." He shrugs as he looked up to Rui. "Back on topic, is it close from here?" He says as he put his hand down near him and used it to support himself.

"Its a safe two miles up the mountain but for a demon like me its a quick trip up there as long as i dont accidentally push myself to hard" *he offers venti a hand up*

"Well remember how i mentioned earlier how demons were kind of like vampires? Our more common abilities are shared with vampires, which are basically supernatural speed, supernatural strength, supernatural agility and heightened senses. Though most of those tend to vary slightly depending on the person and how long they have been a demon. Then there are the magical abilities which heavily vary from person to person when or if a demon gets strong enough to develop them and can technically be shared by stronger demons. Like for example i have spider abilities and have since i developed them but when i found the rest of my adoptive family they were still too weak to develop their own abilities so i shared mine with them." *Rui explains as he uses one of his demon arts to make the webway more visible and turning it bright red before lifting him up onto the webway*

Venti listened intently and made an 'o' shape with his mouth when he realized Rui being a demon allowed him to lift him with ease. "So only stronger demons have certain powers? Then that means the weaker ones are just human with just a few perks then." He looks on the web they were standing on and was amazed. "Thats very generous of you to share your ability with so many people" he says with a smile "i bet theyre really grateful.'

"Well stronger usually means either ""have been demons for longer than a month"" or ""haven't been starved due to extenuating circumstance"" but aside from being immortal, being immune to diseases and the like, as well as the vast majority of poisons, yes very similar to humans..." *he explains before remembering that he had forgotten to mention that part as well* "ah right, forgot to mention that...demons are also immortal and mostly invulnerable as we only have three fatal weaknesses, also similar to vampires...I have several theories as to why that is but I can explain those later" *he informs you as he starts to lead the way toward where he saw the wisteria bloom and remembering he will more than likely have to ask Douma to handle it for him sooner or later since if it were to spread to far it could effect him as well. Though his family regarding their demon arts coming from him was a bit of an awkward subject considering how rocky everything had been until the last demon slayer raid. Thankfully for all of them Rui had been working hard to better himself and they had decided to follow along in support* "I suppose so, though I have overheard them wondering what theirs would have been had they developed their own...though unfortunately most of them were turned against their will and those who were not turned against their will were tricked like I was...so they weren't exactly ecstatic about being demons in general"

Venti follows closely behind Rui, but made sure there was enough space between the both of them so that they could walk easily "Huh, only three.." he pauses, lowering his gaze as he thought to himself for a moment before speaking again; "I guess thats where the quote 'With great power comes with great responsibility' comes in. With enough strength with a mix of intelligence, you'll be unstoppable." He replies, with a tone of both awe and a slight tinge of concern. As Venti listened quietly to what he said, a certain part stood out to him the most.. "Hm? Most of them? So does that imply that some of them willingly became one?" He slightly tilts his head in curiousity. He wondered just how much greed or desperation one would have to just want to become a demon. "Say.. Rui, were you forced to become a demon?"

"Probably, but that is also why i freaked out when you mentioned running into that man..." *he remembers that in the anxiety of the moment he had neglected to explain that as well* "and those weaknesses are excluding the multi-part curse placed on every demon he has created and only a lucky few, myself and my family included; have managed to get out of unscathed...part of it forbids any demon from saying his name out loud or they will die, and i am refraining from saying it incase it triggers from hearing someone else say his name" *he explains that part as well* "Anyway, thats a bit of a loaded question, those of us who were not turned against our will were tricked into allowing ourselves to be turned in one way or another..." *he explains before sighing and continuing* "Yes and no...I was turned when I was twelve and a half about twenty years ago...I was born sickly and weak but I never got better, if anything the older I got the worse I became...by the time I was eleven I could barely walk across a room without needing to stop and catch my breath or risk falling onto my face...and no treatment or medicine I took ever helped not that the jerk of a so called doctor ever cared to figure anything out as long as he could keep me quiet enough to swindle my parents out of more money, and a few months before I was turned I overheard my parents being told I would be lucky if I made it to my fifteenth birthday and later on overheard that my parents might not have been able to afford a new doctor after the doctor i had all that time was found out to be a scam artist...so when That Man approached me in the middle of a particularly cold night that winter and told me he could make me better in one night, I was desperate and wanted to make my parents happy and relieve their stress...but he did not explain how what he was going to do would make me better until it was to late..." *he explained as he continued leading the way. It was a tragedy to say the least, to have gone through so much at such a young age* "as for the rest who were tricked like I was...they don't like talking about it...Izumi mentioned once that he was told he could use his new strength and speed to save someone dear to him and Father was in a similar situation...Hana tried to tell me once but couldn't get much past her tears besides her reason having something to do with her mother...I overheard Mother say her reason had something to do with an older sibling of hers and Himari doesn't quite remember much besides feeling like she was tricked..."

"Was the curse put on every demon to stop them from telling information? Because I dont see any other reason why the curse would be placed unless theres a reason to." He chuckles. As the conversation went on, his expression turned solemn. He witnessed many fall into deception out of desperation in his lifetime, and one thing knows for sure, noone deserves that kind of fate. "How dare he take advantage of individuals at their weakest.", he thought to himself. "I'm.. sorry to hear that." Venti spoke with an empathetic look on his face. "But even if you've all turned into a demon, you're still humans in a way. For whoever has tasted the joys and sorrows of life in the human realm is human. Whoever has loved and lost, cried with grief, howled with rage at the tragedy of death that eclipses the miracle of life… they are human, too."

"Much like there are multiple parts to it, there are multiple reasons for the curse to be in place...but the majority of it is for keeping all of us on a tight leash...but at-least i'm all better now and free of the curse too" *he listened and nodded, he knew that well and considered all demons as people but at the same time he knew well that plenty were far from human now* "true...however most of us are not fortunate enough to even remember being human...and those of us who do...our lives were filled with tragedy in one way or another..."

"....probably not for the reasons you might be thinking but you aren't wrong..." *Rui noticed as well and wondered why they seemed to shine brighter than usual and tilted his head to the side curiously. He had always liked nighttime especially how beautiful the sky was at night, it was part of the reason he figured he was better off as a demon and part of the reason why he didn't quite understand why Muzan wanted to be able to walk in the sun so badly, from what he remembered when he was human looking outside during the day still hurt his eyes with how bright it was, the sun still burned but it was worse in his opinion because the burning stuck around and the sunburns itched and made his frequent fevers worse, and the sky wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He smiled softly as he received more head-pats* "I think I might be, but it's hard to tell just yet....but I hope so too..." *he came to a stop when he got close enough to the wisteria bloom for it to be clearly visible and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. He could already smell its foul stench from here and tried his hardest not to gag but he was already looking a bit ill. He coughed slightly* "we're close enough..."

"Haha, yeah.. I don't really know him all that much after all. All I know is that hes not someone to be trusted." As they inch closer to the wisteria, he noticed Rui's expression from his peripheral. "Are you okay?" Venti spoke with a look of concern on his face. His left hand moved down to his shoulder as he looked at the wisteria bloom up ahead. Slowly but surely, Venti felt slightly sick from just he scent of wisteria even just from this distance. This might not be a good sign. "Ugh.. has wisteria always smelled this bad..?"

*Rui gulped loudly before speaking and tried not to let the wisteria get to him.* "I'll be fine...just my sense of smell is strong for a demons to make up for my bad vision so the smell is already really strong from over here..." *He had never been around wisteria as a human, his parents knew it produced a lot of pollen in the spring and that it was technically poisonous to humans if to much was ingested and feared it would make him worse so it was avoided even if it could repel demons with its scent alone. So speaking from personal experience he couldn't say, But he knew that it smelled like this to most if not all demons from talking to others and his eyes widened when he heard you speak again* "It's not supposed to smell bad to anyone that isn't a demon....but that depends, what does it smell like to you?" *despite the sinking dread he has to check and make sure it isn't a fluke of Venti being from a different universe that makes it smell bad to him. He sneezed squeakily into his elbow a few times as though his body was trying to avoid smelling it as much as possible*

"I think maybe being at this distance is pretty safe enough. I don't want you to go further in if you're already feeling sick. ..and its definitely gonna get worse if we go further in." Venti clears his throat before speaking once more "As for the smell.. i'm not sure. All I know is that it smells awful." Venti began suspecting that maybe he did turn into a demon, but how would he turn into one without realizing? He lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Does it smell like that weird wet, sickeningly sweet, decaying stench that comes from rotting plants mixed with a really stinky animal pelt?" *he asked, as that was the best way he could explain how it smelled to him.* "there is a safer way to tell but i didn't mention it until now because you would probably think it's gross..." *he explained as he turned to head back home and carefully maneuvering himself so he is in the lead again* "largely because it involves blood"

"Hmm.." he hums, trying to smell the scent again. He coughed and covered his nostrils with his hand "Now that I think about it, yeah it does." "Oh, blood? That doesn't sound too bad. I've seen.. plenty, in my lifetime, haha.." he chuckled nervously. Venti witnessed bloodshed time and time again for thousands of years, and not once has he ever gotten used to it. He turns around to face Rui's back. "Would you mind telling me the alternative?"

"Very concerning...but the alternative is seeing your reaction to a certain type of blood...one that is basically a delicacy for demons..." *he explains as he leads the way back. As he speaks he finds it hard to tell whether or not his mouthwatering is from the thought of getting into that particular type of blood or from speaking too much while still within smelling range of the wisteria.* "hopefully that stink doesn't stick to our clothes..."

"Oh? So its like-- a demon's favorite meal of some sorts then?" He says with curiousity. He follows closely behind Rui on the path back, the smell still lingering in his nose. He smiles as he speaks,"If it does then both of us will be in.. quite the predicament if it does." He chuckles softly. He was amused and horrified at the scenario. A cold breeze passed by, sending shivers down Venti's spine for a second or two.

"I suppose that's one way to put it, but in the way that it is usually reserved for a treat since it isn't common and usually makes us a lot stronger than normal blood does..." *obviously there were certain circumstances where it wouldn't affect a demon as much as it normally would such as a power-plato but one full gallon of marechi blood equalled to about 100 gallons of normal blood in both satisfaction and power gain, so one had to balance it out. Considering it was around dinner time for him and his family of demons it wasn't surprising that Rui was hungry, but he didn't let it show. Introducing a new demon into nightly demon life without freaking them out is already a delicate procedure and he was fairly sure that would be especially so if said potentially/new demon was from an alternate universe* "exactly, that man is already very strong as it is and if you, a literal deity who is literally from a different universe have in-fact been turned into a demon that means that he has managed to get far stronger than anyone alive realizes among other things and could quite literally become a world ending natural disaster..." *he explains as he continues walking before sneezing a couple more times*

His eyes light up from how amazed he was "Ah, so its a rare type of blood? Huh. That sounds interesting." As one mentioned that Muzan was already very strong, Venti couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Its a 50/50 chance that he might've actually turned into a demon, and assuming that demons are usually at his beck and call by force made him even more worried. He lets out a deep sigh "lets just hope the consequences won't be too severe if we did confirm that I indeed turned into one. Being the reason why a dangerous individual has the upperhand.. Its hard to imagine."

"Yes exactly, though not in the sense of actual blood-typing, it's hard to explain outside of some kind of genetic anomaly" *the existence of marechi blood was a mystery he or any other demon had yet to solve, that was to say it was a genetic anomaly that effected all blood types, was notably inconsistent based on familial lines and thus far did not have any external notifiers and the only way a demon could tell if someone had it was by smell and taste. Wondering about it was admittedly making him more hungry so he pushed his wondering aside for the moment to respond* "Hopefully....and there are ways to fix it, so to speak...." *admittedly mentioning this was toeing the line but it was important knowledge. Not long later both of you had returned to the clearing just in time to catch his family heading inside* "we're back"

"Basically a weird thing that happens with people's bodies before they are born that sticks around for the rest of their life either helping or hindering them" *he explains a bit better* "yes kind of, and in the future most likely completely because of an ally of sorts to the demon slayer corp" *he tells you as he helps you to the ground and leads you inside after making sure the scent of wisteria did not stick to either of you. The inside of his house is relatively tidy, if a little dusty. He leads the way to the living room where everyone save for his parents are playing a card game that seems to have the goal of being the first to have no cards in your hand* "Okay, mind waiting here for a moment?"

"Oh, I see.." he hums shorltly afterwards. "I suppose theres still a way to turn the tides." he says, as he silently took in the surroundings. Venti slowed down his pace as his lips curled up into a smile upon noticing Rui's family members enjoying themselves with a game. Though they've probably all gone through hell, he was glad they had their moments of peace, even as a demon. Hes unsure why he cares so much about demons he just met but he didn't think too much of it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it just came naturally to him. Venti shakes his head in a no to Rui's question "I don't mind at all! Take your time."

*It could be any number of reasons, a group of demons playing pretend and house like a group of children making believe, or the fact that they are trying to have some semblance of normalcy despite their circumstances that makes them so pitiable, but either-way they seem content in their moments of peace. Rui nods before scampering off for a minute or two, during which there are multiple near wins before Izumi who gets his hands on the temporarily winning had has to get more cards. Upon his return Rui comes back with two corked, black, ceramic bottles before striding over to an unoccupied couch that, judging by the many sewn on patches; has seen better nights, and takes a seat, gesturing for you to sit by him* "alright lets test this out..." "Eh? What are you up to Rui?" *Masami asked curiously while waiting his turn* "Checking whether or not Venti somehow got turned" "Ah...Did you remember to ask if he ate anything recently?" "........confound it all I knew I was forgetting something, thank you masami" *Rui facepalms at his own forgetfulness* "your welcome- Wait why are we switching hands again i thought nobody- oh someone had a zero card that's why"

Venti chuckles as he watched them play. The smile never left his fsce as he was reminded of his old group of friends millenias ago. Sometimes, he can't believe how long its been since their passing. How long its been since the rebellion. He lost himself in thought before he noticed Rui returning. He looked at the corked ceramic bottles before sitting down next to him. "..hm." he hums in curiousity. "I assume this is the blood you were talking about earlier?"

*Rui nodded in response to your question* "Yes it is, are you ready for this?" *he asked to be sure, he knew from interacting with his siblings when they were newly turned that finding this out could be jarring*

"Ready as I'll ever be." He says with a tone of confidence. The look in his eyes assured that he is prepared for whatever may come. ..even if it does turn out thst hes a demon.

"Alright" *he nods reassuringly before he uncorks the bottle. The all to tantalizing scent flooding the room drawing the curious attention of all of his siblings, causing them to look over and making him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either downing the entire bottle right away or visibly drooling. Though a not-so-subtle growl from his stomach gave away exactly what he was thinking. He looked over to you to gauge your reaction and readied his mental tally.* "well?"

His eyes lit up at the scent, and savored it every moment he breathed. Venti couldn't tell if he was just hungry but he couldn't help but crave the blood inside. He lightly clenched his fists, and they were slightly shaking too, as if he was resisting the urge to just take the bottle from Rui's hand. "I.." he looked down at the floor before turning his gaze back to the bottle. "Oh archons above., this isnt good."

*Rui quickly re-corked the bottle and tucked it away into his sleeve for now* "agreed...thats two of three..." *not only was this a problem for this universe, but a problem for Venti's as well. He wasn't exactly sure how deities worked in venti's universe but from what he knew having them randomly disappear and then come back with new aspects not of their world, most notably including a taste for flesh and blood, was very bad. Not to mention figuring out how to get him home* "there is one last thing we can check but it will have to wait until tomorrow night as it would be to risky to go outside right now, but for now I have written down important notes for newly turned demons if you are interested in reading that"

He lets out a deep sigh of relief once the bottle was re-corked. The scent slowly but surely disappeared, so did his craving. "Two out of three.. oh dear.." The feeling of dread washes over Venti's mind at those words alone. He puts his hand underneath his chin with furrowed eyebrows. He mumbles to himself; "if demons eat humans and don't like sunlight then.. theres possibly not way that I can return to Mondstadt like this.. I'd end up eating them one by one--" Then, he stopped and focused his mind back onto the present. "Oh.. you.. you do? May I read them?" He says with a slight smile.

*Rui nods before getting up from his seat, walking to a bookshelf, selecting a leather bound notebook and returning to you with it* "This is a compilation of my notes on living as a demon, even if this is hopefully only temporary it's still good knowledge to have incase this lasts longer than expected or hoped." *he heard venti muttering and nodded in agreement, that was how introducing a new demon to a previously demon-free environment usually went.* "that is something else I was worried about..." *he opens the other bottle he had brought with him, while this one contained normal blood it was still enough to make him drool slightly as he quickly, eagerly, drank from the bottle and re-corked it before it drew to much attention.* "however there is good news, much like how i was when i was first turned; you have a surprisingly strong sense of self control, seem to have retained the overwhelming majority of your humanity and memories"

*Rui listened patiently to your questions before answering* "well firstly, thus far I have only heard you say his first name and assuming he didn't tell you his last name that would be for the best until we are sure if you even still have the curse or managed to break it without realizing. Secondly that would be because you are still pretty early into the ""newly turned"" stage so you only have to worry about claws and fangs for now" *he explains before carefully showing off his fangs and claws. Granted his claws are nibbled shorter on the edges out of a nervous habit and painted a bright teal but he shows them off regardless* "see? But yes those are signs of what is definitely the best possible outcome"

"Exactly...now there is a way to tell if you have the curse or not but the question itself may sound a bit..odd to say the least..." *he explains, then taking another long drink from the bottle of normal blood before continuing* "That question being, do you feel like your thoughts are still completely your own and private in your own mind?"

"Oh.. o-oh my. Thats a rather deep question, but in all honesty.." he stops to think for a moment to reaffirm himself that he still does have control of his own mind. "Hmm.. well, I have a strong feeling I do."

"Both parts pf the question are important, it's a good sign that you feel like they are still all your own. Because something HE doesn't tell any of us at first, is that he can read our minds and thinking about him will draw his attention if there isn't anything he deems to be a more pressing matter...." *he explains a bit anxiously. He was trying hard not to freak venti out while not getting himself in trouble* "the best way i can describe the feeling is like the sensation of being watched by a heavy and borderline painful gaze from somewhere behind you but every time you turn around you find that you are the only one around for miles"

As the realization that Muzan can read theor minds, a thought passed through his brain; "Hmm.. would it be funny if he read my intrusive thoughts, i wonder.." After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Noticing Rui became a bit more anxiois as he explained, Venti puts a hand on his shoulder in hopes to provide some sort of comfort. "So its kinda like chasing your own tail in a way?"

*He hated how much talking about this sort of thing made him worry, but it was not without reason. As just talking about what he knew and what could be done to get loose of the curse was almost literally walking a blade's edge. He took a moment to breathe before answering venti's question* "I suppose that could be an accurate comparison...though more often then not lately he has been focused on other matters"

Venti gently rubs his shoulder with his thumb. He could tell there was somehing making him feel tensed while explaining, but decided to not ask. "Phew.." ,he says, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed "i would rather live knowing my thoughts are completely but, i suppose we're gonna constantly run on some 50/50 and hope for the best."

"May as well just come right out and say it then...." *he says and mentally prays to whatever spirits or deities may be listening that muzan isn't* "I know of someone who can check if you even got the curse placed on you and help break it if you did, that same person is also working on a way to turn demons back into humans but thus far it has only made new demons more docile and reduced their cravings to at most a pint of blood a week. Which is more progress than one would think..." *he starts* "however she is considered a fugitive and a traitor because she broke her curse and chose not to defend the demon king while he was being attacked by the most powerful demon slayer to date who has long since passed away. If either of us get caught going to her for help, I don't even want to think of what will happen but it will be as messy as it is deadly."

"Oh, I see." Venti looks down and taps on his lap with his index finger. He hated how their movement is so restricted.. and yet some in the few who were turned into demon willingly became one, which makes him feel perplexed on why. "The situation of being a demon is already far too messy already.. what more if he catches either of us acting against him? And you.." his voice trails ofd, and his expression grows softer as he turns back to Rui "I'd rather you don't get harmed. I'm already putting you at this much risk having you help me.."

"True as that may be, you would probably get lost taking the safest way there. Thankfully the only people who know about the safe way are either friends or family of mine who would never snitch for one reason or other so as far as I know He doesn't know about it. That and I'm the only one who knows the cipher for the signs so if He were to find it the signs would make little sense." *He smiled softly if a bit uneasily, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started sneakily rebelling and as such he should have figured that there would be times where walking on the blades edge was a necessity.* "But the person we need to visit insisted that the safe way there should not lead directly into her rather small but very well hidden territory for security reasons. So we would still need to be sneaky."

"I meaaaannn.. i did get lost a few times before getting to Asakusa.." Venti listened intently to the words that came out of Rui's mouth, almost as if trying to etch them into his mind for future reterence. He lets out a deep, sigh of relief knowing he is unaware about all of this, though it gives all the more reason to be extra careful. "Well, I can see why shes being cautious about its location.. i think we should be fine though." He says, emphasizing the word 'think' before adding on " There shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we know what we're doing."

"One would think that...however other demons have gotten caught and in trouble for far smaller..." *he nods before downing the rest of the bottle he snagged for himself* "shall we get going then? It should be just after moon-rise by the time we get there"

"oh!" He tenses for a moment at the statement and had a visibly nervous expression on his face. Venti shakes his head lightly and had a moment to recompose himself. "We shall. Its best not to waste time after all, ehe."

*Rui stands and walks over to the kotatsu where his siblings were finishing playing their game* "everyone, Venti and I need to get to the tunnels..." *he says drawing their attention.* "Alright, we all need to go get washed up for dinner anyways" *Kaito says agreeably before standing and gesturing for the rest of the siblings to do the same, which they do. Once they were all on their way to the bathroom to wash up Rui pushes the kotatsu across the floor, revealing a trap-door in the cabins floor which he then opens to another trap-door but this one is in the actual dirt below the house, he then opens the second trap door which opens to a large tunnel lit only by a single lantern* "Down here"

Venti soon followed just a second after Rui moved. He turns to his siblings and watched them leave, and decided to give a small wave to say 'bye' silently, even if they didn't notice it at all... Once he heard a trap door opening, he turns his head and focused back to the now-opened entrance. "Hm." Venti hums in response as he nods lightly. He then steps into the tunnel.

*The tunnel itself is actually rather large once you are actually all the way down inside of it, about seven feet tall and seven feet wide. The walls are smoothed around the roots of the plants and ancient trees, but on them grow various plants that need very little light; lichen, moss, mushrooms and a handful of ferns. Rui closes the trap doors behind you both and then grabs the lantern from the one root that it dangles from, ready to lead the way* "not to creepy down here for you is it?"

"Alright, just I know that some people get freaked out by long, dark caves so I thought I would ask" *He led the way down the tunnel, and you can hear a faint dripping noise coming from somewhere ahead* "I actually dug this out a while ago incase of an emergency but I have since expanded on it quite a bit" *As soon as you see the first sign you see why someone would get confused if they didn't know what they were looking for. It's a sign at a crossroads between multiple tunnels with a sign pointing in each direction, and each sign has odd symbols in place of letters or kanji as well as a depiction of an animal or insect. He leads you down the one marked with what looks like a snowy owl*

"That's still very thoughtful of you to ask regardless. Thank you." He says with a small nod with a smile. Venti couldn't help but be amazed at the fact Rui himself dug this out. One couldn't help but wonder just how much he strength he can exert without breaking a single sweat as a demon.. As the two went deeper, he, of course, noticed the signs and it symbols. While he can understand bits of kanji since Japan and Inazuma's language are almost practically the same, the symbols made it difficult to decipher. 'How strange', he thought to himself. "Say.. what do these mean?"

*Rui pauses at the next sign that pops up to answer your question, this sign post also has signs pointing in multiple directions down multiple tunnels once again each one has those markings* "Ah these are why it is difficult for others to travel down here by themselves, it is a code that i made up a while ago before i figured out how to put spells on objects. For example-" *he holds the lantern up to the sign that points back the way you came which has a spider and a web carved into it* "The spider and the web is used to refer to my territory, or more accurately the spider refers to myself and my family and the web since it is a normal spiders home and hunting grounds is used to refer to our territory"

His attentuon turned to where the lantern was being held up at, looking up at the sign. Venti took nental note of what the signs meant, just for future reference. "very clever." He comments with a small smile on his face. "And very useful too. Maybe I should suggest this trick to the Traveler.." he mutters, as he placed his hand in his hip. "I can tell you put a lot of thought into this"

*He does not explain what the rest of the symbols on the respective signs mean but some might be easy to guess, as most of them are a single carving of a different type of beetles and beetles are a spider's prey, one could reasonably assume that those lead to different towns. The other symbols on their respective signs were harder to guess since they probably required more context; a sleeping cat with a train, a snowy owl with a tree, a raccoon with a drum. He might explain them later once muzan is no longer able to access your mind.* "Why thank you, i'm rather proud of it, though most of them require a fair bit of context"

"Its alright it takes everyone a but of time to get used to" *he pats you on the head. He hoped Tamayo will have something to fix this quickly but he was not entirely sure if she would. At the least She could help him break loose of the curse* "Mhm...we have about...half an hour before its just dark enough to get there"

Venti smiles at the small action. Infact, he found it quite adorable. (i do have to ask, how tall is your Rui? :O) "ah, alright. A bit off topic but.." he pauses, taking the moment to collect his train of thought before speaking again. "How did he manage to turn you into a demon? You don't have to answer if its too personal, of course. I'm just curious."

"..." Venti let out a deep sigh the moment his words sunk into his mind. He felt his heaet ache at the thought of what Rui had to go through. It felt as if there was a lump forming in his throat. Just from hearing it made his heart ache for the child. "I.. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you never had to go through such thing," he says softly.

"It's okay...I wish I hadn't either sometimes but then if i didn't I wouldn't be here tonight..." *he sighed softly. He was tempted to check what time it was but he doubted it was safely dark out yet. He fiddled with his sleeves to sooth himself, he knew he was missing parts of what happened the night he had finally snapped but he could never seem to place them*

Venti gently placed a hand on Rui's shoulder and said; "Sorry that I brought your past up. I can only imagine how painful it was for you." He paused, glancing at his side before continuing "I wish fate wasn't so cruel to you."

*Rui gives a soft, though still slightly sad smile and gently pats your hand* "It's alright, it doesn't hurt as much as it used to..." *He used to often wish that was the case and sometimes still does but then again he knows that if that were the case he likely would not have met his friends especially since there would still have been the potential of getting eaten by a demon.* "I used to wish the same...but then I might not have met you or any of my other friends..." *he reached into his sleeve and looked at a watch he borrowed from his brother to check the time* "hmm should be dark enough to be safe to climb out now..."

*Rui nodded and climbed up the ladder, he hummed as the thought* "technically speaking its been extended by a lot, especially now that i dont have to do anything in specific" *he says before lifting the lid to the hatch and peeking out into the night from under what to those on the surface looks like a large paving stone in a dark, quiet alley. It being the city there were still people about, Venti still looked mostly like a human but he would have to shift into his human disguise. He closes it momentarily* "there are still people out there so i will have to disguise myself but you should be fine..." *he shifts into his human disguise and looks how he had when you both first met* "ready?"

*Rui had to stifle a laugh by covering his mouth with his hands while he waited to make himself known from his hiding place. April first was one of his favorite holidays as he could play as many tricks as he wanted as long as they were just either confusing or startling. Glancing around the room you happen to spot a second origami duck dangling in front of the door by a thin blue thread, this one appears to be labeled "3". Rui had scattered fifty origami ducks around but he had the one labeled "2" with him, as well as the missing glove and shoe. Attached to the outside of the door to the room Venti was sleeping in (so not visible to venti) he has attached several confetti filled poppers that would pop out confetti as soon as the door is opened.*

*he continues fidgeting and fiddling with the spider-silk, as he tries to figure out how best to explain. His hands never falling completely still for long like a spider making a web* "I would like to tell you but first you gotta tell me if you got scratched or anything when you saw him" *he didnt want to get either himself or venti in trouble*

"Oh, okay." He puts his hand under his chin as he tried to recall the events that happened before. It didn't take too long, though. "We didn't make any physical contact, and he most certainly didnt scratch me. The only thing he did was lead me to some strange place."

"Eh? A strange pla- oh that...huh weird...then again he probably figured out that you were more familiar with the majority of people having some kind of supernatural ability or other rather than that being the minority...." *he starts to ask before realizing you probably meant the infinity fortress, he then begins muttering as he guesses at why he would have taken you there before asking another slightly more pressing question* "anyway did he give you anything or eat or drink?"

"Uhh, well, he just gave me tea to drink." Venti says with a smile. His smile falters the moment the thought of getting drugged with whatever could've been in the tea went through his mind.. "I'm just hoping there wasn't anything in it.. haha.. but uhh, considering I havent paased out thw past few hours, I think I'm fine."

*a look of concern crosses his face when you mention that you were given something* "Venti this is really important, did anything odd happen right after" *he knew well there were plenty of way to turn someone into a demon and that included ingesting demon blood that had been snuck into ones food or drink. And if He had figured out what Venti really is there was no doubt in Rui's mimd that He would try to get him on his side by force*

"Uh, well, I suppose..? I felt a bit lightheaded during the conversation after consuming it, but other than that, I felt normal." Venti says with a shrug. He was unsure why Rui was asking these questions but seeing the concerned look on his face made it clear these questions were necessary.

"Your sure you felt fine afterwards?" *he asked seeming more worried. It seemed that taking anything from that man was a bad idea. Rui sniffed curiously but subtly and tried to pick up even the fainted scent of a new demon*

*he takes a deep breath and weighs his options...technically speaking his curse was broken so he would not be triggering the curse if he were to explain but he is thus far unsure if venti got turned or not but it would probably be better to explain* "Okay, that man you ran into is the king of demons, basically the one who has turned the majority of us demons into demons, the place he took you is called the infinity fortress, its basically a pocket dimension that his right hand woman can access at any time. It is also where the twelve kizuki, a group of his strongest demons; or whats left of it meets up for the occasional meeting. Up until recently i was part of the six weaker members of the group or the lower moons, due to a misunderstanding the lower moons have since been disbanded. Anyway to be turned into a demon you have to either ingest some of that mans blood, get some of his blood injected into you or have some of his blood come into contact with an open wound....thats why I was freaking out, because i can only imagine what he could pull off if he had a literal deity under his thumb"

"And that isn't even the worst part either...but there are two ways to know whether you're safe or not but they are both really risky" *he explains before glancing at the sky and seeing that thankfully its not yet dawn but it would be in an hour or so* "either running your hand through sunlight and seeing if you burn or not or passing by wisteria without feeling sick"

"Oh.." He chuckles nervously. Venti carefully weighed the options inn his head. "The thpught of burning was rather unpleasant so perhaps.." he mumbles quietly to himself. After a few seconds he made a conclusion. "I think passing by wisteria would do. I'd rather feel sick than feel the sense of burning."

"That would probably be for the best...um...now where would the nearest wisteria bloom even be?" *he wondered aloud before using his threads to pull him up to one of his families basically invisible web-ways to look around* "hm...."

"Uh.. I'm not so su--" Venti cut himself off when he saw Rui basically started walking on air. Well, atleast in his perspective. It was like he had question marks in his head but he didn't really bother to ask. Right now, its probably more important to figure out where wisteria blooms.

*After spotting it a relatively safe two miles further up the mountain and across the river he looks down about to call out to venti that he found it and notices his confused expression. He then dangles himself down on a thicker and more visible rope of webbing* "Ah that probably looked odd huh...anyway i found the wisteria bloom"

"Haha, yeah. Though I'll probably find myself getting used to eventually." He shrugs as he looked up to Rui. "Back on topic, is it close from here?" He says as he put his hand down near him and used it to support himself.

"Its a safe two miles up the mountain but for a demon like me its a quick trip up there as long as i dont accidentally push myself to hard" *he offers venti a hand up*

"Well remember how i mentioned earlier how demons were kind of like vampires? Our more common abilities are shared with vampires, which are basically supernatural speed, supernatural strength, supernatural agility and heightened senses. Though most of those tend to vary slightly depending on the person and how long they have been a demon. Then there are the magical abilities which heavily vary from person to person when or if a demon gets strong enough to develop them and can technically be shared by stronger demons. Like for example i have spider abilities and have since i developed them but when i found the rest of my adoptive family they were still too weak to develop their own abilities so i shared mine with them." *Rui explains as he uses one of his demon arts to make the webway more visible and turning it bright red before lifting him up onto the webway*

Venti listened intently and made an 'o' shape with his mouth when he realized Rui being a demon allowed him to lift him with ease. "So only stronger demons have certain powers? Then that means the weaker ones are just human with just a few perks then." He looks on the web they were standing on and was amazed. "Thats very generous of you to share your ability with so many people" he says with a smile "i bet theyre really grateful.'

"Well stronger usually means either ""have been demons for longer than a month"" or ""haven't been starved due to extenuating circumstance"" but aside from being immortal, being immune to diseases and the like, as well as the vast majority of poisons, yes very similar to humans..." *he explains before remembering that he had forgotten to mention that part as well* "ah right, forgot to mention that...demons are also immortal and mostly invulnerable as we only have three fatal weaknesses, also similar to vampires...I have several theories as to why that is but I can explain those later" *he informs you as he starts to lead the way toward where he saw the wisteria bloom and remembering he will more than likely have to ask Douma to handle it for him sooner or later since if it were to spread to far it could effect him as well. Though his family regarding their demon arts coming from him was a bit of an awkward subject considering how rocky everything had been until the last demon slayer raid. Thankfully for all of them Rui had been working hard to better himself and they had decided to follow along in support* "I suppose so, though I have overheard them wondering what theirs would have been had they developed their own...though unfortunately most of them were turned against their will and those who were not turned against their will were tricked like I was...so they weren't exactly ecstatic about being demons in general"

Venti follows closely behind Rui, but made sure there was enough space between the both of them so that they could walk easily "Huh, only three.." he pauses, lowering his gaze as he thought to himself for a moment before speaking again; "I guess thats where the quote 'With great power comes with great responsibility' comes in. With enough strength with a mix of intelligence, you'll be unstoppable." He replies, with a tone of both awe and a slight tinge of concern. As Venti listened quietly to what he said, a certain part stood out to him the most.. "Hm? Most of them? So does that imply that some of them willingly became one?" He slightly tilts his head in curiousity. He wondered just how much greed or desperation one would have to just want to become a demon. "Say.. Rui, were you forced to become a demon?"

"Probably, but that is also why i freaked out when you mentioned running into that man..." *he remembers that in the anxiety of the moment he had neglected to explain that as well* "and those weaknesses are excluding the multi-part curse placed on every demon he has created and only a lucky few, myself and my family included; have managed to get out of unscathed...part of it forbids any demon from saying his name out loud or they will die, and i am refraining from saying it incase it triggers from hearing someone else say his name" *he explains that part as well* "Anyway, thats a bit of a loaded question, those of us who were not turned against our will were tricked into allowing ourselves to be turned in one way or another..." *he explains before sighing and continuing* "Yes and no...I was turned when I was twelve and a half about twenty years ago...I was born sickly and weak but I never got better, if anything the older I got the worse I became...by the time I was eleven I could barely walk across a room without needing to stop and catch my breath or risk falling onto my face...and no treatment or medicine I took ever helped not that the jerk of a so called doctor ever cared to figure anything out as long as he could keep me quiet enough to swindle my parents out of more money, and a few months before I was turned I overheard my parents being told I would be lucky if I made it to my fifteenth birthday and later on overheard that my parents might not have been able to afford a new doctor after the doctor i had all that time was found out to be a scam artist...so when That Man approached me in the middle of a particularly cold night that winter and told me he could make me better in one night, I was desperate and wanted to make my parents happy and relieve their stress...but he did not explain how what he was going to do would make me better until it was to late..." *he explained as he continued leading the way. It was a tragedy to say the least, to have gone through so much at such a young age* "as for the rest who were tricked like I was...they don't like talking about it...Izumi mentioned once that he was told he could use his new strength and speed to save someone dear to him and Father was in a similar situation...Hana tried to tell me once but couldn't get much past her tears besides her reason having something to do with her mother...I overheard Mother say her reason had something to do with an older sibling of hers and Himari doesn't quite remember much besides feeling like she was tricked..."

"Was the curse put on every demon to stop them from telling information? Because I dont see any other reason why the curse would be placed unless theres a reason to." He chuckles. As the conversation went on, his expression turned solemn. He witnessed many fall into deception out of desperation in his lifetime, and one thing knows for sure, noone deserves that kind of fate. "How dare he take advantage of individuals at their weakest.", he thought to himself. "I'm.. sorry to hear that." Venti spoke with an empathetic look on his face. "But even if you've all turned into a demon, you're still humans in a way. For whoever has tasted the joys and sorrows of life in the human realm is human. Whoever has loved and lost, cried with grief, howled with rage at the tragedy of death that eclipses the miracle of life… they are human, too."

"Much like there are multiple parts to it, there are multiple reasons for the curse to be in place...but the majority of it is for keeping all of us on a tight leash...but at-least i'm all better now and free of the curse too" *he listened and nodded, he knew that well and considered all demons as people but at the same time he knew well that plenty were far from human now* "true...however most of us are not fortunate enough to even remember being human...and those of us who do...our lives were filled with tragedy in one way or another..."

"....probably not for the reasons you might be thinking but you aren't wrong..." *Rui noticed as well and wondered why they seemed to shine brighter than usual and tilted his head to the side curiously. He had always liked nighttime especially how beautiful the sky was at night, it was part of the reason he figured he was better off as a demon and part of the reason why he didn't quite understand why Muzan wanted to be able to walk in the sun so badly, from what he remembered when he was human looking outside during the day still hurt his eyes with how bright it was, the sun still burned but it was worse in his opinion because the burning stuck around and the sunburns itched and made his frequent fevers worse, and the sky wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He smiled softly as he received more head-pats* "I think I might be, but it's hard to tell just yet....but I hope so too..." *he came to a stop when he got close enough to the wisteria bloom for it to be clearly visible and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. He could already smell its foul stench from here and tried his hardest not to gag but he was already looking a bit ill. He coughed slightly* "we're close enough..."

"Haha, yeah.. I don't really know him all that much after all. All I know is that hes not someone to be trusted." As they inch closer to the wisteria, he noticed Rui's expression from his peripheral. "Are you okay?" Venti spoke with a look of concern on his face. His left hand moved down to his shoulder as he looked at the wisteria bloom up ahead. Slowly but surely, Venti felt slightly sick from just he scent of wisteria even just from this distance. This might not be a good sign. "Ugh.. has wisteria always smelled this bad..?"

*Rui gulped loudly before speaking and tried not to let the wisteria get to him.* "I'll be fine...just my sense of smell is strong for a demons to make up for my bad vision so the smell is already really strong from over here..." *He had never been around wisteria as a human, his parents knew it produced a lot of pollen in the spring and that it was technically poisonous to humans if to much was ingested and feared it would make him worse so it was avoided even if it could repel demons with its scent alone. So speaking from personal experience he couldn't say, But he knew that it smelled like this to most if not all demons from talking to others and his eyes widened when he heard you speak again* "It's not supposed to smell bad to anyone that isn't a demon....but that depends, what does it smell like to you?" *despite the sinking dread he has to check and make sure it isn't a fluke of Venti being from a different universe that makes it smell bad to him. He sneezed squeakily into his elbow a few times as though his body was trying to avoid smelling it as much as possible*

"I think maybe being at this distance is pretty safe enough. I don't want you to go further in if you're already feeling sick. ..and its definitely gonna get worse if we go further in." Venti clears his throat before speaking once more "As for the smell.. i'm not sure. All I know is that it smells awful." Venti began suspecting that maybe he did turn into a demon, but how would he turn into one without realizing? He lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Does it smell like that weird wet, sickeningly sweet, decaying stench that comes from rotting plants mixed with a really stinky animal pelt?" *he asked, as that was the best way he could explain how it smelled to him.* "there is a safer way to tell but i didn't mention it until now because you would probably think it's gross..." *he explained as he turned to head back home and carefully maneuvering himself so he is in the lead again* "largely because it involves blood"

"Hmm.." he hums, trying to smell the scent again. He coughed and covered his nostrils with his hand "Now that I think about it, yeah it does." "Oh, blood? That doesn't sound too bad. I've seen.. plenty, in my lifetime, haha.." he chuckled nervously. Venti witnessed bloodshed time and time again for thousands of years, and not once has he ever gotten used to it. He turns around to face Rui's back. "Would you mind telling me the alternative?"

"Very concerning...but the alternative is seeing your reaction to a certain type of blood...one that is basically a delicacy for demons..." *he explains as he leads the way back. As he speaks he finds it hard to tell whether or not his mouthwatering is from the thought of getting into that particular type of blood or from speaking too much while still within smelling range of the wisteria.* "hopefully that stink doesn't stick to our clothes..."

"Oh? So its like-- a demon's favorite meal of some sorts then?" He says with curiousity. He follows closely behind Rui on the path back, the smell still lingering in his nose. He smiles as he speaks,"If it does then both of us will be in.. quite the predicament if it does." He chuckles softly. He was amused and horrified at the scenario. A cold breeze passed by, sending shivers down Venti's spine for a second or two.

"I suppose that's one way to put it, but in the way that it is usually reserved for a treat since it isn't common and usually makes us a lot stronger than normal blood does..." *obviously there were certain circumstances where it wouldn't affect a demon as much as it normally would such as a power-plato but one full gallon of marechi blood equalled to about 100 gallons of normal blood in both satisfaction and power gain, so one had to balance it out. Considering it was around dinner time for him and his family of demons it wasn't surprising that Rui was hungry, but he didn't let it show. Introducing a new demon into nightly demon life without freaking them out is already a delicate procedure and he was fairly sure that would be especially so if said potentially/new demon was from an alternate universe* "exactly, that man is already very strong as it is and if you, a literal deity who is literally from a different universe have in-fact been turned into a demon that means that he has managed to get far stronger than anyone alive realizes among other things and could quite literally become a world ending natural disaster..." *he explains as he continues walking before sneezing a couple more times*

His eyes light up from how amazed he was "Ah, so its a rare type of blood? Huh. That sounds interesting." As one mentioned that Muzan was already very strong, Venti couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Its a 50/50 chance that he might've actually turned into a demon, and assuming that demons are usually at his beck and call by force made him even more worried. He lets out a deep sigh "lets just hope the consequences won't be too severe if we did confirm that I indeed turned into one. Being the reason why a dangerous individual has the upperhand.. Its hard to imagine."

"Yes exactly, though not in the sense of actual blood-typing, it's hard to explain outside of some kind of genetic anomaly" *the existence of marechi blood was a mystery he or any other demon had yet to solve, that was to say it was a genetic anomaly that effected all blood types, was notably inconsistent based on familial lines and thus far did not have any external notifiers and the only way a demon could tell if someone had it was by smell and taste. Wondering about it was admittedly making him more hungry so he pushed his wondering aside for the moment to respond* "Hopefully....and there are ways to fix it, so to speak...." *admittedly mentioning this was toeing the line but it was important knowledge. Not long later both of you had returned to the clearing just in time to catch his family heading inside* "we're back"

"Basically a weird thing that happens with people's bodies before they are born that sticks around for the rest of their life either helping or hindering them" *he explains a bit better* "yes kind of, and in the future most likely completely because of an ally of sorts to the demon slayer corp" *he tells you as he helps you to the ground and leads you inside after making sure the scent of wisteria did not stick to either of you. The inside of his house is relatively tidy, if a little dusty. He leads the way to the living room where everyone save for his parents are playing a card game that seems to have the goal of being the first to have no cards in your hand* "Okay, mind waiting here for a moment?"

"Oh, I see.." he hums shorltly afterwards. "I suppose theres still a way to turn the tides." he says, as he silently took in the surroundings. Venti slowed down his pace as his lips curled up into a smile upon noticing Rui's family members enjoying themselves with a game. Though they've probably all gone through hell, he was glad they had their moments of peace, even as a demon. Hes unsure why he cares so much about demons he just met but he didn't think too much of it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it just came naturally to him. Venti shakes his head in a no to Rui's question "I don't mind at all! Take your time."

*It could be any number of reasons, a group of demons playing pretend and house like a group of children making believe, or the fact that they are trying to have some semblance of normalcy despite their circumstances that makes them so pitiable, but either-way they seem content in their moments of peace. Rui nods before scampering off for a minute or two, during which there are multiple near wins before Izumi who gets his hands on the temporarily winning had has to get more cards. Upon his return Rui comes back with two corked, black, ceramic bottles before striding over to an unoccupied couch that, judging by the many sewn on patches; has seen better nights, and takes a seat, gesturing for you to sit by him* "alright lets test this out..." "Eh? What are you up to Rui?" *Masami asked curiously while waiting his turn* "Checking whether or not Venti somehow got turned" "Ah...Did you remember to ask if he ate anything recently?" "........confound it all I knew I was forgetting something, thank you masami" *Rui facepalms at his own forgetfulness* "your welcome- Wait why are we switching hands again i thought nobody- oh someone had a zero card that's why"

Venti chuckles as he watched them play. The smile never left his fsce as he was reminded of his old group of friends millenias ago. Sometimes, he can't believe how long its been since their passing. How long its been since the rebellion. He lost himself in thought before he noticed Rui returning. He looked at the corked ceramic bottles before sitting down next to him. "..hm." he hums in curiousity. "I assume this is the blood you were talking about earlier?"

*Rui nodded in response to your question* "Yes it is, are you ready for this?" *he asked to be sure, he knew from interacting with his siblings when they were newly turned that finding this out could be jarring*

"Ready as I'll ever be." He says with a tone of confidence. The look in his eyes assured that he is prepared for whatever may come. ..even if it does turn out thst hes a demon.

"Alright" *he nods reassuringly before he uncorks the bottle. The all to tantalizing scent flooding the room drawing the curious attention of all of his siblings, causing them to look over and making him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either downing the entire bottle right away or visibly drooling. Though a not-so-subtle growl from his stomach gave away exactly what he was thinking. He looked over to you to gauge your reaction and readied his mental tally.* "well?"

His eyes lit up at the scent, and savored it every moment he breathed. Venti couldn't tell if he was just hungry but he couldn't help but crave the blood inside. He lightly clenched his fists, and they were slightly shaking too, as if he was resisting the urge to just take the bottle from Rui's hand. "I.." he looked down at the floor before turning his gaze back to the bottle. "Oh archons above., this isnt good."

*Rui quickly re-corked the bottle and tucked it away into his sleeve for now* "agreed...thats two of three..." *not only was this a problem for this universe, but a problem for Venti's as well. He wasn't exactly sure how deities worked in venti's universe but from what he knew having them randomly disappear and then come back with new aspects not of their world, most notably including a taste for flesh and blood, was very bad. Not to mention figuring out how to get him home* "there is one last thing we can check but it will have to wait until tomorrow night as it would be to risky to go outside right now, but for now I have written down important notes for newly turned demons if you are interested in reading that"

He lets out a deep sigh of relief once the bottle was re-corked. The scent slowly but surely disappeared, so did his craving. "Two out of three.. oh dear.." The feeling of dread washes over Venti's mind at those words alone. He puts his hand underneath his chin with furrowed eyebrows. He mumbles to himself; "if demons eat humans and don't like sunlight then.. theres possibly not way that I can return to Mondstadt like this.. I'd end up eating them one by one--" Then, he stopped and focused his mind back onto the present. "Oh.. you.. you do? May I read them?" He says with a slight smile.

*Rui nods before getting up from his seat, walking to a bookshelf, selecting a leather bound notebook and returning to you with it* "This is a compilation of my notes on living as a demon, even if this is hopefully only temporary it's still good knowledge to have incase this lasts longer than expected or hoped." *he heard venti muttering and nodded in agreement, that was how introducing a new demon to a previously demon-free environment usually went.* "that is something else I was worried about..." *he opens the other bottle he had brought with him, while this one contained normal blood it was still enough to make him drool slightly as he quickly, eagerly, drank from the bottle and re-corked it before it drew to much attention.* "however there is good news, much like how i was when i was first turned; you have a surprisingly strong sense of self control, seem to have retained the overwhelming majority of your humanity and memories"

*Rui listened patiently to your questions before answering* "well firstly, thus far I have only heard you say his first name and assuming he didn't tell you his last name that would be for the best until we are sure if you even still have the curse or managed to break it without realizing. Secondly that would be because you are still pretty early into the ""newly turned"" stage so you only have to worry about claws and fangs for now" *he explains before carefully showing off his fangs and claws. Granted his claws are nibbled shorter on the edges out of a nervous habit and painted a bright teal but he shows them off regardless* "see? But yes those are signs of what is definitely the best possible outcome"

"Exactly...now there is a way to tell if you have the curse or not but the question itself may sound a bit..odd to say the least..." *he explains, then taking another long drink from the bottle of normal blood before continuing* "That question being, do you feel like your thoughts are still completely your own and private in your own mind?"

"Oh.. o-oh my. Thats a rather deep question, but in all honesty.." he stops to think for a moment to reaffirm himself that he still does have control of his own mind. "Hmm.. well, I have a strong feeling I do."

"Both parts pf the question are important, it's a good sign that you feel like they are still all your own. Because something HE doesn't tell any of us at first, is that he can read our minds and thinking about him will draw his attention if there isn't anything he deems to be a more pressing matter...." *he explains a bit anxiously. He was trying hard not to freak venti out while not getting himself in trouble* "the best way i can describe the feeling is like the sensation of being watched by a heavy and borderline painful gaze from somewhere behind you but every time you turn around you find that you are the only one around for miles"

As the realization that Muzan can read theor minds, a thought passed through his brain; "Hmm.. would it be funny if he read my intrusive thoughts, i wonder.." After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Noticing Rui became a bit more anxiois as he explained, Venti puts a hand on his shoulder in hopes to provide some sort of comfort. "So its kinda like chasing your own tail in a way?"

*He hated how much talking about this sort of thing made him worry, but it was not without reason. As just talking about what he knew and what could be done to get loose of the curse was almost literally walking a blade's edge. He took a moment to breathe before answering venti's question* "I suppose that could be an accurate comparison...though more often then not lately he has been focused on other matters"

Venti gently rubs his shoulder with his thumb. He could tell there was somehing making him feel tensed while explaining, but decided to not ask. "Phew.." ,he says, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed "i would rather live knowing my thoughts are completely but, i suppose we're gonna constantly run on some 50/50 and hope for the best."

"May as well just come right out and say it then...." *he says and mentally prays to whatever spirits or deities may be listening that muzan isn't* "I know of someone who can check if you even got the curse placed on you and help break it if you did, that same person is also working on a way to turn demons back into humans but thus far it has only made new demons more docile and reduced their cravings to at most a pint of blood a week. Which is more progress than one would think..." *he starts* "however she is considered a fugitive and a traitor because she broke her curse and chose not to defend the demon king while he was being attacked by the most powerful demon slayer to date who has long since passed away. If either of us get caught going to her for help, I don't even want to think of what will happen but it will be as messy as it is deadly."

"Oh, I see." Venti looks down and taps on his lap with his index finger. He hated how their movement is so restricted.. and yet some in the few who were turned into demon willingly became one, which makes him feel perplexed on why. "The situation of being a demon is already far too messy already.. what more if he catches either of us acting against him? And you.." his voice trails ofd, and his expression grows softer as he turns back to Rui "I'd rather you don't get harmed. I'm already putting you at this much risk having you help me.."

"True as that may be, you would probably get lost taking the safest way there. Thankfully the only people who know about the safe way are either friends or family of mine who would never snitch for one reason or other so as far as I know He doesn't know about it. That and I'm the only one who knows the cipher for the signs so if He were to find it the signs would make little sense." *He smiled softly if a bit uneasily, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started sneakily rebelling and as such he should have figured that there would be times where walking on the blades edge was a necessity.* "But the person we need to visit insisted that the safe way there should not lead directly into her rather small but very well hidden territory for security reasons. So we would still need to be sneaky."

"I meaaaannn.. i did get lost a few times before getting to Asakusa.." Venti listened intently to the words that came out of Rui's mouth, almost as if trying to etch them into his mind for future reterence. He lets out a deep, sigh of relief knowing he is unaware about all of this, though it gives all the more reason to be extra careful. "Well, I can see why shes being cautious about its location.. i think we should be fine though." He says, emphasizing the word 'think' before adding on " There shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we know what we're doing."

"One would think that...however other demons have gotten caught and in trouble for far smaller..." *he nods before downing the rest of the bottle he snagged for himself* "shall we get going then? It should be just after moon-rise by the time we get there"

"oh!" He tenses for a moment at the statement and had a visibly nervous expression on his face. Venti shakes his head lightly and had a moment to recompose himself. "We shall. Its best not to waste time after all, ehe."

*Rui stands and walks over to the kotatsu where his siblings were finishing playing their game* "everyone, Venti and I need to get to the tunnels..." *he says drawing their attention.* "Alright, we all need to go get washed up for dinner anyways" *Kaito says agreeably before standing and gesturing for the rest of the siblings to do the same, which they do. Once they were all on their way to the bathroom to wash up Rui pushes the kotatsu across the floor, revealing a trap-door in the cabins floor which he then opens to another trap-door but this one is in the actual dirt below the house, he then opens the second trap door which opens to a large tunnel lit only by a single lantern* "Down here"

Venti soon followed just a second after Rui moved. He turns to his siblings and watched them leave, and decided to give a small wave to say 'bye' silently, even if they didn't notice it at all... Once he heard a trap door opening, he turns his head and focused back to the now-opened entrance. "Hm." Venti hums in response as he nods lightly. He then steps into the tunnel.

*The tunnel itself is actually rather large once you are actually all the way down inside of it, about seven feet tall and seven feet wide. The walls are smoothed around the roots of the plants and ancient trees, but on them grow various plants that need very little light; lichen, moss, mushrooms and a handful of ferns. Rui closes the trap doors behind you both and then grabs the lantern from the one root that it dangles from, ready to lead the way* "not to creepy down here for you is it?"

"Alright, just I know that some people get freaked out by long, dark caves so I thought I would ask" *He led the way down the tunnel, and you can hear a faint dripping noise coming from somewhere ahead* "I actually dug this out a while ago incase of an emergency but I have since expanded on it quite a bit" *As soon as you see the first sign you see why someone would get confused if they didn't know what they were looking for. It's a sign at a crossroads between multiple tunnels with a sign pointing in each direction, and each sign has odd symbols in place of letters or kanji as well as a depiction of an animal or insect. He leads you down the one marked with what looks like a snowy owl*

"That's still very thoughtful of you to ask regardless. Thank you." He says with a small nod with a smile. Venti couldn't help but be amazed at the fact Rui himself dug this out. One couldn't help but wonder just how much he strength he can exert without breaking a single sweat as a demon.. As the two went deeper, he, of course, noticed the signs and it symbols. While he can understand bits of kanji since Japan and Inazuma's language are almost practically the same, the symbols made it difficult to decipher. 'How strange', he thought to himself. "Say.. what do these mean?"

*Rui pauses at the next sign that pops up to answer your question, this sign post also has signs pointing in multiple directions down multiple tunnels once again each one has those markings* "Ah these are why it is difficult for others to travel down here by themselves, it is a code that i made up a while ago before i figured out how to put spells on objects. For example-" *he holds the lantern up to the sign that points back the way you came which has a spider and a web carved into it* "The spider and the web is used to refer to my territory, or more accurately the spider refers to myself and my family and the web since it is a normal spiders home and hunting grounds is used to refer to our territory"

His attentuon turned to where the lantern was being held up at, looking up at the sign. Venti took nental note of what the signs meant, just for future reference. "very clever." He comments with a small smile on his face. "And very useful too. Maybe I should suggest this trick to the Traveler.." he mutters, as he placed his hand in his hip. "I can tell you put a lot of thought into this"

*He does not explain what the rest of the symbols on the respective signs mean but some might be easy to guess, as most of them are a single carving of a different type of beetles and beetles are a spider's prey, one could reasonably assume that those lead to different towns. The other symbols on their respective signs were harder to guess since they probably required more context; a sleeping cat with a train, a snowy owl with a tree, a raccoon with a drum. He might explain them later once muzan is no longer able to access your mind.* "Why thank you, i'm rather proud of it, though most of them require a fair bit of context"

"Its alright it takes everyone a but of time to get used to" *he pats you on the head. He hoped Tamayo will have something to fix this quickly but he was not entirely sure if she would. At the least She could help him break loose of the curse* "Mhm...we have about...half an hour before its just dark enough to get there"

Venti smiles at the small action. Infact, he found it quite adorable. (i do have to ask, how tall is your Rui? :O) "ah, alright. A bit off topic but.." he pauses, taking the moment to collect his train of thought before speaking again. "How did he manage to turn you into a demon? You don't have to answer if its too personal, of course. I'm just curious."

"..." Venti let out a deep sigh the moment his words sunk into his mind. He felt his heaet ache at the thought of what Rui had to go through. It felt as if there was a lump forming in his throat. Just from hearing it made his heart ache for the child. "I.. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you never had to go through such thing," he says softly.

"It's okay...I wish I hadn't either sometimes but then if i didn't I wouldn't be here tonight..." *he sighed softly. He was tempted to check what time it was but he doubted it was safely dark out yet. He fiddled with his sleeves to sooth himself, he knew he was missing parts of what happened the night he had finally snapped but he could never seem to place them*

Venti gently placed a hand on Rui's shoulder and said; "Sorry that I brought your past up. I can only imagine how painful it was for you." He paused, glancing at his side before continuing "I wish fate wasn't so cruel to you."

*Rui gives a soft, though still slightly sad smile and gently pats your hand* "It's alright, it doesn't hurt as much as it used to..." *He used to often wish that was the case and sometimes still does but then again he knows that if that were the case he likely would not have met his friends especially since there would still have been the potential of getting eaten by a demon.* "I used to wish the same...but then I might not have met you or any of my other friends..." *he reached into his sleeve and looked at a watch he borrowed from his brother to check the time* "hmm should be dark enough to be safe to climb out now..."

*he continues fidgeting and fiddling with the spider-silk, as he tries to figure out how best to explain. His hands never falling completely still for long like a spider making a web* "I would like to tell you but first you gotta tell me if you got scratched or anything when you saw him" *he didnt want to get either himself or venti in trouble*

"Oh, okay." He puts his hand under his chin as he tried to recall the events that happened before. It didn't take too long, though. "We didn't make any physical contact, and he most certainly didnt scratch me. The only thing he did was lead me to some strange place."

"Eh? A strange pla- oh that...huh weird...then again he probably figured out that you were more familiar with the majority of people having some kind of supernatural ability or other rather than that being the minority...." *he starts to ask before realizing you probably meant the infinity fortress, he then begins muttering as he guesses at why he would have taken you there before asking another slightly more pressing question* "anyway did he give you anything or eat or drink?"

"Uhh, well, he just gave me tea to drink." Venti says with a smile. His smile falters the moment the thought of getting drugged with whatever could've been in the tea went through his mind.. "I'm just hoping there wasn't anything in it.. haha.. but uhh, considering I havent paased out thw past few hours, I think I'm fine."

*a look of concern crosses his face when you mention that you were given something* "Venti this is really important, did anything odd happen right after" *he knew well there were plenty of way to turn someone into a demon and that included ingesting demon blood that had been snuck into ones food or drink. And if He had figured out what Venti really is there was no doubt in Rui's mimd that He would try to get him on his side by force*

"Uh, well, I suppose..? I felt a bit lightheaded during the conversation after consuming it, but other than that, I felt normal." Venti says with a shrug. He was unsure why Rui was asking these questions but seeing the concerned look on his face made it clear these questions were necessary.

"Your sure you felt fine afterwards?" *he asked seeming more worried. It seemed that taking anything from that man was a bad idea. Rui sniffed curiously but subtly and tried to pick up even the fainted scent of a new demon*

*he takes a deep breath and weighs his options...technically speaking his curse was broken so he would not be triggering the curse if he were to explain but he is thus far unsure if venti got turned or not but it would probably be better to explain* "Okay, that man you ran into is the king of demons, basically the one who has turned the majority of us demons into demons, the place he took you is called the infinity fortress, its basically a pocket dimension that his right hand woman can access at any time. It is also where the twelve kizuki, a group of his strongest demons; or whats left of it meets up for the occasional meeting. Up until recently i was part of the six weaker members of the group or the lower moons, due to a misunderstanding the lower moons have since been disbanded. Anyway to be turned into a demon you have to either ingest some of that mans blood, get some of his blood injected into you or have some of his blood come into contact with an open wound....thats why I was freaking out, because i can only imagine what he could pull off if he had a literal deity under his thumb"

"And that isn't even the worst part either...but there are two ways to know whether you're safe or not but they are both really risky" *he explains before glancing at the sky and seeing that thankfully its not yet dawn but it would be in an hour or so* "either running your hand through sunlight and seeing if you burn or not or passing by wisteria without feeling sick"

"Oh.." He chuckles nervously. Venti carefully weighed the options inn his head. "The thpught of burning was rather unpleasant so perhaps.." he mumbles quietly to himself. After a few seconds he made a conclusion. "I think passing by wisteria would do. I'd rather feel sick than feel the sense of burning."

"That would probably be for the best...um...now where would the nearest wisteria bloom even be?" *he wondered aloud before using his threads to pull him up to one of his families basically invisible web-ways to look around* "hm...."

"Uh.. I'm not so su--" Venti cut himself off when he saw Rui basically started walking on air. Well, atleast in his perspective. It was like he had question marks in his head but he didn't really bother to ask. Right now, its probably more important to figure out where wisteria blooms.

*After spotting it a relatively safe two miles further up the mountain and across the river he looks down about to call out to venti that he found it and notices his confused expression. He then dangles himself down on a thicker and more visible rope of webbing* "Ah that probably looked odd huh...anyway i found the wisteria bloom"

"Haha, yeah. Though I'll probably find myself getting used to eventually." He shrugs as he looked up to Rui. "Back on topic, is it close from here?" He says as he put his hand down near him and used it to support himself.

"Its a safe two miles up the mountain but for a demon like me its a quick trip up there as long as i dont accidentally push myself to hard" *he offers venti a hand up*

"Well remember how i mentioned earlier how demons were kind of like vampires? Our more common abilities are shared with vampires, which are basically supernatural speed, supernatural strength, supernatural agility and heightened senses. Though most of those tend to vary slightly depending on the person and how long they have been a demon. Then there are the magical abilities which heavily vary from person to person when or if a demon gets strong enough to develop them and can technically be shared by stronger demons. Like for example i have spider abilities and have since i developed them but when i found the rest of my adoptive family they were still too weak to develop their own abilities so i shared mine with them." *Rui explains as he uses one of his demon arts to make the webway more visible and turning it bright red before lifting him up onto the webway*

Venti listened intently and made an 'o' shape with his mouth when he realized Rui being a demon allowed him to lift him with ease. "So only stronger demons have certain powers? Then that means the weaker ones are just human with just a few perks then." He looks on the web they were standing on and was amazed. "Thats very generous of you to share your ability with so many people" he says with a smile "i bet theyre really grateful.'

"Well stronger usually means either ""have been demons for longer than a month"" or ""haven't been starved due to extenuating circumstance"" but aside from being immortal, being immune to diseases and the like, as well as the vast majority of poisons, yes very similar to humans..." *he explains before remembering that he had forgotten to mention that part as well* "ah right, forgot to mention that...demons are also immortal and mostly invulnerable as we only have three fatal weaknesses, also similar to vampires...I have several theories as to why that is but I can explain those later" *he informs you as he starts to lead the way toward where he saw the wisteria bloom and remembering he will more than likely have to ask Douma to handle it for him sooner or later since if it were to spread to far it could effect him as well. Though his family regarding their demon arts coming from him was a bit of an awkward subject considering how rocky everything had been until the last demon slayer raid. Thankfully for all of them Rui had been working hard to better himself and they had decided to follow along in support* "I suppose so, though I have overheard them wondering what theirs would have been had they developed their own...though unfortunately most of them were turned against their will and those who were not turned against their will were tricked like I was...so they weren't exactly ecstatic about being demons in general"

Venti follows closely behind Rui, but made sure there was enough space between the both of them so that they could walk easily "Huh, only three.." he pauses, lowering his gaze as he thought to himself for a moment before speaking again; "I guess thats where the quote 'With great power comes with great responsibility' comes in. With enough strength with a mix of intelligence, you'll be unstoppable." He replies, with a tone of both awe and a slight tinge of concern. As Venti listened quietly to what he said, a certain part stood out to him the most.. "Hm? Most of them? So does that imply that some of them willingly became one?" He slightly tilts his head in curiousity. He wondered just how much greed or desperation one would have to just want to become a demon. "Say.. Rui, were you forced to become a demon?"

"Probably, but that is also why i freaked out when you mentioned running into that man..." *he remembers that in the anxiety of the moment he had neglected to explain that as well* "and those weaknesses are excluding the multi-part curse placed on every demon he has created and only a lucky few, myself and my family included; have managed to get out of unscathed...part of it forbids any demon from saying his name out loud or they will die, and i am refraining from saying it incase it triggers from hearing someone else say his name" *he explains that part as well* "Anyway, thats a bit of a loaded question, those of us who were not turned against our will were tricked into allowing ourselves to be turned in one way or another..." *he explains before sighing and continuing* "Yes and no...I was turned when I was twelve and a half about twenty years ago...I was born sickly and weak but I never got better, if anything the older I got the worse I became...by the time I was eleven I could barely walk across a room without needing to stop and catch my breath or risk falling onto my face...and no treatment or medicine I took ever helped not that the jerk of a so called doctor ever cared to figure anything out as long as he could keep me quiet enough to swindle my parents out of more money, and a few months before I was turned I overheard my parents being told I would be lucky if I made it to my fifteenth birthday and later on overheard that my parents might not have been able to afford a new doctor after the doctor i had all that time was found out to be a scam artist...so when That Man approached me in the middle of a particularly cold night that winter and told me he could make me better in one night, I was desperate and wanted to make my parents happy and relieve their stress...but he did not explain how what he was going to do would make me better until it was to late..." *he explained as he continued leading the way. It was a tragedy to say the least, to have gone through so much at such a young age* "as for the rest who were tricked like I was...they don't like talking about it...Izumi mentioned once that he was told he could use his new strength and speed to save someone dear to him and Father was in a similar situation...Hana tried to tell me once but couldn't get much past her tears besides her reason having something to do with her mother...I overheard Mother say her reason had something to do with an older sibling of hers and Himari doesn't quite remember much besides feeling like she was tricked..."

"Was the curse put on every demon to stop them from telling information? Because I dont see any other reason why the curse would be placed unless theres a reason to." He chuckles. As the conversation went on, his expression turned solemn. He witnessed many fall into deception out of desperation in his lifetime, and one thing knows for sure, noone deserves that kind of fate. "How dare he take advantage of individuals at their weakest.", he thought to himself. "I'm.. sorry to hear that." Venti spoke with an empathetic look on his face. "But even if you've all turned into a demon, you're still humans in a way. For whoever has tasted the joys and sorrows of life in the human realm is human. Whoever has loved and lost, cried with grief, howled with rage at the tragedy of death that eclipses the miracle of life… they are human, too."

"Much like there are multiple parts to it, there are multiple reasons for the curse to be in place...but the majority of it is for keeping all of us on a tight leash...but at-least i'm all better now and free of the curse too" *he listened and nodded, he knew that well and considered all demons as people but at the same time he knew well that plenty were far from human now* "true...however most of us are not fortunate enough to even remember being human...and those of us who do...our lives were filled with tragedy in one way or another..."

"....probably not for the reasons you might be thinking but you aren't wrong..." *Rui noticed as well and wondered why they seemed to shine brighter than usual and tilted his head to the side curiously. He had always liked nighttime especially how beautiful the sky was at night, it was part of the reason he figured he was better off as a demon and part of the reason why he didn't quite understand why Muzan wanted to be able to walk in the sun so badly, from what he remembered when he was human looking outside during the day still hurt his eyes with how bright it was, the sun still burned but it was worse in his opinion because the burning stuck around and the sunburns itched and made his frequent fevers worse, and the sky wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He smiled softly as he received more head-pats* "I think I might be, but it's hard to tell just yet....but I hope so too..." *he came to a stop when he got close enough to the wisteria bloom for it to be clearly visible and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. He could already smell its foul stench from here and tried his hardest not to gag but he was already looking a bit ill. He coughed slightly* "we're close enough..."

"Haha, yeah.. I don't really know him all that much after all. All I know is that hes not someone to be trusted." As they inch closer to the wisteria, he noticed Rui's expression from his peripheral. "Are you okay?" Venti spoke with a look of concern on his face. His left hand moved down to his shoulder as he looked at the wisteria bloom up ahead. Slowly but surely, Venti felt slightly sick from just he scent of wisteria even just from this distance. This might not be a good sign. "Ugh.. has wisteria always smelled this bad..?"

*Rui gulped loudly before speaking and tried not to let the wisteria get to him.* "I'll be fine...just my sense of smell is strong for a demons to make up for my bad vision so the smell is already really strong from over here..." *He had never been around wisteria as a human, his parents knew it produced a lot of pollen in the spring and that it was technically poisonous to humans if to much was ingested and feared it would make him worse so it was avoided even if it could repel demons with its scent alone. So speaking from personal experience he couldn't say, But he knew that it smelled like this to most if not all demons from talking to others and his eyes widened when he heard you speak again* "It's not supposed to smell bad to anyone that isn't a demon....but that depends, what does it smell like to you?" *despite the sinking dread he has to check and make sure it isn't a fluke of Venti being from a different universe that makes it smell bad to him. He sneezed squeakily into his elbow a few times as though his body was trying to avoid smelling it as much as possible*

"I think maybe being at this distance is pretty safe enough. I don't want you to go further in if you're already feeling sick. ..and its definitely gonna get worse if we go further in." Venti clears his throat before speaking once more "As for the smell.. i'm not sure. All I know is that it smells awful." Venti began suspecting that maybe he did turn into a demon, but how would he turn into one without realizing? He lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Does it smell like that weird wet, sickeningly sweet, decaying stench that comes from rotting plants mixed with a really stinky animal pelt?" *he asked, as that was the best way he could explain how it smelled to him.* "there is a safer way to tell but i didn't mention it until now because you would probably think it's gross..." *he explained as he turned to head back home and carefully maneuvering himself so he is in the lead again* "largely because it involves blood"

"Hmm.." he hums, trying to smell the scent again. He coughed and covered his nostrils with his hand "Now that I think about it, yeah it does." "Oh, blood? That doesn't sound too bad. I've seen.. plenty, in my lifetime, haha.." he chuckled nervously. Venti witnessed bloodshed time and time again for thousands of years, and not once has he ever gotten used to it. He turns around to face Rui's back. "Would you mind telling me the alternative?"

"Very concerning...but the alternative is seeing your reaction to a certain type of blood...one that is basically a delicacy for demons..." *he explains as he leads the way back. As he speaks he finds it hard to tell whether or not his mouthwatering is from the thought of getting into that particular type of blood or from speaking too much while still within smelling range of the wisteria.* "hopefully that stink doesn't stick to our clothes..."

"Oh? So its like-- a demon's favorite meal of some sorts then?" He says with curiousity. He follows closely behind Rui on the path back, the smell still lingering in his nose. He smiles as he speaks,"If it does then both of us will be in.. quite the predicament if it does." He chuckles softly. He was amused and horrified at the scenario. A cold breeze passed by, sending shivers down Venti's spine for a second or two.

"I suppose that's one way to put it, but in the way that it is usually reserved for a treat since it isn't common and usually makes us a lot stronger than normal blood does..." *obviously there were certain circumstances where it wouldn't affect a demon as much as it normally would such as a power-plato but one full gallon of marechi blood equalled to about 100 gallons of normal blood in both satisfaction and power gain, so one had to balance it out. Considering it was around dinner time for him and his family of demons it wasn't surprising that Rui was hungry, but he didn't let it show. Introducing a new demon into nightly demon life without freaking them out is already a delicate procedure and he was fairly sure that would be especially so if said potentially/new demon was from an alternate universe* "exactly, that man is already very strong as it is and if you, a literal deity who is literally from a different universe have in-fact been turned into a demon that means that he has managed to get far stronger than anyone alive realizes among other things and could quite literally become a world ending natural disaster..." *he explains as he continues walking before sneezing a couple more times*

His eyes light up from how amazed he was "Ah, so its a rare type of blood? Huh. That sounds interesting." As one mentioned that Muzan was already very strong, Venti couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Its a 50/50 chance that he might've actually turned into a demon, and assuming that demons are usually at his beck and call by force made him even more worried. He lets out a deep sigh "lets just hope the consequences won't be too severe if we did confirm that I indeed turned into one. Being the reason why a dangerous individual has the upperhand.. Its hard to imagine."

"Yes exactly, though not in the sense of actual blood-typing, it's hard to explain outside of some kind of genetic anomaly" *the existence of marechi blood was a mystery he or any other demon had yet to solve, that was to say it was a genetic anomaly that effected all blood types, was notably inconsistent based on familial lines and thus far did not have any external notifiers and the only way a demon could tell if someone had it was by smell and taste. Wondering about it was admittedly making him more hungry so he pushed his wondering aside for the moment to respond* "Hopefully....and there are ways to fix it, so to speak...." *admittedly mentioning this was toeing the line but it was important knowledge. Not long later both of you had returned to the clearing just in time to catch his family heading inside* "we're back"

"Basically a weird thing that happens with people's bodies before they are born that sticks around for the rest of their life either helping or hindering them" *he explains a bit better* "yes kind of, and in the future most likely completely because of an ally of sorts to the demon slayer corp" *he tells you as he helps you to the ground and leads you inside after making sure the scent of wisteria did not stick to either of you. The inside of his house is relatively tidy, if a little dusty. He leads the way to the living room where everyone save for his parents are playing a card game that seems to have the goal of being the first to have no cards in your hand* "Okay, mind waiting here for a moment?"

"Oh, I see.." he hums shorltly afterwards. "I suppose theres still a way to turn the tides." he says, as he silently took in the surroundings. Venti slowed down his pace as his lips curled up into a smile upon noticing Rui's family members enjoying themselves with a game. Though they've probably all gone through hell, he was glad they had their moments of peace, even as a demon. Hes unsure why he cares so much about demons he just met but he didn't think too much of it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it just came naturally to him. Venti shakes his head in a no to Rui's question "I don't mind at all! Take your time."

*It could be any number of reasons, a group of demons playing pretend and house like a group of children making believe, or the fact that they are trying to have some semblance of normalcy despite their circumstances that makes them so pitiable, but either-way they seem content in their moments of peace. Rui nods before scampering off for a minute or two, during which there are multiple near wins before Izumi who gets his hands on the temporarily winning had has to get more cards. Upon his return Rui comes back with two corked, black, ceramic bottles before striding over to an unoccupied couch that, judging by the many sewn on patches; has seen better nights, and takes a seat, gesturing for you to sit by him* "alright lets test this out..." "Eh? What are you up to Rui?" *Masami asked curiously while waiting his turn* "Checking whether or not Venti somehow got turned" "Ah...Did you remember to ask if he ate anything recently?" "........confound it all I knew I was forgetting something, thank you masami" *Rui facepalms at his own forgetfulness* "your welcome- Wait why are we switching hands again i thought nobody- oh someone had a zero card that's why"

Venti chuckles as he watched them play. The smile never left his fsce as he was reminded of his old group of friends millenias ago. Sometimes, he can't believe how long its been since their passing. How long its been since the rebellion. He lost himself in thought before he noticed Rui returning. He looked at the corked ceramic bottles before sitting down next to him. "..hm." he hums in curiousity. "I assume this is the blood you were talking about earlier?"

*Rui nodded in response to your question* "Yes it is, are you ready for this?" *he asked to be sure, he knew from interacting with his siblings when they were newly turned that finding this out could be jarring*

"Ready as I'll ever be." He says with a tone of confidence. The look in his eyes assured that he is prepared for whatever may come. ..even if it does turn out thst hes a demon.

"Alright" *he nods reassuringly before he uncorks the bottle. The all to tantalizing scent flooding the room drawing the curious attention of all of his siblings, causing them to look over and making him bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either downing the entire bottle right away or visibly drooling. Though a not-so-subtle growl from his stomach gave away exactly what he was thinking. He looked over to you to gauge your reaction and readied his mental tally.* "well?"

His eyes lit up at the scent, and savored it every moment he breathed. Venti couldn't tell if he was just hungry but he couldn't help but crave the blood inside. He lightly clenched his fists, and they were slightly shaking too, as if he was resisting the urge to just take the bottle from Rui's hand. "I.." he looked down at the floor before turning his gaze back to the bottle. "Oh archons above., this isnt good."

*Rui quickly re-corked the bottle and tucked it away into his sleeve for now* "agreed...thats two of three..." *not only was this a problem for this universe, but a problem for Venti's as well. He wasn't exactly sure how deities worked in venti's universe but from what he knew having them randomly disappear and then come back with new aspects not of their world, most notably including a taste for flesh and blood, was very bad. Not to mention figuring out how to get him home* "there is one last thing we can check but it will have to wait until tomorrow night as it would be to risky to go outside right now, but for now I have written down important notes for newly turned demons if you are interested in reading that"

He lets out a deep sigh of relief once the bottle was re-corked. The scent slowly but surely disappeared, so did his craving. "Two out of three.. oh dear.." The feeling of dread washes over Venti's mind at those words alone. He puts his hand underneath his chin with furrowed eyebrows. He mumbles to himself; "if demons eat humans and don't like sunlight then.. theres possibly not way that I can return to Mondstadt like this.. I'd end up eating them one by one--" Then, he stopped and focused his mind back onto the present. "Oh.. you.. you do? May I read them?" He says with a slight smile.

*Rui nods before getting up from his seat, walking to a bookshelf, selecting a leather bound notebook and returning to you with it* "This is a compilation of my notes on living as a demon, even if this is hopefully only temporary it's still good knowledge to have incase this lasts longer than expected or hoped." *he heard venti muttering and nodded in agreement, that was how introducing a new demon to a previously demon-free environment usually went.* "that is something else I was worried about..." *he opens the other bottle he had brought with him, while this one contained normal blood it was still enough to make him drool slightly as he quickly, eagerly, drank from the bottle and re-corked it before it drew to much attention.* "however there is good news, much like how i was when i was first turned; you have a surprisingly strong sense of self control, seem to have retained the overwhelming majority of your humanity and memories"

*Rui listened patiently to your questions before answering* "well firstly, thus far I have only heard you say his first name and assuming he didn't tell you his last name that would be for the best until we are sure if you even still have the curse or managed to break it without realizing. Secondly that would be because you are still pretty early into the ""newly turned"" stage so you only have to worry about claws and fangs for now" *he explains before carefully showing off his fangs and claws. Granted his claws are nibbled shorter on the edges out of a nervous habit and painted a bright teal but he shows them off regardless* "see? But yes those are signs of what is definitely the best possible outcome"

"Exactly...now there is a way to tell if you have the curse or not but the question itself may sound a bit..odd to say the least..." *he explains, then taking another long drink from the bottle of normal blood before continuing* "That question being, do you feel like your thoughts are still completely your own and private in your own mind?"

"Oh.. o-oh my. Thats a rather deep question, but in all honesty.." he stops to think for a moment to reaffirm himself that he still does have control of his own mind. "Hmm.. well, I have a strong feeling I do."

"Both parts pf the question are important, it's a good sign that you feel like they are still all your own. Because something HE doesn't tell any of us at first, is that he can read our minds and thinking about him will draw his attention if there isn't anything he deems to be a more pressing matter...." *he explains a bit anxiously. He was trying hard not to freak venti out while not getting himself in trouble* "the best way i can describe the feeling is like the sensation of being watched by a heavy and borderline painful gaze from somewhere behind you but every time you turn around you find that you are the only one around for miles"

As the realization that Muzan can read theor minds, a thought passed through his brain; "Hmm.. would it be funny if he read my intrusive thoughts, i wonder.." After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Noticing Rui became a bit more anxiois as he explained, Venti puts a hand on his shoulder in hopes to provide some sort of comfort. "So its kinda like chasing your own tail in a way?"

*He hated how much talking about this sort of thing made him worry, but it was not without reason. As just talking about what he knew and what could be done to get loose of the curse was almost literally walking a blade's edge. He took a moment to breathe before answering venti's question* "I suppose that could be an accurate comparison...though more often then not lately he has been focused on other matters"

Venti gently rubs his shoulder with his thumb. He could tell there was somehing making him feel tensed while explaining, but decided to not ask. "Phew.." ,he says, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed "i would rather live knowing my thoughts are completely but, i suppose we're gonna constantly run on some 50/50 and hope for the best."

"May as well just come right out and say it then...." *he says and mentally prays to whatever spirits or deities may be listening that muzan isn't* "I know of someone who can check if you even got the curse placed on you and help break it if you did, that same person is also working on a way to turn demons back into humans but thus far it has only made new demons more docile and reduced their cravings to at most a pint of blood a week. Which is more progress than one would think..." *he starts* "however she is considered a fugitive and a traitor because she broke her curse and chose not to defend the demon king while he was being attacked by the most powerful demon slayer to date who has long since passed away. If either of us get caught going to her for help, I don't even want to think of what will happen but it will be as messy as it is deadly."

"Oh, I see." Venti looks down and taps on his lap with his index finger. He hated how their movement is so restricted.. and yet some in the few who were turned into demon willingly became one, which makes him feel perplexed on why. "The situation of being a demon is already far too messy already.. what more if he catches either of us acting against him? And you.." his voice trails ofd, and his expression grows softer as he turns back to Rui "I'd rather you don't get harmed. I'm already putting you at this much risk having you help me.."

"True as that may be, you would probably get lost taking the safest way there. Thankfully the only people who know about the safe way are either friends or family of mine who would never snitch for one reason or other so as far as I know He doesn't know about it. That and I'm the only one who knows the cipher for the signs so if He were to find it the signs would make little sense." *He smiled softly if a bit uneasily, he knew what he was getting himself into when he started sneakily rebelling and as such he should have figured that there would be times where walking on the blades edge was a necessity.* "But the person we need to visit insisted that the safe way there should not lead directly into her rather small but very well hidden territory for security reasons. So we would still need to be sneaky."

"I meaaaannn.. i did get lost a few times before getting to Asakusa.." Venti listened intently to the words that came out of Rui's mouth, almost as if trying to etch them into his mind for future reterence. He lets out a deep, sigh of relief knowing he is unaware about all of this, though it gives all the more reason to be extra careful. "Well, I can see why shes being cautious about its location.. i think we should be fine though." He says, emphasizing the word 'think' before adding on " There shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we know what we're doing."

"One would think that...however other demons have gotten caught and in trouble for far smaller..." *he nods before downing the rest of the bottle he snagged for himself* "shall we get going then? It should be just after moon-rise by the time we get there"

"oh!" He tenses for a moment at the statement and had a visibly nervous expression on his face. Venti shakes his head lightly and had a moment to recompose himself. "We shall. Its best not to waste time after all, ehe."

*Rui stands and walks over to the kotatsu where his siblings were finishing playing their game* "everyone, Venti and I need to get to the tunnels..." *he says drawing their attention.* "Alright, we all need to go get washed up for dinner anyways" *Kaito says agreeably before standing and gesturing for the rest of the siblings to do the same, which they do. Once they were all on their way to the bathroom to wash up Rui pushes the kotatsu across the floor, revealing a trap-door in the cabins floor which he then opens to another trap-door but this one is in the actual dirt below the house, he then opens the second trap door which opens to a large tunnel lit only by a single lantern* "Down here"

Venti soon followed just a second after Rui moved. He turns to his siblings and watched them leave, and decided to give a small wave to say 'bye' silently, even if they didn't notice it at all... Once he heard a trap door opening, he turns his head and focused back to the now-opened entrance. "Hm." Venti hums in response as he nods lightly. He then steps into the tunnel.

*The tunnel itself is actually rather large once you are actually all the way down inside of it, about seven feet tall and seven feet wide. The walls are smoothed around the roots of the plants and ancient trees, but on them grow various plants that need very little light; lichen, moss, mushrooms and a handful of ferns. Rui closes the trap doors behind you both and then grabs the lantern from the one root that it dangles from, ready to lead the way* "not to creepy down here for you is it?"