[b]"Mmm,"[/b] was Gerard's only response to Maria's directions. The summons have been swift, and the matter had to be urgent, but there was no real difference in him being there, compared to just waiting back at the estate for the Sister to summarize the meeting's minutes. Well, no. Something something he [i]was[/i] the representative of the Catholic Church and the Vatican, so he sorta had to be there for stuff, huh. Gerard let out a sigh, his gaze lingering towards the dark clouds and the million drops. His first couple of weeks had been quite disheartening, really. No one spoke the King's English, or French, or German, or even Latin, and while some demon slayers were alright, it looked like most of them wanted him to just stay out of the way. The rooms always felt too small to accomodate him, and even he, dim-witted as he was, was beginning to wonder if people wanted to spar with him only because he was the one readily-available individual who had the countenance of their vampires: big, strong, white. Wasn't really fun, and they didn't do too well for meat and wine here either, the clearer, sharper [i]sake[/i] being aromatic and wonderful the first couple of times...until the novelty wore off and he began to thirst for sweeter brews. What man of Gerard's size could sustain himself with rice and fish alone? None, that was what. They were built in the image of God, after all, not the image of cattle. He slapped his stomach, wondering if the accompanying sound was any different from when he first landed upon the shores of this island-nation. Couldn't tell. Maybe he should just stop thinking about it so much. So he did. The rain fell hard, splattering against the tiled roof of the Storm Pillar's Estate. There were traces of ruination here, hidden behind a veil of falling water. Standing by the exit behind Maria's back, Gerard marvelled at each individual stream that fell down. Everything was damp, everything was humid, but the coldness was refreshing and the drops were gentle whenever the wind opted to push them towards him. The conversation that they held in the meeting room wasn't so quiet as to be impossible to eavesdrop into, but the content was hard to make out. They were speaking formally, and they were using big words too, at a comfortable, swift pace that made every one of those words melt together into a slurry of vowels. Something about Japan, Pillars, seppuku, and demons. Pillars in Japan committing seppuku once all the demons were slain? Couldn't really agree with that himself. He snuck a glance back towards the assembled Pillars, but none of them looked queasy at the prospect of ritualistic suicide. Then again, they probably weren't aware that they'd spend an eternity damned to the lake of fire for doing so. Gerard stopped thinking about that too. Pointless speculation and all. Instead, opting to kill some time with conversation, he turned to the demon slayer to the right, a sorta goofy smile on his meaty face. [b]"Good night,"[/b] Gerard said, with a shallow bow of his head. [b]"I am Gerard. Good weather, ne?"[/b]