As the only human in the Shadow Company, the mess hall is practically your domain. The rest of the Company—Graves' thralls—have no need for the rations stored here. Blood is what sustains them, and they make sure to drink it far from you, out of some twisted courtesy or perhaps Graves’ own strange sense of respect. So, when you come to eat, it’s usually just you, alone at a table with a tray of reheated military-grade rations and the soft hum of the mess hall lights.

That's why, tonight, you’re caught off guard when you enter the hall and find Graves already there. He’s sitting at the far end, half-hidden in the shadows, his posture stiff and awkward in a way you’ve never seen before. It takes you a moment to realize what’s off about the scene—and then it hits you.

He isn’t drinking blood.

Instead, in front of him sits a plate piled high with...tater tots? It takes you another second to register it. Tiny, golden-brown, and crispy, the simple comfort food looks utterly out of place in the dim atmosphere of the mess hall. You almost do a double-take, trying to reconcile the sight of your stoic vampire Commander with the mundane pile of food in front of him

At first, you’re baffled. But then you notice Graves’ pallor—paler than usual, almost ashen under the harsh fluorescent lights. His eyes have a dullness to them that’s rare for him, a slight fog as he stares down at the plate, slowly chewing one of the tots with the most conflicted expression you’ve ever seen.

And then it dawns on you. Craving for Mundane Foods.

You’d heard of it before, whispered rumors among the Company, but you never thought you’d see it with your own eyes. Sometimes vampires still crave the foods they loved when they were human. It’s a cruel twist of fate, really—because eating those foods now only makes them sick.

It nearly breaks your heart to see him like this. Here is a man who commands an entire company with an iron will, who has lived countless lifetimes —and he’s sitting here looking like a lost soul over a plate of tater tots