The Stars Say Bite Me (Costin)

[dominic]

Dominic liked the astronomy tower, it was much less crowded than the library and it contained a whole other wealth of knowledge.
Plus he was pretty sure Dominique didn't know where it was, and as much as he really loved his twin, she made it very difficult to concentrate on his academics.

He had tucked himself in the corner with a pile of books, hidden away so that if anybody did come up here that might leave without bothering him, as today's stack was a particularly interesting mix of vampire lore (and, a guilty pleasure, one or two fictional vampiric works), which he intended to devour - pun not intended - until it was dark enough for him to engage in stargazing. A pasttime he'd always enjoyed, since it was one he could do late at night, on his own, when his father wasn't around to wonder why he wasn't doing something more manly, and one he was thrilled to continue here at Tintagel now that he'd actually got access to a telescope.

[Costin Dracula]

When Costin looked at the stars, he thought of things that were slipping out of his grasp. Every single day marked another twenty-four hours he could never get back, one more day older and nothing to stop it from continuing the same until he was old and past the age at which he'd even want to remain alive. His fathers had seen the stars. They had been far beyond this solar system and many others, and they could do so any time they wanted - they were quick, they were deadly, and they had all the time in the universe to do with what they pleased.

But sometimes, when Costin was in a particularly optimistic mood (which didn't happen often) the stars left him with a sense of hope instead of despair, gave him a little spark of perseverance, told him that maybe...maybe someday, he could change either Tulio or Dracula's mind and have what he wanted so badly.

At any rate, his interest in the astronomy tower was nothing academic. It was purely personal, something he could do in order to go about the thing he did the best - sulking over his woeful conditions. He ascended the stairs into the astronomy tower in a questionably good mood (and for Costin, "good mood" meant "not sulking like a petulant child"). That good mood was quickly sullied by the fact that there was clearly someone else occupying the space.

Costin wasn't the sort to say "oh, I'm so sorry, let me just move out of your way, I didn't realise anyone was here" so instead, he cast a disapproving glance in the direction of the corner.

"Are you staying here long, then?" he asked, in a tone that made it quite clear he hoped that was not the case.

[dominic]

For a moment, it seemed like Dominic wasn't going to respond to Costin's statement, until it belatedly filtered into his brain that somebody had just spoken, at which point he looked up from his copy of a thick, heavy book entitled simply 'vampire'.
He seemed slightly put-out that somebody had interrupted his reading, but he tried to put a polite face on it after a moment - basically as soon as he realised he ought to.

"Well, I don't know, it depends how you define 'long'" He said thoughtfully, he wasn't used to really speaking to people that often, so he tended to be just a little long-winded. "Not to mention I'm not actually certain how long I will stay, I hadn't particularly planned a timescale, I simply came to read until it was dark enough to look at the stars, and then I would, well, of course, stargaze... Am I somehow in your way?" He looked around the observatory as if trying to find some way he was inconveniencing Costin.

[Costin Dracula]

It was funny, the things people said around Costin, things they'd probably never comprehend the irony of. They used figures of speech that made him smile for reasons they'd never know. Like this fellow, talking about how one might define the word "long" whilst reading a book about vampires, speaking to the adopted son of two of said creature. Yes, that was a bit of irony, and Costin appreciated irony, almost enough to momentarily overlook the irritation of having his perfectly sulky evening ruined by this child.

"No," he had to admit. It would be silly to perpetuate the claim that Dominic was really in his way, there was clearly enough room for both of them in the room. It would be obvious that he was being rude, and...well, he just wasn't in the mood to be outstandingly rude at the moment. "Just try not to talk too much. I'm pondering the mysteries of the universe."

When other people said things like that, they were usually being facetious. Costin was one hundred percent serious.

[dominic]

"Oh, you needn't worry about that," Dominic assured him, perfectly pleasantly "I get terribly absorbed in my studies, you see, in fact it's quite likely I'll entirely forget you're here."

He said it in such an encouragingly cheerful way that it was hard, for a moment, to spot how that might be taken as an insult, and it took Dominic a second to realise it himself.

"Oh! I mean, not that you're forgettable, simply that I get very... focused. Please, go on with your contemplation, don't mind me at all."
There was no hint that he thought Costin was anything other than entirely serious about his intention, because as far as he was concerned, pondering the mysteries of the universe was a perfectly logical and, indeed, rather entertaining pasttime, he could completely understand why somebody might come up here to do just that.

[Costin Dracula]

Terribly absorbed in his studies. Oh, he was one of those sorts. Then he told Costin that he'd forget he was there, which was not what Costin was worried about - rather, he sort of hoped that he might be able to forget Dominic was there instead of the other way around. Especially when the boy started blabbering on.

"I won't," he said, "mind you at all, that is." He couldn't help wondering what this boy was into, what he was reading or smoking that he thought Costin was actually serious about his contemplation of the universe. "I have to tell you, though, I'm afraid I've misled you with my previous statement. I am not here to contemplate the mysteries of the universe, which I can do quite as well back in my own room without worrying about being interrupted."

Of course, as soon as he said that, he felt obligated to come up with some kind of explanation as to why he was here, which irritated him no end because Costin loathed feeling obligated to anyone at all.

"I came here to despair over my existence," he said, matter-of-factly.

[dominic]

It wasn't that Dominic was mean, as such, he was just a little more interested in books than people most of the time, so while he didn't let it show in his face he was actually feeling just as impatient with Costin as the other boy was with him. He had come here to read, and then to stargaze. The latter didn't seem all that possible if he wanted to avoid getting in Costin's way, and the former was something he'd be happy to get back to if only he wasn't required to continue the niceties of conversation.

"I see." He said eventually, once Costin had come clean about his true intentions "Well, actually, I'm not sure I do, but that is because I don't know you, and thus couldn't say what it was about your existance that was particularly worthy of despair. But please, as I say, don't mind me at all, I don't intend to move from this spot until the conditions are apt for stargazing, I shan't be a bother to you."