I didn't sign up for this (Costin)

[Luc DuLac]

The organisation in this school was, frankly, ridiculous, but given some of the tales he'd heard from their parents' days he had to admit they probably had it lucky. Still, it was a pain to have to move rooms just because he'd gone home for a break and they'd accidentally given someone else his room while he was away. 
He couldn't be too angry, even as he struggled to lug his assorted belongings along the corridor towards the room he was now assigned to stay in, if his new roommate snored even half as much as his old one, he'd get a lot more sleep.

He stopped outside the door, realising he could neither check the piece of paper with the room assignment on it nor actually knock on or open the door with all the stuff he was carrying, so he first had to carefully pile it all up behind him before confirming that yes, this was it, he was at the right room. He contemplated just walking in since it was his room now, but decided to start his relationship with his new roommate - Costin Dracula according to the piece of paper in his hand - with a bit of politeness, so he lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

While he waited, he pulled the new key from his pocket and twirled it round his finger, trying to decide how long to wait before he did just unlock the door and head in himself, maybe Costin wasn't even here...

[Costin Dracula]

Costin had been in this room by himself since he'd started university classes, which was quite a while now, and it had never been an issue. He'd always assumed he didn't have a roommate because his fathers either wanted him to have nice things, or more likely, they didn't trust him to be sociable with another human being in such close quarters. Either way, it had been a perfectly good situation up til now, and he had no reason to believe it had changed.

He was at the sink shaving, face half covered in lather, when someone knocked at the door. Costin frowned. He wasn't expecting company (when was he ever, really), and had no idea who might be knocking - the only person who'd ever bothered to come visit him was Gwyn, and she had proven herself to not be limited by such things as inner doors and hallways. He wiped one hand off on the towel he had slung over his shoulder, and made his way to the door, pulling it open cautiously.

"Do you need something?" Costin didn't like to start conversations with may I help you because the person might assume he was actually offering his assistance, which he almost never had any desire to do. "You've probably got the wrong room. If you want to see that boy who's always having other boys over, he's four doors down on the left." He stood there, blocking the doorway, making no motions to get out of the way, shoulders held back and head aloft as if he wasn't standing there with shaving cream on half his face, the other half dripping water.

[Luc DuLac]

So much for making a good impression, he'd clearly interrupted his new roommate mid-shave, and the expression on the other boy's face was... not particularly welcoming. The reason for that became very quickly clear once Costin spoke. He, apparently, had not gotten the memo about the change in accommodation, and therefore had not been expecting Luc at all.

"No I-what?" he glanced to the left, momentarily distracted by the curiosity of who, exactly, Costin was describing, before dragging himself back to the matter at hand "Costin Dracula, right? I have got the right room. I'm your new roommate, Luc Du Lac." he held out the piece of paper that detailed his room change, figuring showing Costin the official proclamation would be the best way of convincing him quickly and giving him the details of what was going on all at once

"I didn't mean to interrupt whatever you were doing," he added, still trying for that good impression "I can just leave you to it and get myself unpacked..."

[Costin Dracula]

If Luc had known Costin, even by reputation, he would know that Costin was never really welcoming, no matter the circumstance. But he wouldn't know that, and Costin certainly wasn't going out of his way to make any exceptions. He stared Luc down, not looking away even when the other boy handed out the paper. He took the paper, but kept his eyes on Luc's face for another solid five seconds before looking down at it.

"That is my name," he confirmed, eyes scanning the paper quickly. Oh, no. Oh, no. This should not be happening, and Costin had trouble accepting that it was. He'd never had a roommate before, why in all the worlds in heaven did he have to start having one now? "But I've never had a roommate." He handed the paper back to Luc, still confused. "Why...did you only just get here? It's an odd time for a switch, isn't it?"

He finally stepped out of the doorway, reluctantly, and mostly only because the lather on his face was drying out and becoming itchy.

"Give me a moment to finish shaving, and I'll...sort this out," he said, a bit impressed with his own forbearance. This Luc person was lucky he hadn't come upon Costin in a worse mood than he already was.

[Luc DuLac]

Luc shrugged, taking the paper back and shoving it in his pocket "It's weird timing, I know, but I get the impression nothing at this school runs logically." he wasn't exactly thrilled about it himself, but he also knew there wasn't a lot they could do about it, he'd rather move on from that and get to the business of unpacking his stuff and maybe getting to know his roommate and seeing if they could maybe tolerate each other.

"Sure," he agreed casually, motioning for Costin to go and finish up with his shaving. Maybe he'd be in a slightly better mood when he came back, or maybe not, either way Luc would have to deal with it. He glanced back at the pile of stuff behind him, contemplating whether to just wait here until Costin got back or whether to start ferrying it into the room.
Deciding that his first instinct was right and nothing could be done, he grabbed one of his cases and dragged it into the room, shoving it over to the side that looked less used.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin went back to shaving, fuming silently to himself as he did so. He had told his fathers in no uncertain terms that he absolutely refused to live with anyone else, and until now, he had never had to deal with anyone trying to go against that. Was he being punished? Was this because of the argument he'd had with Dracula the previous weekend? That had to be it, didn't it?

If his father was trying to punish him by torturing him, Costin would just have to keep him from knowing that it was getting to him. He rinsed his face, and patted it dry with the towel as he made his way back into the main room.

"If we're going to live together," he said, keeping his tone civil, "I need to be forthcoming with you. I have reason to believe that you've been assigned to this room as a direct result of my father attempting to torment me. If I am able to pacify him, you'll probably be assigned elsewhere, so you may not want to get too comfortable." He paused, dropping the towel onto the back of a chair. "Luc, was it? I've mostly used that side of the room, I've only got a few things over here. The rest is...you can put your things there."

[Luc DuLac]

Luc raised an eyebrow at the blunt explanation. He had no idea if that was even possible, but given how powerful some of the previous students of this school had been and how lax the organisation seemed to be, it also didn't seem completely impossible. He didn't particularly want to move again but he was laid back enough to go with the flow so he shrugged.

"Fine by me." he nodded, heading back out into the hall to grab all his other stuff and dropping it onto the spare bed so he could unpack.

"So, your father sounds like a stand up guy," he commented as he pulled shirts from one of his cases and shoved them into a drawer "I know what that's like."

[Costin Dracula]

Good, he wasn’t fussing about it. Costin could only hope that he would still be that easy-going when he had convinced his fathers that this roommate situation was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and Luc had to move right back out again. To prove how enthusiastic he was, he grabbed one of the various items Luc had brought into the room and moved it about two feet to the left.

“Did your father force you to come to school here too?” he asked, curious in spite of himself. He leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms and watching as Luc unpacked his things. “Because it’s...well, I hate it here, but there are a few redeeming qualities.”

He glanced around the room, wondering if he should lay down some roommate guidelines or something. “If you like wine, I have some nice bottles, just let me know if you take anything so I can make sure to replace it.”

[Luc DuLac]

Luc glanced at the item Costin had moved and looked confused, wondering what the purpose of that had been. He didn't really want to question it because he wanted to try and keep this relationship as smooth as possible, but he also wondered if there was something about where he'd placed it that caused some kind of offense. He decided to leave it for now, hoping he'd figure it out later, and just focusing on his unpacking instead.

"Not so much," he admitted in return, glancing over at Costin briefly "I actually came here to get away from my parents more or less." he shrugged. Lance had been the one to suggest the school, although with Tristian going Luc would have just turned up here anyway, but the only reason Luc agreed was because it got him away from both Lance and his insane mother.

"I do like wine," he agreed with a hint of a smile, sensing an opportunity to build a bridge here "I'll have to ask my grandparents to send over some bottles from their vineyard in France to add to your collection, as a ... new roommate gift or whatever."

Most of his stuff was unpacked fairly quickly, the last things to come out of his bag was a cross that he intended to hang over the bed, and a string of rosary beads that he placed on the bedside table.

[Costin Dracula]

"I hate it here," Costin said again, as if he hadn't made that clear enough. "It's...difficult to feel as if you belong, sometimes, but...you know, if you wanted to come here, it might be different for you. You've probably got a lot of things you want to do."

He was a little caught off-guard by Luc's mention of a "new roommate gift" - that was unexpected. Costin had been cool and not particularly welcoming, and here Luc was, talking about getting him a gift. Costin shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to owe anyone anything, and having someone give you a gift in exchange for making them feel unwanted and unwelcome certainly sounded like a good way to be indebted to them. That wouldn't do at all.

"Why don't I..." Costin stopped short, nearly choking on his next words. "What is that?" he said, pointing at the cross. Costin himself had no physical aversion to crosses or holy things, obviously, but...well, when you were raised the way he was, there were some things you just...didn't like, and holy relics were one of them. Just like fire, and sharp pointy wooden objects. "Are you a priest?" he demanded, taking a step back in spite of himself.

"Or...oh, did your mother send you here with that?" Play it cool, Costin, he told himself, although he was already not doing anything of the sort.

[Luc DuLac]

"I can understand that feeling," Luc nodded "But yea, it's somewhat different for me, it's just nice to be away from my parents." there was obviously some resentment towards his parents from Costin, but it seemed to be focused around them sending him here, at least from their conversation so far, rather than something as deep seated as what Luc felt about his - still, that was something they had in common, which was a start.

"This?" he glanced down at the cross, startled momentarily by Costin's dramatic reaction. It was something along the lines of how Merlin or Mordred tended to react to his faith. "No, I'm not a priest, though I have considered... never mind," that wasn't important "I am a Christian, but if it's a bother to you I'm happy not to put it up," he moved to put it back into his bag even as he spoke, it was so obviously an issue for Costin.

[Costin Dracula]

"No, no, no," Costin said, hurriedly. Too late, he realized that this was probably a test from his fathers, too. Sending a boy in here with a cross. Honestly, it was so painfully obvious now that he thought about it. It was a test, to see if he could get along with...even...Christians and their dangerous relics. Of course. "It's alright, I was just surprised, because...well, you see, I'm Christian too, and..."

Costin. Costin Miguel Dracula. What are you doing? Are you going to pretend to be Christian now? But...only in front of your roommate?

"I wasn't expecting that they'd have found someone who would get along so well with my personal interests," he finished smoothly. "I didn't mean to alarm you, I was just pleasantly surprised, that's all." He took a step forward and reached out to stroke the cross with one hand lovingly, the way one might pet an animal they were concerned might bite them. "Good...good old cross. Mine's...out being cleaned."

[Luc DuLac]

Luc raised an eyebrow at Costin's hurried reaction, he wanted to assure the boy that he really didn't mind, his faith was his own business so the last thing he wanted to do with it was to make anybody else uncomfortable, but before he'd got the chance to speak Costin was explaining that he was Christian too? And...stroking his cross... well. He'd met some odd Christians in his time but that was something else.

"Right... well, if you're sure..." he said slowly, gently but firmly drawing the cross away from Costin's weird petting and turning to hang it on the hook over his bed.

"Do you go to the church in the city? Father Michael's a pretty good priest, I was pleased to find someone so understanding here, I'd been worried when I had to leave my old church back home, it's probably the only thing I miss other than my siblings." he said conversationally, dropping back down onto his bed. It was also a bit of a test of the nature of his christianity, father Michael at the little chapel in Trenale was a rather liberal man with modern views that aligned rather well with Luc's, he was the kind of priest, in fact, that would have horrified his mother.

[Costin Dracula]

"I haven't found a church here yet," he shook his head. "My family have a...complicated relationship with the church, you see, we've...worshiped on our own back at home for a long while. My fathers were never good at living under the supervision of anyone, including the church."

Costin vaguely had a memory of a time when he'd been about nine years old...Tulio and Dracula had come home in the middle of the night and told him that they were leaving town. They'd grabbed a few belongings and had rushed out of the house, and as they flew over the countryside, he had seen the angry mob coming up the road towards their house. "Are those visitors?" Costin had asked, and Dracula had snorted and said "No, that's the priest and his minions come to redecorate the house with crosses." Costin couldn't remember if Tulio had laughed, but he himself hadn't understood the joke until a couple of years later.

"What do you...why were you worried about the church?" he asked, although he was all but certain it couldn't be for the same reasons Costin was uneasy around churches. "Just because you loved your old church that much?"

[Luc DuLac]

"I understand that," Luc nodded sympathetically, assuming their situation was similar to his own back home - it had been unpleasant trying to practice his faith when he'd been surrounded in church by people like his mother, but once he'd found a church of his own it was a lot better. Technically he wasn't wrong, the kind of people Costin's family had trouble with were Christians of his mother's sort, it's just the nature of those problems was a little different.

"Sort of," he admitted, "I suppose I just... prefer to have a church to go to, a priest to discuss my faith with, that kind of thing. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find a good church here, that it would just be like my mother's church back home, full of... well, you know the type, all holier-than-thou and yelling about sin every five seconds and paying more attention to the old testament to anything Christ himself actually had to say."