Never Thought I'd Be In a Place Like This (Costin)

[lucdulac]

Luc headed into the only diner still open looking sleepy, which was hardly surprising considering how late at night it was, and that he'd worked two shifts today, one at each job - he didn't technically need to have two jobs, but he refused to accept anything from his parents, no matter how much he might need it, so the two jobs it was.

He ordered some disgustingly fatty meal with barely a glance at the menu, suggesting this was a fairly commonplace occurance, and got comfortable in his chair while he waited for his food - so comfortable, in fact, that he started to drift off to sleep, his head falling back into a position that made him start to snore just slightly.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin hated that he had to eat. There were very few foods he actually enjoyed, a fact which he attributed solely to the massive lack of tasty things to eat in the house while he'd been growing. Food had seemed like an afterthought to his fathers - after all, they didn't eat it. He hadn't ever been in danger of starving, but it was hard to enjoy a good family meal when you were the only person in the house who ever ate food...dinner parties, to his fathers, meant some "outing" they'd go off on while Costin sat at home and brooded over the fact that he couldn't fly with them.

Eating pretty much put him in a bad mood regardless of what he was consuming. When he did it (which he did have to do at least once every day or so), he made sure he at least did it at night. He figured he might as well get used to it, since he would hopefully be feeding at night for the rest of eternity.

There was some terribly slothful boy sitting at a table, and after ordering his own food, Costin took a seat nearby. How dreadful, he thought, that people would sleep and eat in the same pathetic location.

He reached over and gave Luc's table a mild shake.

"Pardon me," he said, "but you're making the sound of a tractor. I wonder if I could trouble you to desist?"

[lucdulac]

Luc was only dozing really, so the shaking table was more than enough to make him sit-up in surprise, the sleep taking a second or two to fall from his mind as he looked around in confusion.

"A tractor?" He repeated, bemused, until he realised who it was that had spoken and the rest of the pieces fell into place. He'd fallen asleep, he must have been snoring - it wasn't a commonplace occurance, but it happened especially often when he was sleeping somewhere that wasn't a bed - and the young man at the other table had taken offence to the noise.

"Sorry," he apologised easily, straightening up a little in his seat "Been a long day."

[Costin Dracula]

Yes, a tractor. That was the right word, wasn't it? In Costin's world, a tractor was an agricultural apparatus, a hovercraft with tilling blades attached to it that plowed land so lesser people could farm on it. It made a loud whirring sound, quite a lot...all right, a little...like the noise Luc had just been making.

He was pleasantly surprised that the boy did not give him a lot of attitude, even in response to what some people would have had a fit over. Because of Luc's less-than-inflammatory response, Costin decided to cut him some slack. A very small bit.

"Perhaps you ought to return to the dormitories and rest?" he suggested. It was the most helpful thing he could think of to say. "After you've finished your dinner, of course."

[lucdulac]

The other boy didn't seem inclined to explain himself, but perhaps he simply assumed Luc was offended by the word and not confused by it, he would have to look it up later, probably some technology he hadn't encountered yet, there was a lot of it around.

Given the irritable awakening, Luc was pleasantly surprised when Costin's response to his apology was relatively civil, making him wonder if perhaps he'd run into somebody half decent - he did like a bit of company as he ate.

"Oh, I'll be heading there soon enough, don't worry." He flashed a lopsided grin "Food then sleep has been my plan for hours now."

After a moment's pause, he decided to try out his company idea and extend the conversation.
"What brings you here so late?"

[Costin Dracula]

"I like the night," Costin said, untruthfully. He hated the night. He hated darkness and the feeling of danger that he got when he was in it, and he hated it most of all because it should have been his world. He should have been able to walk down any dark street and be not afraid of the danger, but be the danger that lurked in the shadows. "I prefer to do all of my eating at night."

Or not at all, but as it turned out, his body wasn't terribly keen on the idea of subsisting only on blood. Yes, he'd tried it. Don't ask.

"Your plans seem to have rearranged themselves," he observed. "Why are you here so late, then, if we're exchanging life stories?" Unnecessary sarcasm, the first weapon in Costin's arsenal of things that put people off and made them avoid him. Just a little bit of annoyance, nothing terribly rude. Just enough to make people uncomfortable.

[lucdulac]

Ok, that was a little bit weird, but Luc wasn't particularly judgemental, and besides, you sort of expected to meet the slightly odd people this late at night - it made for much more interesting conversations, in Luc's experience.

"Clearly my body wanted both as soon as possible." He chuckled a little, shrugging "As long as I do get both, I suppose it doesn't make much difference which order they happen in."

The tone made Luc raise an eyebrow a little, but he was polite enough and he had been asked, so he brushed it off - figuring that if Costin was being deliberately caustic and rude, it would be a better retaliation to ignore it and continue on cheerfully, that usually annoyed people.

"I've just finished work."

[Costin Dracula]

"The human body is weak," Costin reflected impulsively. It wasn't an insult...after all, he was stuck in a human body himself, but as soon as he said it, he was sure Luc might take it that way...and would probably respond by pointing out Costin's own weakness.

"What sort of work do you do?" he asked, not because he cared, just to divert attention away from his previous statement. Luc didn't know it, but he'd probably taken the easier road in dealing with Costin. Non-confrontational was the way to go...either that or witty enough to confuse him.

"Order ninety-six," called the attendant at the cash register, and Costin glanced over at Luc.

"Is that your food?" he asked, nodding towards the items that had just been placed on the counter.

[lucdulac]

Luc quirked an eyebrow at that, Costin made it sound like he wasn't human... which, he supposed, was sort of possible at this school, he'd heard there were all sorts of people here. Still, he didn't really know how to respond to that sentence - especially since he didn't really agree with it, the human body could do a hell of a lot if it really worked at it.

Luckily, Costin changed the subject and Luc didn't feel the need to go back to the previous, so he figured he'd just answer the question.

"I work the checkout at a late night grocery." He explained "And I'm a lifeguard."
The former was a bit of a dull job, but you did get some interesting people in that late, and the latter could get a little annoying but he actually rather enjoyed it most of the time.

"Oh, looks like." he added, heading to the counter to grab his food. Once he'd sat back down again, he tucked in with gusto.

[Costin Dracula]

Two jobs? Wasn't he just the little industrious sort? Costin didn't even have one job, and he didn't intend to get one, either. He didn't need money. Money was for people who wanted to buy things, and people who bought things generally wanted to keep them (unless it was food, but Costin had plenty of money for food). Costin didn't want to start accumulating a lot of useless possessions until he'd seen much more of the universe, until he was ready to find some place he could call home amongst the stars.

"Save any lives today?" he asked, though he didn't know which job Luc had actually come from. Fortunately, they called his number next, and he slid out of his seat, heading over to the counter to retrieve his food before coming back.

"I hate food," he commented.

[lucdulac]

"Not today." He smiled a little in between mouthfuls. In truth he didn't exactly 'save lives' often, it wasn't the kind of high-risk environment that shows like baywatch might have made it out to be, he mostly just told people to stop running in the pool, mopped up the occasional cut and scrape and very, very occasionally pulled a floundering kid out of the adult pool.

When the next comment came, Luc actually paused, veggie burger halfway to his mouth for another bite, and looked curious.

"You hate food?" He asked, raising an eyebrow "Why?"
What was to hate about food?

[Costin Dracula]

Why did Costin hate food? Because he had to eat it. Because it limited him. He couldn't just up and go anywhere he wanted without money or supplies because eventually he would have to feed his ridiculous growling stomach.

"Because it's stupid," he explained, stuffing a bite of food into his mouth that didn't support that claim in the slightest. "I hate having to eat it. There are so many better things I could be doing with my time. Imagine if you weren't dependent on food, all the things you could do, all the limitations you could avoid."

He didn't expect Luc to understand. No one really could, unless they understood the things Costin wanted instead of food and humanity. Especially not this boy, who was a life guard who didn't really guard lives.

[lucdulac]

Food was 'stupid'? That was... he was glad Costin actually continued, because otherwise the statement was just ridiculous. Luc couldn't quite understand it as it was - in a place like this, he supposed, there were better things to be doing than eating this garbage, where even the vegetarian options weren't remotely healthy or particularly tasty, but there were some foods... particularly desserts... that were definitely, definitely worth the time it took both to prepare and consume them.

Still, Luc didn't like to judge where he could avoid it (sometimes it just happened, automatically), and even though he didn't understand it, he was sure it made sense to Costin and that was all that mattered, really, so he nodded as if he got what the other boy was saying.

"It's certainly an interesting idea, I take it you'd prefer to be that way?"