I didn't sign up for this (Costin)

[Costin Dracula]

This was a mistake. Costin wasn't even five minutes into this mistake and he knew it was a mistake. What did he even know about churches? He'd never set foot in one that he could remember, not in his entire life. It wasn't as if his parents would have taken him to one, what with being unable to go into them and all. He'd seen pictures, though, so...he just had to remember what the inside of a church was like.

"Ah yes, um...they're much more interested in the...demons," he agreed, nodding. "Last time I went, it was just...you know, demons, demons, demons. Don't climb on the benches, Costin, the demons will flog you. Don't splash in the holy water, Costin, the demons will torture you at night. You know." He shook his head. "It's just not about the message at all anymore, it's such a shame. I'd just rather stay at home and...sing hymns about...the...revelation?"

[Luc DuLac]

It was hard to get Luc to laugh, he was such a relaxed person that normally he engaged in smirks or amused snorts, occasionally somebody might get a wry chuckle, but honest to god laughing? Not so much. Smiles, yes, laughing, no.
Costin made Luc laugh. Out loud and everything. Was it because what Costin was saying was so ridiculous? Unexpectedly, no.

"I know what you mean," he nodded with a smile "The stuff my mum used to come out with sometimes about demons and devils coming to torture little boys who didn't eat all their breakfast because it was a sin. Walking mud through the house? Sin. My sister reading books? Sin. My sister being within twenty feet of a boy? Sin. Taking too long to get ready for church? That's a sin. It's wonder how she managed to claim she was so pious when even breathing seemed like a sin sometimes."

"Hymns are my fun when there's a lot of people around, for me," Luc nodded easily, though he did look a little confused by Costin's apparent preferences "And I prefer the more uplifting ones, you know, talking about all the good god has done and that kind of thing."

[Costin Dracula]

This was getting even more ridiculous as the conversation progressed. Costin had been worried that his examples of demon-threats were a little extreme, but compared to all of Luc's examples of sin, that was just...well, it almost seemed like being flogged by a demon for climbing on church benches was a normal state of affairs. But...best to forge onward, and try not to look surprised.

"Twenty feet seems a bit conservative," he agreed. "Surely...well, she conceived you and your sister at some point, didn't she? Was that a sin as well?" Maybe he would write a letter home telling his fathers that he'd converted, along with a manifesto of all the sins he believed he'd committed. Or with all the sins they'd committed. That would certainly serve them right, wouldn't it?

"What good has he done for you?" Costin couldn't help asking, leaning on the arm of the couch. "I mean, if you had to choose a favorite hymn about the good, which one would you say you relate to the most?"

[Luc DuLac]

"And my little brother," Luc agreed "But they're married you see, so it's different, it's proper then. As long as you only do it to produce children and never for pleasure because that's sinful." he rolled his eyes "Which to be honest completely suits my father, he has no particular love for my mother anymore but she refuses to divorce him because god wouldn't allow it. That's probably why he spends so much time in Camelot instead of at home." he shrugged. He hadn't meant to spill his whole life story, but Costin was easy enough to talk to, even if he was a little weird. What kind of Christian was he anyway? Or more likely, what kind of Christians were the churchgoers where he came from?

"Well there's a lot, I like the ones that talk about the beauty in the world, because it really is stunning sometimes, sunrises and mountains and that sort of thing. Some people like to think man is god's greatest creation, but honestly the world is so much more stunning than anything man has ever done." he paused for a moment "Although some men..."
Tristian, for example, Luc would probably consider god's greatest achievement, but he wasn't sure if that counted as blasphemy. He'd have to ask Father Michael on Sunday.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin wondered for a moment how absolutely appalled Luc would be if he just played the "my parents are murderous gay vampire lovers" card, but decided he was in far too deep to drop that on the table now. No, if he brought that out now, Luc would think he'd just been mocking him all this time, which...well, he hadn't, really. All this church stuff was certainly amusing, but he was mostly just trying to get along with the roommate he was so sure his fathers had requested just to annoy him. Every minute that went by, though, he grew a little more concerned that he wasn't going to be able to pull it off.

The beauty in the world, eh? Was that what hymns were about? He was going to just have to take Luc's word on that one. He'd heard a few things - the first verse of that Amazing Grace song, an Ave Maria here and there, but nothing that really gave him much of a clue what they were about besides just general...oh, look, there is god, god is mighty, that sort of thing.

"Sunrises and mountains," he said, trying to remember songs about sunrises and mountains. "Rocky Mountain High, that's a good one, isn't it?" He was pretty sure that was not a hymn, but it might pass for a decent joke.

[Luc DuLac]

"I don't think I know that one," Luc admitted, ruining the joke entirely "But we're probably from very different worlds so I imagine we've both heard a lot of different hymns. You should come to the church sometime, we sometimes share hymns from our own worlds with each other, it can be kind of fun... for some people," he added with a wry smile "I'm aware a lot of people wouldn't find that fun. And obviously only if the church suits."

He was pretty much done unpacking now so he settled back on the bed, deciding to change the subject a little - he didn't want his roommate to think all he talked about was religion after all, even to other religious people that could get tiresome after a while.

"What is your world like?" he asked curiously instead

[Costin Dracula]

See, this was why Costin never tried to tell jokes. They never really worked out, usually because of something he said, but in this case, because his new roommate was apparently taking him very seriously, which was also something people almost never did. Going to church with this boy seemed like the worst idea he could possibly conceive of, even worse than this conversation.

"That sounds delightful," he said, for reasons completely unknown to himself and probably anyone else in all the universes. "I could bring along a few hymns from home." Good, now he was going to have to either look up some hymns on the internet, or worse, write them himself, and he just couldn't imagine that going over well with anyone. When Luc looked to be relaxing on the bed, Costin finally sat down on the couch itself.

"My world..." he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "My world is vast, it is not one world, but many. I have lived on three different worlds in my life. Imagine a world for every star, a bridge between them all...that is the world I come from."

[Luc DuLac]

Luc looked pleased, it wasn't often that he found somebody who not only understood his faith but also didn't seem to want to make fun of it, even wanted to join in! Perhaps this roommate change had been a blessing in disguise, and their initial rocky start had smoothed out very quickly.
"I'll let you know next time we're doing it," he nodded. Still, it was good to change the subject and learn a little bit more about Costin, and he was especially interested when he got the description. Admittedly, it might be a little more poetic and maybe just a touch pretentious, but it was still fascinating.

"That sounds pretty amazing," he replied "You must have had a chance to see a lot, were the worlds all very different or similar to each other? I've just lived in Albion all my life, the only place I ever got to travel before I came here was to Camelot..."

[Costin Dracula]

"I've seen...so many things," Costin said, a little nostalgia creeping into his voice. As tumultuous as his childhood had been, he definitely had been given some opportunities that other people couldn't have even dreamed of. He had seen the sunrise on probably a hundred worlds in his lifetime, every one of those sunrises spent utterly alone. There were foods he had tried, things he had seen that he couldn't begin to describe in mere words, but...Costin thought he would trade all of it for the one thing he wanted the most.

He realized that he had been thinking all of this, and hadn't actually done much in the way of answering Luc's question, and he leaned forward a little, his eyes still distant.

"Every world is different," he said. "Some of them are more alike than others, but...every one has something that sets it apart, some food, some...gravitational anomaly, something." He swallowed, discovering that he was suddenly very homesick for no place in particular. "What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen?"

[Luc DuLac]

Luc listened to what Costin had to say in a hushed silence, he could see from the look in Costin's eyes that he'd summoned up some memory or emotion that had an effect on the other boy, though it was hard to tell whether that effect was positive or negative.

"It all sounds wonderful," he finally said genuinely, voice remaining gently almost as though he didn't want to startle Costin out of whatever reverie he'd fallen into. The question gave him pause, he wanted to think about it seriously, after the answer he'd gotten from Costin he didn't want to reply with something glib.

"Dragons," he finally said "I was once at court and I saw a dragon taking flight, I was standing on the battlements and it flew past me, so close I could almost touch it." What he really wanted to say was Tristian, but that would be rather obvious. Still, he'd give up every glorious sight in the world in favour of spending time with Tristian.

[Costin Dracula]

Half the time, Costin wasn't even sure if his own emotions were positive or negative, so it certainly wasn't a discredit to Luc that he wasn't quite able to tell what was going on there. That was especially the case when it came to memories centered around his parents - which almost all of his memories were (vampires just were not very good at the normal parent activities, like taking their child to the park to socialize with other children his age, or ensuring that he got a solid formal education).

He had seen many things with his parents, but he had never seen dragons, and when Luc mentioned them, it caught him a little off-balance. His eyes went a little wide as he listened to Luc describe the experience.

"Do they really breathe fire?" Costin asked. His mind immediately went to the thought of how his parents would feel about dragons, whether they were something he ever would have eventually seen had Dracula and Tulio continued to take him around the universe instead of sending him off here. "I've never seen one. I don't think they existed on any of the worlds I've visited, but...I think I would love to see one."

[Luc DuLac]

"They do," Luc nodded, "It's pretty impressive. Merlin, he's the King's advisor, he can control them, so they don't tend to attack anywhere in Albion. There's only a few left now, the old king had a lot of them killed." he stopped himself before he went into too long an explanation of Camelot's history, while he knew some of it was pretty interesting he also knew that not all people cared.

"I think they might exist here? Some of them?" he said thoughtfully, trying to recall some of the stories he'd heard about this place back when his father was here. He unfortunately didn't always pay the most attention, especially when it was his father speaking.

[Costin Dracula]

Someone could control dragons. Well, wouldn't that be a handy skill to have? Costin imagined, for a moment, controlling a dragon, bringing it home with him to Antares 4, having it swoop in and land in front of his house. He would yell at his father to come out, and when Dracula emerged, he would present him with his options; make Costin a vampire, or be burned into cinders by the dragon. Imagining the expression on his father's face brought an amused smile to Costin's lips.

"I wonder..." He said that aloud, but he didn't finish the sentence. He did, however, sit up straight, then stand up. "Excuse me," he said, as politely as he could. "I've just remembered I need to...do some research, it's for a school project." Definitely not research about vampires and dragons, and if you could threaten the former with the latter. He grabbed his coat from beside the door, then paused, glancing back over his shoulder. "I'll bring you a pastry or something from the café."

[Luc DuLac]

The decision to leave was quite sudden, sudden enough that it was a little bit on the suspicious side, but it was possible he genuinely had just thought of something he had to do, even if there was a bit of a pause before he said what the actual thing was.
Still, they'd had a good enough start, he didn't want to ruin it by questioning Costin now, so he just waved a goodbye and called a thank you for the pastry offer, leaning back on the bed and deciding to take the opportunity to get properly settled in his new room.

-fin-