Table for One? {Costin}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Probably. I am coming off a bit like a lovestarved twit right now, aren't I?" asked Lorelei, carefully cutting into her meat. She almost went about literally dissecting it, and part of her was remembering some lessons she'd took on anatomy (they stuck just enough to add some realism to her fanfiction). She could just see Costin eating and contemplating out of the corner of her vision.

"Well, yeah," she answered, looking up. "You're the mysterious loner type, so, like I said, you're not going to be easy to approach or find, and you wouldn't answer an invite unless I was super mysterious about it. Then you'd be on your guard or something and I wouldn't get to figure out anything," she took a bite of her food, proceeding to talk around it as she chewed. "And you are pretty interesting. I do like the whole darkly mysterious thing but you're probably going to be looking less for a chatterbox who knows too much and more for some sort of injured bird type or maybe someone who can challenge you every step of the way, a champion of justice sort."

Lorelei paused for a moment, wishing she could almost take out her notes. "Gwyn, maybe? I think something about the penguin mermaid might be in that line, but I haven't gotten to meet her just yet I don't think..." thread time can be fuzzy that way, right?

[Costin Dracula]

Costin frowned, still trying to get a feel for this entire situation. "Lovestarved?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "No, that's not the word I'd use. I didn't..." He put his utensils down and looked over at her, meeting her eyes. "You are right about one thing. I keep to myself, mostly. I don't make friends. I don't try to make friends. I aim to keep people away from me as much as possible, and when you came over here, I thought at first you'd mistaken me for someone else."

Heat bloomed in his cheeks when she mentioned Gwyn, but he tried his best to ignore it. He licked his lips, and reached for his glass, the glass of water this time instead of wine. "I'm not looking for anyone. However delightful you may think love is, I'm not interested in it. I'm interested in experiences, that's about it. And you, despite my initial irritation, seem like an experience." He picked his fork back up and put a bite of steak in his mouth, shaking his head as he chewed. Penguin...mermaid...was she just saying words now?

"I also don't think there's any such thing as knowing too much," he added. "Knowledge is maybe the most powerful thing one can possess, with the possible exception of immortality. If people are telling you that you know too much, I suggest you look those people in the eye and tell them they don't know anything. You have a gift there, I think, don't apologize for it."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Yeah, which is why I was all 'ambush him or he'll never talk to you'," agreed Lorelei. "But don't worry, I won't, like, stalk---bug you. I won't be all 'we should totally hang out Costin,'" she shrugged again, taking a small bite of her fish. It did taste quite good, and Lorelei intended to enjoy her food. She wasn't exactly worried about being abandoned with it or anything; she knew that she could afford it if Costin insisted.

She shrugged. "You don't have to be into love, but, like, friendship or relationships could be fun," said Lorelei. Though she was tempted to be insistent. Clearly Costin needed to be introduced to girls in adorable situations and romantic blossoming situations.

The next had her stopping mid-food, staring at him. She blinked, fell silent. Was he... was he actually saying Lorelei's main trait, her nosiness, her uncanny knack for just absorbing information almost at will, was somehow some sort of big strength? Then again, maybe he was just saying what he thought she wanted to say? Either way, she wasn't sure what to say...

[Costin Dracula]

The slightest hint of a smile tugged upward at one corner of Costin's mouth. "You were probably right on that count," he admitted. "But here I am, I have been ambushed, and I will confess, I am not miserable." I'm not miserable in your company wasn't exactly a compliment by other people's standards, perhaps, but coming from Costin, it was almost as good as an invitation. Which...well, he'd already given her one of those, anyway, so at this point he was just being stubborn. He had played most of his cards, and thus far, she seemed to have played hers better.

He went about cutting another piece of meat off, and chewed it slowly. He was in no particular hurry to finish now; she had piqued his curiosity and he had embarrassed himself about as much as he thought he was capable of in this interaction barring any catastrophes.

"People do not change," he told her. "People will tell you that they've changed, and sometimes it will really seem like they did, but I think all the things that make us what we are, those are there all along. The strongest parts of that, those stay the same. That's much better for some of us than others, some of us are born graced with a much more promising set of attributes." Costin was sure that he had been born with a fairly useless set of attributes; an ill temper, an unpleasant demeanor, a gift for alienating people before they could begin to care about him. But he had an out, he had a means of surpassing his means that other people didn't have at their disposal.

"You clearly have a useful set of gifts," he went on. "Make no mistake, I find you irritating beyond belief, but that is not to say I don't admire your technique."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"I'll take that as a compliment," replied Lorelei gamely, adding a little wink. She did another little wiggle, almost triumphantly taking a bite of her salmon again. She kept listening as Costin yet again laid out his incredibly awful philosophy. It made Lorelei froll her eyes yet again.

"People change all the time. My dad's changed, like, a lot, so I've literally seen it first hand," she almost snorted as she leaned forward. "And weren't your parents originally something that's not a vampire? Like, people change, sometimes they change in major ways. We're all dynamic and making changes and choices all along. It's part of what makes us fun."

She finished her bite, then realized she was about out of food. "Thanks!" she chirped again, nodding again. She set her plate aside, leaning forward again. "Do you just avoid people in general or is that something you picked up? Like, with vampires it's something of a survival technique. People alone? not a problem, but a juice box. People in a pack? Then you've got issues..."

[Costin Dracula]

"No, it's not..." Costin faltered, trying to decide how to explain himself. "I don't mean people don't change physically, of course they do. People become vampires, or they grow old, or they spend an inordinate amount of time at the gym and become muscular. And people can learn new things, and they can change their opinions. But I think that there's something in us at the heart of who we really are that we can't change, no matter how hard we try. I, for example, am never going to be human at heart."

He went back to eating his food, smiling in slight amusement at her description of human beings as juice boxes. His father probably would have loved that analogy, he thought, then immediately found his mood darkening at the thought of his father.

"I avoid people," he said, leaning back a little instinctively as she leaned forward, as if his subconscious was determined to prove his point., "for a number of reasons. Most people irritate me, or I irritate them, or there's a mutual irritation. But it's also a matter of protection. I don't want to be close to anyone and then have to watch them grow old and die once I'm immortal. I don't want to form attachments I can't keep, I don't want to depend on anyone. And, well, you know, abstinence is the only form of protection that never fails."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei's eyes narrowed as Costin insisted that he was never going to be human inside. Doubtless he thought that to be a warning, a sort of "get away from me you silly little girl" sort of thing. Or maybe he thought that it was simply an immobile, unshakeable truth, no Truth, that he had to say it that way. However, laid out in front of Lorelei, that wasn't a Truth:

It was a challenge.

"SO you're not immortal yet," said Lorelei, brow furrowing. "I thought so. You don't exactly glitter in the sunlight," she leaned back, considering. "But you're kinda bumping into another flaw in your logic and stuff. Like, what's stopping you from giving someone the dark embrace? And how do you know that people around here aren't immortal? Like, some of us are half demons or mermaid princesses or magical byproducts or robot babies or something. That's not even considering magic."

Lorelei shrugged, then almost wiggled. "Give it time. This place wrecks all kinds of plans," she tapped the table again, before pausing, tilting her head and trying to remember if she had anything else in mind to ask.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin did a lot of things to put people off him; he rarely attempted to disguise his scorn for most of their silly human interests, he didn't sugarcoat things, he talked about all the death and blood he'd seen. But his insistence that he was not meant to be human, that wasn't something he said to impress anybody. That was something he said because he believed it to be true. It was the reason behind all the other things. Every oddity of Costin's personality, every step he took to isolate himself, all of that was the result of his belief that he was not meant for this life, that he was destined for something different, and saw no reason to entangle himself in a mortal existence he was only going to have to leave behind.

He had not realized Lorelei was under the impression that he already was a vampire, and the second she revealed that, he felt blood rush into his face, hot and crimson. He set his fork down as calmly as he could. Someone had actually believed him to be the thing he wanted most to be, and he had squandered that opportunity. He was simultaneously pleased that she'd thought it to begin with, and enraged with himself for having ruined it.

"Vampires don't glitter," he said, as evenly as he could. "That's...stupid, who said that?" She made a good point, though...he didn't know there weren't other immortal beings around here. If there were, though, he was sure they were probably the obnoxious well-meaning sort who probably whined about their immortality and pined for humanity whenever they got the chance. "Do you know someone who's immortal?" He still couldn't help asking.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Uh, it's one of the prevailing descriptors," Lorelei replied. She tapped the table, face scrunching. "I want to say that a sage named, like, Meyer put that one together at some point? I'm pretty sure i read that one in one of my mother's books that she brought back from Trenale? So I figure it's probably got some more up to date and accurate information. Which means that there probably are glittery vampires out there; you just haven't met them yet."

Lorelei nodded, tapping the table again. The food, or at least her food, was gone, but apparently the staff were steering clear of their table for some reason. She moved the plate to the side, glancing around for a moment, wondering if she should try signaling again. It had seemed to work pretty well the last time she'd tried it, after all.

"Sure I do," she said almost distractedly to Costin's question. "Though immortality is kind of flexible. It's like, do you not die of old age or do you just get older and not perish or what? But there's this dragon back home that's kinda a legend. And i think my dad worked with an immortal sorceress. And there were loads of gods and goddesses running around. They're probably still here. Plus, I think there's some that have demon blood in them, so, like, y'know," Lorelei frowned, leaning in. "Do you think we should signal a server or something? I could try standing up and waving again; that seemed to work really well last time."

[Costin Dracula]

Costin frowned. Other vampires that he hadn't met? Glittering ones? And here he had thought himself well-traveled in the universe. He wanted desperately to ask if she thought the glittering vampires could turn others, but then, he was fairly certain he didn't want to be the glittering sort, anyway. No, probably best to steer clear of that strange unknown. He shoved the final bite of his dinner into his mouth and set his utensils down, picking his napkin up and wiping his mouth politely.

"My fathers are immortal in that they will not grow old and die, yes," he confirmed. "They can be killed, but only in very specific ways, and they're quite good at avoiding that. I don't say that to compliment them, it's just a fact; they wouldn't be as old as they are now if they weren't better at surviving than others have been." He also thought that a big factor in his parents' survival was that they were constantly watching each other's backs; no one got to them because to get to one of them, they'd have to go through both, and going through two vampires was much, much harder than going through one alone.

He wasn't going to tell Lorelei that, though, because he had a feeling she might start trying to suggest immortal companions for him to take with him on his journey through time and space. Fortunately, she had moved on to the lack of attention from the wait staff again, and Costin sighed resignedly.

"Do what you must," he said, waving a hand in dismissal. "I suppose it did work the last time."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Better not tell me those specific ways," agreed Lorelei, nodding. She had picked up on the bit about his parents likely surviving because they were watching out for one another, but she didn't feel it was quite her place to outright say so. That and she was getting more interested in getting attention. Thankfully for all parties involved, just as Lorelei had stood up, the server returned.

They also asked if the two wanted dessert. Lorelei looked down at her finished plate, then up at Costin. "Um, am I supposed to be paying for my half or something?" she looked at the server, shrugging slightly. "It kind of makes a difference, doesn't it? Well, that and I don't know if you," to Costin now, "really want me to stick around that long. I wonder what they've even got," she bent down, looking at a menu while the server gave Costin a pleading look. They likely just wanted Costin to get his distracting girlfriend out of there already.

[Costin Dracula]

"Why, are you intending to kill my parents?" Costin asked, raising one eyebrow. "I must say, I didn't have you pegged as a vampire hunter. Anyway, it's all common knowledge, really. People have known how you can kill a vampire for centuries, it's just that it's hard to get close enough to them to do it without them noticing. Especially the really old ones."

Costin was preparing to hide his face behind his napkin, but fortunately, the waiter came back just as Lorelei was standing up. "Get whatever you'd like, don't worry. I'm not trying to chase you out of here. Anymore, anyway. I suppose I was at first, but I've accepted the situation now." He rolled his eyes, but didn't look nearly as miserable about it as he seemed to be implying. Truth be told, this was easily the most entertaining meal he'd had in the past few weeks, and he wasn't as eager to end it as his initial reaction might have indicated. "And I'm paying, don't worry. I said I would, and I am nothing if not a man of my word."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Uh, I wouldn't, but, like, knowing me, I'd put it down in, like, a fanfiction somewhere. Then it would leak out and we'd freak about having to tell your parents that you accidentally told that one crazy girl how they could be killed, and we'd have this big thing about it. Lots of stress, maybe some hijinks, then the sudden revelation that maybe those things don't work on your dads because they're so old and we hug it out and I end up as your adopted sister..." Lorelei paused, then started patting herself down. Did she have a pen on her? Ah, she began scribbling on a napkin, which put off the poor server, who was still looking at Costin with server puppy dog eyes.

"The chocolate devil cake," Lorelei said without looking up, "with the rich raspberry sauce," she made a few more notes, before looking back up at Costin.


"I'm entertaining?" she asked with a big smile. The server seemed to roll their eyes at that as they left, leaving the two together. "oh, so, like, you have this code of honor or something?" Another note appeared on the napkin. That was an important detail, after all.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin watched her, his head physically tilting to one side in bewilderment as she started taking notes. She was writing this down? What for? "That would never work," he said, helpfully, "because my father doesn't even want one child, let alone two." She didn't need to know about his parental issues, but if she was taking notes, they should at least be accurate.

"I'd just like a cup of coffee," he told the server. "Two sugars, no cream. And can you bring the check as well, please? Thank you." He looked back at Lorelei, still thrown off by her note-taking. "It's not a code of honor, really. It's just...if your word isn't worth anything, what else is there? How can anybody trust anything about you if your word's no good?"

Not that Costin hadn't ever lied about anything, especially as far as his parents were concerned, but when he said he was going to do something, he did his best to follow through. "Why are you writing all this down, anyway? Are you writing a report or something?" That made a lot of sense, actually; it would go a long way towards explaining why she was walking into restaurants and sitting down across from people she'd never met but clearly had some preconceived ideas about.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Well, yes, but his heart would melt because he grew to know me or something. It'd all be part of a wider narrative arc filled with warm fuzzies and character development," said Lorelei, almost distractedly. She'd heard something about coffee, and she very nearly asked for some of her own. After all, Lorelei had heard about this... coffee and how people drank it. It sounded pretty cool, but she hadn't exactly had a lot of opportunity to go out and get it herself.

"What you just described is literally a code of honor," she pointed out, still scribbling and underlining, even writing Costin's exact words, trying to get the phrasing down. "And you seem to really want people to trust you for someone who's convinced that you shouldn't depend on anyone," she shot him a quick look at that ,brows raised.

More scribbling, only to freeze when the direct question was asked. "oh, you know," she said, waving a hand. "Notes. For projects and things. And stuff. I'm sort of chronicling the stories of the people who went here and are going here and, well, you know," she waved a hand again, "stuff. Definitely not, like, just for making up stories mostly for my amusement. Unless that's super normal and not at all weird."