[EP] Learning about Humanity - OTA

[st_paladin]

Adrian had found a lot of the 'guests' at the Inn were quite pleasant and he wondered if that was how his father had found them in the beginning. When they had no idea he was a vampire, just a wanderer among them. It fueled his curiosity and he wanted to learn more about humanity. The only examples he ever had was his mother and the other villagers, besides what he had encountered here.

The best way to learn, was to observe. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he settled onto a small table in the restaurant area with his ever present notebook beside him. It was what he used to take notes, trying to decipher turns of phrases and words that were foreign to him. Up until this point he'd used a pencil, but on the way down he'd realized that he didn't have it with him. Instead, someone had offered him a writing utensil, they called it a pen but it looked nothing like a goose feather and he couldn't understand how it wrote without an inkwell.

As he pressed the end to the piece of paper there was nothing. Adrian's thumb accidentally moved across the end of the pen and he heard a click sound. Suddenly a point appeared at the bottom where there had been nothing. "Odd." Curiously, he moved the end over the paper and gasped when a mark appeared. Was the ink hidden?

Comments

[st_affofthemoon]

Zahra sighed. "I'm still hungry, but the thought of food makes me want to hide in a deep dark hole." She managed a faint smile for him though

[st_paladin]

"How does the thought of fresh air sound?" Adrian offered. "Would you like to join me on a walk outside?" His mother had always said that fresh air, helped when healing. Except in the winter time when the cold could do more harm than good. But it never got as cold as Wallachia at the Inn.

[st_affofthemoon]

"I think that sounds lovely, actually." She stood up, trying not to curse the plate of chicken or the man who made it. "My name is Zahra, by the way."

[st_paladin]

"I am Adrian Tepes." He introduced himself and moved to stand from the table. "I am also known as Alucard but only in the village of Gresit where I am from."

He didn't think twice about telling this woman his other name. She wasn't human, so didn't have the preconceived ideas of humans.

[st_affofthemoon]

"Nice to meet you - do you have a name you would prefer?" Zahra stood too, cursing silently to whatever god was in charge of chickens.

[st_paladin]

Adrian honestly thought about it. In his time, he had preferred Alucard as it demonstrated that he was the opposite of his father, but here, no one knew him or his father. "Adrian." He finally settled on. "I've not been called that in over a year." He smiled sadly, "my mother used to call me by that name."

[st_affofthemoon]

For the briefest of moments she wondered what her mother would have called her, had she survived, but the thought was quelled quickly.

"Alright then, Adrian." She nodded.

She strolled beside them as started to walk. "Do you come from a world with beings that look like me?"

[st_paladin]

"No." He answered honestly. "In my world, the only beings that weren't like the others here, human were demons. They resembled bat like creatures that came from hell and commanded by a very old and strong vampire. There are mythological beings like you, in ancient times, but nothing in mine."

Adrian walked silently beside her for a few paces. "Are there other beings in your world that are known as vampires?"

[st_affofthemoon]

Demons were an on-going relationship people associated her with, it seemed. She would have to look this up at some point and see how accurate, or inaccurate, the drawings were.

"There are." She nodded. "My extended family had to deal with one a few years ago who had killed one of ours' entire family. I wasn't there, but I heard it was a difficult battle. Vampires tend to be very cunning."

[st_paladin]

"They can be." Adrian admitted. "Though cunning isn't always a bad trait. Most vampires are deadly enemies to mankind, but not all. There are stories of some that fight their own kind to protect humanity."

The stories were of him, but that wasn't something that he would admit to at the moment.

[st_affofthemoon]

"I've come to learn that there are exceptions to most races." She offered a smile. "My own kind tend to be rather unpleasant people, but there are a few of us who aren't half bad."

[st_paladin]

"How do you convince others to see you on your own merits if they had a difficult relationship with others of your race?" Adrian wasn't sure how to broach the subject of vampires with others when everyone had experiences with them as killers.

[st_affofthemoon]

"Mostly?" Zahra looked at him with slight amusement in her pupiless eyes. "I say fuck them and do what I want... but I suppose that doing things like saving people and generally working against my stereotype also helps them learn not every Tiefling is evil."

[st_paladin]

That intrigued Adrian and he asked her quietly, "and if a vampire did the same? Would you give them the same consideration of working against their type?" Technically, he was a dhampir but almost everyone viewed him as a vampire.

[st_affofthemoon]

"As long as they're not hurting innocent people, I'm fine with Vampires, Orcs, or even Goblins doing their own thing." Zahra was more about the person than the race. She was thankful that Kash was too. "Why do you ask?"

[st_paladin]

Alucard had to begin to trust. If the trust was misplaced, then it was knowledge that he would need. He brushed his hair aside so that she would have a better view of his face, "because my father was a vampire."

He smiled, this time it was wide enough that she would be able to clearly see his fangs. "My mother was a human, but my father was a vampire."

[st_affofthemoon]

Her eyebrows lifted a little. "I've never heard of a vampire and human mating." Said in a tone that was mostly fascinated. "Are you a vampire yourself then, or just have the aesthetics?"

[st_paladin]

"Just the aesthetics." He began and then paused, before adding. "I do not need blood to survive as most vampires do, but if I am severely injured that a healing sleep will not cure, I need blood."

Adrian clarified, "I do not drink the blood from a live victim. I use blood donated freely or through animals. I never kill." He had only needed it once after his father had attacked him when Adrian had tried to stop him from destroying a village after his mother's murder.

[st_affofthemoon]

"Sounds to me you're nothing like the majority of others like you." Zahra smiled. "We're a bit alike, that way." And for that Zahra liked him immediately. "Should anyone give you a hard time here, I'd like to have a word with them."

[st_paladin]

Adrian smiled widely, letting his fangs show easily. "I will gladly do the same if anyone gives you a hard time. Though I suspect I might have to stand in line."

[st_affofthemoon]

She laughed. "Noticed my rather attractive shadow around, have you?" Zahra said this with such strong affection. She really did appreciate Kash's adoration and he was getting better with her being away from him in the inn the longer she remained here.

[st_paladin]

"I have noticed, though that was not the reason for my comment." The skin around Adrian's eyes crinkled with his humor. "I think you have a lot of friends and they would wish to aide you in your battles."

He didn't say come to your aide, because Adrian was sure that she could hold her own.

[st_affofthemoon]

"Oh. Yes. As strange as it still is to say, I suppose I do." Zahra smiled back. "I'm sure they would enjoy meeting you as well. We come from a world that does not have this much science or technology. I've been told our world is much like the distant past."

[st_paladin]

"I think this is why I gravitate toward people like us. Those that are more of a fish out of water than others that have arrived here." Adrian talked with others and enjoyed the people in the Inn, but he felt more connected to others that didn't quite fit in.

[st_affofthemoon]

"Hm." She nodded in affirmation. "Much like a roving band of misfits. It's why I'm friends with Vox Machina. You'll notice them around. Two half-elves and a gnome and a human that's far too pale for his own good."