[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_paladin]

Adrian chuckled and indicated the pages of his 'dictionary'. "I believe that I will need quite a few more pages in my desire to learn the vocabulary. My father told me that the best way to learn a language was through immersion."

[st_igmatized]

"In my experience, most people are pretty forgiving when they understand you're not a native speaker." Well, depending on where you were in the world and who you were when you were there. Americans who hadn't met a lot of non-American people could be frankly terrible about it. Figuring out ways around communication problems was pretty common if you went anywhere in Nigeria. "They may laugh, but they also usually help."

[st_paladin]

"I have noticed people are very friendly here to others that are not like them, whether it is language or appearance."

While Adrian was a white male, he was unusually pale with white hair. He had fangs that weren't easy to hide, but he'd learned to speak around them and to smile only so wide. Only Caroline knew his secret of being a dhampir so far at the Inn.

[st_igmatized]

Sunny had been trying to judge for a while, but it could be difficult to tell with white people. By now, though, she was fairly sure, "Not albino, though, are you?" Though that could be bias, just because both she and Lillith had been ridiculously excited to actually meet another albino.

[st_paladin]

"Not albino." Adrian admitted with a shake of his head. "I take after my mother in looks. She was also very fair with blond hair. Though my hair is lighter than hers." There was a part of him that wondered if he was born to be the opposite of his father, in looks as well as deed.

[st_igmatized]

Sunny sighed theatrically. "Well, I suppose having one other here was enough luck. Color-wise, I don't take after anyone in my family."

[st_paladin]

Adrian didn't know the rarity of Albinos in the future but he assumed it was quite rare. "Do you take after anyone in your family in other ways?" He assumed so, but that wasn't always the case.

[st_igmatized]

"I have pictures, if you're really curious," Sunny offered. There was very little point in the grand scheme of things to keeping her phone charged and on her at all times, but it was a habit she had not been able to break. Giving up on it was like giving up on the idea she'd ever hear from anyone on her contacts list again.

[st_paladin]

"I would be interested." Adrian nodded, curiosity lingered in the next question. "You were able to bring portraits of your relatives with you?" He assumed she'd had them on her when she arrived as he'd had his sword and shield with him when he did.

[st_igmatized]

Sunny smiled as she drew her phone out of her jeans pocket. It didn't take long to find what she needed, she's been at home for her birthday before she was taken.

She pulled up a picture of herself with her brothers. Mama had taken the shot. And for all that she was blonde and hazel-eyed and milk pale while they were rich brown, the stamp of family resemblance was on all three faces. "My brothers," she said simply, turning the phone around to show him..

[st_paladin]

Adrian stared fascinated by the object she held in her hand. It had portraits that weren't paintings. It was only after a moment that he actually took the time to look at the happy faces that were looking back at him.

"There is much resemblance between you and your brothers." He briefly wondered what it would be like to have siblings, then dismissed the thought almost as quickly.

[st_igmatized]

"Chukwu would be gravely offended at that idea," Sunny answered wryly, laying her phone down on the table. "But then, my oldest brother is kind of an idiot."

[st_paladin]

Adrian was a little confused. "Your brother doesn't believe you both resemble the other?" Not in coloring, but he could easily see the family resemblance. Maybe his vision was more keen than humans.

[st_igmatized]

"Not exactly, it's..." Sunny considered how to answer that. Eventually she asked a question in turn. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

[st_paladin]

"No, I am an only child." Adrian said, "my mother's pregnancy was difficult for her, so my parents decided to not risk having another." He didn't mention the reason for the difficulty was his father. Adrian's existence was extremely rare.

[st_igmatized]

Sunny nodded. "Sibling relationships are complicated. You can be best friends, worst enemies, or somehow both at the same time. My brothers and I show affection through teasing and sarcasm. If we get sincere, it's because something's really wrong. Put that together with Chukwu's massive ego, and yeah, he'd never admit out loud that we look alike."

[st_paladin]

Adrian nodded thinking of the relationship with his father, before and after his mother's death. "I think all family relationships are complicated. I have hated and loved my father at the same time, sometimes the same day."

It still weighed on him that he'd had to kill his father, but Adrian understood that he'd had to do it.

[st_igmatized]

Sunny's smile was sharp. "I really wish I didn't understand that." Her father had never loved her unconditionally. He'd never wanted a girl, let alone an albino one.

[st_paladin]

"I really wish you hadn't experienced those emotions as well." Adrian wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy, let alone someone he'd just met.

"It is difficult to reconcile the feelings that you have toward a parent. As I told a friend before arriving here, we are all in the end, slaves to our family's wishes."