Where did y'all feel like talkin' 'bout this? I got an office in counsellin', or we can use my cabin? 'less there's somewhere else you'd prefer yerself?
[It's only one floor up from Armand and - as it's unlikely that he could drag his feet long enough for Sam to disappear - it's not long before he knocks on Sam's door.]
[The door opens readily, and Sam's there trying not to beam too brightly.]
Thanks fer takin' the time outta yer night, Armand! Come on in!
[He pulls the door wider to let him inside; in stark contrast to the cowboy himself, inside is a vampire's wet dream nightclub, all blood-red velvet and leather, stark stone architecture and black Gothic metalwork. There's the sound of some club mix thumping gently beneath the floorboards, soft enough not to disturb even with enhanced vampire senses.]
Let's have a sit here, an' maybe y'all can tell me a little bit about yerself. [With a light, welcoming gesture to the lounge as he heads in himself.] Take a seat anywhere!
[The decor would answer the question of whether Sam knows other vampires, if someone cared to ask. It leaves other questions unanswered, but Armand doesn't feel a need to go digging for answers.
Armand doesn't look either particularly comfortable (or particularly uncomfortable), but he does sit with the casualness of someone who is long used to the common trends in vampire interior design.]
As you say, Mr. Walls.
[He pauses. He doesn't tend to like sharing, yes, but also the prompt feels far too general. Sam knows his name and that he's a vampire. He even knows he can cook. That seems like a lot to know about a person.]
[He's gotten well used to older or richer vampires than him talking down to him a bit, so the gentle stonewalling doesn't deter him an inch.]
There ain't too many vampires here, all in all. How long have y'all been around back home? Any rules with yer kind I oughta know about that you don't see around much?
Five hundred and fourteen years. [Neutral, but from a world where that puts him on the older side.]
Beyond a distaste for sunlight, I have not found much of the 'rules' for vampires you read about in stories to be true. On my world. Do vampires on your world conform more to stories?
Naw, we got way too many kinds a' vampire stories t'go havin' all a' them be accurate. Most of 'em got the bloodsuckin' an' the sun things right, though. Still don't know how the whole garlic thing works, but that one's right too fer my kind.
Y'know what, funny enough my kind still needs hydratin' sometimes! We can drink water an' tea, I got a scientist client who's been makin' artificial plasma and it does him just fine in terms a' survivin' without blood. Or, er. [He rubs his jaw.] Well, there were some problems with that, but the plasma wasn't technically what was wrong with that one. And, er- you know, other bodily fluids 'sides blood.
We can drink water and tea [and a lot of alcohol], but it is not necessary. It is simply a... polite affectation when among the living.
All we need is the blood of the living, but it must be of the living. [He shrugs.] That was true when I was back 'home'. The Admiral's offerings do well enough. [He finds it generally tasteless - equivalent, perhaps, to nutrition substitutes that can appear in science fiction films. But it keeps him fed so he feeds.]
I ain't tried drinkin' dead blood, I'll admit, but as long as the body's still warm I ain't ever had a problem keepin' it down. But hey, if y'all ever run short a' blood an' don't feel like botherin' the infirmary about it, I got a fridge full upstairs, you'd be more than welcome t'take whatever y'all need. I only feed once a day, I don't need much myself.
Consider it a standin' offer, then, in case y'all ever need it.
[He gives a broad gesture with his hands.] So tell me some a' how y'all went an' spent five centuries as a vampire! There's gotta be some interestin' stuff in there, right? Fresh into the Renaissance!
[Armand doesn't look annoyed at the 'you kids', even though he's almost certain he's older than Sam. It's complicated.]
For a time. It was... traditional to be in contact with vampires of the same city. There needed to be a certain amount of order.
[He shrugs.] Times change. Mortal cities are much larger, so we can follow our more solitary inclinations. It can be tiresome to be around other vampires. [Perhaps the most personal statement he's made so far.]
Huh. That's the right opposite experience I had with other vampires. I was in a whole damn gang, there must've been a dozen of us. An' I ain't gonna disagree that there's a certain amount a' bein' solitary that vampires can do, but we still need some socialisin', same as any other human.
We aren't human. [But he doesn't entirely disagree with the point.] In recent decades I still lived with another vampire. One companion is a different matter than a group. There is less... drama. [A very polite description of round #321 of breaking up the exact same arguments every night.]
Well, we weren't born vampires, we were created. That means we were human first, an' we still got all those ways a' thinkin' an' existin' that don't go away just 'cos we got bit.
[He gestures idly with a hand.]
You ever go livin' alone, then, if you reckon bein' solitary's an important part a' bein' a vampire?
[He's thinking about round #205 over whether someone borrowed someone else's makeup right before the performance. He had occasionally wondered if it was an attempt to hold onto humanity or simply a continuation.]
It's not important, it's common. [There's nothing that important about being a vampire.] To live completely alone wouldn't be as tiresome, but it would bring its own difficulties.
There are few places free of people who like to poke about anything mysterious. You cannot even trust that they will not go and dig up a catacomb while you are trying to take your daily rest.
[He shrugs.] I have spent time alone. If I was home in this... modern era, I would likely be able to do so without the nuisances I dealt with at that time. The internet is a great boon.
Ain't it just, at that. I never would a' met my teacher without it, we were chattin' fer a couple months 'fore I finally hopped across to meet him in Germany. An' one a' my clients, she met all her best friends through those forum things!
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momijizukamori
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:12 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:14 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:17 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:24 am (UTC)Hello.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:43 am (UTC)Thanks fer takin' the time outta yer night, Armand! Come on in!
[He pulls the door wider to let him inside; in stark contrast to the cowboy himself, inside is a vampire's wet dream nightclub, all blood-red velvet and leather, stark stone architecture and black Gothic metalwork. There's the sound of some club mix thumping gently beneath the floorboards, soft enough not to disturb even with enhanced vampire senses.]
Let's have a sit here, an' maybe y'all can tell me a little bit about yerself. [With a light, welcoming gesture to the lounge as he heads in himself.] Take a seat anywhere!
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 12:53 am (UTC)Armand doesn't look either particularly comfortable (or particularly uncomfortable), but he does sit with the casualness of someone who is long used to the common trends in vampire interior design.]
As you say, Mr. Walls.
[He pauses. He doesn't tend to like sharing, yes, but also the prompt feels far too general. Sam knows his name and that he's a vampire. He even knows he can cook. That seems like a lot to know about a person.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 02:12 am (UTC)There ain't too many vampires here, all in all. How long have y'all been around back home? Any rules with yer kind I oughta know about that you don't see around much?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 02:17 am (UTC)Beyond a distaste for sunlight, I have not found much of the 'rules' for vampires you read about in stories to be true. On my world. Do vampires on your world conform more to stories?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 03:42 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 03:49 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 03:51 am (UTC)Y'know what, funny enough my kind still needs hydratin' sometimes! We can drink water an' tea, I got a scientist client who's been makin' artificial plasma and it does him just fine in terms a' survivin' without blood. Or, er. [He rubs his jaw.] Well, there were some problems with that, but the plasma wasn't technically what was wrong with that one. And, er- you know, other bodily fluids 'sides blood.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 03:57 am (UTC)All we need is the blood of the living, but it must be of the living. [He shrugs.] That was true when I was back 'home'. The Admiral's offerings do well enough. [He finds it generally tasteless - equivalent, perhaps, to nutrition substitutes that can appear in science fiction films. But it keeps him fed so he feeds.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 03:59 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 04:02 am (UTC)[It has for him, anyway. He doesn't have a lot of other vampires his age to ask.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 04:59 am (UTC)[He gives a broad gesture with his hands.] So tell me some a' how y'all went an' spent five centuries as a vampire! There's gotta be some interestin' stuff in there, right? Fresh into the Renaissance!
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:05 am (UTC)No, I could not say that there was much of interest.
[Everyone else seems to think it was boring. Who is he to argue? He considers for another moment.]
We tend to live separately from humans. Just... exist.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:12 am (UTC)[Yes Armand is more than twice his vampire age but he's also pretty sure he's more than twice Armand's human age so it evens out.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:20 am (UTC)For a time. It was... traditional to be in contact with vampires of the same city. There needed to be a certain amount of order.
[He shrugs.] Times change. Mortal cities are much larger, so we can follow our more solitary inclinations. It can be tiresome to be around other vampires. [Perhaps the most personal statement he's made so far.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:39 am (UTC)Huh. That's the right opposite experience I had with other vampires. I was in a whole damn gang, there must've been a dozen of us. An' I ain't gonna disagree that there's a certain amount a' bein' solitary that vampires can do, but we still need some socialisin', same as any other human.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:45 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:58 am (UTC)[He gestures idly with a hand.]
You ever go livin' alone, then, if you reckon bein' solitary's an important part a' bein' a vampire?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 06:03 am (UTC)[He's thinking about round #205 over whether someone borrowed someone else's makeup right before the performance. He had occasionally wondered if it was an attempt to hold onto humanity or simply a continuation.]
It's not important, it's common. [There's nothing that important about being a vampire.] To live completely alone wouldn't be as tiresome, but it would bring its own difficulties.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 12:20 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 01:02 am (UTC)[He shrugs.] I have spent time alone. If I was home in this... modern era, I would likely be able to do so without the nuisances I dealt with at that time. The internet is a great boon.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:11 am (UTC)Ain't it just, at that. I never would a' met my teacher without it, we were chattin' fer a couple months 'fore I finally hopped across to meet him in Germany. An' one a' my clients, she met all her best friends through those forum things!
Re: Pairings!
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