This one's different

[all_too_familiar]

Blair can't actually track witches with his power, nor does he try to find them with it, but when his scenery abruptly changes from city to the middle of the forest he immediately thinks he accidentally found one and pissed them off, and is alarmed.

And then he is very alarmed because all of his magical signatures of people stop pointing at where the people are. Instead the signatures are confused. They haven't disappeared, so presumably the people that own them are still alive, he just - can't find them.

What kind of crazy meta power is this? He stretches out with his power, looking for the nearest person, looking for something like civilization.

Comments

[all_too_familiar]

He doesn't need to sit, but he sits in a chair because standing around like a weirdo sounds like something a weirdo would do.

"So, first of all, vampires are real, and I am one. This means that I am super strong, super fast, have a perfect memory, an activated magic power that was latent when I was human, other various vampire upgrades, and a thirst for blood. I try not to eat people, and the very last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, but open blood is a risk if I smell it. Thankfully I can hold my breath forever, but this doesn't really lend itself well to talking. Just this is fine, I've been pretty diligent about eating regularly and have practice being around and interacting with humans."

[exerce_imperia]

"...I was right," she says, blinking. "That is an interesting explanation. How does all this function, do you know?"

[all_too_familiar]

"I'm venomous," he explains. "If I bit someone and didn't drain them dry of blood, the venom would turn them into another vampire with three days of agony. As I understand it, there are people that are 'witches,' and have a single magic power that is highly based on their personality. Human witches with usable powers are rare, but exist, but it's more common that a human with the potential for magic gets turned and notices that they have a nifty magic power after they're a vampire. I was actually turned because a vampire thought I'd be a witch; this is not uncommon practice, as I understand it.

"I can reattach my limbs if they're ripped off, I don't have a heartbeat or need to breathe or do anything but consume blood to live, I can consume food but can't digest it and need to cough it up later. I - don't know the actual science behind it, though. Any of it. I don't know if that answered your question or not."

[exerce_imperia]

"It answered enough of my question to be going on with," she says. "You're being very helpful. I appreciate it."

[all_too_familiar]

Is that a slightly fond smile? That is a slightly fond smile. Because she appreciates him being helpful, and also because he sees what she's doing there and how quickly she's figuring this out and he is so in love with her.

"As I think you've guessed," he says, "there's a bit of a reason for that. I mean, I'm naturally pretty helpful, or try to be, but I'd be more reserved in other circumstances." He considers how to word this. There is no audible pause, because he is a vampire. "One of the traits vampires have is single-target permanent love at first sight with a compatible human or vampire. I was being rather literal when I said 'at your service.'"

He watches for a reaction, ready to reassure her that what he wants is her to be happy, safe and fulfilled and alive if it looks like she's concerned about that, but he won't jump into it just yet. He wants to see her opinion before he goes to try and change it.

[exerce_imperia]

"That... sounds like it must have interesting sociological implications," she says thoughtfully. "I hope you aren't unhappy about it."

[all_too_familiar]

"I'm not," he clarifies sincerely. "There are circumstances where I could be unhappy about it, but right now I'm doing a mix of trying to sound out what the implications being mated to you are, trying to get you all of the information you need, and also basking a little in how great you are."

[exerce_imperia]

She smiles a pleased little smile.

[all_too_familiar]

He smiles back!

"I have no real desires of you except that you make whatever choices you make with as much accurate information as you can get, and that you be - safe, happy, fulfilled, have you be where you want and choose to be," he says, because while he doesn't think she's concerned about that, he feels she might like to hear him say it out loud. "And while I'd also like to have a happily ever after with you, the most important thing is that you get a happily ever after."

.... Also cuddle her a little. He'd like to cuddle her a little.

[exerce_imperia]

"I think we are going to get along very well," she says. "My name is Lisbet Serise. May I ask, what planet are you from?"

[all_too_familiar]

He is so pleased that she thinks they'll get along very well that he takes half a second to notice the planet question, but he does notice it. He blinks.

"Earth," he says, "year 1931, Gregorian calendar. If that's relevant. Which it sounds like it might be."

[exerce_imperia]

"My home planet is Eta Ceta, and when I was last there it was 2972 in the Earth Common Era, which I believe is congruent with your calendar. Interesting. I also have strong reason to believe that if vampires and magic existed, I would have heard about them."

[all_too_familiar]

He nods. "That answers some questions and brings up a few more. I'd thought this was some kind of supremely powerful witch's power, but that seems less and less likely. How did you get here? I'd just finished hunting - I eat animals, instead of people - and the scenery abruptly changed."

[exerce_imperia]

"I went to sleep as normal and woke up lying in the grass in the middle of this island at noon with an unsettling automaton greeting me by name and offering me a bag of tools. It was... surprising."

[all_too_familiar]

"You seem to have done well for yourself despite it," says Blair, noticing after he's said this that he's doing the thing mated vampires do where they fawn over their mates. ... He is okay with this.

"Though I'm worried about getting out of here. Have you found anything that might look like an exit?"

[exerce_imperia]

"Not remotely," she says, shaking her head. "My first concern is ensuring my own safety; I'm in no hurry to return home unless I find information indicating that the danger here increases with time. Now that you're here, however, it might be time to reevaluate my approach."

[all_too_familiar]

He nods. ... He eyes her armor.

"How difficult is ensuring your own safety?"

[exerce_imperia]

"I haven't had what I'd call significant trouble. There are hazards, but so far the cautious approach has worked very well for me."

[all_too_familiar]

"All right," he says, relaxing just a little. "Good."

[exerce_imperia]

"I'll appreciate your help, of course. If you can help me safely explore my island and make use of its resources, and then help me find other people on nearby islands, perhaps we'll eventually be able to find a way out of this place."

[all_too_familiar]

"Agreed." Pause. "I'd really like to find a way back to my world, because my sister's in it and wants to become a vampire but hasn't become one yet. There's a bit of trouble with the transition, I want to help her if she goes through it."

[exerce_imperia]

She nods, absorbing this information. "Approximately how urgent is that situation, in terms of time? I can't predict how easily we'll be able to leave, but I want to know where to balance the schedule."

[all_too_familiar]

He considers.

"... A year, at least," he pronounces, "likely longer. I disappeared, she'd want to know why, and she wouldn't want to rush with the vampire friends I made while I'm missing."

[exerce_imperia]

Nod.

"So. What more can you tell me about vampires and witches?"

[all_too_familiar]

"The vampires in charge are called the Volturi - they keep their power entirely through witches with various personalized powers. Highlights include: Aro, one of the three leaders that gets every memory from someone's head upon physical contact, including every thought they've ever had, Chelsea, a woman who can toy with how you feel about people and casually does so in order to prevent the Volturi from fracturing under the weight of a bunch of vampires all together in one place." Pause. "Vampires that drink human blood get aggression problems, and it's hard to have a lot of human-eating vampires in one place because of it. Because they'll want to kill each other. Recently turned vampires - the colloquial term is newborn - have a serious aggression problem and are naturally stronger than ordinary vampires, because they are filled with their own blood. ... Vampires that drink human blood are stronger than vampires that don't. But it's harder to resist human blood when you have a taste of it, and harder to resist if you're used to drinking it, and I just think it's better to not eat people because of this, despite the loss to strength.

"I don't know the specifics of how other witches' powers work, but I can tell you about mine, if you'd like to know more about it? And also list off every witch I know of, which certainly isn't a complete list."