[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[khuimods]

Characters: ALL
Date: January 15
Location: At the Dreaming Bridge and all over Aifaran!
Situation: A large influx of Dreamfolk arrive in time for one of the Lunar Festivals, and they're all invited!
Warnings/Rating: N/A


A surprising amount of Dreamfolk have arrived within a short time frame - a peculiarity remarked upon by a number of Aifaran's residents. It is unusual in that it coincides with a lunar festival, one which only happens every fifty or so years.

Newcomers will find the streets packed with all sorts of people, stalls of fried and sugared foods, carnivalesque games and rides, and all other manner of things to do. Merchants are very keen to get their wares out there, and the stipend given may just burn a hole in your pocket when you see what's for sale.

Comments

[corundrum]

"Vampire", huh? That is a new one. [And doesn't really mean anything to them, since they don't have any sort of context for it. At the return question, Padparadscha taps the visible plugs of gem in their stomach.]

A Gem. It's not very hard to remember, is it? But it looks like I'll be learning about new species for a while now.

[annihilist]

Consider yourself lucky that I'm new. We're a nasty bunch. [And no, he's not going to explain what a vampire actually is in detail without being asked because he's Rude and Unhelpful.]

Gem. That's self-explanatory at least, and explains the sparkling. [Devin shrugs.] A lot of the Dreamfolk that arrive are human, judging by the last time I was here. That ought to simplify things.

[corundrum]

Oh, are you? [Padparadscha leans forward a little, arms on their knees and still looking more amused than anything. They doubt the remark is without reason, but it's something that they'd rather make a judgement call on themselves from seeing it.

They do listen more acutely to what he says next, and look briefly surprised at his mention of humans before breaking into a little laughter.] I see. That does simplify things a little.

[So humans really do exist, huh? That's new.]

[annihilist]

[Devin is not amused that the Gem is amused by him.] Vampires are basically the antithesis of life on my planet. [He's an oddity, true, but he's not going to mention that. The loathing for his species may be showing.] Fortunately for all of us, I don't plan on staying in this place very long.

Are humans some sort of novelty for you? [He really hopes he hasn't been forced to room with someone who thinks themselves above humans.]

[corundrum]

And what does it mean to be an antithesis of life? You seem to be living yourself. [Granted, Padparadscha is grossly unfamiliar with death as more than a word or distant concept. Even a permanent hibernation, to them, would just be sleep.

His attitude seems rash, but they do no more than smile a little at it, moving on to his question.] I've never met a human before today, so I didn't know how to recognise one. Knowing they're the ones I'll be seeing most does help.

[annihilist]

Undead, [Devin corrects flatly.] No heartbeat to speak of. We feed off humans to live; and with one rare exception, we have to die to become vampires.

[He is, as it happens, in the category of exception, but it just means he was never alive in the first place, and therefore is not worth mentioning.]

Well, they look approximately like me, but they're warmer and have a pulse. A few of the native races have a similar appearance. [He shrugs, settling stiffly on his bed.] Best just to ask if you can't tell.

[corundrum]

[That catches Padparadscha a little cold, and there's a very brief furrow of the brow visible before it clears into that faint amusement again.] Sorry, you'll have to explain what you mean by "die" and "dead". I can't understand "undead" if I don't know what you aren't, right?

[It seems like something he's not proud of, by the way he corrected it, but they suppose the feeding off humans is some kind of explanation of what he meant. If he's the "antithesis of life", then presumably it's life he feeds off.

And there's another word they don't know.] Warmer, I know. Pulse...I'm guessing you don't mean just a repeated beat of sound, huh?

[annihilist]

[The vampire stares at them blankly for a few seconds. He sighs, pinches his brow.] They're interrelated. Humans have a circulatory system that transports blood and nutrients around the body, and blood is pumped by their hearts - its a vital organ. That pumping is called a pulse. No pulse means a human is dead.

[By and large, anyway. There were some technicalities that seem more complicated than necessary to go into now.]

It does make a sound, but a very quiet one unless you have an ear to someone's chest, or you have exceptionally good hearing like me.

[corundrum]

[There are at least a few things there that Padparadscha understands from animals, and though it takes them a few moments of piecing together the bits they don't know, they figure out what he's getting at in the end.]

...So humans don't just slumber if they can't get enough nutrients, then. Or can they come back, if you say you're "undead"?

[First getting the talk on death from someone who's in an apparently post-death state is not particularly helping Padparadscha's understanding, but it does seem like something they should figure out.]

[annihilist]

[The Gem really hasn't had this explained to them before. Okay. Well, he wasn't all that interested in giving biology lessons, but Devin supposes that there are worse topics. He does sound faintly chagrined, however.]

No, they don't sleep if they need nutrition. They eat. And they don't just come back if they die, there's magic involved in my world. Not all places have undead creatures to begin with.

[corundrum]

[Right, food, that's one they know. So they function like animals, in theory. Just animals that are more intelligent and developed. Padparadscha is at least listening attentively, so Devin won't have to repeat himself.]

I see. Well, then, that makes you rather special, doesn't it? [Even if it doesn't sound like he considers himself such.] I'll make a note of it, since it seems like it's a little too easy for something like that "death" to happen.

[annihilist]

[Devin gives Padparadscha a flat, almost disparaging look.] 'Special' is woefully inadequate, and far too positive in connotation. Vampires are parasites, plain and simple.

But yes, humans are sometimes ridiculously easy to damage. They're also resilient and can recover from things a lot of species can't, so they have that going for them. [He sounds less critical of them, at least.] Innovative bunch, too.

[corundrum]

Ah, would you rather I call you unfortunate? Then you'd be like me. [Padparadscha gets a little more serious with that remark, but not by a great deal. They still mostly seem amused, and like they're playing it off a little.]

Oh, so there are advantages. But then, I know creatures that make more of themselves like that pass down their knowledge as well, so that fleeting lifespan has advantages also.

[annihilist]

[Padparadscha drawing similarities between them does make Devin pause for just a moment, torn between irritation and confusion. He knows so little of the Gem's situation.] It is an apt descriptive for my circumstances; I can't say I'd know if they resemble yours.

[A nod to the latter comment.] Yes, the development of knowledge over the millennia is impressive. I'll admit it's one of the more attractive things about my world. [He prefers books over people.]

[corundrum]

Well, you sound like you think being undead is similar enough to incomplete, huh? [Padparadscha isn't going to elaborate without being asked, but that's primarily because they don't realise the uncovered gem patches in their torso don't speak for themselves in this world.]

It's an interesting way to do it. There are things that someone less fragile won't really get interested in the way soft ones do, because they don't feel it as much or it's not a problem the same way.

[annihilist]

You're incomplete? [That would explain the open patches of gems that Devin can see, but he'd been assuming that was a feature, not a bug.] Incomplete is... actually not a bad way to describe what I am. We lose something as vital as life itself to become vampires.

[And with the loss of their souls, they lost so much more]

Are your senses limited because you're... crystalline? [He'd guess they don't exactly have nerve endings.]

[corundrum]

So you are like me. It's a shame, huh? [Padparadscha's voice is a little soft as they say that, because it's hard not to be sympathetic to those who have to live an existence like that. They've been like it for their entire life, and only just now have they gotten any semblance of stability.

They switch tack for the question, though, humming slightly in interest.] Well, compared to soft creatures, I think we're a little less sensitive. We feel the seasons change more in the quality of the light than things like heat and cold.