[He shakes his head. While he hasn't revealed his entire true face - he's learned his lesson with Jarvis - he doesn't feel Right without a full apology.]
No, I befriended you on a false assumption. I don't care what secrets you might hide from me, but I've hid enough from you, so. [He takes a breath, entirely out of habit, as he holds up two fingers.] I'm a vampire. I've been one for over a century and a half. I don't eat humans, I don't plan on changing that, and "ordinary" is far from the first word I'd use to describe myself.
Stefan. [ if her tone is stern, it's only because she needs must buy herself some time to stomach these suggestions. it's not easy -- what is easy, however, is hiding the rawness of her reaction. ] I hardly believe you're ordinary. I'm not sure I ever believed it. But Mister Jarvis asked and I didn't feel it would be appropriate to share those suspicions with him. I think I quite hurt his feelings, actually.
[ -- the man had known she'd been lying. it had appeared tragically evident. ] No doubt that only made him all the more eager to get to the bottom of things.
[He shirks back, shrinking a little before her. If there's anyone who could make him feel like the young man he appears to be, it's Peggy - and honestly, he feels pretty terrible right now.
His secret wasn't worth hurt feelings, let alone a friendship being thrown into potentially awkward waters.]
I see. In that case, thank you for keeping my secret. [He presses his lips together.] I know it certainly couldn't have been easy.
[ au contraire -- it had been remarkably easy. but peggy had always had a steady stomach for keeping secrets, even from those she trusted best. but admitting so is a whole other kettle of kippers; best to keep his sympathy while she has it. ]
And I'll continue to keep it. Hard or not, it'll always be yours to tell. Never mine.
You'll forgive me, I hope, if my questions appear crass. [ she's stiff, still. bordering on poised and professional. ] My frame of references for such matters is just as narrow as you might expect it to be.
[ she's acutely aware her question might offend him. and yet, she'd already begged forgiveness on that front. in a sense, it can't be half-as-bad as that time she asked whether he fought for the axis powers.
Were this an uncommon question, he would've been outraged. He isn't Sascha. He doesn't lick human blood off the floor of the Iskaulit, but he also understands (all too well) why someone would believe it.]
Not since I transitioned. I feed off animals, or I'll take blood pills if we're between star systems.
Blood pills! [ crumbs, now she's heard everything.
peggy rubs the edge of one finger against her forehead -- another all-too-obvious sign that she's fighting to cope with this knowledge. ] And I take it you 'transitioned' a rather long time ago. I suppose it goes a little bit further towards explaining the Methuselah-like length of your life.
[One more reason he tries to feed on animal blood wherever he goes. Nothing tastes like human blood, but animals are far more palatable than the slop that passes for blood pills.]
Technically, it was a century and a half ago. I was born in 1846, and I "transitioned" when I was seventeen.
[He doesn't quite look seventeen, though - if anything, he's more 22 than 17. Not that he'll say so at the moment. His reincarnation is a harder pillow to swallow than his immortality.]
Good God, [ and if she chuckles now it's only because she can't imagine there's a single reaction left to her that passes muster as polite. ] You are old.
[ -- well, maybe she doesn't come close to polite. actually. ]
I'm considering a Lugosi joke, but I'm also a little worried Mister Jarvis might have already made one.
I imagine that must have stung a little. [ but she's got the measure of stefan, she thinks. he's unlikely to hold something like that against jarvis. or so she hopes. ] Mister Jarvis hasn't been here as long as I have, I suppose -- less opportunity to adjust to the otherworldly. Even back home, he's relatively buffered from the weirdest of what happens.
I figured as much. [Stefan shakes his head fondly.] It's more - I was trying to tell him the truth, and he just tells me that I can't possibly be a vampire because those don't exist.
[He can laugh now, because it's actually Pretty Funny, but he sure didn't appreciate it at the time.]
[ a soft hum. with internal force, she chooses to change the way she approaches her digestion of his 'secret' such as it was. ]
I know a little bit about the sting of others' incredulity. [ and there's a comfort in not needing to explain to him why that is -- not if he's lived through those same decades when she'd tried to carve out a career for herself. ] However markedly different the circumstances.
I'm sorry that you had to in the first place. [He certainly remembers - pieces of it, anyway, in the hazy reaches of Salvatore's memory. Alesci was far more acquainted with a different sort of discrimination.] And I can't exactly blame them, either.
Most vampires aren't super friendly. Feed first, talk later, maybe kill if they're bored - the legends exist for a reason.
Not that I can remember. [World's a big place. It's possible that he hasn't met them – or that if he has, the amnesia isn't making things easier.] We don't kill who we feed, so that might account for it.
A cold mercy, [ peggy offers her verdict. provided she understood the sentiment. ] Not to cast aspersions, but I'm not certain the thought sits well with me.
You, me, and most people from my world. [He can't blame her, and he's one of these nightmarish creatures.] Precautions aren't universal, either; what works for some worlds won't work for others.
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No, I befriended you on a false assumption. I don't care what secrets you might hide from me, but I've hid enough from you, so. [He takes a breath, entirely out of habit, as he holds up two fingers.] I'm a vampire. I've been one for over a century and a half. I don't eat humans, I don't plan on changing that, and "ordinary" is far from the first word I'd use to describe myself.
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[ -- the man had known she'd been lying. it had appeared tragically evident. ] No doubt that only made him all the more eager to get to the bottom of things.
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His secret wasn't worth hurt feelings, let alone a friendship being thrown into potentially awkward waters.]
I see. In that case, thank you for keeping my secret. [He presses his lips together.] I know it certainly couldn't have been easy.
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And I'll continue to keep it. Hard or not, it'll always be yours to tell. Never mine.
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[He's of the same belief, when others' secrets and knowledge are concerned - it's not his story to tell. He doesn't think it ever will be his story.]
But still, I'll be more honest with you. If you have questions or anything, I can try and answer them.
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If it's something I can't answer, I'll say so.
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[ she's acutely aware her question might offend him. and yet, she'd already begged forgiveness on that front. in a sense, it can't be half-as-bad as that time she asked whether he fought for the axis powers.
either way, her kid gloves are off. ]
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Were this an uncommon question, he would've been outraged. He isn't Sascha. He doesn't lick human blood off the floor of the Iskaulit, but he also understands (all too well) why someone would believe it.]
Not since I transitioned. I feed off animals, or I'll take blood pills if we're between star systems.
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peggy rubs the edge of one finger against her forehead -- another all-too-obvious sign that she's fighting to cope with this knowledge. ] And I take it you 'transitioned' a rather long time ago. I suppose it goes a little bit further towards explaining the Methuselah-like length of your life.
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[One more reason he tries to feed on animal blood wherever he goes. Nothing tastes like human blood, but animals are far more palatable than the slop that passes for blood pills.]
Technically, it was a century and a half ago. I was born in 1846, and I "transitioned" when I was seventeen.
[He doesn't quite look seventeen, though - if anything, he's more 22 than 17. Not that he'll say so at the moment. His reincarnation is a harder pillow to swallow than his immortality.]
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[ -- well, maybe she doesn't come close to polite. actually. ]
I'm considering a Lugosi joke, but I'm also a little worried Mister Jarvis might have already made one.
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[At least he's aware! He'll lean back a little, comfortable in that knowledge.]
More like he called me a piece of fiction, but same idea.
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[ she tries. ]
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[He can laugh now, because it's actually Pretty Funny, but he sure didn't appreciate it at the time.]
I've gotta say, that was pretty anticlimactic.
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I take it the reactions you receive are usually more...heated?
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They're rejections, Peggy. Every last one of 'em. [ . . . ] Or they used to be, anyway.
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I know a little bit about the sting of others' incredulity. [ and there's a comfort in not needing to explain to him why that is -- not if he's lived through those same decades when she'd tried to carve out a career for herself. ] However markedly different the circumstances.
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Most vampires aren't super friendly. Feed first, talk later, maybe kill if they're bored - the legends exist for a reason.
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