Checking In

Adjusting was not an easy task. It wasn't an easy task for someone who'd grown up in the narrow reality and had to learn magic was real.

Kallias had the exact opposite problem. He'd always known magic was real. Magic had been part of his normal everyday life. It was everything else that was an issue. It was being free. It was going to school. It was having choices and options and being told his opinion was mattered.

He'd been told there would be someone sharing his living area (private bedrooms, but a shared middle area), but he didn't really have much of a sense of what that meant. He'd always slept in shared quarters, and he'd found the idea of having a room all to himself unnerving.

The knock kicked him into action more or less immediately. He didn't stop to think about it, just went straight to the door and pulled it open.

He was...

...Normal. Kallias had seen a large number of completely supernatural creatures on the island, but the boy in front of him looked normal enough.

He'd been expecting something... else.

"Yes," he said, stepping to the side to let Kallias in. He almost immediately started to tip his head forward and bow, before he caught himself and straightened back up.

"You are my roommate? The one who will be living with me?"

In a way, it was either the perfect match, or the worst possible match at all. Cesare was used to being treated like a god. Kallias was used to treating people like gods. So the moment Cesare started acting like he owned the place, Kallias's brain simply said well, this is the way it's supposed to be and went right back to acting like he'd acted for more or less all of his sapient life. The fact that he'd insulted the very sparse decorating did not bother Kallias in the slightest. He didn't know anything about decorating, or modern clothes, and it was obvious that Cesare did, so why not? He didn't know what a tesla bulb was, but he didn't know what a chaise was either.

He stayed quiet through the explanation, nodding along the way he'd been taught to, and he did his best to keep up with what was being said to him. He was talking about clothes now, right? He was going to buy him clothes, because his clothes were shabby (truly, close to average). It was a concept he was familiar with, because having shabby looking slaves made you look worse, and it was the same principal, wasn't it?

It didn't occur to Kallias that the entire exchange should probably have been insulting.

He was slow to react to the offered hand, but did take it, giving an awkward handshake as he attempted to mimic what he'd been taught. He was used to bowing, and handshakes didn't sit quite right with him.

"I am Kallias," he said, lacking any sort of family name. "I haven't been on the island very long. I hope I won't be too great a burden as I adjust to the island."

As if the island was the issue.

Kallais watched, fascinated, as Cesare simply made himself at home. The dorm had been empty when he'd moved in and he still felt out of place, like he didn't belong there and never would. It felt too plush and fancy, like something a noble would be living in, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd be happier if his room was... smaller.

And more sparse.

And a lot of things.

"A -" he started to ask, only to have Cesare go right ahead and explain what a Dhampir was, saving him the trouble. He wasn't bothered by the blood--sacrifice had been a common enough thing, even if it wasn't human--but he paused a bit, considering the question.

"Just human," he said. "I guess I would be considered a... time traveler?" Did he count? He hadn't intended to travel, anyway.

Things were not quite as cut and dry as Cesare seemed to think. Kallias didn't know what vodka was, but the context gave him at least a general idea. Something like mead? People blacked out when they drank too much. Did he think it was that?

"I have... another form," he said, deciding in that moment it was better to be clear. He'd considered hiding it, but better Cesare know and not risk trying to remove the bracelet attached firmly to his wrist. It was a matter of real danger.

"When I'm in that form, time... I am not really aware of time passing. Most of my memories are from before I took it, long ago. Then from now, while I am human again. I lived in the time that passed in between, but for me it is like a dream." He hoped his explanation was simple enough, and looked increasingly nervous the longer he spoke.

Oh no, it was most certainly not burying the lead, and Kallias went pale, shaking his head. There was something uneasy about the way he mimicked his voice, and it only served to unsettle him even further.

"I would kill you," he said, a tone of desperation in his voice. "I can control myself, so it's dangerous, so I can't take the bracelet off." His words were coming out quickly, all in one big rush, as he did his best to explain his situation to his new roommate. He felt like it had gone from going well to being 'on a bad start' in a very short period of time, but to Kallias that always happened when his monstrous nature was brought up. Even on a place like Manta Carlos, people assumed when you said you could turn into a monster that you were something like a vampire or a werewolf. Something that was, at least most of the time, in control of themselves.