forum All my rps r ded so.... rp with a smol 'vegan' vampire?

Started September 07, 2020 by @Kinarymo

tune

”You’re welcome. Anytime.” she smiled softly back, glad to see him not so worried. Despite him being over a century old, he just seemed like a sweet innocent little boy, most likely due to his very sheltered life, and she wanted to help protect that as long as she could.

She nodded briefly at his question. ”Yeah, some people can have a… very strong negative reaction to eating or drinking something, like peanuts. Or even just coming in contact with the allergen. Depending on how bad the reaction is it could even cause a person to be taken to the hospital.” she explained as best she could. Marissa, fortunately, didn't have any allergies except for the normal reactions to certain bug bites.

She let out a soft breath, a little relieved that he didn't seem to mind but… she still felt like this could be a sensitive topic. ”Ok. Umm, you don't have to answer if any of them make you uncomfortable.” she assured him. ”It’s just all the myths… Well, there's so many about them so a lot of actual facts have gotten lost or twisted around that it's hard to see the truth anymore.” she clarified, hoping to put Damien a little more at ease. ”Like I’ve heard one that says that vampires can't eat regular food, but I know you can.” she said, feeling awkward again.

"Thank you… so much"

After her reassuring smile in the ball game subject, he slightly lowered his gaze, taking in the length of severity an allergy could reach - sure, some swelling up after a insect bite sounded serious, but actually having to see a doctor, that wasnt as okay anymore. The thought scared him a bit, partially because of how bad things could get - he was afraid to ask, but he was almost sure one could die if the allergy was bad enough.
"Just how many things can cause allergies? I only knew of insect bites until now" he asked instead, curious to know what other things could harm a person.

"Its okay" he tried reassuring her. "I'll do my best to answer as much as i can" Internally, he was trying to push himself to let go of his fears tied to the subject, especially because she had never minded the fact he wasnt like her. Besides, if he understood correctly, Mari just wanted confirmation or dismissal of stories she'd heard, so they couldnt cause much harm, now could they?
"Well, i can't promise all of my answers will be one hundred percent accurate. I mean, i already told you im probably able to eat regular food because my mother wasnt a vampire. So theres a chance my answers will be slightly altered"
He remembered her mentioning that vampires were supposedly living off blood only, but there he was, not having tasted a single drop his entire life and still able to survive. Sure, he did feel hungry very often because of that, but he always fixed it with a quick snack.
"But still, feel free to ask anything"

Mari nodded again at his thanks before biting her lip in thought. ”Well… It depends on the person. Honestly, there are a lot of things that can trigger someone's allergy. Like some can be allergic to peanuts or milk and dairy products… Others might be allergic to certain flowers or getting stung by a bee.” she said, giving a fairly brief explanation since there were so many things people could be allergic to these days.

”Yeah… I remember that.” she said softly. ”Well, slightly altered answers are fine, since I'm asking about you anyway.” she tried to smile reassuringly but it didn't come as easily considering how awkward she felt. Here goes nothing… she swallowed nervously before asking, ”I guess a good start would be… Does the sun… hurt or bother you?”

"People can be allergic to milk too? How come?" he asked, slightly in disbelief. Sure, he could understand the others - plants and bugs especially, since he lived in a forest and he'd received the basic education of what to touch/eat and what to keep away from. But stuff like milk? That sounded really strange, to him at least. No one he'd ever met had that - not that he'd met too many people in his life so that claim was a tad bit bold - and he himself had never had any issues with it.
"So strange…"

Ironically, it was then that it became obvious, to Mari at least, that the spot Damien sat in was illuminated by a faint ray of sunlight that peeked through the clouds outside, coming through the large glass windows and landing on the boy's head, bouncing off in a green hue. He hadn't flinched at all the whole time, his gaze glued to her like an obedient puppy, so it was probably safe to say sunlight didnt do too much to him.

"Well, in general no" he replied, looking at his hands. "I rarely go outside in the plain, but whenever i did and the sun was up, it just felt warm, that's all. Although there were days when it shone so bright and hot that my skin would turn red and painful if i spent too much time outside in one day. Then it would hurt for days, like i had burned myself on something, until the red spot healed. But like i said, that happened only on very hot days if i stayed out for too long"

Damien was a very pale boy from the start, so it was possible that he just got sunburns like a normal person would, albeit at a faster rate.
"There was this one time when i was younger when i fell asleep under a tree and one of my legs wasn't in the shade. I remember it hurt a lot and i didnt go out for like a week after it because i could not walk properly."

As he spoke, he shifted in place, raising one leg to his chest and rolling up his pant leg, revealing a pale calf, the white skin only interrupted by a mark slightly higher than where his sock ended. It wasn't too large or gruesome, as one would have expected form a vampire, just the small spotted remains of what was once a probably serious sunburn.

”Honestly, chamaco, I don't know why. I just know that it's one of… an unfortunately large number of food-based allergies.” she explained with a sigh. ”I have a theory but… I can’t prove it and I don't know if it's accurate or just something I jumbled together from some kind of conspiracy… I don't want to influence you with something like that if I can't confirm it.” she admitted.

Marissa felt a little silly as she finally noticed the sunbeam around Damien. But she was glad to see that it didn't bother him more than any other human.

”That’s actually a very normal reaction to the sun.” she assured him with a small smile. ”You might be a little more sensitive but… Sunburns can happen to anyone on a day like that.” She looked down when he pulled up his pant leg. ”Oh, ouch! I've never had a burn that serious.” Serious enough to leave a scar… Mari wouldn't be too surprised to hear that it was possible but it was unheard enough to her for this to be a new experience.

He looked at her curiously, wanting to know how she explained these things to herself.
"What's your theory…?" he asked, rubbing his hands in his much larger pullover sleeves. "its ok if its not accurate, im just curious. But before that, do u wanna drink something? Like tea? "

Damien sighed a little more relieved, knowing that getting burned by the sun didnt happen to him only. Finally, one thing about himself he no longer had to feel bad for.
"Yea, it was pretty bad when it happened, like i told you. Probably because, like you said, im more sensitive. But mom at the time said it was because i had stayed in the sun for very long right when it shone the brightest." he explained, recalling the event. His mother had explained to him that staying out in the sun could hurt someone, but in time he'd started to believe only he was affected by it, belief further amplified by the extended loneliness period. But now he was being reminded that was just what he'd made himself believe.
"Did you ever get sunburned?"

She gave a brief nod to acknowledge that he did want to hear her, potentially wrong and crazy, hypothesis but smiled at his offer. ”Sure. Tea sounds good. My theory is a little long. What kind of tea do you have?” she asked.

”Well, time of day and length of time in the sun do affect how badly someone can get burned so your mom wasn't wrong.” Mari pointed out kindly. She glanced down at her arms which she had always considered to be a little on the pale side but still with some tan color. ”I can burn, just not very easily. But there is stuff to prevent severe sunburns now. It's a lotion called sunscreen and there’s even a gel you can put on after if you do get burned to help… at least with the pain.” she told him.

Damien was already off the couch and heading to the kitchen door, stopping midway to answer her question.
"Well, i have several plant options, and even some forest fruit ones. Is there a particular one you like? i can try making it if i have what i need"

"Ah, i see" he nodded in aknowledgement, slightly glad he'd found someone else who had gone through the same thing as him.
"So theres stuff that can help with sunburns now? wow… That must be so useful"

Mari looked up at him, impressed when she realized that he probably made his own tea. ”Do you have anything with mint or peppermint?” she asked a little shyly. ”If not, it's not a big deal. I can just have whatever you make.” she offered as she stood to follow him, gently placing his book back on the nightstand.

”Yeah, it is useful.” she smiled, nodding a little. ”Especially if you wanna get a tan. You have to reapply to stay protected but it's nice for a full day in the sun like if you go to the beach or something.”

He perked up at the familiar names, nodding his head enthusiastically.
"Mhm! its very likely i may have both, but i definitely have one of them. I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" he said, with his hand on the door handle, swinging the door open and walking in the small kitchen. Inside, Damien began digging through his small box stash, trying to find the right herbs - which did not take too long, since he kept everything sort of organized.

"Huh, thats interesting. Back when i got burned, they'd either put yogurt or olive oil on it to help it heal, there was nothing you could use to prevent it." the boy commented, tossing the dry leaves into the boiling water on the stove.
"Are all the other questions like this one?"

”Thank you.” she called after him, smiling at his excitable response. But she was glad that she had simple enough tastes in tea that Damien was familiar with those flavors.

Mari walked over to the doorway so they could keep talking without having to raise their voices. ”Yeah? I've never heard of those remedies. Did they actually help at all?” she asked.

”I guess so.” she admitted softly with a shrug. ”But, as I said earlier, if I ask you anything that makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to answer.” she reassured him again.

"Well, im pretty sure they did." he said, pushing the leaves down into the water with a spoon. "Yogurt to help with the pain and oil to help the skin heal better. Either worked just fine, but both were just as great. After all, you saw the result, not a bad one i could say."

He shook his head gently, with a soft and calm smile, while taking out a few large cups.
"So far they've been pretty innocent. You're probably the very first outside person to not want to swat me away as soon as you knew what i was, so answering your questions just feels a lot easier than i would have thought it could ever be. So no need to worry. I'll tell you when i want to skip something, okay?"

”That’s true.” she nodded, recalling the faint scar on his leg. ”I guess I'm just not familiar with too many old home remedies like that.” she shrugged.

Mari smiled back, relieved that he didn't mind her questions about some of the myths around… vampires. Though she would still try to avoid any that were insensitive. ”That sounds fair to me.” she agreed. ”There’s so much lore and honestly some of them are kinda interesting. Like the one that says a vampire can't enter a house unless they are invited or that they can shapeshift.” she told him, a little curious if he actually had the later ability. ”Or there's this one strange one I heard that says; if you throw a handful of rice or grain in front of a vampire, they have to count it. Almost like extreme OCD to count the pieces.”

"They don't use those remedies anymore? They used to be quite common back then" he commented, looking around for something to put in the tea.
Eventually, he found a small bowl, that he placed on his table, continuing his search.

"Not able to enter a house unless invited? I've never had that happen to me. Or at the very least i dont think i was ever in a situation like that - the only houses i ever set foot in was this one and the old one." Damien said, after thinking for a little bit. "I've read a little bit about that, but i always thought it was either fiction or i wasn't affected. As for shapeshifting… hmm, i never thought of that"
Honestly, he'd lived most of his life trying to be as normal as any kid could be, and without ever meeting his vampire parent, the boy had no idea what he could or couldn't do. And answering Mari's questions only made him start thinking about how little he actually resembled a so called vampire. The thirst for blood, ability to change one's shape, the need of permission in order to set foot in a residence, none of these happened to him - was he even a real vampire after all?
"Oh, i did have several times when i spilled something on the table or floor, but i dont think i ever felt the need to count all the grains, it would have taken far too long to do all that. What's OCD tho?"

She shook her head as she decided to go into the kitchen with him. ”No. No one really uses those methods anymore. Medicine has come a long way since then. Now we have a gel called Aloe Vera to treat sunburns… but I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone get a serious one like what you showed me.” she told him. ”But I wouldn't be surprised if some of those old remedies inspired some modern treatments.” she added thoughtfully.

Mari hadn't even considered that Damien might not know some of these things because of his lack of contact with his biological father. She had thought that he just might not be sure because of his lack of natural experience with those situations. She nodded a little when he pointed out that he had only been in at least two houses in his lifetime. Though she was relieved that he didn't have to worry about the whole counting thing. ”Ok. That's fine then. What about mirrors? Do you have a reflection?”

Honestly, she did have another reason for asking these questions besides curiosity. If it turned out that he did have some kind of vampiric quirk then she would be able to help protect him or prevent it if she needed to. ”So, you've just never tried shapeshifting then… That doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have it.” she commented thoughtfully. ”Umm, what about flying?” she asked before realizing that he also had a question. ”OCD stands for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It's a mental problem that can make a person feel like they have to do something.” she explained.

Damien slowly poured the tea in the cups as he listened to her talk, silently wondering what that so called aloe vera was, given the interesting, fantasy like name it had. He slowly pushed one of the cups to her as he sat down on his chair.
Well, maybe you never saw one like that because regular people cant burn as bad" he theorized, trying to take into account the sun sensibility she'd suggested he may have. "It's most certain the old remedies led to new ones, it always does, ever since ancient times - my history books always mention it"

He took a sip of the hot liquid, enough to taste it before putting the cup back on the table.
"Mhm, there's a mirror downstairs, but i rarely use it, other than to check if my clothes fit or for some other reason. I don't really have a fondness of mirrors, since i dont want to see my face." he confessed, lightly turning his head away so that he could hide his face behind his hair again. There was nothing he could pride himself with in his appearance, he was just a scrawny kid with a beat up expression who liked to sink in the always larger clothing - it was this image that kept reminding him why he had been so disliked by the world in the first place.

"Hmmm, i see. Well, i do like to keep things organized so i dont have to look for them later, does that count as OCD?" the boy asked, curious if it was a bad thing.
He let out an awkward chuckle at her question, sipping some more of his tea.
"I wasn't allowed anywhere near a high place, let alone test if i could fly. I'm pretty sure my mother would have gone bonkers if i ever tried. It would be pretty safe to say i never tried that one either."
Honestly, Damien had enough energy just to go about his usual day, do the tasks he needed to, then retreat in the house to rest with a book in hand - at no point in time, did it ever cross his mind to try any of the stuff Mari mentioned. Sure, shapeshifting sounded really complex to him, tho he figured it could be doable if he at least tried, but flying was out of the question - alone as he lived, he couldn't risk getting injured and probably die slowly because no one was there to come help, so no.

Marissa smiled softly as she sat with him at the table, accepting the warm drink. ”That’s possible.” she agreed as she followed his reasoning. ”I’m just glad they stopped using leeches and stuff like that.” she gave an exaggerated shudder at the thought but her smile showed she was joking around.

Taking a sip of the tea, she hummed happily at the flavor before raising a brow at his despondent answer. ”Why not?” she asked softly as she set her cup down. ”You have a very nice face. Boyish, kind, and innocent. In fact, I know some people would find you downright adorable.” she encouraged… Though she wondered if his poor self-image had something to do with that little mark near his eye that he hid under his hair.

”Not necessarily.” she shook her head. ”OCD is more extreme than just being organized. It's an anxiety issue that actually affects your whole lifestyle with unwanted and/or repetitive thoughts that lead to similar actions.” she explained, even though she was not an expert on this matter.

She laughed lightly with him when he mentioned his mom's reaction if he had been caught. ”Ok. Fair enough. Most parents would freak out if they saw their kids in a position like that.” she said, taking another drink. ”Though, if there's a grain of truth in some those myths you might have a slight advantage. Some stories say that vampires are… much more durable, practically invincible, and stronger than humans.” she added, still keeping in mind that he was only half.

Damien appeared to choke a little with his tea at the mentioning of leeches, wheezing softly.
"Yea, leeches were freakin creepy. Not that i ever had to use any" he chuckled, wiping away the few droplets that had drooled to his chin.

"Adorable…?" he repeated, slightly peaking at her with the visible eye. It wasn't a word he'd heard too often, not directed at him at least. He'd received more hurtful words than nice ones in his lifetime, and they'd broken pretty much any positive thought he'd had about himself. Maybe Mari found him to be okay-ish looking, but she wasn't seeing the whole picture of him.
"I just… i got too used to people giving me weird looks whenever they laid eyes on me, so i never really felt like i was a nice thing to look at. And that was even before i got here and… well, got uglier."
He lightly motioned at his hidden side of the face, ashamed he even brought it up. She found him relatively nice looking, showing her the truth might ruin that impression.

"So its not a good thing to have?" he sipped from his cup, trying to imagine how exactly that said condition manifested.

The boy stopped mid sip, looking at her, some of the past dread still readable in his eye, like he was trying to decide if he should answer or just find a way around it, since it led back to one of his larger insecurities.
In the end he decided to try and step over his fear, for the sake of being honest with her.
"Well, i can say that one is somewhat true, at least in my case. I did have a few moments when i got hurt but not nearly as bad as i could have, according to my mom anyway. I never had a broken bone, tho i sometimes fell hard enough that i should have had at least one fracture. And then there was this…"
He pointed at his face again, averting his gaze as he did so.
"Mother said it was a miracle i hadn't died from it, considering how bad it was and all… I guess you could say i was a little more durable than an average person"

Mari nodded, laughing with him once she was sure he was ok after he nearly choked on the tea. ”I know. I can't imagine any sane person coming up with the idea that using those was a good thing.”

”Yeah. Very adorable actually.” she smiled softly at him. She could understand being bullied and having low self-esteem because of it, and poor Damien probably had it worse if the wrong kind of people knew what he was back then. ”It’s not…” she shook her head. ”Damien, you're not ugly. At all. You're very sweet.” she told him, looking at his covered eye for a moment. ”You don't have to tell me what happened cause I can tell it's personal, but it didn't make you worse. Ugliness isn't just how a person looks; it's how they act. And it sounds to me like the people who treated you like that were the ugly ones. They were… superstitious and they let that control their behavior towards you when you don't deserve it.” she said passionately, though there were a few other choice words that came to her mind about those types of people but one of them at least wasn’t appropriate for her to say. But at the very least, she was glad that he had survived whatever hurt him back then.

She admittedly got a little wrapped up in her… speech that she almost forgot he had asked a question. She blushed a little and took a slow sip before looking back up at him. ”Ummm, no. OCD is definitely not a good thing to have.” she answered softly, still a little embarrassed that she had gotten carried away earlier.