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

Started September 07, 2020 by @Kinarymo

tune

Mari smiled excitedly as she jogged down the familiar hidden path. It had only been a day but she was looking forward to seeing Damien again. Her messager bag bounced at her side, once again containing a couple books and some bags of fresh foods that she hoped he would like. She had made some good progress on reading his beautifully handwritten papers, however, she did struggle a little with the research on the cherry blossom festivals. Apparently, most of what came up was for the one in DC and only referenced the origin of the tree as somewhere in Japan. But she wasn't going to give up. She would just need to refine her search next time.

Inside the mansion, Damien lay sunken in his pillow, covered by a blanket, with a book in his hands, reading silently. He'd woken up pretty early that day, eating breakfast and then jumping back into bed to finish off the book he'd started yesterday, all without even changing into his normal clothes. After Marissa's departure, he'd neatly and carefully arranged all the things she'd brought him and began reading the books in order. Having been borrowed from a library, he wanted to finish them soon so Mari could return them before getting in trouble. The boy had barely touched the player, in his obsession with the books, though he had placed it neatly next to the books, intending to test it out later.
The bag of candy had been gently placed on a table next to the bed, secure enough so it would not fall by accident. So far, he'd only taken a few more pieces out, eating them at somewhat regular intervals, wanting to make them last for a longer period of time.

Mari had changed from her usual style of clothes to a simple gym outfit including her running shoes and a plain t-shirt with her school team/insignia on a small patch above her heart. Even though they were going to test Damien’s abilities today, she wasn't going to make him do everything by himself. Regardless of whether or not he had abilities, Mari planned accompany him as much as she could.

She carefully made her way through the bars and walked up to the house. “Hello? Damien?” she called out from the entryway, still making her way to his room.

The boy had just turned a page when his sensitive hearing picked up on the voice calling out for him, at which point he sprung out of bed, gently placed the book down on the bed side table, before grabbing his shoes and climbing down the small flight of stairs and into the corridor, to greet Marissa. Initially he did not call out to her, preferring to just scurry across the floor, but eventually when her voice and footsteps got close enough, he finally announced his presence.

"Hi Mari, im here" he chirped, with a wave. Even though it had only been a day, he was very excited to see her again.

Mari smiled brightly when she saw her friend and picked up her pace a little, though she didn't run, to meet him. “Hey.” she greeted as she resisted the impulse to hug him when they were close enough. “You excited for today?” she asked, referring to their exercise to test if Damien had any vampiric abilities or if they were just fiction. Though she would admit that she was a little nervous about how good of a teacher she would be. Either way, it wouldn't change her friendship with him. It was just an interesting experiment.

"Yeah, i am." he replied. "Also pretty nervous… I don't know how things will go"
Damien stopped for a little, looking her up and down, inspecting her clothes. Aside from the fact they looked so very different from what he was used to, they had strong colors which he'd never seen this clear anywhere else. He kind of liked them.
"You, um, wanna go in to put down the bag? I have to get dressed too so…." the boy asked, gesturing to the girl's plump looking bag.

“It’s okay to be nervous.” she assured him with an understanding nod. “I don't really know what’ll happen either.” Though she was looking forward to finding out. Realistically, she knew that his abilities could cover a broad range but it would be good for him to know what he was capable of.
“Sure.” Mari shrugged a little. “I got a few surprises for you. Hope you like them.” she added with a playful smirk.

Damien shifted nervously, playing with his sleeves.
"Yeah, i guess so… It's kind of exciting to do something new after a long time you know?" he admitted, slowly turning around, to lead her to the room where he'd come from. Alongside all his doubt and nervousness was also a shimmer of curiosity just like Marissa, of just how much of him was a vampire, to put it simply.
"Oh, what do you have there?" the boy asked, suddenly more excited, pressing his hand on the door handle to open it, head turned towards the girl and her bag.

Mari nodded with a small smile. “Yeah. It's always a good idea to try something new every once in a while.” she agreed, though she internally winced at how she sounded like she was ripping off a fortune cookie. Hopefully, it wouldn't seem like she was trying too hard to be encouraging.
“Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a surprise.” she teased gently. “But if you really want to know; I brought you a couple more books. The one on astronomy is actually mine so there's no pressure from the library.” she assured him. “And I thought you might like to try some fruit fresh from the store. It's not as interesting as what you grow but they're still pretty good.”

Thankfully for Mari, the boy agreed as well, addmitedly somewhat sheepishly, taking her words to heart. Given he didnt even know what fortune cookies were, she sounded totally genuine to him.
"True, true, but you're going to show me anyway, won't you? So it wont stay a surprise for too long." he giggled a little, walking up the small flight of stairs to get to the platform. The bed was still a little disheveled as he'd left it when he jumped out to greet Mari, so he hurried to arrange it as best he could right then and there.
The notion of more books brought happiness to Damien, but it was the fruits that really sparked his interest. After all, food was one of the few things that could beat a really good book, and Damien was almost always a bit hungry.
He patiently waited for Mari to arrive there as well, almost jumping in place from excitement to see what she'd brought him this time.

She laughed a little at his witty reply and nodded as she followed him into the room. “Fair point.” she smiled. Honestly, she didn't mind if his bed was made or not. She figured it was a result of living with two younger brothers. “Alright.” she nodded before opening the bag and pulling out the books. “So, here's the astronomy book and the other one is just something from light reading… Honestly, I didn't look at the title of this one when I grabbed it.” she admitted. “As for the fruits, I brought you two bags of cherries, one sweet and one more tart, a bag of grapes, a couple pears, and peaches.”

After tossing the pillow back in its place, the boy hurried back to the couch where Marissa had unpacked, nearly beaming with curiosity. One by one, he received the books, looking over at the covers and admiring their new modern look, before placing them next to him and moving his attention over to the food, the actual thing he was excited about.
"Oh i remember cherries. They're small red ones that come in pairs, dont they? I missed those so much! Pears and peaches too… I dont know what grapes are though" he chirped, very curiously looking at each bag

Mari smiled a little as she handed him the books, noticing the second book was something about local plant life, glad he seemed to like them though she chuckled softly when she noticed what really held his interest. “Yeah. At least, I think they grow in pairs. Unfortunately, they're all separate in the bags.” she nodded, relieved that she had brought some of his favorites without knowing it. “Grapes are really good. They're… uh, kinda like cherries except they grow on vines instead of trees. And the darker the color, the sweeter they are. The green or white grapes are very tart, almost bordering on sour, in my opinion.” she told him as she held a bag of red grapes for him.

"Its okay, i dont think their separation affects their taste in any way, at least i hope" he attempted to make a lighthearted joke, as he fiddled with the bag. He was still highly innacquinted with plastic and it felt very weird to the touch, combined with the constant rustle it made.
Damien reached into the bag that she'd offered and picked out a single grape, which he reluctantly tested out.
"Wow.. Its honestly very good! Very juicy, but also sweet. I like them!" he cheerfully declared once his initial doubt and wearyness wore off.

“No, it doesn't.” she assured him with a light chuckle. “Need a little help with the bag?” she offered, seeing him struggle with opening it.
Mari smiled at his reaction to the grapes and nodded. “Yeah. Well, I'm glad you like them.” she told him, wondering if she should bring over some raisins for him next time.

The boy smirked a little at her chuckle, half of his nose becoming wrinkled, in a funny almost Mowgli style, which was also accentuated by the fact the other half of his face was obscured by the hair.
"Uh, yes please…" he responded, handing her the bag and watching carefully as she opened it - plastic bags worked very different than the packaging paper he was used to.
Damien continued to pick out grapes to munch on, preoccupied by the new found sweet taste, but also secretly eyeing the other bags.
"is there anything else you can do with these?" he asked, holding an entire small batch in his hand. "As in, cook them, make something nice to drink?"

Mari smiled at the cute almost Disney-esque expression on his face. She had loved watching The Jungle Book movie when she was a kid and still enjoyed it on occasion… Maybe she should introduce Damien to some of the classic movies.
“Here. It's pretty easy… once you get the hang of it.” she assured him before opening the bag carefully so he could try it next time.
She nodded at the question. “Oh, sure. I don't know about cooking them but juicing them, definitely. Umm, they're actually the main ingredient in wines… and you can dry them out to make raisins.” she explained.

Watching carefully, Damien released a small "oooh" as the knotted material was undone, and its technique was revealed to him. It tied pretty much the same as a long burlap sack, but much tighter and easier…
"Thanks, i'll try to keep it in mind" he thanked, gently taking the bag again and picking out a few cherries.
"Wait, wine? Thats what grapes can be made into? I didnt know that… Mom did promise she'd let me have a little when i was older but i never got to… What's it like? i hear its an alchoholic beverage? And those raisin things, i know those! Mom would bring home some from time to timm when she could." he explained, continuing to eat cherries. Raisins had been one of the few things his mother treated as a delicacy of sorts, bringing them back in small bundles and usually cooking something delicious with them, although she never got to tell him where they came from

“You’re welcome.” she smiled at him, snagging a single cherry for herself as she let him take the bag.
Mari nodded a little. “Yeah, at least the juice can. And yes, it is alcoholic but I think it's pretty good. Legally I'm not allowed to drink alcohol until I’m 21 but my mom has given a couple of sips on special occasions.” she admitted. “There’s a pretty wide variety of wines. It all depends on what kinds of grapes are used, how much alcohol is used, and how long it’s fermented… I think wine is fermented. I know other alcoholic drinks are.” she trailed off thoughtfully for a moment before smiling back at Damien. Raisins were definitely going on the list.

The boy nodded in approval while also humming lightly, before putting the cherry bag aside - they were very good but he didnt want to eat them all right away.
"Why arent you allowed to drink until you're 21?" he questioned, somewhat confused by the information. As far as he'd known, one could drink at any time regardless of age. Though of course, it was only the adults that drunk enough to become inebriated, from what his mother had told him.
"Fermented…? What does it taste like if its fermented?"
Damien knew what fermentation was, due to his past experiences with fruit juice that went bad after fermenting - of course, none of those were fruits that could result in an alcoholic beverage, so he was clueless about the fact that fermentation wasnt always a bad thing.