Marcel’s pleased when Conrad finally starts to settle in. It is, truthfully, very cathartic, having another vampire around who, frankly, wasn’t either a bore or some megalomaniac bent on living a blood-fuelled orgy for the rest of humanity’s existence. Sure, everyone has their little slips every now and again, maybe overindulges, but in the long term it loses its edge very fast.
Having people he could be honest around, in entirety, was a privilege. One he very much hated to waste.
Grinned and found himself chuckling a little alongside Conrad’s outburst.
“My apologies to him, then. Sometimes it’s hard to forget that not every language is gendered. Then again, my father’s name was Anne, so. These things do change.
“How did you end up with a vampire in your home, by the way? Just invite her home one night and she decided she’d rather stick around?”
He was glad that Conrad had at least had some people to guide him through his transition into undeath. Clemenz certainly hadn’t ever taken such responsibility.
“It sounds like you’ve had quite the adventurous un-life so far. I don’t think I even found anything else… unusual… until forty years after I was turned. I think it has to do with cities getting bigger and more densely populated– much easier to hide in a crowd. Especially over this side of the world. Strangeness is much more… welcome, in a lot of ways.”
“I think I might have some sort of natural aversion to magic– the few times I’ve come across it, it’s felt very. Uncomfortable. The sort of thing that sets all your hair on end and gets your fight or flight instincts rearing to go.”
Especially in that moment, with a calmer Conrad sitting and smiling to himself as he reminiscs about moments of strange friendship and questionable adventure, it certainly doesn't look like he'd be the type to go overindulging megalomaniac on anyone. On the other hand, he doesn't look like he's ever actually indulged in the full vampire experience, either. In fact, despite the obvious visual clues, he appears awfully human, maybe a little too much so. Like the moment of full realization is yet to come, and there's no telling how that will play out.
Something about Marcel does remind him of Hanna. Maybe it's the casual, boundless optimism despite everything.
"Hah. It's not even so much the name... he gets to hear that a lot. The face he tends to make at comments like that is priceless though, I admit."
Conrad's smile finally fades, but the by now familiar stubborn tone still lacks true seriousness. There is a strange humor to everything that is his life, and in a way he gladly accepts it.
"Hell no, I didn't INVITE her. She was stuck in bat form cos obviously I'm not the only one who had a major beef with her, and decided to crawl in through the window while I was working on a project. From what I know now, it's well possible she was hiding away from the hunter who was going around at the time.
Too bad I wasn't OKAY with sharing my condo with an entitled, talking rodent, so it was either her or me who'd have to leave. Turned out it was me, hrmph. How was I supposed to know she could DO that? Flip the damn furniture, really? Alright, that night in particular, I did dislike bats."
He rubs at his forehead and huffs.
"I don't know how she got in. Hanna thinks it's possible that apartments have a crappy threshold, but from my own experience? I beg to differ. The other theory was that someone else might have invited her into the complex at some point. But that's not the kind of conversation I want to lead with the landlord."
Finally, he looks back at Marcel, features softening once again as he tries to imagine tapping in the dark about the whole supernatural deal for 40 solid years.
"Even the others in the group said that Hanna seems to have a knack for attracting all sorts of strangeness around himself. It's as if he's a magnet toward all things not quite human. So I was bound to find out a lot incredibly fast.
As for magic... uh, yea. It's fairly uncomfortable. Not sure if I have an actual aversion to it, but, YANNO. It's not exactly something that people should be able to DO. Maybe?"
