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Leo is not new to being a vampire of the Red Court. He's not a noble or anything, but he's been around for a very long time. He's reached the ripe old age of 600, outliving his noble father and the vast majority of his bloodthirsty sisters, almost entirely by being a filthy coward. He has no pretensions to the blood of milk-pale virgins; he's perfectly fine getting his dinner for the week under a bridge. He occasionally keeps slaves, but only rarely. Most of the time, he occupies himself with reading, and painting, and delicious, delicious blood. On occasion he indulges in a good alleyway lurking.
This is one of those occasions. Chicago's alleyways are not particularly well maintained, but they're better than the slums of Toledo in 1632. Leo likes them. They're meditative, and often contain convenient homeless populations.
"Well... maybe not perfectly consistently, but it seems to work all right where I'm from," he says. "Who governs countries if not their nonfunctional monarchs, though?"
"Various parliaments and congresses and a handful of dictators, though many of the latter are actually vampires. I'm not quite sure how bloodline rulership could work for humans without some odd magic thing, and considering you're a prince I'm inclined to take your recommendation of the system with a grain of salt."
"Well, I'd ask Cath to back me up, but you can't understand her and don't seem to like her much, so that's out. I suppose it doesn't matter much until I find a way to get back home, anyhow. Why are a lot of dictators vampires? Do they find it particularly fulfilling, or something?"
"Less fulfilling, more convenient to have a population under your heel that you can devour. Plus, the Red King likes expanding his empire. And he's the kind of guy who gets what he wants."
"Please don't try to assassinate the Red King. I like you not being flagrantly dead."
"...Who said anything about assassinating anyone?" he says indignantly. "I wouldn't! Well, not without a very good reason and not if I wasn't really, really sure I could pull it off. I just don't think I approve of people taking over countries in order to eat their subjects. But I have entirely different and probably much less dangerous absurdly difficult goals to focus on right now."
He pauses. "Please take my advice on whom you can and can't handle, by the way. I have this image in my head of you ringing Mab's doorbell and trying to funnel a soul into her." He shudders at the thought.
"I don't even know who that is. I don't even know if this soul business is actually something I did, or whether I can ever do it again if so! I'm not going to go around trying to - soul people, on purpose, until I understand at least a little more about what the fuck is going on!"
"Well, you don't seem to mind the results, and if you learned to control it it'd certainly suit your goals, so I felt like being proactive! And Mab is the queen of the Winter fae, an inimitably unpleasant woman by all accounts. Not a good idea to fuck with her."
"Seriously, don't fuck with Mab. You being human and fragile and all, she could quite literally kill you with a stray thought. If she spoke to you in the wrong tone of voice, she'd turn your bones into dust. I'd rather keep you in one piece."
Cath answers with a series of meows.
"I haven't done anything like it before, I don't know what you're talking about."
Meow meow.
"There is a big difference between 'person who can kill you with a thought' and 'carpet that can turn you into a rabbit'!"
"...That sounds adorable. Also horrifying, but I think that's baggage from this universe. The transformation wasn't horrifyingly painful and insanifying or anything, I suppose?"
"No, and I know from horrifyingly painful," snorts Milo. "Didn't hurt at all. One second I'm a little boy, the next I'm a tiny rabbit with incredible amounts of fluff. I spent about a week eating an undesirable amount of vegetables before I could go out under a new moon and get the transformation reversed."
"I stand by my declaration of adorable, then. Adorable. Man, I wish that were possible here, there's some folks I'd like to see as adorable bunny rabbits. Without horrible pain and madness, I mean."
"Have I mentioned recently that your world is a little bit horrifying?"
"Ha. That is not news, my friend. It's alright long as you're not a human, though. Or as long as you have someone who can be aggressively nonhuman at various things that want to eat you, which is a niche I am happy to fill."
Leo has a sudden disastrous urge to kiss him. It passes, and he stands. "We should probably get inside before the sun comes up," he sighs. "I'd hate to die the day I got my shiny new soul."
"...That's a concern? I mean - yes, absolutely, lead the way," says Milo.
"Oh, don't worry, the sun isn't made of razorblades or anything, it's a vampire thing. This world is only so horrible."
"Okay, good to know. But I definitely don't want you to die. I only just met you. So let's go - wherever you go when the sun comes up, I guess."
Leo leads Milo back to his lodging of the week. "Home, sweet warehouse. Sorry for the unprincely conditions, I'm not exactly used to guests."
"It's fine. It has a roof; that's sufficient for our purposes, I think."