"Yes, ma'am," he says, flashing her a grin.

She smiles back, and they depart.

"I can grab something to eat from a stall or something, and then we can go to the park. There's a nice, quiet one nearby, not very crowded."

"That sounds lovely. Lead the way."

She does, getting herself a quick set of fish and chips, and then leading him to a very out of the way bench in a very out of the way park.

"Thank you," she says, once she's sat down. "For the, um." She motions to his eyes. "Diet change."

He nods. "It's not all the way to gold, yet, the human blood hasn't all diluted. But yeah."

She nods.

"Right. Okay. Uh, so, what other rules does the secret vampire government have?"

"Just the one, really: do not reveal the existence of vampires to humans as a whole, nor allow such a reveal to occur through inaction. It's particularly important not to create newborn armies, which inevitably get out of control, nor turn children—when we turn, our personality becomes static, and immortal children never grow up and get enough maturity and self-control to be able to exist quietly. The cutoff age is fourteen."

"Immortal children? Stuck forever at... whatever age they were turned at." She looks sort of queasy. "I do not disagree with these addendums to the rules, they are. They seem very necessary."

He nods. "And—I just realized I did not mention this at the time, it was a background fact—you become prettier when you turn. More symmetrical, better body proportions. Immortal children are almost impossible not to love at first sight, whole covens of vampires would go down fighting to protect their children."

Yvette stares at him.

"Yep. Definitely a. Definitely a wise policy."

He nods. "I believe the fourteen cutoff is because fourteen is the age of the youngest members of the Volturi coven."

"That's a bit questionable, but. Okay. If they encounter a controlled twelve year old, would they mindlessly kill them, or agree to leave them alive?"

"Kill them, probably."

Wince. "Okay."

He nods. "There is not much room for quarter or disagreement with them."

"So, play very very nice and don't attract their attention. Got it. Okay." She fidgets with the hem of her skirt and looks at her lap. "Luckily for us, I, um. I think I might want to become a vampire. Not... Not immediately, I want to be sure I won't eat people and I want to have a better idea of who you are before I'm mind controlled to love you forever, but, um." Yep she sure is looking at her lap. "... It sounds nice? Not entirely free of downsides, but being immortal appeals."

He nods again, not letting the internal screaming show. "If you decide not to love me forever, I can try to make sure you don't see me after turning. It will be a bit harder to wrangle, but it can be done."

"Okay," she agrees, softly, looking up from her lap to meet his eyes. "Do we know if that'll work, though? I don't mean if you can pull it off, I mean, what does the mind control grab ahold of? Just sight, or does memories of sight do it, or the sound of your voice, or letters you write? I don't... want to cut you off from me entirely, that sounds. Kind of cruel to you, really."

"I don't know. I think letters and photographs are not enough, and I know sight is enough, but I'm not sure about the sound of my voice."

She nods.

"But you'd rather me alive and safe forever and never speaking to you again than, what, sixty years of conversation followed by a forever without me alive anywhere," she says. It does not sound like a question.

"Yes."

"Okay. Good. Then..." She trails off and looks at her lap again. "Then, um. All right. You may begin attempting to woo me, now."

—he laughs. "Attempting to woo you?"

She flushes slightly.

"I'd told you to back off on the flirting before!" she defends. "You, um, don't need to do that anymore, it's a little... intimidating... but I'm not against it?"

"Yes, yes, it was just an amusing way to say it. And I think we are a bit past default flirting, now."