"Oh, good choice," she says, when she peeks out and sees the castle. "I've only been to the one in Lancaster, it'd be nice to see another."

"This one is Howard Castle, we're across the island from Lancaster."

"Ooo. That was fast. You're convenient. Well, it looks maintained enough that there are probably tours, do you want to see if we can go on one of those? Or do you want me all to yourself?"

"Well, what do you want to do? I would certainly love to keep you."

"Hm," she says, amused. "Tour if they have one, figure out something else to do if they don't?"

"Sounds brilliant."

"But you will need to put me down. It's not normal to just carry a woman everywhere, James."

"You're right. But it's still a trek away, perhaps when we're closer?"

"Sure. So long as you do not plan to carry me everywhere."

"I certainly would not dream of it."

"You're allowed to dream of it, but dreaming of and directly enacting are two different things."

"Cannot sleep, so I technically couldn't dream."

"Vampires don't sleep? Huh. That's sort of nice, but it'd be nice if you could but didn't have to. That way you could have the benefits of sleep without the drawbacks of a third of each day going down the drain. Well, you can daydream, I think that counts."

"The only times I have ever wished to sleep were while waiting for today. And last Sunday."

"Ah, I see. Impatient to see me?"

... She did not mean to sound that pleased, but whoops she kind of did anyway. Oh well.

"Extremely. But I meant to indicate how interesting life can be when you have forever and do not need to waste time comatose."

"I bet. I find needing to sleep terribly annoying. Though it has some use besides getting to the future quicker, I find it's good at, mm. Giving me a reset? Stopping the emotional spiral I was in, or giving me a new perspective on things. Being awake forever feels like I wouldn't have that shortcut. I'd have to always disentangle my mental messes all on my own."

"I will have to take your word for it, I don't actually remember what it's like to sleep. And I should set you down about now," he says, gently slowing down to a stop and lowering her to her feet.

"Thank you," she says, brushing the creases from her skirt and fixing her hair. "But vampires can still get stuck, mentally. You did, last week, when I thought I broke you. Or was that something else?"

"That... was it, yes. I am actually unsure that is similar to anything humans experience, I don't think I would have been able to shake myself from that on my own to go to sleep."

"That's concerning. Would you mind explaining it in more depth? Something to do with the photographic memory, or is your psychology different in some way...?"

"It's different. I bundled it up in my explanation but it now occurs to me that was not clear. There is a lot more brain space, and emotions have all of it to expand into—it's part of why we get into a frenzy when we eat, and why it is so hard to resist human blood, the thirst occupies a space many times larger than what a human brain could contain. And mental speed, too. So I got—caught in a loop, in a way, emotions causing other emotions too fast to be interrupted, and occupying all that space so that nothing else could go on."

"Oh. That's... a little alarming. Good, in one way, because I would like to have more brain to think in, but, uh. I already have a bit of a temper. But then, maybe that's sort of a good thing, because I have practice with it. Hm. I don't think this changes my decision about whether or not to become a vampire, but it does rather change my tactics for wh-if I do."

"Tactics?"

"For how I would handle being a vampire. What sorts of ways I want to try to think, what things to watch out for, what I think would best work to handle it. I can't really know until after I turn, but I expect knowing as much as possible beforehand to only help."