Sigh.

"No. Let's. Actually grow a spine and go say hello to - um. .... Blair what is his name?"

"Korovai." He kisses her on the forehead. "Now go on, then."

He releases her from the hug and makes a little shooing motion.

"Ass," she says, without heat, failing to disguise the smile.

Then she takes a deep breath and goes to talk to Korovai.

"Hello," he says in English. "I exchanged languages with your brother; I can do the same with you if you like."

"Hello. I certainly wouldn't mind, though if it takes a lot of time, I think I'd prefer to hold off on any equivalents of Welsh, if Blair gave you Welsh. At least for now."

Treating this in a business-like fashion helps. She can do business-like. Hell, working as a nurse practically requires one to master it. This makes it much easier to interact with him without flailing socially.

"I can give you the five main languages of my world, then, and omit the more obscure ones?"

"That sounds good. Can you only send your original languages, or any new ones that you pick up, too?"

"I can send any that I know."

"Useful," she says, smiling slightly. "Especially since you spoke to Blair."

"I now know a very large number of languages," he agrees.

He sends her his world's main five. Eivarne, Satni, Avashin, the two major dialects of Hialene.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Your brother said you could tell me more about how vampires function biologically?"

She nods. "A bit, yes. How much detail would you like, and would you like me to compose my lecture with a specific topic in mind?"

"I would like as complete an understanding as possible. I'm particularly interested in how the thirst works, because that is the problem in need of solving, but more information is better."

She represses the adoring smile because it's not super relevant right now. It's present in spirit. (And somewhere in her eyes.)

"All right. First of all, vampires live entirely on blood, be it from animals or - not. The thirst is always present, even when a vampire's full, though it's quieted the more well fed a vampire is. By the same metric, it becomes more unpleasant the longer a vampire goes without feeding, and flares up when smelling humans. Vampires are also venomous, and the production of venom flares similarly upon proximity to humans. This venom is what turns humans into vampires, in large quantities. In smaller and more typical quantities, it's merely debilitatingly painful for the victim until their assumed demise. Typical feeding schedules vary from one week to one month between meals, dependent on the amount of blood imbibed and how long the vampire is willing to put up with the discomfort of their thirst. Longer times between feedings are perhaps possible with appropriate application of willpower, but are less tenable. The longer gone without feeding, the more desperate a vampire starts to become, the more their instincts start to assert themselves, and the more everything with a heartbeat starts to look appetizing."

Thoughtful nod.

"The blood we drink is actually processed, too, water doesn't provide any thirst quenching benefits. The regeneration effect is slower the less well fed the vampire is, though I haven't had the chance to properly test the drop off rate there, yet. Unwillingness to test my self control." And wasn't that a good idea, isn't she glad she keeps herself so well fed, what with her very human mate.

"I'm still trying to isolate precisely which parts of the blood itself are being used for what. The different types of blood have different effects - a vampire that drinks human blood is stronger than one that doesn't, but also wilder, more prone to solving their problems with violence, and has red eyes. A vampire that drinks animal blood is more able to form social bonds and peacefully reside with other vampires, with the obvious cosmetic effects." She motions to her eyes. "Typical groups of vampires are one to four, because any larger than that and they'll start getting territorial and grumpy. Whereas all of the golden eyed vampires I've met have an easier time not getting into fights. I'm not sure if it's a nutritional deficiency of some kind that shakes out to be beneficial by chance, by starving the more monstrous parts of a vampire, or if there's something in human blood that's doing it. I've noticed no variance in psychology from different types of animals. Carnivores, ah, taste better, but I'm no more aggressive by eating them than I am from eating deer. Which seems - strange. What with how greatly species vary."

"I... have the magical ability to observe and understand all the properties of anything I touch," he says. "Which seems potentially useful in context."

"... Yes, that sounds very useful in context. Ah. Depending on how you'd prefer to use it?" She hesitates to actually say I completely understand if you don't want to touch me, because actually saying that sentence out loud would sort of be like plunging her hand into a fireplace, but she makes an expression that communicates that she's not going to try to weasel him into doing things he's not comfortable with.

"It would be inexcusably negligent not to inspect at least one vampire this way."

They are just going to keep being awkward at each other, aren't they.

"We do have at least two of those available," points out Yvette after a pause, a little wryly. Trying to dissolve as much awkward as possible with tactical application of sarcasm. Except wait what if that just makes her sound callous shit why is this so hard. "Either of which would likely consent. Or I could, um - transmute a rock into a bit of vampire, but that might be even less palatable."

"...a transmuted rock sounds potentially useful as a separate experiment," he says.

"Whatever experiments you're comfortable participating in. I'm not squeamish."

Someone who was less observant, or paying less attention, might miss the complicated emotions inspired by that last sentence.

Less observant people might not notice, but she is a vampire with more sensory input and brainspace than she can use responsibly, and he is her mate. Of course she is paying a slightly disturbing amount of attention to him.

"... I - sorry, was that too flippant of me?" she offers, hesitantly.