milliways lurks

[her_imperial_radiance]

Milliways lurks.

Comments

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I don't know. I probably could, if I turned it way up. This is me on default right now."

[prima_sequentem]

"How would you go about turning it up?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Trying... to? There's not a button on the back of my neck."

[prima_sequentem]

Libby giggles.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I was born with my powers. My parents got to watch me dream when I was a newborn. I just do stuff. It's like deciding to move my arm."

[prima_sequentem]

"I guess my question is something more like: do you increase your information density by having more things to say and packing them all into the same message, or by communicating the same things in ways that tend to lead your audience to more not-necessarily-related conclusions?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I do some of the second thing, but more when I'm working at it - I can figure out some information I don't already have, by figuring out what it would make sense to say, because it makes sense to say things that will cause people to understand true things. But that's clunky and doesn't work very reliably. I haven't experimented a lot with improving my verbal density. If I need to be faster, I dispense with talking. I don't often have to quickly say a lot to a human."

[prima_sequentem]

"Sometimes you can increase information density by saying fewer things," says Libby. "Like that form, for example. Having the non-magical spouse/lover option for werewolves but not vampires implies that for vampires it's rare-to-nonexistent."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth nods. "A lot of male werewolves imprint, but female ones never do. Any vampire - well, at least any category of vampire we know how to identify - can mate."

[prima_sequentem]

"That part sounds inconvenient," she says.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It can be," Elspeth agrees. "When it works out it's nice, though. And mate bonds - and imprinting ones - are immune to some magic that could mess with other relationships."

[prima_sequentem]

"At least mate bonds are automatically symmetrical," she says. "Or they are if both parties are vampires. What happens if a vampire mates to someone who won't or can't turn?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Then the person who's not a vampire is not affected," Elspeth says. "It's very sad for the vampire and pretty awkward for their mate, and we have to be watchful to make sure the vampire doesn't do anything drastic. Wolves tend not to do that, fortunately - they're not as possessive about it, although if their imprints are in danger they will definitely do something about it." Jake pats her on the head.

[prima_sequentem]

"It just seems like a really inefficient system."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"As far as we know, it wasn't designed - it's just how vampires and werewolves work."

[prima_sequentem]

"Well, no wonder it's inefficient."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Of course," laughs Elspeth. "We just work with and around it."

[prima_sequentem]

"Dare I ask what 'drastic' means, anyway?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Manufacturing a medical emergency, or doing something coercive to get their mate turned, or just biting them themselves and turning them without anaesthesia - basically, the object of a rejected vampire mated to a human is to get their mate turned so everything will be nice and symmetrical. If they mate on a hybrid instead and that can't happen, they just go kind of... stalkery."

[prima_sequentem]

"Charming."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"There's an extent to which they can't help it, but they do vary in how bad they get, so we have to hold them responsible anyway," sighs Elspeth.

[prima_sequentem]

"How bad exactly does that tend to be?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It ranges from disconsolate pining - harmless - to suicide - legal, especially under the circumstances, although we do try to encourage people to wait a year or five in case their mate comes around - to harassment and pestering and trying to find any means they can of bringing pressure to bear - sometimes legal and sometimes not, depending on how overboard they go - to various combinations of forgery, carefully calculated degrees of assault to try to force turning either to save life or reverse disability, kidnapping, that sort of thing - not legal at all."

[prima_sequentem]

"Ouch," says Libby. "Remind me not to visit. 'Kidnapped by lovesick vampire' is not on my list of dream vacations."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It wouldn't be a random vampire. The relationships usually work out, even when one party stays not-a-vampire, if they give it a chance; they're people who are suited to each other. And we do protect vampires' mates who don't want to. But sure, you don't have to come home with me." She shrugs and downs the rest of her golden bubbly and orders another.