“If that’s the case, they won’t stand a chance,” Rayth joked, enjoying the mental image of his roommates getting swindled by a human. The brownies weren’t as openly hostile toward Lune’s kind as the other creatures in the circus were, but it would definitely be humiliating for them to lose money to one over a game of cards.
“Maybe you could teach me sometime. I know the basics, but I’m not much better at gambling than my roommates are,” he added as an afterthought.
Lune’s reaction to his offhanded comment about his cousin drew another grin out of the half-vampire. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and he liked the idea of teaching someone else how to exercise their five senses. It had been decades since the last time he’d had a ‘student.’ Even though humans couldn’t even dream to reach the same level of sensitivity that he had when he was out of practice, he knew they could get better if they worked at it. They were surprisingly adaptable beings.
Judging by the way she seemed to shy away from him, he had a feeling it would be a little while before he could get started with her though. The way he’d taught his cousin had involved the use of a lot of blindfolding, which would only work if she trusted that he wouldn’t bite her the instant she covered her eyes.
“I’ll add your name to the roster,” he remarked, only to fall quiet briefly when she asked him if he had control over his nose.
It didn’t sound like it was meant to be a probing question, but he’d had bad experiences with other people taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t just turn off his sense of smell when something was overwhelming. Because of that, he was careful not to make a fuss about the downside of his heightened senses if the other people around him didn’t already know about it.
“I can focus on one smell over another if that’s what you mean,” he replied. “It’s kind of like how you can focus on one object at a time when you’re looking around. The scents are always there, and I’m aware of them, but unless I’m actively thinking about them, I can usually ignore the ones I’m not interested in paying attention to.” With the exception of human blood, of course. If he smelled that, all bets were off.
Reaching for the door that would take them into the shower car, he let Lune pass through first and then followed her into a room that was just as dark as each of the sleeper cars they’d walked through to get there. Stall doors lined the narrow corridor, about eight in all. Behind each one was a small, long space with a tiled floor and a curtain in the middle to separate a changing area with a shelf from the shower itself, so the user’s spare clothes wouldn’t get soaked while it was in use.
“Towels are in the bin to your right,” Rayth said, gesturing to the receptacle in case Lune’s vision had adjusted enough for her to see it by now. “When you’re done with it, just throw it in the ‘used’ bin on the left. It’ll get taken care of later.” More specifically, Frieda’s faeries would deal with the laundry while they were making the jump to the next city. They acted as a maintenance workers for the troupe in between shows.
“Maybe you could teach me sometime. I know the basics, but I’m not much better at gambling than my roommates are,” he added as an afterthought.
Lune’s reaction to his offhanded comment about his cousin drew another grin out of the half-vampire. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and he liked the idea of teaching someone else how to exercise their five senses. It had been decades since the last time he’d had a ‘student.’ Even though humans couldn’t even dream to reach the same level of sensitivity that he had when he was out of practice, he knew they could get better if they worked at it. They were surprisingly adaptable beings.
Judging by the way she seemed to shy away from him, he had a feeling it would be a little while before he could get started with her though. The way he’d taught his cousin had involved the use of a lot of blindfolding, which would only work if she trusted that he wouldn’t bite her the instant she covered her eyes.
“I’ll add your name to the roster,” he remarked, only to fall quiet briefly when she asked him if he had control over his nose.
It didn’t sound like it was meant to be a probing question, but he’d had bad experiences with other people taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t just turn off his sense of smell when something was overwhelming. Because of that, he was careful not to make a fuss about the downside of his heightened senses if the other people around him didn’t already know about it.
“I can focus on one smell over another if that’s what you mean,” he replied. “It’s kind of like how you can focus on one object at a time when you’re looking around. The scents are always there, and I’m aware of them, but unless I’m actively thinking about them, I can usually ignore the ones I’m not interested in paying attention to.” With the exception of human blood, of course. If he smelled that, all bets were off.
Reaching for the door that would take them into the shower car, he let Lune pass through first and then followed her into a room that was just as dark as each of the sleeper cars they’d walked through to get there. Stall doors lined the narrow corridor, about eight in all. Behind each one was a small, long space with a tiled floor and a curtain in the middle to separate a changing area with a shelf from the shower itself, so the user’s spare clothes wouldn’t get soaked while it was in use.
“Towels are in the bin to your right,” Rayth said, gesturing to the receptacle in case Lune’s vision had adjusted enough for her to see it by now. “When you’re done with it, just throw it in the ‘used’ bin on the left. It’ll get taken care of later.” More specifically, Frieda’s faeries would deal with the laundry while they were making the jump to the next city. They acted as a maintenance workers for the troupe in between shows.