OOC: OMX, sorry it's so huge!
Piper held her breath, afraid she'd made a social blunder, and when Sabs stared at her, she bit her lip and mentally cursed herself for an idiot. She just had to go and ask, didn't she? She couldn't word it a bit more carefully or just keep her mouth shut, she
had to blunder in. She wasn't even sure she was all that curious; she'd asked partly just for something to say. And now she'd managed to offend a girl who, at least on the surface, shared so much in common with her that Piper had begun to hope she'd made a friend.
But then she laughed. And answered, like Piper hadn't unwittingly called her a freak.
Piper's exhale was audible but she relaxed a bit. Maybe "what are you" wasn't such a bad question to put to Elysians, since they
weren't all human. Not that everyone living on Earth was human either, if she wanted to get really technical.
Lifting her mug for another drink, Piper was surprised to realise she'd drunk over half of her chocolate with no real ill effects. As she pondered the dregs, half of Sabrina's words barely registered, but the inexperience and lack of knowledge struck a chord in Piper. When the Nymph asked what vampires could actually do, Piper could only glance up at her with a rueful smile.
"In all honesty, I have no idea. I've been a vampire for nearly two years now and... I don't know..." She shrugged helplessly, because she really didn't know. Aside from a few brief bursts of interest, she'd avoided what she was. Subconsciously, she still thought of herself as so very human, so it wasn't much surprise that she'd rejected the darker side. No matter who tried to make her stronger, to make her embrace her vampiric nature, she always ended up backtracking and clinging to what Kaida had called her human weakness.
"I did try to research vampirism when I was first turned, you know? But, er, well..." She shrugged, unable to explain even to herself how somehow she'd let herself be distracted from it time and again. And then, she'd met Wolf and gotten caught up in the dramas and joys of being in a relationship, and simply forgotten about everything else. She was still curious about just how much she could do though, and wondered if maybe it was time she popped over to the vampire sanctuary to find someone who could teach her or at least talk to her about it. She hadn't been to the Crypt in so long, not since Sylope exiled her even though Scarlett waived her predecessor's decision, but maybe it was time to go back there, as well.
"I do have some, er... well superhuman abilities, I guess." Grinning self-consciously, she continued,
"Like a better sense of smell and, um, well I think I'm stronger." She knew she was, especially when she was hungry for blood, but that side of vampirism scared the crap out of her. Reminded of that, she glanced away, embarassed, and took a deep breath to try and calm the sudden swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
Speaking of a better sense of smell, though... Something smelled off. It didn't seem like anyone else had noticed but she'd just got done telling Sabs that was one of her vampiric abilities, so that wasn't really surprising. It wasn't a disgusting smell like raw sewage or anything but it was enough to make her look around in confusion because it was the kind of smell you didn't get in a public place, especially not one that sold food.
She didn't recognise him at first because he was skinnier and a bit rough around the edges, not at all like the Cal she remembered. In all likelihood, she wouldn't have recognised him at all, but he'd been there during a really sucky part of her life and for that he'd made a huge impact on her. He'd been kind and genteel and she'd immediately considered him a friend, but then he'd just... gone. Like Elise, and Tom, he'd just disappeared and she'd felt awful because the last time she'd seen him, Wolf had been rude to him. Not that Wolf being rude or Piper feeling bad about it was unusual, but as if that wasn't bad enough Cal was there when the Viper Group came after her.
No wonder he hadn't wanted anything to do with her after that.
She almost didn't say anything in light of that, feeling guilty and dejected, but she was so stunned to see him, and so excited, and she wanted to apologise. She couldn't let him walk away without saying something.
"Excuse me a minute, Sabs, okay?" Smiling at the girl, Piper pushed back her chair and stood slowly, carefully skirting around their table to place herself behind Cal, glancing at the counter staff as they nudged him to make his order. She should probably wait until he had but she didn't want to wait. So she ducked around to his side and reached out to tug on his sleeve, clearing her throat and gazing up at him with a grin.
"Hey, stranger!"