The World's Fair, at night

"Condition...?" When it dawned on him that Juliana said garlic, he realized that she believed that garlic was harmful to vampires. "Oh! That. Garlic is useless against us." He ate the piece of mignon on his fork, to prove his point. Once he could talk again, he said, "That's just some superstitious nonsense. Though it is fun to pretend that it has affects sometimes." He smiled at a particular memory of doing so, taking another bite of his mignon. "Actually," he mused, "I love garlic. Can't have enough, really."

Lavinia stared at the girl as she picked up her own fork and ate her dumplings like a civilized person. Dabbing her mouth with her napkin when she had finished, she was glad to see the next course arrive. She could only hope Juliana had learned enough manners to realize that her main course should be eaten with silverware.

*********

"Absinthe?" Alistair asked, eying the bottle warily. "You didn't strike me as the type."

Ana was at least somewhat familiar with the eating of chips. At least, she was more than willing to pick at her side order with her fork. Well, since he had brought up the vampire subject, she had to assume it was fair game for conversation. "I also 'eard vampires can't eat real food. Is it true?"

---

Garrett offered Alistair a teasing grin, a hint of mockery behind it. "What? Afraid of the green fairy?" He had heard a few old couples complaining about the integrity of the drink before, though last time he checked, it still kept it's status symbol around artists and people interested in the bohemian lifestyle.

Dmitri shrugged, saying, "I'm eating now, aren't I?" Listening to common vampire myths amused Dmitri to no end, mostly because they were usually false. "And haven't you seen me eat on ship?"

"Not remotely," Alistair answered. "I simply prefer to keep my wits about me. So should you, I would think."

"I 'ave, though never thought it was the real thing. One of those vampire trick and what not," Ana replied casually.

---

"Big difference in keeping your wits around you on the job and relaxing in your own room, alone or with people you trust. If you're constantly on the look out for everything and anything, you burn yourself out faster than a roan candle," Garrett replied casually. "It's good to let your head have a break every once in a while. Still the nerves a bit."

Luke paused further ahead when be spotted something he never thought he'd see. Beef. Beef, and it was cheaper than the fish. A small smile creeped on his face as he moved to buy himself a good four pounds of the beef before glancing back at Alistair and Garrett. He headed closer again, his arms too full to buy anything else.

"I see. Well, yes, we can eat real food." Dmitri took another bite of his mignon, more because he was hungry that to continue proving his point. Once he could talk, he asked, "Any more myths you would like to debunk?"

"What about holy weapons and the like and silver and stakes?" Ana asked.

"Holy weapons don't have any sort of special affect on us, unless they've been doused in holy water. As for silver, that is bad for us. When it touches us, it burns like you wouldn't believe. The worst part is that it doesn't heal quickly, like other wounds. As such, if vampire is wounded with silver, they need more blood to heal it. You can imagine problems that causes." Dmitri had developed a sort of sour tone here, rubbing the spot where his most recent silver wound was. It had taken a couple of days, since it was small, but if he hadn't have been lucky with that cell mate, things would have been a little tricky then. Continuing, he said, "And stakes are no more useful than any other weapon you want to shove through our hearts."

"How sweet to know you trust me," Alistair answered with a smirk before moving to catch up to Luke. That was lesson number one, really. Never trust another con man, even if he's a friend. Sure, usually it wasn't personal if he left you with a lot of faulty checks as the customs agents came knocking on your door, but always better to be safe than sorry. Alistair had managed to evade the soldiers that discovered the professor's ponzi scheme at the last city they'd been working together. He'd made a fair haul, too. He bet that somewhere out there the professor was happy he passed the final lesson.

Garrett looked a little annoyed to lose control of the conversation, though followed after Alistair again. While he wasn't actually a big fan of absinthe, it was controversial enough to allow him to guide conversations around it. If they weren't just ignored.

Luke paused with his arm load of stuff, grumbling to Alistair, "Can't carry much more. Let's 'ead back to the ship."

---

"Oh," Ama commented. "Best get rid of any silver on the ship then." She honestly couldn't think of any other vampire myths that she knew of, and was all out of chips to stall the conversation further.

"You don't have to do that. I'll be fine." He smiled, to show Juliana that he would. Dmitri didn't really know how to keep the conversation going, either, but he was kind of glad they stopped talking about him. Talking about how he was a vampire in public was never a good idea.

"Garrett can carry it," Alistair answered, jerking a thumb toward the other con man. "It would be a shame to leave now that we just got in."

*********

"Some instruments require it," Lavinia objected. "I think it better we simply remain cautious around it."

"What? I'm not your pack mule. Carry your own stuff," Garrett grumbled back, pushed close to his breaking point. He was hardly going to sit around and see his money spent and have to carry around the spoils for the sake of what could possibly be a apprenticeship. The glare he received from Luke was enough enough to put him back on track however, forcing the younger conman to take the load of stuff before grumbling in response, "Maybe just for tonight though."

Luke stopped to look at Alistair, noting his lack of much beyond the vests. "You lead. Looks like there wasn't muc around 'ere you were interested in."

---

A small frown and pout appeared on Ana's face. "But there might be accidents. We don't want to go around 'aving accidents."