"You like him a lot, huh?" Rue asked, looking at Claude closely.

"I know that tone, and I know what people think when they look at me. It's not like that, he's just my best friend. We related to our turning stories, and I don't know many vamps my age, in either the physical sense or the 'time as a vamp' sense." Claude turned to face her directly and met her gaze without flinching. "I just want to make it very clear to you that I'm straight, ok?"

Rue's eyebrows shot up and she weighed his words for hidden meaning.

"Not that there's anything wrong with being bi or gay, and many vamps are, or try it out eventually because immortality gets boring I guess? But I'm only into women, despite being what many would call a 'pretty boy', which is descriptor that's only gotten worse since being turned," he added, rolling his eyes.

Rue grimaced slightly, feeling a little guilty for indeed thinking of him that way earlier. She couldn't meet his eyes, instead unpacking the tea and coffee maker and putting it next to the microwave. Thankfully, Claude was no longer standing next to it as he'd moved on to the box of spatulas and other cooking utensils.

"I mean, you are pretty, but it's still in a masculine way. Then again, maybe I've just watched too much anime and read too many comics, and it's warped my perception," she said finally, trying to give him a teasing smile.

"I'll take it," Claude chuckled.

"What about other abilities?" Rue asked. "I know there can be some overlap with what some mages and psychics can do."

"Yeah, I have some weak empathic abilities. I can really only feel very strong emotions, and I can't sort them out if they're too mixed up or complex. Like with any psychic ability, it's clearer when I touch someone, but I won't pick something up if the person is suppressing their emotions. And, I mean, just as all fae have glamour, all vampires have charm."

"How does that work, really?"

"Well," Claude hesitated, frowning. "I guess it's mostly a matter of charisma, but people, especially humans, just tend to pay more attention and put more weight on my words. And I guess there's a desire to obey if something is phrased like a command. Unfortunately, this seems to be my strongest ability."

"Why is that unfortunate?" Rue asked, tilting her head, bemused. "Doesn't that make it easier, to, you know, feed?"

"Probably, but that would be illegal. Can't bite a person without consent, and using vampiric charm makes consent ambiguous if not downright absent. And honestly, even if it wasn't illegal, I'd be really uncomfortable manipulating people that way," he admitted.

"Hmm. Well, is that at least an ability you can turn off?"

"Yeah. Kinda. It's not exactly just always on, but it's really easy to use it by accident. It's like... you aren't holding your breath automatically, but you also sometimes don't realize you're holding your breath. Maybe you get nervous or surprised, or you're in pain or anticipating something, and suddenly you realize you haven't breathed in a while," Claude explained with a sheepish laugh.

Rue put away the last of the plates and leaned on the counter, looking at Claude. She tried not to think about how pretty he was. He really was exactly her type. She took a deep breath and looked away while he finished with the silverware.

"What about your abilities?" he asked curiously.

That was a fair question. He had just told her a lot about his own. If that was the extent of the imbalance between them now, she could just give an equal amount of information about herself. That wouldn't be enough now, on top of everything else. Maybe she could dodge that question and just even things out between them with something closer to the value of the entire debt.

"Hmm, well, of course there's glamour and geasa, like pretty much all fae. Also like most fae, I can cast spells, but I... really prefer not to," she admitted to fill the silence while she thought about how to repay the debt.

"I know about glamour and spells, but what is... what did you call it? Gesha?" Claude asked, his pale eyes narrowing as he puzzled over the strange word.

"Ah, it's g-e-a-s-a, which is the plural of geis, g-e-i-s. It's an old Celtic word. Basically means 'vow', but when you're talking about fae, it's essentially a vow backed by faerie magic. Any promise made by a fae, an explicit promise, not an implied one, will become a geis on them. We can't prevent that. With non-fae, any promise, explicit or implied, can become a geis if the faerie in question wants it to be. And you should always assume wild fae want it to be," Rue explained.

"Oh, I see. Like in Rumpelstiltskin for example?"

"Yes, exactly."

"That makes sense. But that's not all, right? That's just what pretty much any fae, or at least the 'greater' or 'high' fae, can do?"

Rue crossed her arms and sighed. "Well I did say it's a cù sidhe's job to guide the dead to the afterlife, so you can infer from that that I must be able to see and hear ghosts and spirits or else it would be pretty difficult to do that task." She took her ponytail down and scrubbed her fingers through her hair and looked at Claude again, giving him a wan smile.
"I'm not offended that you have questions, but don't make a habit of prying into the affairs of other fae, alright? It's dangerous. Even benevolent fae are pretty quick to offend, and they don't share secrets easily. If you're curious about any fae, definitely come to me about it. Don't ask them. I, at least, understand human curiosity and won't find it insulting or presumptive. I... won't harm you just for asking."

"Hmm, is that a promise?" Claude asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Rue's smile warmed and her eyes softened.

"Yeah, sure, it's a promise," she said with a soft laugh. It wasn't a costly promise to make, since she really wouldn't hurt Claude, or really anyone, just for being curious.