Oh god now I'm having more and more thoughts. I should be editing.
The first time Legundo claims to be a vampire, it's a lie. It's a strategic one, to help the town come to grips with the others in their midst with the... malady gift condition. It's to promote social cohesion by piercing the 'us versus them' rhetoric through the heart before its roots can grow deeper.
He knows it will be a challenge to maintain the illusion, yes. But so many things about vampirism feel almost...correct, in the way the information slots itself so neatly into his mind. He feels confident he can fake it.
It's odd to encounter a condition which behaves so intuitively. It makes him wonder...no matter.
It is assuaging the fears of the townsfolk that is important, and that goes both for the humans and for the vampires among their number.
And he finds, over the coming days, that it is almost too easy a fiction to slip into. He finds himself proud of how meticulously he keeps track of thresholds, and permissions. He switches his sleep schedule almost as easily, and the food presents an issue, yes. But slipping into the cattle pens for food is like slipping into familiar dress, and he finds himself quite the natural at winning the favor of the cows.
So he does, and while he pretends to sate his appetite on the livestock he stuffs his pockets with the potatoes set to go to the pigs, and Cleo gives him a knowing glance and makes sure they're topped up.
There's something of a joke there, he thinks. He's eating the food meant for the livestock. Owen would find it funny, no doubt.
He's in such a terrible state, these days. Legundo's heart aches at the thought, and who he might have been before the death of his friend. He can almost imagine it.
But the point is he slips on the clothes of a vampire with the same curious ease with which he's found his tongue in this town. People listen to him, as long as he listens to himself.
The second time Legundo claims to be a vampire, well. It's part of the act. He must maintain it if he's to keep peace in the town. And really, it's just an ongoing effort, after the first. He's not sure it counts.
So perhaps it's like this:
The proper second time Legundo claims to be a vampire is eight days later, when he finds Owen perched halfway up a tree. The sight sparks a certain fondness in his chest, and it's with a natural kind of ease he cranes his neck and asks Owen if perhaps the branch might have room for two vampires.
Owen's answering expression makes him look like an owl, and Legundo explains it as a joke. He shoves the disquiet down and makes pleasant conversation and when he eventually leaves, he has forgotten entirely about it.
It is only much later that he will tell Legundo this: his heartbeat had betrayed no sign of a lie.
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