"Now there's a compliment," someone worse leered, having heard angel of death, elbow thudding onto Alex's shoulder as he squatted down right beside them. From wherever he'd come from - the answer to which was from the doors of Bloodfree, where he'd failed to charm Cat's second-most trusted kitchen junior manager into allowing the exchange of takeout and glowing phone straps. Again, failed. Which meant no takeout and a mildly disgruntled vampire, but no skin off his back. Looming over collapsed people and ribbing Alex was the next best thing. "Almost hit the mark, mister."

Rialto was just about to do the same thing Alex had to the downtrodden individual except instead of using his finger he'd probably go for something truly nasty, like his tongue, but two things: Rialto had the bare minimum of decency required to spare him from traumatisation now that the guy was conscious, and the awoken stranger had a bit of bite to them. He casually lifted a hand to hover a centimetre behind the other's back in case he needed it, taking the opportunity to thoroughly and unabashedly evaluate the person while they were still too disoriented to notice. Blue eyes narrowed slightly as they ran over the little spike of tooth, but his expression smoothed over. Well. Vampires weren't the only ones with sharp teeth, and the heartbeat - albeit sluggish enough to pass for undead, almost - remained strong enough to assure Rialto that this person wasn't in severe need of a blood transfusion. Quite mortal.

Not that an addition to the party would've done anyone harm.

At least, the stranger wouldn't need to drink blood to prevent starvation, but the wound was a tad concerning. In an absent movement Rialto slipped one of his phone screen wipers out of his pocket and lifted it to the scarred face for the stranger to clean their own wound, breaking into a vaguely mischievous smile. "Welcome to San Crodo," he said blithely. "San Creed. San Crepe. Something like that. You must be new in town."

San Creado buzzed only when it came to a certain part of the night; sometime just after sundown, a few rascals always competing to get the first thumps on the dented fusebox to light up the town - just momentarily - in glowing green and gold. The time when everyone started to unfurl from their hiding places, and then the noise would die down; they were crouching here somewhere around this time, San Creado's residents spread out elsewhere. For the moment, the three were flanked by silence. "Need some help, sir?" Rialto asked lightly. Two lanky vampires could try grabbing him from under the armpits and dragging him elsewhere to patch him up. Or there was the fireman's carry. The stranger was probably better off without them trying to transport him like a sack of potatoes, actually.

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Rialto withdrew once he passed the cloth, rolling his eyes so hard they could've fallen out and returning Alex's pull with his elbow lowering to jab their side. San Krypton. Whatever. He would've gotten it. "Rialto. A pleasure," he replied, standing up himself. The following compliment at Alex made him scowl. "Don't butter them up. What's so good about them, anyway?" This was the point where Rialto SUBTLY (that was a lie) started tugging at his own ponytail, maybe tilting his head a bit to try accentuating his jawline, adjusting the fall of his clothes. The effect was ruined because of his glaring into the distance, trying to look cool. And charming. And attractive. You know, subtly.

The stranger's breathing fluctuated during the exchange, quickening but suppressing itself back to normal; considering the trickle of blood that still hadn't entirely quenched, from what Rialto could see, and their other injuries, the stranger's systems going off about potential danger they posed would certainly be unsurprising. His eyes widened at the stranger's suggestion, hand flying to his mouth. "The earth? Round?" he repeated. "What are you talking about?" Rialto shook his head wisely. "Of course it is. Thought we established that."

A second of triumph. He didn't go to school - the only reason he could add two small numbers was because he had fingers, but even he knew the world was round. Such an intellectual.

His gaze automatically affixed on the snake that slid into sight, spreading over the man's upper body. Alexander balked, and not without good reason; there was something of a track record they had with the whole animal kingdom. Something of an animal instinct, it must have been - animals were smart. They knew when something needed to be bitten. They should've expected that at least one of the strangers that they came by would eventually have a snake; all kinds of peculiar characters were attracted to ghost towns. Rialto didn't retreat, face becoming carefully impassive, but he did blatantly keep his arms delicately unfolded. Just to talk. "I know bigger snakes," he said, dismissive. Like the one behind him. (Another lie. He was the bigger snake.) "We won't hurt you. Keen to follow us, snake charmer?"

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