[Jaskier snorts.] I've learned to ignore it, like a particularly hardy odour.

[He loves you, Adrian. And he needs the teasing, the dry tone. It's settling him. Or it's the tea -- it's not the best tea he's had, but it's bloody good, and a warm belly is easier to contend with than a cold one.

All right, the compliment isn't terrible, either. Disarmingly charming. He smiles to himself, and expects that may be why Alucard is the one sitting beside him now, with what may about to a "pep talk."

He lifts his head in the middle of refilling his cup, feeling the air change before Alucard continues on. Oh. It's one of those moments. Rare, but he recognizes them now, surely.]

And what on earth are you interested in such things for right now? [There's no suspicion in his question, only curiousity. (All right, maybe a little suspicion.)] Surely you're not bringing this up merely because you've spent a few decades in the dark regarding it.

[He doesn't make the immediate connection only because Viktor has not let on entirely how dire his situation is. Jaskier has seen peasants who look about the same, and he has never stayed in a town long enough to see, exactly, what happens to them.

He pauses.] Are you... trying to turn someone? Is that a thing?