"Yeah!" Oh good, yes, he's interacting socially and isn't receiving any weird looks (sometimes people are hard, okay). Although he tones down the enthusiasm with, "Yeah, I got here a couple of months ago but my friend was here before me and he's been sick, so."

He shrugs, feeling a bit bad about lying. But it's a life-long habit and even if vampires were out in the open here, he's fairly certain telling someone you don't know 'my friend had a problem shaking off his blood addiction' is probably not the best way to go.

"That's why I'm here. They were nice to me when we were struggling so it pays to be nice back."