"I don't lock the door." Pritkin shrugged. "If you'd like conversation, we can stay out here or move to the back."

"I'd hate to take you away from whatever you were working on," Katherine said. "I'd imagine it's more important than keeping an old woman like me company." She quirked a tiny grin.

Pritkin snorted. "I've met older," he said with a wry grin, heading back into the back. "I don't know how comfortable you are around magic."

"So long as it isn't aimed at me, I don't particularly care," Katherine replied as she followed him.

"Oh good. Some people are very touchy about it." Pritkin headed back to his lab, where he'd left a few potions that had to sit and brew for a while.

"Magic doesn't bother me," Katherine said. "All things considered, it probably should, but it doesn't."

Pritkin nodded. "Good." He checked on his potions before turning his attention back to her. "So how much longer are you staying?"

"In the shop? Not longer than perhaps dawn. In the city? I'm not sure, this is Leila's vacation, she's calling the shots." Katherine sat down so she was out of the way.

"Ah yes. Your friend with the problem, yes?" Pritkin glanced back at her.

"Right," Katherine replied, although her lips thinned slightly at the word 'problem'.

Pritkin noticed and raised an eyebrow but didn't ask. "I am still seeing about contact someone more knowledgeable than I."

"I'm not rushing you," Katherine replied. "Honestly, I was just wandering tonight and found myself here."

"Well hopefully your friend will decide to stay for long enough for me to come up with a viable solution. I assume just killing off the other vampire isn't a viable solution?" Pritkin looked briefly amused.

"Unfortunately, twisting my nephew's head off is not a viable solution," Katherine replied, a bit dry. "I think there are people in the family still fond of him."

Pritkin snorted. "Well, I'll find some other way." He was quiet for a moment. "How skittish will they be about magic?"

"I'm not sure," Katherine said. "Leila has never been exposed to it, but I'm not sure of Carlos's exposure."

"Wonderful." Pritkin made a face before he shrugged. He'd deal with that when it became a problem.

Katherine hummed in agreement and lapsed into silence. She had to admit, it was kind of nice, just sitting there with someone else.

Pritkin worked in silence for a little while. He didn't mind having someone else around, and the quiet was fine with him. He did swear a little when a bit of potion bubbled over onto his hand, and he wiped it off on a dishrag.

Katherine just watched, oddly fascinated.

"It's strange how notions change over time," she commented after a little while. "I was accused of witchcraft just for the day of my birth, and now humans are more likely not to care about magic if they notice it in the first place."

"I've introduced a few humans to magic. Mostly on purpose, one on accident. The accidental case was more hysterical than the intentional ones but even that was fairly easily dealt with." Pritkin shrugged.

"It wasn't that way when I was younger," Katherine said. "Back when I was actually twenty-something rather than eternally so." He quirked a bit of a grin. "I made sure to show Abigail Williams my displeasure before I left town."

Pritkin snorted. "It was worse during the Middle Ages," he said. "What happened in America was nothing compared to the Middle Ages in Europe."

"Lucky for me, I wasn't around then," Katherine replied. "I know several who were, though. But I'm not quite that old."

Pritkin chuckled at that. Yeah, he bet she did know a few people who were that old.

Not that he had much room to talk there.