Desmond wasn't exactly put off by the cold greeting that he seemed to be getting from the djinn. He was used to all sorts of places, and polite society was, as it had often been pointed out to him, a mask for people who were at heart the same as cutthroats and thieves who hung out in bars that only the most daring frequented. Wariness was therefore not rude, but an act of prudence, to size up the person that you were talking to, without making any gestures one way or another until you were somewhat confident that they were not going to be a threat to you. And, to be honest, anyone who took an extra second to size him up probably had good instincts. Had he wanted to be a foe, he could be a very terrifying one indeed.
But then, in a swift motion the man rose, and extended a leather gloved hand. Desmond did not hesitate to take it, making sure that he applied a firm handshake without putting more strength into it than a normal human would be comfortable with. True, this person was, likely not human, if he was in his 'house' the way that he said, but on the other hand Desmond had not taken enough of his cultural awareness classes to really know what the relative strengths of other species were, so keeping it at a normal human level seemed... fitting.
"Thank you..." he said, taking the invitation for a seat. This one seemed far more polite than the standard person that he had met here. There was something about his mannerisms that felt more old fashioned, which honestly made Desmond feel more comfortable around him. Still, unlike Tobias, Desmond wasn't relaxing his guard just yet. Time and near death experiences had taught him the pains that could come from prematurely letting down ones guard. As he sat, Desmond placed his hands quietly in his lap, interlacing his fingers as he watched the other man, nodding in agreement when he made his sentiment about the community room. "It does seem a bit empty, but I must admit many terms the people here use are... contradictory to what I would expect."
"A... compute... or," Desmond said, sounding out the word for the roots of it, tilting his head as he looked at the thing. How strange. "I would not think that something that handles computations would be so integral for anything outside of a mathematics class. Calculations, at least simple ones should be easy enough to do in ones head as well."
"No... I do not know very much about many things surrounding current technology. I have been asleep for a... very long time." he said, frowning again at the computer. If Tobias thought that it would be easy to figure out, he was certainly a better man in that aspect. "If you learn how to master one, I would very much like it if you would provide guidance for myself as well, I find them, interesting, but... uncomfortable as well. I did not even know what one was called before you told me..." he admitted truthfully.
"Computer..." he muttered to himself, comitting the word to memory.
When Tobias asked him bluntly what he was, Desmond paused, frowning slightly. Well, if Tobias was a vampire in some sort of disguise, this would probably create some sort of reaction. Desmond didn't have any weapons on himself personally, but there was some glass nearby that could be used, if the situation strongly called for it. "I am a... half breed." he said simply, pausing as he thought of a better word for it. "I believe the current terminology is... Dhampir." Though the term had been around for a while, it was not one that Desmond had clung to strongly. For too many centuries he'd been referred to as a half breed. Not quite a vampire, not quite a human. There weren't really enough of them around to warrant their own breed name, or so he had thought.
Eventually the terminology had come to surface, and this place hadn't been the first time Desmond had heard it, but the word still sounded.. foreign. Desmond simply was Desmond. Someone who was not part of either the vampire or human worlds.