sleepytimejunction | fear the old blood

fear the old blood

[Rumors travel around in Garreg Mach fast. Most of the time, they're baseless and don't really catch Ashe's attention; he's admittedly more interested in making sure he's performing well. He has a roof over his head, and he wants to keep it that way, so he keeps his nose out of trouble.

But there is one that hangs on his mind. That there's something deep in the bowls of the church, a monster, a beast. That particularly bothers him, hangs over his mind, makes him think about how beasts have been improperly revered or maimed in the past. He's seen it in all manners by now. If the church does actually have a creature they're harboring, he can't help but wonder why.

It wouldn't be the first church to keep secrets, after all.

Ashe eventually decides that having all the facts won't hurt. If he's wrong, then he'll be happy to be. If he's not, well...

That's why he has his sword strapped to his back and his gun at his hip. He has more items he's harbored since the days before Lonato officially adopted him, most of them locked away in a trunk just in case. It's night, and most everyone is back in their dorm rooms. There's security, but Ashe knows their patterns enough to keep out of sight. He's spent his life as a thief, then as a hunter, now a student; he can manage.

It takes a bit of research, but he does find a secret path that starts in Rhea's office and extends to a rather old fashioned elevator. He opts to not use it in case it causes noise, instead climbing down the chain as he makes his way.

He doesn't expect what he finds, a grand room under the monastery, deep inside, full of stone caskets.

And something else.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The contact makes him smile warmly at the vampire. How odd it is to think that he finds such friendship already in this man, but then Ashe has always tried to see the good in others even when its hard to grasp.]

I'm glad he was a reliable friend and ally. It's almost hard to believe that a classmate of mine could be related to him.

[He chuckles wryly, trying to imagine Felix bearing any of Kyphon's traits. Not so much, alas.]

What about you? Did you have anyone close?

Ah, your very own Fraldarius. I gather yours is rather the opposite in temperament.

[He laughs under his breath, bringing the book cover carefully closed to protect the pages from getting crinkled or bent by mistake.]

"Close", is it. Are you interested in something more salacious for your next story, little hunter?

He's kind of a grouch and doesn't like letting people know that he cares about them.

[The teasing again! Ashe buries his face into his knees for a moment, but the pinkness goes right up to the tips of his ears instead of just on his face this time.]

I just-- wanted to ask about you.

[Not that he's opposed to raunchier stories, but he usually keeps those to himself!]

He sounds charming. You must make quite the pair.

[But then, more loftily, he goes on: ]

I am true vampire, as you know. Not sired but turned from the blood of the battlefield alone. My powers are well beyond that of a mere monster.

[He has to turn his head carefully so Ashe can see him wink around the eyepatch, but wink he does.]

And when I claim, my bite induces a state of euphoria in my prey that few can later disregard, so potent that all other forms of pleasure are spoilt for them forever after.

[DIMITRI OH MY GOD]

[As Dimitri speaks, Ashe peeks back up. The wink is hard to see, but he catches it, just in time when Dimitri talks about biting and pleasure. It puts such a mental image that he can't help-- what's it like to be bitten by Dimitri?

Things he should not be wondering!!]

I-I didn't ask about that, though!

[His voice is barely more than a squeak.]

Of course not. But this book is not the only thing that can tell stories.

[He chuckles, a faint sound, but decidedly pleased with himself despite it.]

And the one I just told is a better one than that of the one I was close to.

[Despite being so flustered, Ashe still manages to huff a little.]

If you didn't want to tell me about them, you could've just said that instead.

[He isn't annoyed, but dang the amount of joy Dimitri gets out of embarrassing him is absurd. But maybe that also speaks a bit to Ashe's own loneliness.]

Then tell me a funny story. Something you experienced, or heard about.

I would rather you didn't think poorly of me, when we've been getting along so well. You might not come to visit me anymore.

[But his amusement soon dies down to a low warm chuckle, and he folds his arms over his knees as he considers Ashe's request.]

Perhaps the tale of the time we three brave knights were all bested by a goose? We wound up soaked to the bone, and the goose was fairly proud of herself for it, I think.

[That earns a bit of confusion. What could it be that Dimitri has done that Ashe has not already imagined? Slaughtered hundreds, drank their blood-- he isn't sure, but he does not ask. Maybe it is not for him to know right now, or ever.

So he lets it go, for now, his blush fading as he listens to this tale instead.]

A goose? You, Loog, and Kyphon lost to a goose?

[He's quiet, for a minute — and then, with a perfectly straight face: ]

In our defense, it had us outnumbered.

[A light, warm laugh escapes Ashe, and he finds himself leaning against Dimitri; the chuckles devolve into fierce giggles.]

You know, I've dealt with a lot of different kind of beasts, but never a goose. Must've been real fierce.

Mmmm.

[Ashe truly is lovely when he laughs, isn't he? And to think, he'd moved closer all on his own. And maybe — maybe...

Slowly, carefully, Dimitri sinks down a little where he sits, and gingerly leans back into Ashe in return, lowering his head to rest on Ashe's shoulder.]

A menace the likes of which the world has never seen again.

[For a moment, Ashe goes still when he feels Dimitri lean against him, his head onto his shoulder. Though his hair is stringy and long from what little care he has received, it's still a beautiful gold. Ashe is certain the rest of him would be all the more gorgeous if he had the right amount of blood, but even like this he sees how handsome the vampire is.

The rosiness returns to Ashe's cheeks, but he seems more content than embarrassed.]

I'll have to take your word for it. Let's hope it didn't have children, huh?

Stubborn as it was, I feel certain its descendants endure to this day. While the goose itself, I am sure, by now has conquered and rules hell.

[He smells the blood as it moves through Ashe, where it rises and falls. He's closer to his heartbeat like this, not that he needs the proximity to hear it. For a while he'd forgotten how hungry he is, even; like this, there's no forgetting.]

How warm you are. Is this...is it all right?

[Ultimately, he knows that Dimitri must be fighting against his instincts. The desire to bite, to drink, but instead he remains like this against Ashe. There have been enough times that Dimitri's had the opportunity to sink his fangs in, but instead he has taken part of Ashe's company instead. It's... sweet, actually.

Hesitantly, Ashe reaches with his arm to loop around Dimitri's back.]

As long as it's all right by you, then I don't mind.

[Dimitri is on the cool side. Understandable, considering he's hardly had any blood to speak of.]

[He jumps a little when Ashe's arm winds around him — a startle reaction that probably comes naturally for someone unused to being touched. But he quickly settles again, and even gets comfortable beneath it, until eventually his voice comes in an almost sleepy murmur.]

I have been thinking on the matter of the boons I owe you. That I vowed anything you wished, if it were within my power to grant.

[With his eye still closed, he rubs his cheek lightly on Ashe's shoulder.]

You could ask me not to bite you.

[With the way that Dimitri rubs his cheek, he looks like a sleepy feline, getting content where he is. Ashe can't help but look at him fondly.]

Mm, I thought about that before, but I was indecisive about it. What if I need you to bite me, though?

[ashe when would something like that happen]

Would you be able to follow a pretty specific thing if I asked you?

Of course. I was a man once, before I was this. Not a pet to be trained.

[He murmurs, low and soft.]

I can heed as a man would. As you desire.

I just want to be sure. Sorry.

[Ashe is quiet for a moment, then he says:]

If you ever bite me, don't drain me. Don't kill me. How's that?

...You were worried about specifics. Before I vow...hear me out, as I remark on one other.

[Behind his lips, he runs his tongue over his fangs, testing them. Thinking about how long it's been, since they sank deep into warm, pliant flesh. Thinking about the last person who felt them, so very long ago.]

You might consider — that someday, you might wish me to.

[There's a confused look from Ashe as he looks at the vampire. Slowly, his arm lowers from Dimitri's back and he sits back to get a better look at him for this conversation. It does mean pulling away a bit so he can face him, which is something he regrets, but... it feels important to discuss.]

Why would I want that? No offense, but I can't think of a time in which I'd want to die by your fangs.

To escape a different fate, perhaps.

[It's daring, he knows, to risk the tension in a moment like this, but still he brings up one hand into the narrow space between them, and lets the very tips of his fingers smooth a bit of Ashe's hair off of his forehead.]

You might find it a mercy. My bite might be softer and sweeter than another end.

[The contact is so careful that Ashe doesn't feel threatened. How sweet and gentle this vampire is capable of being. A strange combination of a being so beastly, but harboring more than that. It's fascinating.]

I hope a day like that won't come.

[And he likes to think that he himself is strong enough to survive, but even the most skilled fighters meet their end somehow. It could be very well possible.]

Then I guess... don't kill me, unless I'm already dying and there's no other option?

I will not bite you, unless it pleases you. If I bite you, I will not drain you. And I will not kill you, unless you ask it of me.

[His finger traces the curve of Ashe's down, down to hook beneath his chin and stroke lightly there, fleeting affectionate.]

And now I will ask you: what would please you, pretty hunter?

[Pretty. Dimitri's described him as like that before, and it flustered him terribly. It does so once again, the blush forming on his face as he lets out a nervous laugh.

Oh dear. This is everything he shouldn't be doing.]

I-I...

[If he was smarter, he'd pull away, right? Hell, if he was really smart, he wouldn't be here to begin with, sharing books with a vampire and being drawn to him. Yet, here he is, terribly fascinated by him.]

Am I using up another one of my boons...?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject