westwhere | There's more to do [closed]

Feeling starved wasn't new or notable. He'd gone hungry for two hundred years.

But when he'd really starved before, it had always been deliberate. The result of someone's conscious decision to say thou shalt not in that horrid voice, and so he couldn't. It had been a certainty Cazador wouldn't let him completely waste away. That would've ended things.

But this starvation was because people didn't know, they wouldn't care, and the monsters in the forest would definitely snack on him before he got a chance to sink his fangs in. He could die because of this.

And that meant he was making decisions he wouldn't have contemplated otherwise. Yes, there were all sorts of monsters in the forest, but there were also monsters around the town now, so honestly, what's the difference? In the forest he had a chance to find some prey that couldn't hold a torch or pitchfork.

This was a terrible idea. The woods were worse than they'd been before. This was going to be the one that got him mauled and his corpse was going to look awful and that was the smell of blood and suddenly every other thought was shoved aside.

Animal blood. There were still traps all over the place, weren't there? Something must've fallen into one. It smelled fresh, and it wasn't going to get any fresher if he waited.

He picked his way closer, trying to keep an eye on the forest floor to check for traps, but the focus wasn't there. He needed this.

He started back to consciousness, eyes wide, scrambling away from... no one.

Cazador wasn't here. Another damned nightmare, but he still had to take a moment to feel certain he hadn't just been touched. It took much longer before the terror of faded into desperate hunger.

He'd wanted to push the boundaries more. Try and intentionally break Cazador's rules, to see if he could. But there were some things he'd still avoided.

Thou shalt not drink the blood of thinking creatures. He'd been so tempted over and over again, but he'd talked himself out of it. And with good reason! Oh, can't bite her, we're sharing the same house. It'll be suspicious. Not him, he's some sort of trained killer. Definitely not him, he's... something.

He'd felt justified when that last one turned out to be a dragon, but it had still left him starving. He couldn't go hunting alone anymore, the forests were too dangerous for that. He'd switched to draining livestock, blaming any drained carcasses on that snake-thing. But then the farmers started keeping closer watch in their herds, which was unbelievably rude of them.

And that left him with nothing that people wouldn't miss. Not except for vermin, and the few he'd caught weren't enough. He was still starving, just a little slower. And it made the nightmares worse.

He'd made so many plans to keep himself alive. But now he had only one choice left, really: ditch all the plans and just bite someone. It couldn't be that hard, right? Find a sleeping body, drain them, sneak away.

He picked the house almost at random. It was dark, quiet, and easy to break into. And he could almost hear the sleeping heartbeats in the rooms around him.

He carefully opened a door. A young man. Vaguely familiar, he'd seen him before. One of the locals, maybe? Good. That made it less likely that someone competent would care about what happened here.

Whoever this was, they seemed to be sleeping soundly. He crept closer, mouth dry.

Hunting this way wasn't ideal, but it was easier to cover a lot of ground quickly. The scent of blood leads a trail through the forest, as if something is moving the source, and it is -- Wrathion is carrying it back closer to his cave. There's the soft thwump of the dead boar being dropped to the ground, and the creature carrying it gives a long slow stretch of its wings and and shakes its head as it prepares to settle down. Blood smears its face and sharp teeth.

Wrathion considers his options.

He could just eat it like this, but he's not strictly sure he trusts the animals in this forest to be... clean. This one was seemed it, on the surface, no mutations. Would roasting it kill whatever unnatural... thing was in the dark waters? Should he cut it open first to check its insides?

A sound in the forest has him look up sharply. Dragons have particularly sharp senses, like any animal capable of hunting, and he can smell that there is someone in the forest. He thinks it smells like someone he's been near before, but they're still skulking.

Hard to say if that's fear, curiosity, or simply biding their time to attack.

He fans out his wings in a deliberate display and lets out a long, low, rumbling growl that echoes in his enormous chest.

"Show yourself."

Easiest way to find out how this will end is to force it to begin.

Xie Lian... doesn't actually sleep all the soundly. As strange as it might sound, he too, sometimes has nightmares. But also, years and years of living in conditions that were far from the best means always being slightly alert in case someone tried to rob you in your sleep. Which is something that actually happened to him several times.

There's no much to rob in the house, though. And the person is approaching him, not any of the few belongings strewn about. Hm. For a few seconds, he lies there with his eyes closed, but in the end, he decides to just bite the bullet, and pushes himself to sit.

"... You could have knocked, at least. It's a bit rude to just come in like that."

He's managed to talk himself into believing that the trail of blood isn't suspicious at all. Just a wounded animal dragging itself away to die somewhere. Perfectly normal.

And then something big looms just beyond the treeline. So big he can't even make sense of it for a moment.

A dragon. Of course. Of course one of the spawn of Tiamat is just here, for no apparent reason beyond terrifying him personally.

He shrinks down lower in the underbrush, and something goes crunch, loud enough for the dragon to hear. Oh. Well, just absolutely fuck everything, then.

Think. Think. What does he know about dragons? Only vague stories. Territorial, covetous, likely to attack if someone seems to be a threat to what they have. Skulking about would make him less of a target, but more suspicious. Which means...

He takes a deep breath, and stands. Don't show fear. Just... he doesn't know. He honestly doesn't know how to handle this. "My sincere apologies, I didn't know you were here. I'll just leave, shall I?"

So close, so close Astarion can practically smell the blood already--

Oh. Oh, the man just moved, didn't he.

"...Shit."

He retreats a step. Is it dark enough in here for human eyes to not notice the fangs? He can't tell. They always seem so blind at night, but--

He's panicking a little. "No, no--it's not what it looks like, I swear!"

"Shhh! People are sleeping!"

Honestly, Xie Lian doesn't have particularly good night vision. Mostly, he can sense people because of their life force, so he knows where they are, but otherwise, he's not really more equipped than any normal human.

"And... what does it look like, exactly? There isn't much to rob in here, and if you're hungry, the kitchen is that way. Ah, but wait, I can't give you anything I made so I'd better show you."

Wait. What? ...Why is he taking this so well? This... this is a trick, right? No? Does the if you're hungry mean he knows?

Because honestly, he's too hungry to understand this right now. And too startled to lie. "I wasn't going to hurt you, I just needed--well, blood," he admits, an honestly pleading note slipping into his voice.

"Blood?"

The 'I wasn't going to hurt you' seems to fly completely over Xie Lian's head, but from what the other... man? is saying, he needs blood as sustenance, so he's probably not actually human.

And judging by how vaguely freaked out he looks, Xie Lian is ready to believe that he wasn't intending any actual harm.

"... How about we go outside, so we don't disturb the others, and you tell me the story from the beginning?"

"Yes... Yes. Alright." He withdrew a little further, taking a deep breath. He needed calm. Outward calm, at least.

"Lead the way." If he sees anything that looks like a stake, he's--well. He doesn't know what he's going to do.

Ah, it's the strange elf. Wrathion tilts his head slowly, considering Astarion.

"The forest is not safe. The Beastmaster's creatures lurk here, hunting prey. Are you pursued?"

Was he being... chased? Or was he simply wandering about the forest, searching for something? The shrines, perhaps? Someone who had gone missing? There are potential valid reasons, but it could also just be a bad life choice on his part.

"No, not at all. I--" He falters for a moment. Coming up with something when he's staring down a dragon is a challenge.

"--I'm starving in that town. The human food here just lacks something. Maybe it's all cursed." Yes. This might work. He was always better with half-truths than full lies, it gave him more material to build on.

"I've been hunting to fill in the gaps. I didn't know this was someone's territory." Bowing would help, right?

Interesting.

"Many of the forest creatures have unnatural mutations. Even this one, I am unsure until I open it if it may be wrong."

He's just saying, it looks outwardly fine but it may be all filled with strange mutations internally. He considers the elf, then decides --

Well, he may as well entertain himself at least a little.

"Astarion, you wish to hunt here?"

Edited (forgot dramatic voice italics) 2022-04-16 21:12 (UTC)

"I never said I enjoyed the results either." Gods, no. Deer were only marginally better than pigeons, even before this place started rotting.

He blinked. Wait. How did this thing know his name? "Only if it won't impose," he managed. "I only take what I need to survive, nothing more."

[Thankfully for once Xie Lian's abysmal luck leaves him alone and he manages to leave the surprise guest outside without too much trouble... well, except for chasing off two teenagers snogging right outside the front door.

... Ahem.

Back on topic, though.]

... You need blood for sustenance? I don't think I've ever met a demon or a ghost or a spirit who would need that for food. Is that normal where you're from?

That took him aback for a moment. People here had never heard of vampires?

Well. His own terrible luck seems to be getting better. "Oh, it's entirely normal, just private. You never know who might take it personally." Just a charming character flaw, really. Nothing to tell the rest about. "I feed on animals. Deer, boar, kobolds, whatever I can get." Kobolds counted as animals, right? Nobody would get too torn up over a kobold.

"But with those monsters in the woods, I haven't been able to hunt." A note of pleading rose in his voice. Was it an act? Was it genuine? Yes. "If I could just have a little blood, I might be able to survive this. Please."

"Hmmm.... But you're not human, though. Not anymore, at least. But I've never met your kind of undead before."

He's just musing when something the other man said seems to strike him as odd.

"What's a kobold?"

He blinked. "How did you--?" Is this some sort of cleric? A necromancer? And it's either too dark for whoever-this-was to see the pointy ears, or he also had no idea what an elf is.

What is even happening. And why does it have to happen when he's starving? "Just a kind of lizard. The point is--I was barely catching enough before those beasts started rampaging through the forest, and now I'll waste away before they're gone."

"There's something weird about your qi, though. There is some living qi inside of you..."

As one Lan Wangji remarked to himself a while back, Xie Lian tend to not really see time and urgency the same way most people do, mostly due to his age and inability to die.

But still, he is not completely deaf to the plea.

"If it's blood you need, I guess you can have some of mine. It won't hurt me, so I think it's fine. Do you need a lot?"

And he could sense the tadpole. Fantastic. "Yes, well," he deflected as nonchalantly as he could. "I'm just full of surprises."

As blasé as the young man was about all this, the rambling was concerning. Maybe he should just give up on this one. Find someone else who slept more soundly.

...Or just wait a few more seconds and get casually offered blood. "Really?" It felt like convincing someone to part with their blood should have been more difficult, honestly. But he was too hungry to think about it. "Just enough to keep me unliving, as it were. Not one drop more."

"... Well, I'm sure it's fine. Even if you take a lot, I won't die, so maybe better me than someone else."

Now to the more practical concerns, because indeed he has not seen the fangs. And if he's seen the pointy ears, those apparently are not a cause for alarm or concern.

"How do you do this? Do I need to cut a vein open, or...?"

This sounded honestly delusional. No wonder the young man wasn't worried, if he thought he was invincible.

And Astarion was not going to be the person to try and persuade him otherwise. Gods, no. He needed this.

He could see the pulse in that neck. "I'll manage." He'd never bitten anyone before, but there was an instinct he'd felt every day since he was turned.

"Let's make ourselves comfortable, shall we?"

It is rare people are this polite to him, that they defer this heavily. Wrathion quite enjoys it, but he cannot drag it out for long in all honesty. There's something pitiable about how quickly Astarion crumbles that stirs discomfort.

A swirl of gold-flecked smoke surrounds the dragon, and then Wrathion is wiping blood from the face of his human form.

"You're not imposing," he says finally, "the only problem is if you've lead something here. Three's a crowd, you understand."

"... Well, alright then. I'll let you do it."

And Xie Lian is going to hold out his left wrist, rather confidently. It could be because his right writs is his dominant hand, or because it happens to be bandaged. There is also, as a matter of fact, a bandage around his neck. But he knows blood can be taken from pretty much any place and the wrists has several big veins and arteries, so it should be fine.

The smoke made him tense, ready to run if he'd just managed to cause offense. But the silhouette in the smoke shrank, revealing--

"You." Of course he'd seen those glowing eyes somewhere before.

Wrathion was a black dragon. You know, as far as surprise reveals went, this was only slightly above average for how his life had been going recently. "Of course not. Besides, I'm only here because I followed your blood trail."

The shock had tipped him from placating to petulant, and he felt he had every right to act that way. "You've still got a bit of red on you."

Wrist, then? Alright. You could still find a pulse there too. He'd take anything at this point. He'd gnaw on an ankle if it meant blood.

But he could at least pretend to be civilized about it. Even if the young man was welcoming the idea without any caution or care. He gently took the offered hand in his own, moving slowly and with care.

Until the tension became too much. The movement was instinctive, fangs finding an artery and sinking in deep. Blood spilled across his tongue--

His grip on the arm tightened. Ravenous. Desperate. Overwhelmed. It was better than... better than anything.

He idly rubs at his face, as if making a lacklustre attempt to rub any further blood off. It does not particularly bother him, not in the short term.

"Forgive me the surprise. It seemed in my best interest not to openly admit the situation with local temperaments so uncertain, and a local undead lord calling itself the Beastmaster."

Lends itself to possible unpleasantries, and further possible unpleasantries for everyone else should things go downhill.

"No, no, not there. Your eyes, dear. Can't disguise those?" Really. He'd known something was odd about Wrathion, he just hadn't expected this.

Xie Lian doesn't even flinch as he feels skin being pierced. the sensation of blood being sucked out is a little alien, and not... particularly pleasant, but nothing to complain about.

The tightened grip makes hi frown a little though.

"... Are you alright?"

Ah, the eyes.

Wrathion drops his hand, lofts an eyebrow.

"I can, but I didn't when I first met most of these travellers. I was in something of a hurry on arrival, chased by the Beastmaster's minions after his first attack. Hiding them after that gives the game away, and glowing eyes are not unusual after exposure to strong magic sources where I'm from."

Easier to explain it away, then, rather than suddenly hide it and add more complexity to things.

There's more to do [closed]

IN THE FOREST (WRATHION)

IN TOWN (XIE LIAN)

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