[Alucard moves in the blink of an eye, one second in front of him and the next behind. Star Platinum responds, rears back with a roar to swing and defend his user —
And in a flash of purple light, vanishes, spent of the chroma necessary to keep him maintained after two consecutive time stops have taken their toll on Jotaro.
Like this, then, he's defenseless and he knows it, arms useless with the way that Alucard has them hooked and unable to struggle free from the chain link loops of his arms, and yet something strange happens even as he continues to struggle — an inexplicable temporal hiccup, a fraction of an instant of stopped time as inside him, Star Platinum continues to fight to protect him with any and every resource he has at his disposal.
He's trapped, and he knows it.
When he kicks backward at Alucard's leg, the blow is slow and feeble, but the spirit of rebellious pride is still there in it anyway.]
[And from Alucard's tone, he means it. Slowly, he loosens his hold, and he considers for a moment. They're both worn, Jotaro especially, so he crouches down and changes it more to an embrace to begin further moonlacing.]
[When the hold loosens, he sags, making it all the more apparent that he was really only staying in place at that point because Alucard was holding him that way. It's hard not to feel a little stung at the way he'd been worn down and bested, but even through his sluggish thoughts, he's able to remind himself that it wasn't a real fight anyway, and that maybe he's learned something more important from this, after all.
Now he knows how many times he can stop time before his chroma runs out, and Star gets trapped inside him. Now he has a baseline, a frame of reference. Maybe if he moonlaced more, he could push it farther. Something to think about, for later.
For now, though, he simply slumps against Alucard, wolf ears drooping and his tail thumping softly against his leg.]
This one went a lot better for me than th' last one.
[He closes his eyes, every exhale like a sigh.]
How did you know...? How'd you figure it out, what I was...doing...?
[Turning his head, he rests his cheek against Jotaro's shoulder. It's to rest, he thinks to himself, and knows even that's a weak reason. No, truthfully, he likes this closeness. The moonlacing feels warm and comforting, and it makes him afraid in a way.]
The first time, I was suddenly in a different position. You were far away. I wondered if it was speed or teleportation, but you would have just escaped my hold if that was the case. You had to physically move me. No time had passed in that moment.
[His arms squeeze just a fraction, close to a hug, even if he's shy to it.]
[It's warm like this. He's not even doing anything, really, except being permissive; Alucard is holding him, and it's not like he wasn't the one insisting that they do precisely this once the fight was over to rejuvenate and heal, but he'd genuinely thought it'd be for the sake of helping out Alucard, not restoring himself from deprivation.
It doesn't matter. It feels nice, and if he thinks too hard about it, it feels as though something will shatter and be gone forever.]
And you won. So you get to bite me, I guess. Drink my blood. However you want that to work.
[Almost absently, he turns his focus inward a minute, trying to gauge the way the wolf within him feels. This is the precise opposite of aggression and bloodshed, and yet he's surprised to find that even the Sanguis is unexpectedly content with this.
It takes him a minute to work out why, but once he grasps it, he thinks he's got it right. It's the possessiveness, that same territorial sensation that had him trying to rub his scent into everyone he'd subconsciously claimed as his own.
Evidently, it goes both ways. His Sanguis, it seems, relishes the act of being possessed just as much as it does being the one to do the possessing to begin with.]
[Oh. Hmm. Maybe that would make sense, wouldn't it? Maybe instead of running tests, vampires can tell by the taste. Maybe bad-tasting blood is a sign of bad health. He wonders how specifically calibrated a taste like that can get, even...
...and almost misses the actually important part of the remark.]
[He's quiet a minute, hesitant. There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about something like this, and he's acutely aware of all of them. But a bet is a bet, and he would never back down from that. Besides, he's halfway curious to see just how Alucard does this trick as it is.
So he works a hand free and brings the fingers up to his mouth, catching the side of his index finger against the sharpest of his wolf teeth and worrying at the skin until it breaks.
It's not like he hasn't had much, much worse. He barely even registers the sting, as he tips his hand to keep the welling blood from running, and offers it in Alucard's direction.]
[There's a pause as he watches, his eyes reddening slightly at the sight of the blood, the smell of it. Fresh blood is nothing in comparison to stored. Leaning in, he breathes through his nose as he catches the tip of Jotaro's finger into his mouth, giving it a generous lick before sitting back and swallowing.
There's a pause as he considers, then sighs softly.]
Your diet is shit. ...But other than that, you're fairly healthy.
Somebody else always did. Mom. Or I'd have money to buy something. Then on our trip Jiji always handled it.
[Cuddling with a person-shaped human being, he discovers, produces significantly more chroma than hand-holding or even wrapping his arms around a wolfdog. Already he's feeling significantly better...
And he's just going to. Pretend like that's not the case. For a while. He's warm, and it's weirdly comfortable to just lie still like this, and if he says something about it, he'll have to move.
So he's just not going to say anything about it.]
...Grilling. S'about the only thing I'm good at doing. Meat and a grill, I can do that.
[It does feel better this way. As a wolf, it was fine. Acceptable. A comfort between people becoming acquainted. This was closer, maybe dangerous, but good all the same.
He closes his eyes, and listens to Jotaro's heartbeat. It's oddly comforting.]
It's better than nothing.
...Try to eat better. We can work together to find other things that you can do.
[There's a small part of him that doubts how much help he's likely to really be, being a guy who drinks blood from the 1400s and all — but then it occurs to him belatedly that if Alucard's mom was human, then in theory she must've eaten something for all those years. So maybe he's got some experience with human food and nutritional needs, after all. Especially if she was a doctor, too. She'd have taken care of herself, sure.]
I...guess I can try. Maybe find a book. They make cookbooks, right, to tell you how to cook things. They'd have directions, I guess I could follow a set of directions.
I know a few things, but I can easily learn others. What is a recipe but a little science project, after all?
[It's a small joke, but truthfully he doesn't think it'll go too poorly. He'd made food for his mother on days where she'd just forget to eat, so wrapped up in her work and studies. Who could blame her and her passions?]
Izzat you saying you're gonna teach me, or cook for me?
[He lets out a breath, closing his eyes, and snuggles against Alucard a little more emphatically before he quite realizes what he's doing, and by then it's too late to stop himself, so oh, well.]
Go putter around a kitchen in an apron or something...
[WELL, THAT'S OVER WITH. Still, he feels...eerily fantastic, thanks to the moonlacing, and as he gruffly pushes himself back up he pauses, seemingly frozen, and then reflexively shakes all over like a dog drying itself off from the rain.
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no subject
And in a flash of purple light, vanishes, spent of the chroma necessary to keep him maintained after two consecutive time stops have taken their toll on Jotaro.
Like this, then, he's defenseless and he knows it, arms useless with the way that Alucard has them hooked and unable to struggle free from the chain link loops of his arms, and yet something strange happens even as he continues to struggle — an inexplicable temporal hiccup, a fraction of an instant of stopped time as inside him, Star Platinum continues to fight to protect him with any and every resource he has at his disposal.
He's trapped, and he knows it.
When he kicks backward at Alucard's leg, the blow is slow and feeble, but the spirit of rebellious pride is still there in it anyway.]
no subject
[And from Alucard's tone, he means it. Slowly, he loosens his hold, and he considers for a moment. They're both worn, Jotaro especially, so he crouches down and changes it more to an embrace to begin further moonlacing.]
I would hate to do actual battle with you.
no subject
[When the hold loosens, he sags, making it all the more apparent that he was really only staying in place at that point because Alucard was holding him that way. It's hard not to feel a little stung at the way he'd been worn down and bested, but even through his sluggish thoughts, he's able to remind himself that it wasn't a real fight anyway, and that maybe he's learned something more important from this, after all.
Now he knows how many times he can stop time before his chroma runs out, and Star gets trapped inside him. Now he has a baseline, a frame of reference. Maybe if he moonlaced more, he could push it farther. Something to think about, for later.
For now, though, he simply slumps against Alucard, wolf ears drooping and his tail thumping softly against his leg.]
This one went a lot better for me than th' last one.
[He closes his eyes, every exhale like a sigh.]
How did you know...? How'd you figure it out, what I was...doing...?
no subject
The first time, I was suddenly in a different position. You were far away. I wondered if it was speed or teleportation, but you would have just escaped my hold if that was the case. You had to physically move me. No time had passed in that moment.
[His arms squeeze just a fraction, close to a hug, even if he's shy to it.]
no subject
[It's warm like this. He's not even doing anything, really, except being permissive; Alucard is holding him, and it's not like he wasn't the one insisting that they do precisely this once the fight was over to rejuvenate and heal, but he'd genuinely thought it'd be for the sake of helping out Alucard, not restoring himself from deprivation.
It doesn't matter. It feels nice, and if he thinks too hard about it, it feels as though something will shatter and be gone forever.]
And you won. So you get to bite me, I guess. Drink my blood. However you want that to work.
no subject
[He wants to. He'd be lying if he said he didn't, but fresh blood after so long... that would be marvelous.]
You can just prick your finger. Even that would be enough. But I'd never ask you to allow a vampire to bite you. Not after the vampire you fought.
no subject
[Almost absently, he turns his focus inward a minute, trying to gauge the way the wolf within him feels. This is the precise opposite of aggression and bloodshed, and yet he's surprised to find that even the Sanguis is unexpectedly content with this.
It takes him a minute to work out why, but once he grasps it, he thinks he's got it right. It's the possessiveness, that same territorial sensation that had him trying to rub his scent into everyone he'd subconsciously claimed as his own.
Evidently, it goes both ways. His Sanguis, it seems, relishes the act of being possessed just as much as it does being the one to do the possessing to begin with.]
Is it because you're hungry?
no subject
But it was more... [Alucard sighs against him, closing his eyes.] I wanted to check your health.
no subject
[Oh. Hmm. Maybe that would make sense, wouldn't it? Maybe instead of running tests, vampires can tell by the taste. Maybe bad-tasting blood is a sign of bad health. He wonders how specifically calibrated a taste like that can get, even...
...and almost misses the actually important part of the remark.]
...You wanted to check me over?
no subject
I wanted to know how you were doing. Coming here, recovering from what you experienced... I wasn't sure how you were doing.
It's easy to check this way.
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So he works a hand free and brings the fingers up to his mouth, catching the side of his index finger against the sharpest of his wolf teeth and worrying at the skin until it breaks.
It's not like he hasn't had much, much worse. He barely even registers the sting, as he tips his hand to keep the welling blood from running, and offers it in Alucard's direction.]
no subject
There's a pause as he considers, then sighs softly.]
Your diet is shit. ...But other than that, you're fairly healthy.
no subject
[He shivers a little when his fingertip slides between Alucard's lips, not prepared for the heat of his tongue winding around it.]
So you're saying I can't just live on rice, beer, and cigarettes, huh...
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[He snorts against Jotaro's shoulder.]
Shocking, I know. Have you never made a meal for yourself before?
no subject
[Cuddling with a person-shaped human being, he discovers, produces significantly more chroma than hand-holding or even wrapping his arms around a wolfdog. Already he's feeling significantly better...
And he's just going to. Pretend like that's not the case. For a while. He's warm, and it's weirdly comfortable to just lie still like this, and if he says something about it, he'll have to move.
So he's just not going to say anything about it.]
...Grilling. S'about the only thing I'm good at doing. Meat and a grill, I can do that.
no subject
He closes his eyes, and listens to Jotaro's heartbeat. It's oddly comforting.]
It's better than nothing.
...Try to eat better. We can work together to find other things that you can do.
no subject
[There's a small part of him that doubts how much help he's likely to really be, being a guy who drinks blood from the 1400s and all — but then it occurs to him belatedly that if Alucard's mom was human, then in theory she must've eaten something for all those years. So maybe he's got some experience with human food and nutritional needs, after all. Especially if she was a doctor, too. She'd have taken care of herself, sure.]
I...guess I can try. Maybe find a book. They make cookbooks, right, to tell you how to cook things. They'd have directions, I guess I could follow a set of directions.
no subject
[It's a small joke, but truthfully he doesn't think it'll go too poorly. He'd made food for his mother on days where she'd just forget to eat, so wrapped up in her work and studies. Who could blame her and her passions?]
no subject
[He lets out a breath, closing his eyes, and snuggles against Alucard a little more emphatically before he quite realizes what he's doing, and by then it's too late to stop himself, so oh, well.]
Go putter around a kitchen in an apron or something...
no subject
[There's a thoughtful hum, then he withdraws his hands and gives Jotaro a shove enough to knock him over.]
Not a chance.
I'll help instruct you, but I think it's better you just learn for yourself.
no subject
[WELL, THAT'S OVER WITH. Still, he feels...eerily fantastic, thanks to the moonlacing, and as he gruffly pushes himself back up he pauses, seemingly frozen, and then reflexively shakes all over like a dog drying itself off from the rain.
Awkward.]
Fine, fine. I'll do it myself, you smug bastard.