his nose crinkles in disdain at his "concern," and he takes another pull off of the cigarette before tapping the ash out into one of the various trays he's stashed away for this very purpose. ]
You're not pregaming. [ this is not helping counter the dull boy comment??? ] But it's not like I'm keeping you here, if you really wanted to go off and do... whatever it is that you do.
[ he'd only had a small taste during the undercover mission at the start of all of this. but he also learned that fei du doesn't really play in the same way most rich, elite vampires do. ]
Anyways, I'm perfectly socialized. I don't know what you're talking about.
[ fei du raises a single eyebrow as wenzhou effortlessly confirms his spinster status with that little remark, and doesn't deign it with a single other response because he doesn't have to. victory.
instead, he just shakes his head, like he is suffering the long suffering of watching a child you raised poorly do something dumb (?) and drapes his arm across the back of wenzhou's couch, clearly not planning on going anywhere. ]
By someone's standards, at least. [ lamenting: ] I'm too hungry to go out.
By a normal person's standards! One that works every day for a living, instead of going off to party and joyride.
[ UNLIKE SOME WHELPS. though, wenzhou has slowly come to the understanding that fei du does, actually, do things. the extent of which he hasn't fully grasped, but if he squints and looks out of the corner of his eye he can catch the spiderweb glinting in the light - the one that fei du's woven himself, with his vast network in the dark.
at the moment, his squinting out of the corner of his eye is directed at the arm on his couch. ]
Okay, [ slowly, like speaking to a dull child ] Then eat. That's easy to rectify. Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired. I know this is a foreign concept to you but it's not that difficult.
[ just a fucking creature that's acting a fool in front of luo wenzhou's cigarette. ]
You can't just survive off of wine! [ he Knows. he also adds: ] A diet made up of wine, sugar, and coffee is not going to keep you alive, you useless vampire.
[ snuffing out his cigarette with an aggressive and pointed jab into the ashtray, he leverages himself upright from his couch, making his way towards the kitchen. ]
anyway, rude? he lolls his head back up from where he was draping across the back of the couch. ]
It's a survivable recipe. [ smartass. wenzhou is aware you mix blood in it. it's the only thing that makes the blood itself not make him gag, anyway, and he lays there for a moment before he rolls up to his feet and pads into the kitchen to follow him, out of curiosity. cooking, likely. ] Though, if you wanted to be an expert in my physiology, all you'd have to do ask.
Darling, don't tease. I'm not sure you could handle the reality. [ said dryly, as he opens up the fridge to pull out a few things. there's pork belly, bone broth, and what appear to be darkly colored sausages, along with pickled vegetables and... blood tofu. love that this is a real thing and is actually a chinese delicacy. he lays it all out on the counter, before ducking back in and grabbing one of the animal blood packs.
lo and behold, he goes to unlock the alcohol for a moment. ] Get a glass.
[ the flirt is easy and natural as always, the suggestive lilt to the question like honey. he walks over to where wenzhou is, pauses... and though his brows lift at first, it shifts into a look that can only be described as pleased, and he walks his fingertips across wenzhou's shoulder bit by bit, then pushes off and goes to the cabinet to fetch a glass.
yay... wow, spoiled. handling the glass delicately between two fingers, fei du steps back, and then leans against the counter and waits for him there, as relaxed as relaxed can be. (maybe.) ]
[ the unsaid and maybe if you meant it is there, as it has been lately. his skin still prickles as he feels the touch, but he doesn't shudder or shiver or shrink away. simply pauses, for a moment, before he selects a bottle of wine and goes to take the stopper out.
the animal blood goes first, the packet given a squeeze into the bottom of the glass that fei du picked out. but it's half a distraction, as he turns back to get the wine - he instead, first, grabs one of the kitchen knives and nicks himself right there in front of god and fei du. it's not enough to bleed profusely, but it is enough for him to squeeze out a steady drip drip drip as if he's topping off the animal blood.
but really though. it's the smell that gets him, because his finely tuned supernatural senses can't miss it. his eyes do dilate, and the smell is almost intoxicating, followed immediately by a sense of stomach-churning revulsion. his throat clicks when he swallows, an instinctual reaction, and he holds very, very still. ]
Not particularly sanitary.
[ he sounds a touch exasperated like he's making a very light joke, but he's white knuckling the counter with one hand, feeling an itch like he needs to reach for his phone or his airpods for a certain tune or he needs to bump his hand into the sharp corner of the counter or -- ]
[ his gaze does briefly flick down to where he's holding onto the counter, but he doesn't say anything, just squeezes out a few more drops of his own blood before he pours in the wine to dilute it all into something that fei du will, actually, find a way to stomach. ]
You act like I don't clean up after myself. [ his finger goes to his mouth to stem any bleeding and to muffle the scent of human blood, until he goes to the sink to wash it down the drain. but not yet. wenzhou has to make sure that he's going to stay stable and actually drink what he's given him. ] This is part of my compromise.
[ sure. drink your wine blood mix, but the barest amount is human blood. because he's started to learn how to see behind the smiles that aren't quite smiles, through his colorless cheeks and his cold hands. ]
[ ohhh, watching him stick his finger in his mouth makes it worse. god, he wants. wants to pull his hand away and do exactly the same, wants to lave away the blood until the iron taste melts in his mouth, wants to -
does not want to. for a second, he's out of it, but the tried and trained conditioning takes hold, and he feels his stomach churn, suddenly very, very not hungry as his head swims with images, with faint reminders of old pain. it's a familiar song and dance as he pulls the wine glass away from wenzhou and gives it a swirl like he's blooming the bouquet of tannin and alcohol, of the animal blood that mixes in, and the drips of human blood like rare spices mixed in.
before he drinks, just because he can (and because he hopes to irritate wenzhou enough he'll look away), he quips, dryly; ] I think you just enjoy bleeding.
[ seeing as how wenzhou is the most reckless man on god's green earth. he closes his eyes and lifts the cup, feels his stomach churn into actually no i'm not hungry at all, and does not immediately drink, just kind of holding it between his fingers in a minute internal battle. ]
[ pressing his thumb to the shallow cut, wenzhou leans his hip into the counter near the sink, just - watching. taking in the micro expressions and reactions and delays that make up fei du in this moment. his instincts have carried him a long way, and he's good at observing people. it's gotten him a long way as a cop.
but fei du is an enigma. he wants to peel back every single layer, no matter how thin or ironclad, just to understand how the fuck his brain works. ]
A little blood shed to help people doesn't bother me. [ it's not that he likes it, it's just that he doesn't really notice it all that much. and it applies to this situation in some ways, too, where he tries to take care of this lost dhampir turned vampire elite who's punishing himself for... something. something he's on the cusp of.
You should be careful who you say that around, Captain Luo.
[ there's a light, airy way that fei du delivers the phrase, as he finally decides he's stirred his wine enough and takes a drink of it. the taste of the blood is, naturally, absolutely delicious, the difference between a two dollar bottle of wine and a thousand dollar one, and with it mixed in with the liquor, it becomes palatable in a way he can handle. there's the sharp smell of it as a reminder. you don't want any more than this.
that's what goes on in his head, at least. his eyes are slightly darker than usual, as he looks at luo wenzhou from under his thick eyelashes, peach blossom eyes carrying something a little dangerous. like a threat and a promise, something mysterious and heady. ] Some people are greedy.
[ you barely want to drink animal blood, you really think that's going to convincingly threaten me? he doesn't say, still applying pressure to the small cut rather than washing and bandaging it up. it'll stop on its own either way. he's not worried about it.
but maybe a part of wenzhou is keeping it like this as an option. ]
Well, good thing I've only said it in my kitchen and not out on the street, like I've advertised myself to every vampire that I'm a walking blood bag. [ his tone is dry, in response to the airy way fei du speaks. ] If you were going to sell me out to some fangs or abuse my hospitality, you would've done it already.
[ that same lofty tone continues. it's easier for him to hide behind this, to play at being the monster, a beast in human skin, while he muffles the actual beastly instincts with practice, careful precision. he doesn't even look at wenzhou's hand, because he is well trained, and with it hidden, he's able to pull on the facade. the corner of his mouth lifts, that same, dangerous little smirk. ]
Maybe this is a honey pot.
[ and then he chuckles, amused at his own joke, and sips his drink. ]
Your bad personality makes it a shitty honey pot. And what would you even get from pulling that kind of trick on me?
[ except, most anyone else would fall right into it. fei du is charming, and good at using those charms; after all, he got to see it first hand as his "pet" for the undercover job. and it sure as hell worked on him, in some ways.
but he's starting to believe what tao ran said about him being a good person. ugh. when the hell did that happen? ]
Whatever, drink your wine you brat. I'm going to make actual food for you to eat.
[ luo wenzhou has always had a great instinct for danger - this feels dangerous in a different way, not like a threat of bloodshed but more like running into something he's not sure he'll be able to find his way back from. ]
[ hehe. well, now the tension's broken sufficiently - he's distracted enough that he just smiles and looks pleased with himself, much like a cat swishing its tail, and sips his wine, shifting from leaning on the counter to hop carefully up onto it and sit on the surface.
a little wine, a little snack. a little poking and prodding at wenzhou, a little victory where it felt like he kept his walls up as carefully as he wanted to. victory puts fei du in a good mood. (it may also be that he just needs to eat really badly and this probably would help.) ]
Your generosity is unmatched. [ somehow he makes this sound like an insult ] As for what I would get from it, your body would be acceptable.
[ bringing his hand back up to his mouth, side of his finger pressed just so between his lips to cover the cut, fei du gets a dry, unimpressed glower for a beat as he turns towards the sink to wash the blood off. ]
Oh, darling, my body is free to look at whenever you want. Such a handsome work of art as this, who would I be to deny you that? But if you truly wanted it, then you'd have to commit to wanting it.
[ they can keep playing this game. fei du can think he's safe where he is, can have his small victory, and wenzhou will circle around to a crack left exposed in his smug superiority. ]
[ he's looking. disrespectfully. looking at his hand, and then he just does a blatant eyerake. ]
You should definitely be careful about who you say that to. [ though he doesn't specify which part of his statement he means, the former or the latter, and instead swirls his drink, content to sit and do just that. ] Talk about greedy.
[ while he turns his back to fei du to wash his hands - which most people would advise you not to do against any vampire, even if it's one you know - it's still obvious that he rolls his eyes with the way his head lolls a little. ]
You, or me? I'm the most selfless person there is. [ ok wenzhou. (kind of true) (but also) ] Are you just going to stand there and look pretty while you flap your mouth? I guess company while I cook is fine, but if you're going to be annoying the whole time...
If you're good at multitasking, I'm sure I could find a creative use for my mouth. [ beat ] Then again, the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis may struggle with higher level executive function.
[ wow
but he's also hopping off the counter so make of that what you will I guess ]
[ once fei du is close enough, wenzhou whips him with the hand towel he's using to dry his hands off. just a quick crack to his general hip and ass region - although the target is a little small for the latter. (still nice, though.) ]
You'll spoil your appetite if you have dessert before dinner. [ the quip back is immediate, even if the proximity in the small kitchen will make it obvious that he is. unfortunately. interested.
he can't help that he's a warm blooded human, alright? with a healthy libido! even if he curses these hormones. ]
[ STARTLED AND OFFENDED AT THIS TOWEL WHACK no one just whacks his ass or puts their hands all over him for no fun reason except luo wenzhou... tch.... he makes a face, much like a cat, and then changes tacks, moving to lean his forearms on the counter so he has to leaaaaan over to do it. out of towel reach, but still.
look at him. he is posing. he knows this is working. ]
I should be saying that to you. [ with a knowing look - it's in his voice, even. ] The flesh is willing, but... well, you know the rest.
[ the mind is willing and the body is weak. the spirit? whatever.
admittedly, wenzhou is aware that this is probably simultaneously a dig at his intellect again. but he's trying not to look at fei du bent over his countertop like that, even though he is definitely aware of it. his skin prickles and he can feel the heat trying to break free from where he's not-so-neatly shoved it down. ]
Didn't I tell you to stop being annoying? At this rate I might have to bend you over my knee.
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his nose crinkles in disdain at his "concern," and he takes another pull off of the cigarette before tapping the ash out into one of the various trays he's stashed away for this very purpose. ]
You're not pregaming. [ this is not helping counter the dull boy comment??? ] But it's not like I'm keeping you here, if you really wanted to go off and do... whatever it is that you do.
[ he'd only had a small taste during the undercover mission at the start of all of this. but he also learned that fei du doesn't really play in the same way most rich, elite vampires do. ]
Anyways, I'm perfectly socialized. I don't know what you're talking about.
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instead, he just shakes his head, like he is suffering the long suffering of watching a child you raised poorly do something dumb (?) and drapes his arm across the back of wenzhou's couch, clearly not planning on going anywhere. ]
By someone's standards, at least. [ lamenting: ] I'm too hungry to go out.
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[ UNLIKE SOME WHELPS. though, wenzhou has slowly come to the understanding that fei du does, actually, do things. the extent of which he hasn't fully grasped, but if he squints and looks out of the corner of his eye he can catch the spiderweb glinting in the light - the one that fei du's woven himself, with his vast network in the dark.
at the moment, his squinting out of the corner of his eye is directed at the arm on his couch. ]
Okay, [ slowly, like speaking to a dull child ] Then eat. That's easy to rectify. Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired. I know this is a foreign concept to you but it's not that difficult.
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[ he says, with a sigh. dramatic, and he drapes further like he is but a waif, tilting his head back. a sad waif. just a creature. ]
I'm being denied my food [ read: a particularly red glass of wine ] and have to just waste away. Bringing new meaning to the word wastrel.
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You can't just survive off of wine! [ he Knows. he also adds: ] A diet made up of wine, sugar, and coffee is not going to keep you alive, you useless vampire.
[ snuffing out his cigarette with an aggressive and pointed jab into the ashtray, he leverages himself upright from his couch, making his way towards the kitchen. ]
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anyway, rude? he lolls his head back up from where he was draping across the back of the couch. ]
It's a survivable recipe. [ smartass. wenzhou is aware you mix blood in it. it's the only thing that makes the blood itself not make him gag, anyway, and he lays there for a moment before he rolls up to his feet and pads into the kitchen to follow him, out of curiosity. cooking, likely. ] Though, if you wanted to be an expert in my physiology, all you'd have to do ask.
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Darling, don't tease. I'm not sure you could handle the reality. [ said dryly, as he opens up the fridge to pull out a few things. there's pork belly, bone broth, and what appear to be darkly colored sausages, along with pickled vegetables and... blood tofu. love that this is a real thing and is actually a chinese delicacy. he lays it all out on the counter, before ducking back in and grabbing one of the animal blood packs.
lo and behold, he goes to unlock the alcohol for a moment. ] Get a glass.
no subject
[ the flirt is easy and natural as always, the suggestive lilt to the question like honey. he walks over to where wenzhou is, pauses... and though his brows lift at first, it shifts into a look that can only be described as pleased, and he walks his fingertips across wenzhou's shoulder bit by bit, then pushes off and goes to the cabinet to fetch a glass.
yay... wow, spoiled. handling the glass delicately between two fingers, fei du steps back, and then leans against the counter and waits for him there, as relaxed as relaxed can be. (maybe.) ]
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[ the unsaid and maybe if you meant it is there, as it has been lately. his skin still prickles as he feels the touch, but he doesn't shudder or shiver or shrink away. simply pauses, for a moment, before he selects a bottle of wine and goes to take the stopper out.
the animal blood goes first, the packet given a squeeze into the bottom of the glass that fei du picked out. but it's half a distraction, as he turns back to get the wine - he instead, first, grabs one of the kitchen knives and nicks himself right there in front of god and fei du. it's not enough to bleed profusely, but it is enough for him to squeeze out a steady drip drip drip as if he's topping off the animal blood.
he doesn't even bat an eye as he does it. ]
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but really though. it's the smell that gets him, because his finely tuned supernatural senses can't miss it. his eyes do dilate, and the smell is almost intoxicating, followed immediately by a sense of stomach-churning revulsion. his throat clicks when he swallows, an instinctual reaction, and he holds very, very still. ]
Not particularly sanitary.
[ he sounds a touch exasperated like he's making a very light joke, but he's white knuckling the counter with one hand, feeling an itch like he needs to reach for his phone or his airpods for a certain tune or he needs to bump his hand into the sharp corner of the counter or -- ]
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You act like I don't clean up after myself. [ his finger goes to his mouth to stem any bleeding and to muffle the scent of human blood, until he goes to the sink to wash it down the drain. but not yet. wenzhou has to make sure that he's going to stay stable and actually drink what he's given him. ] This is part of my compromise.
[ sure. drink your wine blood mix, but the barest amount is human blood. because he's started to learn how to see behind the smiles that aren't quite smiles, through his colorless cheeks and his cold hands. ]
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does not want to. for a second, he's out of it, but the tried and trained conditioning takes hold, and he feels his stomach churn, suddenly very, very not hungry as his head swims with images, with faint reminders of old pain. it's a familiar song and dance as he pulls the wine glass away from wenzhou and gives it a swirl like he's blooming the bouquet of tannin and alcohol, of the animal blood that mixes in, and the drips of human blood like rare spices mixed in.
before he drinks, just because he can (and because he hopes to irritate wenzhou enough he'll look away), he quips, dryly; ] I think you just enjoy bleeding.
[ seeing as how wenzhou is the most reckless man on god's green earth. he closes his eyes and lifts the cup, feels his stomach churn into actually no i'm not hungry at all, and does not immediately drink, just kind of holding it between his fingers in a minute internal battle. ]
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but fei du is an enigma. he wants to peel back every single layer, no matter how thin or ironclad, just to understand how the fuck his brain works. ]
A little blood shed to help people doesn't bother me. [ it's not that he likes it, it's just that he doesn't really notice it all that much. and it applies to this situation in some ways, too, where he tries to take care of this lost dhampir turned vampire elite who's punishing himself for... something. something he's on the cusp of.
but just how much deeper does it go? ]
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[ there's a light, airy way that fei du delivers the phrase, as he finally decides he's stirred his wine enough and takes a drink of it. the taste of the blood is, naturally, absolutely delicious, the difference between a two dollar bottle of wine and a thousand dollar one, and with it mixed in with the liquor, it becomes palatable in a way he can handle. there's the sharp smell of it as a reminder. you don't want any more than this.
that's what goes on in his head, at least. his eyes are slightly darker than usual, as he looks at luo wenzhou from under his thick eyelashes, peach blossom eyes carrying something a little dangerous. like a threat and a promise, something mysterious and heady. ] Some people are greedy.
[ you don't want any more than this. ]
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but maybe a part of wenzhou is keeping it like this as an option. ]
Well, good thing I've only said it in my kitchen and not out on the street, like I've advertised myself to every vampire that I'm a walking blood bag. [ his tone is dry, in response to the airy way fei du speaks. ] If you were going to sell me out to some fangs or abuse my hospitality, you would've done it already.
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[ that same lofty tone continues. it's easier for him to hide behind this, to play at being the monster, a beast in human skin, while he muffles the actual beastly instincts with practice, careful precision. he doesn't even look at wenzhou's hand, because he is well trained, and with it hidden, he's able to pull on the facade. the corner of his mouth lifts, that same, dangerous little smirk. ]
Maybe this is a honey pot.
[ and then he chuckles, amused at his own joke, and sips his drink. ]
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[ except, most anyone else would fall right into it. fei du is charming, and good at using those charms; after all, he got to see it first hand as his "pet" for the undercover job. and it sure as hell worked on him, in some ways.
but he's starting to believe what tao ran said about him being a good person. ugh. when the hell did that happen? ]
Whatever, drink your wine you brat. I'm going to make actual food for you to eat.
[ luo wenzhou has always had a great instinct for danger - this feels dangerous in a different way, not like a threat of bloodshed but more like running into something he's not sure he'll be able to find his way back from. ]
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a little wine, a little snack. a little poking and prodding at wenzhou, a little victory where it felt like he kept his walls up as carefully as he wanted to. victory puts fei du in a good mood. (it may also be that he just needs to eat really badly and this probably would help.) ]
Your generosity is unmatched. [ somehow he makes this sound like an insult ] As for what I would get from it, your body would be acceptable.
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Oh, darling, my body is free to look at whenever you want. Such a handsome work of art as this, who would I be to deny you that? But if you truly wanted it, then you'd have to commit to wanting it.
[ they can keep playing this game. fei du can think he's safe where he is, can have his small victory, and wenzhou will circle around to a crack left exposed in his smug superiority. ]
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You should definitely be careful about who you say that to. [ though he doesn't specify which part of his statement he means, the former or the latter, and instead swirls his drink, content to sit and do just that. ] Talk about greedy.
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You, or me? I'm the most selfless person there is. [ ok wenzhou. (kind of true) (but also) ] Are you just going to stand there and look pretty while you flap your mouth? I guess company while I cook is fine, but if you're going to be annoying the whole time...
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If you're good at multitasking, I'm sure I could find a creative use for my mouth. [ beat ] Then again, the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis may struggle with higher level executive function.
[ wow
but he's also hopping off the counter so make of that what you will I guess ]
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You'll spoil your appetite if you have dessert before dinner. [ the quip back is immediate, even if the proximity in the small kitchen will make it obvious that he is. unfortunately. interested.
he can't help that he's a warm blooded human, alright? with a healthy libido! even if he curses these hormones. ]
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look at him. he is posing. he knows this is working. ]
I should be saying that to you. [ with a knowing look - it's in his voice, even. ] The flesh is willing, but... well, you know the rest.
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[ the mind is willing and the body is weak. the spirit? whatever.
admittedly, wenzhou is aware that this is probably simultaneously a dig at his intellect again. but he's trying not to look at fei du bent over his countertop like that, even though he is definitely aware of it. his skin prickles and he can feel the heat trying to break free from where he's not-so-neatly shoved it down. ]
Didn't I tell you to stop being annoying? At this rate I might have to bend you over my knee.
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