It takes her a moment to find her mind again through the fog, only truly registering that it's Alfred speaking to her again instead of the monster that has taken over him once she's been shaken a few times. Did he-- did he just try to hypnotize her? On purpose? The thought makes her stomach turn.
"Why-- Why would you--" she whimpers softly, barely audible, tears welling in her eyes. "Y-you're not like them--" she never thought he would ever try to cross that line, that he would ever try to take something from her like so many others had. Countless times before others had tried for her mind, her body, her spirit ... This time, her free will?
Especially when she was already willing to stay?
He's there right now, but how long will this part of him stay? Surely this isn't the person he is now... She'd heard monsters were capable of changing what they were, but... how long would it be like this? Would he turn into one of those creatures too? Like the one who attacked her that night at the carnival? Certainly, he couldn't have been as horrible as the woman who hypnotized her and forced out her memories-- But could she be certain that wouldn't happen to him, beyond his intention or control? Would it only get worse from here?
--not -myself. I feel so strange-- That has to be true, Alfred-- Alfred would never do something like this to hurt her, would he?
She feels him run a hand through her hair, but she can't stop herself from flinching away from his touch, like she's expecting something... worse to happen to her. Even hearing him here now in this moment of lucidity, a part of her waits for the other shoe to drop, for this situation to escalate once again. She keeps her head lowered, shoulders up, as if bracing for impact.
"Is that what you want me to do?" She's getting mixed signals, after all. Wanting her to stay bad enough to hypnotize her, but refusing to let her explain and sending her away to her Master? She can't keep up. Finally, the tears spill over as she speaks, streaking hot down her cheeks. She's managed to make it this far with a brave face, without allowing herself to break, but she feels she somehow knows and absolutely dreads the answer to this question.
"I will go, if that's what you want. But please, understand. I was never trying to leave."
The way she looks at him, so full of distrust, disappointment - it visibly breaks Alfred, a faint whimper sounding in the back of his throat. Her flinch away from his hand makes him flinch in turn, drawing the fingers back and hovering them in midair as though she has burned him.
Maybe she has, in a way.
You're not like them, she had said. But Alfred doesn't know who 'them' is. He doesn't know the whole of what happened to her at the Carnival, spared the ugliest details for his sanity. He doesn't know what she's been through before that, either, blind to the terrors that spring to her mind.
No, the only person he can think of is the Count.
And standing here, he feels he is becoming just like him.
"What I want," he finally manages, his voice breaking and soft as he folds in upon himself, "is for you to be safe, Seras. And right now, that's...not here. That's not with me."
He takes a little step back, wrapping his arms around himself like a bat might do with their wings. There is fondness, there, in his eyes. There is still warmth, but there is grief there, too. Mourning another thing he's screwed up, because he's always better in theory than in practice.
He desperately wants to wipe away those tears. But he can't. He can't be trusted.
"I know you weren't. I know. But I've - hurt you enough. You - you should - you...should...I can...I can still...."
Distance starts to cloud his eyes again, his whole body trembling as his gaze wanders, goes fuzzy.
"I'm-- I'm not afraid of you! I--I'm not afraid of what you'll do to me--"
It's only partially a lie, because she would be devastated if he took the same path as those others, if he took advantage of her the way they had, but--
"--I'm afraid of what you'll do to yourself."
Seras knows well what self-loathing can do to a person, what the endless cycle of acceptance and connection and failure and loss and blame leads to and what kind of damage it causes. Hell, she's experiencing it right now alongside him, like those other terrible things they'd found out they had in common not all that long ago. It's so much more devastating to witness from the outside, to see it reflected in someone she cared so much for, with no way to really help. The most devastating part of it all was knowing being there was all she could offer him in the first place, and now... she was taking that away from him, too.
Everything was being taken from both of them, through no fault of their own and circumstance alone. Fate rarely played in Seras' favor, time had run out, and luck had never been on her side... another unfortunate reality to share with Alfred.
Again, she attempts to follow his line of sight, but this time finds that it leads to nothing. He's getting lost again. Whatever it is that is doing this to him is coming back--
"Alfred-- there's nothing there, it's just-- it's just us." she reaches for him once more, settling her paws over his hands, trying to catch his wandering gaze with her own, to try to ground him before he floats away again. "Who? Who do you hear?"
It's easier to let it happen, isn't it? There's peace there, there's so much less fear and suffering if he just drifts into that song. If he sinks, like the Count said. That is what it feels like, like sinking into something dark and velvet-soft -
At Seras's touch, Alfred comes back to himself for a split second, long enough to give her a haunting, terrified, desperate look; a man with three fingers left on the edge of a cliff, realizing he can't hold on one moment longer.
"I can't - Seras, I don't want to- I can't, I c-can...can....."
And just like that, he loses his grip, expression going vacant, hollow, unfocused as he slumps down like a ragdoll to his knees, all fight gone out of him.
"...Can hear...the Count. He's still singing to me. It's...it's beautiful, isn't it…?"
[No, she didn't roll off of her bed, hit the ground tangled in blankets and scramble across her floor to her desk after hearing that alert go off! Why would she do that? It's just a message! Mercifully, no one is around to witness that totally-not-embarrassing event.
He responded!! At first, she's positively elated. Maybe he's calmed down a little! She wiggles in her chair with glee, waiting on the message to load. By the time it finally has, she can feel her heart sinking into her stomach. It was the same thing, the same.. hollow assurances as before. He's still typing in that unnerving, precise way as he had during the announcement. Everything is most certainly not fine, at all.
Seras stares at the message for a long time, blinking back burning tears, swiping away the ones she fails to contain. He really is gone, isn't he? And-- hell, even if he isn't completely, he still doesn't... want her near. That much she understands, but. ...she's going to worry, either way. Especially once she's taken her fourth or fifth run at a staring contest with it, as if she was hoping that the words would change or mean something else, and realizes... there's something else wrong with the message.
The beginning of each sentence... each letter spells out H - E - L - P.
That... had to be coincidence. Right? It had to be.
Still, she can't stop herself. She's already typing back to him, hurried, sitting on the edge of her seat and wondering how quickly she could get dressed and get out of here unnoticed.]
can i come to you? alfred pelase can i com esee you? please
Hey, Alfred, I just wanted to let you know that I have someone interested in the head chef position. She's got an interview at 5 today... if you're too busy or it's too early in the day for you to come by, don't worry about it, but I thought you might want to meet her. I'll keep you and Hajime both posted on how things go.
I may be able to stop by, closer to sundown. If you would like me to.
Either way, thank you for letting me know.
[The rest of the reply goes unsaid, but implied - he knows he still isn't his normal self right now. The last thing he wants to do is to scare someone new away.]
Of course I'd like you to meet her. I know you're not sporting your usual impressive demon horns, but I mean - I'm still a dog. If no one's explained to her that people can switch out, I will. I'm used to being the exposition guy, remember?
Look, all I'm saying is, if you want to come say hello, you're totally welcome to. But if you'd rather stay home because of everything else you've got going on, I understand, and I won't be upset, either. Do whatever makes you the most comfortable. As usual.
[ On the afternoon of the 15th, there is indeed Jiang Cheng walking up to the imposing castle, his steps growing slower the closer he comes since he is so fascinated looking at it.
He is wearing his usual full-length purple robes and still carrying his sword though his temporary merperson shape comes with razor-sharp claws he can extend. In his robes covering him from neck to toe, most of his changes are hidden, though one can spy gills behind his ears and on the sides of his throat, as well as a pair of delicate little fins behind his ears. His hands are webbed and his skin covered in a fine smattering of fish scales that are blue-brown, but shimmer purple when the light hits them. When he opens his mouth, he also shows off impressively sharp eel teeth.
Yet he doesn't look very monstrous as he knocks on the door to the castle, looking uncharacteristically eager and ready to blurt out a greeting of, ]
This building is fascinating! The defensive capabilities must be impressive!
It's been a while since she's had a pleasant dream, y'know?
Of course, she doesn't even realize that this romantic gondola ride with Alfred-- with the stereotypical man in a striped shirt, singing unintelligibly with a French accent and everything --even is a dream until something begins to rock the boat. She doesn't think anything of it at first, leaning nestled back against her beloved, giggling as he dangles a cluster of grapes above her head. She tries to sit up, snapping at the bunch with a playful growl, but he teases her, pulling them just out of her reach.
"You're awful! C'mon--" she laughs, wiggling against him. He dangles, she snaps, and again the grapes are yanked from her reach. He cries out, startled, and she realizes that time wasn't on purpose.
The rocking starts to become violent, and they're both nearly tipped from the vessel. Her arm shoots out to one side to steady them, the other gripping onto his leg to keep him secured beneath her. Looking over her shoulder, some giant beast rises from the water, generating waves that threaten-- no, promise --to send them tumbling into the water, and Seras is quick to determine that her options are to dive and escape the worst of it, or get swept away with the tide. Alfred gasps, cries her name. A tidal wave rises above them, stories high. It's going to pull them under whether she's ready or not. She turns to toss her arms around him, his wings envelope them both-- do either of them know how to swim? It doesn't matter.
Seras gasps, eyes snapping open to the midday sun beaming through the cracks in the curtains, grateful to find that she's awoken to dry land, in Alfred's bed. She exhales a sigh that releases all the tension in her body from the disappointing conclusion of that dream, and she turns over onto her back, draping an arm over her eyes.
Why does it still feel like she's on that gondola? Something is still moving--
Seras glances to Alfred's side of the bed, peeking out from under her arm. His normally peaceful expression is... different, this afternoon; his brows are knit, lips parted, breathing heavy in his sleep. He groans, mumbles something she can't quite understand, and then something that sounds a bit like... her name? It takes a moment for her barely conscious brain to catch up, but it seems he's the reason for that rocking sensation.
She sits up on her elbows to get a better look at him, noting how they've both managed to kick their blankets down to the foot of the bed-- it does get rather warm when you sleep with a demon --but realizing quickly that she kind of wishes they hadn't. This feels like something she shouldn't witness-- Alfred is... well, sleep-walking, in a sense. His tail has snaked up and around his thigh, between his legs and over his undergarments, and seems to be quite insistently working at providing some... stimulation during his slumber. Seras stares, near frozen despite the warmth emanating from him, watching his hips roll and grind into the touch of his tail...
Suddenly, it clicks what exactly she's witnessing, and it shakes her from the paralysis of her curiosity. She gasps and falls onto her back again, covering her face with her hands. Is he dreaming about her?! He'd said her name!
Well, at least his dream seems to be heading towards a happy ending...
The first time Alfred had become a Demon, it was spread over months. The shift had been gradual, with any impact on his behavior and instinct subtle enough to go relatively unnoticed.
This time, on the other hand, he's gone from zero to a hundred percent immediately, and...there are facets of the shift that have been more...apparent, when taken all at once. The already hot blooded young man had been mostly able to play it all off so far, relieving any...urges during quiet trips to the bathroom, or just...ignoring them.
In his sleep, however, there's no way for him to hide; and right now, in his moment, instinct has him by the horns, mind running wild with desire over the woman sharing a bed with him. Alfred is panting, skin shimmering with sweat as his hips rock in a desperate rhythm against the slithering heat of his tail. He has no idea he has an audience, of course...and so it's without inhibition that he writhes on the bed, making a sound that sounds suspiciously like a growl before muttering again in a hoarse, breathy moan.
"Mmh...S-Seras...h-harder...."
His dreams are...colorful, to be certain, and for the moment, it seems as though he might be a ways from finding....relief, on his own. He keens high in his throat, shuddering for all he feels like he's on fire.
The repressed young man sounds...sort of animal, this way. Wild.
Seras kicks her feet and rolls onto her stomach, facing away from him, so that she may bury her face in her pillow and stifle the quietest scream she can manage into the satin. She's stuck somewhere between surprise, amusement and complete and utter embarrassment-- not of him, but for herself --for being so completely unprepared for something like this to happen right in front of her. He's! Her boyfriend! She should know how to handle something like this, shouldn't she? She's flattered, really, that some impression of her has wandered into his dreams and, ah... pleases him so, but, wow-- she can't for the life of her figure out what she's supposed to do from here.
Should she leave and let him finish? Does she wait here and try to go back to sleep? Should she save his dignity and pretend she never saw a thing? ...should she... help, somehow? Is that one of her responsibilities as a girlfriend? She's never been someone's girlfriend before, she has no idea!
Her face is on fire and her heart is beating a mile a minute, his sounds alone already managing to do her in without even having to watch him in all of his writhing and ecstasy. When she was a pooka, the answer would have seemed more obvious; she would have been able to face this with a bit more composure, more preparedness, allowing her animal instincts to take over along with his much more quickly. But now, she's back to her old self, barely altered by her semi-wolfish nature, back to the same tittering, silly, under-experienced girl she was before. It looks like all her years with the Captain living in her head barely made a dent in that near-virginal mindset of hers.
She peeks out from the pillow towards him, watching his expression-- and not his body, dear God, try not to look --and finding herself wondering what he would want her to do. He is moaning her name, after all. She's clearly on his mind, sure, but does that mean he would want to wake up to her... helping him?
"...Please...p-please....!" An ironic answer to a question that he didn't realize he was asked.
There's desperation in his tone, however far away it is - his voice is tight, shaking with need...and that expression Seras is watching so closely now is strained, pinched, fangs occasionally dragging and biting into his lower lip.
Were Alfred awake, he would probably be embarrassed by his lack of composure...but as it stands, the rolling and thrusting of his hips is only getting more fervent, the red and black coils of his tail pressing and rubbing harder against his raging hard-on. It feels good, sure, but it isn't enough, it fails to scratch the unbearable itch - and even in his dream, he isn't quite sure why.
He let's out another whimper, higher and louder still, all the worrying at his lip sending a warm trickle of blood down the corner of his mouth.
Alfred is enjoying his dream - but it doesn't seem quite like said dream will cut it, in the end. He needs something solid.
Seras restrains herself from going after that little streak of blood– it’s tempting to lean in for a taste, but the sensation might wake him, and she’s not quite ready for that to happen just yet.
To save them both the embarrassment of a face-to-face encounter upon his waking, Seras decides she’s going to be a little… creative, about the solution to his release relief. Resuming the position they’d fallen asleep in, she closes the distance between them by settling back into the curve of his body and taking her place as the little spoon once more. This sleeping position had always come with a warning; bodies did what bodies were going to do. …This was a little beyond anything she’d come to experience with him yet, but getting pokes and prods here and there were just par for the course. This was just an…advanced version of that! That’s all–
Slipping a hand between their bodies, Seras presses her palm flat against Alfred’s lower belly, hesitating for a beat and giving herself one last chance to abandon ship. She steels herself, closing her eyes and swallowing her nerves before dipping beneath the waistband of his undergarments. She’s immediately greeted by a firm heat twitching pleadingly against her fingers, begging her for attention that his tail simply is unable to provide. A gasp tightens her chest for a split second with the reminder of what she’s up against-- she’d taken his inseam measurements before and been sharing a bed with him for a couple of months now-- one would think that of all things she should remember this. And yet he still manages to take her by surprise. Seras presses onward to tame the beast, pushing her hips back against his, curling her fingers around him before she–... pauses. Hesitates. Oh god, she’s really doing it, she’s touching him. She’s touching him and it feels much bigger in her hand than it looked– and it already looked pretty big!
What’s she supposed to do with all this?
Sorry, Alfred. Having someone gripping but not stroking is probably just about as unsatisfying as his tail grinding, but she needs just a moment to process what exactly she’s gotten herself into.
They are naked, sweating, a tangle of flesh and scale and fur. In the dream, they have been at it for hours, a marathon of intimacy, making up for lost time. She buries the strap-on into him and he moans, he growls, he lets it all go; years of repression, of hiding, of pretending this part of him is something that doesn't matter.
She accepts it. And he wants to give her the night of her life, in return. He NEEDS to. His tail finds its way between her legs, pressing in while she presses into him. It's hard to tell who is fucking who. They kiss, and he can feel electricity where their lips meet.
Alfred isn't sure why, but he feels...powerful, this way.
----
There is what is probably a tense moment for Seras when she wraps her hand around him - the sound he makes is somewhere between a gasp and a growl, his member twitching in her grasp. Her hesitance is...understandable, given the circumstances and his More Than Average Size - but the way his tail has moved out of the way to allow her has him desperate for friction, ragged, whining sounds escaping his plush, bloodied lips.
After a moment of laying there shuddering, he hisses softly...then starts to rock his hips into her grip, his body automatically seeking stimulation. For the moment, he remains asleep, lost in whatever dream he is having, but...how long can that really last? He certainly sounds like he might be stirring a little, the way his breathing is changing against the nape of Seras's neck. The tail that had been coiled between his legs writhes, snakelike between his calves before pushing further forward to wrap loosely around his partner's ankle, and slowly, slowly moving upward.
If Seras had any idea what was actually going on in that pretty little head of his, she might actually lose her mind. She's had a few intimate dreams but... save for the absolute debauchery present in the Captain's memory, she couldn't manifest even a single mental image of something that lurid if her life depended on it! She can't even begin to fathom what sort of scenario his subconscious has concocted, but it's really doing it for him, isn't it? Not that she's complaining, considering the interesting effect it seems to be having on him outside of the dream. She's never heard him like this before and has a feeling she may think of nothing but these sounds for the coming days.
It doesn't take long before he's begun to move for her, rutting into her hand, pushing into her lower back with a desperate insistence, shaking her from her anxious trance. At least this seemed to be the right move for him, physically... he does seem to be getting more out of this than the fruitless grinding of his tail. She was so thrown by sizing him up that she doesn't even notice that she's been left alone to tend to his aching arousal until that tail of his has begun to snake its way up her leg, hot and curious just like its owner. Despite the heat emanating from the slithering limb, the sensation itself manages to send a chill up her spine, prickling her flesh and leaving her shuddering against her lustfully slumbering lover.
This was supposed to be a simple act of service (of a sort) helping him by facilitating a more pleasurable experience than he could achieve in his sleep. The decision to relieve him was made so quickly that she hadn't exactly stopped to think what it would do to her. It's hard to ignore her own tensions, but she knows she must stay strong.
Instead, Seras opts to stay on course with her original plan; she's here to relieve him of his aches, not release herself from her own. Reinforcing her grasp on his angrily pulsing member, she picks up on the eager rhythm of his hips and starts to work opposite, stroking down along the length of his shaft as his thrusts arc upward again and again. It takes a few moments for her to notice the change in her own breathing, realizing belatedly that she too has begun to whimper and gasp and pant, her own hips rocking back against him with the motion of her wrist. Heavy, hot and daunting as he is in her hand, she can't help but imagine what it must feel like inside of her... No-- she can't think like that-- she's thinking too far ahead. Besides, having him wake up to an assisted wanking is going to be jarring enough for him, taking it any further than that would probably be a little much to handle. For both of them.
The thought is tempting though, to scoot up just high enough to get him between her thighs...
It's impossible not to notice now - he is definitely stirring out of sleep, slowly but surely, his soft groans turning into louder, lewder moans. Maybe it's the sensation of thrusting into her hand, or maybe it's the sounds she's started to make, the way she's moving in time with him.
Maybe it's something Else that he doesn't quite understand yet.
Whatever the case may be, he groans one last loud, desperate groan before his movements briefly cease, his gasps of lust giving way to a gasp of...surprise. His tail stills, dangerously close to sensitive territory between her legs but not QUITE there.
"A-ah - ah - S-Seras-?"
He twitches guiltily in her grasp, hips giving an uncontrollable little rock that makes him suck a breath over his fangs. His eyes are wide, stunned, and...softly, softly glowing. His tone isn't frightened, it's...different. It's something new.
Alfred swallows hard.
"Mein gott, I - wh-what's - what's going on-?"
It would be more distressing to him, perhaps, if it weren't taking every ounce of self-control he has not to thrust desperately into her grip...and more than that, not to react to a scent he's catching off of her that he must, MUST be imagining.
It's like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar... But a thousand times worse.
Why did she think he would stay asleep the whole time? Why did she think this was a good idea? Why does he sound like that??? Is she in trouble?
"Ah-- uhm--" Shit, shit, shit. "I-I'm sorry!"
Seras swallows a whine, taking her hand from him and moving to roll over and away to sit up on her knees and bend over them in an apologetic (and decidedly dramatic) bow.
"I-I'm sorry, I-- I thought--" she peeks up through her bangs, trying to gauge his expression, but finding herself stuck on the view from here -- he's so cute drowsy, dazed and on display like that.
No, no...she shouldn't. She didn't ask! Seras whimpers and shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut and lowering her head once more. Oh, no... Why did it look like his eyes were...glowing? Is he that upset? Or is she just seeing things?
She folds her arms in front of her on the bed, bottom in the air, tail wagging in the slow, nervous way it does when a dog is unsure about appeasing their master. "Y-you just sounded like you could-- could use the help? A-and you said my name and everything, so-- so I thought you wanted my help--"
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-06-12 06:11 am (UTC)"Why-- Why would you--" she whimpers softly, barely audible, tears welling in her eyes. "Y-you're not like them--" she never thought he would ever try to cross that line, that he would ever try to take something from her like so many others had. Countless times before others had tried for her mind, her body, her spirit ... This time, her free will?
Especially when she was already willing to stay?
He's there right now, but how long will this part of him stay? Surely this isn't the person he is now... She'd heard monsters were capable of changing what they were, but... how long would it be like this? Would he turn into one of those creatures too? Like the one who attacked her that night at the carnival? Certainly, he couldn't have been as horrible as the woman who hypnotized her and forced out her memories-- But could she be certain that wouldn't happen to him, beyond his intention or control? Would it only get worse from here?
--not -myself. I feel so strange-- That has to be true, Alfred-- Alfred would never do something like this to hurt her, would he?
She feels him run a hand through her hair, but she can't stop herself from flinching away from his touch, like she's expecting something... worse to happen to her. Even hearing him here now in this moment of lucidity, a part of her waits for the other shoe to drop, for this situation to escalate once again. She keeps her head lowered, shoulders up, as if bracing for impact.
"Is that what you want me to do?" She's getting mixed signals, after all. Wanting her to stay bad enough to hypnotize her, but refusing to let her explain and sending her away to her Master? She can't keep up. Finally, the tears spill over as she speaks, streaking hot down her cheeks. She's managed to make it this far with a brave face, without allowing herself to break, but she feels she somehow knows and absolutely dreads the answer to this question.
"I will go, if that's what you want. But please, understand. I was never trying to leave."
no subject
Date: 2022-06-12 08:53 am (UTC)The way she looks at him, so full of distrust, disappointment - it visibly breaks Alfred, a faint whimper sounding in the back of his throat. Her flinch away from his hand makes him flinch in turn, drawing the fingers back and hovering them in midair as though she has burned him.
Maybe she has, in a way.
You're not like them, she had said. But Alfred doesn't know who 'them' is. He doesn't know the whole of what happened to her at the Carnival, spared the ugliest details for his sanity. He doesn't know what she's been through before that, either, blind to the terrors that spring to her mind.
No, the only person he can think of is the Count.
And standing here, he feels he is becoming just like him.
"What I want," he finally manages, his voice breaking and soft as he folds in upon himself, "is for you to be safe, Seras. And right now, that's...not here. That's not with me."
He takes a little step back, wrapping his arms around himself like a bat might do with their wings. There is fondness, there, in his eyes. There is still warmth, but there is grief there, too. Mourning another thing he's screwed up, because he's always better in theory than in practice.
He desperately wants to wipe away those tears. But he can't. He can't be trusted.
"I know you weren't. I know. But I've - hurt you enough. You - you should - you...should...I can...I can still...."
Distance starts to cloud his eyes again, his whole body trembling as his gaze wanders, goes fuzzy.
"...I can...still hear him...."
no subject
Date: 2022-06-13 02:07 am (UTC)It's only partially a lie, because she would be devastated if he took the same path as those others, if he took advantage of her the way they had, but--
"--I'm afraid of what you'll do to yourself."
Seras knows well what self-loathing can do to a person, what the endless cycle of acceptance and connection and failure and loss and blame leads to and what kind of damage it causes. Hell, she's experiencing it right now alongside him, like those other terrible things they'd found out they had in common not all that long ago. It's so much more devastating to witness from the outside, to see it reflected in someone she cared so much for, with no way to really help. The most devastating part of it all was knowing being there was all she could offer him in the first place, and now... she was taking that away from him, too.
Everything was being taken from both of them, through no fault of their own and circumstance alone. Fate rarely played in Seras' favor, time had run out, and luck had never been on her side... another unfortunate reality to share with Alfred.
Again, she attempts to follow his line of sight, but this time finds that it leads to nothing. He's getting lost again. Whatever it is that is doing this to him is coming back--
"Alfred-- there's nothing there, it's just-- it's just us." she reaches for him once more, settling her paws over his hands, trying to catch his wandering gaze with her own, to try to ground him before he floats away again. "Who? Who do you hear?"
< mignonette > june 7-10
Date: 2022-06-14 12:30 am (UTC)< mignonette >: i'm really sorry, i didn't mean to put you on the spot like that
< mignonette >: i was just excited to see you around :)
---08/06/XXXX 02:35:42---
< mignonette >: im looking forward to the party, please please pleeeaase let me know if I can do anything to help! :)
---09/06/XXXX 01:36:37---
< mignonette >: im sorry i keep bothering you.
< mignonette >: im just worried about you is all
< mignonette >: but i understand
---10/06/XXXX 00:17:56---
< mignonette >: i miss you
no subject
Date: 2022-06-14 12:32 am (UTC)At Seras's touch, Alfred comes back to himself for a split second, long enough to give her a haunting, terrified, desperate look; a man with three fingers left on the edge of a cliff, realizing he can't hold on one moment longer.
"I can't - Seras, I don't want to- I can't, I c-can...can....."
And just like that, he loses his grip, expression going vacant, hollow, unfocused as he slumps down like a ragdoll to his knees, all fight gone out of him.
"...Can hear...the Count. He's still singing to me. It's...it's beautiful, isn't it…?"
His words dissolve into mumbles.
Alfred is broken.
< CarpeNoctem > June 10th
Date: 2022-06-14 01:09 am (UTC)Everything is fine.
Look after your Master.
Please don't worry about me.
< mignonette >
Date: 2022-06-14 01:50 am (UTC)He responded!! At first, she's positively elated. Maybe he's calmed down a little! She wiggles in her chair with glee, waiting on the message to load. By the time it finally has, she can feel her heart sinking into her stomach. It was the same thing, the same.. hollow assurances as before. He's still typing in that unnerving, precise way as he had during the announcement. Everything is most certainly not fine, at all.
Seras stares at the message for a long time, blinking back burning tears, swiping away the ones she fails to contain. He really is gone, isn't he? And-- hell, even if he isn't completely, he still doesn't... want her near. That much she understands, but. ...she's going to worry, either way. Especially once she's taken her fourth or fifth run at a staring contest with it, as if she was hoping that the words would change or mean something else, and realizes... there's something else wrong with the message.
The beginning of each sentence... each letter spells out H - E - L - P.
That... had to be coincidence. Right? It had to be.
Still, she can't stop herself. She's already typing back to him, hurried, sitting on the edge of her seat and wondering how quickly she could get dressed and get out of here unnoticed.]
can i come to you? alfred pelase can i com esee you? please
< CarpeNoctem >
Date: 2022-06-15 05:51 am (UTC)i will see yOU in jusT a couple OF days, seras.
COme if you waNT to, but i will be Rather absOrbed in pLanning.
<5ofDiamonds> Backdated to the 13th
Date: 2022-06-19 08:36 pm (UTC)< ausername >
Date: 2022-06-21 01:49 am (UTC)ld be very happy to share!
I tru st you with them. You have seeemed a very intelllligent and reas
onable man in our conversations!
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 02:55 pm (UTC)Does it suit you in two days' time?
< CarpeNoctem >
Date: 2022-06-23 09:04 pm (UTC)Either way, thank you for letting me know.
[The rest of the reply goes unsaid, but implied - he knows he still isn't his normal self right now. The last thing he wants to do is to scare someone new away.]
< ausername >
Date: 2022-06-23 09:05 pm (UTC)The 15th? Yes, I think I cann make that work!
<5ofDiamonds>
Date: 2022-06-23 11:16 pm (UTC)Look, all I'm saying is, if you want to come say hello, you're totally welcome to. But if you'd rather stay home because of everything else you've got going on, I understand, and I won't be upset, either. Do whatever makes you the most comfortable. As usual.
action
Date: 2022-06-24 08:05 pm (UTC)He is wearing his usual full-length purple robes and still carrying his sword though his temporary merperson shape comes with razor-sharp claws he can extend. In his robes covering him from neck to toe, most of his changes are hidden, though one can spy gills behind his ears and on the sides of his throat, as well as a pair of delicate little fins behind his ears. His hands are webbed and his skin covered in a fine smattering of fish scales that are blue-brown, but shimmer purple when the light hits them. When he opens his mouth, he also shows off impressively sharp eel teeth.
Yet he doesn't look very monstrous as he knocks on the door to the castle, looking uncharacteristically eager and ready to blurt out a greeting of, ]
This building is fascinating! The defensive capabilities must be impressive!
[1/2] July 8th | Castle | [[cw: SMUT, consensual somnophilia, more added when necessary]]
Date: 2022-07-10 05:37 am (UTC)Of course, she doesn't even realize that this romantic gondola ride with Alfred-- with the stereotypical man in a striped shirt, singing unintelligibly with a French accent and everything --even is a dream until something begins to rock the boat. She doesn't think anything of it at first, leaning nestled back against her beloved, giggling as he dangles a cluster of grapes above her head. She tries to sit up, snapping at the bunch with a playful growl, but he teases her, pulling them just out of her reach.
"You're awful! C'mon--" she laughs, wiggling against him. He dangles, she snaps, and again the grapes are yanked from her reach. He cries out, startled, and she realizes that time wasn't on purpose.
The rocking starts to become violent, and they're both nearly tipped from the vessel. Her arm shoots out to one side to steady them, the other gripping onto his leg to keep him secured beneath her. Looking over her shoulder, some giant beast rises from the water, generating waves that threaten-- no, promise --to send them tumbling into the water, and Seras is quick to determine that her options are to dive and escape the worst of it, or get swept away with the tide. Alfred gasps, cries her name. A tidal wave rises above them, stories high. It's going to pull them under whether she's ready or not. She turns to toss her arms around him, his wings envelope them both-- do either of them know how to swim? It doesn't matter.
She has to hold on, for both of their sakes.
2/2
Date: 2022-07-10 05:40 am (UTC)Why does it still feel like she's on that gondola? Something is still moving--
Seras glances to Alfred's side of the bed, peeking out from under her arm. His normally peaceful expression is... different, this afternoon; his brows are knit, lips parted, breathing heavy in his sleep. He groans, mumbles something she can't quite understand, and then something that sounds a bit like... her name? It takes a moment for her barely conscious brain to catch up, but it seems he's the reason for that rocking sensation.
She sits up on her elbows to get a better look at him, noting how they've both managed to kick their blankets down to the foot of the bed-- it does get rather warm when you sleep with a demon --but realizing quickly that she kind of wishes they hadn't. This feels like something she shouldn't witness-- Alfred is... well, sleep-walking, in a sense. His tail has snaked up and around his thigh, between his legs and over his undergarments, and seems to be quite insistently working at providing some... stimulation during his slumber. Seras stares, near frozen despite the warmth emanating from him, watching his hips roll and grind into the touch of his tail...
Suddenly, it clicks what exactly she's witnessing, and it shakes her from the paralysis of her curiosity. She gasps and falls onto her back again, covering her face with her hands. Is he dreaming about her?! He'd said her name!
Well, at least his dream seems to be heading towards a happy ending...
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 07:39 am (UTC)This time, on the other hand, he's gone from zero to a hundred percent immediately, and...there are facets of the shift that have been more...apparent, when taken all at once. The already hot blooded young man had been mostly able to play it all off so far, relieving any...urges during quiet trips to the bathroom, or just...ignoring them.
In his sleep, however, there's no way for him to hide; and right now, in his moment, instinct has him by the horns, mind running wild with desire over the woman sharing a bed with him. Alfred is panting, skin shimmering with sweat as his hips rock in a desperate rhythm against the slithering heat of his tail. He has no idea he has an audience, of course...and so it's without inhibition that he writhes on the bed, making a sound that sounds suspiciously like a growl before muttering again in a hoarse, breathy moan.
"Mmh...S-Seras...h-harder...."
His dreams are...colorful, to be certain, and for the moment, it seems as though he might be a ways from finding....relief, on his own. He keens high in his throat, shuddering for all he feels like he's on fire.
The repressed young man sounds...sort of animal, this way. Wild.
Needy.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 08:23 am (UTC)Seras kicks her feet and rolls onto her stomach, facing away from him, so that she may bury her face in her pillow and stifle the quietest scream she can manage into the satin. She's stuck somewhere between surprise, amusement and complete and utter embarrassment-- not of him, but for herself --for being so completely unprepared for something like this to happen right in front of her. He's! Her boyfriend! She should know how to handle something like this, shouldn't she? She's flattered, really, that some impression of her has wandered into his dreams and, ah... pleases him so, but, wow-- she can't for the life of her figure out what she's supposed to do from here.
Should she leave and let him finish? Does she wait here and try to go back to sleep? Should she save his dignity and pretend she never saw a thing? ...should she... help, somehow? Is that one of her responsibilities as a girlfriend? She's never been someone's girlfriend before, she has no idea!
Her face is on fire and her heart is beating a mile a minute, his sounds alone already managing to do her in without even having to watch him in all of his writhing and ecstasy. When she was a pooka, the answer would have seemed more obvious; she would have been able to face this with a bit more composure, more preparedness, allowing her animal instincts to take over along with his much more quickly. But now, she's back to her old self, barely altered by her semi-wolfish nature, back to the same tittering, silly, under-experienced girl she was before. It looks like all her years with the Captain living in her head barely made a dent in that near-virginal mindset of hers.
She peeks out from the pillow towards him, watching his expression-- and not his body, dear God, try not to look --and finding herself wondering what he would want her to do. He is moaning her name, after all. She's clearly on his mind, sure, but does that mean he would want to wake up to her... helping him?
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 09:09 am (UTC)"...Please...p-please....!" An ironic answer to a question that he didn't realize he was asked.
There's desperation in his tone, however far away it is - his voice is tight, shaking with need...and that expression Seras is watching so closely now is strained, pinched, fangs occasionally dragging and biting into his lower lip.
Were Alfred awake, he would probably be embarrassed by his lack of composure...but as it stands, the rolling and thrusting of his hips is only getting more fervent, the red and black coils of his tail pressing and rubbing harder against his raging hard-on. It feels good, sure, but it isn't enough, it fails to scratch the unbearable itch - and even in his dream, he isn't quite sure why.
He let's out another whimper, higher and louder still, all the worrying at his lip sending a warm trickle of blood down the corner of his mouth.
Alfred is enjoying his dream - but it doesn't seem quite like said dream will cut it, in the end. He needs something solid.
Or someone.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 09:41 pm (UTC)To save them both the embarrassment of a face-to-face encounter upon his waking, Seras decides she’s going to be a little… creative, about the solution to his
releaserelief. Resuming the position they’d fallen asleep in, she closes the distance between them by settling back into the curve of his body and taking her place as the little spoon once more. This sleeping position had always come with a warning; bodies did what bodies were going to do. …This was a little beyond anything she’d come to experience with him yet, but getting pokes and prods here and there were just par for the course. This was just an…advanced version of that! That’s all–Slipping a hand between their bodies, Seras presses her palm flat against Alfred’s lower belly, hesitating for a beat and giving herself one last chance to abandon ship. She steels herself, closing her eyes and swallowing her nerves before dipping beneath the waistband of his undergarments. She’s immediately greeted by a firm heat twitching pleadingly against her fingers, begging her for attention that his tail simply is unable to provide. A gasp tightens her chest for a split second with the reminder of what she’s up against-- she’d taken his inseam measurements before and been sharing a bed with him for a couple of months now-- one would think that of all things she should remember this. And yet he still manages to take her by surprise. Seras presses onward to tame the beast, pushing her hips back against his, curling her fingers around him before she–... pauses. Hesitates. Oh god, she’s really doing it, she’s touching him. She’s touching him and it feels much bigger in her hand than it looked– and it already looked pretty big!
What’s she supposed to do with all this?
Sorry, Alfred. Having someone gripping but not stroking is probably just about as unsatisfying as his tail grinding, but she needs just a moment to process what exactly she’s gotten herself into.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-11 12:30 am (UTC)She accepts it. And he wants to give her the night of her life, in return. He NEEDS to. His tail finds its way between her legs, pressing in while she presses into him. It's hard to tell who is fucking who. They kiss, and he can feel electricity where their lips meet.
Alfred isn't sure why, but he feels...powerful, this way.
----
There is what is probably a tense moment for Seras when she wraps her hand around him - the sound he makes is somewhere between a gasp and a growl, his member twitching in her grasp. Her hesitance is...understandable, given the circumstances and his More Than Average Size - but the way his tail has moved out of the way to allow her has him desperate for friction, ragged, whining sounds escaping his plush, bloodied lips.
After a moment of laying there shuddering, he hisses softly...then starts to rock his hips into her grip, his body automatically seeking stimulation. For the moment, he remains asleep, lost in whatever dream he is having, but...how long can that really last? He certainly sounds like he might be stirring a little, the way his breathing is changing against the nape of Seras's neck. The tail that had been coiled between his legs writhes, snakelike between his calves before pushing further forward to wrap loosely around his partner's ankle, and slowly, slowly moving upward.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-11 08:59 pm (UTC)It doesn't take long before he's begun to move for her, rutting into her hand, pushing into her lower back with a desperate insistence, shaking her from her anxious trance. At least this seemed to be the right move for him, physically... he does seem to be getting more out of this than the fruitless grinding of his tail. She was so thrown by sizing him up that she doesn't even notice that she's been left alone to tend to his aching arousal until that tail of his has begun to snake its way up her leg, hot and curious
just like its owner.Despite the heat emanating from the slithering limb, the sensation itself manages to send a chill up her spine, prickling her flesh and leaving her shuddering against her lustfully slumbering lover.This was supposed to be a simple act of service (of a sort) helping him by facilitating a more pleasurable experience than he could achieve in his sleep. The decision to relieve him was made so quickly that she hadn't exactly stopped to think what it would do to her. It's hard to ignore her own tensions, but she knows she must stay strong.
Instead, Seras opts to stay on course with her original plan; she's here to relieve him of his aches, not release herself from her own. Reinforcing her grasp on his angrily pulsing member, she picks up on the eager rhythm of his hips and starts to work opposite, stroking down along the length of his shaft as his thrusts arc upward again and again. It takes a few moments for her to notice the change in her own breathing, realizing belatedly that she too has begun to whimper and gasp and pant, her own hips rocking back against him with the motion of her wrist. Heavy, hot and daunting as he is in her hand, she can't help but imagine what it must feel like inside of her... No-- she can't think like that-- she's thinking too far ahead. Besides, having him wake up to an assisted wanking is going to be jarring enough for him, taking it any further than that would probably be a little much to handle. For both of them.
The thought is tempting though, to scoot up just high enough to get him between her thighs...
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 03:32 am (UTC)Maybe it's something Else that he doesn't quite understand yet.
Whatever the case may be, he groans one last loud, desperate groan before his movements briefly cease, his gasps of lust giving way to a gasp of...surprise. His tail stills, dangerously close to sensitive territory between her legs but not QUITE there.
"A-ah - ah - S-Seras-?"
He twitches guiltily in her grasp, hips giving an uncontrollable little rock that makes him suck a breath over his fangs. His eyes are wide, stunned, and...softly, softly glowing. His tone isn't frightened, it's...different. It's something new.
Alfred swallows hard.
"Mein gott, I - wh-what's - what's going on-?"
It would be more distressing to him, perhaps, if it weren't taking every ounce of self-control he has not to thrust desperately into her grip...and more than that, not to react to a scent he's catching off of her that he must, MUST be imagining.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 05:19 am (UTC)Why did she think he would stay asleep the whole time? Why did she think this was a good idea? Why does he sound like that??? Is she in trouble?
"Ah-- uhm--" Shit, shit, shit. "I-I'm sorry!"
Seras swallows a whine, taking her hand from him and moving to roll over and away to sit up on her knees and bend over them in an apologetic (and decidedly dramatic) bow.
"I-I'm sorry, I-- I thought--" she peeks up through her bangs, trying to gauge his expression, but finding herself stuck on the view from here -- he's so cute drowsy, dazed and on display like that.
No, no...she shouldn't. She didn't ask! Seras whimpers and shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut and lowering her head once more. Oh, no... Why did it look like his eyes were...glowing? Is he that upset? Or is she just seeing things?
She folds her arms in front of her on the bed, bottom in the air, tail wagging in the slow, nervous way it does when a dog is unsure about appeasing their master. "Y-you just sounded like you could-- could use the help? A-and you said my name and everything, so-- so I thought you wanted my help--"