A Meeting [Brutis]

[Capricorn♑]

"You know the drill. Stay still, don't panic. You know I'm not going to kill one of my few supplies of blood."

The servant nodded, her twisted hind leg laid on the pillow like the rest of her body. She had rolled over to mostly expose her throat's flesh to the sergeant and her master. Nocte paced, and her brother, an earth wolf, laid next to the entrance to the room. That old alpha had been pretty creative, putting oak wood, rectangular boxes on stone circle things to allow wolves to have privacy. That alpha had been pretty creative- maybe it was a goddess thing. Nocte had heard the gods had stuff like this castle, but she wasn't a demigod, and she hadn't ever been dead, do she couldn't tell.

As the twun sank her teeth into her orange servant's neck, she remembered how long it took to build this. Apparently, it had started being built shortly before she joined the pack, and took tons of wolves of all elements to build- especially earth. Some parts of this needed repair, and luckily the stoneworkers were good at that. The twun took her fangs from her servant's neck, retracting them, and allowing the young, slightly deformed fae to rest back. Her brother was not worried about her- both had rotated who gave blood for a year, and knew that Nocte was perfectly in control with them, as long as they stayed out of her way. But then again, it was good to stay out of a turned twun's way no matter what- the sergeant, although she could control herself, still had her violent nature to deal with.

"Mi'lady, I believe perhaps a soul will come wandering up here today?" One of the servants, the male, asked. Nocte simply cocked her head. His polite manner of speaking had always confused her, at least slightly. What was he saying?

[BRUTIS]

Brutis wasn't one to pry in other wolves' affairs, nor did he interfere. Today, though, he was wandering the castle, checking up on his pack-mates. Of course, he usually only received glares and stares from the wolves he disturbed. With a sigh, he realized this wasn't increasing his popularity by any means as he had hoped. Still, he figured he'd finish his round, since there was only one place left for him to visit: the one of Nocte, the twun.

As a general rule, he had no problems with twuns, as long as they didn't try to attack him. His blood was tempting to some of them, which caused a few...problems. He took a deep breath, forcing himself not to shudder, then used his front-right paw to knock on the wood that covered the entrance to the den, then, afterward, opened the door so it was slightly ajar. He wasn't the type to speak first, so he didn't. He just waited for Nocte to notice him. He wouldn't go in unless she invited him. After all, what kind of beta just barges into a fae's den without permission? The idea was repulsive to Brutis.

[Capricorn♑]

Nocte licked the last of the blood from her fur around her mouth, and heard the door open. The fire servant went next to her brother, and Nocte nudged the door open, hastily realizing she still had a few drops of blood on her maw. The wolf who had come to the door was Brutis, the beta. He would have been nothing but a kid back when Nocte was born, but that was unimportant. With an uninterested look, Nocte laid down on the stone floor of her room.

"So, Brutis," Nocte started, "Come to be a a little jerk, or actually hold an intelligent conversation? If it's the former, please remove your little pup ass from this room, and if it's the latter, please come in and don't you even think about becoming a little jerk. I've met far too many of those in my time." The blood was licked from Nocte's maw, albeit awkwardly- although the twun would never admit it, she was slightly embarrassed about almost being caught feeding by anybody but her servants.

[BRUTIS]

Brutis cocked his head slightly.

"Since when have I just walked around, being a jerk?" he wondered. After all, he wasn't the type to just antagonize other wolves. Maybe he did that unintentionally as a pup, but he certainly hadn't done that since then. He noted that she still had blood on her maw, but she licked it off when she had finished talking. So, she was frustrated at the timing of his arrival, was she? He kept his face impassive as he spoke.

"And what if it's neither? What if I just want to ask you how you are doing?" He may have looked and sounded perfectly calm as he asked this, but he was actually very scared of angering Nocte with this question.

[Capricorn♑]

"Probably never, but you are pretty damn obnoxious sometimes." Nocte said, glancing over to another corner to see the two servants in a corner. The twun moved to be in a small dip filled with moss and grasses, kept in place with a web of sticks. She began licking her fur on her side, smoothing it down, just taking up time if nothing else. Nocte had always had sleek- and in her opinion- beautiful black fur. It was from her born element, the element of assassin which had disappeared a year ago. She realized that around her claws, metal had formed, making them razor sharp. They were like the product of her shadow claws spell she had used so often so long ago. 

"Well then, ask how I'm doing! No need to beat around the bush, say what you want directly- unless that was only common courtesy from back when I was an elemental wolf." Nocte said confidently, returning to licking her fur, this time her chest, as a means of wasting time. She enjoyed pulling the "I'm an immortal twun" card, and being able to use her age while still looking, acting, and feeling younger than most wolves in the pack.

[BRUTIS]

"Probably never, but you are pretty damn obnoxious sometimes."

"I realize that, Lady Nocte," Brutis said, again calmly, though the comment did upset him a bit. After all, she had no right to call anyone else obnoxious with how she acted pretty much all the time. But, oh, well. It's not like Brutis wasn't used to being insulted and besides, bringing anything like that up would only upset the twun and be a huge waste of time.

"Very well, then. How are you doing?" he asked.

[Capricorn♑]

Oh, how it amused Nocte when a wolf about two ranks higher than her called her 'lady'. She did not show this amusement, however, even thought he had been acknowledging that Nocte called him obnoxious. He was quite an interesting wolf- how did his blood taste, she wondered? She shook her head, realizing that she probably had been interrupted while feeding and had not drank enough blood. She stood up, and beckoned to the fire servant, who nervously walked over to Nocte.

There were a few rumors about what happened to Nocte's servants. Usually, servants were treated well and had much more freedom than slaves in other packs, but Nocte's servants were rarely seen outside of her room. When they were seen, they were usually pretty nervous. Some said that the twun tortured her servants, others said they were simply skittish- well, Brutis was about to find out.

"I apologize, Brutis, but it appears that I did not drink enough blood." This was humiliating, having to admit her reliance on blood, especially having to show her attraction to the red substance, how delightful it was to the twun. She sunk her fangs into the neck of the fire servant once again, sucking her blood even more, until Nocte's stomach was full enough with the substance, and she sent the servant away again, her fangs and maw coated in the blood.

[BRUTIS]

"I apologize, Brutis, but it appears that I did not drink enough blood."

Brutis watched in horror as she drank more blood from her servant. True, he'd always known that twuns needed to do that, but it was still terrifying to see in person. How he managed to keep himself looking unfazed during that and not cringe, cower, or simply run the heck away was beyond even him. It felt like she was drinking for hours, but, of course, Brutis knew that wasn't true. She probably feasted on the blood for a minute or less. Time had a funny way of slowing down whenever something so gruesome was happening, though.

He kept is expression calm as he managed out, "Did you drink your fill?" The question sounded casual, his expression as if he hadn't witnessed one of the most scary things he'd ever seen in his life (the first among the scary things was watching as Castor accidentally put herself in danger as a pup, of course), but he couldn't stop himself from shivering ever-so-slightly.

[Capricorn♑]

"Yes, Brutis, it does appear I did." Nocte replied, her voice soft, as she stood, gently stepping away from him. Her eyes shone with a sort of warm light, and when she spoke, there was a strange tone to it, one which was gentle yet also sounded as though Nocte was trying to be seductive. She didn't quite know what had possessed her to act this way- perhaps to show that she still wanted to keep a strong face about her, perhaps even try to show off to other wolves.

"Brutis, wouldn't it be simply lovely to have pups who lived longer than you? To have pups who would carry on your legacy long after you were gone?" Nocte cooed, her amber eyes displaying little emotion. "Pups of Twuns and elementals live longer than elementals, you know. We could have pups, if you so wish. A one time thing. I know I'd certainly love bearing your pups, and Castor would enjoy knowing you had at least pups to watch out for. You're protective of her, I know. Perhaps she'd enjoying knowing you had pups to be protective of."

[BRUTIS]

Okay, so Nocte drinking blood was one of the scariest things Brutis had ever seen...but this whole thing about talking about having his pups topped that easily. He blinked, reminding himself to remain calm. Yes, that's right. Calmness was key. If he ran out screaming now, he might offend Nocte, after all.

"Lady Nocte, while I..." What was the word he was looking for? "...appreciate your offer, I am afraid it would be unwise to make such a decision right now." He had never considered the possibility that any of the faes would like to mate with him, and to suddenly have a twun, who had called him obnoxious just a few minutes ago and whom he'd seen suck blood even more recently...well, you could say it was just a bit much for him. He still managed to keep his composure, barely, but it was hard to say anything that wouldn't insult the twun.

"Besides, I am sure you could find a more suitable mate than me quite easily, if you are desiring to make pups," he added as casually as he could manage. Yeah. Surely that wasn't insulting in any way. He kept his mouth shut after that, afraid he'd slip up and say something wrong if he continued talking.

[Capricorn♑]

Nocte listened to Brutis' response. This was amusing, but she kept a straight face quite easily, listening to his words, mocking a look of complete hurt and rejection as he finished. The servants glanced at each other in shock, and if it was possible, even appears to sink deeper into the wall, becoming smaller. Nocte turned around, pretending to wall away sadly, but fell on her back, laughing, kicking on the wall to allow herself to turn back over onto all fours, still laughing.

"I'm sorry, but your reaction to that was so damn funny. Now, I'd recommend leaving if you wish to escape the awkward atmosphere." Nocte recommended, clearly not apologetic at all. She walked over to her servants, and just because it would amuse her, she sunk her fangs into the female servant once again, drinking a moderate amount of blood before the servant passed out. At that point, her brother stared on in horror, and a greatly amused Nocte glanced back at Brutis once more, a smirk coming upon her bloodied maw.

((I'd recommend that this be the end of thread after one more post.))

[BRUTIS]

As Nocte looked hurt and started to walk away sadly, Brutis very nearly shouted, "I'M SORRY, OKAY?! But I don't like you!!!", but he managed to keep those thoughts to himself. After all, that would only make things worse. But when Nocte suddenly fell on her back, laughing, and kicking the wall to turn back over onto all fours, Brutis couldn't help but be incredibly embarrassed. His tail lowered as did his ears before he could control those motions. He forced them back to normal, only for Nocte to talk about how she'd recommend leaving if he wished to escape the awkward atmosphere, then sink her fangs in the female servant, drinking until she (the servant, not Nocte) passed out. Brutis could barely keep his eyes from widening in horror at the sight.

"Yes. I think I will leave you to tend to your servants now," he said as casually as he could manage as he backed away. "Thanks for...ummm..." And with that, he ran out of things to say and just ran away from the scene.