a vampire, or a victim? it depends on who's around.

[masterbaiting]

[A continuation of this. In the evening, Ciel and Alois need to talk. This post is here because we just put another log up like two days ago, but it might be a bit too tl;dr for actionspam. Just for tidiness!]

Ciel had kept his promise about not fainting again. That was a comfort in its own way, although Alois honestly would have preferred the boy's

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[littlest_lord]

Ever since he'd awaken on his bed late in the morn, he'd regretted ever stepping foot outside the door the day prior. Alois had made sure he'd known just how stupid of a decision it had been to leave in such hot weather and no amount of money was worth his well being and more gravely, his life. He remembered panicking upon waking in his bed, wondering just where exactly his clothes had gone (who had dressed him in his nightgown? which really was just a giant dress shirt) and in turn, the checks

[masterbaiting]

A fairy tale doesn't need to be wanted, for it to find you. Had Rapunzel's prince wished to be blinded? Ciel Phantomhive hadn't needed to ask to become a part of Alois' fairy tale. He'd need to seek its narration, though.

The bowl was passed over with a curve-eyed smile, and then he moved to settle at the edge of the bed himself. A nightshirt hadn't found its way over his head, yet; he still dressed in shorts and something sleeveless. His legs crisscrossed and he toys with his spoon. "Imagine being found in bed like this. With treats, at night." He means by their butlers. "Would you be admonished?"

The smile widened into a grin.

"Or would you get a story to help you settle and fall asleep? Because I can do that."

[littlest_lord]

Taking the bowl that was handed to him, he immediately peered inside, ears twitching with curiosity at the various scoops of flavours. He wasn't sure what they were but they seemed interesting enough. No harm in trying, of course.

The Trancy boy's comment made him laugh, the sound a light, brief thing as he held the spoon just above the white black speckled scoop. Would be be in trouble for having treats at night?

"I most certainly would. Sebastian wouldn't stand for it. I try to sneak treats, you know." A smirk as he dipped the spoon in finally, bringing it to his lips. "But he always eventually catches me and chides me. It's highly unfair."

Those plush pink lips parted as he slid the spoon inside, visible eye widening slightly at the foreign flavor and chill. "What is this? It's good."

The part about stories was ignored, at least for now.

[masterbaiting]

Endearing. He pictured Ciel creeping down a dimly lit hallway (but not dark), almost as pale as his nightgown and with crumbs upon his cheeks.

Sebastian wouldn't stand for it. He always eventually catches me.

'It's highly unfair.'

Icicles in his throat. His smile didn't break even a hairsbreadth.

"It's got--" A happy little head-toss. "Crushed cookie. The chocolate sort, since you were insistent. You like it? You do?" In his supposed delight, he rocked just a little, and then sank his spoon into his own dish.

--And promptly proceeded to neglect eating it as he spoke again.

"It's nearly the other way around, in my household." 'Household' may have carried a twinge of possessiveness. "Claude says I ought to eat a little more often. That I'll waste away and be devoured by air." (Air instead of Claude. Wouldn't that be highly unfair?)

[littlest_lord]

"Crushed cookie." He echoed, flicking his gaze toward the bowl again before stuffing another spoonful of the delicious, icy treat past his lips. He'd have to remember it for the future. "I do, quite a lot actually." He licked his spoon absentmindedly as he watched Alois begin to chatter on, curiously.

So, this boy didn't eat much, did he? Well, that wasn't entirely surprising. He was thin, but looked healthy enough, but perhaps he was a little too thin for his height. Ciel on the other hand enjoyed snacking, at least when it involved sweet things. After all, Sebastian's cooking...it was to die for. Here however, eating was...difficult. Especially since Ciel was somewhat picky of an eater when it came to food that wasn't dessert. There was also the fact he ruined half the food he'd tried to make here. Needless to say, he'd lost weight and a lot of it, which probably wasn't a good thing.

If Sebastian was here, he'd throw a fit.

"You should eat more, Alois." He said before taking another mouthful of ice cream. "Do you not have an

[masterbaiting]

"Mm~mn," Alois said simply, and finally took a bite of his own. There was a long, considering expression, and then he swallowed it, smiled, and licked his spoon. Maybe-- Maybe there was a flash of orange at his tongue. Who knows.

His spoon stabbed into his bowl again and he dug for another flavor. Vanilla with caramel and chocolate, he'd been recommended, and he'd taken it. "I get distracted," he answered at last. "I like tastes. But I can't help myself." His mind would wander during breakfast, race during lunch. Dance during dinner. Or, if he happened to throw a fit-- "Timber and Claude can make extravagant things - Timber is the house chef, that is - but it isn't enough to make me sit still."

Another bite. That was progress, at least.

"We shouldn't waste away, I guess, Ciel."

[littlest_lord]

But if their was a flash, Ciel wasn't paying attention. He was staring at his ice cream, debating which flavor to try next. Settling on one he dipped his spoon in and shoved it past his lips with a tiny shiver, relaxing back into the pillows, wiggling his bare toes absentmindedly.

At least the Trancy household seemed, so far, to have capable servants much unlike his own...

"We shouldn't." A curt, flat reply. The last thing Ciel wanted to do was starve to death, even though he was already quite skinny, far thinner than he had been before his arrival. He pressed his head farther back into one of the pillows, lips forming a moist little pout unintentionally.

"Anyway, I wish to speak with you about yesterday." Now it was Ciel's turn to poke at his food. "It's important that we do."

[masterbaiting]

At least Ciel was in agreement. Dying just then would be awful; Alois wouldn't starve to death, had come close and knew how to get around it even with a smaller body, but Ciel needed to stay alive, too. Can't torture a demon if it doesn't know its favored soul and body are being stolen away. Claude had tried to instill patience in his master (having what seemed to be an endless stretch of it himself), and Alois would need to put it to use, here.

Very good. Neither boy would die until demons were present to be prideful and to despair.

"Is it important?" Alois' voice came close to singsong. "How do you want to talk about it? There isn't much that went on."

[littlest_lord]

Oh but there was much to talk about. "It is." Ciel started, setting his spoon down in the glass bowl. "We've to talk about what you saw, because although I can barely remember a thing from last night, if you bathed me, you would've seen it." Or rather, more than just it. Alois would've seen the brand on his back and the seal on his eye. Everything.

There was a chill that ran down Ciel's spine, but this time it wasn't from the ice cream, it was from the effort it took to keep himself in check, to keep himself level. Steady. It hadn't been Alois' fault he'd passed out from heat exhaustion. If anything important had been exposed, it had been his own doing, and he accepted it.

The seal on his eye began to burn then, just a quick hot flash as he reached up with a hand, palm pressed over his eye patch. "I woke up this morning without my eye patch."

He shouldn't need to say anything more.

[masterbaiting]

Everything indeed. Alois had barely missed an inch, had seen cursed eye and scarred skin and he'd taken a moment to count ribs, too. Ciel's statement hung unanswered and Alois took another mouthful of ice cream. It wasn't what made his tongue tingle.

He smiled very sweetly, quiet and calm and somehow nearing overbearing.

"Mmmn, that makes sense. I took it off for you so that it wouldn't get wet."

The smile grew wider and he gave a short, breathless laugh-- "Does it hurt? I suppose sometimes it must." (Because his can, too.) "It's such a color. It goes so deep, Ciel."

[littlest_lord]

He let his fingertips slide off down and away from his eye patch as he continued to stare at the blond Earl, a little frown on his lips. It did go deep, almost blindingly so and it stung at times, burned as if vinegar had been tossed into his eye.

"It can burn, at times." He said finally, removing his gaze from Alois to focus on the ice cream again. It was starting to melt. "You'd know of the feeling, would you? Or am I wrong in assuming as much."

[masterbaiting]

Alois almost dropped his dish laughing. There it was, gold-orange again.

"It's probably not exactly the same. My eyes never hurt. They still mirror each other. You... Your eyes... There's a darker blue than mine." The laughter had receded enough for him to lean in close. "But the other one is tainted for sure, isn't it. Don't be so taut, Ciel, it's not something I'd talk to people about."

And he bared his tongue and went cross-eyed trying to look, and laughed again when he saw that being near Ciel's mark made his own more readily apparent. He sounded so delighted.

[littlest_lord]

The laugh was unexpected and it made him tense up considerably, fingers curling around the bowl, chilled and wet from condensation and when Alois leaned in close, Ciel leaned further back into the pillows, gaze narrowing. There it was on display, tattooed onto Alois' tongue in a brilliant gold, or at least, what would be if it were activated. No, his Claude wasn't about and as such, the seal wouldn't glow as bright, but it became obvious that the closer Alois drew, the more defined the mark on the boy's tongue became.

His own eye, in comparison, throbbed slightly with a dull irritation.

"Good." It was a relief, at least, that Alois wouldn't mention it to others. At least he was aware enough of that. Still, it made Ciel's gut twist with tension and unease. He wouldn't bring up the brand on his back. Best to let that go, at least for now.

"Then does your tongue hurt?" He questioned, turning back to his ice cream to take some onto the spoon once more. "When you call for him. Does it?"

[masterbaiting]

Smiles and smiles and smiles were all that came over Alois' face, and he ate more and wiped at his chin and licked his spoon, and he watched Ciel and everything inside of him ached. It got him calling. Claude. Claude. I want you. I'm really yearning. Claude. Houhe o taraluna, Ron de rotarel. Claude.

And it gave the answer--

"It hurts so badly I could cry." And he smiled and smiled. "My mouth hurts. Ice doesn't soothe it."

He didn't want to go in to taste. Sugar held a bitter edge and everything waned.

"I call for him often." A pause, and then he corrected himself: "Always."

[littlest_lord]

"You shouldn't." He said after a moment, more than half done the bowl of ice cream he'd been given. "If you keep calling you're putting yourself in unnecessary discomfort. Neither Sebastian or Claude are here and therefor can't reply. They don't even know we've called if we do."

It was strange, to say the very least, discussing such a thing with someone, let alone having that certain someone be a contractor like himself. Had that been why Alois had sought him out, or had it really been because of the Queen they were to meet and this was just a coincidence.

He'd think about that later.

"If they arrive here, we'll know, we'll feel it. Until then, calling them is useless."

[masterbaiting]

The strangeness was almost lost on Alois. He'd known, after all, that Ciel Phantomhive was contracted - he'd known from the very start, even before he'd heard the boy's name, that when he acquired this person, he'd be acquiring a contractor.

A thing happens, sometimes, when people speak to Alois Trancy. Well-- a number of things. Sometimes their words mist over his face like grey early mornings. But sometimes there's ringing; there are moments when phrases will ricochet, repeat like some sort of infuriating mantra.

Infuriating. He's usually very angry when that happens.

It happened then, when Ciel spoke. Words stuck out like downfeathers that hadn't been clipped from a pillow cover. You shouldn't. And, Can't reply. And, Calling them is useless.

Useless came up a lot and he found that tears over ice cream could melt into it. Only two, at least. Only two fell from his cheeks