First Lesson [Complete]
Characters: Rayne and Alfons
Setting: Copper Bathroom
Time: Very Early Night 006
Summary: More Alfons/Rayne cuteness.
Curled up and sitting on the bathroom floor, back pressed against the cabinets under the sink and mirror, Rayne knew she should be leaving, and getting back to Namine. With night having just fallen, she knew that she shouldn’t be holed up in a bathroom, like a jilted teenager at prom, trying to get her emotions under control. Yet, here she was. Head bent over her knees, with her hands pressed against her face, the redhead took a shaky breath as she ran a hand through her hair. While her mind wasn’t near as full to bursting as it was earlier, now that the suicidal bodies, and notes had completely sorted themselves out in her mind, she still couldn’t shake the mirror, that goddamned mirror, and it’s goddamned reflection.
Eyes clenching shut as the image of blonde hair and blue eyes and that damned playful, lopsided smile flashed through her mind for the thousandth, millionth, billionth time that day, Rayne felt like slamming her head into the floor. Three, no four years, she had gone, doing her damnedest to not think of her, to not call her, to not even talk about her, and a mirror, a fucking mirror had been the one to bring it all back. Hands fisting in her hair, Rayne ducked her head, pressing her face into her knees to muffle the frustrated and choked scream that escaped her, doing her best to ignore the fact that it ended in a dry sob. Damn it!
Alfons hadn't expected to hear a noise like that outside the bathroom.
It was something of an odd feeling, really, though it shouldn't have been surprising in this place. This place where everyone wa suffering somehow, where everyone was feeling pain of any sort...he'd had a lot to think through, a lot to sort out, himself, and with night falling, it was a good idea to get on the move...
But that was a woman's voice.
A woman's voice was coming out of the bathroom.
Walking towards the bathroom, slowly, Alfons moved towards the source of the sobs, the source of the noise. His feet moved slower, and slower, and slower.
Who was that?
Near the door, he swallowed hard, and took a step inside, not wanting to be too loud because God knew a woman had every right to cry in peace--
--only to stop in his tracks, eyes widening slightly with bewilderment and obvious, obvious concern.
"...Frau Rayne?"
No. No no no. No, why did anyone have to find her like this? Tensing, Rayne didn’t look up for a moment, trying to get her breathing under control, steady, not shaky. After a moment, she gave up, knowing it wouldn’t happen, slowly looking up with a blank expression, though her eyes held a torrent of emotions. “[What?]” She asked, meaning to sound harsh. It came off as tired; drained. She wished she was tired. Too tired to feel, or care would be nice right about now.
Alfons was used to Edward; and besides, it was hard to be intimidated by a young woman sitting on the floor, looking at him like that. If anything, something seemed to switch on inside of Alfons, and he was on the floor in moments, kneeling down in front of her.
"[Are you all right? What happened?]"
His voice was soft...almost sweet against the walls of the bathroom. Even in the night, even amongst the horrors of this house, his soft side can come barrelling through, and come through it did, even as he looked at her with soft, concerned eyes.
Rayne almost flinched away as he spoke, the tone of his voice making her jaw clench, making her tense up even more. Sweetness. She had no idea what to do when anyone was nice to her, and not knowing what to do when anyone was sweet to her was near the top of her list of things she hated dealing with. Warily staring at him for a moment, shoulders trembling as she failed to push her emotions down and keep them off the surface, she did the only thing she knew to do in situations like these. Eyes moving away from his face, she looked down at the floor, before glancing up to his neck. “[Nice hickey.]” She muttered, her supposedly biting reply again falling extremely short, leaving her sounding more tired and less held together than she had been moment before.
"Hickey"? What was that? Alfons had never heard of the phrase before, and if he had heard it, he wasn't sure where or why. Rather, he flushed at his own confusion and gave her a *look*, tilting his head to the side and moving closer, looking into her face.
"[...If you don't want to tell me, that's all right. I have no right to pry. But if you want to talk about it, I'll listen.]"
Pulling away from him as he moved closer, Rayne didn’t get very far as her back fully leaned against the cabinet doors, and she softly cursed in German, one of her many bad habits, wishing she was anywhere else but here, anywhere else without a pair of blue eyes looking at her like /that./ Slowly reaching out to brush a hand barely a centimeter away from the healing bruise on his neck, the redhead’s face suddenly crumbled as another sweet face, another pair of blue eyes looking at her with that look flashed across her mind. Jerking her hand back like she had been burned, Rayne pressed her face into her knees again, hands running through and fisting in her hair, shoulders shaking.
Alfons watched her for a moment, and almost did a double-take. A woman, sitting on the floor, head in her knees, shaking...
His mother had looked like that too, when his father and brother left.
She always seemed so strong, even in the short time they knew one another; it seemed that Miss Rayne wasn't immune to the horrors of the house, either.
Slowly, Alfons moved towards her, hesitating a moment...before wrapping his arms around her, loosely, pulling her close to him.
Rayne was surprised that her already tense muscles could clench up anymore than they already were, but they instinctively did once she sensed him moving closer, and she curled up even more into herself as he… as he… It was the last crack in her shield, and the emotions that had been building since the morning of that day burst through. Dry sobs tearing from her throat, she suddenly found her arms around Alfons, hands loosely grasping his shirt, face buried into his shoulder. There weren’t any tears. Rayne had learned at an early age that tears would never be possible with her. But the crying was still there, and it was all she could do to just keep it contained to sobs as she did her best to suddenly understand how to let emotions go.
Alfons's embrace was weak at first, but as he heard the sobs and felt the trembling of the woman in front of him, he held her tighter, leaning his chin against the top of her head.
"[Shhh, it's okay. Hush...it's all right.]"
He wasn't sure what he was saying. Nothings, really. Soft things to whisper even as his body started to rock slightly back and forth--this sort of thing was comforting, right?--voice growing quieter and quieter, almost falling into an inaudible whisper against her hair.
As she kept on, Rayne’s mind swirled, feeling his grasp tighten, hearing the soft and kind words. She could almost… If she just ignored the different scent, and the fact that he was speaking in German, she could almost imagine that it was someone else, that it was /her/ holding her, telling her it would be alright. Almost. But it would be cruel, to both of them, and for perhaps the first time in her life, Rayne just didn’t have the energy or the motivation to be so unkind. Slowly, eventually, her frenzied sobs started to slow, her energy starting to run out.
He felt like he was holding a child. Not a woman, or anyone like that. She was so vulnerable, so...
She was so unlike the woman he had first met, but somehow that didn't bother him. Instead, he felt empowered somehow...useful. He'd done something for someone instead of sitting there, useless. And her sobs seemed to have been slowing...
His heart couldn't help but lift at that, though he wasn't really thinking about the proximity despite the blush on his face.
As her crying slowed even more, they suddenly stopped as Rayne took a deep and trembling breath, like a knob had been turned to turn off a faucet somewhere inside her. For a long moment, she was completely still, as if made of stone, not even breathing. While she was honestly trying to stop and get herself put back together, she couldn’t help but notice something that she should have noticed before, and was trying to notice again. Slipping from her position, she moved down, breathing again, shoulders and back suddenly shaking every few moments with a few last muffled sobs. Pressing an ear flat against his chest, the dhampir carefully listened.
...?
Alfons blinked for a moment, and confused didn't quite describe everything going through his head at the moment. Not quite, anyway...
It was a bit more than that. 'perplexed', perhaps.
"[Miss Rayne, what are--]"
Raising a hand, she pressed her fingers against his lips, a silent and gentle sign for him to shush. It was an unneeded gesture, however. She had heard it again, before he had spoken, as he had been drawing in a breath. She didn’t know what exactly was wrong, but she did know that /something/ was. After nearly a century of being able to hear people’s blood rushing through their veins, and their breaths entering and leaving their body, she knew a healthy heart from a unhealthy one, and strong lungs from weak. “[Your lungs.]” She softly questioned, still listening. “[What’s wrong with them?]”
!!!!!!!
Alfons's face darkened, blush reddening and face turning away, his entire body almost radiating shame. She saw it, too. I guess she would consider him weak, too. Just like everyone else......
"[...It's just a weakness. I've had it since I was a child. But how did you...]"
It wouldn’t have taken a dhampir or someone of supernatural blood to know that the topic made him uncomfortable, embarrassed, ashamed. The fact that she could smell these emotions coming off of him only cemented the fact for her. Hopefully, Alfons would not imagine any pity or disgust or whatever else he was expecting in her eyes, considering they would not be there to begin with as Rayne nodded, sitting back up, looking at him with curious eyes. “[How?]”
...It was funny. She wasn't commenting on his weakness, but rather asking about it. His father had often berated him on his weakness, talked him down...while his brother had often babied him because of it.
She was giving him neither. Just a simple, very basic curiosity.
Alfons's eyes flitted to hers a moment, before, unable to meet them, they lowered towards the floor.
"[I'm not sure. I just know it's gotten worse over the years...the doctors speculate that it's my research that's compounded it.]"
Reaching out, Rayne lightly placed a few fingers under his chin, lifting his face to look at her, purposely meeting his eyes. “[What research?]”
"[...Back home,]" Alfons said softly, blushing at the close proximity. Dear God, she knew how to make a man sweat, didn't she? "[Back home, I...studied rocketry.]"
Rocketry. While the term was vague, it opened many possibilities and explanations. Smoke and exhaust. Fumes from fuel or some other chemical. Just dust from black powder or other things. All of them damaging to lungs, and it did not help if the lungs were weak to begin with. Even though it was not exactly an answer, Rayne did not dig farther for any other explanation. She had enough information with that one word. Keeping her hand where it was, she simply looked at him for a moment, expression not relaying any of her thoughts or emotions. Her strong front and control had returned to her sometime during the conversation. Suddenly moving, she leaned forward to calmly press her lips to his forehead, before moving to catch his lips in a gentle kiss, something that was rather odd for her, pulling back before he could react, whether it be negatively or not. “[Thank you, Alfons.]”
...by 'thank you', Alfons was sure he wasn't talking about telling her about his weakness. Or maybe he was, though dazed by the kiss, it was hard to think. Alfons blinked a moment, and then blushed, hard, scratching his head a bit. What was it with her and kissing him? He didn't get it. Did she--?
"["A-ah, it's nothing...r-really...I didn't d-do anything...]"
Blushing still, his eyes moved away, unable to meet her face.
Lips curling into a small smile, Rayne moved to level her face with his, barely a few centimeters away from Alfons. “[You really do need to stop acting as if I’m going to bite you.]” She cheekily said, smiling. “[I only do that when I have permission.]”
"[P-Permission?!]" Alfons's face was already flushed, and hearing that it only seemed to make him flush more, eyes widening and expression like a deer being caught in the headlights.
"[S-S-Sorry. I'm just n-not used to...]"
Smile widening, Rayne just couldn’t help but tease him, green eyes glittering in dark amusement. Leaning a bit closer, she spoke again, voice laced with a purr. “[Not used to giving permission, sweetie? It’s easy. Just say, ‘Rayne, please do this to me.’]”
"[Rayne, please do this to--d-do what? B-Bite me?]" He was vaguely sure that she was discussing biting, but why would a woman want to bite him? Perhaps she had the same problem that Miss Saya had, but...she didn't seem like it.
But still, the question rocked in his mind. This situation in itself was bizarre; he'd never met anyone like her before, and was completely unsure as of how to act. And with their close proximity, things were becoming more and more awkward.
Bottom lip catching between her teeth, Rayne bit her lip for a moment, still smiling that dark smile. “[/Do/ you want me to bite you, Alfons?]” She quietly asked, shifting her position to rest one hand on his thigh. “[Because there’s one particular spot near the groin that’s very sensitive…]”
Alfons stared at her a moment, barely registering that it was her hand on his thigh, and she was, in fact, discussing his groin and her mouth in the same sentence.
...And somehow, the images of Edward with those two words in the same sentence seemed to plague his poor repressed mind, before he pushed them back in favor of blushing darkly and shifting uncomfortably.
"[E-Er, ah...I d-don't think...]"
Nice one, Alfons. Better to say that than to make verbal the images that were in his mind (which he tried so valiantly to push to the sidelines), though he looked rather stupid, staring agog at her like that, he was sure.
Pulling back suddenly, her fingers lingering on his leg, Rayne smiled, eyes dancing with pure amusement, a small laugh escaping her lips. While she was certainly not laughing at him, she was still laughing, smiling… Something that Alfons would know he should feel honored about causing, if he truly knew her, no matter how short lived or small such a thing was. For Rayne to do such a thing was phenomenal. “[You’re too damned adorable.]”
"[I-I...I'm not really.]" He scratched his head, though he couldn't help but smile despite his embarrassment at the laugh. It was a far cry from how she was when he first saw her in here...
“[You just think you aren’t.]” She corrected, wagging a finger at him, as her rare, actual smile faded into her usual smirk. “[Something else you need to stop, I think. You are a good person, and there are not enough like you in this house, much less in the world as a whole. Perhaps if you believed this yourself, you would not be so easily embarrassed, hm? Though, that would be less fun for me.]”
There was honestly not much about Alfons that was likable...at least not in his eyes, anyway. Oh, his scientific talent was quite superb, and he was good at putting mechanics together, but in the end, in a house like this that didn't amount to much.
If nothing else, the house seemed to be a falling zeppelin towards his feeling of self-worth.
Letting out a soft sigh, Alfons gave her a smile, but saying nothing. She was just trying to make him feel better. Though he didn't verbalize his thoughts.
Head tilting as she stared at him, Rayne thoughtfully pursed her lips. While she couldn’t read thoughts, she had, in her opinion, mastered the art of reading body language in her lifetime, and it was somewhat obvious that he didn’t believe her. She was not about to bring it up, though. There was no use sending the conversation into a possible downward spiral. Instead, her thoughts turned to other things. “Hm…”
Alfons blinked a moment, tilting his head to the side.
"Mm?"
He was never sure what was on that woman's mind, and for the life of him he was almost frightened to find out. Instead he watched her a moment, eyes scanning her face as if to determine just what she was thinking about...
Lips curling into a sultry smile after a moment, Rayne leaned closer to him again, placing both hands on his thighs. “[I think I might kiss you again, Alfons Heiderich. Are you going to pass out again if I do?]”
But--
Alfons must have been blushing hard, because he could even feel his cheeks start to grow hot, especially in the short distance between them.
But what about Edward? That voice nagged at him, kicking him in the back of the brain, though in the hard beating of his own heart seemed to drown it out, throat constricting a small bit as he swallowed.
But...
Alfons swallowed again, and closed his eyes.
She had kissed him several times. There had to be a reason, right? Did she care about him that way? Maybe. It was hard to tell. If anything, it felt strange, broken, rather disjointed.
Then there was Edward. What did -he- feel? Edward was his friend, but he seemed a bit too forgiving and accepting of his own feelings...almost like he was taking him, stringing him along, toying with him...
Alfons wasn't sure what had spurred him forward...his lips had touched hers, gently, and a hand had touched her shoulder, but it was tentative. Almost scared.
But lonely, definitely. A lonely man who feared death, leaning forward and claiming something offered to him.
Rayne blinked, surprised that he had actually taken initiative, and it took her a second to respond. Well, this was certainly surprising. Hands moving from his legs, her arms wrapped around Alfons to pull him closer, shifting her position as she kissed him back, moving into his lap, legs straddling his hips. Gently biting at his bottom lip, she didn’t push for anymore, for now.
There was no use in scaring him off so early.
It wasn't a kiss of love, Alfons's mind decided. Even in the back of his mind, where his tiny well-hidden romantic side hid in that box amongst his more rational thinking, his thoughts had been screaming high-alert, and he must have heard Edward's name over and over and over and over. Edward who he loved, but did not love him back.
His stomach had said the same, churning in his gut for a few seconds, though the kiss still lingered a few moments...
Then reality had kicked in.
Breaking the kiss, Alfons's face reddened considerably, and his stomach felt a large lump in embarrassment...and in a dark corner of his heart, shame.
"S-sorry." He whispered. "No good?"
Not moving from her new spot as he pulled away, Rayne gave an almost gentle smile at his question. He really was adorable. “There is a difference between bad and inexperienced. You’re lucky I can tell the difference.” She answered, lowering her voice in response to his whisper. “I did not want to push you for anything like last time. Having you lose consciousness is much more dangerous at nighttime. Besides, the inexperienced can learn. Just… tell me when to stop.” Moving to catch his lips with hers once more, her teeth scraped across his bottom lip again, rougher this time, before she swiped her tongue across it to soothe any sting, as she shifted to press her body even closer to his.
Tell me when to stop'. This was certainly a far cry from last time they'd met, and she'd pinned him down and borderline taken him for all that he was. Heart pounding, he could barely move as her kiss grew rougher, though it did hurt a little as the sting was felt on his bottom lip, even when the tongue soothed it away.
He wasn't sure what to do. What could he do?
What was he supposed to do?
His hands seemed to just sit mismatched at her sides, uncertain.
Pausing for a moment, Rayne smiled against his lips. She could honestly say that she almost didn’t know what to do in this situation. While she had kissed and done more to plenty of naive and innocent men before, it was very, very rare that they didn’t respond. “You are free to kiss me back.” She murmured, slightly amused.
"R-right. S-sorry...I j-just don't know what to do."
Alfons leaned forward, and with a clumsy bump of lips, he made a rather sorry attempt at a kiss, only to bring a nervous laugh out of the blond, eyes closing.
He was really bad at this, wasn't he? Inexperienced, yes. And bad? Oh yes. He felt that way.
He tried a second time, and at least his mouth touched hers, and more full, lips shyly pressing with his eyes firmly and almost tightly shut.
Hands moving to gently cup each side of his face, Rayne responded gently this time. Lightly moving her lips against his, she did her best to try and lead him - teach him. It didn’t take a genius to know that he was already feeling self conscious, and she knew now that moving as fast as she previously had was going to do nothing to help fix that.
This was easier to do. Alfons tried pressing back a little bit, large hands touching her arms and holding onto them lightly, and his eyes had loosened, though they were still closed, if not adamantly so.
Experimentally, he tried moving his lips over hers, softly, in an imitation of what she was doing now.
If she felt that pulling away at this point would be a good idea, Rayne was sure she would be telling Alfons that he was learning already. Something told her that doing anything that would make it seem like he had messed up again would put them back at square one, though, so she kept kissing him, slowly growing more bold with her movements, making sure he was comfortable and could keep up.
He was starting to get used to this...whatever this was. Though was he able to keep up? Well, that depends on whose perspective. His lips carried a hint of softness, even when he tried his best to match her boldness. Alfons was never a bold man, and this showed it.
The fact that he wasn’t bold sat just fine with Rayne, considering she was a woman that preferred to be in control of any situation she was in. Some would call it control issues, but she just called it playing it smart. For now, she just considered it a way to test his limits. Taking it up another step, she cautiously sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, tongue lightly probing against his upper lip, seeking entrance to his mouth.
-Open your mouth...-
That voice again. Low, husky, male. It was something that he'd heard many times, but...he'd never been able to pinpoint where. When he slept he'd hear that voice, speaking to him in segments...things he should know, but he never did. Never a face with the voice.
But why was he hearing it -now-?
Shyly, he opened his mouth, though he was unsure if this was even what she wanted.
Gently, almost hesitantly, Rayne deepened the kiss, a hand running through his hair to cradle the back of his head. Tongue lightly caressing his own, all of her senses were completely focused on Alfons at that moment. If he showed any sort of sign that this was going too fast, that he was becoming uncomfortable, she would stop.
-Alfons, I'm sorry.-
-Alfons, I love you.-
-I'm going to be forgetting you!-
...It was almost like it was at the right time. Alfons's head, even without the words entering his ears was starting to feel light, his head swimming and his senses fuzzing.
is body felt lighter than before, and his feet, his back, his lungs...It was like they were lifting, flying in his body, even as his mind and body stayed firmly on the ground.
As her tongue caressed his own, it was almost like he'd done this before. Where? Where had he--
He felt lightheaded, and then...
- Golden eyes, but they weren't Edward's, staring down at him. Hips locked onto his own, holding him down, and ohGod his body was unable to move, why couldn't he MOVE?!-
Alfons's tongue still found a way to lightly touch her own, almost as if it was rude to stay still, even with his body feeling light as it was.
There. She had thought that such a thing might have an adverse effect, but it never hurt to try. Hearing the blood suddenly rush from the areas around his head and brain, Rayne knew that he must be dizzy. Not wanting to risk him fainting like last time, she moved her tongue against his one last time before slowly pulling back. Pressing her lips against his one last time for a few more moments, she gave a small smile as she fully pulled away. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He had hardly registered that she had...he had hardly registered that she had pulled away until she actually had said something, and Alfons could do nothing but stare and blush.
...and wonder.
Who was that? All he could see was his eyes, and feel the sensation of being pinned down, but where was that--
Why had he thought of that then?
...
Did the house cause hallucinations, too? It was possible. This damned place could do anything to a man...could make him mad, could send him into flights of fancy, and could even send him into a state of helplessness, like he was feeling now...
"N-no, it wasn't." Alfons admitted, flushing. "S-Sorry Miss Rayne, I shouldn't have...I-It was impolite for me to..."
“If it was so impolite, I wouldn’t have responded.” Rayne answered, cutting him off with a smirk. “And please… Rayne. Just Rayne. No miss.” Moving to rest her hands on his shoulders, her smirk widened. “You’re a fast learner, Alfons.”
"A-Ah..." Alfons scratched his head, ducking his head down, almost as if to avoid the look and smirk she was tossing in his direction. "Th-Thank you, Mi--I-I mean, Rayne."
It was so hard to NOT tease him. Ducking her head as well, she maneuvered until she was looking him in the eye, nose bumping against his. “So, was it good for you?” She purred, eyes glinting with amusement.
"Y-Yes, I-I mean, no, I mean..."
Alfons blushed hard, though despite his embarrassment, he still had a soft, almost boyish smile on his face.
"Th-thank you."
“Hm.” She answered, not showing that she was uncomfortable with his thanks. She never did understand what to do when someone thanked you. “Just tell me when you’re up for another lesson, yeah? I wouldn’t mind teaching you the whole curriculum.” Leaning back, she turned to look at the bathroom door. “…We should be going soon. With nighttime, we need to get to a safe place.” And surprisingly, she really didn’t want to leave.
"Y-yeah...But first, I...I need to find Edward."
Edward was his first priority. He'd been away from him for too long, and with this house, he had to know if he was all right. And if something was wrong, he had to find a way to help him.
"With this house, there's no telling what could have happened, and..."
Nodding, she slid out of his lap, grabbing the cabinet tops to pull herself up to stand. Offering a hand to help him up, Rayne worriedly looked down at him. “It’s dangerous to be alone. Do you want me to help you look?” She offered. “I just need to stop somewhere to get a few things, first.”
Alfons accepted that hand and pulled himself up. It was strange...even with his smile in place, it wasn't a normal smile. It was confident, almost sure of himself.
He shook his head, almost immediately.
"No, I'll be fine. You should just worry about getting yourself to safety as quickly as possible. I'm sure I'll be able to find Edward easily enough if I really look...he's hard to miss. Thank you, though. Really."
Unable to stop herself, she bent down for one more quick kiss, smirking down at him as she pulled back. “[Good luck to you, then, Alfons Heiderich.]” She told him, switching back to German.
"[G-G-Good luck to you too, Rayne. Promise me that you'll be careful.]"
He didn't feel comfortable leaving a woman to run around alone in this house, but something told him that if any of the women would be fine in this house, it would be her. She wasn't delicate like Saya or Mio.
Though despite their earlier...erhm, activities, it was still embarrassing to receive that kiss.
“[Careful isn’t really in my vocabulary.]” She cheekily replied, turning to open the door. “[And I’ve survived this long without it. I’ll be fine.]”
He frowned.
"[It still doesn't hurt. Even if you think you won't need it, a little discretion can take you a long way.]"
...says the man dying from corroded lungs.
Pausing, she turned back to him. Raising an eyebrow, Rayne very pointedly looked down at her form fitting leather outfit, very ample cleavage, and snow white skin. Looking back up at him, the redhead’s eyebrow raised higher. Discretion?
...perhaps he'd said something wrong.
Just a little bit wrong.
...
Well, that was the only explanation he could think of as of why she looked at him like that, and so, floundering, he blushed, hard.
"[E-Er, I mean, ah...I mean...w-well, j-just...take care.]"
Smiling all of a sudden, Rayne shook her head as she turned back to leave the bathroom. “[Too damned adorable.]”
Setting: Copper Bathroom
Time: Very Early Night 006
Summary: More Alfons/Rayne cuteness.
Curled up and sitting on the bathroom floor, back pressed against the cabinets under the sink and mirror, Rayne knew she should be leaving, and getting back to Namine. With night having just fallen, she knew that she shouldn’t be holed up in a bathroom, like a jilted teenager at prom, trying to get her emotions under control. Yet, here she was. Head bent over her knees, with her hands pressed against her face, the redhead took a shaky breath as she ran a hand through her hair. While her mind wasn’t near as full to bursting as it was earlier, now that the suicidal bodies, and notes had completely sorted themselves out in her mind, she still couldn’t shake the mirror, that goddamned mirror, and it’s goddamned reflection.
Eyes clenching shut as the image of blonde hair and blue eyes and that damned playful, lopsided smile flashed through her mind for the thousandth, millionth, billionth time that day, Rayne felt like slamming her head into the floor. Three, no four years, she had gone, doing her damnedest to not think of her, to not call her, to not even talk about her, and a mirror, a fucking mirror had been the one to bring it all back. Hands fisting in her hair, Rayne ducked her head, pressing her face into her knees to muffle the frustrated and choked scream that escaped her, doing her best to ignore the fact that it ended in a dry sob. Damn it!
Alfons hadn't expected to hear a noise like that outside the bathroom.
It was something of an odd feeling, really, though it shouldn't have been surprising in this place. This place where everyone wa suffering somehow, where everyone was feeling pain of any sort...he'd had a lot to think through, a lot to sort out, himself, and with night falling, it was a good idea to get on the move...
But that was a woman's voice.
A woman's voice was coming out of the bathroom.
Walking towards the bathroom, slowly, Alfons moved towards the source of the sobs, the source of the noise. His feet moved slower, and slower, and slower.
Who was that?
Near the door, he swallowed hard, and took a step inside, not wanting to be too loud because God knew a woman had every right to cry in peace--
--only to stop in his tracks, eyes widening slightly with bewilderment and obvious, obvious concern.
"...Frau Rayne?"
No. No no no. No, why did anyone have to find her like this? Tensing, Rayne didn’t look up for a moment, trying to get her breathing under control, steady, not shaky. After a moment, she gave up, knowing it wouldn’t happen, slowly looking up with a blank expression, though her eyes held a torrent of emotions. “[What?]” She asked, meaning to sound harsh. It came off as tired; drained. She wished she was tired. Too tired to feel, or care would be nice right about now.
Alfons was used to Edward; and besides, it was hard to be intimidated by a young woman sitting on the floor, looking at him like that. If anything, something seemed to switch on inside of Alfons, and he was on the floor in moments, kneeling down in front of her.
"[Are you all right? What happened?]"
His voice was soft...almost sweet against the walls of the bathroom. Even in the night, even amongst the horrors of this house, his soft side can come barrelling through, and come through it did, even as he looked at her with soft, concerned eyes.
Rayne almost flinched away as he spoke, the tone of his voice making her jaw clench, making her tense up even more. Sweetness. She had no idea what to do when anyone was nice to her, and not knowing what to do when anyone was sweet to her was near the top of her list of things she hated dealing with. Warily staring at him for a moment, shoulders trembling as she failed to push her emotions down and keep them off the surface, she did the only thing she knew to do in situations like these. Eyes moving away from his face, she looked down at the floor, before glancing up to his neck. “[Nice hickey.]” She muttered, her supposedly biting reply again falling extremely short, leaving her sounding more tired and less held together than she had been moment before.
"Hickey"? What was that? Alfons had never heard of the phrase before, and if he had heard it, he wasn't sure where or why. Rather, he flushed at his own confusion and gave her a *look*, tilting his head to the side and moving closer, looking into her face.
"[...If you don't want to tell me, that's all right. I have no right to pry. But if you want to talk about it, I'll listen.]"
Pulling away from him as he moved closer, Rayne didn’t get very far as her back fully leaned against the cabinet doors, and she softly cursed in German, one of her many bad habits, wishing she was anywhere else but here, anywhere else without a pair of blue eyes looking at her like /that./ Slowly reaching out to brush a hand barely a centimeter away from the healing bruise on his neck, the redhead’s face suddenly crumbled as another sweet face, another pair of blue eyes looking at her with that look flashed across her mind. Jerking her hand back like she had been burned, Rayne pressed her face into her knees again, hands running through and fisting in her hair, shoulders shaking.
Alfons watched her for a moment, and almost did a double-take. A woman, sitting on the floor, head in her knees, shaking...
His mother had looked like that too, when his father and brother left.
She always seemed so strong, even in the short time they knew one another; it seemed that Miss Rayne wasn't immune to the horrors of the house, either.
Slowly, Alfons moved towards her, hesitating a moment...before wrapping his arms around her, loosely, pulling her close to him.
Rayne was surprised that her already tense muscles could clench up anymore than they already were, but they instinctively did once she sensed him moving closer, and she curled up even more into herself as he… as he… It was the last crack in her shield, and the emotions that had been building since the morning of that day burst through. Dry sobs tearing from her throat, she suddenly found her arms around Alfons, hands loosely grasping his shirt, face buried into his shoulder. There weren’t any tears. Rayne had learned at an early age that tears would never be possible with her. But the crying was still there, and it was all she could do to just keep it contained to sobs as she did her best to suddenly understand how to let emotions go.
Alfons's embrace was weak at first, but as he heard the sobs and felt the trembling of the woman in front of him, he held her tighter, leaning his chin against the top of her head.
"[Shhh, it's okay. Hush...it's all right.]"
He wasn't sure what he was saying. Nothings, really. Soft things to whisper even as his body started to rock slightly back and forth--this sort of thing was comforting, right?--voice growing quieter and quieter, almost falling into an inaudible whisper against her hair.
As she kept on, Rayne’s mind swirled, feeling his grasp tighten, hearing the soft and kind words. She could almost… If she just ignored the different scent, and the fact that he was speaking in German, she could almost imagine that it was someone else, that it was /her/ holding her, telling her it would be alright. Almost. But it would be cruel, to both of them, and for perhaps the first time in her life, Rayne just didn’t have the energy or the motivation to be so unkind. Slowly, eventually, her frenzied sobs started to slow, her energy starting to run out.
He felt like he was holding a child. Not a woman, or anyone like that. She was so vulnerable, so...
She was so unlike the woman he had first met, but somehow that didn't bother him. Instead, he felt empowered somehow...useful. He'd done something for someone instead of sitting there, useless. And her sobs seemed to have been slowing...
His heart couldn't help but lift at that, though he wasn't really thinking about the proximity despite the blush on his face.
As her crying slowed even more, they suddenly stopped as Rayne took a deep and trembling breath, like a knob had been turned to turn off a faucet somewhere inside her. For a long moment, she was completely still, as if made of stone, not even breathing. While she was honestly trying to stop and get herself put back together, she couldn’t help but notice something that she should have noticed before, and was trying to notice again. Slipping from her position, she moved down, breathing again, shoulders and back suddenly shaking every few moments with a few last muffled sobs. Pressing an ear flat against his chest, the dhampir carefully listened.
...?
Alfons blinked for a moment, and confused didn't quite describe everything going through his head at the moment. Not quite, anyway...
It was a bit more than that. 'perplexed', perhaps.
"[Miss Rayne, what are--]"
Raising a hand, she pressed her fingers against his lips, a silent and gentle sign for him to shush. It was an unneeded gesture, however. She had heard it again, before he had spoken, as he had been drawing in a breath. She didn’t know what exactly was wrong, but she did know that /something/ was. After nearly a century of being able to hear people’s blood rushing through their veins, and their breaths entering and leaving their body, she knew a healthy heart from a unhealthy one, and strong lungs from weak. “[Your lungs.]” She softly questioned, still listening. “[What’s wrong with them?]”
!!!!!!!
Alfons's face darkened, blush reddening and face turning away, his entire body almost radiating shame. She saw it, too. I guess she would consider him weak, too. Just like everyone else......
"[...It's just a weakness. I've had it since I was a child. But how did you...]"
It wouldn’t have taken a dhampir or someone of supernatural blood to know that the topic made him uncomfortable, embarrassed, ashamed. The fact that she could smell these emotions coming off of him only cemented the fact for her. Hopefully, Alfons would not imagine any pity or disgust or whatever else he was expecting in her eyes, considering they would not be there to begin with as Rayne nodded, sitting back up, looking at him with curious eyes. “[How?]”
...It was funny. She wasn't commenting on his weakness, but rather asking about it. His father had often berated him on his weakness, talked him down...while his brother had often babied him because of it.
She was giving him neither. Just a simple, very basic curiosity.
Alfons's eyes flitted to hers a moment, before, unable to meet them, they lowered towards the floor.
"[I'm not sure. I just know it's gotten worse over the years...the doctors speculate that it's my research that's compounded it.]"
Reaching out, Rayne lightly placed a few fingers under his chin, lifting his face to look at her, purposely meeting his eyes. “[What research?]”
"[...Back home,]" Alfons said softly, blushing at the close proximity. Dear God, she knew how to make a man sweat, didn't she? "[Back home, I...studied rocketry.]"
Rocketry. While the term was vague, it opened many possibilities and explanations. Smoke and exhaust. Fumes from fuel or some other chemical. Just dust from black powder or other things. All of them damaging to lungs, and it did not help if the lungs were weak to begin with. Even though it was not exactly an answer, Rayne did not dig farther for any other explanation. She had enough information with that one word. Keeping her hand where it was, she simply looked at him for a moment, expression not relaying any of her thoughts or emotions. Her strong front and control had returned to her sometime during the conversation. Suddenly moving, she leaned forward to calmly press her lips to his forehead, before moving to catch his lips in a gentle kiss, something that was rather odd for her, pulling back before he could react, whether it be negatively or not. “[Thank you, Alfons.]”
...by 'thank you', Alfons was sure he wasn't talking about telling her about his weakness. Or maybe he was, though dazed by the kiss, it was hard to think. Alfons blinked a moment, and then blushed, hard, scratching his head a bit. What was it with her and kissing him? He didn't get it. Did she--?
"["A-ah, it's nothing...r-really...I didn't d-do anything...]"
Blushing still, his eyes moved away, unable to meet her face.
Lips curling into a small smile, Rayne moved to level her face with his, barely a few centimeters away from Alfons. “[You really do need to stop acting as if I’m going to bite you.]” She cheekily said, smiling. “[I only do that when I have permission.]”
"[P-Permission?!]" Alfons's face was already flushed, and hearing that it only seemed to make him flush more, eyes widening and expression like a deer being caught in the headlights.
"[S-S-Sorry. I'm just n-not used to...]"
Smile widening, Rayne just couldn’t help but tease him, green eyes glittering in dark amusement. Leaning a bit closer, she spoke again, voice laced with a purr. “[Not used to giving permission, sweetie? It’s easy. Just say, ‘Rayne, please do this to me.’]”
"[Rayne, please do this to--d-do what? B-Bite me?]" He was vaguely sure that she was discussing biting, but why would a woman want to bite him? Perhaps she had the same problem that Miss Saya had, but...she didn't seem like it.
But still, the question rocked in his mind. This situation in itself was bizarre; he'd never met anyone like her before, and was completely unsure as of how to act. And with their close proximity, things were becoming more and more awkward.
Bottom lip catching between her teeth, Rayne bit her lip for a moment, still smiling that dark smile. “[/Do/ you want me to bite you, Alfons?]” She quietly asked, shifting her position to rest one hand on his thigh. “[Because there’s one particular spot near the groin that’s very sensitive…]”
Alfons stared at her a moment, barely registering that it was her hand on his thigh, and she was, in fact, discussing his groin and her mouth in the same sentence.
...And somehow, the images of Edward with those two words in the same sentence seemed to plague his poor repressed mind, before he pushed them back in favor of blushing darkly and shifting uncomfortably.
"[E-Er, ah...I d-don't think...]"
Nice one, Alfons. Better to say that than to make verbal the images that were in his mind (which he tried so valiantly to push to the sidelines), though he looked rather stupid, staring agog at her like that, he was sure.
Pulling back suddenly, her fingers lingering on his leg, Rayne smiled, eyes dancing with pure amusement, a small laugh escaping her lips. While she was certainly not laughing at him, she was still laughing, smiling… Something that Alfons would know he should feel honored about causing, if he truly knew her, no matter how short lived or small such a thing was. For Rayne to do such a thing was phenomenal. “[You’re too damned adorable.]”
"[I-I...I'm not really.]" He scratched his head, though he couldn't help but smile despite his embarrassment at the laugh. It was a far cry from how she was when he first saw her in here...
“[You just think you aren’t.]” She corrected, wagging a finger at him, as her rare, actual smile faded into her usual smirk. “[Something else you need to stop, I think. You are a good person, and there are not enough like you in this house, much less in the world as a whole. Perhaps if you believed this yourself, you would not be so easily embarrassed, hm? Though, that would be less fun for me.]”
There was honestly not much about Alfons that was likable...at least not in his eyes, anyway. Oh, his scientific talent was quite superb, and he was good at putting mechanics together, but in the end, in a house like this that didn't amount to much.
If nothing else, the house seemed to be a falling zeppelin towards his feeling of self-worth.
Letting out a soft sigh, Alfons gave her a smile, but saying nothing. She was just trying to make him feel better. Though he didn't verbalize his thoughts.
Head tilting as she stared at him, Rayne thoughtfully pursed her lips. While she couldn’t read thoughts, she had, in her opinion, mastered the art of reading body language in her lifetime, and it was somewhat obvious that he didn’t believe her. She was not about to bring it up, though. There was no use sending the conversation into a possible downward spiral. Instead, her thoughts turned to other things. “Hm…”
Alfons blinked a moment, tilting his head to the side.
"Mm?"
He was never sure what was on that woman's mind, and for the life of him he was almost frightened to find out. Instead he watched her a moment, eyes scanning her face as if to determine just what she was thinking about...
Lips curling into a sultry smile after a moment, Rayne leaned closer to him again, placing both hands on his thighs. “[I think I might kiss you again, Alfons Heiderich. Are you going to pass out again if I do?]”
But--
Alfons must have been blushing hard, because he could even feel his cheeks start to grow hot, especially in the short distance between them.
But what about Edward? That voice nagged at him, kicking him in the back of the brain, though in the hard beating of his own heart seemed to drown it out, throat constricting a small bit as he swallowed.
But...
Alfons swallowed again, and closed his eyes.
She had kissed him several times. There had to be a reason, right? Did she care about him that way? Maybe. It was hard to tell. If anything, it felt strange, broken, rather disjointed.
Then there was Edward. What did -he- feel? Edward was his friend, but he seemed a bit too forgiving and accepting of his own feelings...almost like he was taking him, stringing him along, toying with him...
Alfons wasn't sure what had spurred him forward...his lips had touched hers, gently, and a hand had touched her shoulder, but it was tentative. Almost scared.
But lonely, definitely. A lonely man who feared death, leaning forward and claiming something offered to him.
Rayne blinked, surprised that he had actually taken initiative, and it took her a second to respond. Well, this was certainly surprising. Hands moving from his legs, her arms wrapped around Alfons to pull him closer, shifting her position as she kissed him back, moving into his lap, legs straddling his hips. Gently biting at his bottom lip, she didn’t push for anymore, for now.
There was no use in scaring him off so early.
It wasn't a kiss of love, Alfons's mind decided. Even in the back of his mind, where his tiny well-hidden romantic side hid in that box amongst his more rational thinking, his thoughts had been screaming high-alert, and he must have heard Edward's name over and over and over and over. Edward who he loved, but did not love him back.
His stomach had said the same, churning in his gut for a few seconds, though the kiss still lingered a few moments...
Then reality had kicked in.
Breaking the kiss, Alfons's face reddened considerably, and his stomach felt a large lump in embarrassment...and in a dark corner of his heart, shame.
"S-sorry." He whispered. "No good?"
Not moving from her new spot as he pulled away, Rayne gave an almost gentle smile at his question. He really was adorable. “There is a difference between bad and inexperienced. You’re lucky I can tell the difference.” She answered, lowering her voice in response to his whisper. “I did not want to push you for anything like last time. Having you lose consciousness is much more dangerous at nighttime. Besides, the inexperienced can learn. Just… tell me when to stop.” Moving to catch his lips with hers once more, her teeth scraped across his bottom lip again, rougher this time, before she swiped her tongue across it to soothe any sting, as she shifted to press her body even closer to his.
Tell me when to stop'. This was certainly a far cry from last time they'd met, and she'd pinned him down and borderline taken him for all that he was. Heart pounding, he could barely move as her kiss grew rougher, though it did hurt a little as the sting was felt on his bottom lip, even when the tongue soothed it away.
He wasn't sure what to do. What could he do?
What was he supposed to do?
His hands seemed to just sit mismatched at her sides, uncertain.
Pausing for a moment, Rayne smiled against his lips. She could honestly say that she almost didn’t know what to do in this situation. While she had kissed and done more to plenty of naive and innocent men before, it was very, very rare that they didn’t respond. “You are free to kiss me back.” She murmured, slightly amused.
"R-right. S-sorry...I j-just don't know what to do."
Alfons leaned forward, and with a clumsy bump of lips, he made a rather sorry attempt at a kiss, only to bring a nervous laugh out of the blond, eyes closing.
He was really bad at this, wasn't he? Inexperienced, yes. And bad? Oh yes. He felt that way.
He tried a second time, and at least his mouth touched hers, and more full, lips shyly pressing with his eyes firmly and almost tightly shut.
Hands moving to gently cup each side of his face, Rayne responded gently this time. Lightly moving her lips against his, she did her best to try and lead him - teach him. It didn’t take a genius to know that he was already feeling self conscious, and she knew now that moving as fast as she previously had was going to do nothing to help fix that.
This was easier to do. Alfons tried pressing back a little bit, large hands touching her arms and holding onto them lightly, and his eyes had loosened, though they were still closed, if not adamantly so.
Experimentally, he tried moving his lips over hers, softly, in an imitation of what she was doing now.
If she felt that pulling away at this point would be a good idea, Rayne was sure she would be telling Alfons that he was learning already. Something told her that doing anything that would make it seem like he had messed up again would put them back at square one, though, so she kept kissing him, slowly growing more bold with her movements, making sure he was comfortable and could keep up.
He was starting to get used to this...whatever this was. Though was he able to keep up? Well, that depends on whose perspective. His lips carried a hint of softness, even when he tried his best to match her boldness. Alfons was never a bold man, and this showed it.
The fact that he wasn’t bold sat just fine with Rayne, considering she was a woman that preferred to be in control of any situation she was in. Some would call it control issues, but she just called it playing it smart. For now, she just considered it a way to test his limits. Taking it up another step, she cautiously sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, tongue lightly probing against his upper lip, seeking entrance to his mouth.
-Open your mouth...-
That voice again. Low, husky, male. It was something that he'd heard many times, but...he'd never been able to pinpoint where. When he slept he'd hear that voice, speaking to him in segments...things he should know, but he never did. Never a face with the voice.
But why was he hearing it -now-?
Shyly, he opened his mouth, though he was unsure if this was even what she wanted.
Gently, almost hesitantly, Rayne deepened the kiss, a hand running through his hair to cradle the back of his head. Tongue lightly caressing his own, all of her senses were completely focused on Alfons at that moment. If he showed any sort of sign that this was going too fast, that he was becoming uncomfortable, she would stop.
-Alfons, I'm sorry.-
-Alfons, I love you.-
-I'm going to be forgetting you!-
...It was almost like it was at the right time. Alfons's head, even without the words entering his ears was starting to feel light, his head swimming and his senses fuzzing.
is body felt lighter than before, and his feet, his back, his lungs...It was like they were lifting, flying in his body, even as his mind and body stayed firmly on the ground.
As her tongue caressed his own, it was almost like he'd done this before. Where? Where had he--
He felt lightheaded, and then...
- Golden eyes, but they weren't Edward's, staring down at him. Hips locked onto his own, holding him down, and ohGod his body was unable to move, why couldn't he MOVE?!-
Alfons's tongue still found a way to lightly touch her own, almost as if it was rude to stay still, even with his body feeling light as it was.
There. She had thought that such a thing might have an adverse effect, but it never hurt to try. Hearing the blood suddenly rush from the areas around his head and brain, Rayne knew that he must be dizzy. Not wanting to risk him fainting like last time, she moved her tongue against his one last time before slowly pulling back. Pressing her lips against his one last time for a few more moments, she gave a small smile as she fully pulled away. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He had hardly registered that she had...he had hardly registered that she had pulled away until she actually had said something, and Alfons could do nothing but stare and blush.
...and wonder.
Who was that? All he could see was his eyes, and feel the sensation of being pinned down, but where was that--
Why had he thought of that then?
...
Did the house cause hallucinations, too? It was possible. This damned place could do anything to a man...could make him mad, could send him into flights of fancy, and could even send him into a state of helplessness, like he was feeling now...
"N-no, it wasn't." Alfons admitted, flushing. "S-Sorry Miss Rayne, I shouldn't have...I-It was impolite for me to..."
“If it was so impolite, I wouldn’t have responded.” Rayne answered, cutting him off with a smirk. “And please… Rayne. Just Rayne. No miss.” Moving to rest her hands on his shoulders, her smirk widened. “You’re a fast learner, Alfons.”
"A-Ah..." Alfons scratched his head, ducking his head down, almost as if to avoid the look and smirk she was tossing in his direction. "Th-Thank you, Mi--I-I mean, Rayne."
It was so hard to NOT tease him. Ducking her head as well, she maneuvered until she was looking him in the eye, nose bumping against his. “So, was it good for you?” She purred, eyes glinting with amusement.
"Y-Yes, I-I mean, no, I mean..."
Alfons blushed hard, though despite his embarrassment, he still had a soft, almost boyish smile on his face.
"Th-thank you."
“Hm.” She answered, not showing that she was uncomfortable with his thanks. She never did understand what to do when someone thanked you. “Just tell me when you’re up for another lesson, yeah? I wouldn’t mind teaching you the whole curriculum.” Leaning back, she turned to look at the bathroom door. “…We should be going soon. With nighttime, we need to get to a safe place.” And surprisingly, she really didn’t want to leave.
"Y-yeah...But first, I...I need to find Edward."
Edward was his first priority. He'd been away from him for too long, and with this house, he had to know if he was all right. And if something was wrong, he had to find a way to help him.
"With this house, there's no telling what could have happened, and..."
Nodding, she slid out of his lap, grabbing the cabinet tops to pull herself up to stand. Offering a hand to help him up, Rayne worriedly looked down at him. “It’s dangerous to be alone. Do you want me to help you look?” She offered. “I just need to stop somewhere to get a few things, first.”
Alfons accepted that hand and pulled himself up. It was strange...even with his smile in place, it wasn't a normal smile. It was confident, almost sure of himself.
He shook his head, almost immediately.
"No, I'll be fine. You should just worry about getting yourself to safety as quickly as possible. I'm sure I'll be able to find Edward easily enough if I really look...he's hard to miss. Thank you, though. Really."
Unable to stop herself, she bent down for one more quick kiss, smirking down at him as she pulled back. “[Good luck to you, then, Alfons Heiderich.]” She told him, switching back to German.
"[G-G-Good luck to you too, Rayne. Promise me that you'll be careful.]"
He didn't feel comfortable leaving a woman to run around alone in this house, but something told him that if any of the women would be fine in this house, it would be her. She wasn't delicate like Saya or Mio.
Though despite their earlier...erhm, activities, it was still embarrassing to receive that kiss.
“[Careful isn’t really in my vocabulary.]” She cheekily replied, turning to open the door. “[And I’ve survived this long without it. I’ll be fine.]”
He frowned.
"[It still doesn't hurt. Even if you think you won't need it, a little discretion can take you a long way.]"
...says the man dying from corroded lungs.
Pausing, she turned back to him. Raising an eyebrow, Rayne very pointedly looked down at her form fitting leather outfit, very ample cleavage, and snow white skin. Looking back up at him, the redhead’s eyebrow raised higher. Discretion?
...perhaps he'd said something wrong.
Just a little bit wrong.
...
Well, that was the only explanation he could think of as of why she looked at him like that, and so, floundering, he blushed, hard.
"[E-Er, I mean, ah...I mean...w-well, j-just...take care.]"
Smiling all of a sudden, Rayne shook her head as she turned back to leave the bathroom. “[Too damned adorable.]”