The Shadow of Winter

[immortalrose]

WHO: Augustine & whomever joins (open prompts below)
WHERE: Throughout most of Stygia (the Barrens, The Harbors, and maybe a few other locations.)
WHEN: December catch-all & event prompts
WHAT: Winter was never his favorite time of the year, especially since the winter always seemed to last forever.
WARNINGS: Mentions of self-harm, suicide ideations, possible violence, and maybe cuddling?

[ Hey, folks! I'm still on hiatus but I wanted to put up a few prompts for this month's event. I'll be tagging in and out throughout the week, so please be patient. If you would like to plot with me, feel free to drop me a DM or hit me up on devillady. I'm always more than happy to make a starter or two. So don't be shy. Also, you're welcome to make your own starters as well. ]


PLOTTING 🌹 EVENT🌹 WILDCARD

Comments

[damnpire]

[D really thought this was going to be some kind of soirée into adventure.

Coming to Augustine’s shop isn’t strange to him. A part of him had wanted to come initially just to see Augustine’s hard work, but he has no real use for flower outside of previously bringing them to human’s graves when they passed him by in the blink of an eye. So in the end, he didn’t visit.

But now he stands out front for a moment, peering from beneath the brim of the hat at the way the place is decorated for the festivities. The ability of some to simply continue on with what makes them happy and comfortable earns a little of his awed admiration. It’s be easy to become lost and stagnant here.

Since it’s a shop, he doesn’t knock when he enters, but he does enter slowly and politely. The hat is removed at the threshold, knocking away snow accumulated on the brim outside.]

…

[He stands just inside the doorway out of respect, but looks over the table in the middle. This is… Well, he does not think it’s for him exactly since (gestures at all of him).]

If you’re busy, I can come another time.

[immortalrose]

Ah, ah, ah!

[He gestures for the glorified vampire hunter to take a seat at the table.]

Don’t you dare run off into the night after I prepared all this for us.

[Augustine threatens as he places the silverware beside their plates. While he’s certainly used to the finer things in life, he doubts his rustic friend here has ever enjoyed a fine meal. D comes across as a man who lives on the very fringes of the great frontier. A wandering soul that cannot find rest no matter how long they haunt this earth. He’s like a ghost in a sense, a living specter forced to exist without any meaning or goal other than the hunt. It’s a rather sad existence.

Pathetic, even.

Nevertheless, Augustine is determined to make D’s gloomy life here within the Netherworld mildly pleasant. That’s why he went through such efforts to prepare a delectable meal of some of his favorite desserts along with some delicious tea. However, it seems his honored guest is determined to flee and he simply won’t have that.]

Either sit down or I tie you up.

[He grumbles before fetching a small pitcher for milk for his tea.]

I realize that the two of us are quite different in many ways but even you must like tea.

[damnpire]

[????

For a moment, he almost wants to look behind him to make sure Augustine has the correct person. But he can sense things fairly well even in this hellscape, and he knows there isn't a single person present except the two of them.

Augustine is seriously inviting him for tea and snacks...

There isn't any way for him to coolly reject the offer. He doesn't dislike Augustine. He also... doesn't really eat, and he mostly doesn't drink anything aside from two very particular alcohols (hilarious, when they do not make him inebriated at all). Also? He's being threatened with bondage.

He glances over the table again, seeming a bit bewildered by the surprise invitation, and then he... slowly comes farther into the building so he can have a seat after putting the hat on the back of the chair.]

I didn't think I would be your first choice of guest is all.

[immortalrose]

[Yes, Augustine has the right person. If he didn't mean to invite D, then the hunter wouldn't be here. It's as simple as that. Augustine is quite selective about those he brings to his humble little abode away from home, especially after hours.

He can't help but smile somewhat as D gives into his request. While the two of them are truly quite different, they both have their similarities here and there. He just hopes that the other dhampir can eat something at least. Augustine went out of his way to create some of the vampire-friendly dishes here. While he's not the best chef, he certainly tries. He's not a bad cook for a blue-blood aristocrat.]

You're not.

[He bluntly states before taking a seat across from D.]

However, you've had...a rather tough go of things lately. So, I thought---[He gestures towards the tea and pastries.] That you might need a little bit of encouragement in the form of delightful sweets.

[For some oddity, he didn't think to break out the wine yet. Surely D could drink a glass of red wine.]

Besides, I don't believe...I ever paid you back for helping me long before.

[damnpire]

[Well, if anything, he can at least trust Augustine to be honest with him. Wow.

At the gesture, his eyes glance over the food and the tea now that he is closer. To be polite, he may decide to nibble.]

That wasn’t necessary.

[He knows Augustine doesn’t care whether it is or not, but he offers it anyway in his typical humble fashion.]

Helping me in the Gallows was repayment enough.

[He glances down at the table in front of him. After a moment of hesitation, he lifts the cup to carefully have a sip.]

[immortalrose]

[Thankfully, Augustine isn’t so cold not to realize how his words might sting. So instead of following up that statement with more barbs, he states the following instead.]

So you claim but isn’t it customary for…friends to help each other?

[He questions while trying his best to seem a bit nonchalant here.]

I don’t have many friends, D. None of which share a similar lineage to myself.

[He places his tea cup upon the saucer once more before glancing towards D again. Even though the two of them are so different, there’s some similarities here and there. After all, they are both lonely dhampirs trying to find their place in this grand new afterlife. Wasn't easy for either of them when they were alive and it’s not easy now that they're dead. It’s probably never going to get any easier for the two of them either.]

That’s why…I’m willing to try to befriend you, hunter.

[He states with a bit of a smirk.]

That is unless you mean to cut me down still.

[damnpire]

[The casual declaration (and subsequent skirting by) of the mention of friends surprises him. They have not really had any major disagreements, and yet.

It is strange to him all the same.]

I would only need to kill you if you hurt someone, or killed them.

[He isn’t particularly worried about Augustine doing that intentionally, so there is no need for the violence on his end.]

I don’t have anything to offer you in that way. Aren’t there better friends here for you to make? Many of them don’t seem to mind dhampirs at all. It isn’t like our own worlds.