What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?

[negeotiation]

⌛ Who: Zhongli negeotiation, Kuro neetvampire
⌛ What: Catch-All log for January's event and overall anything else
⌛ When: January
⌛ Where: Noted in threads
⌛ Warnings: Will be marked as needed. Plotting comment here



Kuro
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Zhongli
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Comments

[neetvampire]

[Ash himself doesn't know Thanatos personally, but he does have Kuro's memories. It's enough for him to understand that silence, to wait quietly while the god mulls over his request-- or something else, perhaps.

The soft response he gains following it brings a look of soul-deep relief his his face. Not just the assent, but the understanding. Few he'd met would throw away eternal life even if they could. Most of the other immortals who came after him had never had to deal with the level of instability Kuro had.

He takes Thanatos' hands when he reaches for him, grip trembling but firm, voice much the same.] Thank you.... Thank you. [The offered kindness seems almost too much for him to gather a response to, lips trembling in a way that has nothing to do with the cold.] You.... really do live up to the epitaphs they call you, 'Gentle death'. A kind irony, after what 'He' chose to call me.

[He's startled when Thanatos' urges him up, however. While he doesn't seem to notice the cold, the reason for that will become evident relatively soon: As he gets to his feet he stumbles, wobbling on his feet like a newborn deer with rocks tied to it's legs. He grips onto Thanatos once again with a vice-like grip, though he knows he's inconveniencing the god.

He'd been curled up in the snow since dawn, left in the shade of a building after his inner demon had his fun. Severe frostbite and hypothermia would be inevitable for a human, but for an immortal it's a temporary sort of discomfort. Once you get cold enough, your body doesn't even bother to shiver: all it wants is to shut down.] Sorry... I've... been here awhile.

[inevitablerest]

[Unlike most, Thanatos truly does understand the concept of eternal life. As a Chthonic God it's unlikely that he'll ever die or be released from his work, and even those immortals who have lived a few hundred years or even a thousand can really have no idea of just what it means to live forever. To live like this for so long would not be a punishment that he would wish even onto Sisyphus.

When Ash stumbles Thanatos is quick enough to put an arm around him - gentle, steadying - laying his forearm across the back of his chilly shoulders. It doesn't seem that he feels inconvenienced.]

It's all right.

[He has the other braced up against him almost as he had the first time he met Kuro in his human shape. The similarities don't escape him.]

You should hold on. This might be unsettling.

[Once he's sure the other is ready... Thanatos teleports. They appear in one of the hotel's rooms. The bed is untouched, but there's a book with a page marked next to a chair near the window. It might not be grand in comparison to the luxury rooms but this is a luxury hotel, so it's still very comfortable.]

[neetvampire]

[The fact that Thanatos so easily accepts his weight seems to leech some of the tension from Ash's shoulders. When was the last time he'd been this close to another person--welcomed, even--as himself? He couldn't remember. It had been so long, though some of the others he had made had certainly been interested in spending time with him. They'd been quickly disillusioned of such thoughts, however.

It was better, safer to be alone. But that wasn't the case, right now. It was a relief in more ways than Ash could ever articulate, so instead he allows some more of his weight to slump against Thanatos in lieu of words, resting his side against his, one hand curling around the arm not tucked against his back.

It felt.... good. To rely on someone, for once.]

Okay.

[The teleportation snatches a grunt of surprise from his throat, but Ash simply clings a little bit tighter in response. Crimson eyes glace about briefly, taking in the room around him.] Nice room. Your usual tastes this fancy?

[It doesn't escape his notice that the bed is untouched, but it certainly looks alluring right now. He stumbled forward a step towards it without even detaching himself from Thanatos, hissing softly now as his body starts to rouse from the temperature change, the magic in his body working to reverse what would have been frostbite or worse with a painful, nerve deep prickling.] Ugh, I forgot how annoying hypothermia was... C-Can I... bed, please?

[He grimaces tightly, curling closer to the god.]

[inevitablerest]

[He doesn't miss the way Ash leans into him, rests against him, and there's a certain level of understanding of how important it is that he's able to do that. No one, Thanatos thinks, should end their life cold and alone and afraid, even if they wish for nothing more than an end.

A soft huff - perhaps a laugh? - leaves him at the first question and he only shakes his head slightly. His usual tastes - like his room at the temple - are far more austere. He only has a bed at all because Hypnos insisted on it. Thanatos has no need for comfort but he has started to gain a small appreciation of occasionally indulging in it.

Ash stumbles, and as the sudden discomfort he's in makes itself quite clear the god wastes no time in gently scooping him up off his feet. It's easy to do - to lift him up, to cradle the vampire's slim form against his chest - and he takes him over to the bed and sets him down on it with as much care as he had picked him up.]

I can't help the pain. [He says quietly then, sitting down on the edge of the mattress.] But I can be here, until you decide you're ready.

[neetvampire]

[Something warm washes over Ash at the sound of that huff of laughter. Even if he's aching and exhausted, even with what they're here to do, it doesn't feel awkward at all. If anything, it's comfortable, here with Thanatos.

He doesn't particularly mind the pins and needles and uncomfortable, raw ache of frostbite healing too quickly and nerves coming alive, not when he can curl a little more against Thanatos as the god scoops him off his feet. The god is warm in a way he isn't, and even as the shivers start up he can't help but nuzzle closer with a sigh.] T-Thanks.

[Maybe it's 'Kuro''s memories that make Ash daring enough to demand more of the God's care, but he doesn't let go even after he's set down on the bed. Instead he curls against the god's side once again, basking in that warmth, an arm wrapping around him.] I-I'm... pretty quick t-to recover, S'fine.

[One of the bizarre benefits, for this version of Kuro: The demon in control of his body half the time didn't have the same sort of morals or self-loathing that kept Kuro himself from drinking blood regularly, so 'Sloth' kept them both in good health, for better or worse.] Just... s-stay with me l-like this, for awhile... please?

[inevitablerest]

[He does expect that 'Ash' will be more withdrawn. He isn't Kuro, and he's made that clear (though in spite of knowing that Thanatos still can't help his instinctive fondness regardless), so when he stays so close it's... surprising.

Not in a way that the death god seems to mind, however, as he doesn't shift himself away or try to prise the vampire off him. Instead he puts his arm loosely around him and rests his hand against the back of Ash's head, beginning to lightly stroke over his hair after a few moments have passed.]

All right. [Call it a last request? Thanatos doesn't generally entertain such things, but then... he doesn't often take life quite so directly as he has promised to do here, either.

He shifts, draws Sleepy Ash back into his arms and settles the vampire on his lap before carefully shifting back onto the bed. There he keeps one arm snug around him, the other coming up to brush idly through his hair again.]

Is that comfortable?

[neetvampire]

[The thing about Kuro and Ash both was that regardless of what form they took, the tendencies to their personalities that almost resemble stray cats remained. Withdrawn, but drawn to those who treated them with care they didn't quite expect, even if Ash is far moreso, fear for potential harm he could cause someone tainting his every action.

With Thanatos though, that wasn't an issue. More than that, what Thanatos had offered was more than he could have ever dreamed.... Not just to be offered peace at last, but to be understood besides.

Are they the desires of a man who knows he is going to die soon? Perhaps that was it. Or perhaps it was simply... relief.]

....Thank you.

[He allows himself to be drawn into the god's arms with no protest. There is hesitation at the first brush of a hand against his hair, but soon he's melting into it in a manner similar to how Kuro might have, eyes fluttering closed. Soon he's sinking into Thanatos' embrace, shivers fading into a trembling that might not be entirely due to the cold, cheek resting against his chest.]

...More than.

[...Ah, damn it. His voice betrays him, quiet but rough with emotions he can't quite wrangle into order.] I-I... can't remember the last time I was this close to a person as myself.

[inevitablerest]

[Despite his assertion that they aren't the same person, it seems that Ash is very much like Kuro after all. Kuro melts into these kinds of touches in the same kind of way, though he doesn't have the same emotional tremor in his voice if he speaks while it's happening.

There are some things that Thanatos tries, but often fails to understand. Emotional complexities are often one of those things. However... not being accepted around people as you are is something that he can, at least, relate to on some level. He had planned to at least give Ash somewhere comfortable to pass his last moments, but he doesn't seem to be in any hurry to reach his end now.

Perhaps it's knowing that it's available to him at any time is a settling thought in itself?

Thanatos keeps on combing his fingers idly through the vampire's hair, letting Ash relax in against him. Sometimes shades would want to share things with him as he took them down to the underworld and while he never told them to be quiet, he never really knew what he could say to them either. It's much the same here, but he can offer a kind of physical comfort that he had never had as an option before.]

Is there anything else that you want? [He asks, moving his hand down from Ash's hair down to the side of his face, cupping very gently along his jaw.] As yourself?

[neetvampire]

[It's still daylight out, which is at least protection from the demon within. But there's a comfort and security specifically in Thanatos' gentle care, in the knowledge that the end will come, when he asks for it, in the kindness offered akkin to a dying man's last wish.

For now, he allows his body to slowly warm through, the soothing repetition of those fingers combing through his hair eventually drawing his breath out to something slower and more even.

He wonders what it would be like. Would it be like falling asleep, he wonders? That's how he's always dreamed of it.

His eyes are half lidded as his face is tilted upward, and rather than respond right away he nuzzles his cheek against Thanatos' palm, relishing the warmth and care of the simple touch.]

This.... all of is more than I ever imagined.

[inevitablerest]

[He will have questions for Kuro - the real one - when this is done. Even though he knows that this person is only a phantom of the real one, a fake, he can't find it in himself to feel any kind of revulsion towards him... even having him so close as this.

Knowing that he will end this person's life this day, whether in the next minute or in a few hours, provokes that instinctive level of care that he gives to all lost or wandering spirits.]

Then rest.

[If that's what he wants - all he wants - then it can be easily provided. Ash nuzzles into his hand like that and it's so very much like exactly what Kuro would do that he can't help the fondness that wells up in him.

He presses a kiss to the phantom Kuro's forehead.]

My offer isn't going anywhere.