Aphrael watched quietly as Nevin sorted through the bottles in the basement, holding his sharp knife loosely in one hand as he picked some up and set them back down. The bird wasn't sure what her human was doing right now, but he had said he would be finishing the bond and that made the corvid happy. When Nevin held up a small bottle triumphantly, she puffed her chest out and let out a happy trill of notes to help celebrate his success.

Nevin turned back to look at the red-tinged bird and took a deep breath. He knew what he needed to do now, the best way to give Aphrael some of his magic that she claimed she needed to solidify the bond between them fully. He just… Hadn’t anticipated needing to use this on a living being, ever. In fact if the bird wasn't so certain that she had to take in his magic, he would have thought that there would be a deleterious reaction to it.

Still. She was sure, had apparently been told it by her parents many times, and was now staring at him in eagerly from her perch on his work table. He held the small, one ounce sized glass vial carefully in his hand and walked back to the table. The glass made a soft tink as it touched the table, and Nevin stared at it quietly for a moment before taking a deep breath.

He moved before the bird could see what he was doing, raising his empty hand above the vial and stabbing the blade into his palm, driving straight into the flesh. Nevin hissed in pain as he pulled the sharp blade free, and bright crimson blood welled up in his hand. The blood mage flipped his hand over and pressed the open wound against the mouth of the vial as the red lines on his hands lit up brilliantly. As soon as he had cut his hand his magic had begun to sing, eager and anticipatory for what was to come.

“Sanguine… Nevin.” The words fell in a breathless whisper from trembling lips. This was the first time he was doing this after making sure it wasn't an insane idea - he was not capturing an aspect here, but the essence of himself, the core of who he was. Useless for almost all alchemical endeavors, he had a few ideas on how it could be used - namely, in binding something to the person whose was used.

He felt a pull, a tugging, draining sensation, on both his magic and on his hand as blood was drained from his body to fuel the blood Alchemy. It was a decidedly strange sensation, and one he didn't know if he would ever care to repeat. But it was done soon enough, leaving him feeling drained and weak as he slowly lifted up the vial, now glowing a majestic, rich crimson. His hand shook slightly as he held it up towards Aphrael.

“You'll need to drink this, dear.”