She sighed. These were not the answers she wanted to her. If she had it her way she’d take both. Use the stormy weather to her advantage and experiment. Figure out what made him tick, what made the toxins work, and how to counter them.. “what would it take? How about the necrotic for now? Hell fucking yes I want to make a counter agent. I don’t like knowing there's another thing out there I have no counter to.” He gave her a slight shrug, one shoulder rolling, and she could see amusement buried in his orange eyes.

“It’s not a toxin as far as I know. It stops at bone, though it does a number on all the fleshy bits before the bone. I don’t think -”

“the hell do you use something like that for then?” It sure as hell sounded like a toxin to her, was he fuckin’ blind?

“I… naturally secrete it?” He stared at her blankly. Ah. There was her answer. He didn’t see it as a toxin, but a natural secretion. “Why wouldn’t I use it? I’m a fucking assassin. That’d be like telling you not to use your ears to hear things, kitten.”

Ayaka’s eyes narrowed. She was getting real sick of this ‘kitten’ shit. “Not Kitten.” she hissed. Ayaka leaned closer, glaring at him. She snorted before pulling away. “Right. You secrete it, I assume your entire species isn’t prone to assassination. I merely wanted to know what the natural use of it was for.” Ayaka shrugged as she turned to head toward her table, picking up random vials and reading the labels before putting them back down.

“Ah, you’re a scholarly type. I see. Well, in nature, before we evolved, it was used to predigest our meals. After about, I think, fifteen minutes it becomes inert, so the dissolved matter is safe to eat.”

“Right...right…” Ayaka mumbled. She had a new idea forming in her mind, she was distracted. “I’m not a scholar. I just like knowing things. Experimenting on things. Alchemy requires that.” She paused as she picked up a pale pink vial then another few of them. “Mmm. You seem like a man who likes to take a gamble. Am I wrong?” He raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head to one side - and then stood up, smoothly and slowly, languidly. For a moment it seemed like he had no bones at all, so fluid was the motion.

“At times, yes. If I like my odds.” He was curious now, his eyes glinting as he studied her. Good. That’s where Ayaka wanted him. She didn't’ bother ripping off the labels. The potion allowed him to speak the language. Not read it.

“How about a game of chance. One in three?” Ayaka shifted past him, her tail flicking up to flick under his nose as she headed back to the kitchen table. She placed each vial down on the table. “I have three vials here. One, a truth serum. Two. A paralytic. Three, an aphrodisiac. You get to pick which one you take and which one I take. I’m sure you have your questions too. And I am just as unwilling to share as you.”

For Ayaka, this was a low risk high return situation. She was near immune to her own aphrodisiac and the paralytic? Well. It was a weak dose. It wouldn’t last too long. The truth serum was the one she wanted him to take, and if she were to consume it then it wasn’t too much of a loss.

He raised his eyebrow and ran his finger along the edge of the table near him. “This truth serum, then. It compels, not just ensures?” He drummed his fingertips against the tabletop as he flicked that intense orange gaze back to her.

“More or less.” Ayaka mused as she sat on the edge of the table, rather than the chair. On purposefully close to not only the vials but his fingers. Suddenly, he smirked, a cold, hungry expression.

“A condition, then. Since I am sure you’ve dabbled with your own potions many times.” He watched as her ears swivelled toward him. Her head cocked with curiosity as her eyes narrowed. His grin sharpened. “If you drink the aphrodisiac, then I’ll also inject you with more of mine. Fair’s fair, since I am sure a potionmaker such as yourself has experimented on herself many times.”

That was all? Ayaka snorted, then laughed. “Fine. Fine. Ya got me. Now.” She gestured to the three vials. One a soft hue of pink, one a milky white, and one clear. “Bottoms up, friend.” He studied them for a long few moments, his eyes flicking back and forth between them. One hand reached out, and the finger and thumb picked up the clear bottle - and held it out to her.

“For you.” He smirked, and picked up the milky white bottle himself.

Bingo

He had picked the truth serum. The aphrodisiac was the obvious pale pink and she doubted he’d pick that. She clinked the vial with his as she slide off the table and headed to the chair. The last thing she needed was to fall flat faced to the floor. She hadn’t cleaned it in some time.
Ayaka threw the contents of the vial back down her throat and swallowed. The quicker she drank it the quicker it’d work through her system.

“Ah, good girl.” Why - when the fucking hell had he gotten close to her?! She hadn’t even heard him move! He was standing right beside her as she sat in the chair - and the truth serum was still in his hand, bottle open, and full. “That was, I presume, the paralytic, since you wanted to sit down. Wouldn’t have been an issue if it was the truth serum.” He studied the vial in his hand. “The aphrodisiac would have been too easy.”

“Suppose so.” She mused angrily. He better uphold his end of the bargain. Her joints were already heavy, the tingling sensation of the potion doing its work.As she watched, he did down most of the vial - though he left a single swallow, a small amount. Before she could figure out why, a gnawing dread in her gut - he gripped her jaw and forced her mouth open, and the bottle into her throat.

“Now we must both be honest, shouldn’t we?” His grin was dark. “What pray tell, were you planning on doing if I’d gotten the paralytic? And don’t worry, I’ll answer your questions.”

“I’d dose you with all three. Eye for an eye.” Hell, she would have told him that without the serum. In a way she did.. The serum was small, but potent. It took a few moments for it to fully kick in. Ayaka licked her lips as she felt the tingling sensation burst up on them.

“I see, I see.” He reached out and picked up the aphrodisiac, and considered it for a long few moments. Then, without warning, he leaned down and bit her, fangs piercing her shoulder. She felt a now achingly familiar warmth spread through her body, a heavy, concentrated dose -worse than anything yesterday. Did it have a cumulative effect or something? Traces left in the system, compounding with every bite? Before she could ask him - he uncorked the aphrodisiac vial, and downed it. Her eyes widened. What the fuck was he doing?

Then returned to his seat, placing himself in it. She watched as he sat there, his eyes widening - pupils going round and his skin flushing as he stared at her. He was waiting for something. But she knew the aphrodisiac was getting to him, could see the obvious outward reactions to it. His clothes prevented her from seeing the others - the clothes, and the table between them.

“Why the fuck did you do do that?” She hissed. Her legs squirmed against themselves, her body too heavy to do much else. “What...is different about this bite?”

“Different?” He seemed surprised at first, then thoughtful. “There shouldn’t be anything different in this bite than the other two. Just a heavier dose… or it could be that you’re becoming -” he bit his tongue as his eyes widened. “Shit. It could be that you’re becoming addicted to it. Damn it I thought you weren’t close to the limit for that. Fuck.” She knew the truth serum was working, could feel it in her own veins. He didn’t look too happy about revealing that information - or about getting her addicted.

“A-addicted….” Her ears fell flat against her head. She didn’t like the sound of that. Her heart beat heavy, hard and fast against an aching chest. With every slow breath it heaved and she was painfully aware of the feeling of the clothes against her skin. It...was a maddening yet pleasant feeling but she… “I don’t think I crave it.” Ayaka said pensively. “Why? What issue would you have if I did?” She hadn’t meant to ask it, but - the truth serum made whatever came to mind blurt out.

“I…” He shifted, agitated in his seat. “The difference between addicted and non is mild. You crave it, desire the heat, but more, the sex. If the addiction is great, you will go out of your way to pursue the source, or me. I don’t think either of us wants you chasing me if I decide to move on here. We don’t know each other well enough for that.” There was more, she could tell, but she .. hadn’t asked the right question? Or - no, there, like her he was blurting out. “And once you’re addicted, I become in a way responsible for you, according to my culture. Usually it doesn’t matter, Ssulitani only addict their mates, and it is mutual.” He grimaced and looked away. “Please stop breathing so heavily, I can’t help but watch those gorgeous tits of yours and sweet Shadows this serum is potent isn’t it?”

“I made it, what do you fuckin’ expect?” She shot back. “I have to admit-” Her words flowed as freely as they came to her mind, there was no pause between thought and speech. “You don’t pin me as the type to give two shits about customs, or others. “ she shook her head she had to ask what she planned to ask. “How do I get you to give me your toxins?”


“I was going to be the next head of my house. Fucking next best thing to a noble, because my house was a Shadow house. Customs like THAT one, I have to respect.” He turned his head back to her. “I told you. You’re only getting the venom if I inject you, so you have to want to fuck me for that - do you?” He grinned for a moment before pressing on. “For the necrotic agent, I need to know you better and trust you aren’t going to back stab me the moment you have it. I’m not from this fucking world, so all I have is myself and my daggers. Not exactly a whole fucking lot, so I have to safeguard what few things I do have.”

Ayaka’s head rolled forward. Shit. It was getting harder to breathe. She could fight the mental effects of the aphrodisiac but her body. Damn it. “Yes.” She hissed lowly.

“How do I get you to.” That was less a question, despite the words. He sounded hungry, and his voice was hissing and vibrating across the small table.

“It’d take more than your aphrodisiac.” She started, “Fuck… I need someone who can keep up, three years...its been three fucking years. Fuckin’ you tell me. Cause I can’t seem to figure that out. I scare people.” She snorted. She had to focus on her questions. Shit..questions...she had more, she had a list of them she was meant to ask him. What were they?

“Can you move?” His voice was soft, and she could feel his eyes on her.

Ayaka tried, “No.” She mumbled. At most she was able to wriggle herself, her tail twitched against the floor, and she had full movement of her head but beyond that. She was as good as stranded “Not for another several minutes.”

“I want to fuck you, kitten. I want it very, very badly. Do you want me to come over there?” Shit, his voice sounded rough, and he didn’t seem to be caring about her questions any more. Because she couldn’t think straight enough to ask them.

“Y-yes but don’t you fuckin’ dare!” She hissed at him as her eyes shot up to him. They widened when they saw he was already rising, light playing off of his skin in that damn dizzying array. Without a word he had slipped off his large shirt, revealing that he was densely built, thin beneath the baggy shirt.

Dammit….what were the questions? She had to ask them. Her eyes danced to and fro bouncing off the light of his skin. “What do...you….” She had to ask him, what did he want with her. The words were there now, but she struggled to say them. He paused, light gleaming on his body, and he tilted his head to the side.

“What is it?” The serpent man slid closer, invading her space, and she stared up at him, her eyes fixated on the dance of light on his scales. Her body felt that strange heaviness again and she wasn’t sure if it was the paralytic, the aphrodisiac or both. “What….future….” The words had all but slowed from her lips. “Plans?”

“Fuck you until you scream and collapse around me. Figure out if I can eat food in this world, otherwise I won’t live for very long. Long term, either set up a new House for myself, or find a way to return home.” He was close now, his forked tongue dancing against the shell of her ear, teasing her.

Even so, even with that burning heat building up inside of her she struggled to shut her eyes and look away from the man. “Would you...eat people….” The questions came and a slow and steady pace as she shivered against the heat of his body as it stalked closer. A hand had found its way to her shoulder as he ran it up and down her arm. She wanted to ask him what the hell was his interest in her, but the words came out garbled, breathless. “Why...me?”