Characters: Dakota and Eusébio (played by p.)
Content Warnings: Heavy cannibalism. Alcohol mention. References to sexism and past abuse. Suggestive undertones.
Location: The Bonaduce House
This scene takes place during February in New Portsmouth, where a local witch began selling "love potions" that work to amplify whatever feeling the recipients had toward each other (negative or positive). Eusébio requested to try it with someone in the group chat and Dakota, being vaguely familiar with him due to his status as a celebrity chef and a small conversation they'd had, took him up on the offer. This is the first time these two meet in person.
Two acquaintances take a love potion together which amplifies a guiding feeling they both live by: hunger.
Formally informing Dakota of his intent to visit, Eusébio heads over to her house, arriving at 5 PM sharp. She mentioned being free after 3 PM, but he wanted to give her some time to unwind from work. Plus, he needed to pick out a bottle of wine to bring. He never visits a person’s house without bringing over a bottle of wine.
He’s dressed fairly typically (for him), in a white dress shirt and black dress pants, but since this is a casual outing, he has opted to not wear a tie. That’s about as casual as he gets.
Wine in hand, he knocks on Dakota’s door. “Hello, Miss Bonaduce? It’s me, Eusébio.”
After Eusebio sent the notice, Dakota got to work. Locking things away, hiding said keys, preparing some emergency food for herself, the likes.
Her own clothes are loungewear, actually–she figured she’d be dissuaded from going outside if she had to get changed. It’s a black tank top and spiderweb patterned sweatpants.
The door opens. Dakota brightens up. Her smile looks a little wolfish up close, but the entirety of the house smells sickly sweet in a strangely alluring way.
“Eusebio! Hiii!” She can’t believe this is the first time she’s meeting him in person and this is the activity they’re undertaking. “You don’t have to call me that–just Dakota is fine. Come in!” 🥰
Eusébio smiles back, stepping inside. He can’t help but feel a little overdressed, but he doesn’t really have anything more casual anyway. “Dakota.” He repeats it, as if testing it out now that he’s been given permission. “You look well, Dakota.”
He holds out the bottle of wine to her. “I got you this. I wasn’t sure what kind of wine you liked so I brought you a bottle of one of the best sellers at my restaurant.”
Dakota is wondering if Eusebio dressed up for this or if those are his casual clothes. Isn’t that stuffy? Chefs are strange…
“I know.” The answer comes a little too naturally.
At the sight of the wine bottle, Dakota looks mildly surprised. She tentatively takes the bottle, but her reach is a little awkward.
“–oh god. I’m not much of a drinker–” Correction: she doesn’t drink, ever, but she doesn’t want to reject the present! Isn’t that too rude, especially considering the circumstances? “–so you could’ve gotten me like, the cheapest thing and I would’ve been none the wiser. Thank you, though! Have you tried this one before?”
“Oh, you’re welcome, and um, my apologies…” Eusébio scratches the back of his head awkwardly. “I do like a glass of that one with my dinner sometimes.”
He shifts on his feet a little, unsure how to bring up the subject for which he’s here. He thought he’d be fine, but it’s still a little…
Luckily for Eusebio, Dakota is great at dissuading awkwardness and acknowledging the elephant in the room. She closes the door after him and proceeds to lock four locks into place.
“Okay! I decided we could hang out in the upstairs living room for now–it’s more comfortable than anything down here.” That much is true. Dakota’s house is built from dark woods and gloomy furniture. The staircase she leads Eusebio up to has an ornate stained glass window by it that shines light onto the upstairs hallway.
“I also have a few weapons for you just in case. And a radiator you can chain me to if worst comes to worst.” 😌
That does sound nice and cozy… Eusébio gets a little distracted, thinking about their evening plans and admiring Dakota’s house, but one word snaps him back to reality.
“Weapons…?!” Of course, she had already mentioned this, but part of him was hoping she wasn’t being serious. This is now the second time a woman has invited him over and encouraged him to arm himself, and he was afraid of it becoming a trend. “U-understood…”
Women just by nature encourage Eusebio to arm himself. Something about him is oddly defenseless. Dakota bets he can wield a masterful knife, though.
As a matter of fact–there’s a kitchen knife on the coffee table! As well as a taser. This living room is small but clearly more used–the couch has divots on it from overuse and a lot of random and frankly nerdy trinkets are scattered around.
Next to the knife and the taser lies a singular glass vial. The titular love potion.
“..Parvaneh didn’t really tell me what to pair it with..?”
Eusébio picks up the knife, inspecting the heft of it. It’s nice, but he wouldn’t use it in his own kitchen. He places it back down, smiling at Dakota. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d be curious to try the potion on its own. I don’t want anything else diluting the flavor.”
It clearly hasn’t been used at all–or if it has, not for its intended purpose. The blade is a little dull.
“Hmm…that makes sense. Gotta know what an ingredient is like before putting it in random stuff!”
She takes a seat on the couch and makes a hand motion for Eusebio to join her. In lieu of shot glasses she has two mugs set up.
“Okay…I think I’m supposed to do half and half..? I’m so bad at eyeballing measurements…”
Now he wishes he had brought his knife-sharpening tools… A dull knife just makes him sad to see.
Eusébio takes a seat on the couch next to her, leaving a chaste bit of distance between them. “Allow me.” He takes the potion vial, and perfectly pours half in one mug and half in the other. “There we go.”
Dakota is a bad cook that knows nothing about kitchen etiquette. Plus a scalpel works just as well anyway!
She watches him pour the vials, impressed by his precision. Chefs really are something else…
“That’s a great party trick.” She doesn’t think Eusebio goes to parties where people show off tricks. “Alright! Let’s try this out then!” 🥰
Dakota would be correct about that.
“Cheers.” He holds out his mug to clink against hers, then takes a sip. He kind of swishes the liquid in his mouth a little, trying to coat his tongue with it to really get the flavor, like when one is tasting wine.
Then, he swallows down the rest of his mug.
The other one of Parvaneh’s potions Dakota had was a sip of a fizzy soda she didn’t think would be a truth serum. And that was incredibly strange in general–she remembers words spilling out of her without any thought put into them at all. Part of her planning for this was expecting that lack of self control to come again. But it doesn’t.
The potion tastes mildly sweet and odd in a way. Dakota never realised sweets never tasted the same as they did before until just this moment–when the potion reminds her of how good milkshakes and chocolate and tarts were on her tongue. The taste had been lost to her without her knowledge. It’s a weird realisation to have.
She puts the mug down, leans on the couch, and looks at Eusebio. Running through a mental checklist. Does she want to eat him? Yes. Enough to attack him? No, because he’s a relatively nice (and well known) person and his absence would be both undeserved and noticed by the general public. This, in turn, becomes: ‘oh god, have I seriously been encouraging you to go out and hunt supernatural creatures when you’re a squishy human? What the fuck am I thinking? You’ll die if you go outside!’ and that’s something she didn’t factor in when contingency planning.
She’s also weirdly jealous, something completely unnoticed before this. It makes sense–Eusebio got his successes and riches and he didn’t have to pay for it. He’s alive and well and staying in New Portsmouth because he wants to, and isn’t that enviable?
What she says, in turn, is: “this is fucking weird.”
Eusébio actually rather likes the sweet taste, though it’s not something he’d consider good enough to tasting again. Especially given the side effects.
Speaking of… He looks at Dakota, feeling a whole assortment of new emotions. First of all, he hadn’t noticed how pretty she was before. Well, that’s not true, he definitely had, but had simply tucked the thought away in the back of his mind. It wasn’t very professional of him. Not only that, he suddenly feels very anxious and somewhat embarrassed. This is the Dakota Bonaduce, after all. She’s a celebrity! He has to be at his best in front of her… He sits up a little straighter, and almost instinctively asks ‘can I get you anything?’ before remembering he’s in her house, which is even worse. How rude of him to not offer to host!!
He clears his throat. “Q-quite.”
Okay, so maybe most of her planning was in case she wanted to kill Eusebio. And maybe that left little space for anything else she could feel under the circumstances. Now she feels a little stupid for not thinking about it. Any celebrity near her age was always met with a fair share of that competitive spirit and inevitable comparison. How did you make it big and how do I compare? And so on, and so forth.
Eusebio built his way up fairly for a tangible talent that has followed him into his adult life. And Dakota Bonaduce is meant to be dead. Anyone is bound to feel bitter under the circumstances, but she knows it’s not his fault. So there’s that factor, too. Pity. Both of them killed their shots at having a semblance of a normal life.
Contrasting Eusebio’s stiffer position, Dakota relaxes into her seat, crossing one leg over the other. She tilts her head to the side some.
“I didn’t realise how weird it’d be to meet a new celebrity after so long.” She doesn’t have the energy to put up the usual cheer in her voice, but her words are genuine, for what it’s worth. “Was it hard for you, when you were younger? I can’t imagine people were all that nice to you sometimes.”
cw: referenced sexism and transphobia
Eusébio’s eyes widen a little. That question surprises him a little. Surely it was very hard for her growing up and being a child actor? Compared to the hardships of that…
No, she asked him for a reason, so he’ll answer her honestly. “… It was hell, when I was younger. I wasn’t out to anyone but my mom and my siblings for a long time, so even though I was working my fingers to the bone in the kitchen, both at work and at home, I never really got recognized… It was always, ‘Oh,’” he mutters, “‘you’re so pretty and such a good cook, you’re going to make a great wife someday!’, as if that was why I was pursuing my passion for cooking… I wanted to scream that I couldn’t care less about that, but our family was already in such a rocky position in our community after my father died, and not everyone was… So accepting of people like me.” He closes his eyes, seemingly recalling something painful.
“Even my big TV debut, the moment that launched my career, is a bad memory for me. For a lot of our friends and family that was the first time they had heard my new name, and what should have been a moment to celebrate with our loved ones just made life back home even harder for my mom… My mom was the only person who ever really supported me in anything that I did, who treated me with any genuine kindness, though if you ask the people back home now that I’m rich and famous they’d tell you they were right there with me…” He purses his lips and wipes the corner of his eye. “… Sorry, that was… I didn’t mean to go on for so long.”
Oh. He–
There it is again, the swelling feeling of pity and sympathy and protectiveness that makes Dakota’s chest hurt in an unnaturally acute way. She felt it the first few times she met Jet, who was completely oblivious to the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, and then when meeting Jesse Rivers again–grown up and alive but clueless about the time they spent together.
Girls like her aren’t supposed to care for people this way, so she hates it. She hates the way it makes her sharp eyes soften when she looks at Eusebio. Her demeanor changes–the suffocating smell of perfume in the house fades to a lingering aftereffect.
“No, it’s–” GAH. Her voice sounds way too raw and pained. She cleared her throat. “It’s okay. It just-”
For someone that hasn’t cried a lot in her life, tears just seem to be coming easy these days. She fans at herself as if that’ll somehow stop them from spreading.
“It’s really hard, isn’t it? And they always just throw us to the wolves.” She’s surprised Eusebio got out unscathed. Maybe cooking reality shows are different that way. “You–you did really well. You survived really well. Better than most of us, I think.”
Uh oh. He didn’t mean to make her cry. His mom always said that men who make women cry are better off dead. He panics momentarily. “Um, uh,” He pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket (he always carries one on him) and hands it to her. “Here…”
He frowns. “It’s… It’s very hard. I don’t want to presume to understand what you went through, but I’m sure it was hard for you, too, Dakota.” He tries his best to smile at her. “But we’re both still here, right?”
The sight of the handkerchief makes Dakota burst out laughing–loud and genuine and surprised. She dabs at her eyes with it and despite it looking like she as some sort of makeup on, the handkerchief comes out completely clean.
“Yeah. I mean–” Curse this stupid potion. She’s meant to be tight-lipped! “Technically.”
She toys with the ends of the handkerchief and idly wonders to herself if Eusebio always carries one of those.
“Someone killed me. Years ago. I came back all wrong. So I mean it when I say you survived really well. I’m kinda jealous, actually.”
“Someone…” His eyes widen with horror. “Killed you?” That… Explains a lot, actually. Her ‘special diet’, and also the fact that she was apparently fine with him using that knife on her… Still, he feels a sort of rage boiling up inside him. How dare someone do that to her…!
“Do you…” He opens his mouth to ask her something, but then decides against it. Probably best not. “No… Um… W-well, you…” He wants to say something but his mind is drawing a blank. What is he supposed to say to that that doesn’t sound rude?! “… Do you want a hug?”
It’s weird. She’s explained her condition to a few people, but this is the first time she’s told anyone in New Portsmouth how she got to that point. Isn’t that awkward? Isn’t it weird that she trusts Eusebio enough to tell him? Her contingency plan really didn’t account for this.
The awkwardness makes her laugh again, earnest. Death as a subject isn’t heavy to her–it can’t be, considering her line of work, but it’s a little different talking about your own death, she thinks.
In lieu of an answer she leans against Eusebio, tilting her head up at the ceiling.
(cw metaphor for grooming/sexual assault) ||“It was a director I’d worked with for years, so I really trusted him. Thought we understood each other. He took me to a warehouse and sacrificed me–for success, I think. He said it was a necessary evil, and that I would’ve understood if I was in his position. I think I was supposed to stay dead.”||
Eusébio isn’t really sure if that’s a yes or no to a hug, but when she leans against him he boldly sort of. Wraps one arm around her in a half-hug.
Then his expression twists with a mixture of anger and horror. “Wh… What…?!” He grits his teeth, trying to fight back the burning, dry feeling in his eyes. “N… Necessary? What about something like that could possibly be…” Shutting his eyes, he pulls her into a full hug now. “… Dakota, I’m so sorry…”
She wonders how close Eusebio is to the other people in New Portsmouth. She’d really hate if this got out. Something about being pitied, she thinks.
Again with the laugh–maybe that part comes from not knowing how else to react to sympathy. She doesn’t allow it too often, and the feeling is strange and warm and strangely enough helps that initial jealousy of Eusebio’s success. Simulated even ground, now that he knows why she disappeared from the public eye.
“You’ve gotta be careful out there.” This is the protectiveness. When she hugs back her grip is a little tight. “Really, really careful. Everyone with money and fame wants to take others down to get more. That’s just how it works.”
Eusébio rests his head on her shoulder. This is… Nice. Honestly, now that they’ve both bared their guts to each other, Eusébio doesn’t feel as nervous around her. “… I will, Dakota. I promise.”
This sort of thing is comfortable, but it helps Dakota understand why it’s so scarce in her life. Obtaining the guts to spill your whole heart out to someone without the aid of a love potion is simply impossible.
Silence lingers in the air for a second or so, but Dakota isn’t very good at sitting in it.
“…guess the potion works really well. This is so weird.”
Eusébio chuckles. “I agree completely with you there.” He hasn’t really had magic done to him before, so he doesn’t know if it’s always like this, but if this is the norm then he’ll probably try to avoid it in the future. It’s very intense!
But not all bad… Eusébio can’t remember the last time he’s hugged someone like this. “… Is there anything you want to do…? Um, besides cry together?” He laughs awkwardly.
Parvaneh’s magic is unique in how much it really is magic. They can do practically anything, and provide it to other people in turn. Most people have narrow specialties, at that.
“Mm…” Now that her eating Eusebio is no longer a concern (she thinks)…
“Have you ever interacted with someone that can manipulate flesh before?” A/N: Dakota has no clue Eusebio is one of them.
<— Clueless.
“Hmm? I don’t believe so.” He tries to think. “I haven’t really interacted with too many people in town, and of the people I’ve interacted with, I don’t think any used magic in front of me.” A/N: Eusébio has no clue Eusébio is one of them.
“Mm…” Considering something. Parvaneh should warn somewhere that these potions completely eliminate your impulse control. This is clearly not just a Dakota specific issue.
“Do you want to see a magic trick, then?” <- but imagine it has devilish horns.
Oh boy a magic trick! “Sure, I’d love to.”
“It might get a little weird.” Understatement of the century. “Is that okay?”
Weird how? Still, he trusts her. “Yeah. that’s okay.”
A nod. Dakota lets go of Eusebio and pulls away some.
(cw light gore) ||From her wrists, like tendrils, escape her veins, with blood still pumping through them. They hang from Dakota’s wrist like string, but begin to move, closer to Eusebio.||
“I need to poke you with these. Can you pull back your sleeve for a moment?”
Eusébio’s eyes open wide, but he’s more fascinated than anything. “Alright.” He obediently pulls his sleeve back.
Yay! He didn’t run away screaming! That makes things easier.
||One of the veins pokes into Eusebio’s skin and attaches itself to him. There’s a faint sensation of it wriggling around, looking for something.|| Whatever it is, it finds it, and then–
You’re used to your body being in the same, self-governed rhythm, and it’s never a conscious thought. You just know that you are functioning as you are meant to and that’s that.
Not right now, though.
All of a sudden, Eusebio can feel someone else’s body thrum along with his–the way both of their hearts shift to match the beating pattern, and their respiratory system slows its processes for a second or two to allow the exact same amount of oxygen to enter a body registered as one. It’s not only that: you feel Dakota, next to you, gently putting her other hand on your wrist to keep it still, but you also feel your own wrist on her hand–one with longer nails, feeling the texture of your skin from someone else’s palm.
“It’s–” The words Dakota says almost have a reverb to them–you can feel the exact way her vocal chords and tongue and mouth move to achieve the sounds before she says them. “–I haven’t gotten the hang of it wholly.”
Woah. This is… Strange. But not in a bad way. It’s. Very intimate. Eusébio blushes a little at the thought, then realizes she can probably feel the rush of blood and heat to his face.
“It’s… Wonderful. To feel connected with someone so completely…” He closes his eyes.
The only other person Dakota has done this with was Jet in a moment of desperation. Now that there’s nothing she needs to instantly heal, it’s strange to navigate someone else’s body as if it were her own.
She holds back the urge to laugh at the blood rushing to Eusebio’s face, but it’s impossible to conceal the endorphins released from her body and her abrupt exhalation.
“Isn’t it?” Like a two person hivemind. Eusebio’s heartbeat has probably slowed to accommodate Dakota’s, while hers has sped up to accommodate his. “I don’t know if you can do anything to me like this, but I know how to alter your body’s functions this way. It’s how I kept someone from bleeding out, once.”
“I don’t think I have any magic…” Not that he’s aware of, anyway. “I was surprised at just how common it is in this town. And your magic seems really amazing… If I had magic like this, it’d be amazing to bond with someone like this and then have them try my cooking… I always taste my food before serving of course, but… You know. It’s different…”
“That’s actually the reason why I came to New Portsmouth in the first place. Before dying I didn’t even know there was a secret world, and..I guess part of coping is trying to understand as much of it as you can.”
She looks up in thought.
“I mean. We could try it now? I’d have to untether us so you can cook, but…”
He immediately opens his eyes in delight. “I’d love to cook for you!”
Dakota’s heart swells for a second. He looks so cute when he’s excited. Eusebio can probably feel that rush of fondness before Dakota pulls away, with her veins snapping back inside her wrists like rubber bands.
“Oh, god–my kitchen is probably like, the worst for this.” Now she’s embarrassed…
He does feel it, and it causes his face to flush a little again. He clears his throat. “I doubt it could be that bad…” Well. His eyes fall on the dull knife again. Maybe it could be that bad. “I’ll make it work.” He’d offer to go back to his house boat with her, but he wouldn’t want to make her have to get dressed.
Dakota’s tactic to put on loungewear works against her now. How did she not prepare for Eusebio wanting to do his life’s passion. Geez…
“Are–are you sure?” Eusebio. The tone of her voice indicates it’s more dire than you know. “..I think I have like….three things in my fridge…”
Damn. Kind of sounding like he can’t make it work… “Ah… Maybe we could… Go back to my place, then…?” He was trying to avoid it if he could but it seems like there’s no other choice.
Not that he doesn’t want her to visit or anything, just… As he said in my last reply he didn’t want to make her get dressed.
She faintly remembers Eusebio mentioning living in a house boat. She’s never seen one of those in real life before. Isn’t that exciting?
Maybe it’s just the potion that’s making her so jittery.
“Yeah! Hopefully it’s not too far of a wal–” She looks down at her clothing. “I should probably put on something nicer to go outside, huh.” Next to Eusebio, she looks vastly underdressed, too.
It’s a bit of a walk. At least there’ll be food after.
“Y-yeah.” He doesn’t bring that up. Going for a walk might be nice. “Um, I can wait by the front door while you get dressed if you’d like? Or wait here? Whichever you’d prefer.”
“You can wait here.” ^^. Chat she doesn’t know about the trek that awaits them.
“I’ll be right back then!” She stands up and hurries out of the living room to throw something else on.
Five minutes later, she’s back! The only difference in her outfit is that she’s wearing actual jeans (with a skeleton pattern bleached onto them) and a jacket on top.
“Okay! You ready to head out?”
He’s really wishing he had a car or something, though they’re not super useful in a small town like this and it’s not like he has a garage. He does have a car back home in New York, but…
He smiles at her. “Yeah! I’m good to go if you are.”
Dakota’s hearse is back at the funeral home. But she is also blissfully unaware of how far away Eusebio’s house actually is.
“Okay!” They head back down. Dakota locks the four locks on her door before leaving. The only things she has with her are her keys and her phone.
The air is bitingly cold. It rained very lightly sometime between Eusebio arriving and them leaving, so the paths are all slightly wet.
It is pretty cold… Eusébio is really wishing he had brought a coat or something. “I’ll lead the way.” He starts walking, trying to stay beside her as he does so.
The cold evening air, fresh after the rain, is actually pretty nice, now that he’s had some time to adjust to it. He smiles as he walks, looking around.
Despite having disconnected herself from Eusebio, it feels a little easier to read his body now that she got familiarised with it. She feels his body temperature lower like a low, distant thrum.
Dakota misses being cold.
She wraps an arm around Eusebio, swaying him slightly from side to side as they walk while humming something nonconsequential. It’s horrendously out of pitch.
Oh. Eusébio sways along with her, blushing slightly. He’s not really used to physical contact like this but… It’s not bad. Maybe he’s been kind of craving something like this.
“S-so, um, Dakota, how long have you been in New Portsmouth?” That seems like kind of a lame icebreaker question to ask someone he just gave access to all of his bodily functions a few minutes ago. But suddenly the silence seemed overwhelming to him.
Dakota has always been an incredibly affectionate person. It’s just that she typically leaves the affection for times beyond your first time meeting someone in person. The potion, however, is making her feel like she’s known Eusebio for years. And she has, in a way, right? They both watched each other on screens before meeting, and isn’t that a unique sort of bond?
“Mm…” She’s been starting to lose track of time lately. “…..seven years, I think? I started living here when I was nineteen. I used to go out and travel more often but I don’t see the point in it nowadays.”
“Seven years, huh…?” That’s a long time. It’s hard for him to think about that… His life seems to go by so fast these days. “… Do you like it here? I’ve only been here a month, and was planning on leaving after I trained a replacement head chef for Tantalus but…”
He pauses for a moment, getting swayed silently. “It might be nice to stay awhile…”
It makes sense, especially because Eusebio has set up restaurants before and never sticks around for long. But Dakota still feels that sting of abandonment at the thought of him leaving.
Stupid potion.
“I like it. It’s slow, and quiet, and boring, and the weather is literally always shit. But…”
Does her grip tighten a little? It’s hard to tell.
“It’s nice here. It’s the only place I feel like I can relax in. I’d be really happy if you stayed with us a little longer.”
Maybe hard to tell. But… “… Well, I have been liking the people here so far.” He looks at her with a smile. “Plus, I’ve got more ideas that I can really only do here… So I wouldn’t mind staying put for awhile.”
“We all kind of suck.” ^^. She says this in the fondest tone imaginable, however.
“Whaaat..kind of ideas?” Headtilt.
“Well…” He looks out at the water. “All of my restaurants thus far have catered to a mundane clientele, but here in New Portsmouth, I’ve got an opportunity to branch out… Reach new people. Try new things.”
Then he grins at her. “You actually gave me the idea, Dakota.”
Dakota looks back. Smiles, all earnest and girlish.
“Really? Here I thought I was being too pushy about making you collaborate with our crowd.”
She has a nice smile…
“Not at all… I’ve honestly been looking for something exciting… The thrill I got when I first became embroiled in all of this magic stuff…” He sighs, leaning back against her. “It’s not unlike the thrill I felt when I first became interested in cooking…”
That thrill… “I get it. I was the exact same way. You should’ve seen the way I interrogated others with my font when I was younger. It’s like discovering a whole other life. The whole world felt different to me afterward.”
That, of course, was if she ignored her own ailments. But it didn’t take the fun out of the learning.
“Was there anything in particular that made you start cooking, or was it just…” Hand motions. “..household stuff?”
Eusébio frowns. “Well, I did like helping my mom out with the cooking, but that’s not really… What really got me into cooking…” He looks down, his brow furrowing with an old anger. (cw: child abuse) ||“My father would sometimes withhold food from us, if he was in a particularly bad mood… After he died, I just… I wanted to be as far from the type of man he was as possible.”||
“We went to Church on Sunday every week. And…” His face flushes a lot more strongly now. “… Haha… I’m usually pretty proud of this story but right now it feels kind of embarrassing… You know there’s a lot of stories in the Bible with Jesus feeding people…? Well… I just kind of came to the notion that the best kind of man is someone who feeds others. Particularly, the Communion, the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus’s body to feed his faithful… That kind of devotion to feeding people is what drives me to cook… Even if I have to sacrifice my body…”
He remembers Dakota talking about eating him. “M-m-metaphorically, of course!”
It’s always something about the way you were raised, isn’t it? And there it is again, that flare up of protectiveness over Eusebio and his squishy insides and his strange sort of fame. Annoying.
She listens attentively, quiet, eyes fixed on Eusebio despite their walk. She doesn’t know where they’re going anyway and she knows no other way to imply how much she cares about him in this moment.
The end of the story makes her laugh. She has no reason to believe in any sort of god, but hearing about Eusebio’s faith feels charming now. He’s a good person. Nice and caring in all the right ways. She thinks the smartest thing to do would be to protect him from people like her but she’s selfish enough to not do it regardless.
“But it’s such a tradition to eat Jesus! Don’t you want to take that next step?” She says it lightly, but there’s that strange undertone to it. Her teeth are oddly sharp. Did you notice before, Eusebio?
“That’s sweet, though. I like it. What you mentioned before when we talked, about hunger…it makes more sense now. I’m glad the church helped you find your passion that way. Even if you had to go that hungry to find it.”
He has thought about that but he’s not ready to die just yet.
“I’m glad, too… I consider myself very blessed to be where I am today…” He stops walking for a moment. “Um, could I hug you again…?”
The more she loves someone the more she wants to consume them. It’s a neverending cycle and the reason for her contingency plan. But they’re away from her house now.
She brightens up a little more–if that’s even possible.
“Of course! You don’t have to ask.” Dakota certainly hasn’t been asking…whoops…
Eusébio smiles softly. He would feel bad about hugging her unannounced but he doesn’t mind when she does it. He shifts from their sort of half-hugging position to pull her into a full hug.
He’s not usually such a huggy person. Maybe it’s the potion?
She hugs back, naturally. Tight and clingy in a way she typically only reserves for people she knows can’t leave her.
It’s absolutely the potion. She wonders if she’ll regret this when it fades away. But it feels so good, to be so intimately connected to someone. It’s been so long. She hopes the feeling never goes away.
(But she’s still her, of course. She breathes in. What does Eusebio smell like up close?)
(Eusébio smells like fresh chopped herbs and aromatic wood smoke, with a briny hint of sea salt. <:amen:1271739614838784000>)
It’s enough. It’s great. He’s a chef: of course he smells like something intricately prepared, but she can still smell the blood underneath. Dakota bites her own tongue instead. She doesn’t want to get into the habit of betraying people’s trust.
Eusébio has no idea how delicious he smells. Well, that’s not true, he’s aware he probably smells like the things he cooks. But he isn’t aware of just how that’s affecting Dakota…
After lingering in the hug for a while, Eusébio pulls away, wiping his eyes again. “Thank you…” He smiles at her and then moves so he’s right up against her side again. “I don’t think it’s that much further now.”
It’s the damn fondness. This always happens. It’s impossible to get close to people without wanting to consume them. And what all is there to want in the living world anyway? It’s impossible to keep the people she loves safe.
Dakota takes another deep breath and tries to remind herself of the potion at work.
“It’s my pleasure.” ^^. It really is. They go back to walking. Dakota tries to focus on the scent of humidity and rain. “I didn’t expect your house to be this far. I could’ve picked you up if you didn’t want to walk all the way.” <:pleadkiss:1271739376279359532>
“Picked me up?” Does he look like that light to her…? She’s not that much taller than him… He pouts a little bit.
Oh wait, she’s some kind of… Well, he doesn’t know what she is, but she’s probably not… Full human, right? So maybe she’s super strong… He’s never been carried before… “… You know, I am feeling pretty tired from walking….” He gives her a mischievous little smile.
Definitely the potion at work. Normally he’d never feel comfortable enough with someone for that.
She meant with her hearse. But she could have also meant the other reasoning (which she usually doesn’t do, because New Portsmouth’s unnaturally tall population leaves her far shorter than she would be if she lived in a normal town).
But the thrill of doing new things and staying skin-to-skin with Eusebio is too fun to pass up. So she brightens up, does a little noise between a cheer and a yip.
“Okay! I promise it’s not because you’re super light, I can just exert myself more than the average person.” She knows this because she’s always carrying bodies from place to place anyway!
And it really is near-effortless, the way she swoops Eusebio up into a princess carry like he’s a very small sack of potatoes. Her grip is a little too tight–probably insurance, because corpses make no effort to stay upright in the first place.
“Is this okay?” ^^
Even though he literally asked for it and knew it was coming, Eusébio still goes ‘eep!’ as he’s scooped up off the ground. He wraps an arm around her for support. “Y-yeah, this is okay!”
This is… Wow. If she can still feel theit connection at all, she can probably feel his heart racing a little bit. “Um, my house boat is the first one on the docks walking from this direction. It’s right in front of my restaurant.” Not that she needs to carry him the rest of the way if she doesn’t want to…
The adrenaline rush of successfully carrying a living person is a crazy thing. She wants to run laps now. But she won’t, because she still gets person-tired.
She can’t feel the connection anymore, but touching people always attunes her to them a little more acutely. She chalks it up to the anxiety of trusting someone to not drop you and leaves it at that.
“Mmm….gotcha.” Now to see if she’s able to navigate there is a completely different story. “Have you guys gotten any extra measures for the kelpies?” Since they’re like Right There.
Yeah, definitely something like that.
“We haven’t had any problems thus far… I think they might have additional safeguards around the docks or something.” From his understanding, the kelpie attacks mostly happen further out in the bay, but he doesn’t really know why.
After a very, very long walk, they finally reach Eusebio’s house boat. It’s very sleek and modern looking, with a lot of tinted glass walls.
“Ahhh…that’s good to know. Imagine if you’d met a kelpie before finding out about any of this! That would’ve been bad.” She wonders if Eusebio would’ve tried eating it, too…?
Wait. She was literally the one who told him not to eat kelpies. Damn.
“Oh, shit.” At his house. “It’s way more modern than I was expecting. I don’t know why I was thinking of like…a pirate ship or something.” Siomha’s boat to the side probably does not help. She carefully puts Eusebio back down on the ground and stretches some.
“Does it feel weird to always stay on moving water?”
He totally would’ve tried eating one. Good thing he posted about it online and everyone yelled at him not to, even if he was kind of bummed out.
“A pirate ship?” He chuckles. “I won’t lie, when I was looking for house boats I wasn’t sure what they were going to be like… Frankly I didn’t even know where to look.” He waves his hand a little. “Thankfully, my brother handles most of that stuff anyway. I like what he got me.”
He steps up onto the deck, and then pulls out his key to open the door and lead Dakota inside. It’s not the biggest space, but there are two floors. Most of the bottom floor is taken up by the kitchen and dining area. The kitchen is extremely well furbished and professional, like something you might see on the set of a cooking show.
“I’ve gotten used to it over time. My first restaurant, Paragon, is on a cruise ship, so spending lots of time on the water is pretty natural to me.”
It really wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the parasite (?) inside the kelpies. Otherwise, Dakota would’ve been the first to encourage it.
“Ohhh. Family business, huh?” It makes sense–all that administration must take away from any actual chef work.
She walks inside, suddenly self conscious about her own mess of a kitchen back home. It’s thoroughly unsurprising that even in his own personal home, the kitchen is decked out to the max.
“Mmm. I getcha. I could never handle any sort of ships back when I was younger. Haven’t tried since, so this’ll be interesting!” ^^
“Something like that. My brother handles all the finances and stuff… I don’t really have a head for it.” He smiles at her. “As for the boat, it should be mostly stable since we’re docked. Let me know if it gets too much, though, Tantalus is across the street and closed right now so we could have some more grounded seating…”
He shows her to a comfy seat in the dining area, and then heads into the kitchen, putting a hand to his chin in thought. “Is there anything in particular you’re interested in? Or anything you really like?”
“Mm. I getcha. Me neither.” Her finances are in a constant state of disaster and the only reason she’s staying afloat is that sometimes she robs people after killing them.
Even though Eusebio expects her to sit, she decides to follow him into the kitchen for now. It’s big enough that she’ll hopefully be able to stay out of Eusebio’s way in the process.
He asks what she’d like to eat. While he’s not looking her eyes stay fixed on him and she feels an excess of drool pile up in her mouth.
“Anything mundane to me tastes way less strongly than it would if I was still alive. So…if you can figure out how to make something intense for me to taste it. I’d be happy.” ^^
<– Clueless
“Hmm… Something intense, huh?” Eusébio nods. He spins around, expecting her to be in the chair, and jumps a little in surprise when he sees she followed him. Not that he minds… He gives her a soft smile. “I think I’ve got just the thing in mind.”
He starts to gather ingredients, his mind shifting into cooking focus mode.
It’s always fascinating seeing people do the things they’re most passionate about. Dakota doesn’t mind his focus–she leans on a useless-looking counter and watches in silence as Eusebio works, her heart swelling with an unfamiliar fondness.
(It’s good, too, that they’re in Eusebio’s domain, because he can defend himself if anything happens. She’d hate to stain his kitchen with blood, though.)
Eusébio is obviously in his element in the kitchen. It’s apparent to anyone who watches him cook. While it’s not the first time Dakota has seen him cooking (since she said she watched his show), it’s completely different in person. Not to mention, The Knife was 5 years ago. His focus and grace with a blade and in the tight quarters of a kitchen have only deepened since then.
The meal he was planning for her only takes him a little over half an hour to fully prep and cook. When it’s done, he presents it to her, and walks her through each dish like he’s serving it at his restaurant. “The first thing I’ve prepared for you is some blistered cherry tomatoes… They’re very simply roasted in the oven with olive oil, cloves of garlic, and salt, but the flavor is remarkably intense. They’re great spread with a knife on some warm crostini, which I have also provided.”
“The main dish is a miso pomodoro pasta, with mushrooms and an egg yolk in the center. The miso and mushrooms add a lot of umami to the dish, giving it a very intense savory flavor.”
“Finally, since you said you don’t drink, I’ve prepared a basil and lemon mocktail. It’s simply crushed basil leaves, a pinch of sugar, a non-alcoholic tequila, lemon juice, and the egg white I set aside while making the pasta, shaken and then strained over ice and topped with sparkling water.”
He grins. “I hope you enjoy.”
She faintly wishes she’d rewatched The Knife before meeting up with Eusebio, because the memory of his process is so faint she only vaguely thinks he’s gotten better. He has all the air of a professional now.
Dakota clasps her hands together in delight while he runs her through each meal. These types of luxuries–fancy, over the top meals–are something she hasn’t given herself in ages. And she didn’t even have to experience Tantalus’s awful (for her) gimmick for it!
“I know I will.” Even if she can barely feel the taste, knowing Eusebio prepared all of this just for her makes her happy.
“Now, to repay you…” She takes her jacket off and leaves it on the seat next to her. ||There’s her veins again, escaping her wrists as naturally as a set of tentacles.||
“Come here. Let’s try it together.” ^^
Eusébio eagerly walks over, pulling his sleeve up again as he sits next to Dakota. He holds his arm out to her, heart racing again as he readies himself for the experience. “I’m looking forward to it…”
It’s easier now since they’ve done it before, and there’s two little holes on each of Eusebio’s wrists where Dakota dug into him before. She does the exact same now. The connection comes faster and just as acute as it was last time.
This time, however, there is a massive difference in what he can feel from Dakota.
Above all there is an intense, aching hunger. ||She has been chewing on her cheeks and tongue now and you somehow manage to taste her own blood on her own mouth.|| Her heartrate is faster than it is last time. Something in your body is telling you to prepare.
Dakota, externally, looks the same as she always does. Her teeth were always this sharp, right?
The movement of her hands to hold a knife is a little awkward and uncoordinated; Eusebio’s hands move, too, and Dakota laughs to herself, fumbling with the utensil.
“Thank you, again,” she says as she finally manages to spread the tomatoes on the bread. “I really appreciate it. I hope it doesn’t feel too weird to do this.”
She bites into it. The motions are familiar to her. The taste of seasoning and warmth is mixed with the iron of the blood in Dakota’s mouth. She tastes it all, and it’s strong enough to feel it, but Eusebio, this is the blandest your food has ever tasted, somehow. It’s not enough. It doesn’t nearly feel like enough.
“It’s not weird at all. It’s… Amazing…” The hunger hits him. Hits his whole body. Hits his Flesh. He tastes the blood in her mouth. Then he tastes his own food through her mouth and…
She’s right. It’s not enough. It’s not enough to fill the void in his stomach. His eyes… Start to change. Their usual orange-ish color becomes darker, a deep, blood red. They feel dry. Dakota can feel the dryness. The burning.
Her hunger becomes his hunger. Their hunger feeds on itself and becomes hungrier. Through his eyes, she can see it, as their Flesh magics mingle together. See the lines, the instructions. Like a diagram for cuts of beef. Where the body splits. The spaces between the bones. Where to cut. What to 🟥🟥🟥. The 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥 bits of 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥.
They feel drool dribbling down their chin. Whose chin? Who feels it? Does it matter? They are hungry… So hungry… Their muscles ache and burn to reach out. And cut it.
Oh. Oh. Oh.
This is it. It makes so much sense now–of course Eusebio is so attuned to what he does. Of course he’s a natural. Of course, of course, of course.
She can’t think straight enough to be anything but ravenous at that fact. The hunger is deep and acute and more painful than any type of hunger she’s felt throughout her entire life as a demon.
“Fuck.” Her voice is almost a growl. She didn’t plan for this. Of course she didn’t. How could she have known? How could either of them have known?
She feels a little bad Eusebio’s lovingly crafted meal didn’t even scratch the surface. She finishes it anyway–of course she does, and her eyes are fixed on the plate because if she looks at Eusebio, with the knowledge he’s granted the both of them, it’ll be completely and entirely over.
But when the plates are empty, nothing has changed. She musters up enough sense through the hunger fog to tell him, strained:
“I can…..heal us…..after this.”
Eusébio has never felt… This. His talent was a gift from God, right? His visions… Were given to him by God Himself… Right?
So why is it that when he looks at Dakota, he can… See… Where she comes apart… He tears his gaze away from her, sweat forming on his face as he strains to look away. He can’t look at her. Neither of them can look at the other or what happens next will be…
A 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥.
There’s nothing divine about this. This is…
And then Dakota speaks. He knows what she means. Of course he does. But he still has to… He still has to… “H… Heal us from what?”
She’s used to being finely attuned to flesh but this is a completely different story. This is an inherent understanding of all the ways to undo it, to expose and consume it in its entirety.
Does Eusebio always see this? Does he know? All this time she really thought he was just a normal man with a deep passion. Things are never that simple.
“Eusebio.” Again, that tone–a voice that comes from her throat and rolls out like a growl. He knows the answer. She knows he knows the answer. He knows she knows he knows the answer.
She can’t think straight. All Dakota is aware of is her hunger and Eusebio’s and his squishy human insides right in front of her. Everything else is rendered completely obsolete.
( When her mouth parts open again, a red liquid not unlike a mixture of blood and drool pours out. She can’t even think to apologise for it. )
…
…
…
“You can heal us…? From… Anything…?”
Even if it wasn’t true she’d lie about it. And it’s a half truth. She’s never tried. But she’s starving and he’s right there and there’s little she can see beyond that.
“Anything.”
“… I only have one condition…” Eusébio puts his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him. “… I… I want to try too.”
It’s completely over the second he turns to face her. Eusebio feels it all like an electric shock: the wave of adrenaline, the blood rushing through Dakota’s body, her eyes widening and tearing up at the sight of him.
“Of course.” And she means it. More desperately and acutely than she’s ever meant anything. Another jolt of adrenaline–her leg twitches.
Eusébio feels it too. Feels the desperation. He’s drooling at the sight of her.
“Then please. Enjoy your meal…”
(cw cannibalism. like, very)
Her coherency is too far gone for her to thank him.
||( Typically, when she eats someone, she rips them apart. Sinking her teeth in and pulling with sheer jaw strength, or digging her claws into the soft parts of their skin and ripping it to shreds not unlike the unwrapping of a present.|| But with Eusebio here, the process is painfully clear and simpler than anything she has seen in her entire life. )
Her nails grow–or were they always like that? Long and sharp and still painted perfectly black. Hard enough to expand the delicate layer of keratin that makes a nail.
She tackles Eusebio–or brings him, or asks him–to the ground, sitting atop of him with the same wide eyes, crystal clear and all-encompassing. His shirt is ripped away with no grace and consideration, but his body itself isn’t given the same treatment. ||She follows the lines–Eusebio’s lines, like a higher being is guiding her hands. Her nails act as a scalpel. Her breathing is so heavy it sounds like she might be dying. Down Eusebio’s sternum, to the left, cutting enough to be substantial but not enough to leave his ribcage see the open air.||
“You’re amazing–” (Always talkative. Always always always. She has a slight lisp from her overgrown canines. Her eyes are shedding tears from the pain of removing Eusebio’s skin while still connected to him). “Fuck–”
||The cut she makes is one of the most beautiful things she’s ever seen. She has half the mind to show it to Eusebio before ripping a chunk out of it, allowing the blood drip onto her chest and down into his below her. She has eaten hundreds of people before, but never like this. Nothing has ever tasted this good.||
(cw cannibalism. there’s gonna be a lot of this.)
Eusébio doesn’t complain or fight back at all as he’s pushed to the ground and cut apart. Throught their connection he can feel everything… ||The sweet taste of his own flesh and blood…||
“Fuck… Dakota…!” He still needs more. The pain is inconsequential. There’s so much adrenaline pumping through him he can’t feel anything but the hunger, and the bliss of sating that hunger. “More!”
He doesn’t want her to kill him. She said she could heal him, but presumably not from death. That being said, there was plenty she could take… Without killing him… He wants to ||taste it. Taste himself. More, more, more…||
“Eusebio–” Like a call, like an echo, like a reminder that the person below her is not her prey but someone sharing the holy experience of eating with her. Even though she’s on top, even though her lips are the ones stained with Eusebio’s blood, they’re wholly and entirely equal.
It helps, then, to know she has to keep him alive. That the symbiosis ends if he fades away from her. His adrenaline is her own, and when she feels any part of his energy fading she pumps hers into his system. Adrenaline and endorphins shared back and forth to keep her other half with her.
||She drifts down to his torso, pumps his iliac arteries full of blood to swell the skin there further and following Eusebio’s lines down to the most acute level. The underside of her nails digs the skin up. With her free hand she squeezes Eusebio’s shoulder and her nails dig into his skin there too.||
||She brings his flesh onto her mouth again and closes her eyes shut. Focuses on the sensation, on the sharp taste of iron coating her mouth and the meat–tough and raw–giving into her teeth. The noise of satisfaction that comes from her throat is primal and uncontrolled. Every cut she makes grows faster and more frantic.||
Their connection allows him to feel everything. Simultaneously he feels his hot blood spilling out of him and ||down Dakota’s throat.|| He said he wondered what it would be like to experience the same sensations as someone eating his food, and now he knew. He knew more intimately than he ever thought possible.
For him, as a chef, this was the ultimate ecstasy. What could show his devotion to his craft more? He was becoming his own magnum opus, a culinary work of art painted in deep crimson. And Dakota was so kind as to share… Even without the adrenaline how could he possibly feel pain in this moment?
She would heal him. He would survive this. Both of these things were true. But he cannot pretend he’ll ever be the same. Ahhh, what will he do? How will he return to the garden of his ignorance now that he’s tasted this forbidden fruit?
He’ll just have to stay in this town forever, and remain close to Dakota, so he can experience this over and over…
Eating like this had never been an enjoyable process for Dakota. She did it because she had to–you eat to survive, you eat to thrive, but she derived no pleasure from ending someone else’s life to feed her own. She justified it, of course (you would do the same for me in my position and you wouldn’t have saved me if you could), but the only reason she craved it was because of the need to survive.
She never respected anyone whose flesh made it into her mouth. So this is different. This is so very different. She acknowledges Eusebio with the reverence and admiration one would give their god, even if he’s under her, even if his flesh is in her mouth. Is that not what a god should be? Should a god not care about you and feed you and keep you alive?
She doesn’t know how she’ll go back to eating out of necessity after this. There is an inherent joy and relief in eating that she feels not just physically but mentally, too. Cutting up Eusebio’s skin and seeing and feeling his joy below her soothes over the years of guilt and all the lives on Dakota’s back.
Eusebio’s abdomen has been thoroughly decimated. He surely would have passed out if it weren’t for the adrenaline. Dakota’s subconscious is already at work, speeding up his blood vessels, making them clot and thickening up his blood to prevent his death.
Her bloodied claws go up to hold Eusebio’s face. She stares into his eyes, frenzied and reverent.
“I love you.” She has never meant it more than she does now.
Eusébio learned it long ago. That feeding others was an act of love… He was feeding her, and through their bond, she was feeding him. He reaches his arms up to put his hands on her hands. In any other circumstance, the pain of moving his arms after Dakota tore into his shoulder would be unbearable, but he feels no pain right now.
Even still, teetering on the edge of consciousness, adrenaline the only thing keeping him awake, speaking is difficult. In spite of it all, he speaks without thinking. He doesn’t need to think about it.
“I love you, too.”
There are dozens of people who have professed their love to Dakota, and she has never believed it as thoroughly as she does now. Even now, at the worst of her, with blood dripping from her mouth and her features shaped into a predatory facsimile of a model, Eusebio loves her and she knows that to be absolute truth.
( In the back of her mind, in the currently fogged-up rational part, she wonders how they will treat each other in the morning. If they’ll go back to indifference or if something has irreparably changed. She hopes it’s the latter. She hopes Eusebio is unable to let go of her from now on. )
She brings his hand to her lips and licks off the blood accumulating in their intertwined fingers. Her canines graze against his skin, but she doesn’t bite.
“Do you…want to try now?”
Of course he loves her even like this. She’s even more beautiful and wonderful now than she was before. Even when the potion wears off, how could he possibly forget this feeling?
The tenderness is welcome, like a light palate cleanser between courses. He nods his head as best he can, staring up into her eyes…
“Please… More than anything…”
She hasn’t felt this close to anyone…ever, actually. Even when she mingled with other flesh users and they intertwined their bodies together. It wasn’t like this. Eusebio looks at her with so much reverence it makes her feel holy.
She nods, and readjusts, carefully helping Eusebio sit up, hands on his back and shoulder. For all the consuming she’s done before, she’s never let anyone go further than surface-level bites. No reason for them to, anyway. Their legs stay intertwined.
“The easiest part to start with is right…” Guiding his hand to the space in between her neck and shoulders. “Here.”
Eusébio also hasn’t really felt this close to someone before. He’s always felt like he was too busy with his work to think about something like love. Before he began his transition lots of people tried to set him up with someone (very unsuccessfully), and after he became famous lots of people approached him to ‘confess their love’… Never before has he felt a genuine connection to anyone like this.
She helps him sit up, and they’re now closer together. She puts his hand on her neck. He doesn’t have claws like her, and he doesn’t have a knife right now, so… He leans forward… He kisses the spot gently, and then ||bites down, hard||. His magic, in addition to showing him the best places to cut and the best bites to eat, increases his adrenaline and muscle strength, so it’s easy ||to tear into her flesh, even with just his normal human canines. He closes his eyes as he tastes her blood spilling into his mouth. It’s… Delicious. Maybe the best thing he’s ever tasted.||
Dakota expected to have to help him through the biting, lend him some strength so he can break skin, but she finds that he obtains it all on his own. The surprise mixed with the pain makes her cry out, half-delighted half-strained.
||Some parts of Dakota–the internal organs, mostly–are only facsimiles of a normal human being’s, enough for her to blend in as one of their own. But there are few ways to mimic all the intricacies of flesh without it actually becoming flesh.|| ||In short: she tastes real. Iron and protein and meat, with only the slightest hint of florals to indicate she’s something else.||
She always wondered. There was no way for her to tell, not really. Her eyes close shut and she hones in all her senses on her shoulder and Eusebio’s taste buds. She’s real and she’s able to repay the favor and she’s overjoyed someone would want her enough to feed on her. Just this once.
“You’re doing amazing.” The hand that was once guiding him to her shoulder is now resting at the nape of Eusebio’s neck, keeping him as close to her as she can. “Keep going.”
||He bites down fully, biting through the flesh and pulling back to tear a chunk off. He chews slowly, as if savoring the flavor of it, before swallowing it down.|| “Dakota…” he mumbles, quiet enough that the only reason she can hear him is because he’s so close to her ear. ||“You taste amazing… I want more of you…” With that, he bites down on her again, his arms wrapping around her, partially to hold her close to him, partially to hold her still while he eats.||
It’ll cancel out. Her body will heal itself from the nourishment she got from Eusebio’s, and there’s little ways for her to die when she has just been fed. The encouragement, then, is second nature.
“You can–” Her breathing is heavy. She didn’t even know it could get like that, normally. This is the first time in years she’s gasped for air. It may be Eusebio’s lungs she’s feeling.
||“Anything you want. Organs, marrow, anything. I’m yours.”||
||He tears another chunk of flesh out of her to eat. “I want all of you…”|| Their previous arrangement is inverted as Eusebio pushes Dakota to the ground. He stares down at her for a moment, as if deciding ||which part to eat first.|| His eyes meet hers, and he traces a finger across one of the lines his magic shows him on her body. Without a knife, this will be messy…
He leans down, and whispers to her. Or maybe he physically can’t raise his voice that high anymore. “Tell me where you want me to start…”
She keeps Eusebio’s blood thick to keep him from passing out, especially with him moving on top of her. If she heals more than she eats it’ll be bad. She doesn’t have it in her to care anymore. The only thing she thinks about is keeping Eusebio alive and functional.
Dakota’s body is unblemished in a way no average human being’s would be. The winter months have added a higher percentage of fat to her body–with warmth being the most desirable thing for people at this current stage. It’s perfect for this purpose.
||Dakota usually eats clumsily and with the intent to kill. This means tackling the organs first. But for someone with a refined palate, an insatiable hunger, and a willing prey…||
||“My thighs.” One of the body’s highest fat deposits.||
If he hadn’t lost so much blood already, that would probably make him blush. He licks his lips, pulling back from her a little. He reaches down to unbutton her jeans, then carefully pulls them off of her. Even in a semi-frenzied state, he doesn’t want to tear her clothes… All the while he’s careful where he moves his arm, so as not to disrupt their magical connection.
||He moves down, placing his head between her legs. Then, as requested, he sinks his teeth deep into her right thigh. It’s… Heavenly. The flavor is even better than he could have imagined. He once more closes his eyes, making a small noise as he savors the taste.||
( It would’ve been fine anyway, because the clothes she’s wearing today are beyond saving, at this point. Especially since it won’t be her priority to wash off the blood once they’re done. )
A few disjointed thoughts appear in her mind when she feels him in between her legs. Eusebio is deeply religious and thoroughly involved with his career–he practically traded his teenage years for professionalism. Has he ever done the normal parts of this before? How would it compare?
||Not that it matters, once he bites in. It’s a different sort of sensitivity than the one she accumulated on her neck, this one heavily aware of their position and in a place Dakota doesn’t typically feel any sensation in. She bites her lip to keep any noise from escaping her, drawing blood which mixes with the blood from her thighs on Eusebio’s mouth.||
She wraps her calves around him, cobra-tight.
(To answer simply… No. Eusébio has never done that before.)
||He takes another bite, this time from her left thigh, as if trying to compare the flavor. He’s never felt such euphoria while eating before. Through their connection he not only experiences the delicious taste, but also the sensation of being eaten. He can hardly take it.||
||He needs more… He needs so much more. “You’re so delicious, Dakota…” He places his hands on her thighs in places he hasn’t bitten yet, moving her legs to bite at a different angle.||
When was the love potion supposed to wear off? Has it? Does it matter? The feelings have only grown in their intensity. They haven’t slowed down at all.
“I love you.” She moves wherever Eusebio wants her. She doesn’t know what else to say. Most coherent trains of thought have left her head, leaving only a fog of garbled garbage in its place.
Something about keeping Eusebio alive, and then love, and then communion, and then his hands moving her thighs. She’s not full yet. Neither of them are.
“–keep–you–” Any other words are impossible to form now.
“I love you, Dakota…” He stops ||biting|| for a moment to plant a few soft kisses. “I love you… I love you…” ||He punctuates that by taking another bite out of her thighs.|| Much like her, he’s kind of losing his ability of think of anything else.
“I’m yours…” Is the last last coherent thought he manages to get out before he loses himself in the ||passion of the feast|| once more.
The sun has long since risen once Dakota fades back into consciousness. There are a few things immediately demanding her attention.
The first one is that she has a hard time opening her eyes. Upon rubbing them and managing, she discovers that ||dried blood had crusted them shut.||
The second is that she is on the floor, and the entirety of her limbs are wrapped around someone else’s. Eusebio’s, naturally. Half her body is draped over his, and the other is under.
Third. She hurts more than she has ever hurt in her entire life. ||Her organs and bones have been exposed for god knows how long.|| It’s the first time her body hasn’t healed itself completely in her sleep.
Fourth. That’s because she healed Eusebio. She must’ve severed their connection eventually, but all of his injuries are only surface level. The bad part: she cared very little for making sure they didn’t scar.
Fifth, and this is the calmest realisation. Holy shit. She might quite literally be dying right now.
Eusébio is fast asleep, cuddled up to Dakota like the night didn’t end with them ||eating each other||. He slowly blinks awake, yawning and shifting. “Good morning, Dakota…”
Suddenly remembering that he ended the night eviscerated, he runs a hand along his bare chest, feeling the spots where he was ||eaten||. He’s all there… But he seems to have some scars leftover. Well… It’s not like he didn’t have scars on his chest before. He decides not to worry about it. He relaxes and settles back in.
He sounds completely fine. That’s good. It’s a relief. If he had died…
“…morning.” Why is her throat so hoarse? Everything hurts. She doesn’t think she could move her body if she tried.
“…so….I don’t wanna alarm you, and I totally know what we need to do, but….” How does she say this. Make it palatable.
“I think I’m like, very slowly dying right now.”
How is he supposed to be not alarmed by that?! He stands up. “Wh-what?! What do I have to do…?!”
Eusebio stands up. Dakota remains limp on the ground. ||Some parts of what Eusebio ate healed, but not nearly enough. Dakota’s body has reached the limit of what it can heal on its own.||
Despite the situation she smiles up at Eusebio. Awfully fond. What the fuck. Does the potion not revert???
“So. I think I left my phone in your kitchen. Can you get it for me?”
Eusébio does what she asks, grabbing her phone and bringing it over to her. He doesn’t know what he’d do if he lost her…
Oh. Wow. That… He’ll interrogate that thought later.
She veeeeery slooowly reaches out for her phone and equally as slowly rolls on her side. Unlocking it. Her fingers are moving so slow…what the fuck…
“Soooo…” TRYING TO PRETEND SHE’S NOT LYING FLESH-EXPOSED ON EUSEBIO’S FLOOR? The awkwardness is certainly back, so the potion did wear off. “..how are you…feeling?”
Eusébio sits down cross-legged next to her. “… I feel pretty good…” He rolls his shoulder to check it. Yeah, it seems fine. “I… Did you heal me so much you can’t heal yourself…?” He frowns.
“…..reckon so.” She’s done texting. Hopefully it’ll be fine..
Is it weird she kind of wishes he was in a little bit of pain?
“..’s never happened before. I’m not much of a healer, I don’t think.”
“… I’m sorry…” He reaches towards her, and then pulls his hand back. “I um…” He blushes, looking away. “I… Had fun… Last night…”
Dakota laughs. It sounds like last night’s laughter: earnest and fond and amused.
“I had fun too.” Even if she has no clue what comes after.
A beat. She thinks she can’t stand silence right now.
“Sorry, can you–get me something to eat? Any sort of red meat will do for now. Just so I can…you know. Move.”
“O-oh, yeah! Of course.” He heads to the kitchen, grabbing some raw beef from his fridge, and bringing it over to her. “Here you go…” He unwraps it, handing it out to her.
“Thanks, babe.” Babe??? Is that weird?? She calls everyone babe but–
Whatever. She doesn’t have to deal with that right now. She ravenously shoves as much of the raw meat as she can into her mouth.
That makes Eusébio flush again. Babe? Has she called him babe before? Is that… Did it mean something…????
He watches her eat, kind of wishing he was the piece of meat smiling fondly.
“…” He scratches the back of his head awkwardly. He kind of wants to talk about the things they said last night. But he’s also not sure if he should. Dakota’s currently really messed up right now… It just seems crass…
The silence is maddening. Why doesn’t Eusebio say anything while she eats????? Why is he just standing there???? They’re barely even wearing clothes and she’s on the floor and his entire nice houseboat is covered in blood–
“…………..I’ll help you with the cleaning fee.” <- half hoping he’ll say no because she doesn’t have nearly as much money as him.
Cleaning f- Oh. Right. He looks around the place. There’s… Blood everywhere. Well, it’s well known to the public he likes to butcher his own meat. He’ll… Just make up an excuse if he has to. “N-no, you don’t need to do that. I have plenty of money to pay it on my own!”
… Augh! He sits down next to her again. “S-so, uh, about… Last night…”
Okay. Thank god. She got to sound polite without losing any money.
“…Julius is gonna come over, if that’s okay? He’s one of the medics here, but he owes me a favor. He won’t tell.”
…
She pulls herself to sit up. (gore) ||One of her hands is placed on her stomach to keep anything from falling out.||
“…last night….yeah…” WHAT THE FUCK DOES SHE EVEN SAY.
Eusebio nods. “That’s fine… I’m just happy you’re getting medical attention.”
He looks her in the eye. Then he gets shy and his gaze drifts to the side. “We um… We said a lot of stuff to each other, huh…?” He swallows.
Dakota does the exact same thing. She opts for staring down at her torso instead.
It’s quiet. There are so many things she could say and her brain is just now recovering from yesterday’s fog. The remnants of the potion are long gone but they both know yesterday irreparably changed their relationship, for better or for worse.
And this is the conversation in which they figure out where to go from here. What does Dakota want, anyway? Did it not feel nice to be loved, at least from one night?
“It…was the potion, obviously, but…” A beat. She isn’t sure if she’s ever had a conversation of this nature. It’s grueling. “I can’t deny that I…want to feel like that–about you–again.” The admission is horrendous to say. “…………………..without potions.”
Eusébio bites his lip. He’s really never done anything like that before. And not just the ||cannibalism|| part. He’s never had such an intimate experience with someone before at all… It was… Very nice.
“I…” He finally manages to look at her. “I would, too.” He smiles softly at her. “I want…” A deep blush spreads across his face. “To be yours. For real.”
It’s a relief. She doesn’t realise her entire body was holding in tension until she relaxes against the wall. It is a grueling and terrifying task to let anyone into the parts of yourself you hate. It’s even harder to ask anything of them after the fact. She wouldn’t have blamed Eusebio if he was completely opposed to even discussing the night’s prior events. What they did was literal sacrilege, and she is the opposite of holy.
…maybe she should put a little more trust in him instead of assuming he’ll immediately run away. But there’s another issue too, and it’s the worst one.
“–I’m…not a good person. I’m not even a person. I’m selfish. And obsessive. I sabotaged all of my first real friend’s close relationships so I’d be the only person she was close to, and I still don’t feel bad about it. I don’t know how to let go of people. I don’t know how to be selfless.” Her knees come up to her chest. She rests her head on them.
“…you can stay if you want. I’ll be happy. I just don’t want to bring you down to my level.”
Eusébio is silent for a few moments. “… I’m not really a good person either. I don’t have any delusions about that.” He smiles at her again. “I act all nice and stuff but it’s mostly just customer service voice… I hate most of the people who I feed. I work my staff to the bone. And did you know I made most of my fortune cooking exotic animals for terrible rich people?” Only Strelka knew that until now.
“And, um… What if I don’t want you to let me go?”
She’s ready to argue that it’s different, it’s fundamental, but…
She really doesn’t know anything about Eusebio at all, huh? She completely believed his goodwill. Had no idea that’s how he made it rich–simply believed fame and a name got him where he needed to be.
She glances over at Eusebio and smiles. A little wolfish again, predatory around the edges. Pleased. Even though it’s not the same…it helps the guilt. Just a little bit.
“Then I just won’t let you leave me.” It’s painfully simple, isn’t it? Dakota says it in a sing-songy tone.
“Just…don’t be mad at me when something happens.” When she eventually does hurt him. “’cause I’m warning you about it now.”
He reaches out to take her hand in his, smiling brightly, his heart beating hard in his chest, swelling with an unfamiliar feeling. “I won’t…”
People have chased after the idea of Dakota since the second she entered the public eye. It’s easy to assume things about someone when you see their interviews and so many shots close to her face exist. You could know her intricately and intimately, but the truth is that even then nobody that ever wanted her understood the bare, raw fundamentals.
The same went for after her death. You see a pretty face and you see her smile and it’s easy to assume simplicity. She acts more stupid than she is in public. Did you ever notice that, Eusebio? How much she simplifies herself in group chats, or even at the church party?
…but if she bared the very worst parts of herself to Eusebio, warned him profusely, gave him examples, and he still wants her? That’s his undoing. She can’t be held responsible for what she does to him after this.
“Okay.” It’s not nearly binding enough. With one hand still holding her stomach, she brings Eusebio in and hugs him as tight as she can under her circumstances. “Okay. I warned you as much as I could. I’m keeping you with me now.”
Eusébio understands completely. For most of his life he’s been forced to hide the truest parts of himself. Whether it was at home, or at work, or even now in the public eye… The Eusébio people see and who he truly is are completely disjointed. Sometimes he doesn’t even recognize that person.
Dakota got to see so much of who he really is. And much like he didn’t run away from her, she didn’t run away from him… He melts into the hug. In spite of everything, she’s warm. It’s a warmth that he didn’t even know he’d been craving. Now that he’s felt it, how is he supposed to let it go?
So yes. “I’m yours…” And if he should be destroyed because of that, then so be it.