#khion3

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn laughed at the mixed metaphor, slumping lower against his snowbank with his arms folded behind his head to look up at the starry sky before the fireworks before. "Precisely, darling, precisely." This had always been the part he liked best with Khion as a companion: the personable, laidback moments, still enjoying themselves plenty with a bit of booze to share and music audible in the distance. "Invigorating is just the right word." But it wasn't surprising, what were they doing when they fed on blood if not stealing a bit of life back from the living?"

His nose twitched as Khion pierced his palm, the sith picking up on the tang of blood immediately and holding out his hand with a hungry grin. "What a question!" He exclaimed once he'd resurfaced from his first drink with a satisfied sigh. That was much better. "Phoenix is excellent. Pure vitality, all heat, if you go for that part of the family. Witches are great fun just for their variety. And faerie - well, we make everything better." Gwyn gave Khion a wink, going back for another swig.

Khion dropped down next to his old friend in the snow, bottle still in his hand as he drank from it occasionally. "So like... almost the same and opposite of taking a cocktail of drugs then, huh?" he teased, smirking as he rocked back against Gwyn with his shoulder. "I think you've painted a solid picture for me though. It must be invigorating beyond belief." Like a predator waking up from slumber and filling up the gas tank. He had no plans on becoming a vampire himself ever, but perhaps he might get the temporary experience whenever spring mischief rolled around again just to see what Gwyn meant.

He took another drink and then peered down the bottle to gauge how much was left, seeing it at about half. He sank his talons into the palm of his hand and held it over the bottle's opening, letting his blood drip into it to mix with the champagne. "I'm curious though, do you have a favorite species blood to drink?"

[gwyndolence]

"How accommodating you are... that would be perfect," Gwyn sighed longingly, twirling a hand to coax the snow up behind him in a low mound just the right height to lean back against comfortably. He patted the ground next to him as he did so, tipping his chin up to look at Khion with an expectant smile. "I wish I could describe what it's like to you, though. There's no comparing regular food and drink to what you feel when you feed off of someone properly. No comparing what it's like right from the vein compared to mixed in a bottle, even! You just feel... good. Strong. Like all your senses sharpen at once and you age backwards in a single moment. It makes the whole world new again." He nudged him playfully. "The magic is a nice perk too, though I'm obviously already catching up to you there."

Khion paused, brows knitting together in momentary confusion as he took the bottle back. Another gulp helped clear his mind though, remembering the obvious situation of Gwyn’s vampirism. “Ah, right, the lack of tastebuds for anything other than blood,” he sighed. “I don’t know how you do it, Gwynnifer.” He could never personally, mainly because he didn’t think a pamola could become a vampire, and also he couldn’t give up tasting food. He held up the bottle and pursed his lips as if trying to gauge how much was left. “How about I drink half and then add some of my blood into it for you on the other half?” he offered.

[gwyndolence]

"'Fairly new', he says," Gwyn grumbled good-naturedly, "Just you wait." He was cheerful again by the time that cork popped, scampering over the snow to Khion's side before the pamola had even taken the bottle from his mouth. "An excellent toast," He beamed right back, "To youth!" The champagne was wonderfully bubbly on his tongue but the flavor was rather lost on him without the blood, which Gwyn only really remembered was a necessity for him now once he was already swigging it down.

He resurfaced with a wrinkle of his nose, plopping right back down onto the snow with his legs sprawled in front of him as he offered the bottle back up to his old friend, "Bah, I think you should have your share first. I can doctor the rest after for my own delights. The fireworks should be starting soon, regardless!"

"Perhaps one day, you're still fairly new to the ways of winter whereas I was born with it," Khion replied, grinning proudly in the face of his victory. "Practice makes perfect and all." He wouldn't put it past Gwyn to beat him in his turf at some point given they were so close in age and all. All the sith needed was more experience in the ways of ice magic.

He moved over to the bottle of champagne and plucked it out of the snow. "I think that's only fair." A bit of precisely focused strength and the bottle popped open with that satisfying sound, a bit of foam oozing off the top and down the side. Khion tipped the bottle in Gwyn's direction, winking at his old friend. "To maintaining our youth by playing out in the snow for fun," he chuckled. He then brought the bottle directly to his mouth for a sip and then offered it over to Gwyn to share.

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn sighed and went lax against the snow, his curly hair haloing around him on the kicked up powder. "You're right. This is what I get for trying to have a little fun." He tipped his chin up to peek at Khion and saw the extended hand, grinning again as he reached up to take it. "Why ever not?" Gwyn laughed as the pamola tugged him to his feet, "After all, I can meet you in your natural habitat now! It only seemed appropriate to test my skills against yours, though..." He put on an exaggerated grimace, looking at the snow crusted on his clothes, "I daresay I have a ways to go to beat you. First sip of champagne to the victor?"

"Our jackets are already ruined," Khion said laughing, not putting up much of a fight as he stood up. He shook his head clear of any snow out of his hair and held out a hand to help Gwyn up, no more tricks in sight. He hadn't expected to destroy this very nice suit this evening but he had a hard time saying no to his old friend. "Honestly, what made you want to come out here and play in the snow in our evening wear?"

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn had his mouth open to make another playful retort, laughing at the visual of Khion blinking rapidly with snowmelt trickling down his forehead, when the pamola jumped on him and Gwyn went down flailing with a delighted shout. "Enough, enough, you'll ruin the jacket!" The sith cackled, still reaching out to grab another loose handful of snow and mash it into the side of Khion's face even as he verbally protested, boots sliding over the ground to try and get enough purchase to buck the other off of him.

Khion let out a surprised yell from the sudden wetness in his hair, his arms thrown out and mouth agape until his own laughter bubbled up. "Talk about playing dirty," he teased. The moment Gwyn's feet hit the ground he lunged forward to straight up tackle his friend, the both of them falling into the snow with the pamola on top. Really was a good thing neither of them would succumb to the effects of cold from fooling around like this in their limited layers.

[gwyndolence]

"I'm sure he thinks he does," Gwyn snorted, not a care in the world. The sith bore no ill will towards the ghoul at all, no matter Roland's opinion of Raphael. He simply trusted that most powerful men had far too much going on in their lives to miss a single bottle of champagne. Besides, Gwyn had always wriggled out of such troubles before -- who was looking for an invisible man in the midst of a crowded bar on New Year's anyhow?

Much more fun to focus on the important things in front of him now, like beating Khion at his own game. Gwyn whooped as the wave of snow rose in front of him, taking a running leap right towards the barrage and twisting into the familiar shape of his raven's skin to bank over the obstacle, a dark spot against the dark sky, materializing back in the air in his full form with a trill of laughter nearly on top of his old friend. His snowball never left his hands, Gwyn fully committed to letting gravity carry himself and his weapon down to mash it on top of Khion's white-blond head directly.

"De Luca's got his ways, I'm sure," Khion replied, smirking wider as he crouched down, arms out, prepared to counter Gwyn. There was a reason he'd stayed back a few feet from the bar while his old friend worked to avoid association if that shit came back to bite them in the ass. He loved Gwyn, obviously, but he'd just been freed from the castle and wasn't about to fuck that up again so soon. Councilmen weren't to be fucked with.

He decided to strike Gwyn first, waving his hand and sending a full on wave of snow right at the approaching sith.

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn whooped in triumph, already attempting to side-step across the snow to dodge the pamola's inevitable retaliation. In dark clothes against the powdery white he'd be a clear target, but at least he could be a speedy one. "Don't consider it stealing, darling, consider it a charitable reappropriation for the good of the public!" In his efforts to duck away from Khion's barrage, the outermost snowball inevitably nailed its target right in the sith's bare chest, Gwyn letting out an indignant yelp. "Show off!" He shouted, then added more cheerfully, "Besides, do you really think old Raph will notice one missing bottle in the midst of the festivities?" He gathered another handful of snow, advancing on Khion with a mischievous grin without hurling it quite yet, "He probably bathes in Dom Pérignon!"

Khion only laughed as Gwyn's decoy plan essentially worked. He didn't mind since this was all for fun, no win or lose in this little game. "Speaking of cheap shots," he laughed. His gaze fell to the champagne in the snow, the corner of his mouth lifting up in a smirk. "Y'know, De Luca's not gonna be very happy when he finds out you stole from him," he said probably not for the first time since they'd left the club. He raised his hand to the side, snow raising off the ground and forming itself into multiple hovering snowballs. One flick of his wrist sent them all flying at Gwyn.

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn ducked with a yelp as Khion's first missile streaked his way, coming up laughing as he wagged a finger at the pamola. "Cheap shot!" The sith shouted, straightening now that he'd gotten the champagne bottle he'd smuggled out of Euphoria properly nestled in a snow bank, "Not while I'm chilling our refreshments, you cheater. Did one of the twins teach you how to play dirty like that?" The Gaudets were still a big question mark to Gwyn, but if one of them had seen fit to free Khion he couldn't imagine them being all that bad - at least they had good taste.

The sith was hardly dressed any more appropriately for the weather; they could attract all the gawkers they liked as he gathered his own snowball by hand, grinning at Khion all the while. "Don't be so shocked anyhow, Khioneau. I just wanted to make sure you're being properly humbled in your own domain." Gwyn's winter magic was something still strange to him at times, but in this season it was strong and happy to answer his call. The projectile he flung at the pamola next was just a disguise for the snow he'd shaped behind him, aimed to beam Khion in the back of his blonde head once he dodged the first one.

"I'm shocked this is what you'd like to do with me on New Year's Eve," Khion said to his old friend as they settled into the middle of the snow-covered park underneath golden fairy lights strung through the air and silver moonlight. Normally the two of them would be getting absolutely blasted in the club and looking for someone –– possibly each other –– to kiss at midnight. "Snow activities" dressed as they were, Khion in his shiny suit that showed plenty of chest, wasn't on his list for the evening but the pamola had no complaints. He loved winter and he loved the night and perhaps the best way to ring in the New Year was to share that new commonality with the former seelie with a snowball fight.

He smirked, waving his hand over the snow as it rose up and morphed into a perfect spherical shape over the palm of his hand. "Although I'd love to see how connected to all things winter you've become, Gwynnifer." Khion thrust his arm forward and the snowball launched at the sith at supernatural speed.

@gwyndolence