born of fire

There were a handful of people that Gareth made a point of finding during heat week and Lazarus tended to fall in that category. It was made a little more difficult since the man had somehow gone from slave to staff, which meant he was required to work. Of course, the other man's duties didn't stop the aswang from tracking him down in the Undercroft, grabbing the dragon by the upper arm and dragging him into the nearest playroom. He slammed the door shut impatiently and pinned Lazarus up against it, barely suppressed hunger flickering in the master's eyes.

The dragon had taken the suppressant before he had left for his shift, making sure he'd done so before walking into the undeground. It was as chaotic as he had expected it to be, those in heat jumping on anyone within reach. He'd broken up several altercations in the hour he had been down there. So when someone took his arm, and pulled him away from the mess he was almost thankful. That was until he saw just who it was that was pulling him away, Gareth finding him among the mess wasn't at all surprising.

"Ah yes, a mood because of past events you refuse to let go." The reaper smiled while still toying with the string, perhaps part of his feline genetics. "Do you think that might be because you have yet to realize what it is you actually want instead of perpetuating what you believe you should want. Those are two very different things. Maybe it's what you think other people think you want or perchance is it what you think people think that you want to want. Now we've gotten into a rabbit hole. How deep shall we go Alice?" Noel was still playing with the string weaving it around his finger. "Desire is a fickle thing, so much ego. But alas you are a dragon, said to be wise and powerful. And you are most definitely both of those, Mr. Beswick."

He gave him a look, as if letting go of his past was as easy as closing the door. It might have been for him, someone who had gone off to get whatever schooling he'd need for the position he had. "I think I haven't drank enough for you to psychoanalyze me like this." He'd say, after the other had finished going on and on about what may or may not be true about himself. He was itching for a drink if he was going to keep going, needing the liquid courage to not get annoyed by it. He didn't miss the compliment at the end of it, though, wondering if any of it was actually true. "Powerful, sure, not so sure about being wise." Some would say the opposite, and he would agree with them without question. If he'd been wiser he wouldn't have landed at the castle. "Do you ever stop working? Or is analyzing people something you enjoy doing?"

"And yet here you are in my domain," Raphael returned without skipping a beat. He moved in even closer to Lazarus' proximity, squeezed between the dragon and another patron at the bar but that absolutely wasn't on purpose, oh no. Crowds had a way of doing that. "See, I think you missed me, didn't you, Beswick?"

He wanted to someting back but he wasnt wrong which only made him more annoyed. Instead he'll take a drink of the beverage he had, something fruit, something he didn't entirely hate. He knew he should have left the moment he got there, yet he hadn't, which plagued his thoughts on why. "Only in your dreams." He'd say, ignoring how childish that sounded coming from him.

"Why if it isn't the great Lazarus Beswick here in my club tonight," Raphael practically purred as he strolled right up to the young dragon at the bar. This was certainly the first time he'd noticed the guard in Euphoria and what a lucky day it was for the ghoul who enjoyed toying with dragons. Even though his own slave was gone he still could scratch that itch with a couple of them around here in Krovs like Ransom and Laz. "I never pegged you as the sort to have any kind of fun."

The dragon wasn't sure what came over him to end up at Euphoria, a club run by someone he absolutely hated. Some of the guards had talked him into it despite how he felt about it, as far as he was concerned the place was like any other. Thankful for the music to drown out the groan he gave at the familiar sound of Raphael's voice, for half a second he thought about getting out of there before he got too close. "I'm not as boring as you seem to think I am." He says, hovering over the drink he had gotten for himself. "I tend to avoid being anywhere you might be."

"Quite a statement." Noel commented as he read the guards shirt with a grin. "I presume I'm meant to take offence all things considered." Given his namesake and birthday Lazarus was telling to go fuck itself. "For someone who claims to want to stay in the background you certainly don't do well at blending. So are you playing at ignorance or are you truly so ignorant, mon chouchou?" Noel asked toying with a string on the hoodie the younger wore.

The dragon wasn't known to be the festive type, and usually he wouldn't have put any thought into what he wore. However, he had stumbled onto this sweater during a trip to the village that he couldn't pass up. He was glad he did, it was doing a good job at keeping most people away. Noel not being one of those people, not that he would have wanted him to. "The holidays get me into a certain mood." He says with a shrug, what he said next had him rolling his eyes some. "What I want and reality are often very different." He couldn't help the small smirk that came across his lips as the other played with the strings.

Gareth was ridiculously smug about the fact that he'd gotten Lazarus to wear the Cyclops costume after a tiny bit of convincing. Of course, he hadn't really thought the older man would put up a fight, never able to resist the aswang for very long (in his opinion, anyway). After spending some time with his slaves, he'd let them wander off to enjoy themselves and gone in search of the dragon, eager to see him in the tight costume. He smirked as he walked up behind the guard and pressed up against him, slipping an arm around his waist. "Good to know that I have excellent fucking taste. Aren't you glad that you listened to me?"

The costume was tight, it hugged him in all the places leaving very little to the imagination. Leave it to Gareth come up with such a costume that would expose him without really doing so. What he got for agreeing to let him dress him up, but at least it was easy to move around in and he could keep himself away from most if he wanted to. That was until he felt a familiar presence coming up behind him, knowing just who it was before he even uttered a word. The dragon would lean back into him a little despite the words the came into his head. "Is it really taste if you picked something skintight?" He'd ask, teasing him about his so called 'excellent taste'.

Chuckling at the offer, Bradley raised his eyebrows slightly, not entirely sure whether he'd ever take Lazarus up on it, but at least the offer was there. "Oh yeah? Nah, if I ever feel myself getting annoyed I just.. leave. Less harm done that way," Bradley explained, giving Laz a smirk. "I'm not saying it's going to work one hundred percent of the time, but if I'm not too annoyed I think I'd have the control to leave." Or he hoped that he would. Anger issues had never really been an issue before Krovs, but perhaps that was because he'd had the freedom and wasn't trapped in a suite with Silver. The faerie smiled softly at the dragon's second offer, nodding a little with thanks. "That's appreciated, thank you. It really is like a fucking circus some days."

"Probably the best way to do it." He had to give it to Bradley, he had a lot more patience than he would have. Then again, he didn't often find himself in situations such as Bradley was in. "Being mindful enough to know when to leave puts you at an advantage, I'd think. Save one a lot of trouble, at the very least." He nodded, would save from getting into any sort of trouble with Gareth which, to him, was a good idea. Not that he thought Gareth was obnoxiously cruel, but he wouldn't put it passed the master to have creative ideas up his sleeve. "This whole castle feels like a circus on a good day, now that I'm working for it I see it all from another angle. Surprised the place is still standing with how things run around here."

Once Lazarus was on the ground Noel finally relented on his cock, at least with his mouth. The shadows were still moving along it. The glutton in him still feeding, as it would, off the dragon. It was subtle, but Laz would be feeling more spent than normal when noel was done with him. Not to mention the spirit in him was feeding off his life force so he was getting hit from all sides, but dragons were resilient, it was why Noel always liked them.

A growl slipped from his lips as Noel stopped, or at least slowed down in his aggression. His mouth may not have been on him but someting else was, he'd guess it was something to do with his abilities. Only realizing now that he didn't have a collar one, how that had happened the dragon didn't know nor did he care. Not his problem, he was solely focusing on getting what he needed. Before he could rebute about his choice in stopping he felt the reaper's lips on his own. He'd bit at his lips before kissing him back, hands pulling at his clothes to bring him in closer.

"Yeah so I was doing handstands, well I was trying to do handstands and I fell over and when I did, I saw his feet poking out from the futon and I was like 'oh hey I'm going to go say hi' and he was all like this, so I was like 'are you ok' and he mumbled some things and then when I helped him up he passed out and I dragged him around till I found you." Gibson said all in one go, recounting the whole story to the other man, ready to do so again if he needed to. Gibson put the unconscious body down and looked at his shirt which now had spots of blood on it. He frowned and picked at them for a second. "My name's Gibson. I prefer to be called Gibson, what's your name?"

Lazarus stared at him for a moment as he explained how he came about the man he was holding. For a moment he almost didn't believe him, but with the look he was being given he realized he was being honest. He wondered very briefly where they found their slaves before he shook his head. "I'll get someone to take him to the doctor, see what's wrong with him. Someone probably drank too much from the guy, passed out." He explained the best he could, it was only a guess but with the castle run by vampires he doubted he was wrong. "Lazarus. Bringing him to me was a smart choice, I'd suggest not doing anymore handstands. Don't need you hurting yourself."

Gareth snarled into the kiss, his patience rapidly disappearing the longer it took for them to make it to bed. Not giving much of a damn about Lazarus' clothes, the aswang practically ripped them off the guard and turned them around abruptly so that he could start to steer the dragon toward the bed. He pushed him down once they were close enough, never once breaking the kiss as he moved to straddle Lazarus. He only pulled away for just a second to wrap his fingers lightly around the man's throat, using the hold to tip his head back so he could trail a series of hard bites down along Lazarus' neck, drawing blood occasionally.