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CHARACTERS: Eric Northman and Thranduil
LOCATION: The Oxygen Gardens
WARNINGS: vampire feedings and grumpy old elves
SUMMARY: Thranduil has summoned Eric to the Oxygen Gardens to "beg his pardon" in person.
NOTES: Continued from this IC inbox summons.

Thranduil has summoned him yet again to the Oxygen Gardens, and Eric has half a mind not to go. He's gotten enough abuse and frustration over this accidental bond to make him consider it. But Thranduil is talking about 'begging his pardon' and if Jaye put him up to this then it can't be all that bad, whatever he has in mind. At least in theory.

He doesn't need to ask where to find Thranduil, he knows instinctively where he is through their bond, and so he seeks him out, appearing without a word much the same as he did the last time. He's hoping that this will go a lot better than their last conversation. He does not have the patience that he did then, not after the way the past few weeks have gone.

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As soon as Eric's fangs pierce the skin and that first taste of Thranduil's blood rushes into his mouth, he is filled with a similar sense of ecstasy. He must keep himself in control, he knows - it wouldn't do to drink too much and cause the other harm while Thranduil is giving himself in an exercise of trust as he is. It would be so easy to just let go and lose himself in this moment, in the warmth of the flavor of his blood, like liquid sunshine and contentedness. He must be strong. But for now he will drink and savor this moment and the euphoria it fills him with. Thranduil's blood really is incredible.

He doesn't need to feed that much but it's the principle of the matter, and the fact that Thranduil is supposed to be learning to trust him, that keeps Eric latched on a little longer than he needs to be.

He does not know when one of his hands buried itself in Eric's hair, holding him steady but not firm against his throat. He never gets to feel like this any other time. He opens his eyes and even the trees seem greener around them.

That hand in Eric's hair makes him want to let go even less. With Thranduil's blood in him, he can almost feel the plants around them breathe. The artificial light feels like the sun, warm and inviting. He can feel Thranduil's heartbeat, and while they are connected, it's almost as if it's his own. He doesn't want this to stop. The one thing that letting go has going for it is that this feeling will not end immediately. Eric stays hanging on for another moment longer, before he forces himself to pull back.

"...you are exquisite," he comments, his voice breathless, his arms still around Thranduil for the moment, although whether that's for his own benefit or Thranduil's he's not certain just yet. If he isn't holding on he might just float away.

Thranduil lets out his breath and releases Eric as the euphoria fades. This is the part he hates, where he has to come down to set his feet on the disappointment that nothing has actually changed.

Nothing except that he placed his life squarely in Eric's hands, and Eric gave it back to him.

He takes hold of the vampire's elbows to keep him steady. "You had best heal the wounds. Someone might see."

"Mmm," Eric comments, and pricks a finger with one of his fangs, moving to wipe the blood over the bite. It is neat and tidy - Eric is not a messy eater, he can be good when he wants to be - and so it takes almost no time to heal up.

Unfortunately for Thranduil, while his own euphoria fades, it will be a while before the magic wears off for Eric. He looks up at the trees above them, at the artificial sun beaming down at them, and for the moment he can imagine that it's real, he feels so warm and content. That puts a smile on his face. He glances down at Thranduil. "I had forgotten about this," he says. Well, not completely, but he'd forgotten the finer details. And being on the Cylla, he hadn't had time to appreciate the effects of Thranduil's blood. Now, though, here in the oxygen gardens, he could enjoy it all he wanted. He felt like flying. Maybe he would, if he got this interaction right.

That's...kind of adorable. Thranduil's lips twitch into a flash of a soft smile, but it's gone as soon as it comes.

"How long did the effects last for Godric?"

Eric shakes his head. "I do not know," he says, honestly, his expression a lot more open and honest than usual. "I did not see him until well after he had left with you. A day, perhaps. That is usually the way these things go. We do not necessarily have a circulatory system, we are not exactly metabolizing what we ingest." He glances back at Thranduil. "I suppose it depends on how long your magic lasts," he says, with a shrug, feeling high as a kite.

"That is a word I have never understood." Thranduil shakes his head softly. "Mortals use it to mean nearly anything. But my life is connected to the life of my world. Perhaps that is what runs in you now."

"I am not mortal," Eric corrects Thranduil, with none of the attitude that he might have otherwise. "And it is not your world I have fed from. It was you. Maybe it is your kind, maybe it's your age and your blood itself. Maybe it is both." Eric takes a moment to reach out and toy with a strand of Thranduil's hair. He could swear that the strands are actually sparking in the light of the gardens. His gaze is oddly intense, if a bit unfocused.

Thranduil looks vaguely uncomfortable and delicately attempts to extract the lock of hair from Eric's grasp. "Perhaps you ought to sit down."

With hands in lap. Not touching anyone.

Eric may have been able to read the cues that Thranduil is uncomfortable while he was sober, but sober he definitely is not. He is stronger than Thranduil but the elf does not need to exert that much force to get him to let go of his hair. Of course, his hand coming up to save his hair like that brings Eric's attention to Thranduil's skin. Milk white. Like moonlight, Eric thinks to himself, as his gaze shifts to study Thranduil's hands. It is only because he knows subconsciously that it would perhaps scare his companion that his fangs do not unsheathe themselves again.

"I do not tire," Eric says, definitely not taking the hint.

Elves are beautiful, Thranduil no more or less so than most of his kin. But he doesn't really think about it most of the time. Certainly the scrutiny Eric is giving him is more invasive an admiration than he's used to even from mortals. He puts himself at arm's length and places his hands on Eric's shoulders, gently encouraging him downward while looking him directly in the eye.

"Sit."

Eric doesn't quite understand why Thranduil would be directing him to sit. He doesn't want to sit, in fact he wants to do the opposite of sit. He feels like running around, he feels like flying. He feels like rolling in the grass before this feeling leaves him. He does not know when he will get the next chance to feed from Thranduil. He does not know if he ever will, for that matter. Nothing is a guarantee. He will not waste this by sitting.

So he stops halfway to a sitting position and moves to stand again. "No," he says. "The air is fresh in here. We should enjoy it."

"You can enjoy it sitting down."

Eric shakes his head. "But we can enjoy it so much more from above."

And before he gives Thranduil the time to consider that comment, he wraps an arm around the other's waist and lifts off the ground, quickly rising to just above the tree tops.

Thranduil has never experienced a takeoff like this in six and a half thousand years of living. That would be why he gasps and throws his arms around Eric's neck and his legs around his waist, clinging on for dear life. If Eric wants him to trust him, now's the make or break point, because Thranduil's feet are dangling in midair and he knows that at any moment he could be falling to his death far below. He won't look down, just straight ahead over the vampire's shoulder.

Eric vaguely recognizes that he has surprised his companion, but he has confidence in what he's doing. This is not the first time he has carried someone like this, and he has never dropped anyone before. Especially not someone who has wrapped himself as tightly around his neck and waist as Thranduil has done. But once he's reached just above the tree tops he stops, hovering there, and lets out a whoop of joy. How could anyone not enjoy a moment like this?

Allow Thranduil to demonstrate.

By now his face is all but buried in Eric's shoulder.

"Take me back down. Now." It's almost a whisper, and he tries to sound commanding even though he knows he's stuck. If Eric doesn't carry him down, he has no choice but to hang on.

Eric laughs joyfully into the artificial sunlight and holds the other tighter. Honestly, Thranduil doesn't have anything to worry about, he's got a good hold on him and he would never let him drop, he doesn't understand what there is to complain about. "Hush," he says, and it is supposed to be comforting, "I've got you. Have you ever smelled air so clean?" Okay, so maybe it's just because they're in the air, but Eric can swear the air up here is even fresher than the already pretty clean and filtered air that they have circulating around them everywhere else. And just because he doesn't need to breathe doesn't mean that he can't smell it.

Oh no. He's turned into Legolas. Thranduil's blood makes vampires start acting like his son. Laughing and teasing and talking about the smell of the air and all that. But Thranduil lifts his chin slightly and takes a deep breath, heart still pounding.

"It is...one reason I choose to live here."

If Eric knew what you were thinking there Thranduil he would object, but he does not, and so he lets it slide. He can feel Thranduil's heart pounding and hear it in his peripherals but honestly, what is there to be afraid of, he's got him safe, and he is the strongest, fastest vampire on board, save for Godric.

"You are of the sun and stars," he says, literally and figuratively as high as a kite. "Of course you would choose to live here, with your plants and your animals and your flute and your...tendency to bathe in streams." He is literally just naming everything he can remember Thranduil doing here in the gardens right now.

Eric isn't looking at Thranduil's face, and though he can almost feel the look that he's giving him even still, he doesn't register it. The gardens are much too exciting to get hung up on this. Gosh, he even threw a compliment in there too, of sorts. What's your deal anyway, Thranduil? Eric just ignores that look and flies higher, taking the pair of them further away from the ground and the area that they took off from.

"You really need to lighten up."

"You have watched me bathe?"

Eric shrugs. "Once or twice," he comments. Hell, he has bathed next to him in the showers, even. It's not like that should be news to Thranduil. What's the big deal?

The big deal is that in the showers after a jump, everyone is naked in the showers together. Actually sneaking in to watch someone bathe privately? That's creepy.

"Why?"

Well, at least Thranduil isn't freaking out about flying anymore. Eric would prefer it if he weren't being interrogated anymore, though. In response to the question, he shrugs slightly. "Seemed like a good idea at the time," he answers honestly. "Why not?" It is a public area, even if it had been a private moment.

Thranduil huffs out a breath as if to say Typical! but makes no further comment. Instead, he finds himself looking outward, anywhere but at Eric, and...well, he's right. It is pretty nice up here. Would be nicer with a sky above them, but for this place, it's as free as they can be. No attachment to anything, surrounded by green on every side, away from anyone who might disturb them.

Slowly, he relaxes in Eric's arms, forgetting to be afraid.

Eric notices Thranduil relaxing, and it pleases him. If he had been intending on scaring the other he would have done so in a much different way, after all. But the idea had been to share in his wonder, and it looks as though finally Thranduil is getting that as well.

"I learned how to fly in a forest, long ago," he says, suddenly, as if the thought just occurred to him and he's letting it go straight from his brain to his mouth. He probably is. "Godric taught me. When I was new."

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