Alastor's pupils, narrow and thin like a cat's, revolved slowly in the center of his blood-red eyes. Sound rumbled out of him, low and slow, a trembling in the loose, damp flesh of the dirt beneath his feet. He felt it there, every loose clod of soil shaking against the next, right up through the soles of his shoes, such a low vibration that he wasn't sure yet if Lotte could feel it, at all.
The witch's words were fine enough. Perhaps she didn't know the freedom she gave him, by offering him entry to the house she agreed to exchange for her help. Or she did know - it made no difference. His fingers unfurled like willow branches, finally extending into the shadow space between them, to offer his hand.
"Splendid!" His voice crackled in his throat, the sound of a match hissing to life. The charred smell of fireplace ashes followed it, sharp and chalky at the same time, the scent of the corpse of some foreign wood that didn't grow here, beneath that. "Then a house you'll live in, and a garden you'll grow. And I'll be sure to see you safely deposited there," he promised, just in case she was smart enough to wonder if he meant to be tricky about it, after all.
Well, he did. But not in that way. Lotte would have her new home, the bounty and the comfort she deserved.
The slow rotation of Alastor's pupils stilled, the blackness there pulsing gently in his glowing eyes, a dead heartbeat. "This, in exchange for the winning of my freedom, this Halloween. Now, if you'll take my hand it's a deal."
[JESUS FUCK FORGIVE ME OH GOD MY BRAIN THE NEXT ONE WILL BE FASTER AND BETTER]
Alastor's pupils, narrow and thin like a cat's, revolved slowly in the center of his blood-red eyes. Sound rumbled out of him, low and slow, a trembling in the loose, damp flesh of the dirt beneath his feet. He felt it there, every loose clod of soil shaking against the next, right up through the soles of his shoes, such a low vibration that he wasn't sure yet if Lotte could feel it, at all.
The witch's words were fine enough. Perhaps she didn't know the freedom she gave him, by offering him entry to the house she agreed to exchange for her help. Or she did know - it made no difference. His fingers unfurled like willow branches, finally extending into the shadow space between them, to offer his hand.
"Splendid!" His voice crackled in his throat, the sound of a match hissing to life. The charred smell of fireplace ashes followed it, sharp and chalky at the same time, the scent of the corpse of some foreign wood that didn't grow here, beneath that. "Then a house you'll live in, and a garden you'll grow. And I'll be sure to see you safely deposited there," he promised, just in case she was smart enough to wonder if he meant to be tricky about it, after all.
Well, he did. But not in that way. Lotte would have her new home, the bounty and the comfort she deserved.
The slow rotation of Alastor's pupils stilled, the blackness there pulsing gently in his glowing eyes, a dead heartbeat. "This, in exchange for the winning of my freedom, this Halloween. Now, if you'll take my hand it's a deal."