End of Summer Party

Elijah nodded thoughtfully. “So...it’s back to basics then.” Elijah grinned mentally at the thought. Being a hopeless romantic was alright as long as you knew when enough was enough. Lust and Love ran incredibly close and sometimes, to really understand the latter you had to experience the former. The Bulgarian was lust walking so that wouldn’t be a problem, he just needed to spread it around and show Daniel. Hopeless romantics could be exploited so the guy needed to grow a pair and stop being soppy. Elijah chucked his cigarette to the floor and stubbed it out. He looked at Brienne and smiled sadly. “If you want my opinion then if I wouldn’t be murdered viciously by several people then I’d definitely take you up on the whole idea. I find the wolfiness incredibly interesting...” He grinned saucily. “But I think I’m too feline for a dog.” His teeth flashed slightly, and the pointed tips were made visible. That was something he could never change back when he came back out of his Animagus. His teeth returned but they were feline shaped.

“I didn’t know and that’s slightly horrific but hey, life would be boring if some of us didn’t have tails and ears.” As if for effect, Elijah suddenly produced white cat ears and a white striped tail poked itself out of the back of his trousers. He chuckled and the ears twitched a little. The whiskers appeared on his face and he frowned a little. It was always the whiskers...he couldn’t keep them back. “Right, can you convince lover boy to humour you and come over here? Selwyn can pack his bags.” Eli smiled and the ears disappeared but he kept the tail. He felt infinitely better with his tail enabled even if it was an odd sight.

Was he part veela? Was it relevant? Selwyn didn't want to answer. Oh, what the hell?

"Course I'm not a veela. What gave you that idea?" he didn't quite lie.

After all, his cousins were always going on about what a filthy half-breed he was. They'd have heartily agreed with this assertion.

"Well, Veela or half Veela, I have a certain 'weakness' for them. It's been there since puberty, when I started to notice men. It turns me into a big goopy mush of a man when I'm around them. But only males, for some reason. Females don't effect me as much. So you could say I suffer from a severe case of 'Veela sensitivity'" Daniel said.

"Don't worry, I like cats, such creatures of beauty they are! Though Silas, an old friend of mine, didn't. Well, he was allergic" Brienne said, strutting over to Daniel.

"Daniel! Eli wants to see ya!"

"Eli? What does he want?"

"You'll see...come over!"

"Fine", Daniel followed Brienne over to Eli.

"So, what am I here for, anyway?"

"Well, he wants to make you more attractive to the same sex. To give you confidence".

"I already had appeal!"

"Believe me, you need his help. No offense, but you've only attracted one guy successfully", Brienne said. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

Elijah’s chest buffed at the compliment and he grinned. He was more feline than not and one day if he wasn’t careful then he’d end up stuck a cat forever. He already purred when he was incredibly content. That he’d learned while he was in bed with Lily that night in Paris. Damn did that feel good as well! He understood why cats purred so much, especially when they were happy. He also often slept in his cat form. Mostly because if Fauve was with him she was warmer with the added fur and it just felt better. The ears, the paws, the tail...it all felt right. Plus he could pretty much wander round naked so he couldn’t complain about that.

He quickly jogged over to the table where the drinks were and got himself a bottle of Firewhisky. He popped the top off and made his way back to where he’d been before, taking a long swig as he did. He stopped and idly began to play with one of the rings on his fingers. When Brienne made her way back over with Daniel in tow, Elijah smiled. He looked at them as the exchanged words and his smile changed into a smirk. “The key word being had, Daniel.” Eli chuckled, picking up on the slip of the tongue. If he wanted to try and convince them otherwise then he should have said have but instead ....well, he also needed to establish some wit as well.

Using a bit of magic, Eli released the bottle and left it to float as he began to circle Daniel. It was just like circling a model in Paris but this time Elijah wasn’t figuring out the female anatomy and whether this particular type was up to scratch, no this was male anatomy he had to work with; a different mould all together. Eli’s touches became feather light as he ran them over the man’s shoulders and led them down his back with the barest of touches. Eli was teasing to see if he could get Daniel to squirm. “Do you smoke? Wait no, probably not. Drink? Yes, we know that already don’t we. You don’t play Quidditch though and you don’t eat enough so that’s a problem I’ll fix.”

Elijah’s hand curled around Daniel’s hair he curled it back away from his neck. Eli spoke again, this time quieter as if to add to the tension. Eli wanted to see how riled he could get the other male. How far could he push him. “How about special talents, hmm?” He purred in Daniel’s ear. “Are you any good with your hands?” Eli ran his hand teasingly across Daniel’s back above the curve of his backside and hummed to himself. The movement was incredibly subtle. Unless anyone knew what they were looking for then there was no way they’d see. “Or perhaps your tongue?” His tongue darted out and he flicked it at the pressure point behind Daniel’s earlobe. It was another subtle movement but this was concealed by Eli’s hair.

Elijah dropped Daniel’s hair with a smile to himself and moved away from the other man so he was stood beside Brienne, calling the beer back to him as he did so. Once again he sized the other man up, this time from the front and he smiled appraisingly. He needed work, a hell of a lot of work but that was nothing a load of junk food and a hell of a lot of sport couldn’t fix. “He’s not beyond my help.” He told Brienne, keeping his gaze on Daniel. “After I’m finished with him he’ll have to beat the men off with a beaters bat.” Eli chuckled.

"Well, I got some talent....I can say that much from nights with Stanley....hey, that's private! But I must admit your tongue felt nice, and your hands....ahh...but wait, had? I don't have that weakness anymore?" Daniel blushed. His skin-and-bones body had quivered easily with any type of touch.

Brienne giggled, "I just hope none of those men trash my room or anything. It'd be a hell of a lot of cleaning. I remember the nights he was with Stanley...they made such messes all over the cabin. Who knew under that withdrawn exterior lies a sex maniac, although it never comes out, or it does but is blocked out."

“Nu-uh,” Eli purred again. “You said you had appeal which is never a good thing to say because as soon as you believe it other people do too.” If he had talent then Elijah wanted to know exactly what talent that was so he could exploit that for his own amusement and pleasure and also so he could improve it. The first thing he needed to do was teach him how to not sound like a complete idiot when admitting that he liked something. Nethertheless, Elijah liked the compliment and he glanced at Brienne, a look of well...male dominance on his face. He was way too feline for his own good. The next thing he’d be doing is pressing himself against people to mark his territory. Possessiveness was always a trait that he’d found dominated his personality which was why he handled loss badly -- which was why he fell back into a shell of depression every time Alice’s death date rolled around.

At the thought of Alice, Elijah felt the colour drain away from his face and he ducked his head a little, closing his eyes. He bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. He released his lip and opened his eyes before taking a swig of his beer and looking at Brienne. “Sex Maniac, eh?” Eli asked, his arrogance quickly returning after a quick Alice spell. He looked at Daniel seriously and shook his head. “You’re a bloody sex maniac? Then how the hell can you not...” Elijah frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was weird. The next thing he’d find is that there was a secret stash of fluffy handcuffs in the man’s beside cabinet. Well, Elijah knew there were some in his own but that was only because they were good props in his paintings; especially Ann Marie’s. A vision of her cuffed to the wrought iron headboard made Elijah shiver and he quickly took a swig of his beer. No, he didn’t need to be thinking about her of all people. The glorified prostitute was the last thing he needed to think about.

"I have a very confusing personality, I have secrets about me that you'd never believe whilst looking on the exterior. So, what am I going to learn first?" Daniel said, he blushed wildly when Brienne had spilled her guts about his sex life. He never had his personal life spilled out THAT much in his life, especially not in front of someone he didn't know that well.

Brienne glanced over at Eli again. Something about him appealed to her, but it wasn't the dominance. It was the possessiveness, since if he was that way, she could use that. It'd offer protection for her, to an extent, though it worried her that he might try and control her life. She cast those thoughts aside, he was interesting in ways she liked. No one else ever likened themselves to an animal like she did. She likened herself to wolves, though she wasn't cat-hating like what normal wolves would be. She thought there was enough hate in the world.

She let her doggish ears fold a little, and her tail drop.

Elijah had to admit he was a little bit...shocked. He didn’t expect Daniel to go for what he was offering which meant the Bulgarian had to come up with something fast. He could have been incredibly cheeky but he wasn’t quite sure he could pull of what he had in mind. He did have a date, even though she’d deserted him. He was blaming the lace for this whole scenario. Stuff like this just didn’t happen on a regular basis. Well, it did in Elijah’s world but not with guys. He’d often find himself teaching some of the younger, newer artist’s models how not to get themselves killed. He was the one most of the girls went to because he treated them as they ought to be treated, with the love and care the deserved unless he was allowed to rough them around a bit. He basically had to break them in, teach them and show them how to do everything an artist would want from his model before, during and after the painting process. Body art was Elijah’s favourite part of that bit. There was something he found incredibly sensual about tattoos. Running his tongue over them, nipping the skin with his teeth....he loved it. He didn’t care if they were henna, although henna did have a weird taste, or real ink – he just loved them.

“What are you going to learn first...” Eli echoed thoughtfully. Alright, he had no clue so while he was comparing this to breaking in models and fantasising about tattoos he had no clue how to do it. Yes there was a certain flare to everything and it was the same concept but he wasn’t teaching Daniel how lighting worked and what colours worked with what and how provocative things should get. Well he could have done. He probably would eventually...things always got interesting when art was involved. So, at a loss, Elijah did the only thing that seemed rational, he tossed Daniel his packet of cigarettes and took a swig of his Firewhisky. “These are fun little things. You get scolded and then you flirt. Although that generally works with fretty women but its not fretty women you like is it?” He glanced at Brienne and chuckled. “I know I do.” Hell, he liked everything as long as it was sexually able. Someday, he’d end up in a bloody therapy group. “I’ll have those back then, take one though. Perhaps this isn’t the right setting....” He looked around thoughtfully and spied Amelia with someone. He rolled his eyes to and looked away, taking another swig of Firewhisky. “Quidditch,” He said suddenly and a smirk rolled onto his features. “Then we’ll explore those talents of yours.”

Daniel took a cigarette from the package, then tucked it away in the pocket of his tux.

"I'll smoke whenever you say I'm ready" he said.

Brienne scanned the dance floor, "Do you have a date, Eli?" She was never this forward with anyone, but he was different for her. Her fear of messing up also made her withdraw from asking men out, even when she liked them. She didn't blush or anything to indicate a shy side to her. No, she was too confident.

"So, women and men will try and scold you for cigarette use, then you plant a pick up line due to the opened opportunity? But, what if they really hate smokers?" Daniel asked. That's what he picked up from it.

Selwyn's toy had been taken away. Surprisingly, he wasn't that upset, though he didn't normally like sharing. The sudden profession of true love had shaken him. Selwyn had assumed Daniel would have the same aversion towards public displays of feeling that he did.

That anyone ought to have.

Though, now that he thought about it, most of Hogwarts had their lips wrapped around somebody most of the time. Not to mention other parts.

His amusement for the night over, Selwyn retreated to the drinks table, where a small girl was gazing over at Brienne's sister? Cousin? Female relative, anyway.

"Don't bother. That whole family's insane," he advised her.