Escaped Little Secret

(All credit for the art goes to the original artists- none of the art is mine unless stated.) Name- Flandre Scarlet. Universe- Don't Starve/panfandom (originally from Touhou). (Main blog: siren-hatane) Triggers (Gore, etc) except blood will be tagged

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

“Yeah, I slept fine.” All things considering. “What about you? Did you get any rest at all?”

She’d been awake when he fell asleep and she was up when he woke up. Makoto thought it probably wouldn’t be strange if she had grown accustomed to very little sleep, but he hoped she had gotten at least a few hours of rest.

Or… Did vampires need to sleep? She had mentioned it had taken time for her to get used to sleeping here, so he thought she probably did.

“Me? I don’t need to rest much.” She shrugged. “Plus, I can get rest during the day if I need to.” Vampires slept during the day after all. The summer heat was conducive to tiredness and to sleep. She resigned herself to that- and the fact that she wouldn’t be able to get too much done if she decided to nap. Which was why she didn’t do so all that often. 

“Would you be okay with following me somewhere once you’re all awake and stuff?” She asked, looking over the other.

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Still a bit sleep-fogged, Makoto let out a drawn out yawn. It felt a lot cooler now than it had the previous day. Makoto wondered how long that would last.

A sudden soft rumble distracted him from this train of thought. It took Makoto a minute before he realized it was his stomach.

“Ah, thank you, Flandre-san.”

He couldn’t help wondering where the meat and eggs had come from, but as he did he realized he was probably better off not thinking about it too much. He wasn’t in any position to turn down a meal just because he was skeptical about its source.

Besides, it actually tasted pretty good! If he just cut off the burnt edges, it tasted no different from the eggs and bacon his mother made.

…He wondered if she knew he was missing.

“This is delicious,” he said, making an effort to stay cheerful. “You’re a pretty good cook!”

“Yay! This was my first time trying something like this, so I’m glad it turned out well!” Really, she was just imitating what she saw miss Sakuya do so many times before. After trying it herself once or twice- and making a mess of the kitchen- she learned what to do and what not to do.

Plus, she had the better part of 20 or so years to practice, so it wasn’t like she was completely new at it.

“I hope you slept okay. The nights are really short right now- they always are in the summertime.” What it also meant was that they’d have to get moving before it got too hot. Especially since Makoto might end up baking if he didn’t take that jacket off.

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Morning had come before Makoto knew it. In his sleep-induced haze, he didn’t quite realize his surroundings at first. His bed felt oddly stiff, and it was a lot cooler in his room than he remembered it being. Then he heard something odd. It sounded like… bubbling? Water boiling? Then he noticed the smell. Was someone cooking?

Makoto’s eyes popped open and he shot upright, panic setting in as he realized he was not in his own room at home, or in one of the dorm rooms at Hope’s Peak. Then the previous day’s events came flooding back and the panic ebbed away, only to be replaced by disappointment.

“Guess it wasn’t a dream…”

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Ah! He’d almost forgotten about Flandre!

“Good morning Flandre-san!” Makoto said as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Good morning, Makoto-san!” Flandre chirped as she finished putting the last finishing touches on the meal she was making. This would be such a great surprise...! At least, she hoped. The other had gotten some sleep, but it was much less than he would have liked, no doubt. 

Plus, there was still the issue of something very pressing she had to do today. And Makoto would be coming for the ride, undoubtedly. But first...

Flandre took the meal out of the pot, now done with it, and put it on a stone plate. It looked a little singed around the edges, but not that bad!

“Tada!” She cheered, offering the plate of eggs and bacon to the other. “I made it super special, just for you!”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto gave a sleepy mumble that sounded a little like ‘good night,’ eyes slipping closed. This time, it didn’t take long for him to slip off. He was snoring softly a few minutes later, dead asleep.

Flandre kept still until the sun began to rise, at which point she stood up and walked over to the cooking pot. She’d wanted to try this for a while, and what better time than now? Throwing the ingredients into the pot, she kept her eyes on the food in order to make sure she didn’t cook it too long. This was how miss Sakuya did it, right?

A smile crept onto her face at the thought of how her new friend would react. Especially since this was a breakfast food!

[starvingscarlet]

When you get this, please respond with five things that make you happy~! Then, send to the last ten people in your notifications anonymously. You never know who might benefit from spreading positivity~! 🌼

(Aww!)

(my friends, small animals, good music, chocolate, and lazy days)

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto laid down, but didn’t close his eyes right away. The fireflies flickering in the darkness were really pretty. For a brief moment he could imagine this was a normal camping trip.

Except he had no camping supplies other than the things Flandre had scrounged together for her camp, the blue fire, the vampire, and the fact that he wasn’t there willingly.

“Flandre-san, how long have you been trapped here?”

“A while.” She replied simply, seemingly not eager to talk. “We can talk more in the morning, I promise.” Her gaze focused solidly on the outside of the camp, looking for anything that might have tried to ambush them. If something was going to try and harm Makoto, it would have to get through her first. There was no way she was going to let that happen.

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

“If you say so, I believe you,” Makoto replied. He was thankful for the fur, though he couldn’t help wondering where it had come from. The bedroll Flandre had offered him was only slightly more comfortable than sleeping on the hard ground.

“Thank you Flandre-san.” He took off his blazer - leaving the hoodie on - and bundled it up to cushion his head before putting the fur on top of it. “Um, I’ll try to get some sleep but… Honestly, I’m still kinda creeped out.”

“Yeah... It was hard for me to get used to sleeping here, too.” She admitted, looking out at the fireflies dancing in the clearing before turning her attention back to her friend. Her circadian rhythm was largely nonexistent at this point- she just slept whenever she got the chance.

But since he had a friend- her- he didn’t have to go through that, right?

“Lots of sleep will help for tomorrow, though. The sun gets really harsh sometimes.”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto let out a sigh of relief as Flandre stepped into the light of the fire, shoulders sagging as the tension in his body evaporated .

“Oh, it’s only you, Flandre-san.” Realizing how that sounded, he laughed nervously and added, “Sorry, I heard you moving around in the bushes and I thought there was another spider or something.”

“Nope, just me.” Flandre didn’t even hear any spiders nearby. The one that attacked them must have been a massive outlier. “And I don’t think anything else will be coming tonight either. So try not to worry too much, okay?” The girl gently slipped the large puff of bunny fur she’d grabbed from her excursion under where she could only assume the boy’s head had been laying. “Will this help? It might make for a good pillow for you.”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto had been so close to dozing off when he heard a rustling in the bushes. Suddenly alert, he bolted upright, head whipping back and forth as he searched for some trace of a monster lurking beyond the halo of light surrounding the camp.

Was there a weapon nearby he could use? He wasn’t much of a fighter, but if the spiders were only about the size of dogs he could probably fight one or two off by himself. He thought. Maybe. Hopefully.

All that time, and he still hadn’t fallen asleep? The vampire entered the camp with the meat in tow, putting it away in the fridge and looking back at him with a pout. “You need to go to bed, Makoto-san!” She softly chided, stoking the fire and furnishing it with a few twigs. “I won’t let anything attack us- so please get your rest, okay?”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Despite his earlier thoughts that sleep wouldn’t come easy, Makoto felt himself growing drowsy rather quickly. The flickering firelight was hypnotic and before he knew it he felt his eyelids growing heavy, his head bobbing slightly as he grew drowsier and drowsier.

Maybe he should lay down after all. It wasn’t as though he’d forgotten his fear of the monsters in the dark, but he thought the camp was probably safe enough. Flandre had been living there by herself, after all.

The vampire emerged from the caves with a good portion of harvested meat- as well as a single puffy bunny pelt. No use letting any part of the rabbit go to waste, after all. 

As she walked back towards the camp, she made sure to take her time, to secure the meat so it didn’t attract monsters. The last thing she needed was to be followed by a dozen or more hungry spiders.

She couldn’t help but peek through the bushes as she got closer. Was her new friend asleep? Humans didn’t like to be disturbed when they got close to falling asleep.

[child-of-elpis-side]

               “No matter what you do to me… I will never give into despair!”

               Penned by: Jay

(RULES | ABOUT)

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto barely had time to even react to the sudden hug before Flandre released him. He tried to remind himself that she was only a kid… Except she was over five hundred years old so did that make it weird?

“Ah, wait, Flandre san-”

Too late. She was gone. Off into the darkness by herself, where more giant spiders and who knew what else were waiting for her. She could probably handle herself but… Makoto couldn’t help but worry.

For several long moments Makoto stared off in the direction she had gone, but the light from Flandre’s cold fire only let him see a few feet from the edge of the camp. He was tempted to call out to her to see if she was alright, but in all likelihood he would just end up attracting the attention of more monsters, so he kept his mouth shut and sat down on the blanket Flandre had offered him.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to sleep. He was wound up from everything he’d seen that afternoon. Even if he tried he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.

…The camp seemed a lot creepier now that Flandre wasn’t around. Makoto hoped she would be back soon.

Seconds passed, as the girl quickly darted over to an entrance on the surface- one that lead to underground tunnels and passages. This would get her in some trouble with the local underground denizens, but as long as she did it right, no one would have to know...

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, and still the night remained, hot temperatures cooling down both above and underground. Fireflies flickered along the landscape in certain areas, motes of slow moving light in an otherwise dreary and fearsome setting. As the fire crackled and burned, the sluggish glow and incomprehensible patterns of the lightning bugs provided a nearly sleepy sort of entertainment. They drifted into the scorched clearing, providing temporary illumination whenever they decided to cast their light.

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

…She didn’t even deny it.

But, what she was asking for wasn’t so bad. She had said she needed human blood to survive, after all, and she had made it his choice. Besides, she protected him from that monster and brought him to her camp. Makoto knew he was way out of his depth here, and he was going to have to rely on Flandre to survive.

And besides, vampire or not, Flandre seemed really nice.

“Alright,” Makoto said, smiling gently. “I’d be happy to work with you, if you’ll have me.”

“Yaaay!” The vampire girl didn’t even wait. She launched forward, arms spread out, and hugged the other with a wide grin.

“It’ll be great to have you here, Makoto-san! In fact- I’ll go hunting right now! I’ll make you something really special for tomorrow’s breakfast, so get some sleep, okay?” She pointed to a somewhat patched together blanket on the ground in front of the cold fire. “That’s all I’ve got for sleeping on right now, if that’s okay. I know humans need a lot more sleep than vampires, so you should probably take care of that. And don’t worry- I can take care of myself.” With a smile, the girl skipped off into the darkness, seemingly either uncaring or oblivious to the dangers outside.

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

“U-um, yeah, that answers pretty much all of my questions.”

Pretty thoroughly too. Well, at least she’d assured him that she didn’t kill anyone for their blood. Still though…

“So, is that why you invited me to your camp? So you could drink some of my blood?”

After all, he hadn’t seen or heard any other people yet. It was true he hadn’t been there long yet, but in Flandre’s small camp he didn’t see much evidence of anyone else having lived there recently.

Which meant that if what she said was true and she really needed human blood to survive, that meant sooner or later she would need…

She was telling the truth about not killing humans… right?

“Well, I don’t need blood right now. But maybe if you offer later... that would be really nice.” She cooed softly, looking up at him with smiling eyes. “You’re really nice, too. Thanks for being willing to come here with me!”

“We could work together- the summer is really hard here but I bet we could work really well together and get through it! what do you say, Makoto-san?”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto did his best not to gag as Flandre walked by with the bloody spider meat, but that odor was really foul.

Slowly, Makoto pulled himself to his feet. Okay, so he’d just found himself face to face with something that shouldn’t exist, in a situation that didn’t make sense. He supposed he should just take things one step at a time and not let himself panic too much. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Wall, as calm as he could manage.

“Flandre-san, are you really a vampire? Like, you drink blood and turn into a bat and all that?” As soon as he’d said it, Makoto felt a little silly. Even if he accepted that vampires really were real, they probably weren’t like the ones that appeared on TV or in comics.

“Ooooh, the vampire trait questionnaire, huh?” She asked, chuckling a bit. “Well, I’ll go ahead and get all those pesky questions out of the way right now for you~” She’d gone through this so many times, it was like a mantra by this point.

“First, yes, I drink blood. It’s not all I drink or eat, but I need at least a little human blood every so often to survive. I don’t kill anyone, though.” Not through feeding, at least, but she decided to leave that part alone.

“I can kinda turn into a bat, but... Nee-san is a lot better at it than me. I can only do it for a few seconds, but she can do it for almost half an hour! I’ve never needed to be a bat, though. Not often. 

I can’t turn other people into vampires by biting them. I’m not sure where that rumor even started. Also, I can’t use my fangs like straws, they’re not hollow.

I can’t stand sunlight, I can only eat small amounts of garlic, those cross shapes mean nothing to me, silver is an okay metal in my eyes, and I've never even seen a wooden stake so I wouldn’t know about that.

Did that answer all your questions, Makoto-san?”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

At the mention of the word ‘vampire’ images of Celestia in her Gothic Lolita fashion and red contacts flashed through Makoto’s head. Somehow… the reality didn’t quite match up…

No wait, that wasn’t the issue here!

“Wait, are you saying you’re… You’re not playing pretend or something? You’re really a vampire?”

He hadn’t really been looking at her mouth closely enough to notice whether or not she had fangs, but a few other odd things about her seemed to fit; the aversion to bright light, the enormous strength, the way she sounded older than she looked…

“Er, Flandre-san, h-how old are you exactly?”

“Welll, time doesn't work the way it usually does around here, but when I was taken away, I had just celebrated my 514th birthday! It’s nice to be a teen again!” A few more cuts and the young girl was done, taking the meat and putting it away in the fridge before using a small ice chunk to wash her hands as best she could.   

“But I guess I’d be nine, in vampire years. It’s hard for birthdays to stay really special when they happen so often- but Nee-san always finds a way!” Lumping another log onto the cold fire, the vampire visibly relaxed as the sun fully decended, stretching her body out. “Nighttime is really nice.”

[starvingscarlet]

child-of-elpis:

Makoto stared at Flandre in shock.

Then he dropped to his knees, legs no longer able to support him.

“Flandre-san, h-how on Earth did you do all of that?”

He wanted this to be a dream. He wanted to believe that this was just a dream. But he’d never had a dream this vivid before, or one that lasted this long. She’d just… blasted that spider thing to kingdom come with some weird light show and now she was cutting up its corpse - its smelly, gooey, disgusting corpse - with a piece of flint. Frankly if this was a dream he’d be a little disturbed that his subconscious had come up with something like this.

“Because I’m a vampire, silly.” She replied simply. Well, there was no hiding it now, anyway. She had to get whatever meat she could from this monster. Better to eat that than starve to death. “I thought the fangs and wings would have told you that. You’re the first human not to freak out at them, though- so thank you very much!”

“Eeugh. Spider blood is just... nasty.” Thankfully, she didn’t have to consider actually drinking it. There were pigs around for that. “But spider meat is better than nothing, if push comes to shove. Don’t worry, Makoto-san! I’ll try to get something tastier for you. I’m good at nighttime hunting!” Plus the fact that it was delightfully cooler in the nighttime... it made it so wonderful to be a vampire.