Alexei Barkov @witchbarkov-blog - Tumblr Blog

otterlyasten:

“I mean, most of those are business sleepovers. I don’t usually have sleepovers for my own enjoyment,” he pointed out. “Selling your body is a very lucrative business.” Not that he would suggest it for Alexei. He was too pure. It was hard to imagine him doing anything so skeevy. Far too pure. As the other wandered off, he focused on finishing his gross little fish. Soon, he was shifting back into his human form and followed after the witch to his bedroom – ignoring the fact he was now naked. “Don’t you need food?”

“Doesn’t mean that you can’t bring fish to them” Alexei teased. He frowned at himself in the bathroom mirror, noting the dark smudges around his eyes that were only half eyeliner. “I don’t really think I’d be good at something like that” He sighed, very gently peeling off his various jewelry items and setting them in a box set on the edge of the sink. Then he worked on untangling his hair and the feathers there. He was just taking a makeup wipe to the liner around his eyes when Asten came around the corner naked, making Alexei nearly poke himself in the eye. It took his brain a few seconds to compute that he’d been asked a question. “I’m fine, I ate earlier and I don’t eat much anyway.”

bloodtraitorian:

Ian’s mouth curved into a matching smirk at the witch’s retort – it was an apt nickname, but Ian found it more amusing than depressing. Though, he supposed, for the little witch, it would be. He was the weak one with a bruise sitting pretty on his cheek, after all.

Still, Ian watched with muted interest as the witch pulled out a deck of cards, shuffling them before fanning them out for Ian to choose from. They were beautiful painted – gold in color, the designs intricate and mesmerizing. They were ethereal, even Ian could admit that much; clearly lovingly crafted.

He stared at them for a long moment, letting his eyes drag along each one. There was a magnetism to them, a push and pull. And, as Ian lifted his hand, he held it over the cards, letting his fingers glide effortlessly over them. He paused once. Then twice.

Finally, he picked the last card on the left, pulling it from the little witch’s grip easily, turning it over with the flip of his fingers.

“Well?” he exhaled, dark gaze once again capturing the other’s gaze. “Aren’t you going to tell me what it means?”

Dark lashes fanned over his cheeks as he watched the vampire take his time selecting from the deck. At the very least he seemed to be taking this part seriously. Too many times he’d had a frustrating reading because someone refused to even try.

It felt like he was holding his breath as the man’s hands hovered over the card, nearly selecting one before drawing back. Alexei fought to keep his own hands steady and keep the cards fanned, trying his hardest not to interrupt the process and ruin his own work. He finally breathed out as the vampire selected a card, flipping it over.

A man dressed in fine red robes sat upon a gold throne, scepter clasped in his hand and an elaborate crown on his brow.

“The Emperor” Alexei spoke reverently. Then paused, a shiver going down his spine. His eyes widened a little as the whispers in his ears intensified.

“In this case it signifies two people. You, and someone else. There’s a powerful figure in your life, male, someone with a lot of power and authority. They’re important, in both good and bad ways” Alexei hummed, reaching out to run a finger over the card, “But it also signifies you. There will be a change or a loss that requires you to step forward and shoulder a greater burden. But the Emperor also says that you have an inner strength, a will that is hard to match. So there is very little chance of you breaking underneath the challenge.”

#//idk man I tried with the reading

empathasrius:

It took more than that to bother Asrius. It was rare for him to judge anyone, so long as they weren’t violent or cruel. This witch, however, seemed to be minding his own business. “How would you be interrupting me? I was just…taking a stroll.” And remembering how much he disliked being in busy settings. It was overwhelming to his senses. “Is it a tarot card?” Futures weren’t really something Asrius usually had an interest in. He was already anxious enough about present day without needing anxieties about what the future had to hold.

“I don’t know, you might have been thinking about something, and I interrupted?” He wasn’t entirely sure, but he knew that there were a fair amount of irritable people in this town. A lot of those irritable people were also powerful, which meant trouble for him. A faint smile crossed Alexei’s lips as he glanced toward the card, “Yeah, my tools of the trade as it were. It’s easier to read them if I make the cards myself. The spirits like it better than a deck I could buy from someone else.”

otterlyasten:

Asten was a popular escort for a reason. He was friendly and attractive. He wasn’t so good at getting information from people, as he just didn’t have the cunning for it. “If I knew we were going to have a sleepover, I would have brought my own,” he replied. He did have money, though not everyone would approve of the way he got it. “You don’t get much money for your fortunes?”

“Do you bring fish to all your sleepovers?” Alexei shook his head while laughing, “And I’m making a little better money than I used to, but I don’t exactly make bank telling fortunes or letting them talk to their dead grandmother.” It was better now that he was starting to get more notoriety, but he still didn’t live in luxury. He pushed off from the counter and headed back toward the bathroom. “I’m going to get ready for bed, come on back when you’re done.”

fortheloveofcare

‘Dark Magic’ Witchy-Boy Moodboad requested by anon

#alexei aesthetic

#alexeipic

eyes-of-amethyst

Two of Wands ☽◯☾

otterlyasten:

“You can deny my adorableness all you want. It doesn’t make it any less true.” He watched the witch as he went to get the small fish that he had in his apartment. It wasn’t as good as fresh fish, that was for sure. Still, he was quick to pick the food up and begin to eat it. “You should keep fresh fish around,” he grumbled between fish. “It’s so much tastier.”

Alexei had to give him that, it was hard to deny Asten when he went full adorable otter. Actually, it was hard to deny Asten even when he wasn’t tiny and fluffy. He leaned back against the counter and watched as the other chowed down on the slim little fish. “Well excuse me, not all of us can afford to get fresh fish all the time. I might get some if I have a dish planned, but only on special occasions”

bloodtraitorian:

Ian didn’t bother to fight the curve of his lips this time. The Witch had a point – revenge would be two fold when the fortune of luck didn’t shine on the asshole that had sought it. And, taking in the slim witch, Ian didn’t figure he was up to the task of defending himself.

Maybe, in another life, Ian might’ve pitied him.

But, nowadays, Ian hardly had any pity left.

However, he hadn’t expected the little witch to have conditions. Interesting. He listened, remaining silent as the witch explained. It was fair enough. Ian didn’t particularly care what his fortune was – death, he guessed. His own or other’s dying by his hand, he didn’t really care. He may have been immortal, but death wasn’t something feared. In fact, once he’d reduced Lazarus to dust, he’d wish for much the same.

Life as a monster was hardly even an existence worthy of living.

Ian took another drag of his cigarette, amused. “I won’t punch you,” he promised through an exhale, noting the way the little witch eyed his lighter. If he wanted to harm the other, Ian was quite capable of coming up with something far more creative.

Ian cocked a single brow. “Well then? Show me what you’ve got, little witch.”

Defense wasn’t exactly his strong suit. Not in a city where at least seventy percent of the population could tear him in half while hardly thinking about it. Maybe if he wasn’t still so young compared to everyone else. He had no idea how his abilities would grow, if he’d find some useful skills to keep the angry customers off his doorstep.

Alexei could only hope that he would.

The very deliberate way that the vampire said his words back to him wasn’t exactly reassuring, but he got the feeling it was mostly teasing. The other didn’t seem like the type to go off the handle so easily, and it sounded like he already had an idea in mind of what his fortune might be. So maybe Alexei didn’t have to fear pain or death tonight.

“I’d complain about the nickname, but it’s depressingly fitting” He sighed, but there was a smirk tugging at his lips.

Reaching into his jacket, Alexei pulled out his deck of cards. The hand painted gold design on their backs shimmering in the dim lighting. He shuffled them between his hands, quick and skillful, before arraying them face down in a fan like shape. “Choose one, but take your time doing so. Pick the one that calls you”

otterlyasten:

“I’m cute though. So that makes it okay,” he chirped, his paws moving to further mess up the other man’s hair. When the door was finally opened, Asten jumped off of the other and made his way to the fridge. Walking on land, he didn’t look nearly as graceful as he would have if he was in the water – what, with his stubby legs and all. “Do you have fish? Or shrimp? Or oysters?” he asked. Many didn’t, as it wasn’t in their taste. It was Asten’s favorite though. Nothing could compare.

“Sure it does, you keep on believing that” Alexei shook his head a little in retaliation, knowing that his curls probably now looked awful. Not that he cared much, it was late, the only one who was going to see him for the foreseeable future was Asten. It was actually kind of adorable to watch the otter waddle his way toward the fridge. “I’ve got anchovies I think? I was planning to make something or other, I forget now” He leaned over to rifle through until he found the can. Alexei peeled it open before setting it down closer to Asten.

bloodtraitorian:

And satisfaction brought it back.

Ian met the witch’s eyes, amused by the fact he hadn’t backed down. Ian had always thought bravery was a fools errand. The brave got themselves killed and the honest, it seemed, got themselves bruised cheeks. He let his gaze linger on the pooling of blood just beneath the witch’s pale skin, a siren’s song that beckoned at Ian. He frowned even as his gaze drifted down the man’s jaw, to the vein throbbing rhythmically along his throat.

He might’ve just fed, but the hunger never truly left.

Once, Ian likely would’ve scoffed at the notion of a fortune teller but, he knew the kind of fortunes Witches told held truth to them. Whomever had asked this witch for their fortune hadn’t liked what they’d been told.

Typical.

He leaned in towards the Witch then, brushing the back of his knuckles across the blossoming of abused flesh. “You should learn to craft you art in lies,” he said. “No one seeking to have their fortune told wants the truth.” They wanted happy lies, falsified good fortune.

He smirked as he withdrew his hand, fishing his lighter from his pocket. He played with it idly for a moment, cold gaze regarding the other man quietly. He caught the witch’s gaze as his mouth tipped upwards into a dangerous smirk. “I’ll give you my lighter,” he began, “if you tell me my fortune.”

Intense blue eyes made their way along Alexei’s face, and he had to try his hardest not to flinch back from them. He could almost feel where they paused on his skin, as if he could look straight through it and see the man underneath, or more likely see the blood running in his veins. It would be a lie to say he didn’t also find it strangely seductive, to be analyzed so closely. But that was probably the allure of a vampire.

That, and Alexei wasn’t entirely used to being looked at so closely.

“Why bother spend my energy lying? It might save me one bruise, but my fortunes are rarely wrong. If I tell a man he’s going to have good fortune, and he finds himself with bad luck a week later, he’ll find me and do much worse than a simple punch” Alexei had tried it once, when the cards had all come up with ill fortune. The taste of his own blood had been something he’d hoped to forget.

Alexei eyed the lighter with a sense of longing, neglected cigarette still unlit between his index and middle fingers. Moving his eyes back to the vampire’s face, he watched it for a moment, taking in the lethal curve to his lips and the icy stare. “On two conditions. One, you get a single card, I’m not about to do a full spread for a light. Two, you’re not allowed to punch me if the fortune is not what you like.”

otterlyasten:

The otter easily dodged any attempt to get the keys back before climbing to sit up on the witch’s head. He needed to catch a ride on people more often. This was significantly better than the whole walking thing he usually had to do. When they stopped at the apartment door, something of a sigh left the shifter before he suddenly dropped the keys for the other to retrieve them. “Fine, fine…”

“You’re kind of an asshole, you know that?” Alexei laughed, reaching up to brush the curls that Asten had pushed into his face by climbing on top of his head. When the otter finally did drop his keys, Alexei had to fumble to catch them, barely managing it before they tumbled down to the ground and made everything more difficult. Unlocking the door, Alexei pushed into his small but cozy apartment, decorated eclectically. “Home sweet home, are you hungry?”

bloodtraitorian:

The sharp scent of magic was nearly as strong as the smoke currently billowing from his mouth. It made his nostrils itch. A witch, then. Ian hadn’t ever cared much for them – lofty bastards, most of them. Selfish, to boot. Not that Ian was any sort of saint in comparison. He had his share of sins tucked under his belt.

He regarded the other man for several seconds, content to take another drag from his cigarette, cherry burning bright red. He flicked the end of it, his annoyance giving way to the beginnings of a smirk that promised no good intentions.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Ian drawled, stepping closer to the man, movement fluid and graceful. He peer down at him, blue gaze gone nearly black in the dim lighting of the street. “If I give you a light, what are you going to give me in return?” he asked, brows up as he pulled his cigarette away from his mouth, exhaling a cloud of smoke into the other’s face.

The man carried himself with a more subtle air of danger. Alexei might have guessed vampire even if he hadn’t heard it whispered just behind his right ear. Though if he was visiting a brothel in a neutral zone, he couldn’t imagine he was on Lazarus’ good side. Which didn’t mean anything as far as his danger to Alexei, but his need for nicotine won out.

Which was becoming increasingly pronounced as he watched the man take another lazy drag from his cigarette.

“And satisfaction brought it back” Alexei replied automatically, chin tilting upward to look at the man with hazel eyes rimmed in smudged liner. A faint smile tugged at the edges of his lips, “I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer. My skills as a witch aren’t terribly useful. I’m a medium and a fortune teller.” His eyes burned a little from the smoke, and he had to close them for a moment.

“You can see how well that’s worked out for me tonight” Alexei murmured, gesturing vaguely to the forming bruise on his face.

otterlyasten:

It was probably good to be on the mermen’s side. They were scary. He was supposed to eat the fish, not the other way around. And Zale was kind of creepy. It was probably good that Asten was small, even for an otter so that he could do lazy things like hang out on shoulders. “Never said I wasn’t.” The shine of the keys caught his eye, and reaching down, he plucked them out of the witch’s hand – holding them firmly in his mouth.

Alexei made an flailing movement to try and get his keys back from the otter, though he stopped when he realized he could probably accidentally toss Asten off if he wasn’t careful. Instead he just sighed and climbed the stairs to his building. Thankfully, Asten was small, hardly any weight added to the journey upstairs. When they reached the upper floors, Alexei paused in front of his door and craned his neck to look at the otter on his shoulder. “I’m going to need those back if I’m going to let us in”

faolan-of-the-sorrows:

“Granted, nothing that Earth offers can really compare to what used to drink in the morning.” His lips pursed together in thought for a fleeting moment before he took another sip, eyes narrowing tiredly. Even after so long removed from the realm of his origin, he still found himself lost in thought at times, nostalgia carrying him home on black wings. After a moment he regained himself, deigning to cast another glance the witch’s way.

“Ah, a diviner of futures. In my experience, that path has led many weak-minded witches to madness. Fate can hide horrible things in the folds of her cloak.” Another slow sip of the tea, another icy glance, accompanied by the ghost of a smirk. “Forgive me if I say that your attire leads me to believe you’re halfway to madness already.”

“I suppose that would probably be true, I can imagine Earth is probably pretty dull in comparison” Alexei could acknowledge that, he hadn’t seen any worlds other than Earth, and what he had seen wasn’t pretty. This world was harsh, and dirty. He almost died in a filthy alley before the dead had managed to save him. They occasionally told him about the other worlds, ones more beautiful than this one.

“No need for forgiveness, I’m usually inclined to believe that too” Alexei huffed a soft laugh, taking another sip of his drink. Madness was always too near for comfort. The spirits seemed to genuinely care for his well being, or at the very least keeping him alive, so that helped some. “But my source for telling fortunes isn’t entirely direct, so maybe that will keep me from imploding?”

bloodtraitorian:

Ian had always hated the metallic taste of blood – the sweetness that lingered on his tongue, coppery and decadent, as sweet and seductive as the creature he’d been turned into. It put him in a foul mood, having just fed from one of the only blood brothels built in the neutral territory. If he wouldn’t become little more than a moldy old husk of a corpse, he would’ve long ago abstained from the disgusting act of feeding.

But, alas…

He lifted a lit cigarette to his lips and inhaled, the burn of it familiar - an old human pleasure of his. It served as a reminder of what he’d been before he’d become a monster.

The night was yet young, the moon high in the sky, the stars a cascade of back up dancers to its brilliance. He exhaled, but didn’t turn as he was approached. He relaxed his stance before he cocked his head, blue eyes narrowing as he took in the man standing astride to him.

“Come to bum a cigarette?” he asked, red lips curving into a soft smile that quietly sad: fuck off. The corners of it sharpened. “Or did you have something more fun in mind?”

The five of cups stared almost mockingly up at him, the dark cloaked figure and the empty gold cups that he’d painstakingly painted. It was an ill omen, warning of loss and disappointment, and Alexei’s client hadn’t been too happy to hear about it. The bruise forming on his cheek was a pretty good indicator of just how not happy he’d been. There wasn’t any blood, thankfully, but it was definitely sore.

Quietly, he tucked the card back into the deck, and the deck into one of his inner jacket pockets. While there, he rooted around until he found his pack of cigarettes, shaking it until he could extract one with long pale fingers.

The voices were particularly loud in his ears, they always were when Alexei wasn’t calm enough to control them properly.

Of course he forgot his lighter. When one thing went wrong, didn’t a dozen others? But as he turned out of the alleyway, he spotted a man with smoke drifting elegantly from his lips, and Alexei’s best bet at finding a lighter.

“Brought my own actually, was hoping to borrow a light” He murmured low, tucking one of his hands in his jacket pocket. “Though now I’m wondering what you mean by fun.”

otterlyasten:

“Yeah. You don’t have any good places to swim out here either. If I don’t make the mermen angry, they let me splash around in the river.” It was important to the shifter that he have a natural place to splash around and relax. Swimming was as natural to him as breathing was. As the other got up and gestured towards where his apartment was, the shifter was soon shifting and climbing up onto the witch’s shoulder. Perhaps he was being a little lazy, and perhaps the alcohol still lingered slightly. “Comfy,” he huffed softly.

“Well good that your on the same side then, they’re less likely to tear you apart. I’m sorry Asten, but you wouldn’t do well against the mermen” Alexei teased, slipping his keys out of his pockets and fiddling with them. He hadn’t really expected Asten to shift immediately, but there was a warm welcome weight on his shoulder in the span of a minute. “You’re just lazy” He laughed softly, reaching up to adjust where the otter was settled on his shoulders and give his head a scratch.

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