And after that exhausting exercise (much more exhausting than traipsing around the bush for the last few days) Belle got drunk. Fuck it, she deserved it, & future Belle could worry about the hangover she'd suffer in the morning. She normally didn't bother drinking now; but it didn't mean she didn't know how to do it when she wanted to.
She'd convinced Shadowheart, who needed no convincing whatsoever, to go & get a bottle of cold wine for her out of the magical fridge they carried around.
"Need a drinking partner?" the cleric had offered as she'd handed over the bottle. Belle looked up at her from her cross-legged position on her bedroll.
"You know what? Absolutely! Pull up a chair!"
She waited until Shadowheart had selected her own beverage, before re-joining her.
"Are you any good at drinking?" Belle eyed the goth challengingly.
"You've got to be joking. I can hold my own" Shadowheart accepted the challenge.
"Show me, then."
Shadowheart took a long draught from the bottle, gasping & wiping her mouth as she downed a third of it in one go. She smiled viscously at Belle.
"You're turn."
Belle upended the bottle, having given it a sharp flick as she did so. The entire bottle disappeared down her throat in less time than Shadowheart had taken for hers.
The half-elves' eyes widened in disbelief.
"How in the goddesses name did you do that?"
Belle gave voice to a deep, ladylike burp that reverberated throughout the cave.
"I'm an Aussie, hun, you'll never outdrink one of us."
"We'll see about that."
She tried to emulate what Belle had done, only ending up wasting the wine, having half of it pour from her mouth as she couldn't keep swallowing fast enough.
"Lightweight" Belle commented good naturedly. "Wanna know how it's done?"
She went to get up, only both ladies were presented with a bottle each. Looking up, Astarion was offering them more, with an encouraging, evil smile.
"I have got to get in on this" he commented, pulling a third bottle out of who knew where & seating himself beside the both of them. All three uncorked the bottles.
"Right. Trick to downing it quickly. You've got to get the liquid moving fast, like a tornado. Kills the resistance going down."
She showed them the flick of the wrist. Astarion got it straight away, Shadowheart took a couple of goes.
"Good, that's good. Now. The tricky part. You've got to … erhm… suppressyourgagreflex"
She kept her eyes on Shadowheart saying that. The other woman took a hot second to understand, & simply nodded. Astarion, however …
"Easy".
Of course he'd say something like that, in that tone, the one he used for picking locks.
"Well then, you'll be a natural at this, won't you" she replied, facing him, Dutch courage kicking in now that the alcohol was starting to worm its way through her veins.
His smile deepened as he tilted the bottle at her in a 'cheers'.
"The winner slams their bottle down first. Conditions are no spillage …"
The snort beside her was enough for her to drive her elbow into him; lightly, of course.
"Oww, watch where you're putting that thing" he rubbed the area excessively. He then followed with, "I may need you to kiss it better, darling."
"Oh, for the love of … will you shut up or fuck already?" Shadowheart stabbed her finger at Astarion while rolling her eyes at Belle.
"I beg your pardon, I'll have you know –" followed right on top of
"Whaaaat? That is so not happening!"
They glanced at each other, then looked away quickly.
"Nope, no, back to drinking" Belle insisted, her face glowing. With alcohol. Juuust alcohol.
"Right, well, let's do this then." Shadowheart looked smug at her little dig. And to think, Belle thought she'd started to like the woman.
"Where was I?" Belle asked.
"Spillage, dear."
"I'm fucking warning you" said Shadowheart, glaring at Astarion.
"Right. Um, & nothing left in the bottle. Ready?"
They both nodded, hands poised to give the flick.
"Three. Two. One. Go."
They all upended the bottles, letting the wine pour down their throats in a torrential stream. Belle slammed down her bottle first, followed quickly by Astarion, then Shadowheart.
"Oh, eugh, that's terrible." Astarion wrinkled his nose as he wiped his mouth.
"How the hell can you drink alcohol anyway? I've been meaning to ask. Because, frankly, that does not add up." Belle questioned him.
"How in the hells should I know? I'm not an expert on vampire physiology. Besides, I don't think anyone's ever bothered studying it, let alone wrote a dissertation on it."
"I'm going to get another bottle. Do you two want a refill?" Shadowheart interrupted, unfurling herself, only very slightly unsteady on her feet.
"Yes" Belle answered.
"I think not" Astarion told her. "It's just swill."
Belle leant over, plucking at his sleeve. He turned to look at her. Oops, she was closer than she'd intended. She pulled back, only, he followed her. Ok, then. Blinking owlishly, she asked,
"Would it make it taste better if it had blood in it?"
His pupils blew wide just at the mention. He flicked a glance down at her wrist.
"Well, it might. I've never tasted it before when mixed. But, your father, darling, is sitting right over there." He nodded, ever so slightly, at Gus.
"What about just a few drops, then?"
He hesitated before answering her.
"Why? I mean, why are you offering? I'm not complaining, mind you … " he trailed off, seemingly at a loss to continue.
"To make it taste better?"
His eyes flicked over her face; looking for what, she didn't know.
He finally answered.
"Alright, then. But don't make it obvious you're doing it".
"I am the picture of covertness." She said, placing a hand over her heart. Leaning back, she faced away as she burped again. That was the other secret; get rid of any air as quickly as possible so it didn't get stuck & make drinking impossible.
She heard him bitch behind her about being glad his digestive system didn't work like that anymore. Shadowheart presented the bottles once more at her return, seating herself & removing the cork.
Belle did so as well, half falling & crawling to grab the little scalpel knife she kept tucked away in her bedroll now.
"Gotcha" she told it, rolling back into a sitting position.
Shadowheart, (Selune, or whoever, bless her), eyed what Belle was about to do, but kept her mouth shut.
Poking her tongue out, she flicked the knife over the tip of her thumb, squeezing the welling blood out into the wine bottle. She massaged her thumb, trying to get as much in there as possible before her thumb started going numb & white.
"Righto. Here you go" she said, swapping bottles with Astarion.
He held it up to smell it, the moan he gave so low it vibrated in his chest. Both ladies ignored it.
"Ready?" she gave the countdown once again, flicking her wrist on go, & slamming her bottle down, seconds after Astarion had.
"You swallow too slow" Belle pointed out to the cleric. "But good job, not everyone can do this."
"On that note, I think I'm done." Shadowheart got to her feet, turned, & walked carefully away, with a pronounced lean, back to her own bedroll.
"You done?" she turned to Astarion, who had meanwhile picked up the empty wine bottle, held it up to his mouth & tapped the bottom of it for the dregs.
"Unfortunately. That certainly helped the flavour" he tipped his head at her thumb, & placed the bottle back down, giving her a smile from the side.
"Somebody should study what happens to alcohol in vampires. It'd be interesting to read. Earth has various theories on the constitution & what you lot are capable of, but it varies from source to source."
"I thought you said Earth only contains humans."
"It does. And lots & lots of stories. The vampire genre is huge. All I can say is, thank god you don't sparkle in the sunlight."
"Sparkle? I don't sparkle. Glow, yes. Sparkle, no."
"I know …" whoops, that went too close to the other morning.
He leant in towards her just a tiny bit more.
"So you saw, did you? I thought you might have. Naughty girl."
"That was totally unintentional. I had no idea you'd gone that way. Anyway, what were you doing flashing off everywhere when you couldn't not have heard me coming?"
"I did hear you coming. And I thought that it had been quite unfair of me to have seen your delectable self & not return the favour."
"You are so lucky I'm drunk right now & immune to your bullshit."
"Is that so?" he reached out, & stroked her hand with a single finger, causing huge knots of gooseflesh to wind their way up her arm. She looked down, utterly fascinated at the response. It was exactly like being a virgin & never having been touched before.
"Astarion." She said quietly, "I know you know what I saw that day. Don't do something you don't really want to be doing."
Thank all the gods that be for alcohol, because there was no way in hell she'd have said that to his face while sober.
"I'm aware." He continued to stroke her hand anyway, seemingly fixating on it & losing the seductive quality he had but a moment ago.
"Then why …"
"Why not? As you're so fond of saying, just because."
"Oh."
"Your skin really is quite warm. I like it."
"Yours' is freezing."
"Comes with being undead."
"No shit."
She watched as her own hand, seemingly entirely on its own, ever so slowly turned over while his own finger paused in its ministrations. When her palm presented itself, he let his own fingers brush the mounds & valleys it contained lightly. The tension built, her palm buzzing & tingling at the attention it was being paid. When it got too much to bear, she closed her hand around his fingers, her heat thawing his coolness.