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[talkative]

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*Don't limit yourself, live your best life! Or unlife. As it be. The difference is mostly the breathing, you know? You don't have to smell really gross stuff as much anymore because you don't need to breathe in unless you talk. But then again some people can achieve a better sense of scent and then talking in smelly areas becomes really unpleasant and now if you don't think that's a problem then I don't know what your priorities are.

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[talkative]

Jackie will just... sit there. Raise an eyebrow. And give Max a pointed look.

And raise his eyebrow a bit higher when the time stretches on. "A penny for your thoughts?"

[maximumcake]

Max turns an embarrassed shade of pink. God. It's humiliating. Jackie doesn't even need to say anything. Max knows exactly how stupid he sounds already. The longer the pause, the more hot his face grows.

"... I'm just thinking about how many times I've offered myself to a vampire who is a complete stranger to me. And how dumb that was..."

He sighs, harshly. "I'd let myself be completely helpless and no one would even know if something happened."

[talkative]

The reach out with one finger, turning Max's face towards them, making sure they have him looking at them before agreeing and continuing the thought: "We would only find out after the fact. Find you after the fact. Because we would come looking for you.

Me.

Rowan.

Lucas.

But we might be too late, because you were helpless in the moment and did not take precautions so such a situation would not arise."

[maximumcake]

As Jackie invokes the names of his loves one by one, Max feels the bottom drop out of his stomach. His eyes are wide when they look upon his master, and sparkling with the moisture of fresh tears.

Jackie's words sink deep. They would come to find him. They all would. He can't forget that. He has people here, friends and lovers, who would look for him and be devastated to find...

No!

He can't bear to do that to them. He'd never forgive himself. He can't... he can't be so reckless now. He told Lucas not to get himself in trouble. Yet, Max hasn't been setting a very good example. He tries to jerk his chin down, no longer brave enough to look Jackie in the face.

"I... I don't want to do that to you."

[talkative]

Jackie lets Max's chin drop, let's the silence stretch on for a moment longer - but the two fingers, light as a feather but insistent with strength that surpasses what one would expect someone of Jackie's physique to have, press under Max's chin and bring his face back up to look at the vampire once more.

"Then let us find ways so it surely doesn't happen?"

[maximumcake]

There's one small moment of resistance, where Max doesn't want to lift his face, but the strength behind Jackie's touch is undeniable. As much as the strength of their words. Max's eyes still glisten, but no more wetness spills over.

He's latched onto Jackie's offer. Yes, he wants to make sure! He knows he can't resist his craving. He still wants to offer himself by the neck to Akeldama, and possibly others. But he doesn't want to be foolish about it now.

"Please..." he begs, "I just want to find a way. I'm not... I don't mean to..." he fumbles for the right way to express this.

"You are a good Master to me, Jackie. You take care of me. And you teach me. I'm lucky to have you because you look out for me, just like this. But I... I miss being fed on while I... while someone... touches me more than you can..."

He takes a quick sharp breath, then hurriedly adds, "I like what we do too! I do. I swear. But I just... I want something different sometimes too." His eyes search Jackie, pleading for them to understand and not be offended by this admission.

[talkative]

Jackie keeps themselves perfectly still as Max talks, throwing a quick nod or two in somewhere halfway to make sure that Max knows that they are listening but otherwise not reacting in any shape or form.

There's too much there to react to for them to show any of it, really.

But Max has a point. A point that Jackie can understand and, in the end, feels like he can safely acknowledge. They will have to keep a closer eye on Max now that most vampires in Ain around aren't from their own world, making it harder to guess how they will act around Max and what their ideas towards him might be. But... they do also need to find safe outlets for this desire.

And one, luckily, is very fashionable and seems to be agreeable to accepting Jackie's claim on Max.

They should be able to work something out...

"As with the cards, I feel like the way to make it as safe as possible is to agree ahead of time - in this case on whom you do this with, and under what circumstances. And let me vet them. ...or let us do it together. Would Akeldama be agreeable to you?" His second thought is Nelli, but they've just never spoken to her about Max so they aren't entirely sure what her thoughts are. They haven't really had a lot of dealings with Anarchs so there are some unknowns about the individual level, too. "We could see if he wishes to ...broaden the horizons of taking tea."

[maximumcake]

Max feels like he could vibrate through the floor as he waits for Jackie to consider. How will they take this? What will their answer be? It's such a relief to hear them offer Akeldama as a solution. This is what Max hoped for from the start.

"Yes," Max nods eagerly. "He would. And, um, he's already said some things to me that make it sound like he'd be interested in doing just that." And Max had to hold himself back from jumping on it prematurely.

[talkative]

"...I see." They have an inkling about the circumstances of that, but that's neither here nor there. Right now, there's no reason to dig further.

"All right. So for the safe - do not let anyone drink from you unless we have arranged it together ahead of time." Either for a single or for multiple occasions. "Now, consensual...

...what would you not want, assuming it involves someone drinking your blood without killing you? Persons, acts, circumstances..."

[maximumcake]

Max is ever so slightly sad to hear he has to get permission every time. Maybe if Akeldama proves himself trustworthy that part might change. If not Max will still obey it, as it is a direct order.

For the next line of thought, Max needs to take another moment to consider. Jackie really is putting him through his mental paces today. "Um..." What would he not want?

What would he not want? If this were a cartoon, little wisps of steam might start to spout from both his ears. When it comes to teeth he just... wants it all. There has to be something though, right?

"I guess I just... wouldn't want to be humiliated too much? I mean, it's not like I don't make jokes about myself being food all the time but maybe just don't let it go too far? I'm not an animal..."

[talkative]

"..okay. Let's try to turn that around. Talk in positives. What kind of humiliation would you like to happen?"

Because positives are a lot easier to work with than negatives. For everyone. And it's a kind of thinking that they want to encourage in Max anyway: Being able to say "this is a thing I want" just as much as being able to say "this is something I don't want". There's miles between 'okay' and 'want'. Way too many things are 'okay' to Max that he doesn't actually want, and that's partly what they're working on here.

[maximumcake]

Oh Jackie... that's even harder.

Max has spent so much of his life learning to like things he wasn't necessarily sure he wanted. Now he's being asked to untangle that... and he's not sure he knows how to tell the difference yet. Which, he realizes instantly, is the point. Maybe it says something that he can at least understand the purpose of the exercise now.

But. Okay. What kind would he want?

"Well," he thinks out loud to himself, and to Jackie. "I really like it when... when I'm being teased by two people and they both comment about how desperate I can get." His cheeks are starting to glow and he just knows he must be turning pink.

"I don't want to be called pathetic for it, though. I'm not sure I'd really even like being called a slut under those circumstances. Not like that. Just... I like if my partner thinks it's attractive? And maybe they talk about what they're going to do to reward me for it?"

It's a thin line, he realizes. He likes being called a good boy, and a good pet, but not so much the derogatory stuff. He can handle that outside the bedroom, but not in it.

[talkative]

Jackie nods slowly as Max speaks, trying to find a more general meaning in the description his ghoul provides.

"So you like being talked about like you're an object, but only as long as it is appreciative talk?"

[maximumcake]

Max perks up because, wait, that reminds him of a word he encountered in the dictionary of Kink terms Rowan gave him to study.

"Yes. That's it. Uh... it's called objectification. Right? I like that, but yeah, only if it's mostly positive."

[talkative]

"That would be it, yes." Jackie sounds definitely approving at this, and that's because they are. Max has clearly done some studying, and that should help him recognise some things in the long run. Even should Jackie themselves not be around any more some day. You never know in places like these.

They fish paper and a pen out of a pocket and write down YES - objectification, if it is positive. Degradation is already on the general cards, so they figure it'd just be repeating things.

"So, degradation aside. Is there anything that you absolutely do or do not want to happen during a feeding?"

[maximumcake]

Max perks up, responding to that note of approval with a proud smile. Yes. He has been doing his homework.

"Well... as long as I don't get my throat ripped out or seriously injured in some other way? No. Nothing that isn't already on my no list. Not that I can think of."

[talkative]

"All right." For the moment, they'll leave it at that.

Now. Sane. That's always the trickiest one to explain, and their general fairy fuckland situation as well as Max's unique challenges don't help.

"As for the sane part... For you, I think that mainly means two things. The first is to only choose partners that you can trust. Not just in general, but specifically to both keep you safe and healthy and respect those boundaries that you are able to articulate." Or have written down in his pocket, as it is.

The second, then, will be to actually articulate his boundaries, which will be a lot harder. And, of course, take good care of a partner if he's the dominant party, but really Jackie isn't worried about that at all. When it comes to other people's safety and happiness, Max has only ever shown to be considerate and thoughtful.

[maximumcake]

"You mean, choose people I can trust with my body and life," Max says, filling in the blanks. Because, well, that's the truth isn't it? Letting a vampire at his neck is a risk to his own life. He's given that lecture to others before. So... he should be more careful to heed it himself.

"I already gave Lord Akeldama one of my cards, by the way. He was very understanding." So, in this case, the vampire does have Max's trust.

"You said there are two things? What's the second?"

[talkative]

"Exactly that. And: Well done."

There's a short moment where Jackie reaches out and ruffles Max's hair - not in a disorderly, just in an affectionate way - that gives them time to think about the phrasing on the next part.

"It's about boundaries. Yes, they're in the consensual bit, but they feature here too. A sane approach to boundaries means that you know and articulate your own, and that you can make judgement calls on the boundaries of the other person." And some of that will be harder for Max while other parts will be easier.

[maximumcake]

"Thank you." He preens as they ruffle his hair, happy to have that rewarding affection.

"Mm." Max takes a moment to soak that in. There's where things can get tricky for him, as Jackie has seen in the past.

"I guess that's where these cards come in pretty handy. Because it gives me a chance to lay my boundaries out. And I'm always really careful, too, to ask about my partner's at the same time. I mean, sometimes I'm almost a little too cautious but I'd rather potentially spoil the mood than accidentally step over any lines."

[talkative]

An approving nod, and more hair ruffling. "Exactly. Sanity in your case means to lay out everything related to consent ahead of time.

And there's really no being too cautious. If it spoils the mood ahead of time, imagine what it might spoil later after it happened in the heat of the moment."

[maximumcake]

"Mm. Yeah. That's a good point. I've, uh, run into that issue once already." He's thinking of that situation with Milla. That whole thing was... a disaster. If he'd had these talks before then, maybe it might have gone differently? Well, either way, he never wants to let it happen again.

"I'm so grateful you can pass all of this information on to me, but where did you learn all of this? Did you have someone teach you too?"