Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:04 am

Look at the year he had. He spent so long as a wraith, but then, what was she now but that? She had different needs and different limitations and thus was affected so very differently. He had been starving, a slave to his needs. Now he was sated and much the same. It though? It was entirely different. Before he had been far more dependent on what she could offer. Now though? Things had changed. Still, she seemed to be the only one who enjoyed him for who he was. It was a shame he no longer wished to be that person. It was a shame he no longer had a choice. He had given that up long ago.

"So limiting. Beauty must be this. Art must be this. Think that way and you're as much of a slave as any of them, yes? Just in the other direction," he tsked at her, because he could, because she'd let him, and if she tried to act in response, then that would be easier to deal with than this tension. She tried to drive him to it. He tried to drive her to it. Sensation and more.

A reward, her reward. He'd thought of it, but why be direct when they could continue to be oblique. "A small deed, no blood even. A small reward. Make a request and we'll see how close I am to granting it. I had something in mind but I expected something more visceral."
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Guppy » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:25 am

There came a low chortle that spoke to primal things, as he called her a slave. "That's rich, coming from you," she offered - the comment as sharp as any barb. She crossed the room to glance over the art upon his walls or the books upon his shelves. It did not matter which. "Slave to the Lady and what she provides. Not that I'm complaining, mind," she corrected, brow lofted and hands clasped behind her back. "I still have need to figure out what she holds against you. I fancy holding your leash myself." She turned to glance at him over a shoulder. Eyes sparkled with promise. With mischief. How droll life would be without these little interactions.

He asked what reward she wished from him. He trivialized her task and she could not fault him. It had been easy enough to get access to the man, to converse with him. Berdini had given her answers of his own accord. No complaints at all. "A small favor. To be named later." The request was simple, but a small favor was in the eyes of the beholder. "Or perhaps a moment of honesty." She added, her gaze firm. "Complete honesty."
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:51 am

Giuseppe listened as she gloated, as she taunted, as she looked around as if she owned the place, as if she owned every place, and finally, he smiled. "It's interesting, Megera. For all of your talk, and even your small successes, yes?" and what was this but a small success. No real pressure was put on Berdini. Anyone might have been sent. "I've not seen anything out of you but ah, how shall we say this? Malicious ambition. Do you like that? No power. No magic. No viciousness. Just the promise of it all. That makes it so much more interesting, I think, because I have to wonder, is any of it real? Are you even what you say or are you just a sad little girl playing monster?"

With that hanging out there, with her request hanging out there, he winked at her. "Truth, bella. Truth. I'm not afraid of it. Are you?"
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Guppy » Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:34 am

Another glance over her shoulder as he spoke, brow lofted in mild interest. In actuality, not just anyone would have gotten the information. The creature had used her charms to get inside the man's room. She doubted that force, instead of polite conversation, would have yielded such results. Certainly a small task, but no less clever. At least, that is what she told herself. He spoke of her ambition, implying that she was something of a ruse. A girl playing at being evil. The smile upon her lips had a distinct chill to it before she turned back to what had previously caught her eye. "Ah, there are your teeth, darling. Seems I've struck a nerve," she mentioned, idly. He had, as well. He lashed out at her, aiming to anger. He was not disappointed. Her cold fury unleashed the magic held within the girl's quiet form - runes flared to life, startling blood red against the pale skin of wrist and neck. Magic snapped in the air, angry and pointed, but muted with self-control.

"Truth, then," she remarked, turning to face him again. "Are there any limitations?" Best to get the rules settled, after all.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Mon Sep 09, 2013 4:38 am

Of course someone else wouldn't have been able to do it as well or as easily. Berdini was probably the sort to enjoy a good beating or maiming, no matter what side of the process he was on. It didn't mean that anyone doing so would get any information out of him. She had her own charms and Giuseppe was not the only one to recognize them. She could always change sides if he wasn't giving her enough of what she wanted, though it was quickly becoming apparent that giving her less than what she claimed was the best way to keep her wanting more. "Lovely trick with the make-up." A nod for her glowing magical runes. It was much like what Niall could do. He wondered if Olwak's way to stop her once and for all would work here as well.

"The limitation is that I may not answer and then you'll be very cross at me." He smiled, not worried in the least.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Guppy » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:50 am

She gazed at him quietly, the magic still lingering within the air. It was a silent threat. Pressing against their skin. Smothering them - a snake closing its coils upon prey inch by sluggish inch. The black of her eyes were startling in the pale skin, predator's eyes. The creases remained as ever, wrong upon her features. She wore the skin comfortably, more so than its proper owner, but she did not quite fit. Her corners were too sharp. She dragged tongue across her lower lip as if envisioning his marrow splitting from his bones as she slurped the contents.

He told her that he might not answer and she smiled, the expression pale on her typically eloquent face. "I will be," she promised.

She crossed the room to settle in the chair across the worn desk. She kicked her heels up on the surface again. "If you don't answer, I'll ask another question. Is that acceptable?," she asked.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Tue Sep 10, 2013 1:27 pm

Magic. A lingering threat. He should have been worried. That he never saw her do magic didn't mean much. He could imagine the reasons. The body was fragile. Channeling energies within it could do damage and the revenant was dependent on it. Still, Giuseppe depended upon his charm here, what little of it he showed to her. Both of them bluffed on some level. What was he truly capable of anymore? He had ideas but they were the sort he didn't want to confirm. The cost would be too high for her. It would be unwise for both of them.

Still, he offered her truth. Was that any wiser?

"Yes, yes, Megara, of course. You may even get an answer eventually." A grin. The offer had been made. Now it was to see what she would do with it.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Guppy » Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:57 am

The creature watched him, the pulse of magic a low whine against their temples. She watched and she considered. Wondered and thought. Finally. Finally, she would drag her blackened gaze away from the temptation of his form and she peered at the ceiling. As if to tempt a question from whatever heavenly entity there was. As if such an entity would ever, ever advise the likes of her.

She tilted her head and her lips pursed, her every intention to draw the eye there. "I wonder of your true emotions when it comes to me, dear," she admitted. "Do you see worth, annoyance, an equal, a charlatan?," she questioned as her dark, heavy gaze came to rest upon him once more. "We hurt one another, we flirt. We threaten and condemn." She smiled. "It is all very interesting, I must admit that you have charmed me."

"I've been hopeful that our conversation would jog your memory of our short time together, but it has not." Her voice was low and enticing. Seeking his curiosity and grinning her wicked, villainous grin.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Fri Sep 20, 2013 2:24 am

"Ah, bella," and wasn't that rare, that slip. There were a few women in this world he did not often refer as such and she seemed to be one of them. he'd come up with his own name for her and that name had its own meaning and it seemed accurate. There was no need for anything else. She had said so much there, and it was all he could do to be wistful. There was simply not other choice. "you've come to me during an odd time in my life." And wasn't that blatantly ridiculous. When was not odd when you had a life like Giuseppe's.

Still, perhaps this was an exceptionally strange time. "You are, how shall we say this? A strange presence in a strange time. I walk a tightrope. Spikes are below me. No, fire," and that drove forth a skittish look for just a moment. "We shall say fire. And you flitter about, fly in all of your charming glory, yes? Around my head. What is a man to do but walk on? I see none of that. I have the luxury to see none of that. No, I see you. That is enough."

Then, of course, she would speak and he would laugh, shaking his head. "But then, I don't at all, do I?"
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Guppy » Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:47 am

He skirted around an answer and her features went, if possible, even colder in response. His words were honest, but he was trying to spare her feelings. She wanted to claw his eyes out of his skull and thoughts of marrow drifted into her mind. The power that had been pressing against their skin suddenly fizzled out as the creature before him seemed to withdrawal. She might have been a powerful creature, in her own right, but she was ever so vain. He was, in essence, telling her that she was seen, but not important enough to really consider. There were other things, more important things, to consume his thoughts. He meant it as a compliment, for surely there were many others that did not even register to him, but she did not take it as such. Of course not. Not when she had leveled more than a fair share of attention upon him.

She eased to her feet again and a hand rose to brush the imaginary dust - perhaps the perceived slights leveled against her - from the front of her clothing. "Yes, well. Enjoy your walk along the tightrope. I hope that you do not tumble down among the flames, Giuseppe." The creature leveled a wane smile at him and then turned to leave, footfalls sharp against the floor.
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Re: Task I: Eleventh-Hour Defection

Postby Glenn » Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:57 am

There was an air of finality to it as she withdrew from him. How would have he taken her in a different time? She was dangerous but there was something grafitiying, complimentary, flattering about being shown attention by a dangerous creature. It was, after all, exactly what she wanted from him and exactly what he refused to give. And for what? A world-weariness? A sense of self-preservation that he never truly showed before? Or was it that crystalline creature in her fortress, the one about to shatter. Was it that Giuseppe was showing restraint towards the possessing force through some clouded lens of honesty? Through a desire to not further hurt her?

It seemed so unlikely, but with him, who could ever truly tell? The end result was the same nonetheless. She turned, she left, and the fires were stoked ever higher below him. There would be a time that he would come to have regrets. Today? This? It would surely be one of them.
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