[She took him like a lover, but damned him like a villain. With sweet words laced like poison, but at least he was used to it. Knives that cut - that told him when he was out of bounds and as she coiled to him, Greed merely shrugged. Raised one hand to give the mildest charade of a surrender.] Noted. Just remember that this was your idea.
[Up ahead, torches flicked. A few unloading their gotten-gains. Crate after crate piling high on the planks and they oozed of fresh fish. Still flopping, gasping for air. It was fitting in a way - how every second that passed, there was something just barely hanging onto life. Dying moments waiting in the balance and it wouldn't just be next-day's market that would be begging for the sweet release.]
[Greed walked with her, shoved his nose to the side of her head. He could snap her neck right then and there; have at everything that was to come. All for himself. But he wouldn't and she knew. That despite his claim to fame, she wasn't on the dinner menu.]
[Not yet, anyway.]
[But he watched the dock, his glance far away as it split the darkness and saw. Every fearful glance, every frozen step. Like time unwinding before him and the Sin was privy to everything. Skipped heartbeats, erratic pulses: it was the best sort of drug.]
[And oh, was he just itching for the chance to show off.] But as long as we're being honest with one another, you and I know you're far too gone to be saved. Don't play bullshit with me, lovely. [The homunculus smiled against her hair, against her skin. Let his breath caress her as much as so wanted to. To take her clothes, to steal her skin. Running his claws down her curves to make her sing so loud that even the dregs of the under-city could hear.]
[That wasn't tonight's plan, though. Which was slightly disappointing.] Mn. [Greed let her go and turned his hands back to his pockets. What a witch and such a tease. He was right when he made the comment.]
[Had Elizabeth been something more, Lust would have liked her.]
[Suddenly, Greed slowed his pace. Waltzing instead of walking and each clap of his heel made the whole deck shiver. As if it knew what was coming and he seemed to melt into shadow. Races of black across his skin and he spat his smoke out. Let it roll across the wood until his boot smothered it and it was only hell-fire ash chasing the cuff of his heels, the billow of his jacket.]
Why don't you do the talking first then? [The creature tilted his head, looked down at her at a diagonal glance.] May as well make him comfortable first, right?
[ Like a marionette, her head canted to the side, eyes cold as his breath marked her like a too hot brand. A threat and a comfort. He was there, he was real, and what could they do to her? When the deadliest man in the street wrapped himself around her, they were as nothing.
But her eyes were cold even as he drank her in, watching the street. She watched how he looked, and for a moment, she considered. It would be bliss. She could fuck a man like him, because he wasn't a man at all, and wouldn't fail her like all the others did.
When on earth had her expectations from life gotten so low?] Bullshit, Greed? When have I ever pretend to be anything less than what I am?
[ Her cardinal sin, pride. Wrapped in vanity wrapped in her hunger for more. ( Always, always more. ) She might lie to others, often and as easy as breathing, but with him, she gave more than she did to most, which seemed to suit him.
When his grip lifted, she took the moment to roll her shoulders and sigh deeply. Letting him and all the complications he presented go from her mind, the half meant warnings she wanted to snap out and the welcoming murmurs she wished to give. Slipping from one mask to another in the shadows. A woman had so many that she could don them like dresses, and Elizabeth found herself with more than most. Now it was just a matter of tweaking, tugging her dress down to leave her shoulders bare. Mussing up her hair and biting her lips until they went red and kissed-bruised.
Little more than a street harlot to look at. Might of passed better for it, if her eyes were not half so much worse, all the same, it let her slip by relatively unnoticed. He was gone from her mind then, her own men to meet that she had left on watch, to talk with briefly and give instructions with what she wanted done. When and where and how. They scurried like rats to her orders. And it was only so much time before they heard what she needed. A brief nodded, and she wound her way back to Greed.
Mimicking again, and she ever did. Miming others intention, mocking almost for it. But she smiled and dipped her head, wound her arm around his. Lovers on a promenade. ]
I've a gift for you. Will you come see? [ Angels could not look so sweet. But she nodded ahead to a bar, that seemed mostly empty but for a flickering candle through a grubby window frame.
[Everyone woman had her consort and every witch had her cat. Greed was latter - the black feline to bring the worst of luck to anyone who crossed his path. Whether intentional or not; whether it was just bad timing or worse, it all ended the same. In tears and bloodshed. In a confession spoken not from the mouth, but from the eyes. The dying breath of a soul clinging to life, begging to have and spare.]
[But avarice-incarnate spared little, if any.]
[It was why it worked. Between him and Elizabeth. Eventually, time or the knife would take her and Greed would have to find someone else. But for now, the arrangement was simple: one scratched back exchanged for another and as Elizabeth took the lead, the Sin stayed behind her. Like the looming form of a shadow, the Nosferatu to take her when she least expected it.]
[But she wasn't so innocent and she had summoned him. All under the gaze of pretty lashes, pursed lips, and a naked shoulder.]
[Greed swayed with her stride, clacked when she clicked. As they towed down the length of the dock and the lights became dimmer and dimmer. Bringing in more of the thickness of night, shrouding what lay just below the surface. He could smell it more out here than he could before: the rotting stank of flesh, the crude growing old in barrels packed far over their capacity.]
[Humanity's greed was always impressive.] A gift, huh. [A low rumble from behind her and the homunculus slipped to her side. Watching the dock and the men that scurried when she came prancing across the wood. She was demented - deranged in her mirth. In her promise for carnage and revenge.]
[And Greed, if anything, was more than a little charmed.]
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[Up ahead, torches flicked. A few unloading their gotten-gains. Crate after crate piling high on the planks and they oozed of fresh fish. Still flopping, gasping for air. It was fitting in a way - how every second that passed, there was something just barely hanging onto life. Dying moments waiting in the balance and it wouldn't just be next-day's market that would be begging for the sweet release.]
[Greed walked with her, shoved his nose to the side of her head. He could snap her neck right then and there; have at everything that was to come. All for himself. But he wouldn't and she knew. That despite his claim to fame, she wasn't on the dinner menu.]
[Not yet, anyway.]
[But he watched the dock, his glance far away as it split the darkness and saw. Every fearful glance, every frozen step. Like time unwinding before him and the Sin was privy to everything. Skipped heartbeats, erratic pulses: it was the best sort of drug.]
[And oh, was he just itching for the chance to show off.] But as long as we're being honest with one another, you and I know you're far too gone to be saved. Don't play bullshit with me, lovely. [The homunculus smiled against her hair, against her skin. Let his breath caress her as much as so wanted to. To take her clothes, to steal her skin. Running his claws down her curves to make her sing so loud that even the dregs of the under-city could hear.]
[That wasn't tonight's plan, though. Which was slightly disappointing.] Mn. [Greed let her go and turned his hands back to his pockets. What a witch and such a tease. He was right when he made the comment.]
[Had Elizabeth been something more, Lust would have liked her.]
[Suddenly, Greed slowed his pace. Waltzing instead of walking and each clap of his heel made the whole deck shiver. As if it knew what was coming and he seemed to melt into shadow. Races of black across his skin and he spat his smoke out. Let it roll across the wood until his boot smothered it and it was only hell-fire ash chasing the cuff of his heels, the billow of his jacket.]
Why don't you do the talking first then? [The creature tilted his head, looked down at her at a diagonal glance.] May as well make him comfortable first, right?
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But her eyes were cold even as he drank her in, watching the street. She watched how he looked, and for a moment, she considered. It would be bliss. She could fuck a man like him, because he wasn't a man at all, and wouldn't fail her like all the others did.
When on earth had her expectations from life gotten so low?] Bullshit, Greed? When have I ever pretend to be anything less than what I am?
[ Her cardinal sin, pride. Wrapped in vanity wrapped in her hunger for more. ( Always, always more. ) She might lie to others, often and as easy as breathing, but with him, she gave more than she did to most, which seemed to suit him.
When his grip lifted, she took the moment to roll her shoulders and sigh deeply. Letting him and all the complications he presented go from her mind, the half meant warnings she wanted to snap out and the welcoming murmurs she wished to give. Slipping from one mask to another in the shadows. A woman had so many that she could don them like dresses, and Elizabeth found herself with more than most. Now it was just a matter of tweaking, tugging her dress down to leave her shoulders bare. Mussing up her hair and biting her lips until they went red and kissed-bruised.
Little more than a street harlot to look at. Might of passed better for it, if her eyes were not half so much worse, all the same, it let her slip by relatively unnoticed. He was gone from her mind then, her own men to meet that she had left on watch, to talk with briefly and give instructions with what she wanted done. When and where and how. They scurried like rats to her orders. And it was only so much time before they heard what she needed. A brief nodded, and she wound her way back to Greed.
Mimicking again, and she ever did. Miming others intention, mocking almost for it. But she smiled and dipped her head, wound her arm around his. Lovers on a promenade. ]
I've a gift for you. Will you come see? [ Angels could not look so sweet. But she nodded ahead to a bar, that seemed mostly empty but for a flickering candle through a grubby window frame.
( And this, was her favourite game. ) ]
no subject
[But avarice-incarnate spared little, if any.]
[It was why it worked. Between him and Elizabeth. Eventually, time or the knife would take her and Greed would have to find someone else. But for now, the arrangement was simple: one scratched back exchanged for another and as Elizabeth took the lead, the Sin stayed behind her. Like the looming form of a shadow, the Nosferatu to take her when she least expected it.]
[But she wasn't so innocent and she had summoned him. All under the gaze of pretty lashes, pursed lips, and a naked shoulder.]
[Greed swayed with her stride, clacked when she clicked. As they towed down the length of the dock and the lights became dimmer and dimmer. Bringing in more of the thickness of night, shrouding what lay just below the surface. He could smell it more out here than he could before: the rotting stank of flesh, the crude growing old in barrels packed far over their capacity.]
[Humanity's greed was always impressive.] A gift, huh. [A low rumble from behind her and the homunculus slipped to her side. Watching the dock and the men that scurried when she came prancing across the wood. She was demented - deranged in her mirth. In her promise for carnage and revenge.]
[And Greed, if anything, was more than a little charmed.]