To say that society often disgusted him was a grievously grotesque understatement. It was so fundamentally flawed at its core; so incredibly and irreversibly tarnished beyond repair, that when his mind roved over the idea he could feel bile rising in his throat. The greed and selfishness that permeated the hearts of nearly every living creature, whether sentient or otherwise, was utterly and abhorrently repulsive. They went at life as though they were ravenous Megaras descending upon unwitting prey; ebon wings splayed widely as their clawed feet sunk talons into its back...
Really, it was about cleansing. Certain people simply deserved to die. There was no reason for them to be around. They were to be loathed for their weakness, their defiance, their deceit, their arrogance. Surely their transgressions were punishable by death, were they not? Surely they had more than earned an impromptu trip into the hated Dark Lady's realm. They deserved to wander with their weeping and their twisting of anguished hands for a while; let them mull over their incredible state of insignificance.
Erythros really had no idea why he was reassuring himself of what he was already certain of. He peered out from the depths of his green cloak at the passersby, his booted feet hooked into the legs of the chair across from him. A simple glass of water perched on the table before him, and he moved to quench his thirst with it, his thoughts again tumbling one over the other in this stange and morbid display of self-assurance.
That's why I joined with the whisper; that's why I know I belong in it and why it owns my heart, He finished, physically nodding his head in affirmation.
All doubts I have are simply obstacles that I shall eliminate in time.It wasn't easy, it never was. He didn't enjoy the killing. Well, he did, when he thought about how it brought about the Whisper's wishes. He was the extension of that wonderful voice's will, and he cherished that feeling. The power would spread like an awareness in his mind, creeping into the deepest recesses and flowing down into his hands to allow him to carry out what he was meant to. It was persuasive too; a seductive sort of quality as though a woman were placing her hand upon his shoulder and whispering sweet directions into his ear.
Yes, he loved that whisper, and it loved his darkness in return. There was never any reason to doubt its purpose. Especially sitting here, in this mucky, refuse-infested tavern, watching as the people wandered in and out with their own pathetic interests in mind, exchanging tria for measly amounts of food with no consideration for the beggars that wandered the streets just outside...
"Well, what have we here?"
The chipper, affable voice crashed into his train of thought like crystalshine bursting through a blizzard. He jerked his eyes towards it, and they settled on the familiar woman standing off to his right. She smiled at him and raised her paw to offer a wave in greeting.
"Hello again, Erythros!" Mariana said.
And then there are the stubborn ones that simply refuse to conform to my perfectly set parameters... "Hello yourself," Erythros said with a genuine chuckle. Here she was again, smiling brightly, acting as though nothing negative had ever dared lay a hand upon her. He could sense, of course, that this was untrue. Years of realizing and reacting to the responses of his--targets--had alloted him the ability to read body language well.
This fenki was hiding something. Erythros steepled his fingers and smiled knowingly, most of the expression hidden behind his hands.
"Mind if I have a seat with you?" Mariana asked him.
In reply, he simply gestured towards the empty side of the table. She slid smoothy into the chair opposite him just as he unhooked his feet and moved them beneath his own seat.
"How have you been, friend?" She inquired. She made a soft clinking sound when she sat, generated by her armor. It was an ever-present casing with her, he'd never seen her with it off. It hid her body perfectly, so the only real details he could make out were those present on her face.
Friend? That's a term I've not heard in some time.He felt some chagrin as it sent a small amount of warmth to his heart.
Should have obliterated those feelings by now.Erythros attempted to shrug off that niggling, unfortunate effect and shook his head slightly. "I've been well as can
be expected," he replied simply. "Yourself, Mariana?"
The fenki suddenly reached a paw over to her left shoulder and popped it. Loudly. Erythros winced visibly and stared at her.
"Heh, sorry," she said. "Habit." She grinned at him and did the same to the opposite shoulder, sliding her paw
into the small gap between the armor and her skin so that she could massage it a bit.
Might not be so bad if you just took that armor off now and then, fenki, Erythros thought. He frowned inwardly as he felt a bit of empathy and what some might even go so far as to call concern well up inside of him.
"Perhaps you should get that looked at," Erythros suggested softly.
Mariana shrugged lightly, withdrawing her paw once more. She waved it in a very dismissive way and shook her head.
"I'll be fine," she said. "So, those individuals that 'shall not be mentioned' still giving you troubles?"
Her observant eyes roamed over his face in a truly compassionate way. They shifted to the tattoo on his neck and he could see a bit of hesitation in her expression as she wondered at it. They trailed back up again, back to his eyes, and she
emphasized her question by raising a brow.
"Well?"
Why do you care, Mariana? Because she did. He couldn't even try to finagle a way out of this fact. She cared.
You shouldn't, Mari. You really, really shouldn't care. I deserve every bit of scorn that is inflicted upon me, I...Erythros' train of thought came to an almost shattering stop as another voice entered his head. It was sweet and
encouraging; gentle and alluring. It stroked at him, almost seeming to toy with him, and it was very very upset
with the way he was berating his actions.
"Come now, my sweet. You're hurting my feelings," it murmured, and he sighed as it washed over his doubts like a tide.
"You know why we do what we do. We are powerful and strong so long as we are one and we are together. Don't let this little harlot come between us. You know how much that would injure me."His heart seemed to tighten in his chest, as though the whisper were displaying its emotional turmoil over his doubt
in a tangible, physical way. He would have gasped, but he'd become used to this twisted display of affection by now, and outwardly his face maintained a carefully constructed image of neutrality.
Forgive me, He replied.
I shall never doubt you.The voice chuckled lightly, resonating in his head like a tolling bell.
"That's my favorite pet, " it cooed joyously.
It seemed to grow closer in proximity, though this was really not possible because there was no bodily manifestation of it, and tickled at his ear with soothing words that dripped with beguiling sincerity.
"Now you go out there and make me proud, lover."~~
Mariana watched Erythros's eyes. She watched them closely, attentively. And she saw it plain as day, right there in the dim tavern lighting.
The dermorian's eyes flashed red. The vibrant and stark coloring clotted his corneas for the briefest of instances, but she saw it. She leaned back in her chair in wonder, but not fear. Fear helped nothing. It compromised one's ability to act, and as such, was always meant to be avoided. Besides, maybe she had been mistaken? The lighting in here really was atrocious, and it was possible he had gone quite a while without sleep. That turned some eyes pretty red, she knew from experiance.
The fenki moved her paw in front of Erythros' face and snapped her fingers at him.
"Hello? Come on back to the dome there, buddy. That's it. Hi!"
Erythros' expression almost instantly melded into amusement. One moment it was blank, the next it was obviously
finding a great deal of humor in her actions.
Well, good, damnit, She thought.
Cheer up you mopey son of a trepor."You alright my friend?" She inquired, shooting him a smirk. "I thought I'd lost you!"
Erythros laughed openly this time, his eyes as deep an emerald as the leaves on the trees outside of Harnquist's smithy.
Must have been my imagination, then, She mused.
The elf reached out and gulped down the last of his water. He carefully wiped his mouth with his hand, covering his smile for a moment, before standing to his feet and scooting his chair back with a soft scraping upon the wooden floor.
His gaze moved towards the exit and then back again, and he dipped his head, that ever-present halo of red hair tumbling in front of his face.
"I should be going. I'll see you around, Mariana," he said simply.
Mariana watched as he strode swiftly through the door and dissapeared around the corner without another word.
[So nothing much happened in this, but I'm trying to set up how I'm going to display the dynamic between Erythros the character and the menacing "whisper" (Insert Mwah hahaha as deemed appropriate.) Also, is it bad that I like looking over the shoulder of the "villain" more than over the shoulder of my own character?
]
