Difference between revisions of "GoldenCat/NightPlay"

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#REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]]
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== Night Play ==
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' Hands in his pockets. Eyes on the road. He was walking like he had somewhere to go. A patrol of soldiers passed him without more than a glance. He didn't look like anyone important, right now.
 
 
 
Moon felt dry, hot, almost burning, even the wind coming off the hill was cuttingly cold. He wanted a drink. A smoke. A fuck. Something he could use just not to think for a while. At least until it was time to start fighting again, then he could lose himself completely in that. Until then, he just wanted to feel numb.
 
 
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' She wandered aimlessly and alone through the district, after the meeting adjourned. No one had thought to talk to her. No one had thought to come with her. For a moment, Selina could forget she was in the North, so near the country of her birth. Instead, she felt as if she was in Nexus. Wandering the Nighthammer district as she did once in awhile, on slow weeks. You didn't get a contract all the time, and with what she made, you didn't need to. But the boredom crept in...and studying the past and everything else you could get your hands on didn't always fill that void.
 
 
 
So she stalked Nexus, and now here. Looking for trouble, sex, anything to make the emptiness in her mind go away. Anything, because once she plumbed that emptiness -- and she always did when it was present long enough -- Selina remembered what she was.
 
 
 
''Culwyeh''
 
 
 
''Dark Angel''
 
 
 
''First Facet of Damnation''
 
 
 
Those titles didn't ward off the silence, and the knowledge that came with it. Every hollow-sounding step on those cobblestones hammered it deeper.
 
 
 
''I killed them all. ''
 
 
 
Avian's memories did it this time. And for the first time in...months? A year? she felt it crushing down on her. She'd been something else...something so...wonderful. And she was this now. It wasn't the Black Oath, she'd been that thing years before it.
 
 
 
''It gave me something, didn't it? ''
 
 
 
It had. She'd felt safe. She'd felt like no one could command her, control her. Even with the oath, even with her service to the Lover. She was the best.
 
 
 
''Am I still? ''
 
 
 
''Why does this world allow me to be? ''
 
 
 
Avian'd been a Windian like her. A kid like her. Alive. And then he died. And he'd become that...thing. She had killed herself, in a way.
 
 
 
''We're the same, Avian. You and me. There's nothing but death for either of us. ''
 
 
 
Her face is a mask of bleakness as she continues to walk, maintaining alertness but...not entirely there.
 
 
 
''I hope you learned that. ''
 
 
 
''I hope you had fun. ''
 
 
 
''Because when it's done there isn't anything left. ''
 
 
 
"Someday," She croaks with a throat dry from too long without water, in this place. She would feel terror at the very thought, but the emptiness is too deep. "I'll know just what that means."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' There was light in so many of the buildings. People talking hushed and loud. People weeping and laughing. People alive and real. They had the things he wanted. He could have found a heavy drink. He could have palmed some hash. He could have talked the skirts up on some sweet piece.
 
 
 
But every time he saw them, every time he started to grow close to those islands of warmth and light, Moon drifted away again. He kept telling himself he'd stop at the next one. Always the next door. Until there weren't any doors open anymore.
 
 
 
He didn't think much about it after that.
 
 
 
There was no one out lighting streetlamps anymore, so the roads closer to the mines were dark beyond the moonlight. It was almost silver for once, only dyed a hint of yellow. When he realized that, Moon stopped and stared up at it. Luna peered back down at him, flanked on all sides with a million glinting motes of light. Twenty odd years of life in this city and he'd never been able to see the stars from here. Only found foundry going. There wasn't enough smog to blot out the sky.
 
 
 
''Well shit. Least now I know if I ever wanna a nice view, all gotta do is burn half the place down again. ''
 
 
 
He smiled without humor to himself, arching his back and craning his neck to stare up into the novelty hanging above him.
 
 
 
The street had been empty, but then rather suddenly it wasn't. Footsteps around the corner made his ears itch and twitch as they intruded on his solitude. Moon was already shifting to move on when something dark rounded the corner almost on top of him, grumbling softly to itself in a voice just shy of human. Then he froze, half turned and staring with a faintly surprised expression.
 
 
 
" hey." He said to Selina.
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' She heard Moon, and the wraiths of emptiness that danced about her suddenly vanished into thin air. Someone had noticed her. He'd noticed her. But maybe that was bad. He didn't look like he felt good, from what she could tell.
 
 
 
Selina looks toward the Lunar, expression still empty, bleak, a bit confused. Then the turquoise eyes focus. "Hey."
 
 
 
"Not feeling good?"
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' He rolled his shoulders and answered blandly. "Guess."
 
 
 
It was too hard to give a real answer. He didn't know how he felt right now. Or what he should be feeling. Alone, at least, he didn't have to feel anything at all.
 
 
 
He shifted back to face her. Gaze unfocused, thoughts spinning faintly, he tipped his head slightly to the side and rolled his eyes across her. Parts of her blurred into the darkness behind her, while all the rest seemed to glow. Pale skin and pale scars. Like something wandering out of a dream, all shadow and mist. Something that slipped away when you reached out touch it. What was she doing here?
 
 
 
He could have asked, but he didn't really care.
 
 
 
When he moved, he nearly threw himself at her. He picked her up, swept her backwards. He held her head with a handful of pale blond hair. Lips crushing over hers as he kissed her, hard and hungry, as if he were seeking to suck the breath from her lungs and the life from her body. One arm around her waist, pressing her against him, clutching at her rear. Desperate to feel her against him, to hold her there before she could slip back into the darkness.
 
 
 
Her back hit the doorway to some kind of factory warehouse, the weight of his body pinning her against it as he jerked her head backwards. His mouth slipped off hers and began moving down her neck. Breathing her scent, as his hand slid out from behind her and forced it's way between their bodies. Biting her skin to taste that she was flesh and blood and real.
 
 
 
His eyes were open, but they were almost unseeing. There was nothing behind them. Not thought or man or beast. Just need.
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' She almost blurred away from him when he moved at her. She almost vanished from his sight, melding into shadow and back again away from him. Almost.
 
 
 
And once he had her, knocking her against the warehouse wall, she wished she had. He was so rough, and there wasn't anything in his eyes. Like some of the people...back then. Terror wells up in her.
 
 
 
"Wha--Moon!" She grates out in a sudden panic, twisting under him, trying to move away. Not yet exerting all the force she can, her conscious self is still thinking it can stop him with words. "Stop for a second, stop biting me!"
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' Between them, his hand jerked sharply and were it not for the magic woven into the fabric her leotard would have torn away. He grabs for her, his hand thrusting between her legs, a harsh and mechanical motion.
 
 
 
She was speaking. Saying something that echoed in the dim recesses of his mind. Trickling back further than anything had before. There were no thoughts of his own to bar it's path. No webs or walls to catch it. Nothing to prevent it from gliding past what he thought to be himself and into that other place. The hound watched it warily as it moved beyond him
 
 
 
''"Stop it!" ''<br>
 
''Annoyance, kept from my voice. My eyes looking up in perplexity and the beautiful creature before me. "Why, love? I thought this was what you wanted." <br>She shook her head, the fear and anger still strong in her eyes. Bending me by will alone. "Not like this, Ofinel. Never like this."<br>A sigh. A pull away and rise upon the bed, turning away from her. Frustration. The third time now she has asked for one thing and then demanded another. " you need to be more clear. You keep saying things that mean nothing! This is I'm trying to please you but I don't understand what you '''want''', damn it!"<br>A hand upon my shoulder. Another upon my cheek, pulling my face towards her. And I see it in her eyes for the first time. That glow, that sad and gentle spark. As if she were about to cry. "I want '''you''', foolish moon-child. You, not an animal. I want you."
 
 
 
Like a man breaking the surface of the water, Moon suddenly jerked his head upwards with a strangled gasp. The emptiness in his eyes was gone, but they were wide. And terrified. Moon stared at her, almost seeing someone else. Almost giving her another name.
 
 
 
''No''
 
 
 
Blinking hard, he looked down. Slowly, he pulled his hands away, eased himself off of her.
 
 
 
"Sorry" he muttered softly. "I just sorry."
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' Stumbling backward against the wall, Selina gasps and looks at him, for a moment as if he's gone mad. Then the short-lived fear clears from her eyes and she straightens, standing up again. She'd felt desire, too. Faint, overpowered by the fear, but it was there. The desire to be taken like that...and the desire to let it all happen. Two different ones, but the second she knew from the old days. "What's wrong?" That question again, worded differently.
 
 
 
"Too much pent up energy?" Her voice actually sounds concerned now, as she looks at him. "...Or do you want there to be energy?"
 
 
 
A wide shot, that. But it was what she was just feeling.
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' Moon placed a finger against the bridge of his nose, pressing down hard as if he could will the nauseous spinning to stop by physically holding his head still. His chest was tight, making it hard to catch his breath.
 
 
 
"Maybe," he answered, not looking up at her yet, taking an almost stumbling step back from her. "I shit darlin', I don't really know."
 
 
 
But he did. Frustration. Anger. Grief. Fear. Confusion. All of them. Maybe if he'd been alone longer, he could have buried them deep enough to ignore a while. There was too much to just burn off without someone really getting hurt. But then she had appeared and she was beautiful and she was tough enough to take it
 
 
 
He didn't like using women for that. It was what fighting was for. But sometimes it got really hard to stop.
 
 
 
There was something in her voice he didn't get much from people. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her, almost regretting that he had. That feeling was still there. It felt like he knew her. Knew her for more than who she was. Knew that Selina was just a dark winged shell around something else entirely.
 
 
 
"What are we darlin'?"
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' Her wings fold more neatly as she looks at him, remembering the emptiness she had been diving in...drowning in, till just a few seconds ago. That feeling she'd had when she first saw him, at times since...it came back. "How...how do you mean, exactly?"
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' The hand over his face slipped up into his hair, running through it, tugging it slightly. Trying to make the pain focus him, tie him down. He didn't even really know how long he'd been drifting anymore, on the streets and in his mind. It was hard to find his feet again. He couldn't look at her without getting dizzy. "I mean... us? You and I? I don't... I don't know who I am sometimes, y'know? Don't even know what the fuck I am you, me, the kid it's all fucked up. We're all just so fucked up"
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' ''So he gets it too. ''
 
 
 
Vorpal barely got any of it, but her time was coming. Alex had shown just a bit, weeks ago. Before the Hierophant had bought it outside of Windia. It had tormented Selina ceaselessly for almost ten years...
 
 
 
''Kid...Kanti? ''
 
 
 
Couldn't be Fiona. Kanti was the fucked up one of the pair. "I'm fucked up. Dunno about you. Kanti sure as hell is..." She shakes her head, as if to clear the last vestiges of the emptiness out. She was talking to someone. Not alone with herself. "But...I know what you mean. About not feeling yourself. Think I know why, too."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' ''I turned into a dog and ripped a little girl apart with my teeth. That ain't fucked up? ''
 
 
 
To her, probably not. Moon was pretty aware of how far gone she was. What maybe wasn't so clear sometimes was that he wasn't even all the way out the door yet.
 
 
 
His hand almost pulled his head up to face her, looking to her expectantly for an answer.
 
 
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina looks at him oddly, trying to guess what he's thinking. He was younger for a Chosen than her, but this was still the real world they lived in. He'd existed in it before anyone had picked him, and she still didn't know what he was truly capable of. But for the moment, she chose to assume he hadn't done the...things...she had.
 
 
 
''I wouldn't want him to. ''
 
 
 
''I shouldn't have done em. ''
 
 
 
But that was wishing thinking. To the matter at hand. Her tone became a bit calmer, more frank. "Our power ain't ours. Rather, we didn't have it first. There's a long succession of people who had these...shards of power, before we did. Sometimes their lives imprint on the shards. The person who gets em next remembers them. Bits of them, usually. I've got a book or two in my manse that explains that vaguely. Very early Shogunate era, before the Scarlet Empress had ever been born."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' The power wasn't their own? So it was someone else?
 
 
 
No. Moon might have lost control, but that was to the animal inside of him, not to another person. He had still been himself, every time he lost control. And Kanti had been herself when she had hurt Sarah. And Selina had been her self when she whispered sweet thoughts about death.
 
 
 
The shit they did was their own damn fault.
 
 
 
But there was something more to it than just the animal and he knew it. He could feel it creeping around in the back of his head, pounding at his skull the longer he looked at her.
 
 
 
''M Mor''
 
 
 
Moon averted his eyes, looking at the cobblestones. Thinking about what she said, trying to make sense of it.
 
 
 
"So what then? There's someone else livin' in our heads? Some old dead fuckers pokin' round? Tch" he snorted, smiling thinly. "Asshole doesn't even have the decency ta clean up in there."
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' "Not...really. Just memories. I think." She sounded less sure now than before. She'd always had her doubts about that kind of thing, and there was no rule that when an Exalt died, only memories would always remain. "We make our own fates, but we have memories of those who went before."
 
 
 
''I think we make our own fates. ''
 
 
 
Sometimes it didn't seem like she'd had a whole lot of choice. But that was more like the world being hard, right? "You get memories?" Her next question was more tentative, as if she was doubting the validity of it. "...Do I factor in them?"
 
 
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: '''We make our own fates.
 
 
 
Unless someone else makes them for us.
 
 
 
''Kanti. ''
 
 
 
Moon suddenly wondered if Selina knew about her. Knew ''all'' the shit about her. Wondered if she knew just how scared the kid was of her.
 
 
 
Too much to think about right now. He closed his eyes again and focused back on what Selina was saying.
 
 
 
"I get feelin's sometimes, more than anything, y'know?" he admitted slowly. It was a hard think to put into words. "'bout you. Other people. Places 'n shit. Stuff feels like I've seen it before, even though I ain't never been outta this city till lately"
 
 
 
Then there was the voices. Or the voice at least. How much of that could he even really tell her about? At least just what happened
 
 
 
"But just now though, when I was" ''Going to rape you. '' " doin' that. I got somethin' else. Somethin' a lot more than a feelin', y'know?"
 
 
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' There was an exception to what she'd just said. She knew someone who didn't make her own fate. Or was that true? "Yeah, we make our own fates." She repeats, almost to herself, eyes focusing on Moon. "Even if we're people like Kanti. She just doesn't stand up for herself." The Windian allows herself a snort, and her voice edges close to a growl. Feathers on her wings even stiffen a bit. "They raped me. They fucked me. They hurt me. But they couldn't keep me down. Sometimes I almost feel like I gotta protect that damn girl."
 
 
 
"And yeah...I get the same idea." Selina's ire calms a bit, as she looks first to one side, than the other, then her gaze settles back on Moon. "I think...somewhere back in time, we were mates. Married. Whatever you call it. Best way to explain this."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' ''They raped me. ''
 
 
 
Moon made a soft click with his tongue and shifted his weight slightly. Resettling where the guilt fell on his shoulders. Wasn't what she was driving at though. Her eyes were on him, but it wasn't an accusation. Maybe he'd feel less guilty if part of him wasn't ready to do it again.
 
 
 
He nodded slowly. Kanti made you want to protect her. Keep her safe. You loved her, no matter how much you should hate her. He'd already searched for that black rage he had felt on the roof top and found nothing but forgiveness. It almost made him shudder.
 
 
 
When she was finished speaking, Moon looked up. It was somehow easier to look back up at her this time, his hard eyes focusing at long last. Mouth a little dry, his posture became wary, like he was balancing on some unsteady ledge. But his face was somber and his voice rasping softly. "So does that mean it's us or just them fuckin' around with us? Y'know" Everything they'd done. Everything they said. It had felt like him saying it, sure as fuck felt like him doing it. But, if there was some crazy old fucker like Shadow Eyes in his head, pushing him towards her he didn't like that thought at all.
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' "Us. I think anyway." Selina shrugs, wings drooping a bit from their normal, then leans up against the wall. "The memories make it more appealing, but it's us in the end." She smirks wickedly at him. "Or do you not think I am so bloody hot you want me that bad? And vice versa."
 
 
 
"Least you want me for me, not like Kanti." Selina sniffs, this time, shaking her head. "I think she wants me cause I'm the same type of being the Vestal is. Even though I scare her shitless without even wanting to. She names her old mistress like she's some fucking goddess -- wait till she sees what I do with her. I don't generally like slaves...but '''that''' one'll be a ''pleasure. ''"
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' After it felt like years since he had last, Moon smiled. A crooked little smirk to answer her fiendish grin. There was a lot about her that disturbed him. A lot that frightened him. But
 
 
 
He let his eyes wander over her, narrowing as his head tilted to the side and he tapped his chin thoughtfully, as if he actually had to consider her question.
 
 
 
this was why he liked being around her anyway. She could make him relax anyway. There weren't a lot of ladies who could do that. None of them were anything like her.
 
 
 
Then the smirk slinked slowly off his face. The movement of his finger froze. Widening again, he looked up at her from under his brow.
 
 
 
''Old mistress. Slave. That one. ''
 
 
 
"You can't have her darlin'." He told her, shaking his head slightly. "Not that one."
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina frowns for a moment, looking up at him suddenly. "Why? Oh...wait...the old man wants her." She swears cuttingly, at no one in particular. "I bloody saw her first. Certainly slept with her first -- she's a randy wench." The last comes out as a grumble.
 
 
 
Then the frown disappears and she smirks once more, thinking of possibilities. "But we'll see how things go. Maybe she won't be the one."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' "Maybe." he agreed, letting the smile creep back onto his face.
 
 
 
 
 
But he knew she was. And even if she wasn't, Shadow Eyes wanted her. Moon knew what the old man could do to him. Do to the city. Do to Selina. Because Shadow Eyes had told him exactly what he would do, before he started carving.
 
 
 
And even if the old man didn't want her, Moon wasn't about to let the bitch live after what she had done.<Br>
 
Which was why he couldn't tell Selina what he was going to do.
 
 
 
"How much time ya think we got left?" he asked, looking down the street towards the dim glow above the city horizon. Usually the Red-Lantern. Probably just places burning, this time. When he looked back towards her though, the red-glow stayed in his eyes, glinting under the shadow of his brow.
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' "Plenty, I should think." Selina replies, easing up off of the wall, looking up and down the street. "Can have a tickle or more, before it's time to go back to trying to smear the Parishioner."
 
 
 
"A real pity the Vestal has to ruin herself and others like that. Because that's all she does." Stretching her wings to their full spans, the Windian yawns, then refolds them. "Makes you feel good for awhile...then empty. In the end, that's all it brings. Emptiness. Idiots."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' Moon just shrugged, taking a stalking step closer. He didn't understand any of it. Why you'd want to own a person. Why you'd want to turn them into someone like Kanti or Sarah
 
 
 
Mouth still twitched into a dark little smile, he took another step closer and took another quick look up and down the street. When he really tried, he could actually see figures moving in the distance, hear the distant buzz of chattering voices. That just made it a little more fun.
 
 
 
''the whole fucking mentality of it crawled up his spine like a slow knife. That someone would entertain the thought. That the thought was somehow entertaining''
 
 
 
Putting a hand on Selina's hip, he pulled her against him forcefully. He was there this time though, alive in his eyes even hungry as they were. Keeping her clutched against him, he moved her back slowly into the wall pressing her wings against it, easing his leg between hers as his broad hands began to stroke her sides.
 
 
 
''just another reason they were all fucked up. Kanti, that red-haired whore, even Selina. Maybe him too, one day''
 
 
 
He brushed his lips against her furtively, a teasing brush, then leaned in to kiss her, soft but insistant.
 
 
 
''maybe him too''
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina saw the hunger in his eyes...and it awoke her own. The emptiness was gone now, without a trace. In its place is desire. She kiss him back, hands staying at her sides, letting him stroke her. Then she parts the kiss, for a little bit, eyes afire with turquoise flame. "I'll build something, you'll see. Something that ain't empty."
 
 
 
One arm snakes around Moon's midriff, pulls him toward her. Selina isn't weak by any stretch of the imagination, so it is not hard. She chuckles throatily, breaths deepening as she leashes the lust, prepares to mete it out for...as long as it takes. "Still have that? Sate it with me."
 
 
 
'''Seventh Moon: ''' Sate it. An invitation to let it out again. To loose control again. Moon arched back his head to stare at her face. His breath came slow, heavy. For a moment, his face registered confusion, then a slow realization came over him.
 
 
 
Maybe that was part of the game. You fucked up one another, so you weren't fucking up the people who couldn't stop you if they wanted.<br>
 
Made a little more sense.<br>
 
Didn't mean he had to like it.<br>
 
But didn't mean he couldn't play it, this time.
 
 
 
The hot red glow in his eyes paled to silver, then grew. It washed out thought. It washed out humanity. It was just need again, burning cold and vicious.
 
 
 
She was strong. He was stronger. When his hand clamped over the arm around his waist, it took little to pry it from him. A step back, their bodies parting as he flung her around and thrust himself forward again, slamming her into the wall. Pressing through her wings, forcing them to part, his hand closed over the back of her head and pinned her cheek against the cold hard stone as he rubbed his lips against her neck a moment, then bit down, the collar stopping his teeth from sinking into flesh, but doing little to stop the pain. He let go of her arm, leaving red finger prints against her pale flesh and pushed his palm against he back, sliding it downwards. Over the curve of her rear. Into the warmth between her thighs.
 
 
 
And he didn't think or speak. He didn't worry about what was right or what was normal. No thoughts about fucked up little girls or crazy old men or burning cities. He just did as he was told and sated his need on her.
 
 
 
'''Selina de Windia: ''' For her part, Selina didn't resist. Much. No, she didn't resist, she pulled him back, pressing her body against his, the furious hunger within her ignited as much as his own. She slide the fabric of her leotard aside, down there, so he didn't have to.
 
 
 
Of course, once it got far enough, it she didn't really have to do anything at all -- he'd feed her hunger merely by exercising his own. When a man got like this, she was really just along for the ride. If she'd learned it in Nexus, she'd learned somewhere else. Besides, it was more fun that way.
 
 
 
----
 
 
 
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Latest revision as of 01:16, 6 April 2010

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