GoldenCat/SpiralOfChange031

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Infornography

Gennadi: While it's hardly any sidereal's favorite meeting, at some point you have to account for the Deathknights. Usually, this is done by waving your hands and promising more signatures will help you defeat them, but in this case, a certain sneaky sidereal has a secret weapon for almost assured victory. If only he could FIND the ten-times bedamned woman...

Selina de Windia: Selina is out in a garden, a garden not very affected by the snowfalls of recent time. Well, Spire is a weird place like that. But anyway, she is there, looking at the roses.

Gennadi: Ah, the scents, the view, the quivering delicate pink petals... He should have known Selina favored those simple pleasures... a note for later. Still, he clears his throat loudly, knocks on the gate, and bows when she looks, sweeping low and hair almost brushing the ground. "Might I enter the lady's garden of earthly delights?"

Selina de Windia: "Hmm?" Selina hums, looking around to face him. The place made her wonder how her own grounds were doing.

The keepers know my plans for the spring, at least.

Too bad it's unlikely she'll get to go back and make sure for awhile. Ah well. The life of an assassin as great as herself!

"You're back early. Or is it late..." She shrugs. "Honestly cannot remember."

Gennadi: "You're not supposed to. It's early, by the way. I even amaze myself with my prodigal skills at times." He pauses to look her up and down. "Of course, if you've forgotten some other things, I needn't bother you here..."

Selina de Windia: Selina squints at him, then she remembers with a flash. Her eyes widen in delight as she whirls about, her half-open greatcoat flapping in the wind about her, to face the Sidereal. "Yes, you found the ones I wanted?" Her voice is eager.

Gennadi: "No, I'm afraid not." He waits a few heartbeats and speaks. "I delegated someone else to do it for me."

Selina de Windia: The turquoise eyes squint again, this time a bit angrily. "Did this person know which ones to get?"

Gennadi: "I should hope so... I haven't really checked. Been busy." He takes his coat out form under his arm and checks inside, flashes of pale skin printed on the covers of small books peeking out as he flicks through the stack. "Besides, you have to admit, you weren't very specific..."

Selina de Windia: "Then I'm going to have to go into Heaven myself and buy them myself?" It's almost not a question. However, the feeling in the air is that Selina is suddenly poised for...something. To spring at Gennadi? On the edge of violence? Whatever it is, she's coiled like a spring for it, all of a sudden. She giggles under her breath, almost nervously.

Gennadi: "That would be quite the interesting trick..." He smiles blandly, clearly distracted by his precious cargo. "I imagine you'd either be smothered by daring godlings wanting a grope, or the vendors would flee. It must be hard to stand there and wait for someone you generally defame to hopefully be pleasant and not eat your face." He pulls out a particular one, a certain pale lady silhouetted against jet black sheets on the cover, looking back at the viewer with a sly smile. Held out half like a talisman, half like a shield, he grins. "Eh."

Selina de Windia: Selina's breath is expelled in an almost reptilian hiss of pleasure as she sees the cover. "Hee hee. They'd give it."

She does manage to not grab at it, though she still seems to be coiled like a spring, tight and ready to lunge. Her voice radiates barely-held back excitement. "You have more of those?"

Gennadi: "I brought the ones that seemed like they'd most appeal to you... Lacking context, I think many would be simply unappealing."

Selina de Windia: She blinks. "What did you do with the others?"

Gennadi: "Alphabetized them, stacked, kept for future reference. I may need a good "Wayang treads on his enemies" model later, after all, and I can just edit out the toe-sucking.

Selina de Windia: "I want copies of all of them at least." Selina says with an oddly modulated tone in her voice. Completely unintentional, to be sure. "For completeness' sake, you realize."

Her pupils are slit now, however.

Gennadi: "All in the fullness of time. I'm certain it's not worth the trouble for mere archival purposes. Should I find a need to return, perhaps on the way back." He shrugs, thumbing open the book and scanning it. "They're all in Old Realm, of course..."

Selina de Windia: "Can read it." Selina begins stalking toward Gennadi slowly. "And if I can't, I will learn."

Gennadi: "Good enough, I suppose." He folds it and flicks his wrist, the doujin spinning towards her like a shuriken, a chakram, a deadly weapon whirring through the air.

Chibi-Vorpy: (( Come on, how difficult can it be to read "Ooooh! OOOOH! Ahn, ahn, AHN!" in Old Realm?))

• It is basically a "fantasy day in the life of", with all the art being from viewer's perspective. Vorpal greets reader, cooks dinner naked but for apron, etc etc. End being vorpal reaching across reader to turn out light and a black page. House-wife vor-pal clap clap clapclapclap.

Selina de Windia: "Deh?! " Selina gasps, flipping through it, swiftly being disappointed by the content. "This isn't a hentai doujin! This isn't a hentai doujin at all! "

Vorpal: Pattern Spiders must have a very strange sense of humor at times. There is no other way to explain certain twists of fate that, although seemingly random, seem to keep on recurring over and over again across all Creation.

For instance, how many of you have dropped a buttered bread on the floor? Isn't it strange how the bread will always fall onto that expensive carpet imported all the way from the distant South with the buttered side down? Every time a bread happens to slip from the fingers of a foolish mortal, serrated arachnidian fangs will spread out in wicked laughter all over the Loom of Fate.

Another fine example of Pattern Spider humor is how a person about whom you are talking badly to your colleagues just so happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, such as just about to round the corner when you are really warming with your tirade. There are many variations of this same prank, really, and Pattern Spiders love to use every chance they get to invent new ones. There is nothing they love more than to insert the most inconvenient person at the most inconvenient location at the most inconvenient time they can.

Such as... behind Selina's back just when she begins to flip through the pages.

There is a silent presence behind the Dark Angel's back. There is a soft rustle of velvet cloak. A warm breath brushes Selina's cheek as someone leans over her shoulder, to take a look at the book in her hands.

Selina de Windia: Selina freezes, colder than a lake chilled down to its bed in the depths of winter. And turns around slowly, her expression one of purest embarassment. Eyes still slit though. "No fair. "

Vorpal: Vorpal, to her credit, keeps her face straight. She does raise an inquisitive eyebrow, however. "What's not fair?"

Selina de Windia: The book goes into Selina's greatcoat, into some inner pocket (of which it has a few, for various things) and her gloved hand comes back out again. She moves away from Vorpal, closer to Gennadi. "...none of your business."

Vorpal: "No, wait, wait", the Pale Angel exclaims and moves forward, reaching inside Selina's coat. "What were you reading? It looked interesting, but I didn't quite see. Let me take a look!"

• Gennadi clears his throat. "If I might explain... there's an office subculture of turning poor prophecies into reading material. I thought it might be amusing to bring back some of the ones about people in our little circle of friends..." He pulls one out of his coat, hastily checks the cover, and waves it at her. Small bodied, large headed parodies of the Bishop, the First and Forsaken Lion, The Lover Clad, and the Princess Magnificent squabble down in a corner away from the embrace two deathknights seem locked in. "Given the difficulty of working with you, there's rather a lot of these." He grins wryly. "I've drawn a couple

myself."

Selina de Windia: Selina freezes again at the sight of chibi-versions of the Deathlords all fighting in the other doujin...and so she does not stop Vorpal from pulling the first one out of her coat. "Y-you draw me doing dirty things?"

Gennadi: "How foolish would I be to do that sort of thing? Or even worse, admit to it?"

Selina de Windia: She purses her lips into a pout, eyes narrowing. "You draw me doing stupid things, then?"

Gennadi: "From a heavenly perspective, my dear, your mere existence is both of those."

Selina de Windia: "Well...Heaven's more stupid." Selina says in a sullen tone and crosses her arms over her chest in obvious consternation. "You kept all the dirty ones for yourself."

Vorpal: Taking a few smooth strides away from the others, Vorpal opens the book and flips over a few pages. Well, it doesn't look so ba --

...

She pauses. The hems of her cloak fold around her still form. Her white skin turns, if possible, even whiter.

She turns over the next page.

A pause. Her adam's apple moves down and back up again. A deep, deep red begins to make way over her albino face.

She flips over the next page.

...

Holding the book open with one hand, she stares at it, mesmerized, and holds a trembling palm over her chest.

...I'm not that big.

Selina de Windia: Then she smiles malevolently and looks directly at the Sidereal. "And all the ones that would make me hunt down and murder people for appearing in them. Hmm? Wouldn't do if I devoured some city-god for being in those, right? Killed a House-head? Oh my no!"

Gennadi: "That, my dear, would depend entirely on whether or not you would be upset for being drawn with exaggerated proportions or not... The art stylings may be questionable, but the veracity of the plot? .... Speaking of which, I am fairly certain I saw a drawing of you chewing on on of the more prolific artists a while back. Perhaps this discussion was forseen..."

Vorpal: Her face begins to twist, her forehead wrinkling and her eyebrows arching up into a pained expression. She takes a hold of the book with two hands, her fingers squeezing it tightly.

They think I'm that big?

Selina de Windia: "Me? Hey! I'm not the one of the two of us with double Ds!" Selina snaps. "Can't those people draw me correctly?"

Vorpal: Double Ds.

She closes her eyes and hunches her shoulders, as if struck. The book trembles in her hands.

Gennadi: "When you get to the point of competition for attention, oh angel of dreams, certain... enhancements are simply required. Otherwise, who'd pay for inferior measurements?"

Vorpal: Inferior measurements.

She grits her teeth. It is the only way to keep herself from gasping aloud.

Selina de Windia: "My measurements are not inferior! "

"I am perfect - perfect beyond their ruddy dreams! - and I do not need hips the width of an imperial trireme and and a chest that could crush small towns in order to appeal to people!"

Gennadi: "Ah ah ah...." He wags a finger at her. "The point isn't appealing to people, it's appealing to thousand year old jaded exalts and spirits. Speaking of town-crushing chests..." He looks over to Vorpal. "Are you done with that? It was my little joke... not what I'd really wanted to show off... well, I do have to admit, I thought a certain Solar would have gotten a kick out of it..."

Selina de Windia: "Oh I'll jade them!" Selina exclaims, already wondering how she's going to get to Heaven and rectify this...distortion. "I bet they draw pictures of me drinking someone's piss too, don't they?! Of a fucking jade flagon!"

Vorpal: It is a great effort of will, but Vorpal snaps the book shut. She flips it over her shoulder without looking, not caring at all as the covers fly open and the pages rustle wildly as it goes.

It takes a moment of effort for her to regain her voice. She swallows hard, but then manages to speak with a deceptively calm tone of voice:

"I didn't know Heaven was such a dirty place."

Gennadi: "Do you define the fallen primordials as someone? There's a lot of rather grotesque art of that sort of relationship... I'm sure that if that's what you really wanted to see, someone's drawn it." He shrugs. "It's an odd sort of morale-booster. When in doubt, being able to laugh at or make a threat seem less dangerous is a strong urge."

Selina de Windia: "It's not just Heaven, darling!" Selina says, going and picking the book up, smoothing it out, then putting it back in her greatcoat. "Don't even think they're the only ones! I just thought they'd be... good at it. But it turns out they draw me in snuff porn like everyone else fucking does!"

Gennadi: "Oh, no. The favorite sort of porn of you is submissive sweetheart redeemed selina, in those cute little priestess robes."

Selina de Windia: Selina blinks and stands stock still. Wordless. A tiny bolt of lightning flickers over her form.

"...what?"

Gennadi: "You didn't hear me? Some of it's quite good, if you'd like me to track some down, as I have of her for you." He nods at Vorpal. "Oh, there's angry violent porn, drawn by angered sidereals or gods who have to deal with the uncertainty you drag around behind you like a favorite blankie. And yes, I've seen that last part. It was rather... cute."

Vorpal: Vorpal blinks, too, but then she sighs, her mood so dark that is seems to sully even her albino skin.

"Be glad", she sighs. "Did you look at the last pages of that book? There is a Soon to Come page that portrays a red-eyed, darkly-armored albino cow."

Selina de Windia: The caste mark on Selina's forehead suddenly appears, and begins bleeding as well. The Windian stabs a finger to her forehead, some of the dark blood smudging. "Does this look like a Zenith or Midnight mark to you? Huh? I'm not a priestess."

Gennadi: "And she's not a cow. I'll take your complaints up with the god of artistic license."

Selina de Windia: "Heaven is full of people with shitty ideas. No wonder they fucked up ruling the world." Selina says in a sullen tone, crossing her arms over her chest once more and almost hunching her head down.

• Gennadi barely manages to surpress laughter. "If you've a request, I'm sure "a tale told by the angel herself" would be marvelously popular. Perhaps you can use the proceeds to outfit the army more properly."

Vorpal: Vorpal closes her eyes. "I don't care about gods of artistic license", she says, quietly.

She reopens her eyes and lifts her head, regarding them calmly. "And I don't care if Heaven is filled with people with shitty ideas."

"What I want to know..." It is an art known only to actors, singers, orators and generals. It takes great practice to use your voice like that, but once the trick has been mastered, it can be used to a great effect on situations precisely as this. Vorpal moves, in less than a split second, from a softly-spoken conversationalist to a thundering clarion of a war commander. "Who is the fucking moron who came up with this idea in the first place? "

• Gennadi blinks. "Probably a long-dead First Age exalt with too much time on their hands, ma'am. You could ask your patron."

Selina de Windia: Selina wobbles and nearly falls down as Vorpal blasts that voice all over the place. The force of it is nearly physical...but she recovers after a short moment. "People who heard all about your cockteasing legend and were annoyed they couldn't get any, darling." Comes her sarcastic answer.

Vorpal: "No, Mr. Gennadi, Lady Dark Angel", Vorpal responds with a sharp-toothed politeness, "Whose bright idea was it to fetch this filth from Heaven down to soil our pretty little Creation?"

Selina de Windia: "Why don't you take a guess?" Selina growls, turning to face her. "Who is standing here getting this things from Heaven?"

Vorpal: "No", Vorpal replies, reflecting the exact movement and the manner by which Selina turned to face her, "But I thought it proper to give you precisely one more chance to let out a cute little 'eep' and apologize humbly before I crushed every single bone in your body one-by-one, but as usual, you miss my niceness."

Selina de Windia: "You aren't the ruler of me! I told you this was none of your business." Selina hisses.

• Gennadi clears his throat. "She didn't want that one. She wanted this one." He replaces the previous romance novel with another, a glossy cover on it that proclaims it resists stains. Whereas before it was simple nudity, the pose on this one, even somehow the lettering... it's positively pornographic, the weapons-grade orichalcum of erotic art.

Vorpal: The Pale Angel takes a single look at the book in Gennadi's hand. It's so dirty is seems to be oozing something toxic.

She turns back to the Dark Angel, slowly, her eyes glowing a heated red, her lips curling into a smile that angels of doomsday would be proud of. "Selinaaaaaaaaaaaa... "

Selina de Windia: "You're just like those abusive spouses in Firewarder." Selina growls. "Touch me and you're going to regret it. I'm sick of you hitting me when you don't get your way."

Gennadi: "Ah, I believe the current situation is mostly due to not being touched by her..." He smiles, sheer innocence.

Vorpal: "Do you know what is your problem?" Vorpal says, mostly ignoring Gennadi and taking a step forward towards Selina instead. "The problem is that I have never spanked you for your little stunts. I should have, often enough, but I have never done it. Oh, a whack or two now and then in order to save someone you'd otherwise bloodily murder, but nothing you'd truly deserve for all this misery you keep on trying to cause me. You little slutty. It's not a wonder your hair is blonde", she jabs a finger at her beautiful hair, "You think with your cunt."

Selina de Windia: "I'm not trying!" Selina protests sullenly. "You were never supposed to see or know about any of this! It's not as if I don't think naughty things about you, right? This is just the thoughts on paper!"

Vorpal: "No, this is like some dirty mind up there drawing you in a white robe of a virtuous priestess", the Pale Angel responds and takes another step forward, closer to the Dark Angel.

"You should feel honored that someone actually wanted to draw you like that, but noo, you thought even that was offensive. And now you are seriously expecting me to swallow this down without chewing?"

Selina de Windia: "...why should I be honored that someone wants to draw me as the total opposite of what I am?" Selina slowly asks, narrowing her eyes at Vorpal. "It's not like YOU didn't make sure to cocktease when you were a rising star back in the day! That's only a short inferance to that," She stabs a finger in the direction of Gennadi's current doujin. "And if you were portrayed as some sweetly submissive cock-sucking little wench dressed up like the perfect priestess housewife I bet you'd be more angry than I am about it!"

Gennadi: "I wouldn't worry about that circumstance coming up too much. The usual response to the idea of our dear dark angel sucking a cock is fear that it'll be bitten off." He tucks the doujn away.

Vorpal: There is a pause.

Vorpal stares at her, blankly.

After a moment, she states: "I was portrayed as a nice housewife clad only in an apron, cooking a delicious breakfast to my beloved reader."

"Furthermore", she raises a finger, "they drew me a little pudgy there. Pudgy, Selina! I'm not pudgy! Is that close enough to an insult to you?!"

Selina de Windia: "Well there you go then." Selina crosses her arms with that smug reply. "I never got your total obsession with your weight though."

Gennadi: "So that's why she's chased by a scale-monster in that one..."

Selina de Windia: "I'll bet that's how Mistress tortures her back in Red Ice when she misbehaves."

Vorpal: "Do not change the topic", Vorpal snaps, a bit of an edge in her tone. "You should feel honored because if you were that way, I wouldn't need to keep on doing this over and over again!"

And with that, she steps forth, spreading her arms and enclosing the Dark Angel in a large hug.

Gennadi: The quiet scraping sound of brush on ink can almost be heard. In Yu-shan, a brush quivers, a canvas rustles, and Gennadi Ilkov concieves of what will become the top selling doujin for the season. Sometimes, it's good to be Serenities.

Selina de Windia: "H-hey! HEY!" Selina exclaims, trying to wriggle free, then stilling. "You're not going to try and crush me to a bloody mess, then?"

Gennadi: "If you want to put her over your knee, still, I promise not to look."

Vorpal: "That is tempting, Sidereal, but no." Somehow, the Pale Angel manages to put a great amount of dignity to that voice. She stands still, her arms around the Dark Angel. The broad back of her cloak seems to give them further bulk. "I'm just going to ask you a questinon. And, keep in mind that I will keep on holding you like this until I get a satisfactory answer."

She pauses, and sighs. "Now, how in blazes can I get you to stop this sort of sillyness?"

Selina de Windia: "What silliness?"

Vorpal: Vorpal does not even bother to reply. She rolls her eyes skywards. Maintaining her hold of the Dark Angel, she waits patiently.

• Gennadi drapes his coat against the garden gate, leans back against it, and arranges the doujin in a neat stack. Plain paper goes on the front of it, and the soft scritching of charcoal is mostly swept away by the wind as he captures the moment.

Selina de Windia: "You want me to change what specifically?" Selina squirms around again. "I can worm out of this you know, if I really try!"

Gennadi: "For a woman who was so interested in those double Ds, you seem to be uncomfortable with being pressed up against them."

Vorpal: "And you could shadow-shift out of it any time you like, don't remind me of how superior you are", the ghost-blooded replies wearily. "I will give you a hint. It involves behaving like a girl in the midst of her rebeliious puberty."

"And you shall keep quiet", she adds over her shoulder at the Sidereal.

Selina de Windia: "You are not my mother."

Gennadi: "If I don't, are you going to hug me into sweet submission too?" He salutes her with the charcoal before going quiet. Perhaps spending all that time with his sifu is going to help in more ways than one.

Vorpal: "That didn't stop you from insisting on giving me advice on my love-life, dearie", Vorpal replies flatly. "You are not an adolescent little girl. Start behaving that you are not."

Selina de Windia: "But I can't and won't promise something I would be pulling against at every turn." Selina finally says. "I do not hold up well under too much temptation."

Vorpal: Knowing the Dark Angel, she really means this. No way around it, really.

The Pale Angel sighs and lets go of the other woman. "Fine. Have it your way", she whispers.

She steps back, shrugging, and turns towards Gennadi. "Oi, Sidereal", she says, walking up to him. "You don't have any of those priestess pictures of her on you right now, do you?"

Selina de Windia: "And here comes the part where you refuse to accept me as I am." Selina says smugly, recrossing her arms over her chest. "Oh no, it's over. Again!"

Gennadi: "Well... Yes, I do. Part of the previews, part 5 in a series of twenty-five..."

Vorpal: "I'll buy them."

Gennadi: "The doujjin, or the previews?"

Vorpal: "Both", Vorpal replies and pulls out a handful of jade chips from her pouch.

Selina de Windia: "You ain't buying one page of my doujin." Selina growls, uncrossing her arms and clenching her fists to her sides. "And I can outbid you any day of the week."

• Gennadi can't help a smile. "That's fair enough. I've a catalog." He pulls out a very thin glossy brochure, a description of the plot and a single page as an example, handing it over.

• It's basically a genre catalog, in this case deathknight women. No doubt she'd need to flip past the Mirthless Smile stuff.

Chibi-Vorpy: (( Aww, the copycat me has gotten a doujin of her own, too! ^_^ Ain't that nice? ))

Vorpal: Uh?

She lips part slightly as she flips through a few pages of the catalogue.

Who is that clown? She looks just like...

Leaning closer, the Pale Angel frowns a little.

She's called... Maiden of the Mirthless... what?

She looks up from the brochure. "I'll borrow this for a while. And now, those books?"

• Gennadi rearranges the stack of them, and slides out the small set of more romantic tales, deciding that for the moment it wouldn't be best to let on about the existence of angry black-armored Vorpal brutally forcing herself on a crying Selina pictures. "I hope you enjoy them; I'm sure it'd make many an artist's day."

Selina de Windia: "Those are my books!"

Vorpal: "Very good", the Pale Angel nods, handing over her jade. She takes a quick look at each book, making certain that they indeed contain stories about the Dark Angel (in a virgin white robe especially). Satisfied, she hides them away somewhere under her cloak.

Vorpal looks over her shoulder at the fuming Dark Angel. And smiles. "Since you don't hold too well against temptation, I'll just create some counter-temptation to help you." She pats her cloak and the books under it. "Namely, blackmail. Stay a nice girl, and none of this will be copied a thousandfold by Cael and distributed among the soldiers... with a very special copy reserved for Valencia and another to that nobleman who married her daughter."

Selina de Windia: "Or," Selina replies, her pupils beginning to flicker with inner whiteness as her voice receives a low growl. "I can take it away from you right now. Even in Amber Post I didn't release my full power on you."

"Those were for my personal peruseal, not to be distributed as some sort of humiliation device. How dare you."

Gennadi: "Not to put out the fire with lamp oil, but even if you do... I imagine Cael can draw a rather fine picture of you, sweet, innocent, and wrapped in immaculate white robes without the source. He is, after all, Chosen. I'd suspect that it's simply a way of evening the field. Now you've both got fantasies to look at." He carefully folds the finished drawing into a book. "Now, if you'll both excuse me, Alexander and I have a date."

Selina de Windia: "You aren't leaving until I get everything of what I came for." Selina growls. "Don't make me invent new simple magic on the spot to make sure you can't run away."

Gennadi: "I could always have it delivered to your boudoir... this talk of punishment is a bit much for a frail jester like myself." A quick fanning of his face with an artbook follows. "You can hardly expect me to display my wares under her disapproving gaze..."

Vorpal: Vorpal seems undisturbed by Selina's display, yet knowing the Dark Angel as she does, she is careful to never let her hand stray far away from the hilt of her sword.

Brushing her chin, she begins thoughtfully: "I... wonder whether I should let her have them nor not, Sidereal. On one hand, I suppose I should show her a carrot as well as a stick, but on the other, it is..." And it is then that her face twists with pain. "humiliating."

Gennadi: "She was right. This is just a lovingly rendered image of what she's thinking of already. Besides..." He steps behind Vorpal to shield himself, his hand resting gently against her hip, Warm breath against her neck as he leans in to whisper. "You know she's willing to pay and you know I draw. Which is more worth it, your pride, or the jade to halve casualties in the first battle to come?"

Selina de Windia: "Do as you like." Selina says abruptly. "You'll get your little mind-controlled simpering angel. Go ahead and give it to all the people you want. I don't care. When they think of me the blood splattered underguild hall will still ring true, not some idiot's idea of perfect-wife-Aine."

Vorpal: Vorpal sighs. Not a wonder she had heard these Star-Chosen were advisors of some sort back in the old days. They pack an awfully reasonable argument.

"F-fine, fine", the Pale Angel snarls and brushes her forehead with a gloved palm."Let her have them, then. It will keep her happy for a few seconds. And don't touch me, Sidereal."

Selina de Windia: "And I am getting my books. All of my books. And if you are insecure enough to have one person looking at them break down your self image, then maybe you aren't really the all-conquering pale bitch you make yourself out to be." Selina says evenly.

Gennadi: "I will keep that in mind the next time I want to run my fingers along the stunning curves of your armor, dear lady." He spins around to her front before handing over the rest of the stack. "And, of course, you know this isn't all of it... I could,, of course, have a catalog of back-issues, the best of compiled for you..."

Vorpal: "Enjoy your little fantasy, then", Vorpal says with an eerie smile. "It's nothing compared to reality, after all. But from now on - " she pats the books under her cloak for yet another time, "You will behave."

And with that, she turns, the hems of her cloak sweeping behind her, and strides out from the garden.

• Gennadi waits, until she's just out of earshot. "You could have her, you know. She'd never even notice the small pushes she'd get every time she closed her eyes. Why don't you take it, if you want it so?"

Selina de Windia: "I will not behave. Not ever. No one will ever control me." Selina gives them all a impish grin, with that undercurrent of bitter pride lurking beneath. "And that is one reason you all will never be able to relenquish me, whatever else you see in me. Not the Pale Angel and not the Vestal and not Damyen scion of the Ebon Dragon. I am the ultimate drug, and you are all addicted, to my sin to my love to whatever!"

Little point in saying that, though, since Vorpal was already walking away. Then she looks to Gennadi. "What are you talking about?"

Gennadi: "Oh, nothing important." He grins. "Good speech, by the way. I'll have to write that down."

Selina de Windia: "No no, say." Selina frowns, looking at him. "I despise teasing."

Gennadi: "Really? I'd never have guessed..." He chuckles. "No, it just seems like one of you, by now, would have arranged the amicable alteration of the other's thinking... Of course, I suspect you really just enjoy these clashes far more than you would an ideal." He shrugs. "She was right... nothing compares to the real thing, but that usually doesn't stop you from trying."

Selina de Windia: "Because I'm just as addicted to her, you sweet star-chosen fool. For whatever reason." She almost whispers, her voice soft but without any venom. "There is a difference between my idle, dirty fantasies, and what she really is."

"And the latter cannot be replicated. Why she feels threatened by an image is beyond me."

Gennadi: "If she wasn't, she wouldn't be quite so wonderfully herself." He winks at her. "Do enjoy your dirty magazines, Dark Angel. Enjoy the thoughts of her enjoying hers as well. I am, after all, only passing out joy." A bow, and he spins on his heel to leave.

Selina de Windia: "Yes, that is your vocation, is it not?" She says with a raise of one eyebrow. "Perhaps today will show you why I have not carried out my vocation with her despite our altercations. I may not be able to fight her and win, but I would wager I could kill her. And as you see now, that is plainly unacceptable. Perhaps that will put our arguments in context next time it puzzles you. And please, this stays between us three."

She turns back to the delicate pink-blue roses she was so admiring before. And goes back to imagining whether this breed would do well in Black Wood. Roses are, after all, very particular plants.

So, the groundskeepers must have tried the new mix by now...

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