Lunch Date (Private: Hebe)

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

Very slowly, Cadian sat back in his chair, hand moving over his chest. Hebe studied him quietly. There was no exhibitionist intimacy in his touch; he grabbed at wounds since healed.

“I doubt it’s just your physical body he’s interested in.” She returned her attention to his face, blankly gazing at his glass. “He probably cares more about what sustains it. You’d be better off to slit him further than his navel. I fear what he’d do if he tires of you before he ceases to amuse you.”

She held a quiet tone. "I have long since gone beyond fear, little brother, as well as carelessness. He may try, he will die. Perhaps sooner than he thinks." Hebe reclined in her chair, suddenly more serious and commanding than thought possible in a yellow sundress and pigtails.

"I am well aware of his little 'in-fa-tu-a-tion' with us." She spat the syllables. "He's trying to make one of his own through his science and experiments. Bishop heard of me, Rook hunted me down, Bishop offered momentary amusement for temporary partnership. I accepted, for several reasons that are mine to know.

"I am not simple, stupid, or slow, nor am I without a sense of affection. You have a vendetta. You are my favorite. If you want him, you need only request which marinade you preferr for roast."

Hebe stared him down hard for a long minute before hopping excitedly in her seat, waving for another tea, pretty please, pigtails bouncing.

[Cadian Armana Virria]

So she did know. She knew and still she chose to play cat and mouse with them. Cadian’s body tightened a bit; he didn’t know if he liked that or not. It was a dangerous game that Milani was playing. Older, wiser, more experience or not, it was a game she could possibly lose. If her Rook knew of her game, if her Bishop knew… if the Bishop’s keeper knew… That was who had landed Cadian in trouble. The Bishop, the King, wasn’t the one in control. His player was who needed to be dealt with. Not that that relieved Him of any ounce of responsibility. He chose where his loyalty lied. To his keeper, to his fiancée, to the rest of his family was questionable. Cadian doubted that he had any loyalty to Milani or even to the Rook whom he kept secrets with, and whether she was beyond fear or carelessness or not the chance she would be betrayed wasn’t zero.

“I am well aware of his little ‘in-fa-tu-a-tion’ with us.” Cadian looked up again as Milani spat the syllables. “He’s trying to make one of his own through his science and experiments. Bishop heard of me, Rook hunted me down, Bishop offered momentary amusement for temporary partnership. I accepted, for several reasons that are mine to know.

“I am not simple, stupid, or slow, nor am I without a sense of affection. You have a vendetta. You are my favorite. If you want him, you need only request which marinade you prefer for roast.”

Cadian had gathered enough of the Rook’s intentions from their time together, but it didn’t sound like he was any closer to accomplishing that task. Very little could frighten Cadian anymore, but the Rook was something that could. It didn’t matter if he could feel it or not. Chains were enough. A cage was enough. Yes, the Rook frightened him, but it wasn’t he who Cadian had a vendetta against. The Rook would never have laid a hand on him if it wasn’t for the one who betrayed him. “It’s not your Rook I want on a platter.” Cadian told her, voice just above a hiss. “Your Bishop, their King, is the one who betrayed me. I’d prefer him filleted for all to see.”

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

He tensed and Hebe snatched her new drink from the waiter, shooing him away, and obscenely licked up the side of the glass. “It’s not your Rook I want on a platter.” Cadian told her, voice just above a hiss. “Your Bishop, their King, is the one who betrayed me. I’d prefer him filleted for all to see.” She smiled at him, all too shiny teeth and green eyes.

"Ah-ha~. So the kitten does have claws. Balls of yarn not doing it for you, you had to go and torment a sickly hawk." She clucked the last syllable. Cadian was tricker than she remembered. She waved her nails at him.

"How now, lover? To what does my poor Bishop owe thine distaste? Methingks a Rook on hellraisers hooks would be a divine romance. Betrayal follows trust." She wagged a finger at him. "You should know better then to trust, most ashuradly a man with power."

[Cadian Armana Virria]

“How now, lover? To what does my poor Bishop owe thine distaste? Methingks a Rook on hellraisers hooks would be a divine romance. Betrayal follows trust.” Cadian scowled slightly and turned away as Milani wagged a finger at him. He may be younger, much younger to her, but he wasn’t a child. “You should know better then to trust, most ashuradly a man with power.”

It had been a mistake; Cadian knew that. It was quite possibly the worst mistake he’d ever made. He had tried to count it as another strike against a world which had accumulated more than it deserved over the years, but it had been his mistake. So often he’d learned that trust is not to be given lightly, and Cadian had thought he’d learned his lesson. He’d waited; he’d watched; he’d chosen to give it only to have it betrayed. He’d thought he needed to be cautious of to whom he gave his trust. Now he had learned that his trust was something to be given to no one. Milani’s Bishop had been his first, but Cadian wouldn’t get what he wanted from Him, and now he wasn’t sure if it was worth seeking another.

“It was not a man with power in whom I placed my trust, but an orphaned prince exiled from his home by his father no less.” It didn’t help Cadian any to admit it to another, even Milani. It just served to bring up the anger and the emotional hurt that Cadian had buried. “I didn’t trust him blindly. I thought I knew him.” Cadian chuckled dryly, and shook his head. “But he betrayed me and our contract to his sister in exchange for being welcomed back to his family.” If the venom hadn’t been in his voice before, it was there now as Cadian recalled the day he was caged.

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

“It was not a man with power in whom I placed my trust, but an orphaned prince exiled from his home by his father no less.” He spat it like bile. Hebe stiffened at 'orphaned, exiled prince'. She had no rules but one; do not slight a sibling. They were her constants, her only chosen connection, even if she would love only to kill them with glee and violence. She had little care for them, but that did not mean others could tamper with what was hers.

She'd heard of the caged one. Heard of the spoiled sister who sung her brother into breaking a contract.

“I didn’t trust him blindly. I thought I knew him.” Cadian chuckled dryly, and shook his head. “But he betrayed me and our contract to his sister in exchange for being welcomed back to his family.”

Any illusion of normality in this busy, blurry, flurry city was lost. The glass shattered in her hand and she gripped the shards tightly to dig them deep. She'd thought it was the annoying one, the Finnish sister who had dared tell her to control herself. "It was you..."

[Cadian Armana Virria]

The sound of shattering glass was unexpected, and a shadow of surprise flickered through Cadian’s eyes. He hadn’t expected that kind of a reaction. More of the playful scolding like a mother to a child he had expected whether it was exactly welcome or not. Although not necessarily Cadian’s ideal relationship, it was comforting at times even when she chided him. To see her get defensive of him… made him feel the warmest he’d felt in a long time. Any doubt he’d had that she had truly sided with her Rook and Bishop left Cadian’s mind. Maybe for once his trust wasn’t misplaced.

Eyes of the other patrons and waiters were on them now, but Cadian just beckoned their previous waiter over to clean up the mess as he pulled a roll of bandages and a spray antiseptic from his messenger bag. He’d never used the items on someone else before, but he always carried them in case he happened to find some new wound on himself. The appearance of normalcy demanded that Cadian treat those wounds and now Milani’s.

Sliding his chair around the side of the table to sit next to Milani, Cadian gently took her hand, coaxing it open. Whether she cared or not, it had to hurt her on some level. Cadian didn’t know what that felt like, but he didn’t want to make it worse for Milani. “Yes, it was me.” He told her as he started to pick out the shards of glass from her hand and set them on a napkin once the waiter had left to dispose of the majority of the broken glass. “It was a mistake, my mistake, and I paid dearly for it for a long time chained in a cage or bound to steel with your Rook. But I had seen Him as an orphan first, a prince second. We had a contract, and I didn’t think his beloved sister held more sway with him than I.” Cadian sprayed the antiseptic on the wound before wrapping it snuggly with the bandages. It wasn’t something he’d never done before, but it was different doing it to someone else.

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

She said nothing, only let Cadian unclench her hand to pick shiny slivers from her flesh. She spoke not at all and watched him out of the corners of slitted eyes as he filled the silence.

“It was a mistake, my mistake, and I paid dearly for it for a long time chained in a cage or bound to steel with your Rook. But I had seen Him as an orphan first, a prince second. We had a contract, and I didn’t think his beloved sister held more sway with him than I.” Unpierced, he bound her hand in white gauze and she wondered vaguely at its various applications.

When he released her, her hand flew in a short arch to slap his face, and in the same breath, shot back to grab his cheek, digging her thumb and fingers to find the bone nooks of his face to hold him still.

"You should have known better," she hissed, no voice but breath. "You should have known better than to let someone touch you. We break the contracts. We make the rules. They are meat puppets no better then the ooze that eats itself." She released him.

"Reclaim yourself."

[Cadian Armana Virria]

They were attracting more attention, but Cadian didn’t care. Let them think what they wanted; let them guess at what had happened. They’d never be right. They couldn’t even begin to imagine the nature of their relationship, but Cadian almost wished he could know their thoughts. It might just be amusing.

Skin touching skin. Not quite like a caress, not quite like a tap. He’d felt it before: a slap. It didn’t mean anything different to Cadian though. It was a touch that occasionally moved his head. He felt skin. It didn’t hurt. It couldn’t hurt. Even with his own kind, Cadian couldn’t feel. It would have been disheartening if Cadian had ever let himself believe otherwise. His head moved in response to Milani’s slap, but stopped when she made him look at her.

"You should have known better. You should have known better than to let someone touch you. We break the contracts. We make the rules. They are meat puppets no better then the ooze that eats itself."

Cadian knew that now, but he was made this way for a reason, and he was looking for something. The King had been his first; he would know better next time; if there was a next time. He had made the rules, but how could he avoid the King breaking them? Someone else was pulling the strings closer to the puppet. Cadian hadn’t known that at the time.

"Reclaim yourself."

Blue eyes blinked away the light glaze that had fallen over Cadian’s vision. “How, Milani?”

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

“How, Milani?” She scoffed at him and held up her hand, clenching it until the gauze seeped red.

"How do you think? He broke the rules. You break his neck, preferrably without severing the spinal nerve. Then make him watch his whore-sister die, and his dear heart, and his servents, and whatever else will drive it home that you are better."

She stood, running her fingers into his hair to seperate a single strand. "It's not hard to break someone. All it takes is pulling the right thread; they come undone in an unbound heep on the floor."

[Cadian Armana Virria]

It was easier said than done, but Cadian wanted his revenge, and he was willing to do what it took to get it. But it wasn’t an easy task. Easy for Milani since she was a temporary partner; it would be more difficult for the one who had escaped His captivity. Perhaps in that case it would have been better to stay a prisoner and bide his time. Would have, could have, should have. None of that mattered now. Will, can, and shall mattered.

"It's not hard to break someone. All it takes is pulling the right thread; they come undone in an unbound heep on the floor."

Break. Shatter. Porcelain. The fragile porcelain container of that which housed the essence of his gift. The King himself would surely be hard to get to, but his vessel wasn’t. Break that and everything else would come tumbling down. No one would fix Him then. Not the King’s horses or the King’s men. A slight smirk curved Cadian’s lips again, and he nodded slightly to himself and Milani. “No, it’s not hard.” Not as hard as he had thought. “I’ll find the right one to pull.”

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

He smirked at her and nodded. “No, it’s not hard. I’ll find the right one to pull.” She grinned at him, wrapping the hair 'round and 'round her finger. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, before sliding her lips over skin to whipsper in his ear.

"My brave weaver. Shall you do it as a trial, standing firm, alone in your shop? Shall you claim aid?" She pulled the hair out. "My not-so-little weaver. I have promises to keep amd miles to go before I sleep. Shall I sleep for you, let promises made by whim lie in bed with royal sheets?"

[Cadian Armana Virria]

Ideas where floating around Cadian’s mind. None of them were too tangible yet, but there were ideas, vague, bloody, sweet, vengeful ideas. Cadian had his ideal solution, his ideal end to the game, his ideal checkmate, but there were shortcuts to what he wanted. Only if he had to, would those paths be considered. They were less fun, less sweet, but they would suffice if others got in his way. For now, Cadian couldn’t make a decision. He could only fantasize, but fantasies had their own allure.

Milani had offered assistance, but Cadian slowly shook his head. “Play with Him as you please as long as it’s your game you’re playing, not His.” Milani said she knew her Bishop’s game so Cadian trusted her to be a step ahead of him when it counted, but the pessimist in him cautioned him to the contrary. Still, it was better to keep Him thinking everything was fine than to have Him become suspicious if Milani suddenly became uncooperative.

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

“Play with Him as you please as long as it’s your game you’re playing, not His.” Hebe grinned against his skin and kissed it again.

"Delicious, my dearest love. May your game be as swift as a hawk in hunt." She sat down again and smirked into her hand, the long platinum hair wound tight around her finger. "I so wish to see your moves. Shall I know, or shall I see a great and terrible surprise to celebrate a wayward chrisening?" She clasped her hands together under her chin. "Oh, I so hate to wait. But the endgame. Oh, to see the endgame and watch it unfold would be a pleasure and a wonder."

[Cadian Armana Virria]

Cadian considered an answer for a while before standing and moving his chair back around the table to face her once again. Cadian’s path wasn’t clear yet, but he knew his desired result, and he didn’t mind sharing that with Milani. He kept quiet for a while, only to determine if it was more fun to keep it to himself. It was such a simple thing, but it was a new position Cadian found himself it. He knew something that Milani didn’t, at least not yet. She didn’t know his game. It may be a hard game for her to figure out alone, unless she knew how her Bishop’s trick worked.

But Cadian didn’t benefit from keeping the game to himself, and he didn’t suffer from sharing with Milani. He therefore saw no reason to withhold the win conditions. “Your Bishop’s life is tied to the life of the one on whose finger he placed His ring. His gift requires an anchor, a shell, a vessel in which He placed all Himself.” Cadian’s arms folded on top of the table and he shrugged his shoulders slightly. “It’s a shame He chose such a fragile thing. She’s easily shattered. Break the vessel, and your Bishop loses himself as well, leaving him nothing but an empty husk tied to strings like a marionette.” What Cadian didn’t know yet, was who he’d want to be the puppet master.

[Hebe Ano Vasilikis]

She dropped her hands when Cadian began to speak. To love a life of lies and lust, one must begin to thrust and trust. Lucky baby, story time is Switzerland. “Your Bishop’s life is tied to the life of the one on whose finger he placed His ring. His gift requires an anchor, a shell, a vessel in which He placed all Himself.” She cocked her head, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. A vessel? How could one create a vessel for a gift that is not but a culmination of the inner perversion of the soul? How can a taboo damn another? A Devil's Ring as well. Dear Cadian had done something very strange indeed.

His arms folded on top of the table and he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a shame He chose such a fragile thing. She’s easily shattered. Break the vessel, and your Bishop loses himself as well, leaving him nothing but an empty husk tied to strings like a marionette.” She nodded slowly. Hebe was not known for her rationality or her stability, but the path of a good sociopath was the ability to devise brilliance. "Such a vessel is a poor choice. He keeps her close and well protected, gifting a dearest with a sacred convolution. She is clear as a desert glass and just as breakable. My poor disallusioned Bishop would have been wiser to sell his trinket as a blind man."

She raised a brow. "A meat puppet indeed, my love. Thou art intricate in your mechanisms. A crucial failsafe in an obviously trustworthy companion. The Aether's Curse has a great future in you."