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reach out?

[Once he's finally done wrapping up some tangled, complicated business, to say he's exasperated would be the understatement of the century. Not that he minds Silco's company - he already said as much. But the whole thing had been messy and while he may have had some slight comforts between then and now, for a creature as insatiable as him?]

[It was only a matter of time before he came a'knock, knock, knocking at her door again.]

[However, when he does reach out, there is a notable difference. His presence in the Murmur is as smooth and silky as ever, but there's almost a sting to it. As if he's been up for days, for weeks, mulling everything over. It's the same feeling from one of his usual, long nights. Where the fire's been burned from both ends, and he doesn't have the means or experience of what it's like to actually sleep.]

[Still, he manages to let out a low purr. A signal that he's got her on the mind.] Don't suppose a gal like you has the time for someone like me, do you? [Strained as his smile is, that doesn't stop it from licking gold from his end. Like the lip of a dipped-fine glass, waiting for a kiss.] Had to head out and grab a few things. Figured you might be interested.

[Their tether is not the strongest of her web of connections by far. But she is aware of it, always, in the way that she's aware of all of her tethers. Its signature is unmistakable even in the background of louder and more thickly-weaved connections: smoke and finery, restlessness, a hunger that is never, ever satiated.

He doesn't seem the feely type, so she generally keeps any observations on the weave of their thread to herself. But she notices it, this brittle, weary feeling of a fast-burning wick. Notices and recognizes, some part of her still shards of charcoal caught within melted wax, a candle that burned out long ago. For a mortal, anyway.

So it is some kind of turmoil that spurs this request for company. She makes no remark to that effect, but the breeze which carries her answering giggle is balmy, a fleeting comfort on a hot day.] You figure correctly!

I think I can find some time. But you'll have to tell me what you mean by a gal like me. [Is she casting a line for praise, or calling out his shit? Perhaps a little of both; it's playful, regardless.]

[It isn't the strongest, but it would be a bold-faced lie if he said he didn't crave it. If she didn't immediately put him at ease with her honey-suckle sweetness and her thoughts of laughter, curling up comfortably around the base of his neck. She's everything he could possibly want right now. He's been having to balance on the head of a pin for hours and ah. If there is one sin that can truly get under his skin, it's wrath.]

[So, he takes the time to taste her: her comfort, her absolute disconnect from the whole, rotten business. Really, he could kiss her for being such a fucking peach.] Mn. Glad to see at least someone's got the right idea. [Having already burned through the last of his cigarettes, the former homunculus opens his lantern, allowing a trickle of heat to touch along his face.]

[Still, despite how tired he is, he manages to swallow it down: the strain, the bitterness, the weight of it, burying itself in the pit where a heart's never, truly been.]

[Greed flashes his teeth.] Oh - ? Cheeky minx. [But he called her, it only seems right that he does her the favor. The Sin snaps his wrist, flipping his lantern shut with a glassy shrk.] Could say I'm a little short on reasonable company at the moment. Or maybe, I just wanted to see that lovely face of yours. Don't think I have to spell it out, do I?

[It is a bit strange, though. Sure, it's hot from his end, hot as it always is. Yet, for the first time, it's almost as if it's strangled. As if there's two sides to his want, fighting and consuming themselves all at once.]

[The former homunculus shrugs.] I still remember where you are. I can be there once I finish checking on the rest. [The rest being his. The stragglers, the cut throats, and the broken people he's (unsurprisingly) found along the way.] I'll even bring something for you this time. Think it's a pretty good offer, hmn?

[Now that is interesting. She's used to the heat, used to it as anyone who grew up in a desert would be, and she doesn't shy away from the deliberate indulgence of his reception. But there is something a little odd about it. An undercurrent that feels like frustration—like restraint. And that's not something she associates with Greed in the least.

What sort of want is worth trying to subdue like that? It is as warm as the rest of him, and yet.

Amusement flutters her words like the bobbing flight of a butterfly.] You must be keeping some truly dreadful company if I'm the reasonable option.

[Though that does give her a hint as to the nature of that buried desire. Reasonable wouldn't matter if the high of physical pleasure was all he wanted. Perhaps he's in need of a little more than a quick roll in the sheets.

There is a sense of soft understanding, like the pleasant give of a soft pillow, but she doesn't tip her hand. An impish smile and the slow sway of tails answers his offer.] Your company is more than sufficient, but of course I'll never turn my nose up at a gift.

Would you like to meet at the theater again, or come by my place?

[The theater is neutral ground, safe enough for a liaison with an acquaintance who reads as potentially dangerous in their intrigue. Her den, though, is a place of comfort. And she doesn't mind offering it to someone in need of it—someone she could come to call a friend with just a little bit of a push.]

[Oh, but if the notion from side is anything to go by? There's no doubt that he isn't also interested in his usual. For the feel of her skin between his teeth and the slip of her curves underneath his hands as he traces them out like a map that's always willing to give a glimpse of some of the new treasures it has in store.]

[The Sin lets a small wheeze out of his nose, and the tension from his end eases, if only for the moment. Whatever mess he'll come back to can wait. He's done his job for the day. Besides, how did Silco put it?]

Ehhh, you don't know the half of it, sweetheart. [Greed anchors his thumbs into his pockets, leaving his claws to tap impatiently against his thighs.] And is that right? Calling my company a gift? [His thoughts of Vander, of Jinx, and Silco disappear, then. Like a book, halfway read, and shoved onto a shelf for later.] And of course you wouldn't. Knew there was a reason I liked you so much.

[The former homunculus sinks his heel, pivoting on what remains of the fire escape. Now, that's an interesting little piece of information. He figured the theater had been her resident hole in the wall. For a second, a shiver (pleased, satisfied, impressed) snakes into the Murmur; the note from him more a quiet acknowledgment.]

[The girl wasn't just a looker, she was smart, too. Clever. Maybe a minx really did fit her, after all.]

[Greed slams his boot into the ladder, freeing it from the rest of the escape with a loud, whiny grind of rust and bent steel.] Wouldn't mind having a new view. Long as that's what you want. [His wink is obvious; the flutter of his eye over the scoop of his sunglasses, a flirt in brimstone.] I'll even sweeten the deal to make up for it. Something I didn't get a chance to do last time.

[A picture develops in his mind's eye: the long lash of his tongue, rolling forks out of his mouth. Her, sitting wherever she pleased, legs spread with a heel planted firm into his shoulder. The former homunculus sets both of his feet on opposite sides of the ladder, and the tease cuts itself short.]

[Save it for when they meet. Fantasies are fine, but tonight? He wants the real thing. The true thing. A comfort of flesh on flesh.]

[She pays more attention to the Murmur than she lets on; most of it is solidly out of the realm of her business or interest, so it's not worth commenting on. But she's probably seen at least half of the annoying shit their fellow citygoers get up to.

A digression, though. She's nosy at heart but principled enough not to ask after the half she's not privy to. The whole point of this exercise is not to think about it, anyway, and that hushed rumble of satisfaction is delectable enough to keep her attention off of things like motive and complication. At least for the time being.]

Companionship is more precious a resource than most people realize! I'm quite fortunate to be sought out for it. [There is a reason, after all, that isolation is such a common method of torture.

Then there is the languid sensation of reclining, molten gold over a bed of low-burning coals. She savors the curling smoke, its wicked shapes mirrored in the unsubtle crescent of her grin, the answering lick of heat at the base of her spine warming her end of the tether to glowing orange.] Particularly when you intend to be so very generous.

[She's not especially interested in the transactional aspect of this whole thing. But it is fascinating to know what a man who wants it all is willing to give in exchange for her company.

In contrast to the near-suffocating heat, the eager swaying of her tails are sparks of pure excitement, bright and yet gentle to the touch.] I'm seven stories up, so it should be quite the view. Assuming you care to look outside at any point. [Now it's her turn to wink, playful punctuation on the visual she gives of the overgrown apartment building she's taken up residence in, and the path her claw traces from the theater to the complex. Not far, as it turns out, though certainly far enough that her residence isn't obvious just from that crowded stretch of road.]

[Unfortunately, he is as his name implies: he's selfish. Selfish about the things he wants, selfish about the things he's unsure about, selfish about everything. It's what he's always been. A creature of habit and oh, if there was ever as sin as true as pure, raw avarice.]

[So, it slips, if only briefly: the way her comment strikes him, plucking at the hole where a heart's supposed to be (where a heart may be now). In the moment, everything within him seems to writhe. Like worms, shocked by a storm they could never see coming.]

[Greed arches his back, pushing the sensation down, down, down.] Mn. Suppose you've got a point. Would make it a whole lot worse if we didn't have some company through it all. [Simple, he's reminded again. Best to keep it simple, to the point, and without the complications he's trying his best to avoid, futile an effort as it is.]

[But Kalmiya has always been so giving, has always been so right, in a sea of people who'd rather dig in their heels than admit what they wanted. And Truth, does she know how to feed him. With her kiss of warm gold and the pleasure of heat, breathing like a sigh that's been kept for just the right moment.]

[Again, he could kiss her, truly.]

Seven stories, huh? [The former homunculus purrs back; his voice like a jazz singer, bleeding out the midnight hour.] And who knows? Might be a good chance for the both of us to get in some of the view. [It comes through like silk: a window, fogged over in sweat. Prints on the glass, scratched by the begging of fingernails and claws.]

[Greed slides his eyes, following her path with the intent of a serpent.] Well, since you're being so kind - [He runs the forks of his tongue over his teeth, tasting the ghost of his last cigarette.] - then I guess I should get myself ready, shouldn't I?

[He sways his hips. The pop in his step as clear as a ringing dinner bell.]

See you then, lovely.

[That squirming, the sense of skin crawling over muscle, is curious. He had a reaction last time she dared to describe him as generous, but not like that. Not nearly so perturbed.

She notes it silently, as she does with so many small things, details of a picture she can't yet hope to guess the content of. It will come together eventually. What it is, what it all means. For the time being, she's content to let it lie while she gleefully chases the trailing tail of his unspoken suggestion, playful swirls drawn with a fingertip in the fog on the glass. A greeting to any prospective audience, even though realistically the only eyes that might land upon them are those of meandering Hosts.] I can't think of any better way to enjoy the skyline.

[That window could use a little more attention. And the bed and desk probably a bit less.

Her ear flicks as if disturbed by the faint current of warm breath. In a subconscious motion she turns toward the apartment door, locked and bolted as it always is, framed by the overgrowth of alien flora and the crowbar propped against the wall that she keeps handy as a bludgeon. Airily, as the balmy breeze she initially offered at his proposition:] Let me know when you've found the building. And don't forget to knock; wouldn't want to stumble into something private, would we?

[Heavens forbid!

The complex is not unlike many of the others in the city. A good third of it collapsed, sloughed off the far side of the building in an avalanche of rubble, letting wind and wildlife into the hollowed-out corridors exposed to the elements. The rest is still standing, owing in no small part to the thick vegetation that has wound itself into the walls and steadied the structure with grasping vines and thick roots. There is one window—about seven floors up—nestled diagonal to a particularly striking specimen, some sort of too-large pitcher plant, the bait of its nectar cloyingly sweet even dozens of feet down.

On the interior side of that window, in fresh pink paint, is the outline of a butterfly.]

[Heaven fucking forbid.]

[With the corner of his lip turned upright, the former homunculus unwinds the mask from his ears, leaving the chains to wither down his face. It's nice to have someone who can understand, if only slightly. Someone who doesn't bring all the red tape, all the sharp ends, all the guessing as to what his true intentions are. Though, he can't say the mortal lot doesn't have their reasons. Their lives are fragile. Their time, more so. Who wouldn't put up as many safeguards as they possibly could, given that death (or something worse) could be lurking around every corner? Even if Sleep made the reality impossible, the chance? Well.]

[It was and is too much for anyone to take.]

[But if he's got any thoughts on it, he leaves them behind on the street corner where he found them. Those, he can pick up another day. Another day when the sun starts to set and his own ghosts come by, just to say hello.]

[The mark is what catches his eye. Between all the vines, all the growth, all the destruction, it's her signature that he sees. It's lines pink and dolled up in the same sort of way some of his company had done before. Back then, it had been calling cards. Slips of paper or custom coins, printed as a way to leave a man on the hook for later. Course, he never needed to pay. And if he did, he usually left more than enough for them to chose whether to stay and continue their work, or find a new life elsewhere.]

[Still, despite her ask, it's not at her door that he knocks. No, of course not. Doors were too obvious, too common. And, if nothing else, he's always prided himself on being a little unique.]

[The Sin raps his knuckles on the window; his wings, spread out behind him like clothes, drifting in the breeze. He anchors himself against the point of the pitcher plant and one, overgrowing vine of thorns; like a gargoyle, returning to the church its tethered to.]

You can't get mad at me - [He hums behind the glass, and his teeth shine slick in the dark.] - I did knock, lovely.

[It's hard to maintain the element of surprise when one's quarry has such big ears. One of them rotates outward at the telltale jangling of chains and spikes, faintly audible even through the glass. So she has a sense of what direction he's coming from even before he knocks, but she doesn't turn to look until he's announced himself properly, amused but entirely unruffled.

(Save for the slow sway of her tails as he approaches, a motion that quickens with excitement when she acknowledges him.)

She slips off the bed in one slow, satin motion, as smooth as the robe draped over her nighttime ensemble. (Silk on gold, just as he likes.) Tracking over to the window with the purposeful strides of a predator, she eyes him with clear appreciation for a moment before bothering with the window. It's old, tight, sticky with the water-damaged swell of the wood frame and the otherworldly spores that coat so much of this city; she wrenches it all the way open with little grace but carefully measured force so she can set her forearms on the sill and lean out far enough to observe Greed at his perch.

A coquettish tilt of her head accompanies the mischief in her smile.] So you did. Very clever.

[And exactly what she would have done, given the same invitation and ability to do so.

The hue of amusement becomes clearer as she looks him over again, this time more appraising than hungry. It grows into the teasing lilt of her voice as she props her chin in one hand.] Now how are you going fit all that— [nodding her head in acknowledgement of his massive horns and wings, among other accoutrements] —through this window, handsome?

[His eyes slip, mapping every inch of her from behind the glass. He isn't upset that she heard him coming. Hell, he's almost pleased. Almost pleased that his signs were a tell all their own.]

[And ah, does she give him as good as he plans. The robe is a nice touch, but that silk - he can practically feel it. How it will, no doubt, play like a water beneath his claws. The way it will (most likely) end up tossed and peeled away, forgotten for the hour for when he's gone again. Like a shadow, slipping at the first hint of dawn and leaving only the imprints of kisses and the dents of bite marks as evidence it had ever been there in the first place.]

[Greed shifts his weight, letting most of him hang by the crooks of claws. Of course, it would be rude if he came empty-handed. The bag spun through his fingers is plastic - its thin shell, refusing to crumble no matter how rotten the world around it has become. Whatever's inside, however, remains a mystery. It's hefty, if nothing else; the soft roll of glass and paper, the only give away.]

Mn. It's been said I can be pretty clever when I put my mind to it. [The toes of his boots press hard into the side of the building, and the former homunculus coyly sways his head - the show of his throat, a predator's quiet language, meeting an equal.] As for that, well. You might want to move out of the way, lovely. Wouldn't want to ruin that slip of yours.

[The Sin rocks his hips to pivot one of his legs through the window. The spores, the swell of soaked, rotting wood: it's nothing he hasn't seen in his own place. Hasn't seen and trundled over, night after night, to avoid the eyes lurking behind his walls. He tries to hand over the goods as he shimmies a couple of steps to the side. The shift of his claws, skating as pointedly as a chalkboard's ground-down eraser.]

[Then, he lets go, hooking his other leg through the window. If they had an audience, it would probably all be terribly amusing. The way he dangles, back splayed, as lax as a twilight's bat. Greed huffs out a soft laugh, spreading his thighs to either end of the window frame.] Didn't say it would be easy. [He says, and his voice churns out a small, cloudy puff into the evening air.]

[Greed flattens his hands against the building's face and with a shove, he slides himself through the opening. Of course, he doesn't completely make the clearing. One of his horns manages to snag a bit of the outer sill, taking the smallest chunk of it. A bedpost scratch, in case she ever forgets his face.]

[Once inside, the Sin catches himself on the solidness of his stomach. He rises not a moment later; his movements, haunted, ghoulish. A fiend by no other name but his own.]

[The mirth that curls the corners of her mouth is not unkind, but some part of her amusement is found at Greed's expense as he asserts his capability for ingress, the arch of her eyebrow a silent challenge.

Rather than verbalize her doubt, she steps aside as requested and helpfully receives the mysterious plastic bag as it's proffered. The urge to look inside is powerful enough to feel along the tether, the impulse a quick yank of the cord, but she resists the temptation for the time being. She doesn't want to miss the show, after all.

And a show it is. Her lips purse with the effort of maintaining her composure while she watches, but there's no leashing the snort of laughter as he hangs halfway out her window and quips like he has it all under control. So cheeky, so cocksure in a way that stirs the placid stream of homesickness that is ever present in her solitude. (Gods, she misses Reeve.)

The sheer ridiculousness of the spectacle as he shoves his way in through the window frame puts a stopper in that feeling, though, the snort giving way to the cackle of someone who's delighted to be wrong, the quick wag of her tails punctuating her glee.] Ahaha—! Asked and answered! Though you're lucky I don't charge for damages.

[It's far from the only part of this verdant little studio that has been victim to Kalmiya's dalliances. Deep gouges make themselves at home in the wood of both the simple full-sized headboard and the sturdy desk strewn with art supplies. On and in the vicinity of the desk, tools and media lay like confetti in the gaps between canvases of varying size, the subjects of each one in differing states of completion. There are drawings, as well, on every kind of paper she can get her hands on, even thin sheets of water-damaged newsprint.

Likenesses of her Tethers fill the chaotic display, from quick charcoal sketches to full color fauvist portraits in acrylic. The tokens, in particular, appear with more frequency, as do the Tethers that are strongest. There's even a particularly familiar figure penciled out, faint lines of graphite suggesting the shape of a lantern between sets of horns and framed by sprawling, tattered wings. (It's in the early drafting stages. She's still got a lot to learn about him, after all.)

The walls and ceiling are nearly as overgrown as the exterior of the building. Some of the crawling plants are faintly recognizable as warped descendants of common houseplants like succulents, while others indicate more obscure horticultural interests of this studio's former occupant, such as the pitcher plant outside. The scent of fungal greenery saturates the air of this room, though it doesn't hold a candle to the fruity-floral perfume of the Trickster that lives within, guava brightening ripe and sweet as she gives in to the urge to investigate the bag. Merrily,] So what have you brought me, besides companionship?

[Once upright, the former homunculus cradles the back of his neck, letting the weight of his head sway on his palm. Cheeky would be one way to put it, but cocksure? Oh, is that far more accurate. How his smile beams across his face, slivery and smooth, as if he'd always known what the outcome would be. It isn't his first time climbing through a window to see a would-be lover, and it wouldn't be his last. Leave the more conventional methods to boring men who'd rather keep things comfortable and predictable.]

[No, he wants her to keep him in mind, even if it's only in passing. To remember that, no matter how many people either of them take to fill their time, he'll always try to come up with someway to surprise her.]

[However, he isn't the only one offering a little intrigue this evening. The room isn't exactly what he pictured. Sure, he'd expected the tick marks (of people who have come and gone, of their desperation, clawed in as a keepsake). The artwork, however: that's something he didn't anticipate. Something he didn't anticipate and as the Sin moves deeper inside, it's clear that he's minding his step. As if one, false move will bring the beauty of her world tumbling down to nothing but rot and soot.]

Mnn. You did ask. [Greed answers, stretching his arm out at his side. He cocks his hand off at the bend of his wrist, pointing his finger at the far wall.] And even if you did, I'm sure you and I could figure something out, hmn? Wouldn't want to leave you on the hook, love. [He goes quiet, though, when he sees it. Himself (murky, but no less obvious, in an outline of graphite that's more fitting than she could possibly know). It hits him in a way he can't place; his whole body going as stiff and unmoving as a deer, staring down the headlamps of a truck.]

Ah - ? [The former homunculus starts, shaking himself out of his momentary stupor.] Oh, right. Yeah. [He fans his arm dismissively at his side. As if giving her anything, as if bringing her anything, had been only a second thought and nothing more.] Managed to find a few things in some of the high rises around this place. Don't know if the wine's any good, but think, out of the two of us, the necklace suits ya better.

[The piece in question is one he'd found a month or so back. A couple of the gems are missing (likely dug out by him and pocketed at some point), but for the most part, it's intact. A glint of silver and blue, tied up and forced into the shape of a humble, hugging serpent.]

[Greed pockets his hands and as he hunches over his hips, he sidesteps gracefully across the floor - his eyes watching, wandering, across every portrait like that of a man, reading the years between the paint.]

[The wine in its carefully crafted glass bottle is self-evident. The tangle of silver and blue, though, is not obvious in its nature until she lifts it out of the plastic bag—a laughably inappropriate wrapping for the beautiful piece her wide eyes settle on. The wonder in her face brightens her eyes to a rich pearl color, and makes her seem— Well. Closer to her age, her mortal age, a young woman captivated by a lovely gift rather than an ageless, smiling mine of wisdom and secrets.

Her lips are parted faintly with her surprise, ears piqued and tails fluffed where they meet the base of her spine. When she looks back to Greed, trying to find the pace of their back-and-forth again, his entire demeanor has changed. Graceful, purposeful, strangely attentive to...

She follows the line of his gaze to her paintings and softens with understanding, tails relaxing and shoulders settling into a gentler slope. Back and forth, this time between Greed and the gifts he's brushing off as an afterthought; her eyes linger on the rich, twinkling gems of the necklace as she intones, a lightness lending genuine sentiment,] Thank you. It's lovely. [The corner of her mouth pulls up with mirth.] Fittingly.

[That is what he calls her, even though it doesn't always strike her perception as the truth. Tucking the metal serpent between her fingers, she reaches back in to grab the neck of the wine bottle and extract it from its crinkly prison. There's no horizonal surface that's guaranteed not to be disturbed, but she settles for placing it on the nightstand for the time being, watching sidelong as Greed takes in her chaotic body of work.

Gathering it up in her fingers as one might gather a stocking they're about to pull over their foot, she compresses the plastic bag into a ball in her fist, more an idle sensation than any attempt at storage. It and the necklace each occupy a clawed hand as she steps a little closer—to the art, to him.]

My Tethers, [she offers after a moment, soft at the edges.] It's a wonderful pastime, and a fulfilling craft, but...

[Her gaze slides down to the necklace, the snake's tail curled around a gem set into silver, a treasure that it can never let go of. Rather than finish that train of thought in its current form, she starts over back at the station.] It helps to soothe the instincts. When I become a little too...invested.

[Invested, yes. The tether between them, though, thrums with something far deeper, a more primal directive shared by all Offerings within Sleep's chancel: the need to have, to keep. To possess, wholly and eternally. Surely, if anyone will understand that, it's the man skulking about her studio like the torn trim of the grim reaper's cloak.]

[He's so focused, though, that he almost misses her thank you. The paintings alone are enough for him to get lost in (their purposeful strokes, the want soaked into them that's far softer than any sort of desire he could possibly hope to understand). It's not like he hasn't seen art before. Over the years, he's crossed paths with a few. Talented people history would never remember, pouring themselves, their admiration, their need, into works that would, eventually, fade as all things do. But in the moment, for him, they're still as fresh as the day they were made. Drafts, half-finished pieces, and the rare, final products, glowing faint in the warm dim of hearths and oil lamps.]

[The genuine gratitude, however, shatters every, single thought in his head. And as the Sin finds himself (standing there, stupid), his body goes stiff as a board. The only movement, the telling snap of his tail as it jumps wildly at his ankles.]

Oi, oi, oi. The hell are you thanking me for? [He barks, his bite clearly missing, as he flicks his fingers curtly off the edge of his hip.] Don't start getting any wild ideas about it, would ya? I told you, figured you'd be able to use it better than I could. [The tether, however, hints at a different story. How it throttles itself like a fist trying to choke out a string.]

[But she gives him an out, and oh, is it a godsend.]

[Because he knows exactly what she means: becoming invested. Becoming too invested. It's what brought him here tonight in the first place. Not that he needed an excuse to see her. He'd visit her any time. Like an old haunt he knows will always have a glass for him ready and waiting, no matter how many years have passed.]

[The Sin slumps into his shoulders, and the end of his tail knots loops around his calf.] Invested, huh. [He repeats, more to get a feel for it himself. Admitting it isn't something he'll ever do. He can't, really. Not in the way most people can. His sort weren't made for that kind of love. Sure, he knew what it could look like. Of course, he's heard the stories. But it's a language he can't comprehend. Not then, not now, not ever, no matter how much something in his chest rattles back.]

[Greed closes his eyes, and his grin slowly crawls up one side of his face.] Some people, right? Can't stop yourself, no matter how well you know it's probably a bad idea. [More a tell on him than her, but the point still stands.] Humans get the wrong idea all the time. What it means to have, what greed really is. Can't blame you for trying to find a way to keep it from getting too complicated.

[Again, the single arch of her eyebrow is questioning, near challenging, as she watches the whip of his tail. The way he raises his voice and shows his teeth, yet absent any real aggression or distress along the tether— she might call it flustered, if she were asked to describe it. There is something else along the woven threads of their connection, but it's hard to identify when he's trying to smother it so.

This is not doing anything to disprove her theory nor discourage her thoughts on what he actually wants from her. Besides the sex, of course.

He snaps up her explanation of the artwork like bait off a hook. So she gives it to him for now. Her expression smooths to something more thoughtful as her eyes find the graphite sketch of Greed, clearly a source of something for her guest, some rattling thing inside of a cage she can't see into. The ear closest to him flicks, a twitch like it's caught a stray current of air.

The soothing breeze she brings with her assurances over the Murmur lives in her voice too, her words airy and easy even in this moment of contemplation.] I don't mind attachment. Or complication. Living, thinking beings will always be complicated, so loving them will be complicated too.

[Much as they might seek simplicity. Much as Greed tries to choke out whatever it is that colors his want in such an uncomfortable way.

Carefully, she lifts the necklace and unhooks the clasp halfway up the serpent's tail to open the loop. Then she slips the curl of it over the back of her neck, claws clicking against the gemstones that remain, the sound of making a point without saying anything at all. Clipping it closed over the dip of her collarbone punctuates the candor with which she continues:] I don't like the way this place makes me feel about them sometimes. But I can't force those feelings away, so this is where I put them. So that it won't hurt any of them.

[Whatever the moment had been (a twitch, a tremor, a lie for him alone) slips away, however. Another grain of sand in his long, tall hour glass, trickling down to lose itself in the sea of it. Love. It's been a subject that's been brought up more than once in his short time here. And while the circumstances were always different (the tethers and their need to hold things close, Sleep and her poisoned admiration), in the end, it all boiled down to the same thing. The same thing he's seen for centuries, rising and dying again like crops in a cycle.]

[But him, ah. He's always been on the outskirts of it. As if one step would bring the whole thing to ruin like a plague without a cure in sight.]

[Not that he minds. That's just how things are, and how they'll always, always be.]

[Greed sucks on one of his upper teeth, humming.] Eh, suppose that's where you and I won't agree, sweetheart. Always found it easier to keep things simple. [Not a lie, not a truth, not anything, really. Nothing but an instinct, and the only answer he has to give her.] Nothing wrong with attachment, mind. But it's a little different when it comes to me.

[It's not colors, painted wild and free. Not her warmth, bubbling over and asking for little in return. No, what it is at its core is rotten. A cancer that will claw, snare, and latch on, refusing to let anyone or anything take what it is so rightfully owed. That's the difference between the two of them. Where she's sunshine, he's a pit. An empty, hungry pit that will never be satisfied, much as he tries to fill it.]

[That's what he tells himself, at least. Keep it simple.]

[The tip of the Sin's tail slowly drags to a low, sleepy swing. He isn't looking at her, but he does hear it: the soft twittering of the gemstones that remain. The silver, unbuckling as pitched as the backside of woman's silk dress. The former homunculus lulls his head into his shoulder and as the fur around his collar pillows his ear, he shows her a sliver of his smile. Something with less teeth.] Mn. Can't blame you there, either. There are rules, lovely. And no matter what Sleep wants us to do, there are some things I won't, no matter how hard she tries.

[Desire was a street that had to be traveled because they wanted to, after all. Otherwise, it wasn't worth shit to him.]

[The tilt of her head is curious, and very nearly innocuous in its curiosity, as he slides her a sidelong smile over his shoulder. It's probably the softest—or least sharp—expression she's seen on his razorlike face. Rules. Are those his paintings? Is that what he does in lieu of satiating the unstoppable, destructive need to own those he cares about? Is that the veil behind which he obscures his investment in people?

A curious, curious creature. He is more complicated than he's willing to admit—but that is not her place to say right now. Not the kind of help she has agreed to give him. Never lead with the uncomfortable truths; it's imperative to take it bit by bit. Respect and trust in infinitesimal increments. Otherwise there's too much risk of pushing away those you're trying to help.

And she wants to help him. She doesn't want to push him away.

Her steps are silent as she drifts closer to him, the stealthy gait of the fox she so resembles. Once she's nearly at his side, she stops. Easy to brush an arm against, but hard to look directly at, the perfect line of sight over his strong shoulder and fluffy collar.] I haven't really got rules. I just fought very hard for my own freedom...so I would never do anything to take theirs away.

[The sway of her own tails is nearly in rhythm with his, though it's as quiet as her ghostly footsteps. Curious gives way to coquettish as she tips her chin up to meet his gaze, her eyes brightening with playful suggestions of color as one corner of her mouth curls up into a smile.] It is much easier to keep things simple, but...

[The smile reaches the opposite end of her lips. Spreads up to the corners of her sharp, mirthful eyes.] Simple is just so boring.

[The twitch along the Murmur is undeniable the second time. When she comes out and says it like an arrow, aimed and shot:]

["I just fought very hard for my own freedom..."]

[It's something he can relate. Something he knows personally from experience, even if the fighting part came later. Leashes. They may not always be physical ones, but they're there, nonetheless. Chains and collars built to hold people back and drag them into submission either by brutal force, or simply by the sweet lies, told and spun to hold them level with the ground.]

[Greed chases his inner cheek with his teeth, letting the skin of it drag along their points. He doesn't have any intention of opening that up right now, but the tone of his voice? Oh, is it a dangerous one.] Choice. [He answers, and the tension from his end pulls as tight as a bow string.] That's the whole point, lovely. The ability to choose - [He shrugs his shoulders, lifting his head languidly from the tickle of his collar.] - call it my nature, but I've always been a fan of that. Gives them the ability to think about it, to decide if this is what they really want, or walk away and be done with it. In the end, it doesn't really matter to me. Even if they do decide it's not worth it, I'd rather it be honest from the start.

As for you - [His heel dips, his body sways, and the former homunculus coolly pivots to face her; his slouch more akin to that of a buzzard with a tale it has no plans on telling.] - good. One day, you'll have to tell me. About who they were, and what you're owed. [Owed. A guarantee, if nothing else. That if whoever tried to drag her down, tried to tame her, showed up even close to his doorstep, Hell would be a more merciful option.]

[Thankfully, he lets the moment pass as soon as it comes - a slip down his back as jumping as water from a slick-oiled feather.] Mnn. Simple is boring, huh? That what you think? [He teases with a snap of his teeth. However, he is closer. One step, bringing him nearer and nearer to what he came here for in the first place.]

[Greed reaches out, trailing the backs of his knuckles along the slope of her hip.] Dunno, love. Might be able to show you that simple can be a whole lot more than you think.

[It is about choice. What she does, where she goes, who she is—she spent so long unable to choose any of it. In her formative years, when the pathways of her mind were still being paved, the void left where choice should be became a part of her. She builds, and builds, and builds, and oftentimes she's happy within what she's built. But that emptiness always awaits beneath, ready to swallow her should she ever miss a step and take a fall.

It's the same for him, then, in some way. Whatever his nature, whatever his past, he's taken whatever choice was left for him and made something of it.

For an infinitesimal moment, her easy pleasantness flickers, the curtain pulled back to reveal the girl who pays too much attention. In that moment, she searches his expression, seeing if it will reveal what he's owed. Because all the things she is owed? Can't be given back once they are taken. Growing up with family, with love, with some understanding of where in the world you belong—that is what childhood should be about. And youth is finite, for mortals like her.

No one loved that little girl. Now she's gone, and no one ever will.

Kalmiya got what she wanted: a life away from Sanctuary. But what she's owed? She's still taking inventory of all that.

Then she chuckles, the swelling current of it lightening her demeanor as he skulks closer to her. He's easily half a foot taller, even without the horns, but she meets his eyes like they're equal in frame and build, with intrigue in her eyes and mischief in her mouth.] I don't know if you'd want to know all that. Could get complicated.

[Because the situation with Sanctuary is far from cut and dry. This, though—the heat that rises beneath the brush of his knuckles—is simple enough. When she leans in, curls her fingers into the thick fluff of his collar and tugs, she does it like she's owed this too; up onto her toes, nose tucked beneath his jaw, impressing like the hiss of pressure releasing.] Show me, then. I know you won't bore me.

[Messy as the thoughts may be, she makes good on her word the moment she takes him by the collar. If nothing else, the language of what is one he does understand. What drives people to do the things they do, what makes them crave the things they want, even if all the world is against them. He's already said it before: it's easier this way. Easier to drop the problems at the door and take, if just for a moment of clean, effortless satisfaction.]

[So, he shelves it for now. Another book he'll pick up when the time is right, and when his own selfishness takes a turn for something a bit more kind.]

[Greed gently nips his lip. The growl in his throat is a pleasant one; the pitch of it like an alligator, shaking its plates on water.] Mn. You should know by now that's bullshit. I want everything, sweetheart. Another time, though. I did say I wouldn't bore you, right? And it would be such a shame if I did. [Smoothly, as if he's done this a million times before, the Sin slips one of his arms out of his vest, leaving it hang on both the chokehold of her claws and the stronger part of his opposing shoulder.] But you're gunna have to do a little thing for me. Nothing big, though, I promise.

[However, he's already guiding her. The flat of his hand at the small of her back, the tap of his boots, pushing her towards the window from whence he came. The former homunculus smiles (wicked, toothy) and as he reaches out, he sinks his nails into the lip of the sill.] A view, right? Go ahead and take a look, love. There's a whole world out there just waiting for the taking, after all.

[It's gentle, the way he does it. How he slides the window down until he can hear its faint, telling clck. The way he leads her arm off his neck, down the side of his chest, and across the point of his hip. He's spinning her and in the end, it's all a dance. Similar in tune, but different in pitch every, single time.]

[Greed plants his nose at the back of her neck once he has her spun 'round, and his vest falls weighted behind him; its hidden trinkets and keepsakes, slapping to the ground like a softly closed door. He's all over her a second later: his hands, drawing out the bends of her hips. The chord of his tail as it begins to wrap, link after link, around the lower part of her leg. One tug, and he tries to spread her the tiniest bit apart; the tease of his claws, tickling at the hem of her slip as gingerly as a moth's kiss.]

[The Sin smiles against her skin.] You'll have to tell me. Everything you see - [He talks, and one of his nails grazes her inner thigh. Not enough to scratch, but enough to let her know he's there.] - paint me a picture while I do what I do best.

[She allows him to lead her, motions guided by his hand at her back and his toes at her feet, but she doesn't release him for a second. He is kept captive in the loop of his own vest, watched with hungry intent, her eyes unmoved with every step closer to the open window.

He's bigger, stronger, more bestial a Vessel than her. But by her gaze and her posture, she makes it very clear that he leads only by the same generosity that allowed him up into her strange little studio. Right now, she is an indulgence, given freely to a subject of fondness in a moment of need. But that could change in one quick breath, were she to flip open to reveal the blade at the center of her construction. Maybe later she'll give him a challenge, once he's gotten himself comfortable in her artsy abode. For now, she's content to take the following role, as easy a partner in this dance as in other intimate activities.

The woody seal of the window settling into its frame is decisive in the hush. Though guided, she takes every opportunity to reach for him as he adjusts her arm; wrist cocked, fingers splayed to drag a trail behind the path he takes her. Then with a titter of laughter she's twirled to face the window and the world beyond—which he offers to her under one condition.

Her ears pique, flick, swivel at the percussive clinking and jingling that accompanies the careless landing of his vest, but quickly they come to a tilt that better captures the burning brimstone of his voice, fanning hot over the back of her neck. Then comes the request: paint him a picture, a direction she answers with another laugh, this one of a more obscured amusement.

He has no idea what he's asking for, poking his roaming claws into her art like that. Just like he claims to want to know who hurt her, and what they owe her. Her skin tingles at the edges of his nails and anticipation shakes her spine when his tail comes to coax her legs open—as if she needed any convincing to let him in. Pointedly she relaxes her knee, lets her foot slip just a bit further out than it's been pulled.] You know, there are easier ways to get me to paint for you.

[Still, she plays coy, settling into his embrace while her own claws drag faint, exploratory trails over the backs of the arms wrapped around her.] What will you be watching, then? Far as I can tell, we've got the same view from here.

[Oh, part of him is all-too aware. That all of this is being done on her terms. Her invitation, the way she lets him lead her on, toe-to-heel back to the window where he's already left his signature. If she didn't want this, if she didn't want a piece of him, she would have already torn his throat wide open. Torn it open and chewed him out for even thinking, for a second, a man like him could try.]

[So, he doesn't take it lightly. He never, really, does. Simple as he likes things to be, there's still fine print to every engagement. Not the kind that would ever bind him (the thought, in itself, is laughable), but the kind where the terms are clear. The two-way street of desire, bolded out and underlined to make sure each party gets their wanted satisfaction.]

[Besides, he'd hate for her to have a bad memory of him. For her to get the wrong idea, as so many others already have.]

[Greed eases himself to the ground, folding his wings up as snug as possible against his back.] Don't doubt it. But it'd be a little boring if we took the easy way out, don't you think? [His position is, by all means, questionable. Whatever he has in mind, lost in the flood of their tether. He can't give the punchline away that easily. It wouldn't be fun that way. And that's what he's here for. A little fun, a little means of unwinding, after getting his ass raked and spat out by a fight between two men he had no business being a part of.]

[The Sin's hands wander away from her as he flips himself onto his back, settling his weight firmly on his elbows. And as he finds his spot, he taps one his knuckles twice against the inner part of one of her thighs. A nudge, a suggestion, that she should probably shift a bit.] A more interesting view, if you really gotta know. [And now, it should be clear. How he pries his hips off the ground, lifting his head slowly between her legs. He doesn't need to see past the hem of her get-up to know where to go. To seek out her slit as his horns catch silk and satin like cat's claws, kneading themselves in.]

[If she's wearing anything underneath, the forks of his tongue find it soon enough. They split out of his mouth, smoked with soaked whiskey, leaving a damp trace behind them.]

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➥ End of February, After Silco and Vander's Spat

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CW: NSFW if you squint he's awful

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how fucking dare u B(

B)

shaking my jimmies at u (also I saw my grammar error and it is KILLING ME ... not softly)

i didn't even notice... u told on urself

HANDS IN THE AIR SOMETIMES ....

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CW: NSFW, just this whole thing, do not pass go, do not collect $200

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