09-11-2018, 02:53 PM
Nhysa folded her arms on the table, leaned it. Interest captured the darkness of her eyes for the turn of the conversation. Knowing Almaz plunged one hand deep into the shadows was one thing; recognising that those shadows stretched beyond its depraved games was another. Most people thought the creatures were simply for show. Men jacked up on drugs, enhanced by synthetics. But he knew better.
He wore an affable mask. They might have been talking about the weather.
"Even non-human fairy-tales deserve to live. Some of them anyway." It was a statement rather than a challenge, softened by a glitter of amusement. There wasn't enough darkness for her to be aware of the thing that followed her, though she doubted it ever went very far. But it had never hurt her, and it was nowhere close to human. Visitors like that had long since become a mundane part of her life. It had never occurred to her that their existence was something worthy of punishment. "So how do you draw the line?"
She was only half-teasing. He'd gone a little still the moment before, like the question cut a little too hard on bone; perhaps he'd spring away now, back into the light places be belonged. It made her curious. Sometimes Nhysa's work involved more clandestine skills, and sometimes it was simply that she enjoyed the art of getting to know someone. Whether she then took that life from them was immaterial. Though this was not a hunt, and he was not a mark.
He admitted nothing and everything. Something of the confession caught her like a moth to flame; not what he was, but the conflict inherent in what he had become. That word. Monster. Her head tilted, dark hair pooling in the crook of her arm. She was glad in a way, though even had her suspicions darkened it was unlikely she'd have acted -- unless provoked anyway. Nhysa smiled, shifted close enough to whisper below the thump of the music and the sound of the fighting.
"Hypothetically speaking, you made the right decision." She let the truth go, choosing not to call attention to it, though she seemed no less amused. Her palm upturned on the table. "I could have asked that question another way." She watched him still, curious, as she pulled at the shadows, let them coalesce into something tangible. It almost looked like smoke, if smoke could be such a luxurious colour. Then her hand closed. The power left her veins.
He wore an affable mask. They might have been talking about the weather.
"Even non-human fairy-tales deserve to live. Some of them anyway." It was a statement rather than a challenge, softened by a glitter of amusement. There wasn't enough darkness for her to be aware of the thing that followed her, though she doubted it ever went very far. But it had never hurt her, and it was nowhere close to human. Visitors like that had long since become a mundane part of her life. It had never occurred to her that their existence was something worthy of punishment. "So how do you draw the line?"
She was only half-teasing. He'd gone a little still the moment before, like the question cut a little too hard on bone; perhaps he'd spring away now, back into the light places be belonged. It made her curious. Sometimes Nhysa's work involved more clandestine skills, and sometimes it was simply that she enjoyed the art of getting to know someone. Whether she then took that life from them was immaterial. Though this was not a hunt, and he was not a mark.
He admitted nothing and everything. Something of the confession caught her like a moth to flame; not what he was, but the conflict inherent in what he had become. That word. Monster. Her head tilted, dark hair pooling in the crook of her arm. She was glad in a way, though even had her suspicions darkened it was unlikely she'd have acted -- unless provoked anyway. Nhysa smiled, shifted close enough to whisper below the thump of the music and the sound of the fighting.
"Hypothetically speaking, you made the right decision." She let the truth go, choosing not to call attention to it, though she seemed no less amused. Her palm upturned on the table. "I could have asked that question another way." She watched him still, curious, as she pulled at the shadows, let them coalesce into something tangible. It almost looked like smoke, if smoke could be such a luxurious colour. Then her hand closed. The power left her veins.