Character Visit: Montague

[morsus_et_mors]

If there were still some innocent souls untainted by attainment of one Montague Morsus character, they were bound to be impressed by his appearance on the stage. The whole setting and everything was, of course, a very surreal happenstance in and of itself-- but the main actor for that event was more than willing to acquiesce to the general will, if

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[freakedwithjet]

Pansy sat next to Perry and her actions mirrored the man's on stage as she drew on a cigarette and then blew out a thin stream of smoke. In honour of the occasion (and in a very conscious effort to rein back some attention for herself) she was wearing high make-up: blood-dark lips, and twilight-eyes and her neck and ears were dripping with gleaming jet.

She cast a glance at the man beside her before, with an obviously-mischievous smirk, she took an another drag on her cigarette and then raised the hand holding it, languidly.

"Tell me, Montague," she said, "how much do you resent the fact that Perry got to me first? And what would you do to try and tempt me away?"

It wasn't until she'd finished speaking that she exhaled that second intake of smoke.

[morsus_et_mors]

Ah... Pansy, Pansy, Pansy. Montague simply adored that girl, although how much- he himself did not exactly know. He watched her exhale an elegant swirl of smoke and the way her ruby lips rounded, all movement precisely timed and perfectly delivered. She could have been a female version of himself, albeit more innocent- and, what use was there in hiding that, less twisted.

Montague grinned, understanding the game they were playing.

"My darling, how cruel of you to give me hope I could, actually, tempt you away from my simpleton of a friend," he started, smirking and taking a drag himself. "If only my attempts would not be futile, I could shake off my apathy and conquer the world to bend its knee before you."

Montague leaned back in his seat and fixed his gaze on Pansy's. "I would surround you with fountains of champagne and cover you in silk and silver- because gold is so vulgar- and write decadent poetry in your name." How romantic of me."And then we would spend our lifetime bathing in absolute superiority over everyone else-

[freakedwithjet]

A corner of Pansy's month curled upwards and she smirked at the stage. Of course she'd noticed that Montague had side-stepped her first question, and of course he wasn't going to be allowed to forget about it.

But first to lull him into a false sense of security.

"I never said you could tempt me away, I never even implied it." She looked down and then back up from under her eyelashes. "I said you could try. And I already intend to spend my lifetime bathing in absolute superiority, so that isn't the way." She paused. Inhaled. Exhaled. "Bathing in champagne, though. Now there's a thought."

She smiled now, in a way that wasn't really a smile at all, but an invitation - just to see how far Montague was willing to push this overt flirtation with her boyfriend, his best friend, sat beside her. Then she recrossed her legs and added, "And I thought you said you would answer all questions? You missed one of mine out."

[morsus_et_mors]

As she spoke, Montague had unconsciously leant forward, eyes glinting with amusement. Cigarette forgotten for a moment, it rested loose between his fingers- about to fall, but not allowed to by his control

[freakedwithjet]

Now, why couldn't Perry appreciate her 'tasteful dramatics'?

She had an effect on him- oh yes, definitely. That leaning forward, as though she was the most important thing in the room and he needed to be just that little bit closer. The inclination of the head as he listened, the long-held eye contact, the inch of ash at the end of his cigarette. There was something so intoxicating about provoking an unconscious response from a good-looking man and Pansy had forgotten it. She forgot too, the fact that many of Montague's responses required reciprocation. The holding of that gaze, shifting forwards in her seat with her chin cupped by her hand -she was responding to him as well.

So it was a good thing that he reminded her of Perry as his friend and her boyfriend, sitting right beside her. And with that last sentence, he reminded her of a waiting cobra - steely and deadly and mesmeric. She could have been like him, she thought. If Anna-Marie had had her way, Montague and Pansy would have been the perfect match

[morsus_et_mors]

It was sad, a bit. How the transparent silk of their selves could penetrate each other- and yet, they barely touched on a fleeting moment. The up and down arrow, or left and right, or... It was sad, how the romance that could be, never was. And never should be. Because she was much better off with her man and Montague knew that. And, surprisingly, held back the lethality of his contempt for the world- just for the two of them.

For some reason- what reason?

Montague tilted his head in a nod of acquiescence. He was not defeated - he allowed himself to be defeated by that fragile girl, like rock crystal. Like the invincible heroes of his childhood books, genuflecting before the weakest of all creatures. (Pfft, how pathetic!)

"Correct," he said, still watching her in that same position, inclined and leaning against the arm, like a languid feline. "But then... because of you- so many would be annihilated. If I couldn't destroy you, I would be forced to destroy everyone else."

[inner_human]

All right, he'd watched this show long enough, and at the moment Perry wasn't thrilled with either of them. Pansy, his girlfriend the instigator, and Montague... well, Montague. The real question was, which of them had the larger ego? Sure, it was funny at first - the only reason he hadn't said something sooner - but there was more being said now than what was passing between lips.

He rubbed his temple as if massaging a bad headache - which may have been the case. "Thank you, Pansy, for subjecting me and everyone else here to Montague's angst, the size of which is only rivaled by his ego. But please, don't either of you hold back on my account." He reclined in his seat, arms crossed, and turned a raised eyebrow to Montague. "Frankly I'm rather curious to see who would destroy who."

[freakedwithjet]

The inspirational sparkle in a madman's eye. That was how Montague was characterising her. This conversation was like a trail of breadcrumbs into the heart of man's darknesses and Pansy was following it as though there wasn't any other possible direction.

Perry's voice distracted her and she almost-grinned to herself before turing her attention, and a wider smile, onto him. Her boyfriend, and she laced her hand in his and used the other hand to comb through his hair. Pansy leant in to kiss Perry's cheek and at the last possible moment turned her head so that as her lips touched Perry's skin her eyes met Montague's across the room.

Mouth pursed, it was impossible to smirk but an eyebrow tilted and her hand in Perry's hair stilled momentarily.

[morsus_et_mors]

Then the abandoned boyfriend marched unto the hypothetical stage for two and unsuavely, as he always did, disrupted the perfect scene perfectly.

And just as Montague was about to reply to Perry's comment about the exchange between Pansy and himself, there was a silent development to the scene. Montague silenced himself and watched it with amusement- the gentle caress, the leaning in, Perry's surprise as the two lovers' lips touched. And a tilt of an eyebrow that was like a smirk, or a spit, or a 'Fuck you in your face!' altogether.

And then Montague laughed. Pansy was so much like himself.

"Perry, I never knew you held my image so deeply within you, that you had to go for a girl that could have been my female version," he said with a grin, before sucking on his cigarette.

[inner_human]

Surprise indeed. He was briefly paralyzed by her fingers in his hair, which was nothing unusual, and as her lips left his cheek he slowly turned his head to stare at his girlfriend with the same cool, only vaguely amused expression.

And then he smirked, his voice quiet and meant only for them, but it bounced off the walls in the little auditorium. "You are pure evil."

Perry looked back to the best friend and offered the cocky grin the three of them knew well. "Yes, Montague, our friendship has had an everlasting effect on me. That and I'm clearly a masochist."

[freakedwithjet]

She laughed in Perry's face then. Not a giggle exactly, and not coquettish. Just, quite simply, a laugh and she used one hand to pull him around so that she could kiss him properly, as though they weren't in public, with a looker-on.

The acoustics of this room were interesting, she'd noticed and that assessment of her moral fibre must have carried to the stage against Perry's intention. She pulled back slightly and said, so that her voice would carry to Montague, "No, I think really that if your girlfriend is evil and your best friend is evil then you're evil too. You know, you're only as good as your associates." She ran a hand through his hair and leant a little closer. "Luckily, both of us have moments of being very, very good." Her tone was soft and seductive and she turned away from Perry and lifted her voice as though this was the first time she had really addressed the man on stage, despite the fact that the very words she spoke suggested otherwise. "Which is why you're jealous of us, Montague. Because you are jealous of us,

[morsus_et_mors]

They were impossible. Montague felt the need to roll his eyes at the two of them, but decided better and sucked on his cigarette- a little distressedly. Not because Pansy was right, not in the slightest.

It was just that... no, he would not even think that, because thinking makes things come true- and he did not want that to materialize itself. With the thought completely annihilated, Montague looked on at the spectacle Pansy was making out of her intimate relationship with Perry. Well, a spectacle to a prude's eyes, of course- while Montague himself understood perfectly what and why was done.

"I quite agree- you must be just as evil as us, Perry, since you unconsciously reach out for the likes of us." Montague took another drag. "Which, technically, means you are also a sadist- not just a masochist. Have you been getting much pleasure from duelling?" At this he grinned knowingly.

Even as he spoke though, Pansy's words-- no, the tone in which she said those words, cluttered in the back of his mind, making him want to frown. Her

[inner_human]

She laughed and tugged him closer, smoke swirling around them and into his nostrils, and God, he really hated cigarette smoke. She was completely evil, engaging him while they were being watched - nevermind the others, but it was his best friend on that stage, his eyes on them.

Though Perry clearly wasn't too fussed. Even when Pansy pulled away he remained close, thoroughly ensnared by her eyes and mouth and that damn smoke. He grinned at her words, and the grin only broadened with Montague's addition. He was baiting him, as Montague often did.

"I haven't a clue what you two are talking about. I'm perfectly innocent." How he could say that without laughing was a mystery. But he did cast a sidelong glance Montague's way. The grin remained to give the appearance of apathy, but his eye said clearly: I know what you're doing.His attention was back on Pansy as he freed his hand from hers to brush the hair back from her neck. He leant in and kissed her once, twice. Really, shouldn't he have more sympathy for his oldest friend

[freakedwithjet]

Her cigarette hung loosely from her free hand and tendrils of tobacco smoke twisted around their heads ignored as Pansy worked her other hand into Perry's hair and almost forgot that they weren't in their own private world - that there was an audience to their romance this time.

Almost.

Perhaps Perry noticed that was something a little showier than normal about the way Pansy kissed him, barely breaking contact as she twisted her head round so that instead of facing away from Montague she was facing towards him and observing him observing them as she pulled away ever so slightly and Perry's lips moved to her ear.

"But," she said, her hand moving down to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck and her voice carefully pitched to travel straight to the waiting ears on stage, "lust is a feeling, right?"