(no subject)
Sour Cherry #22. Elephant in the Room and
Soft Serve 23/50 - Cinnamon Swirl #18. Speak of the Devil
Story : title & index pending
Rating : PG
Word Count : 887
Continuing the alternate canon thingy that I don't quite want to call an AU... (other post here).
“So whose is it?” Rune eyed the tiny vial of bright blue liquid, pinched end to end between his thumb and forefinger, warily. Just the thought that he was holding the thing made him a bit queasy.
The woman slouched in the chair across the table from him seemed far less concerned. “It matters?” she said.
Rune shrugged. About to set it down, he decided such a move might be disrespectful and held it back up again instead. “I don’t know,” he said, his free hand finding its way to the back of his neck. “It seems like it should, doesn’t it?”
“It seems to me like this isn’t the sort of business for someone who’s sentimental.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is.” No, this was the sort of business for someone willing to meet with a stranger in the darkest corner of a shady bar. He glanced around the room and found everyone else too deeply engrossed in their own dubious dealings or their drinks to look their way. He lowered the vial to look over it at the woman. What did he know of Reida, except that she was willing to make such a deal? Her lips curled back sharply over stark white teeth as she looked him over in an unnerving grin. The way she kept her cloak fanned around her, she might have been hiding any number of things underneath. “Makes me wonder what I’m getting myself into.”
“You’re buying, not selling.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better. It doesn’t change the fact that this belonged to someone - it still does, when you think about it - and here I am treating it like any other piece of merchandise…”
“Oh, boo hoo. They gave up any rights to it they had long ago.” She sighed loudly and shifted in her chair as he kept turning the vial slowly over. “So do you want it or not?”
“Yes.” He closed his fist around the vial so he would stop looking at it and reached into his pocket to feel about for his coinpurse. “Yes, I’d better just get on with it.”
“Excellent choice.” She was leaning in now, eagerly waiting for sight of the money. “You won’t regret it. Well,” she wrinkled her nose at him, “if you can quit being such a bleeding heart about it, you won’t, anyway.”
“I’ll try to get over it.” Rune tossed the money on the table, cast the room another look, and pulled a short, thick metal rod from the pocket that had held the purse.
Reida snatched up the money without so much as glancing at it, her gaze fixed on Rune’s hands as he flipped open a tiny hatch along the surface of the rod and slipped the vial into the compartment it revealed. A few quick flips of all but invisible switches brought the faintest of hums from the device and a beam of light from one end, which he cast into his palm while he gave the bar another nervous look.
“Well,” he said, switching it back off. “It works.”
Reida looked from the device to Rune and back and arched a brow. “You just made a deal with a devil,” she said, “for a flashlight?”
Rune scowled at her as he popped the vial back out into his palm and dropped the rod back into his pocket. “Like I’m going to show you the good stuff?”
She snickered at that. “Fair enough.”
“So, we’re done then?” he asked, with a nod to the pile of coins gathered beneath her hands.
She raised a hand to signal him to stop as he began to rise. “One more thing.”
“Hmm?” Rune paused, half out of his seat.
Reida fixed him with a particularly dangerous smile as she scooped the money into her own purse. “What’s his name?”
“What’s whose name?” He shoved the vial in another pocket as he stood. That definitely seemed inappropriate. He’d have to find it a chain or something.
“Oh please, I’m hardly the first devil you’ve had dealings with.” Reida rocked back in her chair, kicked her feet up on the table where the coins had been a moment before, and looked at him smugly. “You asked for one.” She pulled her hands from her cloak to tick items off on her fingers, and as the cloth fell away, he could see a string of similar vials hung along her belt. “And only one,” she added, following his gaze. “You wanted it in blue. Now, I’m guessing that doesn’t matter much to your flashlight here, but it does matter to whoever doesn’t know you’re missing yours, doesn’t it? Hit a nerve, did I?” She gave a nod to the hand he had tightly curled over the back of the chair he’d just left, and Rune hastily let go.
“So,” she swept her boots back off the table and leaned sharply in to whisper to him, “who’d you sell it to? Who’s the demon that has your soul?”
In as flat a tone as he could muster, as he clenched his hand as tightly over the vial in his pocket as it had been over the chair, he said, “You of all people should know names aren’t something they give away freely.” Before she could answer, he turned and stalked away.
Soft Serve 23/50 - Cinnamon Swirl #18. Speak of the Devil
Story : title & index pending
Rating : PG
Word Count : 887
Continuing the alternate canon thingy that I don't quite want to call an AU... (other post here).
“So whose is it?” Rune eyed the tiny vial of bright blue liquid, pinched end to end between his thumb and forefinger, warily. Just the thought that he was holding the thing made him a bit queasy.
The woman slouched in the chair across the table from him seemed far less concerned. “It matters?” she said.
Rune shrugged. About to set it down, he decided such a move might be disrespectful and held it back up again instead. “I don’t know,” he said, his free hand finding its way to the back of his neck. “It seems like it should, doesn’t it?”
“It seems to me like this isn’t the sort of business for someone who’s sentimental.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is.” No, this was the sort of business for someone willing to meet with a stranger in the darkest corner of a shady bar. He glanced around the room and found everyone else too deeply engrossed in their own dubious dealings or their drinks to look their way. He lowered the vial to look over it at the woman. What did he know of Reida, except that she was willing to make such a deal? Her lips curled back sharply over stark white teeth as she looked him over in an unnerving grin. The way she kept her cloak fanned around her, she might have been hiding any number of things underneath. “Makes me wonder what I’m getting myself into.”
“You’re buying, not selling.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better. It doesn’t change the fact that this belonged to someone - it still does, when you think about it - and here I am treating it like any other piece of merchandise…”
“Oh, boo hoo. They gave up any rights to it they had long ago.” She sighed loudly and shifted in her chair as he kept turning the vial slowly over. “So do you want it or not?”
“Yes.” He closed his fist around the vial so he would stop looking at it and reached into his pocket to feel about for his coinpurse. “Yes, I’d better just get on with it.”
“Excellent choice.” She was leaning in now, eagerly waiting for sight of the money. “You won’t regret it. Well,” she wrinkled her nose at him, “if you can quit being such a bleeding heart about it, you won’t, anyway.”
“I’ll try to get over it.” Rune tossed the money on the table, cast the room another look, and pulled a short, thick metal rod from the pocket that had held the purse.
Reida snatched up the money without so much as glancing at it, her gaze fixed on Rune’s hands as he flipped open a tiny hatch along the surface of the rod and slipped the vial into the compartment it revealed. A few quick flips of all but invisible switches brought the faintest of hums from the device and a beam of light from one end, which he cast into his palm while he gave the bar another nervous look.
“Well,” he said, switching it back off. “It works.”
Reida looked from the device to Rune and back and arched a brow. “You just made a deal with a devil,” she said, “for a flashlight?”
Rune scowled at her as he popped the vial back out into his palm and dropped the rod back into his pocket. “Like I’m going to show you the good stuff?”
She snickered at that. “Fair enough.”
“So, we’re done then?” he asked, with a nod to the pile of coins gathered beneath her hands.
She raised a hand to signal him to stop as he began to rise. “One more thing.”
“Hmm?” Rune paused, half out of his seat.
Reida fixed him with a particularly dangerous smile as she scooped the money into her own purse. “What’s his name?”
“What’s whose name?” He shoved the vial in another pocket as he stood. That definitely seemed inappropriate. He’d have to find it a chain or something.
“Oh please, I’m hardly the first devil you’ve had dealings with.” Reida rocked back in her chair, kicked her feet up on the table where the coins had been a moment before, and looked at him smugly. “You asked for one.” She pulled her hands from her cloak to tick items off on her fingers, and as the cloth fell away, he could see a string of similar vials hung along her belt. “And only one,” she added, following his gaze. “You wanted it in blue. Now, I’m guessing that doesn’t matter much to your flashlight here, but it does matter to whoever doesn’t know you’re missing yours, doesn’t it? Hit a nerve, did I?” She gave a nod to the hand he had tightly curled over the back of the chair he’d just left, and Rune hastily let go.
“So,” she swept her boots back off the table and leaned sharply in to whisper to him, “who’d you sell it to? Who’s the demon that has your soul?”
In as flat a tone as he could muster, as he clenched his hand as tightly over the vial in his pocket as it had been over the chair, he said, “You of all people should know names aren’t something they give away freely.” Before she could answer, he turned and stalked away.