✳ 004 ✳ [video] // [action] for Phancyhive residents.

[stabilimentum]

[The view isn't from directly overhead, but it's almost there and it's steady, displaying a mahogany table top and a pair of white-gloved hands busily manipulating crochet needles. Mingled with and leading away from the needles is a line of gold wire, gleaming in the light--it's being pulled into looped stitches like regular yarn would be. Off to

Comments

voice. (private.)

[masterbaiting]

[It makes Alois angrier, though that's irrational. It's good, in a way, of course; there's a haughtiness brought on by what Claude says, a feeling of That's right, it's me, it's only me, Claude. But it also makes him jealous, and he blurts out why: ]

Was she important to you?

[Of course she was, you thought it all along, you already knew she was nothing but a needy, greedy whore and if she was trying to lead Luca away and if she'd already had him anyway then of course she'd do the same to Claude and it's all her fault and it's all Claude's fault, I hate them both. He doesn't hate them both. Even, with Hannah, he hates the idea of her more than he hates what she actually is-

And he won't acknowledge that this is because he doesn't know what she actually is. There's been too much manipulative dishonesty for him to be sure of that.

He wants Claude to come kneel in front of him, or to come pick him up, and he wants to make this fucking bird screech because it's Claude's and Alois didn't give it to him so what right does it have to be Claude's property in the first place? And he wants to bite down on his tongue, and his lips, and suddenly isn't sure whether 'his' would refer to himself or to Claude's tongue and lips. Jealousy makes him feel so awful, so shitty as a whole.]

voice. (private.)

[stabilimentum]

[Claude looks down at the table--at the scratches and stains in the wood. They tell a whole story of the table's ownership, going as far back as the tree it was built from. Wistfully, he touches one of the more eye-catching blemishes and has to wonder if, when anyone looks at him, it's possible to see his entire life story, too. Lingering in his eyes, is there any hint of the bitter whore from Carthage that he tore limb from limb because he was starving? What about Jean-Andoche Junot, the brilliant but mad battle tactician--does that man dwell in the curve of Claude's hands? Those hands spread out more and more, following along the wood's surface, studying geometric patterns and speckled places. It's like reading a storybook written by nature.

If he cut himself in half, bisected at an angle, Claude wonders if there'd be readable rings in his innards--like those for tree trunks--that show his age and what it is he has done. He wonders if someone could translate all of the horrible, hideous things he has committed in order to serve his own interests. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out how much of a monster he is: a sinful abomination unlike any other. Inside of him, it must be slick and pitch-black, creepy-crawling with rot.

And yet...

And yet his darkness was challenged, redeemed, and illuminated by the greatest gift of enlightenment. That gift came from a woman like him and a boy that wasn't, both of whom owed him nothing; they ought to have hated him.

They loved him, instead.

So, now, asked about importance, Claude could weave another web of lies about Hannah Anafeloz for his master's listening ears. He could reinforce the idea that she's a grotesque thing that's barely better than a gaping fuckhole to be filled by Claude's hand. As a weapon, she's an invaluable tool for protecting his master--except, he'd say, she betrayed them in the end, giving her Lævateinn to Sebastian, proving she's just a porcine, licentious cunt.

Even this far along, even after everything, Claude would be willing to say anything if it ensured Alois favored more of him and him only.]

... Hannah Anafeloz is the one who gave us nirvana.

[While he's too late, this revelation is the greatest gift he can give Hannah. Not an inane fucking hair comb.

A sort of promise fulfilled to her, Claude ends the connection.]

reaction.

[masterbaiting]

[It should be easier, after hearing as much, to hate Hannah even more. Shouldn't it? Alois asks himself, and is furious regardless. He's mad, he's so fucking- upset, so unreasonably jealous. It's like Hannah could take any of them away from Alois if she wanted to (and why wouldn't she want that? who wouldn't want to steal away such a good boy as Luca, or someone so grand as Claude?).

-But apparently she gave, instead.

If Alois does hate Hannah right now, it's because Claude's hung up on him. That doesn't make sense, but it's easy to make it her fault. Everything is easier when it's Hannah's fault. So, 'nirvana' - that can be her fault, too. Elsewhere, the place Alois thinks he might be dreaming of sometimes, that's all Hannah's fault. A perfect section of blame, just for her.

The fact remains that Claude cut his feed too abruptly, left too many questions hanging and not enough reassurance. Alois feels like a little hurricane, and he's been wanting to take something away from Claude ever since the pretty hair piece first made its appearance. That's why the bird's in the room with him, of course. And that's why he really does step on it.

It's gruesome - pretty disgusting, trapping a macaw and crushing its neck and then its head under the finely crafted heel of a leather boot. (RIP Tzipporah, never forget. Again.) He'll need a new pair of shoes, though. Claude can get it for him later. Afterward, Alois will be testy, remorseless over the mess of blood and blue feathers, and he'll hate things (demons, certain servants) without really hating them very much at all. Claude's punishment in place, Alois seeks to be the only thing Claude (owns) wants or needs.

This isn't fair. He wants pearls from Claude and answers from Hannah.]