No event / BYO aphro

[green_eye_demon]

Once, the green-eyed man had been a familiar sight around the hotel. Always polite, always smiling, he usually had a softly murmured greeting for people he passed in the hallway. If once caught him in the bar, he would smile that placid smile of his and offer nothing more than a simple game of cards, and even if he lost, there was that soft glint

Comments

[despero_mihi]

[ The room was dark -- no, dim, that was the right word -- and the woman's pale bloated body swam in the shadows like a corpse beneath the surface of a lake. Seated on the bed, she gestured for him to enter, and close the door.

If the room looked familiar, it wasn't by accident. This was the bedroom of that tiny house just outside of Chang'an, and the bed she sat on was the one where Hakkai -- not Hakkai then, not yet, but no longer Gonou -- had laid as the wound in his belly knitted.

But all the little details that has made the room a home were gone. The television and the pile of unboxed pornographic VHS tapes, the clothing that never seemed to manage to get all the way into the dresser drawers, the hairbrush and the empty packs of cigarettes and the half-full glasses... everything that he had touched, gone. The room was bare, save for the bedframe and the old striped and stained mattress. And the woman.

If she really was a woman. ]

I've been waiting for you.

((ooc: CR only with this one! I never play sex with her.))

[despero_mihi]

[ Yes. Yes, that was it, all right. That was the source of this delicious pain. Her sibling had been right, as usual -- the man once known as Cho Gonou was a remarkably simple creature, once you got past the smile. ]

You misunderstand.

[ Her hand caressed his cheek again, but this wasn't the gentle touch of a mother. No, this was the possessive pat of a man for his dog. ]

I'm not offering to return your loves to you. I'm asking what you would offer to keep them as they are.

[green_eye_demon]

As they are or were?

[There was a touch of divinity to her, as far as Hakkai could see, or something perhaps even more, and he had learned to tread carefully with gods and the like.

He allowed the touch this time, his gaze watching her warily, as if waiting for a blow.]

[despero_mihi]

[ Oh, very good! Very good. This one knew how to play games.

Despair smiled a little broader, teeth gleaming in the light that came from nowhere. ]

As they are...

[ She patted his cheek again, then tapped his temple with the calloused pad of one thick finger. ]

...here.

[green_eye_demon]

[And still he didn't pull away, even if the touch made his skin prickle with nerves. Lips thinning out into a slim line, he let his gaze even out once again.]

Healthy and whole, or the corpses I still remember far too vividly?

[despero_mihi]

I do not offer you corpses, boy.

[ Her growl was the creak of a faultline, the groan of wet wood with too much weight above it. ]

Alive, breathing, and whole.

[green_eye_demon]

[It was too good to be true. Hakkai's inner gambler was shifting under his skin, clearly uncomfortable with the offer, but there was more than just a thread of temptation that wound through his spirit.]

.... all that I am. Anything I can offer.

[despero_mihi]

[ And there it is. He wants them back, wants to wallow in the pain their presence will cause him. He wants them to hate him. ]

All that you are? You're nothing, little man. Does their peace really mean so little to you?

[ How far can she push him? She could probably get him to kill himself easily enough, but would he kill somebody else?

Could she get him to kill one to save the other? ]

What will you do?

[green_eye_demon]

Anything.

[It's such a simple word, really, but such a loaded one. In his heart of hearts, he knew he would willingly do anything to make sure they both had the peace and happiness they deserved, even if it mean removing himself from both their lives.]

[despero_mihi]

[ Death has no dominion here. This place is Desire's, not Death's, and it's as simple as a thought to summon two people from the deep dark places of the Hotel and position them silently on the other side ofthe room's single door.

Desire will be so pleased. ]

Then choose one.

[green_eye_demon]

[For a moment, he falters. Is she serious? Could she really....?

In the end, was there really a choice? If he were still the simple Cho Gonou- but he's not. He knew that there was no way Kanan would be able to accept the monster he'd become. He didn't even know if Gojyo could, and if anyone knew his sins, it was the redhead.

Slowly, he looked to Despair, his decision weighing heavily in his eyes.]

What happens to the one I don't choose?

[despero_mihi]

[ Despair, like Hakkai, has many smiles. Most of them are the grimace of nightmare; rare indeed are her truly pleased smiles.

This one anticipates blood. ]

Choose.

[green_eye_demon]

[At first, he didn't say anything, but before he realized what he was doing, a whisper crossed his lips. A single name that invoked images of red hair and smug, laughing eyes. As soon as he realized what he'd said, a tiny thread of guilt slipped a bit in his belly.

Still, guilt or not, he repeated the name he hadn't truly spoken in what felt like years.]

Gojyo.

[gojyo_saaama]

[ He could have refused. He could have demanded the return of them both, or of neither of them. He could have reacted in a dozen ways... Despair's smile cracked wider, stretching her mouth out into something clearly not human.

Was it Desire or Despair that had made his choice for him? Wouldn't it be fun to find out

[green_eye_demon]

[And try the door he did. His fingers had dug furrows into the wood, but it still hadn't opened no matter the pleading, the begging going on inside his head. He knew the voice too well and each scream tore at him, but what could he do?

He'd made his choice and now, he could only live with the consequences.

Dull green eyes full of self-loathing and something darker watched the far too familiar form tumble into the room and while he would normally go to him, Hakkai felt too numb to move. Heart in his throat, he stared down at Gojyo.... was it really him, breath short in a chest gone tight with tension.]

[gojyo_saaama]

[ Bloodshot, staring eyes fixed on the empty hallway, Gojyo scooted back into the room, struggling and failing to get his feet under him, to get his legs to support him. Something to the side caught his eye and he whipped his head around so fast the vertebrae in his neck cracked.

He only relaxed the tiniest bit when he saw that it was only Hakkai. ]

Hakkai!

[ He turned back to the door, licking dry lips and swallowing hard. ]

Hakkai, we've gotta...

[ Finally his feet responded, and -- still breathing hard -- Gojyo hunched up into a sorry semblance of a standing position, hair hanging lank in his face and eyes never turning long from the open doorway. ]

It ate her. We've gotta... what was that thing?