poly_chromatic | 34 - Cluck Cluck Cluck

[ The feed snaps on to a very irritable Karl, sprawled out on a chaise by the pool, a book lying half-open in his lap. There's something of the cooked and crispy variety piled on the table near him. Several somethings. Apparently, Karl thought it simpler to roast the flock of talking chickens than to let them cluck away. ]

[ Glancing at the Device, he scowls, ]

For a limited time only. If you're in the mood for an extra-roasted meal, stop by here and pick it up. No strings. [ He even promises not to attack you. If you leave fast enough. ] Hopefully these feathered rats taste better than the advice they dole out.

[ On cue, a colorful rooster flutters to perch on the chaise. Tilting its head at Karl, it opines, ] Remember, mon ami, you can't court a woman like you’d go at a piece of steak. For many of the fairer sex, less is more. Teasing is pleasing. Light is rig--

[ Cut off by Karl thwacking the bird with his book, matter-of-fact and vicious. Expect the pile of chickens to grow significantly larger. ]

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[ Karl inclines his head, but still doesn't meet her eye. He focuses on his fingers, still damp with her tears. They seem to tighten across his skin, drying there. ]

The blood of a Chevalier. [ His gaze flickers to her, dark and sharp, then drops again. ] Your Chevalier. The same as I am Diva's.

[ But Haji isn't here -- thank heaven for small mercies. Otherwise he'd do his utmost to snatch Saya away. ]

[Hers. The faintest smile as what she's been longing for is confirmed, a dream suddenly made real -- but no closer to her. And won't become so by giving in to the rising tantrum half of her wants to throw.]

[But there must be something...] What was that I heard the other day about trades? [The golden eggs, which she'd dismissed as frivolous and now craves with a desperation that only just lets her remain still.]

[ The whole time Saya absorbs his answer, Karl stares off across the garden, affording her a view only of his dangling hair and edge of his profile. But now he glances around quickly, pinning her with the full anger in his flashing eyes. ]

[ Isn't it odd, yet not odd at all, that he can parse the shape and color of her thoughts? ]

...With those eggs? [ Coolly, ] You can't trade for people.

[ And he'll do everything possible to stymie her efforts if she considers an actual Deity trade. ]

[Trading for a person sounds horrible -- and yet she would do it in half an instant for someone whose name she doesn't recall. Yet.]

What about just the blood? [A gruesome exchange and a poor substitute, not to mention the stomach-turning image of drinking someone's cold blood from a glass, but a chance and perhaps the only one.]

Just the blood? [ The anger melts away. There's a devilish point to Karl's smile now. He takes her shoulder, drawing her to him, as if they're both sharing a naughty secret together. ] It could be arranged. But the question is, would you sacrifice all the happy little memories you've accrued here, at its expense?

[ Memories of Charlie. Of Setsuna. Because once she learns who -- what -- she is, Karl suffers no illusions that she'll do her best to push them away. And how delicious that would be to witness. How fitting, seeing how often they've interfered. ]

[Saya drops the chicken, sending it to the ground in a flurry of feathers and noise she barely hears. Much as she wants to recoil from the idea of sacrificing yet more of her memories, neither that consequence nor his touch give her much pause. She's deceiving them all as it is, if that brief and bitter flash of a bloody jungle clearing was is the truth. Maybe it would be better for them if she weren't trying to hold on to a life that was never hers to keep.]

If... that's the only way.

[ There's an impulse to whoop for joy, to twirl Saya around and drown her in biting bloody kisses. Karl reigns the wild surge in, lifting his hand to cup the side of her face. So much pain and resignation in her gaze. But she's always loveliest when she's hurting, mottled in pretty bruises and radiating fury and grief. ]

[ Just like in Vietnam. ]

Then let me fetch you a golden egg. Or show you how to contact a Deity, if that doesn't work.

[A slow nod ends in her turning her cheek into his touch, her hand pressing flat on the back of his. Whatever he's taken from her and intends to take with this promise fulfilled, whatever regrets she'll have later, right now she is only grateful.] Thank you, Karl.

[ Something like surprise crosses Karl's face at the Thanks. She's a Queen -- when do they thank anyone? They simply take, as is their right. It's all he's learnt in his years of serving Diva. But something in him still sparks at her touch, bright and gold, like fireflies in the gloom. ]

[ He's not sure what the feeling is. ]

Let's go back inside. [ Quiet and almost, almost kind. She still hasn't had breakfast. And he wants to be there when she finally resolves to make the trade. ]

[ An apocalypse couldn't keep him away. ]

34 - Cluck Cluck Cluck

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