Perfection Cannot Hide Sin

Celestine Soo
Silken Touch

She was left here of all places, at least she couldn’t complain too much. It was a realm of luxury, far better than any of the shitholes that Jun had shoved her into growing up and she relished the comforts it held. It took everything not to bite the hand that fed and to make a scene when he ditched her here, knowing that would just make things worse for her later so she had kept her patience in check, being a prim and proper young lady until that festering blister on her tongue fully left the facility and with it her in its confines.

The first hour or so she had made herself plenty at home, lounging on some furniture and ravaging a pantry as much as Kaveh would allow her, taking full advantage of the bits of hospitality shown to a guest if only to keep her from causing his master trouble. Unlike her, he seemed happy in his place and proud of his work. She was tempted to ask the servant why but didn’t bother, feeling like it would be a waste of breath.

Once he had become occupied from a request to do something, she was finally able to slip into the room that housed the owner of this fine establishment and with it a chance to be alone and hopefully speak. “Mithras, was it?” her tongue flicked, anger only being a partial edge while most of her tone restrained from letting emotions get the best of her. Calm even notes, as dignified as the gaze she held upon him, keeping herself from appearing like some street rat as her gaze panned over blues that left a poor taste on her tongue. Blue had become her least favorite color, though she would keep that to herself as she tried to choose her words wisely.

“Why did you let him free…why didn’t you hold him accountable? You’re a judge: you are supposed to uphold the laws. Jun-Myeon has done everything in his power to break them in nearly every way possible, yet you let him walk free over and over again,” her jaw ached at the want to scream. That it was his fault she was still under that bastard’s thumb. None of it came out, not even attempting to rally warfare this man clearly wouldn’t care for.

code by claerie

Of all the places he could have ditched that bratty girl of his the comforts of a draconian’s home was hardly the ideal locale. Mithras was not here to play babysitter. He wanted nothing to do with a child pilfered from foreign lands nor the lashing tongue she surely harbored just beneath the surface. A fire resting just beyond her gaze, a blaze he did not need to see to know it rested there. Merely thinking of it brought him to scoff. The other should have set her loose in the streets, already she’d proven she wouldn’t run off - at least not for too long.

At least the illustrious judge did not have to deal with her himself, a presence one swiftly entrusted to Kaveh. Granting him reprieve from all other duties if it meant keeping an unwanted guest far away from him. She would not be allowed to torment him as freely as her ‘father’. Breath issuing an exasperated huff as he bid her from his sights, paces carrying him to the confines of a side room where a frame could rest against a mix of plush pillows and furs of slain beasts. Distraction coming easy as minutes bled into what felt to be hours.

Talons eventually rising from tasks one busied himself with to flick through vintages as if in search of the perfect bottle to indulge in. Only to discover peace was but a temporary bliss, one that slipped between his claws as easily as water the moment phrases rose above the clink of glass. Ears swiveling to meet an intruder long before his eyes did, a part of him keen to ignore the girl that had apparently slipped from beneath Kaveh’s watchful eye. Something must have come up, a matter which coax him to falter from the task assigned of him. He done well enough keeping her for the better part of an hour at least, however, that hardly changed the fact - Mithras wanted nothing to do with her.

He did not wish to hear whatever she had to say as lyrics filled the senses upon a barely leashed tongue, the tensions behind those words not hard to miss no matter how she tried to remain in control. It all brought a short sigh to flee the starlit man’s lips before hallowed stare turned upon her. Lingering where one knew her own eyes to rest, “Celestine, was it?” Phrases nearly mocking in tone as they echoed her sentiment with the only difference resting upon enunciation of a name. Making it all too clear there was very little desire to speak with her and even less to explain himself to the likes of her.

One such as she did not need to understand his reasonings nor what he gained from granting that intolerable man freedom time and time again. “I issue my decrees with no regrets. With me, the laws and standards of the court are upheld,” at least he did not go around chopping off heads of the innocent to fill his own sense of pleasure, of being a power held over them. No… he didn’t do that. Not yet, not like some. “Believe me when I say he is being held accountable. Just not in the ways you so clearly wish,” for that pest of an incubus still possessed his head. Could still carry on with the countless crimes he sunk his fangs into.

Still held the ability to invade a draconic’s space despite knowing such acts were hardly craved. That seemingly unquenchable longing not something he felt so vividly especially not in the ways it all radiated so vibrantly from one Jun-Myeon. His touch electric in how it pressed so firmly into fur or pulled a smaller frame near as if they were the closest of friends. But hardly could such a prestigious title be placed upon that imp’s crown. Mithras had to stop a grimace from tugging at dark lips. Unfortunately, that man was worth more to him alive than dead. In the end, it didn’t matter what some little girl thought of her proclaimed ‘father’ nor the man who so clearly had struck a deal with him in her eyes.

Celestine Soo
Silken Touch

Suns narrowed at the man as he lacked any means of professionalism, but that wasn’t so surprising when he didn’t even do his job, and it caused her lip to raise bitterly as he turned to her. She wanted to set deep indents into his face with the way that small head of his searched for her voice. He did well in locating her eyes, despite his affliction, in a matter of a second. The wire was thin as she was desiring to ask him if he was a child and not a grown man if he wanted to take such childish antics when dealing with her, finding it far from appealing to be mocked like this. “It is, or so I’m told,” she said with all the resolve to stay civil for the time being. Was Celestine really her name? She cared little for if it was or not. By how he spoke upon it, she was inclined to think that wasn’t her name at all and he knew more about her than she wanted to believe to be true.

An ear twitched, paranoid the golden boy would appear out of nowhere to drag her away before this conversation could get anywhere or that Mithras would call out for him to do it more outright. With the tone of his voice, she held no doubts he would try to get rid of her the moment he could afford to, somewhat surprised he was humoring her at all. Maybe he just wanted to put salt in her emotional wounds and found glee in doing so.

He didn’t waste any time in doing so.

No regrets.

Her small twitch of a snarl rose from her throat, slipping a little but not at all springing to her cravings to make a scene. This was his house after all, he was hosting her even though he clearly didn’t want to and with that, he was being better than most she had the misfortune of being nearby. A man of his caliber wasn’t one to mess with either. He could easily turn what should be Jun’s punishment into her own and that scared her. “I guess it’s true what they say, those of the law house no souls,” she stated coldly, taking a few steps back if only to keep her sanity in check, pacing a little as the man continued on about carrying punishment all the same in some other way.

“I just want my freedom from him, a life all my own. Locking him up or killing him would just be a bonus in keeping him away from me,” she said, stopping her pacing a little closer. Her ears swiveled some more, drinking him in before a smile pulled at her lips. “You know, there’s a lot I could do to accentuate your beauty and make you all the more brilliant to those around you. Everyone would want to be you by the time I’m done. Why don’t you become my new master instead, as your artistic advisor and tailor? Jun certainly can’t deny you of such, if you are honest about having a leash on him,” she said with curiosity if he would take such a bribe. “I could even be a gift for your wife, Jun would be enraged. He seems to despise you having a wife a rather obsessive amount. He doesn't shut up about it.”

code by claerie

Whatever tantrum she aimed to throw now was not one the draconian intended to heed, disinterest clear in the way he acknowledged her. In how that hallowed gaze lingered but did not truly wish to see her even if one still held sight. It took nearly everything within him to not simply turn away then and there. To call out for Kaveh and request this girl’s immediate removal, though there came a silent knowing she would find a way to return especially if he did not entertain the notion of company now. He supposed he could use a bit of entertainment.

There was no missing that small slip of hers, signs of how he grated on her nerves but in this she is restrained. Such a sound - a threat - dying before it could ever truly reach her lips as instead the subtle retreat of talons echoed in his ears. Muffled by the grumbling lyrics over his lack of soul. Oh how there were beasts far crueler than he in this realm and in those beyond. Something Mithras was certain she knew without it ever having to leave his lips. Any retort silenced as he offered nothing more than ears turning with a new interest. That one short, snippy tone changing in an instant as her voice trailed closer.

And to her, he listened intently as lyrics interjected upon a whispered murmur, “Others already wish they were me.” For the draconian knew of the build and looks he possessed, how everything in his own power was done to accentuate it all. To make him an envy in so many eyes… though admittedly it was always difficult to turn away the possibility of being even better. After the loss of his sight surely a few small details had slipped over the years despite a routine kept. The touch of age something he did not wish to believe; unaware of the ways his features remained fixed, seemingly unable to shift. That striking visage locked in a visage of eternal youth rather than a horrid creature of several years.

Though any thought of that soon fell to the wayside as once more she brought up that incubus annoyance. A name which bid slender ears to flick back and a scoff to rise in his throat over what another detested. “Jun would rather I have more than just a leash on him. That is why he loathes my wife so, but,” in that regard, “He will never get what he wishes from me.” Of that Mithras would remain certain, no matter how the other may press the matter. With an indignant huff talons would once more reach for the bottle he’d been denied. Shifting briefly across the floor until claws clinked to it’s side and coiled to pull it near.

“Besides, no wife of mine would cherish the gift of claiming another’s soul.” No, he could hardly imagine Bellatrix finding amusement in a young girl being ‘given’ to her under the pretense of a gift. It was a proclamation of property and he could only imagine the way her features would twist in distaste, how a tongue would lash in that booming voice of hers. “As for you,” he paused, wanting nothing more than to tell her to get out and yet a mind lingered upon her offering. A short sigh fleeing his lungs as a free paw aimed to tug a glass within reach.

If he was going to go through with this there needed to be at least some manner of distraction to the lash of a serpent’s tongue. “Sit down Celestine. If you are genuine in your request then we have much to talk about,” though he hardly wanted a brat like her haunting his residence. It would surely also spell more frequent visits from that incubus… but that did not mean one could not consider it. Entertain the notion at least for a moment. Yet acceptance did not come without warning as venom dripped, “But know I have high expectations for those beneath my roof.” The moment she did or said anything he did not agree with, there would be another in the room in an instant to take her away.