[open] What a way to start...

[heir_to_ruin]

[Well... okay. Dead. That kinda sucks, sure, but he's been down here long enough to kinda know how things go. Some cute little girl thinks she can just wrap everyone around her finger because they don't know any better. Just using everyone around her. It's disgusting. He's absolutely horrified that he's spent who knows how long practically worshipping this girl.

But that's okay. The man is nothing if not confident.

Which is why anyone that's been keeping an eye on the rooftop stage may find an unfamiliar redhead chatting up the specter guards, all bright smiles and casual charm. Insisting, of course, that he knows a guy.

After getting insistently removed from the area enough times the mask drops a little, amber eyes going hard as he stares at the nearest screen. What the hell makes her so special, anyway? Like she's entitled to everyone's adoration. All he needed was one chance and he could ruin her. All this desperate need to be seen and adored at all times meant one little slip was all he needed.

A moment later the smile is firmly back in place and he's strolling out of the mall proper, heading for the housing district. If she's not at work... then she's gotta be at home, right?]

Comments

[heir_to_ruin]

Oh. That's uh... really thoughtful.

[Please stop being nice to him? That is by far the most uncomfortable part of this whole exchange.]

Well, uh... thanks?

[crypddyd]

...

[After what happened with Kingslayer he's a bit more sensitive to... awkward tension. So he sighs softly, looking embarrassed. He's overdoing it again, isn't he?]

I will leave it so you may tailor it to your tastes. Excuse me.

[heir_to_ruin]

[See if it were dismissive he'd leave it but the poor guy looks so concerned and he's pretty damn sure he hasn't kicked any dogs today so uh.... no?]

Whoa, hey- [Ruin slides off the counter to catch Lion's arm before he can actually get too far.] hold up.

Not tryna sound ungrateful or anything. [He just doesn't understand why you be nice to him???]

[crypddyd]

No, no. You're fine. I am... I have a bad habit of being too... intense. It's something I am working on, but I do not always realize when I'm making someone uncomfortable.

[heir_to_ruin]

We're dead, how uncomfortable can we get?

[It's not like anyone has much to worry about. Pity that.]

Though... uh.... how intense~ are we talking here?

[NOT LIKE THAT]

[crypddyd]

Dead or not, I would rather not upset anyone needlessly.

[he seems reluctant to answer, even though Ruin is clearly teasing]

I... must have commited a horrific sin in life-

[- like not saving those people in the fire-]

- because here I am... occasionally taken by wild moods. Violent ones.

[heir_to_ruin]

[It would be so easy to play it off, to smirk or call him kinky and leave it at that. But something about what he says and the way he says it makes the hair on his neck stand on end and his stomach drop out. Lion's clearly sad about it but there's still something unsettling enough about it that Ruin takes half a step back, reaching up to awkwardly ruffle his own hair, as though being cute and disheveled would make him less of a target.]

Uh... yeah... you kinda have that vibe. [That honeyed gaze skitters away to the door again and he swallows hard enough for it to be audible.] Like an animal in a cage... A lion I guess, huh?

[crypddyd]

...yes, I suppose. Excuse me.

[He bows slightly before backing up, looking around in something like panic.]

Ah, there are spare rooms down the hall. So...

[Yeah he's just gonna head out the door, his kettle even still on.]

[heir_to_ruin]

[He cringes a little as Lion backs away but he can't really blame the guy and he's sure not going to stop him a second time. So uh... yeah... about that tea? That he's... drinking alone. Right.]

Well, that was a shit show...