#8F4AB1
Tyann and Tempeste went down, swallowed up by the sticky black shadows at the bottom of the winding stairs. Then they went down further still, down the hall into a darkness that warped with heat. The bells dimmed as they sank into the depths, until all sounds of the world above faded away in this deep, evil place. Groans and hisses emitted from the boilers, melting into the groans of prisoners and hisses of their chains.
… For someone down here, they couldn’t even hear that.
At the end of a hall, wrists were tied together but unable to feel the ropes biting into them. An unseeing eye looked up, the lid peeled back with a hook, allowing droplets of water to fall down to moisten it. Drip………….. Drip…………… drip………. A repetitive, mind-numbing pattern. It was the only thing he could feel. A little girl in a bonnet and freshly sewn dress watched the man… or cadaver… from the doorway. A spotted brown and white rat chewed on the ribbon looped in a bow around her waist.
Screams were expelled as another door suddenly opened and Eike slammed it behind him. His clothes were spotted with viscera, quite unusual for him to get so messy at his job. He dragged his hand down his face in frustration, leaving a bloody smear behind, and glared darkly through his fingers. He stormed over, plucking a handkerchief off the table and wiping his face of blood as he went to get the door - opening it before Tyann could touch it.
Tempeste and Tyann were met with a dead-eyed stare, before it fixated on the woman and flicked up and down. Eike’s lips pressed into a thin, unimpressed line.
“In,” he commanded. He flung the handkerchief on the desk then pried his stained gloves off with his teeth and tossed them after it. The girl lifted herself off the ground with the rat clutched to her chest, eyes lit up at the sight of new faces - well, new face and mask. “Ishara, do your assignment.” She looked dejectedly down at the items at her feet, a stuffed toy and small blade. The rat squeaked and tried to lick her nostrils. “She was supposed to kill the rodent,” Eike stated as he ran his hand over the torture tools fixed to a rack on the wall, as if he was a parent discussing their child after dropping them off at school, “She’s already woefully behind... But, I like the sounds they make when together.”
His hand settled on a pouch. Eike turned away from the torturer tools and pulled out a chair for Tempeste like a proper gentleman. Once she was seated, looming over her head, he tilted her chin up with two fingers to make her look at him. “Open your mouth,” he instructed. He felt within his pouch, took out something small and cold, and laid it onto her tongue. A seed. His thumb pressed against her lips, hard, like he was sealing a letter. “Don’t swallow,” he uttered, and let go.
"Oh, maiden..." he began, "... Do you put your faith in the reign of our Majesty, the Queen Ivelda?"
His smile widened.
Will I burn in Hell?
Then write it down
And cast it in the well.
Queens of the Stone Age.
"Try lying."
#8E1717
Reese's head swelled up with all the blood rushing to it when Silvia locked her chin between iron fingers and she was stunned by two kisses still vibrating on her cheeks where the giantess had left them. And she was short-circuiting from the kindness she was experiencing. Her nose itched. In the face of such pure optimism, she could only...
"Well... well that's too bad, cos..." she grumbled.
Her lips wobbled.
"... cos - he's... he's dead, and n-now Freddie's gonna die tooOOOOoooOOO...!!!"
Somewhere in there, her gruff words and demeanor had transitioned into embarrassing wailing ...and she was blubbering into Silvia's jacket.