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Snippet #2822288

located in The Prince's Palace, a part of Heaven Help You, one of the many universes on RPG.

The Prince's Palace

None

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Cyris Herron Character Portrait: Valramir Character Portrait: Ino Cense Character Portrait: Bezabelle Character Portrait: Myut Character Portrait: Vivian Lacerta Character Portrait: Eris Leblanc
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【”We really need to start getting down to business here.”】
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【Main Room → Bath → Eris' World】
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【#97A33C】
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It certainly seemed as though quite the kerfuffle had occurred while Myut was preoccupied in Viv’s room. Eris looked as though she were seething, her hair all amuck and her knees looking as though she had picked up a couple more scrapes and bangs. No doubt with her fiery personality she had confronted their friendly neighborhood guard. It looked like Bez had been a part of it too, which did not come as a surprise. She was always causing all sorts of mischief. She did look a little frazzled, but Meu could not tell how genuine that was. Whether it was concern for Eris perhaps, or mayhaps instead as a response to the wrath’s horrendous behavior? Because of the guard? Something had happened, that was for sure.

Before Meu could decide whether to go over and investigate, Viv scuttered off towards them, seeking to come to the aid of her small girlfriend and comfort and pamper her. Myut could not help but smirk a little, pleased by the show of affection. He was certain Bezabelle would be lapping it up, and the idea of her basking in glory made him feel wryly content too. The greed didn’t find much interest aside from that, as, after all, he had missed all the fun and things were already settling down. It might be a good idea to ask Bez about what had happened later, as he was quite curious. It was then that Ino caught his attention, announcing a bath at the end of the locked hallway.

Myut perked up upon hearing this, suddenly keenly interested in the door around the corner. He had to reel it in, though, as no doubt the proclamation had turned the eager ears of the others as well. He wouldn’t be able to enjoy the new room for quite some time, but it was a nice prospect nonetheless, especially after last night’s cold spit bath.

Luckily, he had something in mind to occupy his time with, as he needed to have a word with Valramir over some prior late-night shenanigans. Not quite sure where the other white-haired demon was currently, he decided the best course of action was to linger about the doorway to the other’s room. And, speak of the devil, soon there he was, emerging from the door that had previously been off-limits. The ensuing conversation was not one Myut had really planned for, however. True to his nature, Val spun his words coyly and it was not long before he was clinging to Meu’s body again.

It was decidedly difficult to focus on the topic at hand with Val running circles around him, using deflective vocabulary and distracting flashes of skin and jewelry. To his credit, Meu did catch on quickly and put a swift stop to such nonsense.
”Don’t try to wriggle your way out of explaining what you were doing in my things last night.” He reigned things back in to a manageable level, cornering Val and forcing him to take things seriously. The other demon was quick to give up the game, whining at Myut about being a tease. Not before he wrapped his arms around Myut’s neck and leaned the two of them back against the wall, though. But he sobered up quickly and responded thoughtfully to the greed’s initial question. "I was curious. I wanted to see what kind of horde you had collected."

The answer was semi-surprising, given the fact that Vir didn’t need to go sneaking about to satiate that curiosity. He could have just asked, and Myut voiced as much. Valramir was terribly sneaky and mischievous, so it was no surprise that he had taken a darker means to get his fill of the greed’s proffered collection. However, the more sinister complication of their overall situation was not lost to Mew; he had an inkling that the sloth had been trying to dig up some dirt. After all, that would have been Myut’s first instinct as well. Perhaps not so actionable for the group’s current state of affairs, seeing as they were all stuck together too closely to do any effective hunting. Props for trying, though. Honestly, Val had almost gotten away with it. Myut was half bluffing on his accusation – he honestly couldn’t remember one hundred percent if Val had truly been rifling through his things the prior night. He had just had a strong hunch to go from and some scattered maybe-memories.

In any case, the greed demon had gotten the answers he was seeking, and he was done playing with his little sloth here. He needed to ensure that the boy truly hadn’t taken anything from his stash, and to do so would require him to return to his room now. That worked fine for him, though, as he didn’t imagine humoring the other devil to their room would be very productive, if the way he was still gripping onto Meu when he straightened had anything to say about it. Myut wasn’t especially appreciative of the wetness a post-bath Val was transferring over onto his nice dry clothes, but the sloth demon was pretty like this, so he’d get a pass.

In any case, Meu had had enough interaction with this individual, and figured lingering further would be dangerous. He worked at the man’s fingers, signaling for the other to release his grip. The other obliged, albeit a bit grudgingly, and promised a good time any time only a door away.
Likely, Myut scoffed dryly to himself, having zero intention to humor the smaller male – he preferred his own company to that of others. While he was busy thinking about this, however, it seemed that Valramir took advantage of his distracted state and suddenly tilted up to press his lips against the greed’s in a swiftly stolen kiss, instantaneously darting away with a laugh and almost losing his towel in the process.

Myut was momentarily stunned, though that had not kept his arm from instinctually reaching out to try to catch the sneaky devil to reprimand him. He had missed, of course. But that was probably for the best.
”Naughty indeed.” He mumbled, pressing his touch against his gently-assaulted lips with a slightly humored smirk. Now that that was over, though, the greed demon needed to go investigate his hoard.

”Had fun in the bath?” Before he could take too many steps, however, Mew was stopped by a familiar voice that was rich in timbre and easy on the ears. A look of confusion filled his features, however, at the question. ”Bath?” Myut asked with a bit of uncertainty, arching an eyebrow as he tried to figure out what Cyris meant by bath. Oh. His wet shirt. If only it had been the baths. Mew didn’t get to say anything further in response, however, as Cyr was already walking past without a glance back. It was almost disappointing, but it didn’t really matter, as he had more pressing things to attend to. He needed to go look at his things now.

Entering his doorway with broad, confident steps, Myut ambled his way over to the table that was sporting his temporary gala collection. Viv was right, though. He should go about putting these things away a little better. He figured he’d get started now, since he would be going through each item one at a time anyway. Truly, though, the greed was beginning to get tired of going over his possessions again and again like this. And that was really saying something, seeing as reveling over assets was the highlight of any similar sin’s day. It just kept bringing back the fact that he had been stolen from, and so blatantly as well.

At least Val had been telling the truth. This only proved to ease his agitation a smidgen, though, and he found himself once again rummaging through his things in search of the little necklace he had traded from Valramir. It proved to be a quick search, since he had already hidden away most of his things just moments before, and soon remembered that the treasure was hanging out in the pocket of yesterday’s sweatpants. Myut emerged moments later from the bathroom, sliding his fingers around the chain as he pulled it over his head and set it against his neck. It was quite curious that it seemed to soothe him so consistently every time. He hooked a finger into his collar and pulled his shirt out a bit to deposit the silver cross safely beneath the cloth. It rested comfortably between his pecs.

Without skipping a beat, Mew walked over to the chair next to his table, pulled it out, and plopped down into it facing the window to the right. His legs were in a wide stance as he crossed his hands in front of his mouth and rested his elbows on his knees thoughtfully. Now was as good a time as any to have a legitimate sit down and sort through the information he had. He wanted to think long and hard about everyone’s presence. Abadeer wasn’t stupid, and Myut surmised that the guards likely knew some things about them after some digging. Well, if they were worth their salt that is, which he honestly wasn’t quite sure of, seeing as they left all the heavy lifting to the seven of them even though they were all suspects.

There would be plenty to go off at least for Bez. Her presence made the least amount of sense here, so perhaps there was more to it. Truly, Meu could imagine no other reason for her to be included in this mess other than sheer negligence. But those damn guards, honestly. She, like the rest of them, had been accused of attempted murder, and Myut knew enough about his small companion to know that it most certainly would not have been by her own hand even if she did have something to do with it. Which he greatly doubted. Besides, Meu adored Bezabelle, and, being his only close companion, he would fight tooth and nail for her regardless of whether she was guilty or not. He could care less and would be more than happy to get her out of this pickle, so long as he wasn’t incriminated instead.

Then, perhaps she had been included in the hopes that, knowing everyone, she might be able to dig up some otherwise closely guarded information? Meu couldn’t imagine her to behave prettily for Abadeer’s forces, though, especially when he thought back on that altercation with the guard just before. She’d be more interested in garnering juicy tidbits for herself, not so much to share them. He couldn’t imagine that she’d be in cahoots, but it was better to be safe and on the wary side in considering all possibilities. Mew would certainly make sure to sit down with her as soon as possible to reassure her of his loyalty on this matter. It shouldn’t be too difficult for the two of them to work through this. They’d be scot-free in no time flat. Especially since they had so many options to choose from.

Speaking of that guard, though
. He would need to make plans for the mousey blonde. Especially if Myut wanted to ensure his things would return to his care, which honestly was his first and foremost priority. It was time to get serious. He was on a time crunch, after all, and it would do to make some preparations going forward. Rising from his seat, the white-haired demon wandered over to the window in his room, gazing out at the bleakly colored hellscape. It should be a rather simple and straightforward process, to get the viridescent-eyed demon on his side. He seemed like a simple kind of guy, after all.

Since Myut was limited in his movements to just this little area, he needed a new set of arms and legs to take care of the search for his things outside of these four walls. He had no qualms about doing whatever he needed to get his stuff back, and if that meant getting buddy-buddy with the new guard, so be it. Meu actually looked forward to it. After all, the guard hadn’t exactly been welcomed in with open arms, so the greed demon mused that a friendly face would be all he needed to invite the boy into his corner and put him to work. He also couldn’t help but be remarkably intrigued by the individual himself. He wanted to know what made him tick. Where he stood in the hierarchy, how much he knew, what he could lever against the other no-show guards. Sir blondie would be an invaluable piece, indeed.

Hopefully that guard would be their permanent chaperone – Meu made it a point to ensure that the younger demon felt comfortable and safe with him, lest he ask to be replaced with some other run-of-the-mill sentry. Then the greed would have to start all over again, and they honestly didn’t have the time for that. Multiple plans started formulating in his mind, and Myut leaned back against the window’s wall to continue to devise. He took a moment, however, to peek outside into the central main room to reassess the current status of people.

It seemed that most everyone was gathered outside, and upon realizing this, Myut suddenly remembered their ‘reward’. That had him excited. He figured to check the bath and hope whomever was missing was in their rooms rather than the baths. That made more sense to him, at least, since it would be better to check the room hosting the bath rather than snooping around the door to people’s rooms to see if they were there. They’d undoubtedly have questions as to why he was poking around, especially after having done his best to avoid before. From what he could see, there had been only one or two people unaccounted for in the main room, though, so he was betting on the bath being empty.



It seemed he had lost that bet, though, for as he turned the handle to the bath door and took a step in, he spotted Cyris and Bezabelle in the pool.
“Damn,” Myut voiced, unable but to click his tongue in disappointment. He had really been holding against hope that the others were all preoccupied with something else and that he could catch some peace and quiet and privacy. But speaking of privacy
.

Cyr and Bez were cuddled up so intimately at the pool that Myut suddenly stiffened upon the realization. Well, this was rather awkward. Hoping that they hadn’t heard him come in or voice a curse at his poor luck, Mew tried very hard to backtrack out of the room before either made a move.

Similar luck persisted, though, and a somewhat slumbery voice called out to him.
”Well, hello,” It stopped Meu dead in his tracks and he hesitantly turned back to look at Cyr who in turn was looking at him. ”Come for a dip?” The taller male asked while standing and stretching, returning his head to a forward position so he could receive the full effect of a good stretch. His back was turned to Myut. A rather gorgeous back, he might add.

The greed demon politely shifted his gaze away from Cyr, lest he be caught staring at the curvature of the other’s back and the impressive muscle he sported there. That would be improper, what with Bez there and the two of them so unguarded without any clothing. Not that the two seemed to mind, of course.

”Oh, what a shame to be interrupted.” Speaking of Bezabelle, his gaze trailed down to her as she shifted in the pool, putting her arms around Cyr’s shoulders and pressing against him. She made sure to look right at Myut while doing so, too, and the suggestive trailing of her finger down what he assumed to be Cyr’s chest - it was a little difficult to see at this angle, but he got the gist - had him lost between both a dull feeling of bristling and stiffening when she added the last bit of her comment to boot in a seductive tone - “And right in the middle, too. Tch.” This only served to feed into Meu’s misconstrued suspicions and cause Bez’s desired effect.

An eyebrow twitched and his jaw squared lightly, eyes clawing away from the sight of the two to stare at the wall instead, a distasteful look displaying itself rather plainly on his face. His posture was rigid and clearly ill-at-ease, a light blush softening the effect as he battled too with secondhand embarrassment. He spoke in answer to Cyris while staring at the lines in the wall,
“That was the intention, but
” He steadied himself and glanced back, trailing off to leave the rest verbally unspoken.

Yeah. Myut decided he definitely did not like seeing the two of them together like that. Cyr had wrapped an arm around Bez’s waist, encouraging her touch and playfully scolding her actions.
“Oh, don’t tease.” The lust demon was totally at ease, which was in stark contrast to how the greed was feeling. Meu felt like he was intruding and was a little shellshocked at this being Bez and Cyr specifically. Normally he would have no problem with Bez being intimate and flirty with anyone, but with Cyr it
 felt different for some reason. What was this feeling? It made him clench and unclench his fingers with vague irritability.

In similarly past situations, Myut would be one to keep to his own business and not linger around demons who were engaged with each other. Sure, he had experience with multiple partners at one time, but those had been detailed as trade for goods or services. Enjoyable, but detached. This here didn’t have anything to do with business. It felt far too personal and affectionate, and that wasn’t something Myut could understand. It felt weird. This was weird. And it was weird that it was weird. He didn’t like it, and he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he didn’t like it either. It was kind of frustrating, to be honest.


“The water’s warm~” Cyris hummed out to him, breaking him from his musings. “You’re welcome to join us, you know.” Myut had been invited to partake in lounging in the waters with them. Uhh, he was pretty sure Bez had a differing opinion to Cyr about him joining, if her body language and words had been any hint, jealously guarding Cyr like that. That was a little odd in and of itself, too, since Bez was all about overindulging. The more the merrier, right? Not in this case, though, apparently. That served to irk the male further, and Myut was about to excuse himself there and then when Cyr added a last little tidbit of information.

“I’m sure Bez doesn’t mind her nap being interrupted too badly, hm?”

Bez had simply been napping with him? That one word made his emotions do a complete one-eighty, the roiling in his mind and stomach instantly settling. And now that that annoying feeling was gone, he could focus much better. His form eased visibly, not fully, but somewhat. Now it was just the fact that they were completely bare - Meu definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable getting undressed in front of them to join in the pool, and something told him they would indeed watch, the both of them. He was stressed enough as is with walking in on them; being under their scrutiny while he bathed did not sound appealing.

Besides, who knew if it would remain just napping, what with how close the two of them were. Bez clinging to him like that and Cyr looking completely unbothered by the whole thing. Honestly, maybe they wouldn’t even pay him any mind and just get to it. That would be even more awkward.


”Of course I mind,” Bezabelle scoffed, only serving to further confirm her distaste at the idea of Myut being their third wheel.”You think I’d just be okay with our little
 nap being interrupted?” She chuckled meaningfully during the pause in her sentence. The way she inferred that nap was code for something else had the green-eyed demon questioning things all over again. He hadn’t seen Cyr be insincere yet, though, and he had not received similar signals from the lust demon. So perhaps Bez was just messing with him. In any case, whether she was joking or not, it was clear that she was serious about one thing, and that was she wanted Cyr to herself. Very clearly.

Cyr seemed to be indifferent and didn’t appear to care whether Meu stayed or not, which also kind of annoyed the greed. Very well. Let Bez have her fun with him. Far be it from him to get in Cyris’ way. Mew wanted to bathe alone anyway, and this was exactly why. He wasn’t about to play third wheel to anyone, whether that be two friends or two lovers.

“Mm, no thanks. You’ll find I don’t share well.” He answered Cyr with a somewhat suggestive smirk, not paying Bezabelle any more mind. With that, he turned and walked right out the door.



It clicked closed behind him, and as Myut leaned back against it, he let out a deeply disgruntled sigh. Running a hand through his fluffy hair, he pushed his bangs back with exasperated disappointment. Man, now his clothes were even more soaked from the damp humidity, and he had nothing to show for it.

Myut trudged back through the hallway toward the door of the main room, jiggling the knob lightly as he fled from that unbidden altercation. Putting it behind him, though, and after another sigh, he swung the door open. His eyes shifted up from staring at the floor to take in the new surroundings. He suddenly cut his sigh off halfway through, instead sucking in his cheeks a bit and holding his breath to prevent a gasp from coming out. He hadn’t been expecting to see Eris. It was unnerving to see Eris, regardless of the situation. He quickly withdrew around the doorway, back pressed against the wall of the hall, heart thumping loudly against his chest.

Myut took a second to try to regain his composure before peeking around the open door again. Oh, it seemed that Ino was also there too. The envy was suddenly kneeling before Eris, and a look of very uncertain horror filled Mew’s face. What was that wrath making him do?? Why was he taking a knee to her? Had she threatened him into subservience? Was she going to force the same onto the rest of them??

No. The shorter male was providing her a lift platform, it seemed, as she put a terribly small foot into his equally dainty hand. A breath of relief rushed past Mew’s lips as he held a steadying hand to his heart. Okay, so Eris was just up to some more weird crazy nonsense. Who knew what they were doing; it didn’t really matter to Myut as, more importantly, the two seemed preoccupied with whatever that was and would thus not notice him slipping by. Hopefully.

Meu reemerged from his peeking point at the doorway, eyes glued unwaveringly to Eris’ form to ensure that she would not suddenly turn and attack while he carefully maneuvered past the doorframe and against the left wall. He intended to sneak past by way of behind that nearby armchair. His back was once again pressed against plaster, intending to make himself as flat as possible so as to make himself as small as possible. By presenting his width laterally instead of horizontally, he could minimize the amount of visual space he would occupy so as not to draw as much attention to himself. The greed then began his quiet shuffle against the wall, keeping an eye on the other two the whole time.

Slide. Slide. What was it that they were even trying to do? Shuffle. Slide. Eris was clearly intent on getting on top of the fireplace, but the why of it had Myut perplexed. What was the goal here? Had she finally had enough of being so close to the ground? That might would have brought a wry little grin to his face, had it not been for the fact that Eris would then be looming above them at a vantage point, gazing down at them like some beady-eyed vile vulture complete with a scrunched neck. Meu blinked in disgust, getting back to work on sliding his way to freedom. Shuffle. Shuffle. It did look pretty ridiculous, what with the two of them trying so hard to overcome being vertically challenged. Eris was desperately scrabbling and scraping at the mantle with her nails like some sort of psychotic raccoon.


 Slide. Slide. Slide. It seemed like she was going for the corner of the painting now, perhaps in quest of an anchor point to pull herself up and away from Ino. But alas, there was just no room for her to find any footing. And the painting was not sturdy enough to support her weight when she grabbed for it. Shuffle. Eris lost her balance and lurched backwards, falling from the mantle. Ino threw his hands up to try to shield himself and instead caught spine in one hand and ass in the other.

A strangled sound of both horror and surprised laughter croaked past Meu’s throat, to which he quickly tried to cover up with the back of his wrist. He froze in realization that he had just outed himself with the noise, and a feeling of impending doom suddenly settled over him. He was paralyzed against the wall, posed like a burglar caught in the act with both arms and legs spread wide against the drywall. Eris would not be happy about falling. Eris would not be happy about Ino catching her. Eris would not be happy that Ino was inadvertently grabbing that butt.But now that Myut had revealed himself, all that anger would suddenly be directed at him instead of Ino. He was screwed.

Nonetheless, in an attempt to recover, Myut, hopefully in the moments before Eris and possibly Ino would turn to look back at him, quickly attempted to drop said exposed pose with an admittedly stiff recovery. He awkwardly leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms gently with a clearing of his throat, as though he had wanted to gain their attention in the first place and that had been the noise he had done it with.
“Err
. Everything alright there?”

As predicted, Eris’ focus shot over to him immediately. He winced internally to prepare himself for the verbal assault, but instead, all he received was a solid
“You,” in response. He didn’t even catch a single moment of Ino’s embarrassment - so demanding was his focus to be on Eris as she spoke to him. Help them? He glanced down then to see Ino throwing him a mixed look of pleading and awkward detachment to the way he was holding Eris like that.

So they had been after the painting. He couldn’t blame them. Having Abadeer stare down at them from high up there, abandoning them to their situation with little care or explanation, Myut honestly had a bone to pick with it too.
”I can’t hold her much longer.” Ino’s voice immediately recaptured his attention back to the issue at hand, and Mew hurriedly strode over to relieve him of the weight of Eris.

This presented a new challenge. How was he supposed to
 handle Eris? He wanted very little to do with her in the first place, let alone touch her, and found himself surged with a strong desire that he should be holding Ino instead. Nonetheless, he didn’t want to leave the poor lad hanging, and, after finding himself a little disappointed to find that Eris did not indeed have a scruff like the wild little animal she was, strongly placed his hands under her back in the places Ino’s hands were not. It was easy for him to lift her from the smaller envy demon, but damn was she surprisingly stocky.
“Let go for a sec,” He instructed the wily little she-devil in his arms, who was still death-gripping the corner of the painting.

As soon as she did, he supported the remaining weight that shifted onto him with no problems, bringing Eris close to his chest to even out his center of gravity. So
 what was he supposed to do with her now? He wasn’t about to continue cradling her like a small infant or some precious lover, as he figured she probably would not appreciate it, so he carefully placed her back on her feet on the ground without waiting to be told to do so.


“So do you just want me to, uh,” Myut placed his hands under her armpits to lift her high up into the air, but with her limited reach he was not sure if it would be enough. He really didn’t want to grab her anywhere else, though. Worse comes to worse she could use him like a stepping stool. She’d love that.

Myut did his best to behave like a gentleman, even though he had the uncanny feeling of being at the business-end of a skunk. He kept his grip firm but tried to keep his fingers and reach limited close to Eris’ arms while handling her. Some of it couldn’t be helped though, and he didn’t dwell on that bit. Instead, his focus was lasered onto the painting as Eris reached up for it. Her little hands grasped the sides of the portrait and a feeling of excitement flowed through him at the prospect of success on Eris’ behalf. He quickly found, however, that she didn’t have enough physical reach to leverage her body to push it up off whatever mounted it in place. Myut was going to try to lift her higher in the air, either to give her that reach to actively be able to push it up or just to use her as a simple extension tool to grab and stiffly unhook, but Eris moved by herself before he could aid her any further.

It seemed that she was determined to take care of anything she could by her own means, and Meu had to steady his grip better now that she was wiggling ferociously to get her knee up onto the mantle. Once she did, Eris was at the edge of his grip, his hands having slid down her sides to rest closer to her hips during the time she elevated herself further than he could reach with the prior hold. She got that painting, though.

It looked like it was about to get her back, however. Myut startled a little at her victorious exclamation, but stood his ground, trying to get a better look at what was going on and view her triumph, when that noise quickly twisted into something of horror – to which he found to be because of the painting tilting off the wall with the force of gravity. A look of doom twisted Meu’s face as he saw it coming down to fall on both he and Eris.

Man, seriously, nothing ever good came of hanging out with Eris.

Mew’s instincts kicked in instantly and his fingers tightened around the grip of her hips to pull her back into the safety of his form. He did his best to duck down in the same instant and involuntarily turned his shoulder to guard the smaller demon from the falling portrait, even if that meant it would come down all the faster and harder on him should she still be clinging to its sides. The greed winced his eyes closed and braced for impact.

Nothing ended up bonking him, however, and after a second or two he creaked an eye back open to question the universe – of which he knew its properties very well (gravity) - only to find Ino standing there, arms outstretched and having stopped the painting from landing on them. Well, that would explain the phenomenon.

It occurred to him in the next instant that there could be a very good chance that the painting might be heavy for Ino, and, not wanting his rescuer to suffer any sort of inconvenience, Meu totally abandoned Eris to quickly pop back up and get a hand under the painting to ensure that it would not weigh heavily on Ino.
“Shit, thanks. That was close.”

Myut found in swift order that he was now the sole bearer of this painting. He could appreciate its weight fully now, and he glanced over as Ino softly thanked him for relieving him of it. Meu opened his mouth to respond but cut himself off before he could when he heard the envy mumble something else to himself. Being as close to him as he was, he could clearly hear the other’s comment.
”Ah, I chipped a nail
.” A soft frown furrowed his brow as he tilted his head down to better look at the hand and inspect what had happened. Indeed it was. The beautifully manicured nail now sported a jagged edge that would undoubtedly manage to get hooked into any sorts of fabric it may come across. Meu knew that inconvenience well enough, not to mention the simple fact that it ruined the aesthetic and the careful care and attention given to the hand.

“Damn.”

Myut shifted his own hands till the painting slid into the palm of one rather than both and then dangled it for a moment until he let it fall a short way to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Meu couldn’t care less about it though. He straightened once more to take a gentle hold of Ino’s hand with one of his own, gaze set on the nail. With his other free hand and a gentle,
“Hang on,” Mew’s gaze slid over to his own free fingers, and, after a slide of his thumb over the empty air in his palm and his fingertips, was suddenly holding a thin file.

The greed demon made quick work of evening out what had been damaged, olive-green eyes lasered in on the dainty finger he held, until, upon finishing, he slid his gaze up to meet Ino’s purple hues. At the same time, he parted his lips just a bit to blow a quick breath of air across the top of the nail to rid of any dust made by the action, before flashing him a confident grin. He was clearly pleased with himself.
“There.”

"I, ah
 thank you?" Mew nodded, seemingly unphased by the confusion and uncertainty radiating off the smaller demon. Mew could not help but quickly find himself lost to admiring Ino’s features now that he was so close. Geez, he truly was such a pretty little thing. Like a fine porcelain doll, or a carefully immaculate figurine. Myut was unable to resist appreciating and carefully appraising the envy like he would a precious trinket. Ino smelled really nice too, thanks to the baths the envy had mentioned before.”It
 it’s good. Thank you.” Meu already knew it, since he’d been doing his own manicures for quite the length of time, but it was still nice to hear the gratitude in the other’s voice. Obviously, it would not do to just leave the poor devil’s hand in that state, so Meu had taken it upon himself to remedy the issue.

It didn’t appear to bother the greed a wink either that he was still holding onto the other’s hand. It was almost as if he were taking advantage of the fact to keep Ino right where he was so Meu could keep looking. His pleased grin slacked into something a little more comfortable. He liked looking at Ino. He put in a lot of work to look good, and Myut could empathize.

It seemed like the white-haired demon was going to say something then, perhaps a compliment, but was interrupted by the loud noise of Eris returning. He just chuckled off her comment, politely releasing his hold and turning his head to look at her. It seemed she had brought a bag of things, and that instantly sparked Meu’s curiosity. He ambled on over to investigate as she pulled the portrait onto the table with a grunt, and his eyes sparkled with mischief when he saw the supplies she had brought. Hell yeah, this he was definitely into.

Ino seemed a little more hesitant though, for as he left the couch to join them, he voiced his uncertainty. This surprised Myut a little, since he had been under the impression that he was gung-ho about de-mantling the picture with Eris. It made sense though, if he had just been roped into helping the wrath bring it down but had no further intentions to interact with the image. Meu didn’t see what the big deal was, since Abadeer had really brought this onto himself. Eris mirrored the sentiment with her next words.


“Why not? He’s the one who locked us all in here with it, you can’t give a dog a bone and expect no chewing~”

Man, honestly Mew couldn’t have said it better himself. He was surprised that the apt metaphor had come from her lips. Very clever. She set out her supplies and began prepping the area.

It didn’t seem like Ino needed too much convincing to join them then, and soon he was roosted on the face of the table, looming over the painting rather menacingly. Myut approved.

With a grin, the greed walked around to the other side and settled down in criss-cross position on the floor. He watched for a moment or two, thoughtfully ruminating over his artistic options, but once he saw Eris devolve into straight finger painting, Myut could quickly see the appeal and adopted her method. He dipped his digits into the darker colors, spreading them out nice and proper over the careful color gradation of the background. This would be a masterpiece looking to have been curated by a two-year-old when Myut was done with it - he swore it. Stark, single tone color instead of the masterful technique whatever artist had applied beforehand with the mixing of hues and careful brushstrokes. It would be a glorious atrocity. Myut didn’t even feel bad about defacing this otherwise probably valuable item.