Closed Behind Those Eyes

[Matthew]

He had often considered the idea of using hypnotism along with his seduction. To date, he very rarely ever used the two combined. He had come into his own when it came to seduction, finding a level of skill that made such a thing seem almost easy to him. What sort of quivering heap could he turn a man or a woman into if he simply flexed all of his skills at once? A single lashing of lust had left Edreina like this. The power he could have, and how much would one pay? His calculating mind had already spotted her signs, skirted from point to point on her body to process everything he could use against her. There was the tightening of her thighs, the parting of her lips in that hungry groan, the scratch of her nails upon wood. She managed to grab a hold of herself, but the thoughts still persisted. If he practiced, if he really applied himself, they wouldn't pay for bells of unrelenting passion. He would be able to service them for days.

For a moment his power rose, djed surging through his veins. He had grown and learned. He was almost to his peak in seduction, perhaps halfway there in magic. Edriena would understand. She was his friend, was she not? He could have the Svefra sobbing in delight.

The Whispers.

Edreina clung to her love, Matthew clung to his logic. He panted, tongue briefly swiping at his lips to collect the spittle that had nearly dropped from them. Drool? What a pathetically primal show of lust. Whispers? What a horrid sign that he had used too much djed at once. He was here to teach, not show what happened when he abandoned his logic. His eyes burned for a moment, staring at her. She had been the one who had caused him to lose his hold for a precious few chimes. But no, he had been the one to ask her. Of course she would choose lust, of all things. Was he not a creature who sold lust?

He nodded slowly, relaxing, his stance slowly returning to that passive and polite posture that the Svefra had grown familar with over the expanse of almost a year now. He certainly hadn't interacted with her that long, but they had known of each other then. She was different. He was too. His mind briefly went back to Syliras, remembering the days spent there. Then he was back in the present, blue eyes blinking to clear the flurry of thoughts that now assaulted his mind. "I won't use lust. Do not use it on me, in return. It happened once. With Karin, I've met her as well. The results..." He paused a moment, gaze growing distant as he thought back. "...just don't." He didn't like the spark that two Hypnotists could ignite. Edriena was one who he normally wouldn't accept business from. It worried him that magic had briefly made him reconsider that.

The harlot moved on, answering her questions, even the one she had not finished. "I can't explain how a normal wizard would do it, but to me, I simply weave in the emotion or the suggestion. If djed is like a cloth, the emotions and suggestions are like thread. The more subtle the effect, the less thread I weave into the djed. Then I transmit it, through touch, through eye contact, through sound. What I did to you simply was quite a bit of thread woven into the djed. Normally I could do it without it giving me that moment of tiredness, but I reacted to your own magic defensively. I struck instinctively, not with logic. The other techniques are similar. You can invoke a flash in their mind, but instead of weaving djed with emotion, weave it with an image. Weave it with something that plays on their senses. Brace yourself." Catching his breath he slowly began to swirl his djed once more, this time weaving the image of a memory into it. In and out the thread went until the correct tapestry had been made. Catching her eyes with his, he sent it to her.

A boat, gently bobbing on the docks of Syliras. Matthew and Edreina, the harlot looking unsure as he held out a necklace that held the symbol of Yahal. Matthew had no idea what a friendship was, but he was making his best attempt.

An image of friendship, to hopefully dull the moment of raging lust. The flashing image would briefly light her mind before he relaxed back, lounging, stretching against the door. It wasn't a purposeful display, but his shirtless upper half certainly didn't hesitate to show off. Golden skin stretched over defined muscle, the light of the room catching one or two beads of sweat to give them a brief moment of light. They traveled, catching the eye, running through dips and definition that littered his body like a maze of slim muscle. It had become so very natural for him now. He settled, eyes finding Edreina's, voice slowly returning to the tone that she was familiar with. "Try it, if you think you have the concept. Apply it to your own method. And stop drinking the wine. I am a Hynotist, Edreina. There is a purpose to everything. Why would I have given you wine?"

It had been drugged before she had came. The drug would still take some time to kick in. Now though, he wasn't sure he wanted it to. His plan had backfired, all because of a mistake on his part. He'd have to recalculate as he went.

[Edreina]

OOCIf only I knew the drug's effects to start incorporating them.

Edreina all but smelled the salt on the air and felt it rustling her hair in the vision Matthew showed her. Oddly enough, it stilled her lust for a fair few moments as she realized the implications of what he chose to show her. She had known them in that moment but, revisiting them, she felt a renewed sense of just how lucky she was to know him and have him feel something other than respectful ambivalence for her.

"Try it, if you think you have the concept. Apply it to your own method. And stop drinking the wine. I am a Hynotist, Edreina. There is a purpose to everything. Why would I have given you wine?"

"To... to put me at ease?" Her face contorted with confusion, then, as she set the glass aside. She had thought it to be like the necklace or the time he came to tend to her after the incident on the docks- Was that a lie? Was there something else taking place here? The Svefra's heart fluttered in her chest as she considered the implications of his statement.

With a wave of her hand, she decided once again that she would endeavor herself to the task presented. It took a handful of chimes, but she began pulling her Djed up and through her, letting it saturate her body as the sea did the sand. Slowly, the Djed began to move upwards, like steam off of a hot deck on a dry, sunny day. She felt it warming her as it moved, tingling and pounding with power and pure sensation. Slowly, the Svefra brought her Djed up to her eyes, letting it pool there as she began to arrange her thoughts.

He had shown her an image long past. Edreina doubted she had the strength or the ability to do such a thing, yet. What could she show him, she wondered? She knew Razkar's face so very well, but that meant she had to think of his face while still focusing on casting the magic, directing it as she chose.

Finally, she decided what she could attempt to do.

Her breath stilled as she looked up at Matthew, into his eyes, and let her Djed surge forth to sink a single, brief image into his mind: His own face.

But, instead of the visage he would see in a mirror, he saw himself as Edreina did. His features were faintly more refined than they were in truth, in Edreina's mind's eye, displaying her opinion of him in a way that words could not. The curve of his lips was enticing. Most prominently, as she stared into him, were his eyes. They were a hard, still blue like the ocean on a windless day. In that moment, that finite flash, he may have been able to see her long-term affection for the man as a friend, and her momentary wariness of him as a hypnotist.

When she stopped the flow of Djed, she sagged visibly, pressing her forehead to her palms as it pounded violently. Despite this, there was something in her whispering that, if only she tried again, she could do better. But, she held herself in place, pushed her Djed back down where she could manage its whirling demands, trembling faintly from wariness. "How was that?" She asked quietly, head now too heavy to lift from her hands to look at him.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Matthew]

He blinked a few times in quick succession, the image a slightly odd experience. It had been him, though not exactly the him that he was used to seeing. It was a slightly modified version of him. Was this how the Svefra saw him? What an interesting concept. He wondered if he saw Edreina in a different way than she saw herself. In theory, she should look the same in every eye that saw her. How did he have a different image of himself now lurking in his mind, though? "That was good. I saw myself, just for a moment." He answered her question absentmindedly, thoughts retreating back to what she had stated before attempting the new skill.

To put her at ease, she had said. He was briefly overwhelmed with the sudden urge to hit her, but that was very quickly shoved down. It was like she hadn't listened to a single word she said. No, that wasn't it, it was more like she trusted him. She was a good person and a pure person, her mark of Yahal certainly attesting to that. He had a feeling that it wasn't in her nature to think ill of someone at all, especially someone she had known and likely developed something of a good opinion about. He mused this over, staring at her steadily, white teeth nibbling thoughtfully at the plump flesh of his lower lip. He mulled over his options, then finally settled on a course of action. "No. When dealing with people of my kind, please do not assume that any action has an innocent meaning. Be prepared. For instance, that wine was drugged." He paused a moment to let this sink in, blue eyes unwavering in their steady stare. "If I was anyone else, then you would be in a very bad position in about... three chimes." He hesitated, the normally passive stare showing one more of the many emotions they had displayed in this rather interesting lesson. "However, now I am doubting my choice of drugs.Love Dust. Use: Sniffed/Snorted or tasted, Effects: - A powder narcotic that is ingested through the nose or mouth. This drug causes intense lust to be with another (something similar to what animals feel in mating season.) The users body becomes ultra sensitive and something as simple as a hug could send them into blissful ecstasy. Side effect-way too many one night stands."

She looked so very tired now and he could imagine why. She was learning a lot of new things and having to twist her djed in a variety of newly-learned ways. It wore him out whenever he tried to experiment as well. Moving forward off of the doorway, the harlot motioned for her to turn around from her seat on the floor and fully face him. He sat in front of her as well, bright blue eyes examining hers quickly, looking for any signs of the soon-to-come effects. "When we are done here, I want you to remember how everything played out. Remember what could have happened. Keep that memory very close."

He held out a hand but then instantly drew it back. He had only done this once without touch, but he felt like touch would require just a bit too much on Edreina's part. The drug would kick in and turn simple touch to something so much more for her. She had specifically requested not to be touched by lust though, and he had sensed the slight desperation in her voice. While he did not understand it, she was a customer, and he would cater to her desires. They were a different sort of desire than he normally dealt with, but their little lesson seemed appropriate for their relationship. How would he counter the effects of the drug, though? He already had the start of an idea, but...

...he tightened his jaw, an idea dawning. "Edreina. The drug will cause a certain level of lust. However, as we have determined, that isn't really something to toy with in this scenario. There is a skill I can use to put you in something of a trance. In that trance, I might be able to..." His voice trailed off as his mind churned, the harlot adjusting himself so that he was sitting in front of her with his legs crossed under him, almost a mirror of her own image. "...would you like to see how I keep myself from feeling?" It would likely sound odd to many people, but he had a feeling she would understand. They had discussed it before. Hopefully the technique would help them out. He would come up with a back-up plan, just in case. It wasn't like he could simply leave the room. That would not reflect well on his image as one of the more skilled harlots of the Sanctum.

[Edreina]

"For instance, that wine was drugged."

As badly as Edreina wanted to be surprised, she was not. There was something in her that had suspected something of that nature taking place from the moment she had heard that he was sending her mental suggestions to drink the wine. In all, she was only vaguely annoyed that she had not seen this particular event taking place. Strangely enough, she could not find it in herself to be angry with Matthew.

"If I was anyone else, then you would be in a very bad position in about... three chimes. However, now I am doubting my choice of drugs."

If he were anyone else... To Edreina, this was proof that he was doing this as an extension of some element of their friendship. There had to be a reason for his behavior, even if she could not immediately see it. Edreina had faith in it.

"When we are done here, I want you to remember how everything played out. Remember what could have happened. Keep that memory very close."

There it was. In his own round about way, Matthew was doing his best to purge his friend of a weakness he saw in her. Edreina knew that she was too trusting, but it was something she refused to relinquish no matter what took place in her life. If she lost faith in others, the world would be a very grim and dark place, indeed. Aside from that, she would never have to face more than she could endure; every trial and tribulation had a silver lining.

"Edreina. The drug will cause a certain level of lust. However, as we have determined, that isn't really something to toy with in this scenario. There is a skill I can use to put you in something of a trance. In that trance, I might be able to..."

Part of her wanted to deny the trance, to feel the effects of the drug as she had to, as was intended so that, if ever exposed to it again, she would be able to recognize the effects. But, the emotion this poison would create was lust, apparently. In her current state - or any, in truth - such was far from a good idea; her libido was too high and it was too easy for her stance on this subject to be weakened and shifted.

"...would you like to see how I keep myself from feeling?"

That was an interesting option, actually. It piqued her curiosity enough that she could forget about wondering about the effects of this particular drug. The ability to stop one's emotions for a short period of time could prove to be beneficial to her, in the future. It would help her judgement when she needed and perhaps calm a tense situation if she could learn to do it to others.

Already, her skin was feeling flushed and sensitive. Despite her exhaustion, she was able to feel a sharpening of her nerves across her skin, a new rush of sensation. Her decision had to be made quickly.

"Teach me..."

(c) Wanda Endust

[Matthew]

He nodded, blue eyes rippling with djed as he focused on her. He paused for a brief moment before deciding to make a dangerous move, reaching out and grabbing her glass of wine, taking the lightest of sips himself while holding eye contact with her. The effects would kick in much later than hers would, but hopefully in time to help with the final part of their lesson. The effects were already starting to assault her though, as he could tell from the breathy tone of her words. He held his eyes with her own, blue on blue, letting the colors melt and swirl together until they only existed for each other. There was nothing but either of them. His djed slowly reached out and swirled into her, a very slow trickle of hypnotic suggestions that were minor and random. He just wanted to create a link, a connection. It was very gentle on his reserves of djed, and didn't require much finesse. She was willing, after all. That definitely helped the process a lot. He didn't have to be concerned about how he wove it, or what he wove. He just had to let it become a part of her, and in that way become a part of him. Before long she would find herself in a different state of mind, somewhere between asleep and awake.

The harlot then began to trickle her a hallucination, finding even that to be rather easy when they were linked like this. She was completely open to everything he could do, as a hypnotist. Her imagination would likely fill in the gaps.

~

Matthew took her to his island. It was a bare island, not a thing to be seen on it. Matthew stood in the middle of it as immaculate as he always was, looking just the same as he had when they had been back in their room. A slight wind whipped at his hair, tossing the bangs up and about, though they still managed to somehow look as if he had styled them in some way. He glanced at her, and then gestured around, showing her the empty island that was surrounded by an endless stormy ocean. "This is me. This is how I feel on the inside of me. This is what I see whenever I look inside, so to speak. And for me, here is what my distant emotions look like." He pointed, drawing her attention to a specific point on the shore of this lonely island.

A different Matthew rose from the water, glorious in appearance. He was completely and fully nude, bronzed flesh exposed, saltwater dripping down his form in erotic streams that followed a dozen different lines of definition. He was aroused, a thick shaft standing at attention, water dripping from the peak as if to specifically draw attention to it. The eyes were wild, heated, filled with longing and desperate lust. They were primal, animal-like, filled with nothing but the purest of simple need. Those eyes were focused on the Svefra. Matthew stared at it as it began to slowly walk forward, a horribly delicious smile spreading across its lips as it reached out for Edreina. "This is my lust, you could say. I experience it. But I see it coming. I see it as a foreign person, even if it looks like me. And in this world, how do I handle it?"

The other Matthew was almost to the object it so desperately desired before it was suddenly intercepted. Matthew snatched it, grabbed it by the throat, slammed it to the ground in a sudden explosion of wet sand. The other Matthew yelled out in defiance, eyes wild, body shaking and flexing as Matthew started to drag it across the sand. "It is closer than it usually is. More expressive. Because of the little trick you pulled, no doubt." He glanced at Edreina, his emotionless blue eyes a stark contrast to the thing that he was dragging. It called for Edreina, begged her to come to him, begged her to release him, to strengthen him, to give him the power that it needed to petching take her in what would be no doubt a brutally rough show of absolutely primal sex. Lust was such a simple, common, instinctive sort of emotion. It could be so appealing in real life, but to Matthew, it always looked this horrifying. Or was that only the way he felt? When Edreina looked upon the creature, did she feel some sort of longing in response?

It didn't matter. The other Matthew would suddenly be cut off, gurgles replacing his yells of desire as his head was shoved underwater.

It was suddenly a horrifying scene. The storm raged around them as the Harlot held his emotion underwater, the other Matthew kicking and flailing as it desperately tried to surface for air. It took several minutes before it finally stilled, Matthew giving the corpse a push. It rolled down the small slope of a beach, the water claiming it. He turned to Edreina, studying her, curious to how she would react. It wasn't that he didn't have emotion. He just murdered them before it could become anything more. "Does seeing this help you understand? Your very own emotions could be here any minute. Do you feel that murdering them is an acceptable method of keeping them from affecting you?"

[Edreina]

When Edreina opened her eyes to an island, to the crystal blue sea surrounding them, she gasped faintly, longing evident in her visage for an instant before she allowed it to fade. Someday, I will be upon the Suvan again... Someday soon... Or so she hoped, if only as she sailed with Razkar to his home in the forests of Taloba.

Where Matthew was controlled and immaculate in appearances, Edreina was the opposite. She wore only the linens she had worn while upon the Anchorage and her hair trailed down her back in rowdy waves, braided with little tidbits representing all of the places she had been. Her tattoo was darker across her stomach, and the unfinished black wings on her back seemed to ripple and wave with their own life as the waves across her thigh did. It only took two steps across the hot sand for her to stand at his side, half facing him and half angled towards the sea. Would the water feel real in a trance?

"This is me. This is how I feel on the inside of me. This is what I see whenever I look inside, so to speak. And for me, here is what my distant emotions look like."

The Svefra turned at the sound of moving water to see a staggering sight. Being a woman, Edreina could not help the way her head tilted appreciatively at the sight. If this were how Matthew looked beneath his clothes, he had chosen a fitting profession, certainly. Something just below her navel fluttered at the sight, and Edreina fought to crush it, to control it as her eyes locked with the other Matthew's. As if it would help her to defy her urges, she stepped closer to the cool-headed harlot, brow crumpling. Had he not said that this would help to quell her rising lust?

"This is my lust, you could say. I experience it. But I see it coming. I see it as a foreign person, even if it looks like me. And in this world, how do I handle it?"

Matthew's lust was a fierce creature, indeed. But, it appeared as if Matthew himself held secrets. Before her eyes, the true Matthew took hold of his Lust and began to drag it away. As he did so, Edreina was suddenly struck by what a pathetic, simple little emotion it was. It groveled and begged in hopes of getting what it wanted. But, Edreina could tell that it knew no other way, had never really been expressed and learned to be complex, learned how it mingled with other emotions to form a stronger creature.

The redhead had actually come to pity the thing as Matthew thrust it beneath the water, holding it there until the protests stopped and life left his Lust. The only thing that stopped her from stepping in was fear of what would happen if Matthew did not complete what seemed to be a natural ritual, to him. Would he be consumed by his lust, or broken by it? Naturally, when all was done, she took a half step back from such a savage display. Was that how he kept himself from feeling? By killing anything that even resembled emotion? The concept was enough to make Edreina feel uncomfortable.

"Does seeing this help you understand? Your very own emotions could be here any minute. Do you feel that murdering them is an acceptable method of keeping them from affecting you?"

A faint tsch sound filled the space between them as Edreina clicked her tongue against her teeth and pursed her lips, seeking an answer that would not sound foolish to the harlot. Finally, she decided that he would likely see anything she said to be foolish in some way, and opted simply to tell the truth. "I helps me to understand you but... I think you're wrong, Matthew. To spend your life without emotion robs you of every experience that defines you as a human. You become a creature lacking empathy, and eventually humanity itself. I know you pride yourself on your control over your emotions, but have you ever considered that you are unable to handle them when they do arise because you have so little experience? Your lust was an ill-formed, simple creature. It had the dimensions of a younger man's not a man now grown. As your emotions grow, they can become more dangerous but... they can also take on helpful qualities you may never have thought possible before."

As if on cue, a flame broke out across the sand, swirling and dancing in the wind before taking a solid form. Before them now stood Edreina's own Lust, the first emotion brought forth by this exercise. Sheer red silks covered her, flickering faintly in the breeze as she stood, kohl'd blue eyes taking in both figures before her in silence. Her body was thinner than Edreina's, more muscle and less womanly curve for that was what she considered to be attractive. The fabric around her would part to reveal a flat expanse of stomach, or lean length of her thigh. Once or twice, as she stood there assessing the harlot and herself, the wind pressed the fabric flush over her bare breast, allowing the pert peak to stand in sharp relief. This Lust, unlike Matthew's, knew more ways than one to get what it desired.

The tease, the taunt, the calculations and the game of desire. Edreina's Lust had learned long ago that sex appeal itself was not enough to prevail and be fulfilled. A wild, primal sort of light still danced in her eyes and tugged at her lush lips, but her desire did not rage out of control as Matthew's had. A quick flip of her hair exposed her bare shoulder, and she looked up at them through her lashes, eyes moving to Matthew then, as her tongue moved to roam over her upper lip hungrily.

The wind kicked up and, from a gust, tumbled another form of Edreina. This one's body was bare, likely because it had grown bored with the concept of clothes. Her arms and legs were longer than Edreina's own, made for reaching and climbing and searching and finding. Her face was dominated by larger eyes, a wider nose, and slightly larger ears; this was the face of one who could see, hear, and smell everything around her. Upon the island had tumbled Edreina's Curiosity.

The strange creature hopped across the sand to Lust, smiling and hopping from foot to foot even as she came to a stop beside her. Something between the two emotions tangled and grew, making Lust's gossamer gown glow all the brighter. Though silent they stood, Curiosity's head moved this way and that as she sought everything she could glean from the small island, spending a few ticks flickering over Matthew before finding something elsewhere of interest. All the while, Lust stared Matthew down, head tilted to the side as a smirk occasionally flashed over her face, hinting that she knew some deep and dark secret about him.

Finally, the two turned and a wisp of pure foam rolled to settle between them. From the white foam rose a third version of Edreina. This one wore a plain white shift dress that swayed rhythmically in the arrhythmic breeze; near the hem, it was tattered and soiled a faint brown. Her face was rounder, as were her guileless blue eyes, and her hair lay in a demure braid down the middle of her back. Her body bore none of the scars nor tattoos that Edreina's did. In her presence, Curiosity seemed to gain strength and energy. With a start, the true woman realized that an element of her very being had come to meet them, not just an emotion.

Now, Edreina faced Lust, Curiosity, and Naivety. All three managed to whirl and mingle together in a way that the senses could not detect. Naivety drove Curiosity, tempting it with all that it did not know, but one day could. Curiosity gave Lust a foothold, driving her to seek new forms of pleasure and new ways to attain them.

Suddenly, Edreina was worried that she could not conquer the her three greatest vices in one go. Matthew had only been forced to face his Lust. But, he was not used to any kind of emotion. It was only fair, she supposed, that the more experienced be granted the greater challenge.

As one, the three began to stride forward, towards Edreina and Matthew. The Svefra's jaw set in a harder line ever so faintly as she turned to the harlot. "Try though you might, you can never truly kill a part of yourself, only reconcile with it for some time. The more harshly you oppress it, the less likely you are to ever truly master it..." For once in their friendship, Matthew was the harsh, unrefined savage and Edreina the logical woman. A half step forward prepared her to face her Vices.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Matthew]

He absentmindedly brushed off his hands, flicking droplets of salt water from the flexing digits. The task had felt so very dirty when he had first started using it as a visualized mental exercise. Now it had lessened to a mere annoyance in the very back of his mind, an annoyance that manifested in the sensation of filthy fingers. He dipped them into the water, wringing the flesh as if to milk the imagined dirt from it. He would assume that he should have grown beyond this by now. The rest of the world felt so very distant, so this should be easy. What piece of him was still holding on?

The sound of Edreina clicking her tongue caused Matthew's blue eyes to blink up at her, distracting him and pulling him from his muddle thoughts. It was odd that he could loose himself in his own thoughts even when he was standing in an imagined world that existed somewhere inside of him. He watched her, their blue hues contrasting brightly, her words dancing through the air and into his ears. He processed them, taking a moment to think them over. He rarely heard anyone say something foolish. He tried to remain open to every word that would pass through his mind, even if they opposed a core value that he clung to almost desperately. How would he ever evolve and grow in knowledge if he wasn't able to accept and apply pieces of new knowledge that came his way? He hesitated for moments longer, staring at her even as the flame broke out across his beach.

He felt oddly open. Things that he usually didn't say were easier to say in here. Was it because he had brought her to this part of him?

"It... is different. Most people naturally learn and come to understand their emotion. They understand happiness, sadness, anger. They learn about them through natural experiences of life. It is a part of them before they are aware of it. It was the opposite for me. There was only this island, and then one day these creatures tried to climb upon it. Then I grew afraid, and even more stepped upon it. I just wanted to be alone. If these messy, impulsive, wild things are what defines a human... then I would rather be defined as someone else, even if that is indeed wrong." His blue eyes sparkled, something deep inside of them that no one may have seen from him before. Something inside of him was broken. There was a moment of pure desperation in that stare. Then it was wiped away, likely held underwater in some separate piece of him. He turned then, slowly stepping towards Edreina as the images of her Emotion started to materialize. He moved carefully, cautiously, already aware that Lust had her eyes locked upon him. "But you are right, I found that I could never truly kill it. I had to adapt. I learned one other way of managing the people that try and step upon my shore. Here. I will deal with one of these myself, as a lesson."

He stepped forward, noticing how each of the Emotions were so varied in little subtle ways. He could not hope to understand what they were, he only knew Lust without having to think for but a moment. He stood facing her, eyes briefly glancing over the collection of silks, noticing the difference in body. He tilted his head a moment as she smiled at him, the curve of her lips turning into something that was more of a smirk now that she had her full attentions set on the Harlot. She was confident. She knew him like not many others did, but in return she had not seen him in the way that many others had. He distantly realized this, trying to remember if he had actually ever fully clothed himself in the skin of the Harlot when Edreina was near.

Lust stepped closer, looking up at him through her eyelashes, hips naturally swaying in a slow and sultry walk. Did it matter? He had been the one to force this upon her. He would be the one to deal with it, and in turn hopefully teach her something new.

An almost physical sensation of heat suddenly lanced from Matthew, the cold-eyed man transforming on the spot. His full lips melted into a smirk, his blue eyes dripped with promises. He moved forward as well, all grace and flow, body slightly shivering as it moved. He was like a calculating predator, giving off some sort of invisible aura that was intoxicating to the senses. When his words came out, they were a husky growl, a playful purr. "You will submit." Lust rose an eyebrow and gave him a playful smile, wiggling in delight at the implications. She was still confident, planning on stringing him along.

"You have no idea what pleasure is, do you?" The Harlot's voice was hot and bold, arrogant because he knew he had a reason to be. Lust paused, not expecting this approach. The man in front of her was not just confident, he was absolute. He was not a man who questioned his skills, nor a man who needed to ask her how she liked it. He was not a Knight on a sailboat, teasing her to make the first move. He was not the other Knight either, stroking his own ego as he tried to play at stroking her. He was not Matthew, the calm and calculating man she had come to know. Perhaps most forbidden of all but not at all afraid to bring the memory to the surface, he was no savage. When it came to sex, he was like no other. "You have been fulfilled, no doubt. You have been exposed to love, to intimacy, to the awkwardness of your first time, to the joy of exploring new things with someone you trust. But you have never once been subjected to the mercy of someone who knew absolutely every single way to unlock every inch of your body without a single moment of hesitation. You have never been purely petched in a perfect, transcendent way." Lust blinked, opening her mouth to retort. The Harlot left no room for argument. He left no room for logical thought. Even that would be his. Everything she was would be his. "There is a part of you deep inside, a part that longs. It is in everyone, and you shouldn't deny it. You shouldn't try to hide from it, to ignore it. Separate from love, separate from reason, there is a piece of you that needs the simple fulfillment of just being taken. So come then." A hand was at her throat, not choking, merely contolling. It yanked her forward, accepting no other answer in return.

A sudden collision of bodies echoed out. Lines of definition clashed and collided, scraping against each other in a series of delightfully wet sounds. Their lips locked, one accepting, the other absolutely desperate for more. Damp tongues clashed and twisted, wrestling the other. The harlot stood tall, a statue in the middle of a raging wind of fire. He held Lust, a hand roughly gripping her beneath her leg, dragging his nails along the thigh as he lifted it and hooked it upon the V of his hip. He straddled her upon his knee, hand slipping to the curve of her rear, expertly guiding her hips to roll in such a way that the length of her barely-covered slit pulsed and rubbed against the flexed muscle of his own thigh. He assaulted her with pleasure, distracting her from the fact that the hand had suddenly constricted even tighter around her neck.

Suddenly Lust stood next to him, looking as coy as before but somewhat pleased with herself. The one difference was the simple black choker that clung to her throat like a collar, a small golden circle dangling from it. The circle had her name on it. However, it was not what some would consider the abusive relationship of a master and slave. No, Lust was pleased. She was satisfied, and had been contained. Contained and controlled, not choked until life left her. She had been gifted, and in return she would give back. For now.

Matthew turned, the Harlot gone in the blink of an eye. He turned to see how Edreina was handling her own opponents, if she needed help or if she was already victorious. He felt his breath catch in a ragged pant, his eyes briefly crossing over to Lust. He knew that he was the Seductive superior of the creature. Edreina's words had rang true, though. Her Lust was more developed. Even if the Harlot had made it seem simple, it had been a far cry from that.

[Edreina]

Edreina was faintly disappointed when Matthew chose to confront her Lust. It was the one emotion that he absolutely knew how to handle, most likely. How would he have battled with her Naivety or Curiosity? Briefly, she worried that he would kill her Lust but, as mentioned before, it would eventually be back. A life without her Lust was something the Svefra could scarcely imagine. The trio of Edreinas turned to one another, Curiosity and Naivety smiling faintly at one another as if they knew some secret.

"Naivety," Edreina called and was unsurprising when the white-clad version of herself cocked her head in recognition of her name. Apple'd cheeks shone faintly as if lit from within as the concept stepped forward, oddly leaving nary a mark upon the sand she strode across; her faintly filthied dress went untussled by the wind, even as she walked. This one, Edreina realized rather abruptly, would be easy. "Stop," she commanded, narrowing her blue eyes.

"Why?" Curiosity asked for her counterpart, taking a hop forward, herself.

Naivety continued to stride forward, fingers twiddling with the tip of her neat braid. "You're an illusion..." This time, the unsullied Edreina paused for a tick, curved, angelic features crumpling faintly in confusion.

Again she started to stride forward, a beat more quickly than before. With each step, Edreina pulled to mind a single moment of her recent life. Seeing Razkar work Bone Magic, watching him fight, being attacked by Ekvan, meeting a Yahal, the Yukmen hoard, Sari/Karin the Viper Dhani, the overgiving mage in Zeltiva, murders innumerable in Sunberth, Rafael, the boy with one less finger, now... All came to mind. Edreina was not naive; the stains on the hem of the girl's white gown proved that undeniably. Her naivety was her own creation, her decision to see the bright sides of situations instead of actively learning from each and applying the knowledge gained to new situations.

With each thought, Naivety grew fainter; her steps left divots in the sand and her dress danced in the wind. Naivety, it seemed was an illusion, but a construct of the Svefra's own mind forged in an effort to protect herself from the ugliness of life, to see only the idyllic. With a puff of mist, Naivety disappeared and took on a more accurate form. A white leather blind fold with small slits over the eyes lay upon the sand, now.

Curiosity took a half step back, eyes wide. In an instant, she was beside the blindfold, holding it between her spindly fingers. "How?" She turned to look up at Edreina, rising to her feet slowly. "What did you do?"

"I proved that she was a fallacy." Curiosity was one thing Edreina knew how to deal with, actually, for it had existed for far longer than Lust. She could never be truly sated, only delayed for moments at a time. One answer would always lead to another question.

"Why did you do that?"

"She was a hindrance to who I hope to be. More than that, I cannot live blindfolded by a lie I keep telling myself?"

"What... will you do to me?" Her protruding eyes flickered fractionally over to Lust, noting that she had been handled by the Harlot.

Edreina smiled, then, holding open her arms. "Do to you? You are an integral part of me... But..." She turned her hand over, and then back up into the light of Syna, displaying a silver sun dial in her palm. "You must learn that there is a time and a place for you in my life. I cannot be consumed by you, or any other emotion, for that matter."

Curiosity looked relieved, but slightly annoyed. "And why not? Why can you not be curious all the time?"

"Where would I find space for Love, Satisfaction, Joy, or even Sadness, Longing, or Fear, with only you? Instead of being able to rest at night in Razkar's arms, I would be driven to ask why this and how that until he found himself quite mad. Instead of running from a balicani, I would try to investigate the texture of its talons. I must be balanced... But, when all else fades, there will always be you, I promise that." Gently, Edreina held out the sundial, fingers tempting the emotion forward.

In a blink, Curiosity was towering over Edreina, little silver disk turning over and over again in her fingers before resting upon the flat of her palm. "I understand..." There was an airy, nearly distracted tone to her voice as she gazed at the shadow of the dial, waiting for it to be her time.

With that, Edreina finally gave her attention to Matthew, shrugging faintly despite the satisfied smile curving her lips. "Knowing them is far easier than killing them."

(c) Wanda Endust

[Matthew]

He was thankfully done in time to watch Edreina handle the rest of her Emotion. Curiosity was familiar to him and it was really the only one he felt safe with most of the time. The other one was a complete and utter mystery, and Matthew's blue eyes took quite a bit of time examining it for clues on exactly what it was. He never came to a conclusion. He was never able to match it to any of his own emotion, so in the end he was left clueless and curious.

Matthew turned to her as she shrugged, their almost-identical shades of blue glimmering at the other. He nodded at her explaination, accepting it and understanding it. "I see that it is. For me though, killing them is far less..." He paused a moment, and for the briefest of seconds his face changed. He morphed into his own form of Innocence, beautiful features growing pure and unconcerned with the matters of the world. When he spoke his voice was light and soft, distant and child-like. "...killing them is far less... scary."

Then there was another image. It was only for Edreina to see, another Matthew briefly flickering into place behind the real Matthew. This Matthew was taller, well-dressed in a black suit and a red tie. This Matthew was grinning, a wide-toothed smile that stretched un-naturally wide. He had a hand on Matthew's shoulder, squeezing so hard that it was easy to tell that the shoulder was crumpling underneath his touch. He had a hold on Matthew, and a strong one. When his eyes glanced to meet Edreina and he gave her the quickest of winks, she would almost immediately know who he was. In this hypnotic trance Matthew was telling her, even if he didn't know it, even if he himself wasn't aware that the Other Matthew was now there. But when Matthew turned to glance at the other Emotions that were starting to swim to the shore as the drug kicked in, Edreina might noticed that he had only turned because the Other Matthew had forced him to turn. Even if Matthew didn't completely and totally feel like the rest of them, he still did have some emotion. It just wasn't as strong, it was just weak enough for him to see it coming and keep control over it. But all of it had led to one thing, one very deeply-ingrained emotion that he hadn't drowned. The Other Matthew chuckled and then vanished, but not before blowing Edreina a quick kiss.

His name was Fear.

The Harlot stepped forward as more and more Matthew's swarmed to the shore. They were all the wild-eyed lusts, but now there were quite a few varieties. There was a sophisticated Lust, a wild Lust, a demented Lust, an innocent Lust. There were all the different types of Lust that Matthew had painstakingly crafted over the years. They would come to the shore, and if Edreina's own Lust was starting to surface due to the drug... They would each pair off with her lust, sometimes one on one, sometimes two versus one or one versus two. Edreina was treated to Matthew's Hypnotic vision of how he imagined all of this madness, all of this lustful fervor. They were soon surrounded in a frenzied orgy, provided that the drug would do the same to her as it did to him. He took a breath and forced himself to ignore it, knowing that if they survived through this, then they had survived through the drug. There was obviously the urge to give in and join, but he forced himself to ignore it. He forced himself to step toward Edreina, offering her a hand. If she took it, he would sit them both in the small clearing that was in the middle of all the heaving thrusting sweaty bodies. Meditation was key here, but he was so very bad at it. Instead he was forced to distract himself in other ways.

"I told you to repeat something back to me much earlier in the conversation. Repeat it back to me now. Word for word." He suddenly ordered her in a cold voice, eyes watching her and focusing on her alone.

[Edreina]

The grinning shade sinking his ephemeral claws into the shoulder of Edreina's friend caused the redhead to gasp involuntarily, eyes widening and body straining to take a step backwards despite being abruptly and utterly rooted in place. There was something so utterly consuming about this emotion that even the Svefra could not bring herself to look away, feeling her heart flutter and flip in her chest. An image flickered briefly before Edreina's eyes. Beside Matthew's strange emotion was one of her own, very similar to herself but her long, auburn hair lashed about like the tentacles of an octopus, and her features seemed a shade too sharp, too primal and wild. This emotion was so very weak that it faded from existence an instant later, leaving Edreina with a shadowy impression beneath conscious thought.

Blue eyes returned to the strange Matthew, narrowing as she assessed it silently. Whatever it was, Matthew had obviously conditioned himself to ignore it or it was so fiercely woven into his being that he could no longer distinguish it from himself as he could the other emotions. The way his shoulder seemed to bow and bend beneath the Other's hand made her believe that it was not a good emotion, not a healthy one that should be allowed to thrive in such a way.

Just as her lips moved to mention it, the thing chuckled, a low, rumbling sound, and vanished. With it, the darkness that had been huddling about Edreina's mind. Was it Fear? the thought caused Edreina to start faintly as her subconscious had jumped to a conclusion her conscious mind had been realizing far more slowly. It made sense, as she thought on it. Fear could be such a toxic emotion when allowed to go unchecked. There were many types of fear created by different things, though... What had birthed the one with such a vicious hold upon Matthew?

Lust after Lust rose to shore, for every two of Matthews, there was only one of Edreina's. She had not spent time crafting different varieties as he had, instead only those which existed naturally within her rose, some more defined and refined than others. As they began to congregate, it was quite rare that the pairing was equal or fair. Pathetic as it was to see the less developed forms of Edriena's lust trying to hold their own against Matthew's, the Svefra could not pull her eyes away. Her curiosity was somewhere doing backflips as she moved mentally from one couple/trio to another, being astounded by the techniques in plain sight. Some she had never conceived let alone utilized.

Deep with her being, she felt each of them, ebbing and flowing and throbbing gleefully as the drug's effects came in full. It was as if an amber thread connected her to each of the Lusts and would vibrate faintly whenever that particular Lust surged. Together they created a tantalizing melody, a siren's call urging her to join the fray. There were enough to go around, surely. She could taste the primal, dominating fury of one Lust, or the gentle caresses of another.

The draw was disrupted as her attention was reclaimed by the real Matthew as he stepped forward, offering his hand. The redhead took it immediately, squeezing slightly to remind herself of what was real and what was drug induced. His hand acted like an anchor, keeping her from diving into the swirling sea of bodies. Even so, her blue eyes darted about, mind making mental notes and queries to be posed later.

"I told you to repeat something back to me much earlier in the conversation. Repeat it back to me now. Word for word."

Ah shyke... What was it? Her mind stumbled and rushed through her memories as her eyes glazed over, writhing bodies becoming a pleasant, flesh-toned blur. Something about Hypnotism! And... it's effects. Oh. Oh! Her head snapped back to Matthew and her breathing slowed though she had not been aware of just how greatly its rate had spiked, before forcing it to slow. "Hypnotism's effects are lessened if the target knows it's coming..." The words came slow as she forced herself to focus on the blue of Matthew's eyes and nothing else. The sounds were reaching a crescendo around them, now, as passion continued to flare brighter. "Be aware of this when teaching or learning h-hypno-" Her head careened away automatically as a sound of distinct pleasure reached her ears and she saw one of her Lusts being taken in a rather creative manner.

Blue eyes widened and red hair whirled as she forced herself to look away and back to Matthew. "Sorry..." Where had she been? Gods bless, this was a sordid situation. "Never expose your art unless you have to, for it gives others power against you. M-magic has a price... Most will justify the price being worth their pursuit... Trust no one..." She knew it had not been word for word and wanted to slap herself. It was so damned hard to concentrate, she was lucky to have remembered her own name. A sheepish smile flickered over her lips as she looked up at Matthew from their twined hands. "So this is the drug you gave me... Why?" If thought and talk would help to distract them, the least she could do was use it to her advantage.

(c) Wanda Endust