Asylum [for Tigs]

[iprince]

Dust flit like gold and silver into the air glimmering in the little pools of sunlight that streamed down in broken hues of white and rainbow, through the stained glass windows of the church. The floor itself was a mosaic of white and gold, turned red-brown in corners from age, and black with weathering. The faded, grotesque demise of something that was once pure and beautiful.

Jhaval had admired it many a night, resting beneath the painted figure of a golden crucifx, nailed to befittingly to the farthest wall upon the expansive wine-hued podium. This night was no different than any of the others, he rested with long legs sprawled before him and wings tucked lazily at his sides, head lifted to watch the colors dance, hues and lightness fading with the passing of dark, nighttime clouds. It was always quiet, always empty, a perfect place for contemplation.

It would become his temple, his training ground, was he was ready for it. Although the church was unclaimed, indeed, unclaimable, by any Euclides (and thankful no amuni would want a church who’s crucifix was varnished and rusting), Jhaval could make it his. His…refuge, if he may.

Jhaval rose to his paws with a hearty stretch, claws flexing before him and tail arching over his back. A silent yawn gripped his maw, tongue peeking out between rows of teeth. His paws carried him down from the podium and across the battered, ravaged floors. Toward the door, barely open. Amuni may not have wanted the church, but he wouldn’t risk attracting their attention by informing them someone was there. More than one had stalked the graveyard grieving for the poor, deceased souls that scattered its grounds.

Jhaval may have been the son of a god, a Prince of the very highest, but he was not blindly arrogant. It would give his father no honor for his son to die at the jaws of a lowly Amuni, simply for lack of foresight.

[tigs]

What was it that made this deranged damsel feel so ashamed when sneaking around this church? Why was there an ever present feeling of being watched, being judged? She had nothing to apologise for, unless she were to apologise for being what she was. Two twisted sides of a strange spectrum, one side seductress, the other, cannibal. Her cravings could slide without warning from flesh to... well, flesh. Which might explain the last four weeks of solitude.

Where better to wander next than an old, abandoned and fading church? Amuni had been known to appear here and there, mourning pathetically for that which could never be regained. "Life..." The words were a bare whisper on the wind. Life meant little to her, she could admit. Because she felt hers was empty. As were so many others. Whatever purpose she was looking for, well, she hadn't found it yet, and she doubted she'd find it here.

Who would ever know that a mix such as she could have anything in her head other than demented fantasies, strange and terrifyingly erotic cravings. She'd tried hard to ignore it all for a while, just long enough to see if there was something more. Or if she was doomed to be such a monster. Surely there was hope for her, after all, vampires found lovers, and werewolves too. She'd been around and heard the stories, even caught a glimpse of a suspicious affair. She'd gone too far down this road to turn back now, it was all she had left to believe in.

And suddenly she wondered if she'd been too far into her own thoughts and something had caught her off guard, sending her into a strange afterlife. For surely this was an angel. But an angel with dragonic wings, that seemed... peculiar. "Angel, who are you? I do not belong in heaven, I am still what I am and that should be enough to damn me, don't you think?" She stopped to realize she hadn't eaten in about a week or so... perhaps she had died of starvation? Or maybe she was just very, very delirious from hunger.

[iprince]

Jhaval paused in his meanderings, paw-pads resting lightly over the dust strewn ground. His wings ruffled at his sides, shimmering silvery-gold in the painted moonlight that shimmered down from old stain glass windows. Something had slipped through the doors of his church. How long she had been there, Jhaval did not know…but she had gotten in without him noticing, and the thought perturbed him greatly. What sort of defender of his territory would he be, if he couldn’t catch sight of a single bebe?

Angel. The word rung in his ears like the clear chiming of silver bells. Angel, indeed. Jhaval’s pale lips curled in a minute smirk, and he dipped his narrow head in greeting before even the thought of speak has passed through his mind. His mane kissed the ground, silver-gold dust clinging to it as he rose up again.

“You’re mistaken, stranger. I am no angel,” he flexed his wings…shining like ivory in the light,” Lest I be the angel of all things unholy.” Perhaps a befitting ruler for the heaven of Euclide.

“My name is Jhaval, and I claim this church as my own. What brings you here, stranger? I don’t believe I’ve seen your face wandering my gravestones before.”

[tigs]

He seemed welcoming enough, though his words seemed mocking. She couldn't blame him at all, it had been a far shot but still a logical guess concerning his looks. His stance was proud and possessive, as if this land were his and his only. But he didn't look like any Puppet Master, and he certainly didn't look very menacing. Not right now, anyway. It was probably very difficult to look ferocious when having such a stunning outward appearance. Shrugging it off, she wandered slightly closer, her leg shaking for a moment out of sheer exhaustion.

"Well then, you may be the angel of all things unholy. In that case, I feel like I fit in a lot more, Angel." An invisible weight seemed to slide from her shoulders, and she took a seat just a short space away from him, looking around. Her exhaustion and hunger pains told her she wasn't dead, but what was to say that angels could not exist in reality? Either way he was positively alluring, delicious looking, you could say...

"Jhaval, a pleasure to meet you. I am Tarisibae." She nodded her head low and then looked up to meet his expression. "Claiming this church, hmmm? It does have a strange, almost eerie appeal. There aren't many abandoned churches still in this good of shape..." She commented idly, looking over the general architecture and figuring that it was, indeed, very old. It had probably been abandoned for even more years than she'd initially guessed.

"You seem young to be starting a cast, Angel. And I don't see a Puppet Master's hat upon your head, forgive me if I seem confused." It was a little odd to be sure, but she could understand getting a headstart in life. She had only been blessed with the rank of Marionette, which was still useful for a great many reasons, and it was almost guaranteed she'd be wanted for a Cast... if she could keep herself in control that is... her stomach contracted suddenly, making her spasm. She looked back to Jhaval with an apologetic, embarassed, and slightly... intense stare.

[iprince]

Jhaval remained standing, even as his guest took the liberty of seating herself. He watched her with an expressionless gaze, ears flicked back in comfortable alignment with his skull, not out of aggression of anxiety, simply because. It was, after all, terribly silly to have such large ears as his sitting perked atop such a small and slender head.

“You are correct, my little intruder. I am no puppet master, nor to I desire to be one,” he shook his neck, jerking his mane out of his eyes,” Merely a director...with little interest in creating a cast.” Indeed, this church was to be his and his alone, if he deigned in adulthood to join a cast, so be it, but for now he’d keep his territory to himself.

“Solitude suits my purposes, as they are.”

Jhaval watched her spasm with a lifted brow, feigned curiosity fluttering over his features. He lifted his head, trotting toward her with long, elegant steps,” You’re hungry.” He flicked his gaze along her body, trailing from deep, dreamy blue to brown,” And perhaps a cannibal unless I am mistaken. I do hope you are not entertaining thoughts of eating me within my own church, little demon.”

Yes. Demon. Demon would suit her well, if he were to be an angel. Perhaps even Succubus, the nighttime demon of seduction. For surely that was temptation that marred and hid her cannibalistic coloration?

[tigs]

He was cold and calculated, much as many directors were. It was... comforting, to be honest. Because such abrupt dismissive behaviour made him seem... oh she didn't know, important? Whatever it was, it kept him from looking too tasty. His ears sat at an awkward angle, as if her mere presence had irritated him. It probably had. Not that she particularily cared, she'd probably be here and gone in a span of perhaps an hour. She didn't think this was what she was looking for.

"Ah, you intend to fend off this land entirely for yourself then. I suppose groups of Amuni somehow don't make you concerned?" One would be easy to fend off if there was more under that lovely fur than there appeared to be. He was slender and delicate looking, to be sure, not much of a fighter's build. But perhaps his apparent wit and intellect would keep him out of trouble. Either way, it wasn't her business.

Hungry? No, she was not hungry. "I am not." The words were a frightened urgent sling of syllables together, her eyes suddenly wide with fear, but a look of wonder lay behind them. Oh the conflicting desires within her. She was suddenly painfully aware of the lovely golden sheen of hair caressing the air and the cold concrete of the stairs, the swift and elegant movement of those long, slender legs. His throat smelled warm, of blood and sweet flesh. She always enjoyed the throat and chest for some reason... it had been why her sexual endeavours had gone from kinky to downright prude, and then none. All of which only made everything worse.

"Do not come near me. I swear my intent was not to kill you!" Her eyes, so wide, so pleading. The deep honey brown that had replaced the soft blue was alluring in the imagery it brought on. Shining as if candles were lit all about him in a dark, private room. Her body shuddered again, but this time it was not because of hunger. "I can't tell if I more crave the taste of your skin or the flesh underneath it. You cannot begin to understand this torment..." The words came out in a rush, desperate to make him understand what was pulling her apart. Normally she would keep such information to herself, but he couldn't have understood was he was beckoning by teasing her with those subtle gestures, the glance of his gaze, the promise of food...

Demon. Was she a demon? "I am no demon!!" The words came out in a half-scream of frustration, her eyes dark and wild behind the shimmering blue of her temptation coat. She couldn't take any more of this, the need, the guilt, trying to hold back only to be judged as guilty. But god she loved it, and she hated the part of her that loved it. If only she knew how to sacrifice one need for the other. To choose when to seduce and when to consume... but she was still so young, and her father be damned if he would waste his time helping her deal with the curse he'd bestowed onto her.

[iprince]

Amuni? Of course he had worried about Amuni, they were a constant threat, after all, and taking residence in one of their homes was dangerous.

“Indeed,” he paused, paws resting lightly over the mosaic floor, almost daintily. He lifted his head as if to contemplate the prospect, and dismissed it just as quickly,” I give and take.” Until he would no longer need to, of course. Jhaval was not built for physical strength, but he was not interested in physical strength. He had other things…other ways. And the church was his training ground.

“Do not come near you?” his brow lifted once again, lips curling into the very edges of a smirk. He stepped toward her, head lifted and throat bared as if tempting her. He reveled in the way she shivered…not because of him, he was positive, but because of herself. He paused before her, flanks exposed, sides undefended, and lowered his head nearer to hers,” Why should you decide between either?”

He lifted his head and turned away, stretching his wings with a few hopeless flaps. He had no desire to fly, but they were constantly uncomfortable when kept cramped and folded at his sides. Jhaval cast his gaze over his shoulder, turning one last time and taking a seat in his original spot, when he had first laid eyes on her,” Why not succumb to both consecutively? Such is the way of vampires after all, why should their plight be any different than yours…my demon.”

Not a demon? Oh yes, surely she was.

“For if I can be the angel of all things unholy, surely you can be a demon of the bittersweet?” he cocked his head a little, mane falling over eyes which he had just so recently tried to clear,” Perhaps your torment is simply because you think in black and white, good and evil. Things can be both without become impure.”

[tigs]

His scent was overwhelming, like a sickly sweet perfume in a hotel room, and like a freshly prepared steak sitting in a restaurant. Both at once, always it was like this for her. A whimper paused at her mouth and she swallowed it back forcefully. Her logic WAS black and white, and very much so. If she killed so ruthlessly and ate the delicious flesh of her prey she would be unattractive, frightening, and who would want to be around that? In a sense, she wanted to be like her mother, and was truthfully afraid of her father. Her sister loved that beast of a rolemodel and she never understood why. Rasenjin was a twisted thing. She wouldn't be that.

One paw slashed out at him in a hungry greed, and she was honestly very relieved when he turned just enough so that it missed. "Because how can I have both?! I cann't kill my lovers, or who will want me then?" How could she... how could she have succumbed, lowered her standards so? Her mother was so beautiful, she must be so sought after... why him? Why that lowly cannibal? She would never touch one! But such repulsion... at one of her own. Her own kind, the only one who would understand. No, they wouldn't understand. They loved what they did and had no regrets. Hers was a different situation, still.

"Vampires do not eat their kind. They drink the blood and leave the body looking beautiful. It is a graceful thing. They do not tear the meaty flesh apart and leave an open spill of organs and gore in their wake..." She shuddered at the memories... her memories. "They are sexy because of how they kill, how they act. The danger around them, mixed with seduction. There are those who shiver in pleasure at the thought of a vampire's kiss. There are none who writhe in ecstacy imagining a cannibal's wrath." She hung her head to the side and glared at the ground, as if the faces of all those who would never understand were watching her, staring back into that glare.

"Why would you make it sound so appealing? Do you so wish for me to be comfortable with what I am?" Up until the past minute or so, she'd assumed he wouldn't, couldn't care less about her. Not that she'd blame him at all. But it seemed as if in some small way he did care, though she couldn't fathom why. "Things can be both without being impure, I know... if only it were easier to control. If only there was a way that I knew, that would enable me to choose when to feed my temptation needs, and when to feed that of my cannibal. As of yet, all my attempts have been severely unsucessful. Even if I am full, I still crave just a little snack. Enough to frighten whoever my company might be so that they would never cross my path again." Her body still shook, even now, with her careful control to not let herself lunge at him and do... god knows what.

She could never marr his perfection and forgive herself. Who was she to destroy an angel?

[iprince]

“Why should I care if you are comfortable with yourself? I don’t. I have no reason to,” his tail lashed against his thighs and he leant back on slender haunches, wings draped along his sides,” I merely dislike such closed mindedness. Self-loathing is such a dreadful thing, after all.” Not for the purpose of it being self demeaning, but simply because it was weakening, positively foul. Jhaval would never allow himself to succumb to such a lowly frame of mind.

Nor, for that matter, did he want to become arrogant with himself, but self-loathing was many times worse.

“Never assume that there is no one who would enjoy your vices, my dear demon. There is always someone,” his lips curled again, tail lashing against the floor, painting little clouds in the dust,” And there are those yet who would balk at the kiss of a vampire, just as there are those who would kill for it,” he stood again, as if restless, and approached her once more, with no intention of leaving her this time.

He circled around her, tail held in the air, wings held tight at his sides. His limbs brushed her body and he let his neck curl about hers, voice lowered to a purr,” There are those who quake in ecstasy at the thought of a cannibal’s…” he let out a harsh chortle,”wrath. And who turn their noses up at a vampire’s seductive danger.”

He tongue snaked out of his mouth, dragging along her neck with a deep inhaled breath. So close…she smelled of copper blood and life. The scent of blood was tantalizing, filling him with buzzed adrenaline, heady wanton lust…lust for blood. Jhaval himself, after all, was part blood. Just as vampiric as the creatures he spoke of.

“It’s merely a matter of taste.”

[tigs]

She shrugged his comment off, as it made sense. What would he possibly gain in her letting out her inner beast and being happy with it for once? Nothing, but he could loose something, so it was a strange risk he took. He seemed completely overconfident, but for all she knew, he had a damn good reason to be. Well, for one, he could fly... and unless she ripped that tender skin in her rage it would be easy for him to get away from her. Surely there were more reasons than that, but it was all that came to mind at the moment.

"I don't loathe myself, just the curse given to me by my murderous abnormal father." She squirmed with the admittance out loud of how much she despised him in that moment. This youth had probably never even heard of Rasenjin and his... strangeness. Punishing himself for his desires... oh god. She was acting so much like him it was worrying. He disgusted her, but she'd never realized until now how much of daddy's girl she truly was. In that moment, she understood what it was she wanted, what she'd been looking for.

The touch of his tongue was searing and almost brought a hiss from her throat. Her skin burned with the want to be touched, to be given those delicious attentions. She had no idea that he was a blood, for he looked... nothing like those that she had seen before. Absolutely nothing alike, to be honest. Her teeth were bared and pressed against the space below his collarbone, such soft flesh... it smelled amazing. She pricked the skin, just once, just to taste his blood and deny herself the flesh. "How... how could anyone want... to have their flesh eaten by another? God it must be... so painful." She whispered against his fur, mind lost in the confusion of his words.

A vampire's kiss, it had been said, didn't really hurt, because of all the pleasure being given and the general sexual appeal of the bite. But realistically, having your flesh bitten off hurt. No matter what you're doing at the time to try and mask it in pleasure, it had to really freaking hurt. How could anyone look forward to that kind of pain, that permanent damage? Such a high possibility of death... almost certain unless you were very lucky... or unlucky, depending on how one looked at it.

"What are your tastes?" She asked, dragging one paw up along his ribs and while revelling in the presence of such a finely crafted body of such beauty, she found herself fingering that soft flesh and testing to see how much meat lie on those slender bones. He could be delicious in every way, but she didn't want to start what she was too uncertain to trust herself with. Just start off by telling him you want to ease a little sexual tension... start with your better side and see if you can relax into the other... But it sounded so impossible, and to be honest, she still had no idea what his intentions were with her. One moment he was teasing and taunting her to the point of madness, the next he was sneering down his nose at her. How peculiar.

[iprince]

“Are there not those who desire pain? You have options, my demon, you’re simply not allowing yourself to see them. There are even those who desire death.”

Jhaval let out a hummed groan as her teeth pierced his breast…just a pinprick of pain. He could feel her tasting him, and his lips curled into a widened smirk at her actions…before he stepped away, unraveling himself from around her body, just as her paw came up to feel his ribs.

“I do not desire to be eaten, my demon, even if my actions appear to suggest otherwise. Not tonight, but perhaps I can offer you a promise for the future.” When he was ready, and he had obtained what it was he wanted. Then he would have no qualms against subjecting himself to this torn female’s desires.

“But I have had very little company these past few days,” of his own choosing, of course, Jhaval enjoyed his solitude,” I would not be adverse to…entertaining you, if you had other things on your mind than the flesh of an afterlife.”

{{ugh. short x.X; Mem needs tea.}}

[tigs]

She could only nod her head at his words of truth. Though they stung in a way, it was also something she'd come to realize... but did she want to associate with those types? Who was she kidding... the bliss of granting death instead of taking life. To not be held responsible, but to get what she craved... it almost seemed like it had to be a lie. After all, everyone she'd come across so far clung so dearly to their presence with the living.

She stared blankly at him, desperately keeping any emotion from passing over her face. "I probably couldn't destroy such perfect flesh if you asked." She laughed then, and the sound was a little crazed to be honest. But what could one expect from a cannibal who had so long gone without food and a temptation who had so long gone without contact? "No promises need to be made, just do as you wish and I will act according to that." She waved off the offer like he was a man offering to pay for his girlfriend's dinner knowing she'd forgotten her wallet at home. Well, she hadn't forgotten anything, she had done this to herself on purpose.

"I have very little on my mind other than flesh at the moment. It's strange how food and sex always end up so closely related..." Her face contracted with memories, a mixed grimace of pain and pleasure. Her eyes were still a willd darkness when she turned back to stare at the golden male. "But I'm sure you've no interest in either..." She teased, wondering if he would come out straight and just tell her what he wanted of her, or if he would let her have any release at all. She would hate to be on her way so quickly.

[iprince]

Could not ruin such perfect flesh, even if he asked? Oh, there was a tempting challenge. He arched his neck, baring throat once again, his ears raised ever so slightly in amusement,” Couldn’t you? Is it not in your nature to devour the flesh of others? And why not perfect flesh – and I thank-you for the compliment, my demon – Why degrade yourself to anything unworthy?”

His paws danced lightly on the dusty ground. It was fact now, he was incapable of sitting still in the presence of others. He must always keep moving, a glimmering flash of ivory in the darkness. Tantalizing, tempting, contradictory. Movement never ceased to snag another’s attention, if for false reasons.

“Why, my lovely demon, do you not embrace your nature?” he gave a snort of laughter,” Do you need a stranger to teach it to you.” He would be more than happy to do so. To find her some lovely prey to mangle and devour as she wished. But only the loveliest of creatures would do. It would be a spectacular show, breaking this torn little girl’s hesitance to devour beauty.

“Flesh, sex, and food?” he let out a deep hum, leaping up onto the nearest pew, legs dangling over the edge and head rested against them, “ For one so young, my demon? No, I have no desire to sully myself with the sins of the flesh,” his laughter broke the muted quiet once again,” I am your angel, after all, and no angel should condemn himself with such sins.”

[tigs]

She laughed a little and shook her head at his comment, it was not that she didn't want to eat perfect flesh, it was that it was a waste to her. What the cannibal saw as sustenance, the temptation saw as a waste of beauty. She saw both sides of everything, really. "You seem to forget I am more than a flesh-craver. I am a temptation, and as thus, it bothers me to waste such pretty flesh that I would gain more joy from seeing intact." Her eyes took in his coat, the heavenly yellow that dusted an otherwise perfectly ivory form, the creatively large set of his ears compared to all that small, delicate, petite body.

"Not only is it a hard nature to embrace, but to embrace it, I would first have to figure out choice victims. I don't see any around here so pardon me if I don't start tearing things to pieces before your eyes." The comment was meant to come off sarcastic, to be honest she tired of being judged and having assumptions lain on her. She'd been looking for that something, a reason, and she'd found it at last it seemed. Maybe she'd see what it was to get to know herself, and to understand the different parts within her, how to make her desires mesh though they were on seperate ends of the spectrum but so very related.

"To be honest, I would have wished my father to have done that. But it seems this will be my own trial." Her eyes displayed a weary tiredness just then, evidence of so many trials being taken and passed or put on hold, in such a small span of time. Everything was out to challenge her, try to bend and break her. Her family, her morals, nature. She was starting to wonder if there would ever be something on her side. Well, she could assume that role would best fit Jhaval, but it was hard to tell what his opinions were until he outright said them.

"Would it entice or amuse you to watch me destroy something beautiful, Angel?" The question was asked in idle curiosity, her head tilted just so to the left, to give a look of puzzlement and intrigue both at once. Truth be told, she wanted someone to be proud of her, so the idea was equally appealing to her. She'd never had any purpose or goal and so it had passed down to acceptance and her paranoia of being rejected and refused.

He seemed so innocent... or perhaps he merely did not want her. Both were plausible, however painful to admit. "It must be nice to have a choice, though I am not as young as you would think." She was pushing over into womanhood and soon would claim a form suiting to her advancing mind. Her experiences were long for one of her age, but at least she felt more prepared for whatever new responsibilites awaited her.

[iprince]

“It is from being a temptation that I would have assumed you’d prefer pretty flesh. Any ravening cannibal can eat the flesh of a mediocre being, but a creature wreathed in lust should take only that which suits such lust,” he drifted from the pew, trotting toward her once again, with head twisted to the side to reveal the curve of his lips. He stopped before her and seated himself,” Beautiful flesh would taste all the more sweeter simply because of your loss.”

Not that that was true, of course, but bittersweet things, things made of sacrifice, were always the things most worth obtaining.

“No victims, my demons?” He extended a paw passed her, reaching out toward the doors of the church,” There is a myriad of beings wandering the graveyards. Surely, if you so desired, you can find a suiting meal amongst them.” Her desire to be left without judgment was not one Jhaval was willing to accept or allow himself to recognize. All beings judged, whether consciously or unconsciously. Jhaval merely enjoyed the added pleasure of turning his judgment into a game. A trial, even.

It seemed such a thing was what she was in need of. One not meant to bend her or break her, but to make her.

“Entice or amuse me?” another chuckle rolled from his jowls,” Both, I do believe. For what’s more suiting an entertainment, and enticement, for the angel of all things unholy, than the destruction and ravaging of something but so fair a demon of the bittersweet?” his smile softened, but did not become any more gentle or accepting than his word’s had been so far,” Would you be willing to be the marionette who succumbs to my eccentric pleasures?”

His brow lifted at her last words, amusement washing over his face once again,” You’re young, whether or not you’re as young as I believe does not matter. Sins are meant for the elders, those who have earned them through years of careful sinlessness and prudence. Sins that are earned are the sweetest sins of all, my demon, and I do not believe that you or I have earned the right to those.”