towerofanimus | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Catarina and anyone willing to put up with a moody demon
Setting: Floor 38
Format: Action start
Summary: Catarina's consolation prize from being crushed by her ridiculous costume isn't something she really wants...
Warnings: Catarina being her usual threatening/sexual self

[The second lounge, surrounded by clouds. It was a little dizzying to Catarina, but she honestly hadn't been looking out of the window for a while. Instead, she was sitting on beanbag chair with a necklace dangling over one hand. It was gorgeous, gold with a beautiful intricate charm carved onto the end. But her dark eyes were almost angry as she looked at it, her jaw tight. She knew what this was. She saw it when she was a child, and was supposed to be handed down to her. Catarina dropped her hand next to her, disgusted, letting the chain slither to the floor]

I've beaten you. I lived.

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[She looked over at Saber, lip lifted in a snarl] It's something I wish never to have seen again.

[Saber pauses, then coils it in her hand, slipping it into a concealed pocket in her dress.]

Then you shall not have to see it any longer.

[Catarina watched her tuck the necklace away, her eyes slightly confused at the gesture] Thank... you.

If you ever wish is back, simply ask. I will not destroy it.

I do not understand your motives behind such a gesture, but it's welcomed.

[Saber reached out to touch Catarina's cheek.]

I do not like seeing a beautiful woman distressed. A small gesture it may be, but if it calms your heart, I am glad.

[She turned her head, kissing Saber's palm] Very kind of you.

[She offered a small smile and then moved to join Catarina, pulling over her own beanbag chair. Except... she'd never sat in one before.

That would be one king looking very startled as she slides backwards off the beanbag to end up staring up at the ceiling.]

...how humiliating.

[Catarina started laughed, holding her hand out to Saber] Dear Saber, you're not the first for that to happen to.

[Taking the hand, Saber pulls herself up and maintains the hold while trying to figure out the right way to sit on the damn beanbag.]

That does little to soothe my bruised pride.

The trick, beautiful king, is to imitate a cat. [She pulled her close] To lay as if you mean it and it is your life.

I have been likened to a lion in the past. [She allows herself to be pulled close. Less of a chance for a repeat performance.] But I suspect that was more in regards to the battlefield...

Mm, I can imagine you as such. A gorgeous lion, sword in hand as you cut down your enemies and lead your people to glorious victory...

[Okay. There. She's pretty sure she can manage to not fall over this time.]

The battlefield was where I was most comfortable, defending my borders against invaders. I am afraid I am not so glorious in battle these days as much as I am terrifying.

[She gives a slight gesture to the red mark on her neck that's a lot more pronounced than it was when the two had first met.]

[Catarina touched the mark, her face turning serious] What is this? I've never seen such a thing before on humans...

It is the mark of Angra Mainyu. There is another here who bears it as well, but she and I are not from the same version of our world. It is hard to explain exactly what it is, but it and the rest of my appearance is an outward indication of the slow corruption of my soul from what I once was.

I have been touched by all the evils of the world, but instead of being consumed by them as most would, I was strong enough to withstand them, but not without being marked by it.

And why do you withstand it, instead of embracing it?

To embrace it is to betray everything I was, am and to give up my eternal goal. [Saber frowns.] I would lose my mind and become nothing more than one of the Berserker class, only worse.

I am still a knight, Catarina.

[Catarina make a non-committal noise to herself] I suppose that is one human thing I won't get. I simply don't understand how giving into darkness makes one a lesser person.

If the corruption would not rob me of my reason and my honor, then I may have a different opinion. I refuse to be a dishonorable killing machine.

You wish to keep your mind. I can... more than understand that.

A wise old man once told me there are but two parts of us that are important.

[Her hand moves to brush her fingertips against Catarina's temple.] The mind.

[And then they move down to press lightly, chastely, over the woman's heart.] The heart.

They are the two parts that make up the soul. We can lose one, but not both. If one corrupts... the other must stay true or the soul will cease to exist.

[Catarina took her hand and kissed her fingers, making an attempt at being equally chaste] A unique view at the human condition. I hadn't considered that before, for the human soul.

[The attempt is met with a small smile from the king who makes no move to take her hand back.]

If you think about humanity, the body is frail. It can be broken easily under a small amount of pressure, or the most accidental of blows. But a broken body does not break the human.

The body doesn't matter. If the king acts like a king, no one will pay attention to the king's appearance, nor care that the king is female as long as the king is a good king.

It is the mind and the heart that defines humanity, my dear. And what they guard the most.

[Catarina thought about that, sitting back into the bean bag chair] I've not had a human with a mind and heart as strong as yours be able to withstand me long enough to tell me such things.