i put socks on my feet

[rottings]

[ hades himself isn't much one for social pleasantries, but he there's great importance to dinners like these, and watching their interactions really is fascinating. the meal is already winding down, but the poet who's been declaiming for the better part of an hour is still going strong.

hades is mostly ignoring him and picking at his food, humming occasional acknowledgement to when people talk to him, as head of the house. most of the slaves waiting on them are positioned around the perimeter of the room, while hades has left mitsunari largely to his own devices. ]

Comments

[rottings]

It's common. [ he speaks in a low tone, half-drawling, and finally just lets his hand rest in mitsunari's hair. ]

Did you sleep well?

[ it's an oddly mundane question, and abrupt, but hades doesn't seem concerned by any part of the situation. ]

[outforblood]

[mitsunari watches hades blankly for a moment, as if he's never been asked that question before.]

I ... suppose so. More than well enough to suit this body's demands.

[he'd sit up, but the hand in his hair keeps him still. mostly still.]

Do you have need of me?

[rottings]

Does the sky have need of the earth?

[ his hand slides along the side of mitsunari's face, cupping his chin gently. hades looks down on him, a faint smile on his face. ]

[outforblood]

[his brow creases in confusion, abruptly lost by the comparison.]

Is that relevant?

[mitsunari doesn't pull away from the touch, only shifts his arm to take some of the pressure off it.]

[rottings]

...it might be. [ hades' mouth tightens briefly before he stands from the bed, breaking contact abruptly. ]

Otherwise, still—there is a relation. Would you change it?

[outforblood]

[he sits up fully, watching hades uneasily.]

Even if such a thing were possible, no. [a moment of silence where he tests his own words, then - ] I do not do well with metaphors. If you wish something of me, then I've failed to understand it. The error is mine, but ... I still don't know what it is you desire.

[rottings]

If I asked you to try to change such things... you'd try and change them, hm.

[ but now, more importantly, he has other questions. not out of curiosity, now, but for entertainment. hades turns to mitsunari and without much preamble sets a hand on his stomach, fingers curling around his hip. ]

[outforblood]

If it's within the bounds of possibility, I will try. Anything else would -

[he jumps slightly at the sudden contact, at the fingers curling at his hip, looking down as if expecting to see a blade. there isn't one. he hesitates a moment before speaking again.]

- would be negligence.

[rottings]

I will not let neglect stand. [ his hand remains where it is, certainly solid but not very warm. ]

Was there one who did?

[outforblood]

[that confirmation makes him a little less tense, though his look reads that he's not sure how much of that is truth, and how much is just hades being hades.]

In ways, yes. Most people I've met are neglectful. [his expression hardens.] Wretched cowards that they are - it's only luck that they escaped the punishment they deserve.

[rottings]

Then punish them.

[ hades' voice is low and quiet, but steady. his smile, now, is sickly sweet. he rubs a thumb over the jutting rise of mitsunari's hipbone. ]

[outforblood]

Would that I had the opportunity, they would be permitted to redeem themselves only with their lives. With my blade I would make them atone by blood!

[he's not exactly paying attention; his eyes are fixed at some point past hades, seeing the lives - or one life, in particular - of said cowards. after a moment, though, his expression darkens.]

... but in your lands such things are not left to me.

[rottings]

[ hades makes a vague sound of acknowledgement, neither agreement nor disapproval. his hand drifts up mitsunari's side, fingers barely pressing down. ]

...inside, the heat that comes from rotting is rising.

I think I shall leave some more things to you, now. [ he brings his other hand to cup the side of his face. ] Mitsunari.

Do you have your blade?

[outforblood]

[mitsunari stills suddenly at the movement, finally seeming to wake up and realize hades' closeness, the movement of the hand, the way it tilts his face toward hades. there's a moment of surprise in his eyes.

for once he thinks before speaking.]

... no. It was taken from me when I was dragged from the battlefield.

[rottings]

[ without moving his hand at all, hades continues: ] Tell me.

[ it could be a question about just about anything. his eyes are as dark and deep as before, and he gazes into mitsunari's face without blinking. if it was a weapon confiscated from a prisoner (soon to be slave), it would be almost impossible to retrieve by normal means. it's a good thing hades is far from normal. ]

[outforblood]

[the question is vague, and hades' expression is inscrutable. mitsunari considers asking another question, but there's a depthlessness to hades' eyes that stops the idea in its tracks.

his mouth is dry. too dry. he doesn't move except to speak.]

When we were driven to defeat I no longer had the strength to stand. I could hardly stop them from taking it and discarding it, or hoarding it - whatever it is your soldiers do with weapons scavenged from the battlefield.

[he grits hit teeth for a moment, his voice thin and tight when he speaks again.]

I would not be surprised to hear it had been destroyed.

[rottings]

I would not know. They are not "mine", except in the way that "all" are.

[ that said, hades is not bound by the laws of space and time as most are, and certainly not so that he couldn't reach back and pull out a single item.

that's for a later, time, though. now, hades moves one hand under mitsunari's chin and draws his other hand back. ]

When you were defeated, what was it that you wanted most?

[outforblood]

The honor of death - that I would have at least been granted the chance to atone for my failures in the next world.

[the answer is automatic, coming out before there's even a chance for thought, and mitsunari pauses after he says it. then he glances away, jaw tensing in hades' grip for a moment as he almost turns his head.

his next words are tentative, almost grudging.]

And ... to take up my blade again and carve a glorious victory from that crushing defeat. To finish what I set out to do. To not die.

[rottings]

[ hades has no desire to see death, nor to cause it. he could say that he has no desires, and he could say he has desires, at different times. ]

The difference is yours. Do you see entry, and further travel?

[outforblood]

[there's a flicker of confusion on mitsunari's face.]

It seems more a conflict than a mere difference. [he doesn't like that kind of conflict.] Entry into what? Had I been given the chance, I would have marched a road of conquerors. Whatever end awaited me would have no doubt been glorious.

[rottings]

Whatever end..? The end I see is always rotting. [ hades reaches out to touch mitsunari's face briefly and smiles. ]

And that road may not be mine, but I stand beside it. Hmph.

[outforblood]

[mitsunari frowns, just slightly, and just for a moment.]

You speak of this rot often. [he tries to wet dry lips again, and fails again.] I have never really understood what you mean by it - unless it's not within my rights to know, what is it that you speak of?

[rottings]

You have known it. You know it, and you will know it.

[ deliberately, with neither hurry nor hesitation, he places a fingertip delicately on mitsunari's lips. ]

A vessel and a channel. Do you partake in pleasures?

[outforblood]

[there's confusion there again, as his fingers curl against the blanket on the bed in a moment's frustration at the lack of an answer.

mitsunari starts slightly at the touch, watching hades more warily again.]

Pleasures? [his mouth twists a little as he speaks carefully against hades' fingertip.] Rarely. They're frivolous ways to wile away time that could be better used.

[rottings]

Pleasures. [ he repeats, voice gone soft and dark. ]

I could give you time, if only to see... what ways you would take.