Coldware (Part 1: Software) -- Chapter Nine (Rough Version)

Liviachi had not changed much in the decent amount of time since last we met; aside from a change in hair and clothing styles, more complicated Dark Runes decorating her body, and her obvious increase in power capacity, she was exactly the same. A conniving, filthy, worthless Demonic Luminex.

Her Sentinel in tow, the small white-haired boy clinging to her open-front skirts as he stumbled just behind her, Liviachi followed Evora from the extended mechanical bridge connecting the two crafts to the wicker table and hand-crafted chairs set out by a group of sweaty deckhands only moments before. I eye the Sentinel cautiously, watching his loose dark red robes flap in the wind, each of the many layers just a shade darker than the last as they got closer and closer to the core that was his small frame. Pale, pupiless eyes were faintly illuminated with a violet light, his pale and faultless complexion practically shimmering in the morning sun.

"My dear, my dear!" Liviachi cooes, petting the Sentinel's head absently as she twists on her heels to face me, waiting while Evora pulls out her chair. The inventor might be shooting daggers in the more of glares towards the DL, but there were still courtesies to think of. "I must say, you look positively identical to the you from all those years ago!"

"Indeed," I mumble, reaching out my arm to the back of my chair, effectively blocking Evora from pulling out my seat as well. Slightly embarrassed, she retreats to her own seat on the opposite side of the table, leaving the DL to sit to my right and her Sentinel on my left. Smart thinking; separate Mistress and Pet right away to prevent any funny business. "You haven't changed much, either, to be perfectly honest,"

"My dear, once you've lived as long as one such as I, you will find that the majority of all changes occur from within." The Luminex smiles faintly as she sits, crossing her legs and leaning back to allow a deckhand-made-butler-at-the-very-last-moment room to set a tray of tea, coffee, a pastries down on the middle of the table. "As such, people like us may live for decades, our appearances a solid mask hiding the turmoil inside."

"How poetic," I growl bitterly, remembering a past statement from my Lady's Reaper. I believe it was one of very few things he ever said that I agreed upon. Demonic Luminex are manipulative creatures; masters of deception, they circle their pray with wary wit and subtle accusations until tying the knot, effectively choking their victims on their own conversational follies.

The inventor, pouring Liviachi and the Sentinel's tea from a small pale blue porcelain pot before filling her own cup, clears her throat. "What brings you to my humble vessel, Ms. Th--Liviachi."

I swear I catch a hiccup in Evora's words, my eyes lifting to greet hers instinctively. She quickly breaks eyes contact, turning to smile at the DL instead. Liviachi does not answer right away, her mind occupied with focusing on cutting a sugar cube neatly in half. Delicately picking up one half, she slips it onto her outstretched tongue, eyes rolling back and fluttering closed at the pleasure of the taste. With her other hand, she takes the second half and hands it to the inventor. I feel an eyebrow raise on my forehead as Evora blushes, takes the half-cube, and drops it into her tea.

Firstly, I've never seen Evora--or anyone for that matter--take a half-cube of sugar in their tea. Then again, I'd never bothered to look. Secondly, I'd like to know why and how Liviachi obtained this seemingly meaningless information.

"My dear, do not be modest! This ship is anything but humble. Ah, you must be the King's new favorite, for I know of no one else that he would spare no expense for." The DL purrs, dropping three cubes into her own tea before stirring it swiftly and taking a sip. She doesn't bother blowing on the liquid or waiting for it to cool; instead, she sips it while still boiling hot. It's a Luminexian preference, if my memory serves me right.

Evora only laughs, waving her hand dismissively at Liviachi. I glance at the child to my left, who has yet to so much as flinch, his back ramrod-straight and his head tilted to the side. The emptiness of his gaze sends chills through my body, so I nibble on a crumpet and focus on the verbal interaction between Evora and Liviachi. "He is most certainly not my type, hatha."

Hatha? Oh, so now we're using Luminexian languages in respectable teatime conversation. Brilliant. "So I recall," there's a soft, somewhat amorous glow to the DL's voice that makes me stare at her, surprised.

She looks the inventor over not-so-briefly, her eyes catching on the curve of Evora's thighs, which were tightly covered by black leggings. Both eyebrows lift on my face, my lips pursing as if I'd consumed a lemon recently.

"To answer your previous question, my dear, I am wandering this broad aerial vicinity in an effort to locate the source of rather suspicious occurrences. Meer curiosity, you see," Liviachi smiles broadly, waving her arms dramatically about her for added theatrical effect.

I snort, and both women glare at me momentarily before returning to their conversation. "Suspicious, you say? Should I be concerned for the safety of my trip?" Evora stabs at a pastry as she speaks through gritted teeth, cold wind lashing out at us suddenly with the type of brutality only cool morning air can achieve.

"Seems like Luminex still aren't the only natural Rune users alive," Liviachi sips her tea again, pushing silken white bangs from her face as she uncrosses and recrosses her legs.

Evora's smile stiffens slightly, a change in facial expression that is so subtle, I almost don't catch it. "Cybermancery, then?"

Liviachi laughs suddenly, startling the Sentinel from what had been starting to look like an open-eyed nap. He blinks a few times, rubbing at his eyes sleepily before fingering the platter that his teacup rested on. Surely he was thirsty? "Ah, my dear, I forget you are the finest of scholars!"

And now we've graduated to flirting. Rolling my eyes, I rub my temple, pouring myself strongly-brewed coffee as I toss the half-eaten crumpet to the side. The sad thing is that the inventor giggles--yes, giggles--blushing as she nervously sips at her tea. Gritting my teeth, I glance at the double doors leading below deck a few yards behind Liviachi, checking to make sure the biter didn't think it'd be fun to eavesdrop on the scene. He surely wasn't missing much.

"Cybermancers in the East? How peculiar," I rasp, already glaring at the DL when she turns her head to meet my gaze. She smiles, but it's a cold, calculating gesture used to mask the scowl she's biting back.

"Of course. But then, you already knew that, didn't you my dear?" It's a warning, I know. And yet, I blatantly choose to ignore it.

"Heavens, why would I be aware of such a thing? I've no reason to keep tabs on Eastern business, what with my current lack of interest in Royal affairs."

Liviachi grunts--I think it may have been a sort of cut-short chuckle--as she tips her cup from side to side, staring into the sloshing dark liquid emptily. "And here I thought you'd followed your Lady down into the depths," her voice is just below a whisper, and yet it's as if she screamed.

Luminex never voice what they really want to say directly like that. There was no reason she should have brought up my Lady, the Queen, unless--

I immediately harden my facial expression so that it is a veritable mask of emotionlessness that makes me shiver just thinking about how it must look. The inventor, seeing my change from hardly-hospitable to iced-over fury, swallows a bite of raspberry tart anxiously, rubbing at her throat as the bread sticks on the way down.

"In many ways, I did. A day doesn't pass when I find myself slipping into an automated state, such that I am forced to come to the conclusion that I am, in fact, emotionally dead. My soul left me that day," I feign agony, twisting my face into a believable shape of barely-held-back sadness and depression. "I'd give anything to bring her back from Lady Death,"

Liviachi's observant eyes scrutinize me carefully, slowly, and completely. Trying to latch onto either my sincerity or lack thereof, no doubt. Finally, lifting her cup to her lips--but not taking a sip, I note--she huffs. "My deepest apologies for your loss," blinking slowly, not unlike a wise feline, she sets the porcelain dish down on the wicker table softly. "It seems my original intel was incorrect. Alas, there can be no Master, nor Mistress, if the Hound is not by the Alpha's side."

"Original intel?" Evora asks lightly, though I can see the glint in her eye telling me she's caught on to the DLs tricks.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes indeed, my dear!" The Luminex suddenly laughs heartily, startling both the inventor and myself. "He is my choicest of prizes, my most vivid bloom, my most knowledgeable book! The perfect pet for one such as I."

"Do you mean Ak--"

Liviachi stands, shoving the chair back with a loud clatter, silencing Evora before she can voice the name. However, I am almost completely sure what she had been about to say. "Alis?" The DL purrs, holding out a delicate hand to the boy. Turning to the child, I am astounded to find his chair empty. Looking frantically about, I finally locate him. Directly behind me.

Letting out a sharp wail of distress, I stand, nearly crawling on top of the table in fear, knocking my coffee cup over in the frantic process. The hot liquid burns my fingers and drips onto the deck while the boy smiles emptily up at me, his Signature tattoos fully illuminated and changing colors rapidly from blue, red, yellow, green, pink, and finally that putrid violet, the trademark color of Demonic Luminex.

"Anima vidra lec finala dios lok," the boy mumbles, his words pulsating through my brain through some sort of telekinetic connection I had not realized he'd made. Eerie, this one. Quite eerie.

Evora bites her lip, sucking in a loud breath at the boy's words. As if on cue, Liviachi's Aerial Falcon hums to life, the mechanical bridge unhooking itself from our port as the DL turns to leave. "It appears we are finished here, my dear; apologies for the short notice, but we really must be going. Thank you so much for hosting an old friend like myself; I know how painful memories can be, especially ones so riddled with fire."

"Not a problem at all, hatha. Allow me to walk you to your vessel." The inventor stands, the only one of us who opted to get out of her seat like a normal person, pushing the furniture back into place before adjusting her coat and striding next to Liviachi. I, for one, am having a hard time catching my breath after having nearly been startled to death by that stealthy hound of a child.

Glancing back at the double doors, I see the biter's head shoot back inside, the left door slamming shut. Thankfully, the sound is lost in the wind. I make a mental note to reprimand the brainless kid later on. Looking back to Liviachi and Evora, I quint, unbelieving.

After running her lips across the inventor's cheek seductively, the Luminex grips the other woman's collar, pulling her close as she whispers something. I'd bet my high chances of seeing my Lady on the idea that Liviachi is fully aware she is enabling me to read her lips as she says:

"Lay with me again? Just once more, my dear,"

Her words worry me far less than the blush that blooms on the inventor's cheeks, and even that doesn't bother me half as much as the anger and--Heavens forbid--jealousy that swells up inside of my heart. At least Evora shakes her head vigorously--albeit after several long moments of awkward stuttering--putting her hands on the DL's shoulders as she pushes the Luminex away.

I shudder to think of why I find myself smiling.

Shrugging lazily, Liviachi turns from our ship, placing a high-heeled boot onto the edge of the mechanical bridge connecting our two crafts. After ushering her Sentinel a few feet onto the platform, she angles her head back at us, smiling ominously. "Ah, and Ms. Ayers?"

"Yes?" I reply warily, clasping my hands behind my back as I watch the Luminex lift her left arm, her Signature tattoos burning from a bright violet to a shimmering pale blue within seconds.

"Be a dear and die this time around," Liviachi giggles, swiping her hand down. Her runes burst into the colors of a firey inferno, red and yellow lights flashing as she screams. "Cannons, fire!!"

*****

"Hatho,"

I watch the pale blond woman as she approaches my Lord, her pale complexion made impossibly lighter by the shards of moonlight that fall in from the skylights. I stand at attention, awaiting my Lord's orders as she bows at his black-nailed feet, red and black robes bound by silk and lace covering his tanned form elegantly.

"Ah, my darling! How long it has been; truly, how long!" My Lord's sing-song voice is airy, almost too feminine for it to be considered male at all. He lifts a lace-covered hand, eyeing a slender Signature that trails intricately from his middle finger down to his forearm in extravagant patterns. "What is it that brings my delicate flower to such a dark and foreboding place? For how dark it is here, my Lady! No place for one such as you."

The finger of his left hand stroke my wrist as I rest my hand on the arm of his throne, readying myself for any attack this foolish mortal might initiate. "My Lord, I apologize for visiting at such a late hour." The woman breathes, platinum blond hair shining dully as she rests her forehead on the floor at his feet, strands of hair falling onto his bare toes. He smiles at the touch, literally tickled by the contact. "However, it seems that the Lady Divyal is still amongst the living."

It is as if all sound from the world were silenced at once, a striking explosion of emptiness and darkness as my Lord's eyes widen, his SIgnature runes flashing brightly as he reaches out his energy, slamming the shutters to the skylights shut.

The room is bathed in the calming blackness of the night, the temperature dropping by ten degrees instantly as, one by one, his Runes suck the heat from the air. "Oh?" The sound is drawn out, his voice hitching maniacally as his eyes are set alight with that lovely, blooming violet. "Our Queen is still alive, you say; truly, alive?"

"Yes, my Lord. I fear the King will not be pacified until she is completely and utterly... passed on, my Lord." The woman squeaks, her noble heritage painfully obvious by the proper lilt in her accent. "I cannot correctly position myself until he has no further distractions."

"Ah, how unfortunate, my darling! How unlucky, indeed," my Lord hums, slicing a hand through the air as a Rune illuminates mid-air directly in front of him, all seven hundred candles lighting themselves at once in response to his energetic command. "It seems our hunt has only just begun! My Sentinel and I had been wondering at the change in energetic flow recently. We fear another Sister has been born to us; another Demonic Luminex to join our scarce ranks!"

"Se... Sentinel, my Lord? But she is a fully grown woman!" The pale mortal shivers, glancing at me fearfully. I tilt my chin up, glaring at her darkly.

"Ah, so much to learn, so much to learn!" He sings, crossing his legs lazily as he leans back into his chair, swiping his thumb over the back of my hand. "Now, my pet, I have a command for you."

"Yes, my Lord?" I do not turn my dead, or adjust my position, or even blink as I await his order.

"Find me a pretty, pretty bird; a runaway beauty with the power of a Matriarch and the voice of a demon. Bring me that lovely red rose that blooms in the East, and I beg you not make me wait. I am certain the lovely Lady Liviachi will make her blessed appearance on our doorstep if only we had a flower divine enough to attract her attention. Her curiosity and lust for all that she desires is matched only by her intense hatred for the Divyal line; truly, only for the Divyal line." Tossing his shoulder-length white hair and choppy bangs out of his face, he smiles deviously, waving the mortal away.

She practically trips over herself, she stands and rushes away so quickly. I only flash my teeth, pulling my black hair back into a tight bun as my eyes alight with a brilliant orange. "Yes, Nightengayl,"