tampered | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

When; February 13th
Rating; PG-13 probably.
Characters; Theo and Meyer
Summary; Theo runs into Meyer in the underground... doing some not so nice things ... either of them.

Log;

The Underground always held an appeal to Theo. He liked being around creatures of the night. He also found a very nice business in retrieving magical items that probably shouldn't be hanging around. It was a Thing he decided to do after his knife got stolen.

Currently, he was wiping said knife off of a body. An undead of some sort - one he'd never seen before except in the City - was trying to sell some cursed items to people without saying they were cursed. Theo decided to stop that sort of business. The creature didn't appreciate it. Undead really shouldn't attack necromancers. Especially demi-god necromancers.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he spun up, pointing the knife at whomever it was behind him. "If you're looking to buy or sell, he's not interested," he said lightly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, there's certainly less regulation in the City."

It's really hard to know what he means by that.

"There's almost no regulation in the City. Interesting, isn't it? I'm sure it makes things easier for you."

He's being purposefully vague, of course. It makes things easier for anyone with a vested interest in committing less than legal (or moral, for that matter) activities, and he himself qualifies as one of them.

"There's no real governing body, either. And I'm sure it makes things easier for lots of people."

Vagueity vague vagueness.

"Even in worlds where there are governing bodies, it's not so hard to maneuver around them."

They both know that they both do illegal or immoral things. Why be quite so vague about it?

"Considering my father probably owns at least thirty five percent of my world..." Theo mutters. "No, it's not really."

Probably because they don't want to admit to it. After all, they've got images to maintain, right?

"Yes, well, you come from a great deal of privilege that most of us aren't quite so lucky to have. Although..."

He lights himself a cigarette, looks down at the guy on the ground, then back up at Theo. "I imagine that having such a powerful father can be a little daunting in it of itself."

"It can be. Most people seem to fear that I'll make them disappear if they piss me off enough."

He says this, completely without irony, as he's standing next to a dead guy who he killed, possibly because he pissed him off.

"I wonder what could possibly give them that impression," he says dryly, looking down at the body once again. It's really a pity Theo had killed the guy, since he'd been intending to work out some kind of business arrangement with the man, but there will be other customers. There always are.

"Yeah. Well. He's only dead. That's a lot different than what my father does."

Yeah. There will always be someone else.

"He leaves them alive... but completely erases their identity from the world so no one knows who they are."

"Well, that is an impressive talent."

And one he's quite glad nobody in his world possesses, as far as he knows (of course, if they did, he likely wouldn't know it.)

"I associate with a man--"

Because he can't say he works for him anymore, can he? Not after what had happened... but that's better not to think on.

"-- who enjoys operating in a similar way, although of course less... drastically."

"He's had quite a lot of time to perfect it."

Theo nods. "They're probably the more dangerous people out there because of what they're willing to do."

"And are you one of those people, too? Like your father?"

It's a casual question, but it's certainly a pointed one.

After a moment of contemplation, he says, "I hope not to be."

At least he's honest in his answers. Because he really doesn't know. Right now he's not, but the future... well who knows what that's going to bring? And he's got a lot of future to look forward to.

"I hope not, too. Working with you wouldn't be nearly so pleasant."

Yes, Theo, he likes you fairly well as it is, murder and robbery aside (how could he be against that, after all, when they're things he does himself on a fairly regular basis.) If Theo was like his father, however... all bets would be off.

He raises his eyebrows, a bit bemused. "Well, thank you, I think. Adrienne tends to smack me about whenever I start acting too much like him or my uncle."

Theo doesn't generally murder living people. But when undead disrespect him well... a necromancer demi-god has to do what a necomancer demi-god has to do. If the guy had just handed over the gems, he'd be fine.

"Well, as far as I know, that's what wives are for."

He doesn't have one of his own to smack him for acting awful, but then, he doesn't have quite the ability to go the dark and creepy necromancer route that Theo does, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

"That and spending money and always being right."

And with a wry grin, he says, "They're always right. I don't know if you're ever going to get married but... they're always right."

"At some point, I very likely will get married. Statistically speaking, it's overwhelmingly likely."

And that's probably telling in it of itself. He doesn't necessarily want to get married, but he's accepted that he will.

"Statistically speaking? How... romantic. I didn't realize there were statistics for this sort of thing."

Well, at least, in Theo's time people aren't as likely to get married if they don't want to.

"There are statistics for everything, if you know how to calculate them -- and I don't think anyone would ever accuse me of being a romantic."

"You're probably right." Pause. "Statistically speaking."

What? It was there.

"I dunno. If my father can pull off romantic, you probably could."

His father's idea of romantic involved eloping with his brother's fiancee.

"There's a difference between going through the motions that most people find traditionally romantic and truly valuing it."

And how did they end up talking about this in the Underground over a dead body? That's one thing he can say for Theo -- their conversations are never boring.

"I wouldn't call going through the motions romantic though."

It's hard to say. Theo certainly isn't sure. It probably doesn't help that for Theo this isn't an awkward place to hold such a conversation.

"It isn't. And that's why I'm not particularly romantic, though I am, of course, capable of faking it if I need to."

He's capable of faking just about anything. There're probably a fair few people here who really have no idea what he's truly like. Theo, though, probably has a better sense than most, especially running into him down here.

"I imagine you'd need to find the right person then, to not fake it."

Theo has a decent idea of what Meyer is like, or so he thinks. It's probably not as deep as Al's is, but he knows that Meyer isn't as nice as he seems.