Locarda's Links
Hands holding his face like a lover would. Words that made thoughts rattle about in his head. And a presence that made the man know how much of his leg was in the grave right now.
The feeling was exhilirating.
A long story short of why Vladimir stopped scamming casino-goers:
Octavius.
He felt his lip curl into a snarl. What the hell was wrong with this dipshit?! Did he wanna get punched again? That what that grease smile was for? A fucking challenge? Did he not feel, from the moment he got flattened against the brick wall with a crack to his head, that the crazy motherfucker he'd pissed off had a gun? Did he wanna paint that damn wall?
He crowded Vlad (and what a tacky fucking name that was) into a corner and tightened his white-knuckle grip on his white swede collar.
"Listen to me... Listen to me, I will. Cut. Your ears off. And speak. INTO. Them, LISTEN TO ME!" Drops of spit landed on the poor man's face and Octavius realized, with no small amount of surprise, that he was already near frothing with rage. It made him take a moment to compose himself. He wiped his face down and rather leaned against Vladimir now, face schooled into the facade of a man looking for calm, pacifying conversation, suddenly. Funny that.
"Listen carefully. i. have. a gun. And that is.. VERY new to you. I'm not asking, i'm telling you. You might've seen a gun, you might've held one. You might've /felt/ one. But you have /never/ been on this side of the barrel. Have you? Ever. And i don't mean temple and cold metal, i don't mean that pansy might-might not type of shit, i don't mean the impromptu, unprepared type, /sweetheart/, you've ever taken some wannabe gangster lackey waving it around as a fucking prop seriously? Cause you sure as hell are alive so i'd say that's a yes. Cause those bastards love emptying a barrel just because they can. It's like measuring cocks to them, that's how they pull that trigger - like they havent seen people die before, and it's a laugh cause they end up dead by a very similar fucking gun. The morals you build is the morals you die by." He leaned his forearms against the wall and took Vladimir's face, holding it in his hands. Gentle like. "/I/ will die by a crazy trigger-happy motherfucker in a rank alleyway and the cops will scratch their temples at how my head ended up where it did." And finally, fear... Glazing over the drunk man's eyes, giving them a sharpness they'd lacked before. Vi grinned. "And I'll love every minute of it. /What a way to go!/ Ever been on the other end of this type of gun? Where the gunman knows it can turn on him. And is not afraid of it. Ever lived that type of fucking life, sweetheart?" He hissed out the sentiment he'd been called just a few minutes ago. The sound of it had itched at his ears. "Do unto others? Because you... let me tell you, you pathetic fuck, you will die poor. /Robbed./ Scammed./ And humiliated. Like every single person that leaves that little casino, like i just did." Vi blinked. "Or you could not."
(So yeah, they ended up fucking.)
She can't help but feel an ice grip on her heart whenever she thinks of him and is quick to go in the other direction if she spots him.
Even after all these years the pain of their break is still too much for her. Better to not even think of him at all...hard to do it when she's staring down the bottle though.
Closest to /something/ he's ever been with someone. Maybe he looks back and hurts after one too many drinks. So what.
"Imre, Imre, Imre... you poor bastard."
She doesn't pester him much outside of saying things like that, or about her sister. She's pretty certain he's already at his lowest point in life.
His father. The biological one. Not the one he calls by that name either. He left him and his sister under the care of a slave he'd taken and Caspian knows had Livien been a lesser man (a man like Imre), it would have ended differently for them. Maybe he's a mile better than Philomena, but Imre still didn't want them either. Better to have told them as much than to let them believe there was a chance for a family all these years.
He's proud of the man Caspian has become even if he knows he has little right to be anything to him. Now he wishes he could've been a father, but knowing that if he could go back he wouldnt change a thing to sour that sentiment. He couldn't risk getting attached to something he could lose.
A ghost on his ship for a while. Emet would fit better on Regina's phantom ship, he bets. That and she wouldn't be as unnerved by him. Caspian doesn't deal well with people whose thoughts he can't guess.
She can handle his hatred more than she can handle his trust. He's not her responsibility anymore, she's done her due diligence to rip him out of the dangerous environment of Geefe and a stepmother who Gloria knows means harm.
Gloria sees her as a sister and like an older sibling would, she barely evaded murdering the woman that hurt her. Coming into her owner's house as a bodyguard with the intent to gather intel, she ended up throwing plans out the window once she discovered the tortured girl. She's perhaps the only one whose relocation Gloria ever cared enough to overlook herself.
Gloria can only hope plucking Herrod out of the fire and chucking him into open water would be safer. She knows about Udara and how well she was treated by him, so she has trust in the Captain of Tiderule halfway as far as she can throw him.
She betrayed her own charge for the price of what, half of the ransom? Fuck...
But it's been a while and no ransom is coming. She either overestimated Herrod's parents or she knew them well enough to know they cared little.
Found the little bastard off the coast of Mimili and unfortunatelly ended up unofficially adopting him without her own knowledge. He seems way too aware of her hidden affection for him and she does a good job at pretending to be constantly exasperated by him. Would kill for him, but would also murk him in a heartbeat if he keeps getting into so much damn trouble... Caspian knows the intactness of his hide depends on Nathan's safety.
She can be an evil EVIL lady sometimes! I'm just trying to have fun and she's gotta ruin it! Shes.. also too scary to go up against.. also she can be nice at times but... she knows what's best for me and tries to look out and do things like a sister would. I appreciate her kindness- though... don't tell her i said any of this okay?? i gotta keep an appearance going!
"You deserved that! You fucking deserved that! /I/ had to help us, /I/ have that on my mind now and Jia has much worse although goddess if he'd ever fucking blame you."
The dainty woman spends her money in all the wrong ways, Caspian thought, like paying man who'd captured and freed her friend for a price. Nowadays he thinks this uncharacteristic gratitude means Udara might've escaped something even worse when Caspian had come upon her ship. He doesn't mention it, he's got no right to question them when they let him keep Tiderule and even affiliated themselves with him. Now he can only promise to remember H'elmii if he ever needs to relocate Herrod somewhere safer as well.
Doesn't trust her as far as she can throw her but that isn't saying much, all things considered. She gets it, Udara is similar to herself in some ways, with some familial betrayal added in, so she has her grudges. Thing is, Gloria knows people like herself aren't to be trusted.
"Hey hey~ It's Tuesday and I'm here~!"
She shares his love of fun, and while she might not be nearly as fickle- she has her one thing and she likes it, okay? She'll drag Vladimir into it if he wants to dance and forget the present with her.
If he doesn't, she knows other old blood of the dance floor.
May have gotten drinking with him and convinced him to start Disco Tuesdays.
Even though he's usually a bit too tipsy for rollerblades and disco dancing, he'll occasionally indulge her even more than he already has. Her suggestion's been profitable, it's the least he could do. And damn if she doesn't light up the dancefloor. His ideal place is watching from his lounge.
She's a beauty with a sinister underside. They had their fun dance. Gloria did her best to try and figure her out but at the end let her keep her secrets, although indulged her curiosity with a few of her own. Knows she'll keep them.
She's well aware her curt nods and otherwise quiet nature make Beleris' nerves run short, but it's the simple things in life that make one happiest, right? She's got her suspicions too and laughs about them to herself at times. Would it not be funny for a grudge on some savages to make someone entirely blind to intersocietal prejudice? Gloria will always consider her own lapses in 'loyalty' nothing compared to betrayal of such large scale.
Yet the only backtalk she's allowed herself around Beleris was curt and entirely humorous in tone. "If you were to be anymore obvious in your suspicions, you'd have to scream them off a rooftop."
"Of course, if I recall your name is Gloria, correct? Keep up the good work."
Those who are rich and powerful and don't pay attention to bodyguards and the like don't last long.
Beleris is wary of Gloria. She prides herself in knowing noble houses and names of wealthy patrons- and she doesn't like the names that Gloria has been attached to. She's yet to figure out her origin or particular motivations, which is vexing for Beleris.
"Now look at you, face down in dirt and snow- and you're calling me a dirty whore? That's just misinformed. Now murderer? Yeah I can be one."
She had driven her warm heel into the back of Regina's head for emphasis. Still, there was something unsatisfying with picking on her in that state.
"So they're dead, you could join them here, but that seems like a waste. If you're alive though... you're a spit in your mother's eyes, and there's something I enjoy about that."
It seems so backwards for Zenos to take Regina in and give her the place she used to live, but she did. What wasn't unusual was Zenos holding a bowl of warm soup just out of arms reach until she had her fill of amusement. Insults, kicks.
"I mean, if you're going to hate me, do it for what I've done to you. Resent me for doing nothing and just watching, by all means. Resent your father for his poor taste in Pakaasu. Your mother always has been a monster."
She hates Regina only slightly less than Gana.
Gina's every word, any agreement with Gana- made the bitterness in Sangria double- and Gana already made it into a black, oily tea. If she ever sees her again it would be a fist fight on sight.
That said, she doesn't think about her often. She only vaguely remembers when she left the Juuou clan, because of how Gana reacted. Served him right, to be upset that someone was taken away in a manner of speaking.
Gana's pet, so to speak. Not because she was a slave, she just acted like a pet. Like a particularly feral dog, or maybe a cat considering size. Far as she's concerned the little thing went as far as acquaintanceship only, a pup Gana wanted to show off, until her adoptive father took an interest. Gina never made the connection between Livien, more than a hundred years old and dedicated to her and her brother despite hailing from a different clan, and Malachite the inconvenience. The word 'slave' never clicked.
"My sweet nephew, I haven't seen you since you were a little puff of smoke in your mother's arms."
She smiles at him, but she knows he see through it. What island did they cross paths at? What bar- what beach? It doesn't matter much, because it's as cold as Oysphe when she's around.
"I might say you are a disgrace to your mother, but let's face it- she was a mistake too. Still, I'm surprised to see you fairing better than your sister. She used to be such a... fighter... I suppose."
"See, when even the demon spawns of Juuou only cared enough to make you a guard dog and nothing more, you've got to wonder where you went wrong in life, 'auntie.'" He'd smile at her through his teeth over a thin sliver of ocean between two ships. "We're captains at least. And you are? I think your name slipped my mind."
When he let her and Caspian stay at his home for a few night. Bit too loud for his taste, but didn't believe she's a bad person. (at least she enjoy teas)
When he let him and Regina stay at his home for a few night. He felt an aura of a man that was harden by beatings, determination, blood, and (if he were to give this feeling a name) horrors of his past. Though he doesn't have much of an opinion of Caspian, but he doesn't hate him.
For a man that saved his life, Byakko is still unfairly treated with wariness. Cas holds respect for him and Regina seems to like him well enough but the man's eerie accuracy makes Caspian stray from any unnecessary visits. Is he that damn easy to read and unravel?
When you spot a glimmer you go and scope out the find, right? Insert some dumb metaphor about Vi being a shameless thief here.
The one pakkeli he's fairly trusting of. Her curiosity and knowledge of things beyond his grasp make her an invaluable asset to the ship and he's given her the navigation torch that he unsteadily held for years. Now they're much less likely to make dangerous detours than before under her guidance. He occasionally joins her in the crow's nest and lets her talk his ear off gladly. He tolerates her chatter because it's never pointless to listen to.