23 - Fourth lumbar down

[with_my_teacup]

[Private to the Marquis]

Saw your little story. Kind of a...muted reaction, wasn't it?

Comments

[impure_tale]

No more or less than my recent ventures.

[with_my_teacup]

Yeah, that looks about like recent history for you. Just this long... slow... meh.

[Innocent smile.]

Peaceful, ain't it?

[impure_tale]

Oui, dearheart. Acceptance is perhaps a gift I never expected to receive in my lifetime.

[with_my_teacup]

I can tell you like it. [He purses his lips and leans in.] Nobody's afraid of what you write anymore. Not shocked. Just smile and roll with whatever you throw them.

That's good for you, isn't it? Everything you wanted?

[impure_tale]

Perhaps not everything, but life is not about getting everything you want, is it?

[with_my_teacup]

Of course not.

Tell me, when the inmate got a little huffy about your choice of nicknames. Just a little twitch, or a full half chub?

[impure_tale]

[He laughs] It takes a bit more than that to inflame me, I'm afraid. Though I was quite amused.

[with_my_teacup]

[He chuckles along]

I like how you pretend you ain't so bored.

Holing up in your room... trying to find the buttons to push. Doesn't it get old?

[impure_tale]

So many assumptions.

Some buttons don't get a lot from pushing, you realize.

[with_my_teacup]

[He spreads his hands, a good-natured 'you got me' gesture.]

Correct me, then. I'm listening.

[impure_tale]

I've come across quite a few in my time that prefer more gentle favoring, sometimes rougher, depending upon its disposition.

[with_my_teacup]

Oh, I'm not arguing you know all the little tricks.

But at the end of the day, warden. What do you want to hear when you flick the switch?

[He makes a semi-obscene motion with his finger that is ... tenuously also able to be construed as flicking an actual switch.]

What's at the end of the gentle touches and the rough treatment? What do you want out of it?

[impure_tale]

It differs from button to button. Naturally.

[with_my_teacup]

[Apparently casually, he lets his illustrative finger rest on his lower lip for a few moments.]

So. The campfire story about the doctor. What is that button supposed to do?

[impure_tale]

What it does for others -- [he shrugs] -- for me, I had intended to write the story for some time. Ideas by themselves can grow rather impatient when neglected.

[with_my_teacup]

Tell me another one. It was interesting.

[Not that he'd ever flatter vanity to get his own handholds into someone.]

[impure_tale]

I'm afraid I haven't the same penchant for spoken storytelling as perhaps I once did. I'm far too accustomed to the written word.

[As he sips his wine, there's a deliberately coy smile there.]

Besides, you have read my file. You are aware of what took place the last time I attempted such a thing.

[with_my_teacup]

So ... if I was there in person, no go-betweens-- [he taps the comm screen.]

You'd feel better about it?

[impure_tale]

[A suspicious, sidelong glance.] You're a wretched tease, Richard.

[with_my_teacup]

I can't promise you'll scare me. But I'll listen.

[He looks positively coy. There's a possibly unsettling edge to it-- he's been studying the Marquis' mannerisms, and reflects it back now.]

[impure_tale]

Oh, we wouldn't want to risk that, would we?

[Another sip of wine and a long, careful stare.]

[with_my_teacup]

We don't have the same reasons. But you and me. We both need people to be a little afraid. A little... on edge.

[He stands, and it clicks to audio.]

I'm coming over. You can always kick me out of you want. After all. You're the warden.

[impure_tale]

[He sighs]

I did not invite you, Richard.

[This seems more a warning, some information for his use, rather than a strict denial.]

[with_my_teacup]

[There's a polite little knock on the door, and Riddick's voice purring through the communicator.]

No. You didn't. And I wouldn't disobey you. Wouldn't push in and try to prove who was the bigger animal with some kind of physical display.

Want me to go back to my room?

[Outside, Riddick leans casually against the wall beside the door.]

[impure_tale]

[A short hitching of the breath] As I said before, you are a wretched tease.