I Need Your Touch
Suggested Theme:
Main Theme- Amour by Rammstein
Touch is to come into contact with someone or something. Through that contact, an object or a person can be altered or manipulated depending on the toucher's motives. M'arrillianaire is very well-versed in what a touch can do. Touch can bring pleasure like when he kissed tough Inga's hand as though she were a queen; the act earned him a favor from her. Touch can bring pain like when he punched Klay in his stomach when the oily Australian tried to swindle him out of his cards when he first arrived in Chaotic. A touch can do so much more than words ever could, but it could be uncomfortably baffling.
Like when KidChaor touched him. It was right before their re-match when KidChaor decided to casually sling his arm over M'arrillianaire's shoulders like they were old college buddies debating about the fiscal policies of the European Union. However, KidChaor insulted him while touching him quite intimately. He found KidChaor's insults quite unwarranted; during their first match, they didn't even say a word to each other.
During the re-match, KidChaor was quiet for the most part after his initial insults, but his body was quite vocal. He would bite his thin lips like he had to prevent himself from sniggering. His brown eyes were bright like he was delirious with fever. Even in his Creature form, M'arrillianaire saw the arrogance and restlessness thrumming through KidChaor's body; it was like striking a match and watching it burn.
In the end, KidChaor didn't burn himself out. Instead, he burned right through M'arrillianaire's strategy. In their first match, M'arrillianaire defeated KidChaor without even losing a Creature. KidChaor hung his head in shame, while M'arrillianaire respectfully left the Drome in silence. When the re-match ended, KidChaor dismissed him like he was a serf. M'arrillianaire left the Drome, visibly shocked.
He lingers in the PortCourt to watch a few more of KidChaor's matches. He thinks maybe it was just luck on KidChaor's part, but, alas, the Chaor fanboy burned his opponents like they were matches. KidChaor still insulted his opponents like a vindictive victim, but he wasn't as mad as he was during their match. He didn't touch them, even the ones that he actually knew.
Why would KidChaor touch him like that? M'arrillianaire knows that he and KidChaor have never exchanged any words before or even after their first match. They don't circulate the same social circles; M'arrillianaire prefers not to openly ally himself with anyone, while KidChaor is friends with at least three other players. They don't know each other on Earth; KidChaor is most likely from America if his accent is anything to go by, while M'arrillianaire is from Greenland but mostly lives in Denmark. So why would KidChaor touch him?
It couldn't be to unnerve him. KidChaor isn't subtle or particularly clever enough to do so; he boasts like a drunkard. Considering KidChaor's dismissal, the UnderWorld player wasn't planning on getting to know him later. It couldn't be out of a whim. The touch, firm and slick like Ilulissat Icefjord, was purposeful. But to what purpose?
M'arrillianaire rakes through his tawny-brown hair in annoyance. It's a modified habit of his mother's; she would twist her hair between her fingertips like she was curling them. He's frustrated over this simple matter. He doesn't understand why he's getting so worked up over a touch, but the touch has meaning. He knows it does.
He gets up from his table and heads to the transport center. He's going to Perim. More specifically, he's going to a Location that will most certainly take his mind off KidChaor's touch.
Fear is a powerful emotion. It makes one forget about whatever it was on their mind at the moment. He wants to be afraid. And Fear Valley just happens to be the perfect Location for that.
Fear Valley is a Location where, "one night here means a lifetime of nightmares." M'arrillianaire wasn't planning to stay one night here, but he figures that at least an hour in this Location would clear his head. He knows this Location saps energy from Creatures with low courage, but those with high wisdom are able to survive for the most part.
M'arrillianaire knows that wisdom is defined as having experience, knowledge, and sound judgment. He believes his wisdom is high if this Location acknowledges human perceptions of the word. As his codename would suggest, M'arrillianaire is a millionaire on Earth. He hails from a multi-million-dollar family; his father made half of the family fortune from his gemstone mines and cannery factories, while his mother made the other half in her jewelry designs and her retail clothing lines.
On his fifteenth birthday, his father gifted him with a ruby mine. His father thought it was time for him to learn financial independence; thankfully, his parents have been grooming him since birth to be able to run the family businesses. His father made it very clear that the ruby mine would be M'arrillianaire's only financial source from then on; no more allowances or even birthday checks from his parents.
Even with his advantageous tutelage, it was hard for M'arrillianaire. Actually, it made him hard like the rubies from his mine. He had to seduce, manipulate, and destroy to make his first millions; he did that in four years while balancing the rigorous educational demands from his Danish boarding school. His parents didn't warmly pat him on the back for his efforts; instead, they gave him a gold-painted, cold necklace of iron. He still likes to touch and pull at the necklace like it was an icy noose around his neck.
Fear Valley sort of reminds him of his mine if it were emptied of all its worth. It's a twisted path of jagged rocks and dead trees. The skies are dark like the air pollution in UnderWorld City. He has yet to hallucinate monsters from the desolate Location. It's as calm as graveyard but not as ominous; he finds this Location quite strange.
"Love is a wild animal,
It breathes you,
It looks for you.
It nests upon broken hearts
And goes hunting
When there are kisses and candles."
He hears singing. It's husky and masculine like a restrained growl from a feral beast. He believes the voice to be human because Creatures are quite lacking when it comes to music. The song is coming from deep within a forest of thorny branches; it's off the path that M'arrillianaire is walking. Should he go into the unknown?
"It sucks tightly on your lips
And digs tunnels through your ribs.
It drops softly like snow.
First, it gets hot then cold,
In the end, it hurts."
He knows that Fear Valley is known for its visual tricks, but can it really generate a human-sounding song? No, he doesn't think so. It might be a player perhaps on a stroll through this unpleasant Location. It's possible, but unlikely. It could be a trap like a siren's song.
"Amour, amour,
Everyone just wants
To tame you.
Amour, amour,
In the end,
Caught between your teeth."
He should cover his ears with candlewax to block out the song. He doesn't have any candlewax, so all he can do is be taken by this song. It was like poetry; the kind of poetry that would attract all manner of beast. He always perceived humans as beasts. Beasts craving gentle caresses or crude coins. Music soothes the savage beast. He is human. Thus, he too is a beast.
"Love is a wild animal,
It bites and scratches
And kicks towards me.
It holds me tightly
With a thousand arms
And drags me into
Its love nest."
He ventures into the forest. He wants to find the singer. At worse, the singer happens to be a Creature with a special ability to mimic voices; he might get a scan if that is the case. At best, it's just a player who was acting on some fantastical whim. It will most likely mean nothing perhaps like KidChaor's touch.
"It devours me completely
And retches me back out
After many years.
It drops softly like snow.
First, it gets hot then cold,
In the end, it hurts."
Some of the branches whip across his clothed body, making tears on his green dress jacket and fitted dress pants. He can feel scratches developing from the tears like irritating paper cuts. He wonders if the forest is doing this for his blood, to give itself some life. He grimaces at the forest's ill-found deduction; the source of his life are his rubies, but he didn't have any to sacrifice.
"Amour, amour,
Everyone just wants
To tame you.
Amour, amour,
In the end,
Caught between your teeth."
He should check his Scanner for the time; it feels like he has been walking for at least an hour. Or maybe the cuts on his skin are just that physically draining. He doesn't check his Scanner; he continues down this path of thorny whips like he was flagellating himself. There is no God, but he follows the voice like a hopeless disciple nonetheless.
"Amour, amour,
Everyone just wants
To tame you.
Amour, amour,
In the end,
Caught between your teeth."
The voice has become louder and more brutal to his ears like the roars that come from his ruby mine. He's close, so very close to the truth. He could smile like when he first touched the rubies from his mine. Instead, he is smiling like a youth ready to be ravaged by a pagan spirit.
"Love is a wild animal,
It breathes you,
It looks for you.
It nests upon broken hearts
And goes hunting
When there are kisses and candles."
At the end of the forest of thorns and whips, he sees the singer. The singer has an oddly-shaped face like a chaotic still of broken hearts and rounded triangles. His russet-brown eyes are large and dilated like a wild reindeer. He has shoulder-length, coquelicot-red hair with some gold streaks. For a split second, M'arrillianaire believed the singer to be KidChaor since the cocky dork was the only player with that kind of hair color, but the singer's hair isn't up and he isn't wearing those gaudy pink glasses. The singer's clothes are also wildly different from KidChaor's tasteless wardrobe; he's wearing a green jumper and fitted jeans with a black wrap jacket and biker boots. The singer looks like he doesn't belong anywhere. Not even on Earth.
"It devours me completely
And retches me back out
After many years.
It drops softly like snow.
First, it gets hot then cold,
In the end, it hurts."
He gets closer to the singer, right in his personal space. On Earth, if he ever got this close to someone, it means that sex will likely occur or he's about to close a deal, or, sadly, both. The singer's face twists like a beast ready to bite. His abnormal, brown eyes are locked on the golden iron necklace.
"Amour, amour,
Everyone just wants
To tame you.
Amour, amour,
In the end,
Caught between your teeth."
M'arrillianaire read fairytales when he was a child. He knows that fairies hate iron, so maybe the singer was really a Creature who just so happens to be allergic to iron. Or, in a bubbly thought of madness, the singer is actually a fairy.
"Love is a wild animal.
You fall into its trap.
It stares into your eyes.
Spellbound,
When its gaze hits you."
The singer grasps the golden necklace of iron. M'arrillianaire expects to see the singer burst in flames or his wiry hands begin to sizzle like a vampire in sunlight. Instead, the singer sneers like he finds the necklace an affront to basic decency. M'arrillianaire could almost laugh; the singer finds the necklace repulsive on him like he finds pink glasses a disgusting fashion accessory. The necklace doesn't have much sentimental value for him; it was there to tie together his outfit, but he can find something else.
"Love is a wild animal.
You fall into its trap.
It stares into your eyes.
Spellbound,
When its gaze hits you."
The singer twists the necklace like he is tightening a noose. Then, he yanks M'arrillianaire forward like he was going to deliver a brutal kiss. There is no kiss. Instead, the singer gazes into M'arrillianaire's icicle-blue eyes like he was casting a spell. Spellbound together….
"Please, please give me poison.
Please, please give me poison.
Please, please give me poison!"
Then, like the cutting of red thread, the singer pushes him away. M'arrillianaire lands gracelessly on his ass. This should have angered him more than the arrogance of KidChaor. He should push back and make the singer fall on his scrawny ass as payback.
"What are you?" He does none of those things and asks a question instead. The singer's thin, cracked lips twist into a bleeding grin. He leans down and whispers into M'arrillianaire's ear like a serpent from Hell.
"Leannán sídhe." M'arrillianaire has never heard those words before in his life. They sounded like they were from a dead language. Maybe the singer just cursed him. It doesn't quite matter because the singer decides to run out of the forest like a teasing maenad. M'arrillianaire does not go after him. He's been in this Location long enough. He wants to get back to the PortCourt and talk to Inga about a favor she owes him. He has figured out the perfect solution to his KidChaor problem. A touch from Inga to KidChaor will soothe his frustration, along with passing on a message.
Author's Comments- M'arrillianaire's real name did not get revealed on the show nor do I think it ever will be. I don't think I plan on giving him a name; a name implies identity, so his codename is probably the closest thing to an identity that he'll ever have. Anyways, I always found him quite striking as a very minor character in the sense of his design and well reactions. He didn't slap Kaz's arm away from him or even insult him; he just said nothing but gapes when he loses. In my opinion, Kaz treated him quite disrespectfully, but he was acting like an ass to everyone in the episode because he thought he was invincible like Chaor. Unfortunately, Chaor has better control over his hubris than Kaz.
Anyways, M'arrillianaire is practically just character fodder in the episode, which gives me a chance to invent a past for him. Yeah, he was actually pretty interesting to write about. Originally, I was going to make him from Iceland because I was inspired by the soundtrack to Terror in Resonance, but I decided to make him from Greenland because I had fun just trying to look up articles on the country. I'll most likely write more about this character in my other stories, while maybe doing two more one-shots for this story.
Also, for those who have read A Legend, you have probably recognized the singer. I'm going to into greater detail about the singer in later one-shots. Also, leannán sídhe is basically a fairy who gives their lovers fleeting brilliance before they are driven to their madness-filled deaths. In essence, this fairy is like a vampire in the Celtic Otherworld, except if the human rejects the fairy's offer to be his or her lover then the fairy is bound to the human like a slave. Unfortunately, I don't know how accurate it really is since my sole source is Wikipedia. So anyone obsessed with Celtic, specifically Irish, lore do correct me. I also used the English version of the song and my translation came from a You Tube video, so that may be wrong too. However, I think this translation is quite lovely and serviceable for this story.