She signed contentedly and turned to look at each of them thoroughly. She touched the tiara on her head thoughtfully.
"There are four c's of diamonds. Do any of you know about jewelry?" she asked abruptly. Just as quickly, she answered her own question. "Of course you do. Being who you are." She laughed girlishly, as if she had made a joke.
Carefully, she lifted the glittering crown from her head, wary of mussing her hair. Shaking her head shortly, the burgundy hair swung freely and she twirled her jeweled object between her slender index fingers.
She approached Nephrite, who struggled against his bonds, angrily and futilely. Wrenching his arms and legs against the chains locking him to the rock wall behind him, he leaned forward as much as possible to bare his teeth in hatred.
"There's 'cut.'" She reached out a slim arm to graze Nephrite's bared chest with pointed nails, painted an almost violent violet. "The right cut," she said hungrily, continuing down Nephrite's abdomen and ignoring his savage, animalistic hiss, "allows the right amount of light to shine through." She licked her lips. "The right cut, indeed."
She moved onto Kunzite. "Color." She looked him in the eyes, and he looked straight back with livid green eyes. "Most people want colorless, because more light shines through it. It looks brighter." She tilted her head, evaluating the man bold enough to challenge her directly with his gaze. "I prefer colorless myself; it's not so," she paused to think of the word, "vivid. Something that doesn't attract attention vivaciously, but subtly, with its own brilliance." She grinned. "I certainly wouldn't want something to outshine me." She patted his cheek and moved on.
"Clarity." She stopped before Jadeite. "That has to do with flaws in the diamond." She reached out a finger to stroke his cheek. His body remained completely still, staring determinedly over her shoulder. "The fewer flaws, the greater the clarity. The greater the clarity, the more shiny the diamond is!" She stepped back to look him up and down, gauging his resolute stance. His body almost trembled with the tense effort of not moving, of completely ignoring her presence; she nodded to herself in satisfaction.
She turned on her heel to face Zoisite. "And finally, carat-weight." She spoke as she strode towards him on plum-colored heels, never wavering, even on the uneven, dirt floor. "But I'm not too concerned with weight or carats today." She settled the tiara back in her hair, running her hands through the strands once.
She raised her arm up from her side, palm up, and sent energy coursing through her veins into Zoisite's body. The shock of the attack made him unable to hold back a brief scream. His body convulsed, disgustingly limp, as it absorbed the blast full force, his body having no where to go, forced against the wall he was currently attached to.
Jadeite could not ignore that; he and the others protested angrily, pulling against their bonds with a fierceness that would do them no good.
Beryl stopped.
"Today," she smiled, "I'm concerned with tolerance."
She raised her arm in the air and her wrist jerked once. Youma eased from the shadows to stand before the men.
Zoisite's head hung weakly, and Beryl cupped it gently with a hand. She leaned in, close enough to kiss him. "Be strong," she whispered sardonically.
She began her ascent up the stone steps and left the youma to play. The shitennou would be hers by midnight.
Noon, tops.
end
Theme: Four of Diamonds (#2) – theme taken from 101_Kisses themes list
Information about diamonds and the four c's was taken from the website: The Four C's of Diamonds.