And to prove I still am working on this, here you guys, have a chapter. Certainly not the longest, but it's a build up to some actual action that will take place soon enough. Eddie as well as Ophelia are both reaching their breaking points.
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"My one question is- why do you even care?"
His half muffled words startled the Nun. Her gaze drifting towards the man as he tore into some bread, trying to act relaxed even though the tension was easy to read on him.
"Why do I care?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because, you are the one to carry my lord's seed. The one destined to bless us with a strong blood line to breed off of."
"You have to know that shit ain't gonna take, right?"
That warranted a small confused pause from the Nun. "Not take-?"
"I'm half human, and a dude. Human dudes can't carry, babies." Eddie waved his hand as he spoke, sprinkling bread crumbs across the surface of the shiny black latex covers of the bed.
"…Male humans cannot carry children?" This was about the first time she ever heard of this if her tone was anything to go by, "That is- ridiculously primitive,"
"I could say the same for you all breedin' with your direct relatives, kind of weakens the shit out of you," His words seemingly were an unintended insult as the Nun leaned back bristling at his words. "Weakens?!"
The roadie had to blink,'Oops, looks like I fuckin' screwed the pooch on this one,'
She swung her arms around with her words, voice raising the more she spoke. "Our bloodlines are strong, the strongest in this wretched world. We dominated most of this pathetic landscape with our methods, and what have you human's done?"
"Rebelled and kicked some ass, we took back the lands you claimed pretty easily," He scooted back some, half expecting the Nun to strike him. She seemed tempted to if her hand clenching hand by her side was anything to go by. Eddie knew he wasn't exactly in the best shape, so a blow certainly wouldn't be fun to get from the Nun. The best he could do was keep some distance, long arms or not, it didn't hurt to keep some space between them. She surprised him by simply hissing, bringing her hand up to bite at her fingers. Eddie just stared, squinting warily at the Nun.
"…Uh, what are you doing?"
"Mfh camhing, mahsalf," Unsurprisingly her words came out muffled and nonsensical. Eddie wasn't really sure what he had been expecting with her fingers shoved in her mouth like that.
"...Yeah, uh, tell me when you're, done doin' whatever you're doin',"
"Bhe qhiet," She wetly commanded back at him, her words still a mess of sounds due to her fingers. The sight was just weird enough to make Eddie's lips briefly twitch into an amused smile.
"Okay, okay- how 'bout we talk 'bout somethin' else? Like, what is your name?"
His question made The Nun pause, confusion scrunching her features. She pulling her fingers out of her mouth to speak, "Name?"
"Yeah, like, I'm Eddie and you are-?"
"We do not have names," She supplied, "Only the strongest have names,"
"What? Are you serious 'bout this?"
She rested her hands on her hips, frowning back at him. "Do I look humorous to you, hairy human?"
"Yeah, yeah you do. You're a real gut buster," Eddie simply rolled his eyes back, "You're pretty strong aren't you?"
"I wouldn't claim to be the strongest. Only master Doviculus can claim that as truth,"
Eddie had to bite back his urge to slander the hell out of Doviculus, simply evading mention of the demon as he spoke. "Well, you survived this long haven't you? Far as I can tell, most of you live for what, a week or less,"
The Nun paused at that, tilting her head in thought, "…That is true,"
"So, how about a name? I wouldn't exactly go round yakkin' bout it either,"
"Even if you did, no one would believe you," She answered back as she licked her zippered teeth. "Even if you are to bare our lord's child, you are still far too human,"
Eddie opened and closed his mouth, clearly wanting to comment but holding himself back. "Okay- noted." He scratched at his growing in beard as he continued, "How about, Lilith?"
"Li-lith?" She had to sound out the name, the sounds clearly strange to her mouth as she spoke it again, "Lilith, Lilith…"
"You like it or should I come up with somethin' else?" Eddie frowned back, watching as she chanted the name quietly to herself for another moment or two, adjusting to the odd word.
She shook her head, eventually answering him. "No, no. I, think I like it, I will need time, to understand it before I accept it,"
"Uh, sure, go crazy," He gave a vague sort of jazz hands in turn, squinting up at her as the Nun picked up the empty basket from the bed. "See you later?"
"Yes, you shall, good day," She offered him a bob of her head before making her way to the bedroom's exit. Eddie listening to her go as he let himself fall back onto the bed. Relieved that had went alright. The roadie not entirely sure why the hell he had even been so civil to the Nun. Knowing how demons worked, she would more than likely stab him in the back later with little remorse.
'I need to get out of here, this place is drivin' me nuts,'
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Ophelia flexed her fingers some as she tipped her head back, exhaling smoke into the brisk night air. Relaxation eased through her as she let her eyes close, the brunette woman quietly pushing away the occasional blip on her mental radar as she let herself ease into the tree behind her. Ophelia simply focused on the smell of smoke, grass and lingering scent of beer. Everyone was asleep by now, so it meant she could unwind to some degree. Even if it was in a way she usually felt silly while doing. She could practically hear Lita's mocking words cut in-
She shook the thought away as quickly as it came, she needed to relax, this meant no thinking about Lita, or Ironheade or The Doom. This was her time. Hers.
She only opened her eyes to take another slow drag, the heat from the cigarette enough to sustain her for now. Ophelia could manage, she certainly hadn't felt a chill or really cold since she Drowned. She knew what she did, she couldn't claim to be some innocent in that. Not when she remembered lurching across the land to build an army to destroy everything Eddie stood for.
The irony of the situation didn't escape Ophelia. Suddenly she was on his side again, trying to find him. She wasn't sure if she should be frustrated or what to really feel. Everything was incredibly jumbled. She had things running at an even pace as they cut a swatch through demon lands, but it didn't make things simple. Distrust was everywhere in the army, awkward alliances wouldn't last forever. As soon as they found Eddie, the Doom wouldn't want to stick around. Even if Ironheade was trying to make them feel comfortable, Ophelia already knew it wouldn't stick. Eddie certainly wouldn't want to hang around the Doom much less have them be on their side. The man was bullheaded. He drew lines in the sand and wasn't likely to walk over that proverbial line with his arms wide open to embrace his enemy. Ophelia didn't expect him to be happy to see her, much less her troops.
Ophelia managed to contain another sigh that wanted to escape, forcing herself to sit up and turn around, burning out her cigarette on the tree trunk.
"So much for relaxing," She murmured lowly to herself as she rose to her feet. The walk back to the bus a quiet one, well a quiet one until someone stabbed her in the shoulder. The blade finding a new sheath in her skin.
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He rested his cheek against the cool wall, listening as he heard the sound of activity out in the halls. The urge to be out and walking again gnawing at the roadie's guts as he pressed tightly against the wall.
He clawed his fingers against the walls, he gritting his teeth as he tugged against the chain around his neck. The cool feeling of metal digging into faded bruises and cuts around his neck.
The feeling earned a soft angry hiss as he let his hand move up to work his claws against the metal. He trying to find a lock somewhere on its battered surface. Even with the fact he had been clawing at the collar for the past month, Eddie desperately want to have missed some obvious keyhole or lock mechanism. He wanted to feel like he had control again. He had more control now than he did when he first arrived. Thinking about being confined to the black room again made a chill roll through Eddie as he protectively curled into himself. The silence was more terrifying than anything he could really think of.
Far as he could tell, he was going to be stuck here forever if he didn't get a better plan in place. Not that he really had a plan anymore. It was embarrassing to think about, he had gotten stuck and couldn't fight his way out. He wanted to fake complacency, gain weight back and be able to kill Doviculus. He had it planned out in detail, relishing just how much he would make Doviculus suffer as much as the demon lord had made him suffer. His plan kept being jarred out of whack, turned over and crushed by Doviculus and how unpredictable the whole place was. The demon fortress was orderly as it was chaotic. Eddie was used to hearing the weirdest things possible going on in the hallway and never being sure of what would happen next. Asides the obvious orgy.
He had planned on escaping that night, even if it meant falling to his death off that cliff, he was intent on being gone. His only problem was the fact his stamina was gone, he could barely out run a damned steel quilled urchin by this point, much less a horde of demons. Doviculus knew what he was doing when he set Eddie loose like that. It was a game as much as anything else was to the demon emperor.
He could either try and power through the rest of this somehow or make a new plan. He wasn't fond of either option, not when he was aching to magically escape.
Eddie licked his cracked lips in thought as he straightened out, reaching to pull himself up into a seated position for the moment. He had gotten too used to laying around, he couldn't keep doing that anymore.
He needed to do something and he had to do it soon. The question was, what was he going to do?
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