-- FORTY DAYS OF ONE-NIGHT STANDS --
#10 – Famished
"I...I don't believe this. I used to be a vegetarian."
Lucrecia told him this, more wonder in her voice than revulsion or panic. But that was always her nature. She rarely backed away and was always more keen to jot down notes and observations than worry for herself. She was often judged foolhardy, and to some extent Hojo could concede to the truth of that estimation, but privately he believed that out of all the morons, bootlickers and pretenders out there, his wife was one of the few who had enough daring and vision to be considered a real scientist.
Her pregnancy-cravings fascinated him, bringing to mind the sight of Jenova-infected creatures, the ferocity of those primary experiments, and how they would tear at the animal meat offered them in their clear cages. Like them, Lucrecia ate as though she were starving. Being changed by such degrees was a testament to the power of her union with Jenova and the consummation of that scientific relationship. As hunger overwhelmed her and the smell and taste of steak tainted the air of the ground-level floors of the Shinra mansion, Hojo could not feel fear or concern. Let Gast and Valentine bandy and whine about how changed their precious girl was. Around this stage she was already beginning to lose bits and pieces of her beauty as the Mako and Jenova cells did their work and the scent of the lab and dead flesh began to cling to her, but to Hojo she had never been more beautiful. Grasping her was never so pleasurable as when he could taste the meat in her mouth and could feel her swelling stomach pressed against him. Truth was, she was his and each time her teeth ripped into flesh only confirmed her increasing perfection. He often envied her and slobbered over the prospect of one day achieving a similar union with Jenova, but for now he could live vicariously through Lucrecia and their son, and learn.
Beyond his frustration, Hojo always found it interesting to note in the years that followed that although Sephiroth appeared most at ease when wielding magic against others and spilling blood, ever since the boy had learned to form coherent sentences he had blankly and fiercely refused meat of all kinds.