Repost: Hazards #6 [Mugy + Pyx]
From: January 16th, 2003
More stuff.


Hazards #6: Try, try again

--=--Mugendie--=--

I remained crouched, staring at his profile. He was both solid on the ground, and yet seemed to be impossibly delicate. His hair, long and fine, fluttered out behind him like a black flag. He...confused me. Pyxoliperi seemed utterly duplicious as he stood there, running his fingers through his bangs. Peaceful and yet potentially dangerous.

He stood on his toes, but even this contact proved too much. The ground darkened and cracked at the faintest contact with his skin. His skin...

Pyxoliperi seemed to notice his lack of clothing at almost the same time as I did. He waved a hand over the smooth muscles of his chest, and the dark red fabric of a robe appeared over him. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

The little fire devil turned, seeming to face me. His eyes, orange like all devils, scanned the ground around him. The tendrils gracing the tips of his ears twitched almost constantly. His nose flared once, and then his body shot forward. He came down hard a few yards away, his claws sinking into the ground. I heard a faint squeak as he lifted a tiny blue furball to eyelevel.

Gulp! The furball disappeared. I realized, belatedly, that Pyxoliperi had caught a tiny little pit mouse. It was odd, since pit mice usually lived underground, making their burrows in the old dead lava pits. The new hellfire must have sent them scurrying out of their nests, and to the surface.

A rumbling sound came from Pyxoliperi's throat as he plucked a bit of blue fur from his lip. The noise faded as he turned and looked square at me.

--+--Pyxoliperi--+--

He was impossible to ignore. Even though he was several yards away, I could feel the energy radiating from him, like the heat from a lava pit. He was crouched on the ground, his weight resting on one knee.

Mugendie. His name echoed in my ears. Just the thought of it made my muscles tense and the newly caught furball taste sour. I wanted to dig his eyes out with my claws.

I wanted to run away.

But I looked at him instead, met his strange heavy gaze.
"So...you're Mugendie. Isn't that right?"
He grinned. The light from the hellfire glinted briefly on his fangs. "That's right." He stood, and a I immediately wished he hadn't. Mugendie was as towering as I remembered--well over a foot taller than me. I felt tiny, exposed. His lips closed, sliding into a smirk. "And you're little Pyxoliperi, if I remember properly."
"Th-that's right..."
"Excellent." His pale yellow left hand rose and brushed a tangle of silver and violet hair from his face. He took a few steps closer. "So good to see you again, my sweet little Pyxoliperi.."
My name on his lips was poison. I stepped back, toward the lava pit. It was the only thing that seemed safe.
"Wh-what do you want?"
"Oh, nothing that I'm sure you'll have any trouble supplying..." He stopped a few feet away from me. Sniff sniff. (I couldn't help it.) Mugendie reeked of several things. His own energy seemed to bear a scent, strong and bitter, but I couldn't place it. He bore another, more familiar scent--sulfur. There was also the scent of a bit of dirt on his knee. And something else...similar to his energy but different. Terrible.

Death.

"Don't like what you smell?" He murmured, and laughed when I shook my head. "That's too bad..." His arm extended, closing the gap between us. His hand grabbed the edge of my robe and pulled me in. He tilted his head. "If you burn me, I'll rip your throat out."

"But I--"
"I know you want to," he hissed, pulling back the collar. "But don't. I don't care what your father or sister told you....don't."

I wanted to drive my nails into his stomach, wanted to hurt him, but I couldn't move. His presence was too strong. I hated this weakness. I hated being unable to move when I was near him.
I hated him.