*pales, gripping the side of the tub, while breathing slowly through his nose*
“Get. Out!”
“…Because you are an anomaly here. Because you too have no others to share the cathedral of your mind with, and pursuits that you have had to put aside in favor of war. It is tiring…” The maia’s yellow eyes creased with something like sympathy. Neither the dagger nor the tightly wound stance of the Fëanorian giant seemed to worry him, naked though he was.
"Wouldn’t it be satisfying just to experiment and build again? Ainu and Eld, teaching, expanding, learning? Just as Aulë might have done—"
Then he swallowed, gaze turning suddenly to a distant point on the floor; finding himself exposed more thoroughly than just in skin.
"You are right of course. This was a truly farcical error…” He chuckled, mirthless. “I suppose we ought fight, then. Just for the sake of propriety.”
He shrugged off the ill-fitting robe and struck a wrestling stance.Maedhros forced himself not to feel anything, tried to at least. Because no matter how honeyed his words may seem, what offer they brought, what kind of strange sense they made. This was a trap and Thauron would use every single crease in his resolve to destroy what was left of him. He could not allow himself the foolishness to think otherwise. A younger, more stupid self might have believed no harm could come from a moment of leniency and some math. But now every single word conjured in his mind the words written on the old history book probably still opened on his desk. More painful than any scar.
The thought of Tyelpe made the Fëanorion’s eyes burn with hate. Still, being old also meant learning that the world was far more complex than you thought and each battle had its way to be fought, if you wished to win it. And the way this battle should be fought..
Maedhros steeled himself against the need to flinch at his enemy’s sudden movement or pale at his nudity. He managed one.
The way this battle should be fought, if he wanted its outcome to fit his desires, was not this. He lowered his left arm, the blade of the knife drawing a shining shadow on the wall.His face briefly distorting in a grimace the Noldo inhaled through his nose, repeating himself that he would have his vengeance. It felt like a lullaby, a lullaby for a monstrous infant whose weight, sweet as only a newborn’s can be, he could sense curling inside his chest, carried nearer to his heart than any of his brothers had ever been.
It was sudden, from anger his expression became one of polite, if darkly amused, calm. Rising to his full height the Fëanorion stepped away from behind the chair, never loosing sight of the Maia, his motions so studiedly relaxed they almost made the naked blade in his hand look harmless as light glided on its surface.
“What makes you a truly remarkable liar, Thauron” Keeping his tone conversationally benign Maerdhros took a few steps sideways, away from the naked Ainu. “is how tightly intertwined with truth your lies are. It is marvelous how honestly dishonest you can be. Had I met you in my youth I would have almost admired you.” Offering a knife-sharp smile he lightly shook his head, his expression falsely benign. “And, what is even more remarkable is how much of a compulsion destroying has become to you. I’d wager you are like the scorpion of the old tale. You would end up doing harm to your surroundings even if it meant you’d drown.”
Fixing his gaze on the other’s eyes Maedhros’s voice changed, becoming flat as his expression went back to a blank mask. “I do not wish to fight you. Leave.”
Sauron’s slitted pupils flared; the muscles in his face twitched into a snarl, but it was suppressed in short order.
Whatever warmth or provocative flirtation had been in his demeanor froze and died, leaving cruelty in its wake.
”…Leave, stay; fight, don’t fight… Since you can’t seem to make up your mind at all this evening, I’m afraid I’m going to have to do it for you.“
And with that, he sprung– two coiled steps that moved a wall of heavy muscle at an unthinkable rate, shoulder pivoting to collide with the Noldo, knocking him to the floor while iron-hard forearms grappled and pinned his taller opponent, heedless of the knife between them.
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 