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[tragic_mask]

Arriving at the Visitor's Center, Melpomene takes a look around.

"Well, this is it. In all its touristic glory. "

Comments

[tragic_mask]

She laughs, hearing the roar of the waterfall. "Well, I guess that will solve all our marshmallow problems-- if you accidentally set me on fire, for example."

[mechanicalswans]

"I never set anyone on fire by accident," he chuckles, and takes a few pictures of the falls.

Holding the camera at a bit of an angle, which is exaggerated by the tossing of the boat as it crosses the churning water.

[tragic_mask]

"Ah, so you do set them on fire purposefully?" she asks, looking out at the falls.

"Wow, this is really beautiful up close," she says.

[mechanicalswans]

"...sometimes," he admits, lining up another picture.

"Usually metaphorically, though."

[tragic_mask]

"I'd like to see that."

[mechanicalswans]

"Metaphorical or literal?"

Click.

"I'd do either one, for you. But literal gets so messy."

[tragic_mask]

"Metaphorical. Unless I need the warmth. Like when we're on some insane vacation in negative-degree weather."

[mechanicalswans]

"A little immolation in the fjords; that'd be quite a time. It reminds me of a man I once knew who--"

He grins, shaking his head, and looks up at the waterfall.

[tragic_mask]

She waits for him to finish, head tilted. When no conclusion comes, she sighs, and turns towards the waterfall as well.

[mechanicalswans]

"The further you are away from people, and the longer you're away, the more things seem normal that would be horrifying to people who still live in civilization. You tend to forget that there are rules."

Click.

[tragic_mask]

"Like the three-day savage."

[mechanicalswans]

"Only more so," he nods. "Because it can go on for years. I've been there--I've done it. So I know. But there's a genius of creation in it, all the same."

[tragic_mask]

"The best artists go mad, it's true."

[mechanicalswans]

He gives her a grin at that.

"Lucky me, then. You know I'm the best at what I do."

[tragic_mask]

"But your public persona is so... normal," she says. "What are you really like, hm?"

[mechanicalswans]

"Normal, liebchen?" he asks softly. "I'm not so sure you want to know what I'm really like. But I'll show you mine if you show me yours, so to speak."

[tragic_mask]

"It's nothing worth seeing, believe me," she says, hurriedly. But she knows it's only fair.

[mechanicalswans]

"I think it would be," he says. "I think it would be very... enlightening. For both of us."

[tragic_mask]

Her hands drop to her sides, and she glances at him, darkly. "No doubt."

[mechanicalswans]

"I should like to cherish every part and aspect of you," he murmurs. "And I should like you to know what you're getting involved with. Even if I would never hurt you. It's been so long since I could be honest."

[tragic_mask]

She looks at him quietly, for a long moment, with the shouts of tourists around them and the crashing waterfall as backdrop.

"Not here, but..." She stops, tries again. "You know, there is truly nothing to cherish about who I really am. I was made of darkness, more than any of my sisters."

[mechanicalswans]

"And you think it would bother me?" he asks quietly, leaning closer to her. He doesn't really want anyone else to overhear what he has to say, not that they're paying attention to much besides the scenery.

"I am a murderer, you know. A rapist and torturer. I have killed people and used their parts in my work. I'm not afraid of darkness."

[tragic_mask]

Her mouth tautens to hear these confessions, but she forges on-- too late now.

"At least you create something good from it. All I can make are strings of words... and not even my own. And for this, I have... destroyed lives."

She turns away, gazes off. "Anyway, I don't think I could recover this self, if I went back to the old one-- and I enjoy being able to smile, sometimes."

[mechanicalswans]

"You do as you were created to do," he says, watching her, expression once more impassive. "And I do what a cruel twist of fate has led me to do. But you know... I think that each of us is exactly what the other needs."

[tragic_mask]

"I guess we'll see," she says, skeptically. "I will want to have the mask and dagger you made for me. It will make things more... as they were, before."