[ At the mention of that woman, Lucius' smile falls away entirely. What replaces it isn't an expression of anger, however; he rolls his eyes, and his top lip curls from his teeth as a scoff passes between them. He had spent months seething at his captivity, and now, he reacts to the mention of her as if she were nothing more than a buzzing gnat. ]
Frankly, I wish she had treated me worse. Did she ever tell you of how frustrated she became? No, I suppose you spent too much time down in that archive, gobbling up the fleshcraft secrets your perfidy earned you. [ Behind him, his tail flicks back and forth in an irritated movement—but irritation is miles better than threat, and Lucius continues to chatter uninterrupted. ] Once, she got so furious with my refusal to die in that pit that she threatened to kill me herself. I rather wish she had.
[ A new smile stretches his lips with the words, his face lit by cruel mirth as he considers that delicious could-have-been. A joke that both of them can appreciate, he hopes. ]
You misunderstand, Fabius. I merely wished to warn you of the claws already sunken into you. [ His grin splits wider, and already, Lucius is back to finding humor at Fabius' expense instead. Then, as Fabius asks him about old work, it freezes on his face. Neither truthful answer is one he wants to give, and he knows he has no way to convincingly lie; his smile falls again, and this time, when his lip curls from his teeth, it's an expression that suggests the buzzing gnat is directly in front of him. ]
It has been... something of an adjustment, growing accustomed to mortal flesh once again.
[ Which doesn't particularly answer what Fabius had asked, but neither admitting the skill of Fabius' work nor confirming the way millennia of abuse had blown out the nerves of his old flesh is something he particularly wants to do. ]
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Frankly, I wish she had treated me worse. Did she ever tell you of how frustrated she became? No, I suppose you spent too much time down in that archive, gobbling up the fleshcraft secrets your perfidy earned you. [ Behind him, his tail flicks back and forth in an irritated movement—but irritation is miles better than threat, and Lucius continues to chatter uninterrupted. ] Once, she got so furious with my refusal to die in that pit that she threatened to kill me herself. I rather wish she had.
[ A new smile stretches his lips with the words, his face lit by cruel mirth as he considers that delicious could-have-been. A joke that both of them can appreciate, he hopes. ]
You misunderstand, Fabius. I merely wished to warn you of the claws already sunken into you. [ His grin splits wider, and already, Lucius is back to finding humor at Fabius' expense instead. Then, as Fabius asks him about old work, it freezes on his face. Neither truthful answer is one he wants to give, and he knows he has no way to convincingly lie; his smile falls again, and this time, when his lip curls from his teeth, it's an expression that suggests the buzzing gnat is directly in front of him. ]
It has been... something of an adjustment, growing accustomed to mortal flesh once again.
[ Which doesn't particularly answer what Fabius had asked, but neither admitting the skill of Fabius' work nor confirming the way millennia of abuse had blown out the nerves of his old flesh is something he particularly wants to do. ]