Ira Invidia (V)- End Of The First Day

--- Booker H. Freeman ---

“So… what was the deal with all of that singing?” Lydia asked as she squished a half melted marshmallow between two graham crackers.

“What, you didn’t like my singing?” He couldn’t help but wonder with a smirk before plopping his own smore into his mouth. “I quite liked your little verse myself.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Lydia scoffed, before stuffing her own treat into her mouth with a touch of color to her cheeks that was from neither the fire nor the blood of the bodies that littered the street around them.

(Lust: She’s embarrassed, but she really does have a nice voice. Bit unrefined but we can work on that.)

“I’m aware.” He admitted, before explaining that. “It was a ritual of sorts, that allowed for… an alternative use of the power I had on hand.”

Lydia considered that for a moment before swallowing her snack. “Okay… I get what you’re saying, but… you started using it on me before those guys started causing trouble.”

(Greed: Good thing too, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten our claws in her.)

(Hmm, is the magic that invasive?) He wondered.

(Envy: It’s more the idiot’s domain than mine, but the Sinner’s Song is a means of manipulating casualty in our favor. The more we need to do so the more power it costs.)

(Lust: Don’t worry, the song can’t force people to do things they don’t want to. In fact if people sing along they can even use it to nudge things in their own favor!)

He couldn’t decide whether that soothed or troubled his thoughts on the matter.

(Greed: The fact that it costs us something for something that might not even get us anything makes it a fool’s deal.)

(Sloth: Then again, empowering our allies will make it so that we don’t have to do as much work ourselves.)

(Envy: Be it this or the beast, power always has a price.)

(Lust: At least my way we can make friends.)

(Valid points. Valid points.)

(Pride: In case you’ve forgotten, the girl is still waiting on an answer.)

He blinked before turning his attention back towards Lydia. “Ah, apologies, my dear. During our initial debate, you were quite reluctant to hear me out so I began my… song so as to prevent you from exiting before my offer could be made.”

Lydia frowned. “So you used a slaver effect on me?”

“NevER.” He snarled, ready to rip impudent whelp’s throat out for suggesting that-

(Wrath: That’s not what she meant.)

He felt his rage immediately evaporate as he caught sight of the terrified girl in front of him, before coughing into his hand. “Ah, apologies, my dear… I have issues with…”

(Lust: A lack of consent.)

(Gluttony: Kleptoparasites.)

(Greed: Theft of person.)

(Sloth: Forced labor.)

(Wrath: Strawman beatings.)

(Envy: Enforced misery.)

(Pride: Stunted potential.)

“All of that…” He summarized, a bit surprised by the strength of these varied reactions but far more curious about what those reactions said about him.

(Envy: We may be a mad monster…)

(Pride: But we’ve standards thank you!)

“I… I think I get it… I mean if someone called me a nazi…” Lydia grit her teeth as she glared at one of the nearby corpses before shaking her head.

The young woman reached for another marshmallow to console herself of whatever thoughts were in her head before finding the bag empty. “We’re out…”

(Lust: Aww…)

“I suppose that means it’s time to get to work.” He nodded as he began examining their surroundings.

(Sloth: Aww…)

“What did you have in mind?” Lydia asked, doing the same as she tossed the bag into the fire. “Looting the bodies?”

(Greed: Yes.)

“Hmm, tempting.” He admitted, eyeing the various fallen ‘nazis’ he’d killed during his little song.

(Sloth: No, we need to move.)

He paused. (Why?)

(Sloth: People like this, they find safety in numbers. If their friends show up, they’ll keep showing up until we’re dead.)

(Greed: A sunk cost fallacy that’ll leave them dead and us broke. If we’re lucky.)

(Wrath: Unless we slaughter them all. With the way the girl acts around them, I’m sure they deserve it.)

(Envy: We were only so dangerous due to the song. If more people show up we’d have to actually fight them at a disadvantage.)

(Gluttony: They’d be lambs to the slaughter if you gave into the HuNgeR…)

(Envy: Hmm, we’ve enough sin to do it but… I’m not sure it’d be worth the cost… Then again, none of us are in charge here are we?)

No they weren’t.

As insane as he seemed to be he was still cognizant enough to make his own choices, which is why he decided that, “It’s best if we find somewhere to lay low for now. We’ve been here for a while and the last thing we need is for one of their friends to find us.”

“Couldn’t you just kill them like you did these guys?” Lydia frowned, looking quite ugly as she did so.

(Lust: Ah, she thinks we’re stronger than we are!)

(Sloth: We need to keep her thinking that. Turn it around, make it about her rather than us.)

He nodded more to himself than to her question. “I could but the real question is if they’ll be smart enough to bring reinforcements after seeing us surrounded by the dead. While I could handle a decent number of them, at a certain point their numbers may overwhelm my ability to protect both of us, and I prefer an outcome we’re both in favor of.”

“R-right.” Lydia nodded back, looking at their surroundings with a little more caution.

(Sloth: Good it’ll keep her alive.)

“I don’t suppose you’ve somewhere we can properly reconvene and discuss how we’re leaving this city? I’m sadly not very familiar with this locale at the moment.” He confessed, as he took in their surroundings with some distaste. “Preferably somewhere without that… insignia you burned.”

“Good luck with that, just about everyone here is a racist asshole.” Lydia warned him as she rubbed her shoulders. “I… I had my alley nook, but… it barely fit me let alone someone as tall as you.”

(Pride: And we’ve yet to fall so far as sleeping next to the trash.)

(Envy: But we have fallen low enough to not be picky.)

(Greed: Doesn’t matter where we stay so long as it’s ours.)

(Sloth: Preferably a place we won’t have to work to maintain.)

“There might be some abandoned buildings or something nearby.” Lydia offered anxiously as his silence dragged on. “People tend to avoid refilling wherever the Smiling Man is roaming until he’s moved on.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“A fantastic idea!” He assured the girl with a smile. “Barring my own situation, I don’t suppose you know where he was most recently active?”

“I… I might, but…” Lydia shook her head. “Nevermind.”

“But…” He prodded with an encouraging grin.

“But it might be dangerous… or at least it would be for me.” The young woman admitted. “From what I’ve seen you should be safe.”

“I should be.” He agreed, giving the girl a smile. (Especially if I am in fact the Smiling Man brought low.) “Why don’t you lead the way, my dear?”

“R-right.” Lydia nodded as she took one more look around them before setting off. “It should be over this way.”

He easily followed the young woman, finding that thanks to their height difference his long stride allowed him to keep up with her jog while maintaining a brisk walk.

After several minutes of wandering through the streets Lydia slowed her pace with a(n ugly) grimace on her face. “Yeah, we’re in the right area now…”

“Oh, how can you tell?” He wondered, unable to really tell this area apart from any of the previous ones.

(Envy: I can feel it… The shadows are deeper here than elsewhere.)

(Pride: That could just be the passage of time and the setting of the sun.)

(Envy: No. There’s something here. A lingering darkness… It feels like home.)

Rather than pointing any of this out Lydia gestured to the ground where a number of bloodstains streaked off into an alley. An alley that upon closer inspection was filled with a pile of dead bodies.

(Sloth: Corpses swept to the side because it was easier than stepping around them. Human apathy at its finest.)

(Wrath: To be fair, dishonorable curs like them deserve little better.)

“People may kill each other left and right down here but… you only see piles like that where the Smiling Man has been.” The young woman explained with a shiver. “If we keep moving we’ll probably see some more in the other alleys.”

“And how do you know it isn’t simply a little bit of street violence like our own little slaughter this morning?” He asked her, wondering if the bodies they’d left littering the street would be swept into a pile like this.

“Because when someone kills you it only takes like a day to wake back up but when the Smiling Man kills you… you stay dead for a lot longer than that.” Lydia elaborated before shaking her head as she started once more. “Better than being left a Smiler I guess.”

“Quite.” He agreed more to add a somber silence to the conversation as he instead asked the voices in his head, (Did she just say people wake back up after dying?)

(Pride: She did. Curious… Especially since she mentioned it as if it were common knowledge, almost.

(Envy: Maybe that’s what the circle in the sky is doing? Bringing people back to life?)

(Gluttony: A hunt eternal. A buffet unending… How delectable.)

(Greed: No meal is free, there's a price we’re not seeing.)

(Envy: If that’s the case the shadows could be something suppressing the effect? Putting the payment on pause?)

(Wrath: A pause to the cycle of violence. Tch, a mercy they don’t deserve.)

(Sloth: Unless it’s tactical. Dead hands aren’t working hands.)

(Pride: There’s too little information for a proper hypothesis.)

“Okay, this should be far enough.” Lydia noted, drawing him from his thoughts as he found himself looking at a hotel of sorts composed of red brickwork and gray cement in a style that lacked much in the way of flash.

“Hmm, yes, I do believe this will do quite nicely for our purposes.” He grinned in agreement as they stepped into the lobby and found it empty of both patrons and staff alike. “Though I will admit I didn’t quite believe you about them abandoning the area on this scale.”

“Y-yeah, like I said, everyone is scared of ending up in a body pile. I’ve never had it happen to me but I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about people having to climb out from the bottom.” Lydia nodded as she ran behind the counter and began searching through everything.

He rang the hotel bell before asking her if she, “Found anything of value, my dear?”

“Register is open and empty so someone already got the stacks of sin, and the place is old school… but it looks like whoever was staying here ran with the keys.” Lydia gave an unseemly frown in frustration as she continued searching.

He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by ‘old school’ (whatever that is) but he wasn’t overly worried, knowing they could simply break down a door or two if it came down to it.

“Wait… Found some!” Lydia cried in triumph as she held up a pair of keys.

“Very good.” He applauded with a grin since the girl seemed to deem this some kind of achievement even if he didn’t quite see it himself.

(Sloth: Encouragements keep the minions working so you don’t have to.)

(Lust: It’s also the friendly thing to do!)

With a theatrical half bow he gestured towards the nearby stairs. “Shall we find our rooms, my dear?”

“Uh, yeah…” Lydia nodded, looking a little off put for some reason he couldn’t quite decipher.

Instead of moving towards the stairs Lydia instead moved towards a set of handless double doors and pressed a button on the wall, causing them to open what he believed to be an elevator.

He couldn’t help but blink as he followed her before watching as she pressed another button causing the elevator to begin moving before stopping and opening on another floor after a few moments. “Ha, quite the little elevator operator aren’t you?”

Lydia gave him a confused frown, but didn’t let whatever was bugging her keep her from stepping into the hotel hall and looking for their room.

Once it was found Lydia seemed to pause before glancing his way with something a little nervous as she opened the door.

With the door open he could almost understand her nervousness. “Hmm, not the greatest of accommodations…”

The room itself was serviceable with a bed big enough for two, a small table and chair, balcony, and some glass box on the wall. Off to the side was a doorless lavatory with what he believed to be a shower off to the side. (Perfectly fine for a gentleman on his own, but definitely not for a young woman on the road.)

“I don’t know… it’s definitely nicer than the alleys I usually crash in.” Lydia argued, sounding a bit depressed as she did so before giving an (ugly) frown at the photo on the wall of a parade surrounded by banners of that (idiotic) windmill he’d been seeing everywhere. A photo that Lydia promptly grabbed and threw out over the building.

An act that left her with a beautiful grin on her face, at least until she saw the newly revealed bloodstain on the wall. “Though I’m not sure if it’s much safer honestly.”

“Don’t worry if anything causes us trouble, I’ll… deal with it.” He promised unable to hold back a smile full of teeth. “For now we should get some rest. We’ve a big day tomorrow after all!”

“Working on getting out of Ira Invidia, right?” The girl checked once more, an almost desperate edge to her voice as she held onto the edge of her jacket.

“That was our deal I believe.” He chuckled, amused by her paranoia and the fact it would likely grow worse until he delivered on extracting them from this city.

“R-right… this is for getting out of Ira Invidia…” Lydia told herself once more as she removed her jacket with a resigned look.

“Quite right.” He nodded, before spotting a magazine with a woman wearing far too little clothing on the cover and a fake smile.

(Lust: Eww, gross.)

He glanced at the young lady’s way before subtly throwing out the magazine and hoping she hadn’t seen such deplorable material.

(Lust: I don’t get why people like that stuff.)

(Gluttony: There’s no artistry to it. No emotion to revel in.)

(Lust: Yeah… Sex is boring.)

“So… how are we doing this?” Lydia asked him, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she stood there looking deeply uncomfortable with his silence.

“Ah, well, I suppose I’ll sleep in the chair while you take the bed.” He answered with a terse grin as he realized just how uncomfortable these chairs looked.

Lydia blinked before turning to him. “Wait, you’re not…” She made a gesture towards the bed.

“What? No, no, no.” He wagged his finger at her. “It would be truly improper for a young lady such as yourself to share a bed with a non-relative. As is, we're already pushing the boundaries of decorum by sharing a room, but needs must given our current situation.”

Truthfully, he was still considering breaking down a door but if he could sleep in a room with a lock then that would be far safer for both of them.

“Oh…” Lydia said, looking stunned for some reason. (Why, it’s almost as if she’s never met a proper gentleman!)

(Wrath: Given what we’ve seen, that's fully possible.)

(Pride: Something we’ll have to rectify!)

“Um, uh, if… if you want I… I grabbed a second set of keys for af… nevermind.” Lydia half way explained, refusing to meet his eyes as she held the keys out.

(Why didn’t she mention this before?)

(Envy: You don’t want to know.)

(Sloth: You really don’t.)

“Al-right.” He accepted the keys, deciding to let it go as he checked the room number before realizing, (Ah, this is on a completely different floor. That’s why she didn’t share them, she was worried about us being too far from each other!)

“Yeah, just… just get out of here so I can, uh, bathroom!” Lydia shouted in embarrassment.

“Oh, of course.” He nodded, not wanting to be anywhere near any of that.

He quickly departed, not feeling an ounce of offense when Lydia promptly slammed the door behind him.

Deciding to completely ignore the matter, and not trusting himself to operate the elevator, he made his way to the stairs before locating his room. All while either ignoring the various stains on the walls and carpet or admiring the ones he was fairly certain were comprised of blood.

(Pride: That one was… three gunshots. First one merely clipped and the last was to make sure.)

(Sloth: Ugh, headshot would’ve been less work.)

(Gluttony: Claws on that one. Tackled them to the ground and ripped them apart.)

(Envy: Hmm, looks like someone was crucified there.)

(Wrath: No, they just impaled them. Crucifixion requires the entire pose.)

(Lust: The splatter makes such a pretty color…)

(Greed: Cheaper than paying for paint I guess.)

Eventually he did locate his room and found it to be basically the same as the one he’d left Lydia with. More so once he removed the painting and yet another one of those magazines of ill repute. (Well, at least if I ignore the lack of bloodstain.)

(Lust: I wonder if she’ll trade rooms with us?)

(No, no. Let’s leave her the good room. She’s clearly had a rough time of it and deserves it.)

(Lust: When you’re right, you’re right.)

(Pride: Of course.)

After a moment of simply standing there, he realized that this was quite possibly the first time he’d found himself both alone and without a goal of some sort since first waking up.

With nothing to do but take in the world around him, he stepped out onto the hotel balcony and took a deep breath of that bloodstained air as he took in the city in front of him.

A place with blood red skies, crumbling buildings, where bodies seemed to litter the streets, and the smoke of burning flames seemed to dance their way into the air much like the sound of screams and gunshots echoing all around.

To most people all of this would scream of something nightmarish, but him, he couldn’t help but smile as he looked out at this city full of opportunity and said, “Laissez le bon temps rouler.”