Life is for the Living [Finished]

[carcinoGeneticist]

There wasn't any particular reason why Apocalypse went into the dungeons, he just felt like it was a good opportunity to slip into the cold and the dank and relax. He loved the place, really. It had been one of his favored haunts for some time now, a place he could blow off steam and distract himself from everything going on in his life. If Mephit was there, it would be a nice bonus. Perhaps he could make another move on her, hope that things went better this time. If Marie was there... well, that would be interesting as well. He hadn't seen her since long before the change.

Huh. Wonder how she'd react when she did know. In a way, it made him feel even more hopeful that the girl-weapon would be around, though he'd never exchanged more than a few casual words with her. "Love how that one twists, do that again. Hand me the wrench, will you? Hrm, maybe the screwdriver will work better here." Buisness-talk, casual, meaningless, excellent for filling the silence whenever there wasn't a scream to keep them occupied.

When he reached the entryway, he paused and stretched out fully, fingertips extending so that they brushed against the peak of the arch. Bright orange eyes flashed as he glanced around the room, seeking out any clue that there would be someone here. A tool left out of place, a fresh splatter of blood, a stranger on the workbench.... Oh, or the swish of a Highland-colored skirt and flash of red hair seen out of the corner of his eye. He raised an eyebrow. Yes, that was a clear sign that someone was down here and wasn't Mephit.

"Hello, Marie," the man called out as he stepped into the room. He knew she'd notice. How could she not?

[The Jenn]

Soft skirts swished against the floor as Marie dangled her human legs over the side of a bench, kicking them idly and staring at the floor with a small frown. The dungeons had been empty for several days, the weather had been overcast and unpleasant, most of the people she would have considered seeking out were occupied, and she really wasn't sure what to do with herself. She wasn't in a depressed funk for the time being, though that could easily change if she started feeling truly neglected in the world, but she was feeling... bored. And a touch nostalgic. This place was a comforting familiarity.

She heard the tread of booted feet on the steps and kept her head down, wondering who would be visiting. Were they bringing a new amusement with them? But she probably would have heard some sort of scrape or another pair of footsteps. Unless they were carrying them? Probably wishful thinking.

Golden eyes flicked towards the feline when she spoke and her small mouth twisted at the end, somewhere between a grimace and a smile. Hmm. "Hello, Pale. Are you going to be interesting or boring today?" She wasn't in the mood to deal with him if he was just going to be boring. It was so hard to tell with people sometimes, and different weapons could have very different interests depending on their summoners.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Well, wasn't that a curious sort of greeting. In reply to her smile-grimace Apocalypse shot her a grin with bared fangs, though it was mirthful. Marie was always good for something, but he was never sure if it would be amusement or bewilderment. He really didn't know where he stood in her book, but that was fine by him. He hooked his fingers under the hem of his pants, quirking an eyebrow as he considered her question. "Hrm. Most likely boring, considering I didn't bring us a new toy and didn't really have anything in mind when I came down here."

He stepped further into the dungeon, glancing around. No signs of anything old to play with. No wonder the girl looked so utterly bored... He looked back at Marie with a curious expression, then swung himself up into a chair, flopping lazily in it and glancing at the table that their favorite tools rested on. All were neatly arranged, impeccably clean... That was something he'd never understood before, but now he knew more about infection and the risk of death to someone you didn't want to die just yet if proper sterilization wasn't used.

Slowly, he ran his fingers along the flat of a broad-bladed knife, a tool Marie might recognize as being one of his favorites. He turned his eyes back to her, the corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk. "Well? What do you think?" he finally asked, indicating his chest with a hand.

[The Jenn]

Marie sighed the sigh of the long-suffering as he announced his lack of a toy. Something in her had hoped... but no, people didn't cater to her whims anymore, not like she wished they would as a Queen of Hearts. She deserved better than she got.

Her eyes were drawn like magnets to the mark on his chest the second he pointed it out and she stared at it in silence for a moment. Her face remained blank until it slowly twisted into a mask of confusion. "Did somebody give you a tattoo? They did a good job, but you aren't supposed to have that. The Cards get antsy. Bernard probably won't approve. I mean, I understand why you went for King. You aren't a Queen, and you shouldn't be higher than your summoner anyway. But you shouldn't have it."

She stared at his smirking face, wondering who'd painted or tattooed the mark on his skin. They could get in real trouble for doing things like that. She almost wished she could meet them. That kind of trouble might prove to be... fun for her.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Oh, the confusion was obvious. The man's smile twitched again, then grew lazily until it covered his mouth, lips open just enough to show the hint of fang. This probably wasn't exactly what Marie was hoping for, but it only seemed reasonable for the ex-weapon to take some slight enjoyment from the axe's confusion. He leaned back in his seat again, crossing a leg and tossing his head to push his bangs out of his eyes, then ran a finger across the bright red mark. No smearing. Which meant nothing since she thought it was a tattoo.

Really, it seemed like there was only one truely effective way to show her what had happened. He shifted his hand slightly, and then, out of thin air, pulled forth the scythe that had once been himself. He carried it with practiced grace, holding the long weapon as if it were a scepter or cane, leaning back in his seat.

Then, Apocalypse grinned at her. "If Bernard's angry, it'll be for entirely different reasons." Here was where things would get interesting if they ever did, he imagined. Marie was... understandably, perhaps, the first person he actually wanted to talk to about his change. It likely had something to do with the fact that she'd once been his peer. Kinda. In some bizzare, small way. "But maybe this'll at least keep him out of your hair for a day or two. At least until I consent to speak with him."

[The Jenn]

Marie's whole body twitched when Pale caused the scythe to materialize out of thin air. The fangy smile had been slightly worrying, but this was something else entirely. She stared, gold eyes flicking from his face to his hand to the weapon and then back again two or three times. Her hands slowly moved from either side of her on the bench to her knees and she sat forward, still staring.

"He's only annoying anymore when he has the energy to be annoying," she said absently with regards to the old Card. "But that. What did you do. How did you do that." Her mind whirred as she tried to draw conclusions from what she was seeing. It settled on one and stuck. To her mind, with the connection she knew that all weapons shared with their summoners, it made perfect sense. If Pale wasn't the weapon, then it had to be Rhi. There was no room for other answers to the question in her head. "How did you get her in there?"

For the briefest of seconds while thinking, the whole bizarre sight had sparked a painful flare of hope in her chest that then withered and died in a nasty way, leaving the imagined taste of ashes in her mouth. Rhiannon had been alive. Serafino wasn't. Whatever happened, it probably wouldn't apply to her. Not that she wanted to be a Card anyway, but she would have borne it for her summoner. She would have done anything to have him back. Sometimes she hated every other weapon in the Court for their fortune. She was the only one left alone.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The twitch did not go unnoticed, though Apocalypse didn't react to it with anything more than a feeling of deep satisfaction. Maybe he wouldn't be boring today. That would be nice, he did strive to be at least somewhat interesting. Slowly, he ran his fingers across the scythe, letting Marie's questions come to an end before he moved to speak. When he did, he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at his weapon, and his voice had taken on an oddly soft tone.

"I don't know how I did it, only that it happened when Rhiannon was at her worst." Which was an understatement. But really, he didn't feel like telling anyone else that she'd tried to kill herself and would have succeeded if not for their change in roles. It was something he still couldn't come to terms with and made his head feel hot and heavy. Bodily functions were bizzare, and he knew it would take some time for him to fully adjust. He turned the weapon, letting the blade rest against the bare skin of his chest, peeking out at Marie over the top of it. "She just went."

It sounded strange to say, but as every day went by he felt more sure that this was a change for the better. For one, it meant that he didn't have to worry about Rhiannon pulling another stunt like she'd done before. He could keep her safe and sound and close without fearing for his own existence. After all, he'd seen how death of a summoner affected a weapon. The evidence was standing right there. "She hasn't quite mastered the form-change," he said in an off-handed, casual way, inspecting the scythe. "But then, I'm still learning how to use the magic I gained."

[The Jenn]

Marie had seen Serafino at his worst. She had been his constant companion since he was too young for conscious memory, even if she hadn't been sentient at the time. She'd been there, the imagined playmate and tangible weapon, wrapped with padding for his young form to cuddle in the dark of the night. Even if she couldn't consciously remember them, she could remember the feeling of her summoner at his worst. Nothing could make her imagine them swapping places, though.

"I can't imagine a Card on our plane. It's so different from here. Are you... are you breathing? Do you need to?" She stared at his bare chest for a moment, fascinated despite herself. She used breath to speak, but she didn't need it to live. And now he did? Eugh. How uncomfortable.

"But... the weapon was you. We are the weapon. Whether our summoner is alive or dead, we are the weapon. And you're no longer a weapon." Her stare had slowly shifted from interest to wariness while she spoke. Was he just another Card now? He knew things that only a weapon could know. He'd felt and experienced things. But how far had the separation gone? And did it matter? Did she care? That was really the important question.

So he had magic. That... that... no. "So you aren't a weapon. You're just a Card." Her voice had gone oddly flat. It wasn't hostile. It was just toneless.

[carcinoGeneticist]

There was something on Marie's face that Apocalypse hadn't really expected to see, and his eyebrow inched up slightly. When she stared at him he moved slightly so that his breathing would be more obvious, looking down at himself and shrugging. "Yep. I forget sometimes, but a life of not needing to do it would have that affect on you. I get hungry if I don't eat." There was a whole variety of worms in that basket, but he focused on the most obvious ones. Sleep was another good one, for all that he was quickly finding it was the most irritating one as well.

He leaned on the weapon once more, resting his chin against the blade as he watched Marie's face run the emotional gamut. "I'm not a weapon, no. Not anymore. I still... think of myself as one most of the time."

Then he blinked at her, a brief flicker of surprise going across his face. For as long as he'd known the little axe, he never imagined that she would show no emotion at all. In a way, it seemed... Weird. She wasn't reacting well to this, was she? "Yes. With everything that entails." he looked away for a moment, idly stroking the weapon, then drawing his fingers rather abruptly across the blade. In his mind, Rhiannon flinched. He flinched as well, but his would be visable to Marie. He extended a hand, the red blood bright and impossible to ignore against the whiteness of his skin. "Rhi's my weapon now. It feels almost the same as before, but somehow... it's like she weighs less in my mind."

[The Jenn]

Marie stared at the small line of red splashed across Pale's fingers, her face still impassive in an eerie mimicry of her summoner to anyone who had known the man. Blood. He was bleeding. He was mortal. Just a Card. One with a summoned weapon.

Her tone was, if possible, even flatter. "So you're mortal now. You're going to die. One day, you're going to end. Poof. Not exist. And then she'll weigh even less. She'll be gone from your mind forever. You won't be there, and maybe she will. How lucky for you." The words had taken on a frosty bite at the end. Emotions were starting to creep onto her face again. They weren't particularly pleasant. Eventually, her face settled into cold dislike. She'd always been one for melodrama. It made sense, what with the mind she'd been created from.

"Fine, so you're a Card. There are lots of Cards. There are even lots of Cards with summoned weapons. You're boring now. I don't want to talk to you anymore. Goodbye." She stood, smoothing her skirts with a jerky twitch and beginning to stalk away.