♛ until high noon ; { open }
Click. The sound of his black shoes against the pavement echoed listlessly in the evening. A rattle of plastic followed. The golden king winded the chain in his hand, and carried it begrudgingly. It was all he had, sans the highstyle clothing he wore once. Nightlife in city was adequate, and the people were stronger and stranger than he’d imagine. Money was water to him. Why, Gilgamesh already found a wad of cash folded neatly in his pocket as if deliberately placed there. He fingered through the bills, criticizing its plain design and old stink. Though he had no memory of collecting it, he slipped it back in his pocket; what’s his is his.
Behind streetlamps, a lowly thief skulked from the shadows, seeing the money. Thinking the golden man was off-guard and “helpless”, he charged in like a mad bull, shakily holding a switchknife. Gilgamesh peered from the corner of his eyes, too bored to laugh. Bad entertainment, the king unhurriedly avoided the first assault, letting the thief fall flat on his face. It was time to put a dog out of its misery.
Gracefully, he parried the second, drunken attack and knocked the knife into his own hand. Panic coloured the bastard’s face, making the king all the more bored. Just thinking of the unspectacular death made him yawn. He threw the knife with truer aim and pierced his thief’s throat, who then gurgled desperately for air and died in a pool of warm blood. His own body still perfect and strong, the king took small comfort in that.
“You’ve gotten dirty.” Gilgamesh grimaced, mild irritation flashed across his visage. Speckles of blood dotted the brighter chain links. He lightly kicked at the corpse once and moved onward. Wiping the plastic chain clean, he despised the trinket all the more, but he would not have something filthy on his person. A king must always be presentable, however silly his artefacts.
“Hm?” He glanced to the side. A scurrying rat, Gilgamesh thought and disregarded whomever it was that stumbled upon the gruesome scene. It was a fair warning. But whatever wretch stood behind the king still followed furtively, a good five or so paces away. Stopping, he decided to have the good grace to glance at the mongrel’s visage.
“What an irritating presence.” Deep, ruby eyes fell on the stranger. “Did you come to beg?” The stranger had not screamed “murder” yet, so he could only assume the little lowborn was too terrified, too horrified to utter a sound. Better yet, the lowborn was of questionable origin. Delightful. Entertain me. Gilgamesh smirked, and half-heartedly swung the toy chains. “Perhaps I’ll acquire a better plaything, after all.”
Eventide had swiftly gained the favour of the red devil, the flow of people trickling into a more tolerable level. Armour clinked lightly with each step forward, the only indication that someone had been taking what seemed to be a leisurely stroll down the cemented pathway. This city reeked with the disgusting odor of familiarity, with the squeaks of rats in the drainage pipes below their feet. Scoffing in reminiscence, the least these irksome scientists could have done being to tidy up than to keep it in constant squalor.
A voice had cut through the darkness no sooner than her thoughts drifting into the blackened sky. Carmine hues lifted in the direction that it had come from, the figure of a man not too far off. Metal clanked as her right arm let the heavy sword in her grasp rest upon the ground, if only but a moment as she moved to poke the corpse beside her with the tip in inspection. Blood lingered in the air from the oozing wound, attention returning once more to the presumed murderer.
“ If you’re going to throw trash around, at least make use of the dumpsters that are scattered about. “
Simple words laced with little care, completely monotonous. Whether this man had just committed a crime or not did not seem to bring her bother, nor did the words she disregarded. Provocation would take more than labeling her as some toy or a beggar; the demon-esque knew better than anyone that she was above such pitiful naming amongst this city of lab rats.
An arm swung her King Saw loftily over one shoulder, head tilting to the side as her pale visage continued to offer him naught but apathy. “ Even then, if you’re going to kill the thing then keep it out of sight.
I’d rather not see filth cluttering the streets I walk. “
