Challange Entry #2

Title: Games
Author: The dastardly MarsDragon, back and twirling the mustache better than ever.
Timeline: LoI
Spoilers: Spoilers for the second big plot twist, but skipping the first! CRAZY.
Warnings: Slightly slashy stuff. I feel like the lightweight here. (Amusing note: This was originally intended to be slightly more graphic, in the 'WE'RE EDGING TO A PG-13 RATING NOW BABY' sense. I copped out, though. Fear me, Master of Copping Out on Sex Scenes! Cities shall tremble with their lack of graphic porn! ALL SHALL KNOW ME AND DESPAIR!)
Disclaimer: Totally not mine. Be utterly bodacious if 'twere, though.
Contest Topic #: Pi. (Okay, two.)
Comments: I was going to finish this earlier, but the lure of shiny new Firefox and extensions dragged me away. Curse you, sweet siren of software! Curse you! Oh, and no one really cares about the word limit anymore, right? Just checking. And for a final note, I really do wonder why we don't see this more often, what with the fanon Slut!Walter and all.



Leon was fighting well enough, though recklessly. He should've hung back against the skeletons, so their bones could not hit him. And running away from the digger was pointless. He needed to have followed it and then watched out for its claws. But all in all, Leon was getting through the castle and Mathias could not find fault in that.

He was peering closer to the shallow pan of water, trying to figure out what Leon was trying to do against the Axe Knight, when a hand fell on his shoulder. Walter, of course. He ignored it for now, after all, he was supposed to be totally involved with his little plan to ruin his comrade in arms. And what was Leon doing? A shield meant you worked around it, not tried to bash through -

"While I do keep the game to have something to watch, I also believe in spending time with my guests. If you would like it, of course."

Oh yes. Walter. Mathias straightened up in the chair while Walter gently shoved the pan out of reach and sat down himself.

"Was there something you wished to speak of?"

"Nothing in particular. But a host has his responsibilities, don't you agree?"

Mathias made a good attempt at a chuckle, and thought it came out rather natural. "You have no fear of my complaints on that front. After all, my needs are rather simple."

Walter leaned forward, looking amused. "I had thought you might get bored, just sitting here and watching him fight. I am."

"I had heard you had made up this little game to avoid that. Or do the centuries dull even this?"

"Ah, it still keeps my interest, but even the most entertaining of diversions can lose its luster if taken too much at once. One must break up diversions so that they do not become worn out and so are still fresh when you return to them, yes?" Walter smiled then, and Mathias noted how he had been careful to show all his teeth. "So. What games does my esteemed guest play, when he has the time?"

"The twin games of war and thrones, mostly. Not the most leisurely of pastimes, but entertaining enough, provided you have the skill." Mathias shrugged carelessly and added "Or did you mean in the more petty sense?"

Walter laughed then, as if the joke had been funny. "The first two, I'm afraid, I left long ago. Endlessly entertaining... however, immortality is difficult to hide there. I only lasted a century or so before coming here and setting up my own game. But I was speaking of the more petty pursuits. What other entertainments do you favour?"

"I am told my skills include conversation. Is that good enough?" It wasn't that hard, Mathias thought, to make and keep the conversation light and easy. It also meant that Walter was being kept away from uncomfortable topics, like, to pick a completely random example, loyalties and reasons. Nothing to implicate him, nothing to suggest what he was doing, and no suspicions on Walter's part. Not that it was a particular risk, it would take a clever man to see through his deceptions, and Mathias had seen the vampire trying to be clever. It was rather like watching a bear attempt a waltz.

"Conversation is a good skill to have. A most excellent skill, and one part of the other great game I enjoy." Walter again smiled widely, as if there were people, perhaps the blind, deaf, and dead, who had not guessed the 'other game' he spoke of.

Mathias did his best to pretend to be blind, deaf, and dead. "I would not expect someone so far from others to have much socialization. I had also not heard that demons particularly liked the higher arts of interaction."

Walter smiled wider, a predator seeing a rabbit walk innocently into its jaws. "Are you a man of the world, knight?"

"I do not believe I count any longer as a man of God, so I suppose then that I am, by default."

"None of us are any longer holy. Would you thenfore be amicable to a bit more experience in your new status?" It was implied that Mathias would agree, knowing or not. And he would. A part of him protested that he was supposed to remain loyal to Elizabeta, that what point was there in taking vengeance for her if he could not stay loyal to her, but these were quickly pushed down by the practicalities of the situation. It would keep Walter satisfied and convinced more than ever that he was no threat, and this would be the stepping stone to which his revenge would be achieved. In the end, all things bowed to practicality, so all he did was to stand up, smile as if he had only the slightest idea of what Walter had planned, and nod his assent.

The vampire needed no more encouragement to get up himself and move around the table again, grasping the former knight around the shoulders and pulling him closer. Mathias slightly leaned into the almost embrace, and began to slide a small, nondescript ring off of his finger. Walter only took notice after he had tossed it gently onto the table to roll until it hit the pan still sitting there, the smallish red stone set fairly cheaply into the plain base hitting the table with a soft noise. Mathias answered the unasked question lightly "It's rather improper to keep the memento of a former lover with you when you go off with a new one, don't you agree?"

"Of course, most improper." Walter said, not paying the slightest bit more attention as he dragged Mathias up for a kiss. The knight neither accepted nor denied the vampire and he began to consider how he'd spend the long nights with Leon, when they had both cast off the shackles of death and God's plan. It would be most amusing to see Leon's face if he suggested this. The thought was enough to make him smile as Walter broke off, and the vampire gave him a long, knowing grin in response. "My knight." he said, as he reached to push some of Mathias' hair behind his ear.

Mathias placed one hand on the vampire's shoulder with care. "My" power, he thought, "lord." he said. My soul. Mine.