𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞 / 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦

‘i died that day,’ jack heart started. he flips the cards in his hand, letting it travel between fingers in a movement as fluid as the rivers flowing below them. there was an unfathomable expression on his face, which was not usually there. jack heart was known for many things  — many CRUEL things  —  but pensiveness was never one of them. jack wore his thoughtlessness as as a mask and use it as a means for offense; not very many expected much from someone who didn’t think  — in letting people believe he’s one, he’s one step ahead. 

and let’s be honest. he didn’t always think much.

yet somehow, for some reason, he had on his face a thoughtful expression that was a stranger to his mien. though it disappeared as quickly as he stood up and felt the joy of fresh air circulating through his lungs; ones that were artificial, man made, powered only by magic. then he put on yet again another shit-eating grin as he turned towards his new friend.

he called him that. a friend. but never treated him much as one  — they had fun together, they laughed together, but that was about it. and jack was sure that dionysos also extended the same sentiments towards him

      HERE FOR THE FUN TIMES  — THE FUN TIMES ONLY

that should be written next to the portraits of them. ‘WELL to be fair, i died almost everyday. my creator is has a sadistic streak. but i have one too — if i were in her positions, i think i’d do the same to me,’ he broke into a laughter and it was by no means a pleasant sound. he laughed the ways hyenas do   —  shrill and a crazed frenzy and very much dripping with madness.

❝ shut up. ❞ apple couldn’t contain himself this time and the lapse in restraint opened the door to his inner psyche, exposing the growing blue flame of his budding icy rage. subtle in its passion, yet its existence alone was a testament to the great disturbance jack always brought to his typically pristine patience.

that did little to cripple him, however, and apple remained as alert as he normally was, quick to spot the cards aimed at him and either dodging them or flicking them away with a swish of a vine, even snapping those into two for good measure. but a mastery of evasion would do nothing in the long run to secure a victory, as great a show as he was now putting on, and apple was hell bent on giving jack a hard time if the other recruiter were to wish for a win as well.

it was an act of diversion, the vine that darted forward at an attempt at wrapping itself round jack’s wrist. its success was irrelevant to apple’s true objective, which was swiftly executed while jack still had his attention at the vine aimed straight towards him. apple darted towards the opposite direction of his vine’s trajectory and, in a split second, went charging towards jack from the side till apple had him slammed hard against the nearest wall, his left forearm stretched across the expanse of jack’s shoulders and keeping him stationary. he towered over jack and circled a vine round his waist, slowly tightening until the thorns now snagged at the fabric of his clothing. surely this was more than just an eye for an eye, if apple’s intention was taking revenge for how jack earlier on had him pressed against a wall, but apple had little intention of playing fair and, if anything, intended to incur an interest rate.

he leaned in close and his eyes bore into jack’s, the icy flame within him growing and a smirk prancing upon his lips. enlisting once more the help of endearments that would surely bring forth another surge of disgust for jack, he spoke in a low voice. ❝ i’ll be generous for a brief moment, sweetheart, and remain still as requested… but only if you will too. surely you’ll behave, won’t you my dear? that is, if you still dare to have a taste of poison. ❞

a foul taste lingered at the back of his mouth from the expelling of words jack so highly did not deserve to receive, and yet the sweet taste of jack’s displeasure coated his tongue and dominated his own disgust.

“ ––  and what are you going to do if i don’t?” his voice was tickled with laughter, a blood-curdling one that reeked of the iron in your blood, none of his good looks remained on his face as it twisted into one of lunacy. oh no, oh no, his voice shuddered in his head, a little bit of fear and the rest of frenzied unexplainable excitement. his mistress was definitely not going to like this. she had liked everything to be pretty, even the roses in her garden. the queen of hearts was definitely going to decapitate him again if she ever found out about the kinds of expression he was wearing: one that was barely human, tinted dark with the colours of the devils.

the queen would decapitate him and molded him a new head, a perfect head that was just to her liking.

“who are you to say what i should or should not do? appoi ” the name rolled off his tongue smoothly, like velvet on your skin, and dropped heavily like lead. it was intimate, the most intimate the likes of them could ever say something –– for hatred is also an emotion as raw as love as was it not the thing they felt fiercely for each other? an aggressive and seething loathing that was incomparable to anything else in this world?

jack wanted apple dead. jack wanted apple’s pathetic soul in his hands, felt the slither of coldness in his skin. jack wanted to hear him scream his name in pain.

a ghostly smile stretched upon his features as the thought crossed his mind, and his feet gave a swift kick against apple poison’s chest and rushed towards him, landing a blow square to his head. jack was not jack anymore –– he had little patience for apple’s little quips. swinging his leg around, he grinned as it made full contact with apple’s stomach.

as he watched apple writhed on the ground from the impact, jack realised that that was how he liked apple –– with his back flat against the floor and his eyes staring up at him with that disdain, that disgust that was reserved just for him.

walking slowly to apple poison, jack was sure he didn’t have a lick of control of his expression anymore –– heaven knows what he looked like right now: ragged breathe and excitement drumming crazy within his veins. he pressed a soled foot against apple’s chest, pushing him down even more, as he rested his weight on it. “i love this look on you, this –– ” voice quivering with pure undiluted thrill, “ –– this is perfect on you.”

“i wish i can let you see for yourself, should i carve out your skin? have you see what kind of expression you have on right now?” slowly, he manoeuvred himself so that he was sitting on the other’s abdomen, his legs on either side of him, his elbow resting on one while he grinned that cheshire cat’s grin. “should i do that? should i let you see?” he sang his words as he drew close.

then, with a card produced from between his fingers, he started to cut open the buttons on apple’s shirt, each as red as his namesake, and jack wondered if he would find a heart just as red if he were to cut apple up. “since i beat you –– do i get a prize?” the slasher smile was on his face, as it always was, but his eyes were chillingly empty as he crawled up in a cat-like movement to whisper the words on apple’s ears.

here they were, at it again with their sugar-laced jibes and snippy taunts. they truly were the worst of pairs, their abhorrence for one another innate and perhaps the least artificial aspect about them. it gave reason as to why apple somehow found himself constantly gravitating towards jack, frustration and ire notwithstanding – anything to feel some semblance of warmth coursing through contrived veins, anything to feel the beating of life within his hollow chest.

once jack retreated, apple took a quick swipe at the blood on his cheek, the back of his glove now effectively stained with dark crimson. perhaps not visible to the untrained eye – the dark red blended seamlessly on black fabric – but his mistress could spot even the tiniest offset from perfection with ease and oh how he could hear it now once again, the chorus of tuts and the beginnings of a lecture. gods knew, for all the power and might their creators had, they were far from perfect; they bruised and bled like the humans they were so lovingly modeled after, the finer details of their make up of little importance in the face of the reality that for all intents and purposes, they were not birthed out of love but made out of the ambition.

she would be most displeased (❛ another bruise on your handsome face? ❜, ❛ another suit ruined by your impulsiveness? ❜, ❛ another trophy of defeat against your inhibitions? ❜). but his hatred made him feel human, and pride was a chain round his neck that tightened at the risk of allowing jack victory without so much as a fight.

there was also no turning back now. apple could still find within himself the makings of restraint, albeit with some level of difficulty (how could one easily relinquish hold of what seemed to be the thrum of a heartbeat, so palpable, so alive), but not jack. jack could never pull in the reins once they came to this point. not with that look in his eyes, a look apple bore witness to more often than not.

it wasn’t that it was a common expression, however – they simply brought out the worst in one another.

apple expelled a sharp breath of air – he refused to admit it was a scoff, not for the likes of jack – and vines made themselves known from whence they slumbered, adorned with not a single flower but covered in prickly thorns. ❝ don’t expose your idiocy so soon, it takes out all the fun. ❞ in what? their innocent game of cat and dog? or their escape from the reality that they were nothing more than tools for the mistresses they hated to love?

apple spoke once more, his voice seeped in subzero ice and lethal poison. ❝ nothing worthwhile is gained without some effort, and i too would like to take ample time in testing if you do have a heart i could rip out from your corpse. ❞

of course he took notice in how displeasure stroked the other’s face and took relish in it  —   hie lips gave a quivering smile but nothing was as damning as his manic eyes. 

the little twitch of his eyebrow, the micro-changes in the other’s expression. there was NOTHING he didn’t know about apple poison. he was certain the other knew him like the back of his hand as well. just like all the recruiters did.

he brought the cards to cover his lips, though his murderous intent was laid bare for all creatures in the vicinity and the loud rustles of trees as the forest creatures scrambled away was heard not long after. “scared mommy will scold you if you get dirty while playing?“ he sneered and his voice trembled ever so slightly. it was a crime to feel this much fun, he’s sure. but they’re worst than criminals, were they not?

there was some sort of twisted pleasure that crawled from the tips of his toe, caressing his spine as it made its way out towards the cavity in which his heart should had laid. but alas it was a barren place. whether it was by mistake or by design  —  and jack rather thought that it was the latter, for he would not had been able to do his job effectively were he cursed with a bleeding heart and affection coursing through his veins.

“if you believe i have one, then you are the idiot.” 

a curl on his tongue, his words slick as poison and sharp as a blade. there was a shiver in his bones and he absolutely loathe how apple poison was the only one able to invoke such emotions from him. it was not PRETTY. it was anger and deep repulsion. it was all the ugly emotions ALICE told him about, from the books he had nicked off her, from the memories she had shared with him whenever he felt like entertaining the little human girl.  ( did these emotions exist because he hated him so , or was it the other way around? he could not imagine dear dalmatia would color him blind with rage and a loathing that not even the seven hells could handle ).

but at least it was something.

❛ highly uncouth ❜ blared green in his mind, teeth gritting around the formation of the words yet to no capacity reflecting on pristine stoned features. if jack thought he could elicit a reaction on his features through such juvenile means, apple would graciously escort him back to the drawing board but his musings once more paled in comparison to the situation at hand.

the evil queen didn’t appreciate untidiness, or anything less than perfection for that matter. it was for that reason apple kept himself prim and proper, the beauteous blend of dark noir and elegance his queen so loved to flaunt. and jack sought to ruin his efforts like the uncivilized eccentric that he was, with no full grasp of decorum and proper conduct.

normally apple would have taken delight in receiving the retort he so painstakingly (not) egged jack on for, but he couldn’t so easily turn a blind eye to the mark that now lay hidden on his shirt beneath jack’s foot. patience, he reminded himself, along with the importance of keeping up appearances. easier done when you were but a soulless shell like he was, but jack always found a way to irk him ever so slightly.

❝ how unnecessary. ❞ apple held back a scoff with relatively practiced ease, yet a tinge of the venom in his tone oozed out without warrant. he’ll have to work on fully building up his wall once more. ❝ of course poison would be sweet, how else would you get anyone to eat it? if i knew any better, i’d assume you were merely coming up with an excuse to get a taste. ❞

slowly regaining slightly lost composure, a gloved hand reached out to prop a finger just under jack’s chin and tilt his face up, forceful yet controlled. without a care for the threat against his skin or what may be to come, apple inched closer and bridged the gap between their faces, an icy smirk prancing on red lips.

❝ how about it? would you like a taste for yourself, my dear? ❞ it was a venomous threat laced with something sweet, like the poison in his blood that jack seemed to so longingly covet.

jack heart realised not long after their first meeting — which left them veiled in scratches and bruises that neither mistresses approved off — that they were bad for each other. they simply brought the worst out of another, like a match made in hell. 

“you are truly one of a kind...” he whispered and one could hear very clearly the repugnance in his voice, and his face was contorted in such a way that the queen of hearts would very much abhor, for it represented nothing but the beauty that she yearned but the vileness her heart was made out of.

he was made out of her image after all. how could someone so ugly make something so beautiful? they simply couldn’t. she simply couldn’t. no matter how much she tried.

the being taking a form of a young man stood still on his spot, then slowly put his foot down although his hand moved not from the spot on apple poison’s face, and with his fingers, he applied pressure on the card, cutting the soft skin of apple’s face and he didn’t stop when the first drops of blood had been spilled.

“well,” he started, and it was never a good sign for his voice to sound so cold for that could only mean that he’s lost his grip on himself — the character that he’s supposed to play, the creature of the wondrous wonderland. “then you should let me cut you up, no?”

there was a crazed smile on his face, the foreboding full moon in his eyes that promised you only of lunacy.

“how am i supposed to eat with you like this?” jack recoiled back from apple, licking the drops of blood trickling off the edge of his card: an eight of diamond. “how are the others going to eat you like this?” he repeated his question again, and he flicked his wrists, producing several more cards from between his digits.

for : @heartspotted (jack heart) , from : [ x ]

to assume him a man of emotions – that is, if one were to assume him a man at all to begin with – would be a folly. emotions fell dead in the face of the absence of vitality, the essence that made humans breathe and live that were so glaringly absent within them.

they were not human. they were much more than that, yet also so much more less.

which then begged the question of whether or not there was any ounce of sincerity in apple’s supposed declaration of love, though one could argue that in the eyes of everyone (including the two now facing one another) that knowing apple, it was a worry that was for naught. yet, they said there was a fine line between love and hate – who was to say he hadn’t yet threaded that line, if he hadn’t the slightest clue of the nuances and the intricacies of a sentiment so delicate and tender that was lost to him?

was it similar to the devotion he held for his queen? something in his gut told him otherwise, but that was neither here nor there. the true issue now brought before him was determining how he regarded the shorter male, and if he were to be honest all he could muster leaned more towards animosity.

❝ she doesn’t take kindly to that epithet, ❞ he stated simply, his words just like before yet again devoid of any sentiment, and made no initiative in correcting jack. everyone knew his queen by that title, himself perhaps more so than everyone else – referring to cancer as nothing but the common cold does not alter its lethality in any way, and so he saw no point in beating around the bush if calling her anything but evil wouldn’t hide away her true nature.

apple scoffed and took a few steps forward, closer once again to jack, after he left his radius of proximity. although he had to admit that he wasn’t particularly fond either of propinquity and displays of affection, it appeared that jack had greater distaste for it than he did, especially if it came from apple himself.

and who was he to deny the delectable treat presented before him?

apple dropped his voice to a low hum, soft like a whisper and cold as ice. ❝ then perhaps i shall continue speaking to elicit more favourable responses from you, my heart of hearts. ❞

DIGUSTED. he was so utterly disgusted, his face twisted so that none of his good looks that the QUEEN had so graciously given him prevailed. (though for her benefits more than his — for the queen loved beautiful things, and was he not just another piece of furniture she decorated her palace with?).

jack could feel it very distinctively, that under his the fabric of his shirt, gooseflesh started to cover every inch of his skin. 

it was not fear, oh no. it was never fear. JACK knew no fear — for what was to be feared when you’re marched into your death, beaten and bruised, every time the queen of hearts whims for it, or every time she grew bored. it was then that jack realised that his penchant for a good squeal and screams of terror was inherited from his mistress. and for that, he could never hate her for the things that she did to him.

there were a million things in which jack could end this, to reproach apple for his grotesque behaviour and the words that came out of his mouth — purposely done to elicit a response from him, he knew, he played this game with alice so very often, and now it’s time for alice to convalesce and recuperate her mind, for he did not want to break it. her. break HER.

his leg was lifted to preven apple poison from approaching any closer. soled shoe pressed firmly against the other recruiter’s chest, for sure the white dress shirt was going to be stained. “aah, aaah — understood, you sick fuck,” emphasizing his last two words, he pressed the hell of his feel further against the other’s body before propelling himself towards apple. 

some random reaction memes       /       @alepcisn​

a declaration of love met with the slamming of soled foot on the wall next to apple poison’s head. jack’s grin stretched far and wide and dripping with undeniable malicious intent. he was made by the queen of hearts to be pleasant to the eyes (for she did not care for things that weren’t beautiful), yet without any hearts bestowed upon him, despite his namesake, he knew no love. and you couldn’t be humans with no heart or love.

he had on his eyes a crazed look that would give even the most wicked of humans a chill down their spine. however, apple poison was not human. just like jack, he was an inanimate being, brought to life by the selfishness of their mistresses.

jack liked the stone cold eyes of apple poison. those steel grey eyes that held no emotions. sometimes he felt an urgent desire to lick them, to scoop them out of their sockets and popped them into his mouth. but he still had some self-control. he’s not a MONSTER.

“has the evil queen done your head in so bad you’ve gone crazy?“

then, just as fickle as the moon’s love, his expression twisted into one of disgust as he pulled himself away from poison apple. his hands in his pockets and his chin tucked in, the hat has covered half his face, leaving nothing but the carcass of a smile that jack always wore.

“you disgust me so much, my skin is crawling. i’ve lost my appetite now, thanks to you.”

of course, it was not appetite for food that he was talking about. but it was never that for them or for the rest of the recruiters. their HUNGER was for something else, something coursing inside living beings. something they did not possess.

the princess bride sentence starter       /       @faeblcssed

“no,” jack responded without allowing even a slither of a second to slip between them. his eyes were the color of autumn but they lack the warmth, and instead a chilling coldness lit inside them as his lips curved in malicious pleasure.

“no,” he said again, taking a step closer towards the once sleeping princess, repeating the word again as he took another step, and another  —  until there was no longer any distance between them. his voice was laced with a twisted sense of mirth. this was a man who was beheaded time and again just for the pleasure of his queen, a man who was revived time and again just to be tortured again. a man who learnt from early on not to endure the pain but to enjoy it.

once he was in front of the young maiden, he squatted down and bent his back so that he might caught her gaze with his own —  the lunacy evident in them.

“i’m saying that because NO ONE has ever escaped from me, unless i wish it. not even ALICE, you see, no matter what stories she likes to tell people,” alice who came into wonderland looking for an adventure and instead found herself in a world of terror. AH, alice in the world of terrors, what a nice ring it had, and what an exquisite little thing she was. always providing the best entertainment, always giving the most delicious expression as the cards drew close to her in their little game of chase.

“i might be convinced to let you go though, princess. should you give me a good enough reason,” he smiled, and his expression only twisted into something worse, something no human could ever make. perhaps it was because jack heart was never a human and was not made to have emotions that humans would have.

in his hands were the cards he had used as a weapon that had cut the princess’s skin, and his fingers caressed them like a lover or a pet.

“well? ticktock, this game has a very short time limit ~ ”

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