#donofdepravity

Melissa: -horrified noises-

never have I ever . accepting

The shock on her features was so extreme that is also extended to other parties of her body - her hand swept the glass away, letting it tumble over the table while she pushed her chair backwards and got up. No - he had to be kidding.

“Whatever sick things you fantasized about, I was really better off not knowing about them,” her voice was clipped, seething with anger. She could have screamed or yelled at the absurdity of what he was insinuating, but no - that would only work towards his narrative that ‘girls were all hysterical and crazy’.

She was not crazy - he was the one in desperate need of medical assistance, maybe to chop some bits of his anatomy off. She would start with the tongue, then move south - that would teach him to keep his disgusting ideas to himself for the foreseeable eternity.

random asks . always accepting

Lilian had backtracked until she was against one of the lounge’s walls – or as well as she could given how the stinger of the costume bumped just everywhere. The flower woven into her hair was white – probably someone thought she would appreciate it given her name, particularly how it was shortened just like Corneo had done.

She used to love lilies – now she almost hated it to hear it in his voice, dripping with malice like that as if he was doing her a favor – as if she owed him anything after being sold like cattle by her own father. 'Liberated', Corneo said? Only someone like him would see himself as a hero.

But she was no one – just a girl without a home and too dangerously close to eighteen and to be assigned to the active roster of the place. She knew her time was running out and she could find no exits, no blinking light at the end of the dark tunnel she found herself in. How did the other girls endure it? How did they act charming around these people who were so fucking disgusting?

“I’m so-sorry,” she managed to get the words out – and the terror in her voice apparently satisfied the man, because he stepped away (just enough for her to breathe more deeply and try to reign in her nerves). Her heart was beating wild inside her chest, but the terrible punishment others had mentioned was yet to come, so she didn’t think herself free yet. “It was… Rude of me to Mr. Herman.”

The glint in Corneo’s eyes told her he was pleased – these subservient words, the trembling signs of her fear – the Don probably felt nourished by these things. And for the moment, Lilian felt she would do anything to survive – anything for a chance to reconnect with her sisters.

“Yes. Very rude,” he confirmed, reaching for her hand and then gripping Lilian around her wrist squeezing her hard enough to likely bruise and make her let out a pained gasp. “Now you go there and make amends. If not, I won’t be so generous to you next time.”

The honeygirl didn’t trust herself to speak up – she just nodded, fighting back the tears and rubbing the tender skin as soon as she was out of his reach. She hated him – she hated Corneo more than her father, even.

random asks . always accepting

Hearing her childhood nickname dripping from his lips felt like liquid poison to the madame – she was Melissa now; had been for years. Corneo and his men (and her father, if she was absolutely sincere) had seen to it, after all, burying the wide-eyed and innocent girl she had once been like a flower that had been too delicate for the slums.

But this time – unlike some games they’ve played in the past – Melissa did not flinch or react to the way he had addressed her; she had just smiled at him, the gesture devoid of any warmth or kindness. The now proprietress of the Honey Bee Inn honestly did not believe that the Don of the slums had one ounce of sympathy or worried for her well-being. There was an angle for that… Seemingly friendly chat they were having at a neutral ground, she was sure.

Even if she couldn’t see it now – she would one day. Hopefully not before it was too late.

“I learned so much from watching you work, Massimo,” she returned the same courtesy he had extended her by calling him by his first name. That got her smile a bit wider, but it was gone in a second after a sip of brand and mildly cold beer over ramen, but she did deign him with a intense stare that conveyed more than she had just said – she had learned by example, alright. She knew just what she wasn’t meant to do.

But she also knew there was no place for hopeless romantics in Wall Market – you needed to be strong to survive.

“But thank you for this… Ah, business advice, I believe?” Her voice was sweet, but the Don knew it was laced with contempt. Balancing herself on her stool before taking one more sip from her glass, Melissa sighed in a satisfied fashion before eyeing him once more, fingers drumming over the counter for a moment – an action calculated to bring his attention to her hand, where a custom-made ring of a crown-wearing bee was adorning one of her fingers.

never have I ever . accepting

Melissa blinked at the prompt - how had he known? But her attempts at keeping her amusement in check when she recalled these incidents failed and she flat out laughed in his face, the delight she experienced with a few other girls back then running through her veins as if she had just done it.

But there was no insult, no threat or anything - she just reached for the glass and poured her another dose, drinking it with an insufferable smile before placing it back on the table. “It was glorious. We were careful not to do it too frequently - just enough to smear the reputation of the place, you know,” she added, her fingers twirling a strand of hair casually while she crossed her legs and adjusted in her chair.

never have I ever . accepting

This time, all she had for her former boss was a daunting smile, her fingers drumming over the table without any indication they would go for the glass. Melissa then leaned her chin on an open hand, staring at him with something akin to a sadistic satisfaction.

“You’d like that to be true, wouldn’t you? To confirm the suspicions that you employed only little dirty thieves who should thank you for their lives or some sort of bullshit? Girls who were good for nothing but to spread her legs for strangers?”

Nevertheless, her glass stayed empty. “Can’t speak for the others, but I didn’t. I was damn good at what I did and my tips were more than enough. I did buy the place from you, at the end,” she shrugged with a confidence she didn’t possess when they first met, true - and there was no way she would now admit that she hadn’t stolen from him because she had been afraid to be caught and punished for it.

never have I ever . accepting

Her first reaction had been to almost push the bottle away - there was no way in Ifrit’s burning lair that she had ever thought about Corneo in anything that didn’t involve his gruesome murder at some point. But then... Wasn’t it technically valid? All these nightmares that had left her panting, drenched in cold sweat and afraid for her life?

They hadn’t been conscious thoughts, but maybe they qualified?