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Starved - Rook x Venuris (WTHHero/Degusaurusrex)

The woman did, or she did? Venuris looked around uneasily as he smiled at her, trying to figure out just what game he was playing. This was a real smile, clearly something about the situation had given him enough joy to put that expression on his face.

Seeing anyone? Clearly he was seeing her, she was right in front of his face! The context clues from the conversation led her to a very different meaning, one that she wasn't entirely sure she liked, but it was so hard to tell what people were talking about sometimes. Her grasp of the language was fine, but she hadn't caught up to all of the current things they were talking about, or how they talked about them sometimes.

"Mafia?" She gave Yida an inquisitive look for a moment, but her attention was quickly diverted to all the displays of meat inside the store. Anything she wanted? Well, they were already there for the blood so she didn't need to say that part, and after a cautious look back at Rook she made her way over to the displays and began browsing.

"We can get the ones that are still very fresh?" Nice, red, and juicy, almost as if they'd just recently been slaughtered and cut into pieces to display.
 
When Venuris looked at Rook he made a gesture of ease to her, something that read that she should feel free to go and look for what she wanted to bring back.

"Oh, you found a woman who enjoys red meat. That's always a good sign for the bedroom," Yida said, and wiggled her eyebrows at Rook.

Rook coughed, and covered his mouth trying to avoid a smile, and then shook his head again. "Yida, like I said, she's just a friend." He cautiously shook his head at Yida giving her a look that indicated she should drop it, but that wasn't in Yida's nature. This was a mistake. He was going to pay for this interaction.

As Venuris looked through the wares Rook took an opportunity to whisper to Yida hoping that Venuris didn't hear what he had to say. "Listen," he whispered, "she's been through bad stuff, so, those kinds of jokes are probably going to be difficult for her to deal with, so just, take it easy, yeah?"

Yida whispered back, "Oh shit, I'm sorry. I mean are you interested?"

Rook widened his eyes and said nothing as he glanced over at Venuris. He wasn't. That would be complicated. A selection of images of her glancing up at the sky and letting the rain droplets fall on her face quickly played out in Rook's mind. Another of her sneaking down the stairs and to the bathroom acting as if she was invisible as long as she moved subtly enough. Of course not, he thought, and put it out of his mind.

Yida gave him a strange look. "Hopefully she gets through it," she whispered, and then headed back to Venuris. "Have you picked something out?"
 
She was going to pretend she hadn't heard that. She would be doing nothing with him in a bedroom, or anything of that sort in any other room. He had made it quite clear that unlike the lecherous old man, he had no intention of using her body to satisfy his own urges. It was a huge relief even if she hadn't outright said it, but she was beginning to wonder now that this woman was questioning Rook like that.

Did they really think she couldn't hear them? Well, it made sense that Yida would think that, but Rook should have known her hearing was rather excellent. Perhaps he'd thought that his blood was already wearing off? Speaking of that, she probably didn't have much time left before the effects wore off.

Trying to even out the magic to keep her appearance as a human and concentrate on everything they were doing was hard. She had once done it so effortlessly, and now she was struggling just to get through a day at the stores with a bunch of humans.

Are you interested?

It was intriguing that he chose not to answer, and Yida had come back over to speak to her just moments later. Venuris gestured silently to the display full of different cuts of bright red meat, unsure of which cut would be the best. How many could she get? Could she just ask for that particular narrowed off section, or was that too much?

"How much?" She looked back at Rook quizzically.
 
Rook shrugged easily though he seemed a bit more distant than usual, which was quite distant. He shook his head and then made a gesture. "Money isn't really an object, but we can only fit so much in the fridge. Unlike you," he said somewhat teasingly, "I actually eat my vegetables."

He glanced at Yida and pointed out to various display cases selecting the cuts that he seemed to witness Venuris eyeing more than others. "We'll take on of each of those if you don't mind, and also, the package."

Yida seemed to frown at him but didn't ask any questions about it. She went to the back and started to put the order together. Rook went through his wallet and pulled out a portion of bills to pay for the discretion, the rest he would pay for with his card.
 
"It did not taste good." Her accent had grown slightly thicker as she spoke of the vegetable with distaste, shaking her head and eyeing the meat with much more interest than she had been just a minute ago. Now that she knew it was going back to the house with them.. Well, it didn't matter if her stomach could only handle a little bit of food at a time, just the knowledge that it would be there, that she would be allowed to eat it was enough to make her mouth water.

"No more stores after this?" She backed away from the glass and hovered close to the door of the shop, looking between the outdoors and Rook as she shuffled awkwardly in place. "We can go back after this?"
 
"We can go after this," he said quietly giving her a small sad smile. He finished paying for everything and then held the door open for her as they walked out of the shop. He carried the items and put them in the trunk of the car before opening the back passenger door.

He got into the driver's seat and then said, "We should be back before you know it, rest if you like, I know this likely was difficult for you."

It was growing more and more difficult for him not to care for her. He pondered the conversation at the butcher's shop, and it nagged more and more at the back of his mind. He didn't have time for those kinds of questions. It didn't stop occupying his mind until they arrived back at his place.
 
Venuris was thrilled that they had left the butcher's shop with so much meat, but the effort of maintaining a semblance of calm and a human appearance with so much going on was exhausting. She gave a noncommittal noise of acknowledgment when he spoke, tucking herself into the seat and resting her head against the window for the duration of the ride.

By the time they returned to the house her head was beginning to ache, and pressing a hand against it brought the realization that her horns were beginning to uncurl from her skull once more. They'd been running on borrowed time for the ride home, it seemed, and by the time the front door was open enough to get through she had slipped through and made her way to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.

Well, that looked strange. One horn had come back through her hair fully, the other only partway through as she watched the borrowed skin fill with a vibrant red as she released her hold on the magic and returned to her normal form. Damn if it didn't hurt, she was so out of practice that there was nothing smooth about it, it was an abrupt change that had her shaking her head and splashing cold water on her face before she ventured cautiously out of the bathroom with a tired expression.
 
Rook had set himself to the task of putting things away as she went to the restroom. He didn't really question what she was doing exactly. He had struggled for some time getting over some of his experiences with his family members. He knew sometimes things could be difficult. It was easier to get tired, to lose energy, to maintain any semblance of normalcy. So, he let her be, he put stuff away, put the food away and prepared an evening meal of pig's blood.

He had noticed from time to time some expressions of dissatisfaction with the idea of blood that wasn't fresh, but he wondered idly if heating it up might at least improve matters. He heated up some of it and put it into a tub and had that waiting for her by the time she got out of the restroom, and silently went to work on cleaning without much comment. A lot still on his mind.
 
"...You're giving me more?" Venuris had peeked tentatively into the kitchen when she realized he was in there, rubbing tiredly at her eyes and spotting the container on the counter. He'd just given her fresh blood before their outing, and now he was going to feed her more, regardless of whether or not it was fresh?

She eyed the container strangely, hesitating in the doorway before venturing into the kitchen and removing the container carefully from the counter lest she spill any. What caught her off guard and nearly made her drop it was the fact that it was warm in her hands, and she froze in the middle of backtracking through the kitchen to lean down and sniff at it. Animal blood, but a curious lick at the container showed her that it was very much warm, and her expression mirrored the surprise that she felt.

She felt some shame in how quickly she drained the container less than gracefully, savoring the difference in texture now that it wasn't thick and cold sludging its way down her throat. Not enough shame to stop her from making a noise of contentment, however, and she felt her cheeks burning slightly as they turned an even darker red before she rushed to the sink, washed it out as quickly as she could, and then retreated to the living room to snoop around at everything he'd left out from the night.
 
Rook was mostly distracted by putting some of the items in the living room away. Only the corkboard remained and one fold-out table currently carrying open books that looked old and tattered. Inside there were arcane symbols and equations. Rook apparently had added notes in his scrawling writing at some point in the night before.

He glanced at Venuris as she drank from the tub, and he could see that it was obviously more enjoyable that way than it was cold. He found the darkening her cheeks fascinating and then shook it out of his mind. What was he even thinking about? He went back to looking at the corkboard.

At the lower right was, her, Velma Deloux, a member of the order of the yellow rose and his first target. She was low enough on the totem pole that her absence wouldn't be noted for a while, and it was one less cultist in the world.

He turned and looked over at Venuris. "Studying?"

He moved to the couch and sat down rubbing his eyes and then fixed his gaze on her.
 
"I was curious what you were doing all night." She hovered across the room as he sat down, leaning down to peer at the corkboard he had previously been staring at.

"I heard you up, I didn't sleep very much." That was probably part of why she was so tired, on top of all the energy she'd expended on the shape shifting. "And you seemed very tired this morning." They both had, but she'd only paid partial attention to him throughout the day. Her attention had been torn between so many things that she couldn't even keep track of them now, and after another moment of contemplation she took a seat on the floor across the room.

"I can only read some of it, anyway."
 
He carefully nodded.

There was a quiet slowly descending on the room that was noticeable even to Rook. He wasn't sure where it was coming from other than exhaustion. For him it was a combination of the task ahead of him and the annoying conversation he had had with Yisa earlier in the day.

Are you interested?

No. Why would I be? She's a demon. One. She's damaged. Two. It was my family that did it. Three. That's a lot of marks against it already, He thought and then ran his fingers through his hair. "Velma Deloux is a member of The Order of the Yellow Order, one of the cultists involved in my grandfather's operations. She's the first to go. There are rumors about her engaging in human sacrifice in order to enact rituals to gain power. The fact of the matter is she's not very powerful, but wealthy. I'm not sure how successful her magic has been. I'm planning to murder her and acquire whatever notes and diaries she's kept in order to figure out the best place to strike next. I'm also studying what magic might be useful to make the operation go easier."

He shrugged. It was a plan of action he had grown used to in the quiet depths of his soul. Still, saying it out loud was difficult. He didn't like hearing it. But he would do what needed to be done. Perhaps, his soul could rest when he ended things.

He shook his head and changed the subject.

"Do you like pizza?"
 
"Velma.. Deloux." He'd mentioned this Order of the Yellow Rose more than once now, and now she was officially intrigued. The woman had been involved in the things his grandfather had? That all but marked her as guilty, if she had been involved in the dark things that old lecher had been, that meant she was just as guilty as the rest of the lot.

"Pizza?" She was confused by the sudden change in subject, and she leaned forward from where she had sat down on the floor. "I do not know what that is, and I don't care. This Velma Deloux, she knew the old man. She knew what he was doing to me and she did nothing?"
 
"Not many people were aware of you from what I can tell." He sighed inwardly but decided if she was going to go down this road, he'd indulge it. "Rupert, obviously, I'm sure you had seen him a time or two, but it's likely that my grand--Martin--was keen on keeping you mostly to himself," Rook didn't want to go into detail about what exactly his grandfather's notes covered, or the perversions inflicted. "Some of the staff might have been aware of something or someone being hidden, but I doubt that Martin would have made that explicit." He couldn't contain his absolute wraith and hatred for the man even in brief conversation like this. Already he was beginning to feel that familiar rage.

Rook looked over at Venuris and touched his chin wondering if she would empathize with human suffering. "While Velma did not know what was being done to you, believe me when I say that she was aware of things being done to other living souls like what was being done to you on a scale that still nauseates me." His fist tightened as he talked about it and a series of books flung themselves from one of the bookshelves.

Rook let out a slow breath. "She deserves to die just as anyone does high enough in the order." He hadn't ever talked with anyone about them. He was surprised at his own anger and how raw it was when he put it into words.
 
"Do not speak his name!" She hissed angrily at the mention of his grandfather, straightening out with a rage filled expression. "I know who Rupert is, and if I ever get my hands on him I will tear the bastard piece from piece. I'll make certain to leave his ears for last so he can hear his own screams." She bristled at the thought of all the people who had wronged her, no longer caring if this Velma person had been closely related to her own abuse.

"Let me kill her." The words left her mouth before she knew what she was saying. If the woman was going to die anyway, why not let her do the job and relieve some of her rage? "I cannot kill the old man, and I do not know if I'll have the opportunity to kill Rupert, but I would gladly destroy anyone that was privy to the knowledge of my existence. You humans call my kind monsters, but for all of your talk, and your pride, you are the monsters for what you do to those you fear." She was panting by the end of her outburst, eyes full of anger and her face twisted into a scowl before she huffed.

"Do not speak his name to me." She'd had her entire life stolen by the man, and now she'd lost the opportunity to personally make him pay for all of his misdeeds. Even vengeance had been stolen from her, and she found herself torn somewhere between hatred and sadness over that fact.

"I--" A thought occurred to her, Rook had been very specific about the things he wouldn't do to her, so much exactly did he know about what the old man had done to her. "...What all are you aware of that he did to me?"
 
Rook felt the inside of his teeth surprised at his own anger as he looked at books that crashed off the bookshelf and then he looked back towards Venuris with a pained expression. His mouth a tight line. "Let you kill her?" He shook his head, and almost stood up, and then cracked his knuckles instead. He got up and started to put books back on the shelves and then said. "I don't like his name either, but I like calling him my grandfather less. I'm not going to have you kill her..."

The idea wasn't one that he liked. After everything that she had already been through he wanted him to use her like a weapon and point her at his enemies? "I'm not going make you do anything; I have no intention of using you-" He sighed and looked over at her as she continued.

He almost snorted at her description of what she would do to Rupert if given the opportunity, but he sighed and shook his head looking at her somewhat imploringly. "Haven't you been through enough? It's not your responsibility. It's mine." He paused and then shrugged. "And humans aren't all like that, you've just been unfortunate enough to see the worst of them and my family and their organization, is the worst."

He went to sit back at the couch after putting the books back away looking even more tired if that were possible than he was before. He looked at her as she spoke, and his eyes widened very briefly. He hadn't wanted her to ask that question. Not that. He looked down and then back across the room looking into her eyes. He wouldn't look away from her. Wouldn't disrespect her pain like that. "All of it or at least enough of it. He's done more to you than he's done to others, but it's similar to what he's done to others..." Rook said somewhat vaguely at the end as he self-consciously gripped his left arm to his side with his right trying to avoid particular memories of his grandfather that sat somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind. "He was under the impression sex and trauma could awaken powers or increase then." He didn't look away from her, but something about his whole-body posture changed, he looked somewhat deflated, frightened even.

"I'm sorry."
 
"So you would force me to remain in your world but withhold vengeance from me even knowing what was done to me?" If he was so determined to destroy his family, did it matter who killed them? She managed to hold his eyes the entire time that he spoke even as hers flickered with anger, and only when he finished did she scoff and turn her face away. Her question had clearly caught him off guard and struck at something in him, and for the briefest of moments she felt pity for him, but only for that moment.

"He was a fool. Your entire family are nothing but fools, I would gladly slaughter them for the chance to return to my world." Venuris scoffed again, muttering under her breath in another language entirely before she skirted around the room to take a seat on the floor beside the bags. At that point, she wasn't sure if she was more tired or hungry, but she knew for certain that she was absolutely furious at the situation, and it showed in the way she clenched her teeth together and the way her tail whipped around behind her back.

"Then what do you intend to have me do, sit by and run errands while you do everything, and hope ill be released before you're old and gray?" She pulled the brush out of the bag and ripped it from the package before working it through her hair, tugging and untangling the little knots that had formed over the last few days.
 
Rook sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck as he watched Venuris. It was one thing for him to go on a personal vendetta against his family and dedicate himself to vengeance, but to drag someone else into it? He knew, on some level deep in his mind, that a dedication to something as abysmal as this would be damning. On another level, he understood her plight. All Rook could think about sometimes was vengeance, righting the wrongs of the Order of the Yellow Rose, and putting an end to it all. Would he say that it was good? His plans? No. He would not. Life should be more than that, he had just accepted his fate. He was a broken man, broken as a child, and he would never recover, and so this was some greater good he could accomplish with his sad life before he ended it.

He got up and walked to the bookshelf and selected a book or two that had easy language to read. There was also an old instrument in the closet he had stopped using, every bit of music he wrote tended towards being sad and harrowing rather than something joyful. He got the guitar and grabbed that as well.

The guitar was set against the wall and the two books he put down near her things. Thinking he shouldn't get too close. "Why not," he started asking quietly, "try to find some peace? Learn music? Read? You could turn your attention to something else and find something you enjoy?"
 
He truly intended to deny her that. It made no sense why he would keep her and not allow her to be useful in the one way she was happily willing to be. He spoke of peace, bringing out books and an instrument and expected her to gladly reach for one of them when he'd made it so clear the destruction of this Order was his intent for the foreseeable future? It was a taunt, nothing more than a taunt that left her wanting.

"The lot of you humans is ridiculous." She snatched up one of the books and peered at it, although it was clear her interest was only partially on it as she glanced at him periodically and flipped through the pages.

"You wish me to simply sit around and bide my time while you plot destruction? To just sit and obey until you discover what purpose I held in the old man's plan?" She slammed the book shut only five minutes after she'd started to read and snapped out her words.
 
Rook sighed, and walked away, going to sit on the couch. He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. If he drank, he'd probably want a beer right about now. He shook his head a bit, and then looked over at her a bit wearily. "I'm not trying to make you obey anything! Have I started giving you orders yet?" He asked, feeling just the slight edge of anger enter his voice. I'm not like him, I'll never be like him, he thought.

He flexed his fingers and stared at the corkboard. "I've avoided having people in my life because this was something I knew I might set out to do. Killing, maiming, and all of it, even for a just cause, has an effect on the soul. I don't know that it's the same for you, but I don't want to see..." his voice trailed off. He was fully prepared to damn himself and this situation was not one that he was prepared to accept. "If I do this, I'm taking a step into darkness. I'm willing to accept it if it means no one has to suffer like us again, but..."

He didn't say anything for a while.

Was it his right to deny her?

"Is this truly something you want?"
 
"You haven't even had me for a full day." If he expected her to trust he was the opposite of his grandfather in less than twenty four hours, then the man was a lunatic! It wasn't as if the old man had beat her senseless and destroyed her in the first day he'd had her trapped, either, and she wasn't unwise enough to trust someone just because they'd given her common courtesies such as a bath and clothing. She could afford to show him a small amount of respect by not attacking or trying to kill him, but even that was partially due to the fact that he'd bound her to him, and thus prevented her from taking his life should she have the desire.

"You are willing to keep me here in case I'm useful to this cause of yours. I was in the darkness long before you set your sights on me, human. Do not forget how long I was trapped here and what I was subjected to. Do not deny me the one thing I am willing to do for you." Of course she wanted it, did he even have to ask?

"Take me to anyone that bears the name of your family and I will happily watch them bleed out."
 
"If you must know, it was my intention to free you, but circumstances--" He sighed, was she destined to hate him forever. He would spend the last months of his life in the company of someone who despises him. He stood and stretched all the ire going out of him in an instant. It went back beneath the surface until it would be useful again. "Think whatever you like of me. Guilty by association and all that," he wandered into the kitchen and began setting to cooking again.

His thoughts were elsewhere, but he did add, "If it's your desire to be part of this undertaking, then your part of it. We'll discuss the plan later. For now, do whatever you want, just leave me alone. Dinner will be ready in about 45 minutes if you're hungry."

The process of cooking was one that he found immediately calming even if it did mean that his thought drifted from time to time to his mother. He was certain that she was another victim of The Order of the Yellow Rose and he was sure that Velma must know something about that as well. He tried to put these thoughts out of his mind, but it was hard to focus.

He cooked and prepared flank steak. On some level, he was still considering what the demon would appreciate and cooked the meat on the rarer end of the spectrum. She seemed to like the idea of it being "fresh."
 
She wasn't wrong, was she? Venuris watched him leave the room to begin preparing food, but it was his next words that truly caught her attention. He had conceded to allow her to extract vengeance during her stay? It didn't seem like he was jesting, and she found the books far less appealing now that he'd said that. Then there was the matter of dinner, had that much of the day passed, or was dinner a meal served in the afternoon? She couldn't even remember anymore, but the fact that he appeared to have some of the meat out meant that she didn't particularly care which was the case.

Of course she was hungry, and she found herself sniffing at the air periodically as she gradually shifted closer to the couch. The entire room was still a mess of everything that he'd put out over the previous night, but there was still some room on the couch and she managed to tuck herself into the corner with one of the books. There was just so much to absorb, between seeing the world in an entirely new light with all its advancements, the knowledge that she would be given some form of vengeance, and the fact that she had no idea if she would truly be free by the end of it. What if Rook failed? What if he simply gave up? What if she died trying to extract vengeance, would it be a worthy way for her to die? To die without ever seeing her home again, ever knowing what had become of the people she'd known. It was enough to drive anyone mad!
 
t didn't take Rook long to finish up the preparations for dinner. He cooked the flank steak, cutting it into strips, and only seared it briefly so it was on the rarer side. He seasoned it with soy sauce a, bit of ginger, red pepper flakes, and chopped green onion. With it, he set to making rice, boiled with garlic and mushroom, and put the steak over the rice. He grabbed chop sticks from our of a drawer and see those over the bowl after carefully arranging the strips of meat over the rice.

He brought out the food, holding both bowls in his hand, and let one hover towards Venuris.

"Dinner is served," he said lightly, a small smile on his face. He was still slightly irritated at her insistence that he was evil or wanted to use her, but he tried to keep it out of his mind.

One again he sat on the floor, eating, and staring out at the wall. Boy, he was exhausted. He had spent to much time working on the specifics of the plan and was up way to long the night before. He want even really sure what time of day it was until he thought about it.

"Lunch, actually, seems more accurate," he sighed and then got back up grabbing two glasses, filled them with waters and set one before Venuris and one on the edge of the coffee table closer to himself.
 
What the hell did he have on top of the bowl? She took it from him, careful not to drop the chopsticks, and stared at them strangely for a solid minute until he came back with drinks. Maybe she was supposed to use them to stab at the meat, but how could she use them to scoop the rest of the food? It didn't have any shape like a spoon, and yet she could see that he was somehow managing to eat just fine.

"Lunch." She repeated the word absentmindedly, picking at the food before she attempted to stab at the meat. When that didn't work she growled in frustration, glancing over at Rook and trying to imitate the motions he was doing with his own chopsticks. What had happened to forks?

"..What am I supposed to do with these?" She gave up a minute later with another frustrated noise, poking at the food and shifting it around the bowl as she stared longingly at the meat. "They do not stab well."
 
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