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Smoke twirled in the air as Arlecchino puffed on a cigar. She sat on a chair, leaned back and looked up to the ceiling where Tsaritsa’s blessings were made into stories of coloured glass panes. She sighs as she replays the scene she had just witnessed, filthy merchants like Pantalone disrespected Rosalyn, one who had done the most out of them all. It was still hard to calm down after that surge of rage. Anyone would be this mad if their beloved’s funeral was treated blandly. She breathed in deeply for the icy air to hit the corners of her lungs, before she exhaled the smoke from the cigar that she had been puffing on. She sighed once again, thinking about Columbina and her song during the funeral. Had it been mockery or grief? It was always mysterious around her. Her sly grin was obvious during her songs, yet the melody was one that Rosalyn hummed every time she was about to take a life. It was a tribute to her murderous habit, but also a mockery of her weak planning and death. Such thoughts swirled around Arlecchino’s mind, before a singsong voice appeared in the corridors.
“Oh dear Arlecchino, my knave where are you~” Columbina strode down the halls before seeing a trail of sweet smoke coming from an empty yet spacious room with only an armchair and Arlecchino. Columbina grinned as she took slow strides to get closer to the Knave she had been calling out in the hall. Her footsteps echoed with every step she took, her hair trailing down on the floor like a veil draped over her head. She savored the scene in front of her: Her Knave sat back puffing a half burnt cigar while looking her up and down, her cross-like pupils showed unwavering hostility. Columbina kept walking forward before her shins met with the other’s knees. Arlecchino puffed out a ring of smoke before sighing and opened her legs apart, enough for Columbina to fall down and lean her body against the Arlecchino’s.
Columbina tucked her legs beneath her and rested her hands on Arlecchino’s chest, her head falling against her shoulder. She looked up and noticed that Arlecchino closed her eyes while facing her head up. They share this sickly sweet and falsely intimate moment silently, before Columbina broke the silence by asking the question that Arlecchino had anticipated for.
“ Tell me, my knave. What was your relationship with dear old Rosalyn? You two seem… quite close, and your reaction back there was quite large but expected. “
“ Beloved friends.”
“ For I a damsel must have a tricky knave for first love. Tell me the truth, knave. Your lies and deceit shan’t be the barrier between us. Have you ever looked at me and felt a burning sensation in your heart?” Columbina laughed loudly while taking the cigar away from calloused fingers for her own taste.
Arlecchino opened her eyes and faced down to view Columbina laid upon her chest, body heaving with her own breathing. She looked so fragile, so easy to trick, but all this could not hide her gaze of disdain and mockery. Arlecchino narrowed her eyes and took out a bottle of liquor and uncorked it with columbina’s sharp nails. She took a gulp before tilting the head on her chest and forced her mouth open by pressing her fingers on both sides of the jaw. She swished the fiery liquor in her mouth before spitting it into Columbina’s pretty little mouth and let her head go. Columbina swallowed the saliva infused liquor, tasting fire and the sweet mint flavors of tobacco. She looked up again and puffed on the cigar one last time before throwing the butt away onto the ground, where it flickered twice before succumbing to the ice. Columbina took the strong liquor from Arlecchino’s hand and took in a large amount. After downing the alcohol she rolled down Arlecchiona’s collar and stuck her long pointed tongue to slide it from the collarbone to below the jaw. Arlecchino doesn’t move one bit, all she could care about was when this annoyance will get the answer it wanted to hear. She then felt a sharp biting sensation on her neck just where it was glistening with alcohol and saliva. Columbina had bitten down on her flesh and left deep and bruised teeth marks in one straight line on her neck before licking it again with her tongue, the alcohol now seeping into the wounds. Soon Arlecchino’s neck was covered with saliva and bruised marks of sharp teeth.
“ All I had ever felt was apathy and annoyance after my eyes unfortunately had first landed on you. I disdain you to my core. You pathetic little damsel smiling with mockery and mimic as you sung Rosalyn’s song of farewell to those lucky enough to die by her. I could not understand our relationship with each other, how you are so obsessed. Perhaps the two other harbingers had been intellectual with their choices. For I am a Knave, I will forever be attracted by lies and betrayal, I will forever utter deceit and tricks.”
Arlecchino threw out of her mouth violently as she stared daggers into Columbina’s masked eyes, showing the gaze that Columbina had yearned for. Columbina spat the alcohol in her mouth back into the bottle before handing it back, feeling excited at Arlecchino’s anger and hate. She felt the antipathy of those cross-pupiled eyes bore into her heart. Columbina couldn’t control her lips curling up into a maniac grin nor could she stop her urge to see the other battered. It aroused her to the very core when she imagined herself getting beat to a pulp by Arlecchino or the latter kneeling at Columbina’s feet, kissing it for her to stop her lashing.
Taking back the bottle, Arlecchino looked in disgust and spat into it as well, throwing the bottle onto the ground and admired the way it shattered before freezing near the cigar butt before. She doesn’t care to clean or bandage her neck before rolling her collar back up. She sat in that position while she felt Columbina snuggle nearer to her, her head resting on the crook of her neck. The scent of the liquor before and the fragrance of hyacinths mixed and turned into a deadly scent. Soon the room was filled with the smell of hyacinths. It was suffocating, the scent of Columbina surrounded the Knave. She took it all to not hold the damsel by her hair and position a knife at her abdomen, slowly cutting little wounds to let blood dye her hair and dress red. The image popped up into her mind like a sweet little treat. It fascinated her to see Columbina’s blood. It made her own cold blood rush and gave her a little boost to keep staying in this position where both are vulnerable yet protected to each other.
They sat in silence again before Columbina decided to slither her hands around Arlecchino’s waist, pulling her tightly into an embrace. Her nails dug through the large cloak into the flesh of Arlecchino, feeling some blood trickle down onto her fingers. The blood rolled down to her hands, where it started dripping to the ground, slowly forming a pool around the chair. Columbina took her hands away and admired the thickness of Arlecchino’s blood. It stained her nails and hands like a marking. She took it to her mouth before licking the blood off slowly, staring into Arlecchino’s eyes. Savoring every lick, she tasted sickly sweet yet metallic blood, it encouraged her to take her index and middle finger off of her tongue and shoved it into Arlecchino’s mouth. The Knave was forced to suck and lick, as Columbina’s sharp nails threatened to cut her throat. The blood was minty from the spit that was left on the finger. It refreshed Arlecchino and urged her to bite down hard. Her sharp teeth sunk into the flesh and spat the finger out. Fangs were bared as Columbina laughed.
“ Dear me, my Knave has turned feisty. Had you lied about your emotions, you would certainly entertain me with these little games.”
Columbina left with slow steps walking to the door, not before she turned around and shot Arlecchino with a smile of poison.