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( visiting Hadassah )
There's a long moment, entering Hadassah's apartment, when everything looks disarmingly normal. Richly furnished, yes—dark walls accented in gold and painted with murals that depict flowers and fruit (pomegranates, split figs, branches of olives) entwined with serpents; chaise lounges and deep-cushioned chairs upholstered in wine red velvet; a mantle over a vast fireplace, hung with actual branches of olives; the fireplace itself, in which sticks of incense are slowly burning, filling the room with the gentle haze of spiced smoke—but all of it is within the bounds of the real. From somewhere in another room comes the slightly staticky sound of an Édith Piaf record playing.
Step inside further, though, and there's a feeling of vertigo. The walls and ceiling seem to stretch away impossibly far—as though sinking down to a cavern at the center of the earth, gazing up at the too-too distant stars, vast and claustrophobic all at once—
Then the feeling ends, and the apartment is its original incense-and-velvet self once again.
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If anybody deserves Heaven it's you. God is gone, no, so it's ripe for the taking. [ d.va ghosts her fingers over the scales of her neck as she leans in and... finds herself staring down an enormous pearlescent serpent. ]
[ she's stunned into silence, frozen in what might be interpreted solely as fear. ] H- Hadassah. [ her hands had momentarily stilled, but she wills them to continue, fingers once again stroking her silky smooth scales. yes, she's scared, but that's certainly not all. there's clearly curiosity and appreciation, but perhaps there's something even darker... something carnal and greedy. how many people have gotten to see this side of her, hm!, how. fucken. many. ]
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You’re sweet.
[ D.va can see, now, the way the rich furnishings of the room are arranged in just the right way to allow her host to drape her coils across the expanse of the penthouse suite without dislodging so much as a single ornamental statuette—using the place like a much smaller snake might make a cozy sleeping nook of the hollow between sun-warmed stones. ]
But is God really gone, though? Isn’t it better to say that God is found instead in the hearts of true believers? Does God make faith, or does faith make God?
[ Hadassah’s coils shift against D.va, tongue flicking to taste her breath. When she bends her head, D.va can see that her eyes are still that same pomegranate red.
She doesn’t wait for an answer, pulling D.va close once more with a motion that is simultaneously a pair of cool arms around her waist and the overwhelming weight of tightening coils; drawing blood with a kiss that is also the massive widening mouth of a snake preparing to unhinge her jaw.
There’s just enough time for D.va to ask herself the age-old question: Well, are you into that? ]
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[ she hadn't thought about it like that. hm. could that be why the changes in hell had taken place. she had heard that it hadn't always been like that. could their faith in the messenger really be that stro- stupid question. faith makes god. the bigger the numbers the more the belief and the stronger the faith. ]
[ d.va opens her mouth, but the response is snuffed by the tightening coils, though she manages to save enough face to smirk. it's a touch strained, but, hey, something's better than nothing. she meets her eyes, huffing a breath through her noise and joining her in a kiss that ends with the metallic taste of blood. ]
H- Hey, [ fingers curl into her massive jaw. ] tell me I'm special. [ y- yes, apparently. ]
1 out of ??
[ Fingers are threaded in D.va's hair, or maybe that's the feeling of jaws stretching around her— ]
Special girl, don't you know—
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[ This time, the soft sound of Hadassah's laughter surrounds her, engulfs her, intermingles with Édith Piaf’s distant vibrato still coming from the record player,
Les ennuis, les chagrins, s'effacent / Heureux, heureux à mourir— ]
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[ Surrounding D.va is the press of muscle, the reverberating thrum of a heartbeat.
Vertigo again, impossible vastness and the press of all the earth’s stone.
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[ The smoke overwhelms her, sight and sensation alike fading out— ]
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[ —Instead: ]
end.
[ When she comes to, D.va will find herself laid out on the chaise lounge, dressed in a white silk robe. Hadassah, wearing a silk robe of her own, is perched primly on the arm of the loveseat, leaning forward on one elbow with her chin resting in her hand. ]
So, was it everything you imagined?
[ If D.va wishes to describe what she saw, it will have to be in dactylic hexameter. 𝓧𝓞𝓧𝓞, glhf~ ]
Re: end.
[ what... what was that... ]
[ her head is still swimming with questions, so many questions, but hadassah's own is enough to get her attention. a set of unfocused eyes lift to find her perched on the arm of the chaise looking as elegant and as composed as ever. perhaps more so, at least by comparison. d.va smiles, forcing herself to relax as she counts back from ten... nine.... ]
All that and more.
[ eight... seven... ]
You spoil me, you know that.
[ six... five... ]
[ she reaches out to her, scooting a bit closer, so that she can ghost her fingers along her arm. ]
[ four... three... ]
Who are you, really?
[ two... one... ]
[ she's not expecting to get all of the answers, or really even some, but her curiosity has suddenly reached its limit and she's dying to know. it's dangerous, but she knew that going in. like a moth to a flame she just can't help herself, so stupid or not she plans to pursue this to the very end... ]
And why [ she ducks her head with a snort, her hand coming up to mask the color blossoming on face as she shakes her head, embarrassed. ] and why do you have to be so you. [ it's a compliment, really. ]
Re: end.
Is that really a question you need me to answer? Why be anything but yourself, and tell your story the way you want it told?
[ She turns to take a drink of something from a tall, lightly frosted glass, and for a moment that looks like it might be the end of it.
But then she sets the glass down and leans forward on both hands to look at D.va. ]
My first human name was Delphyne. You can use that, if you like—in private, of course. But I’m named for a place, not my nature.
I had another name too, from when the place was named after me. It’s not the name I call myself, since human tongues can’t pronounce that one, but I suppose it works well enough as a translation, and it’s what you’re most likely to have heard of, anyway.
[ another smile ]
I’m Python.
Re: end.
[ she'd been looking at the glass a bit too intently, perhaps having resigned herself to the conversation's end, but when hadassah sets it down and leans forward her eyes lift to meet hers, expression brightening. ]
I'll keep it between us. If I knew my own name, my real name, here is where I'd share, but, right now, D.Va is all I have. Brain's a bit scrambled, but I'm sure it'll come to me eventually. Delphyne though... I like it, [ for a place and not a nature... ] just like I like you. [ she chuckles, almost shamelessly. ]
... [ the second name catches her by surprise, something completely evident by the wide-eyed expression she wears the moments following its reveal. it's short lived, the shock, and her usual smile settles back in place as she sets a finger to her own lips, hesitating a moment. ] Why Hadassah then? And, I know I might be wasting my breath, especially given what you just said, but... is there no way for you to teach me? How to say your true name, I mean?
And I imagine that Tokyo-F will be back up and running any day now. [ it's been almost a week. surely the production is working day and night to pick up the pieces of whatever the heck had happened. ] Do I get your number this time, or just a whole lot of heartache?
Re: end.
Oh, those two things aren't mutually exclusive, are they?
—Still, you really are better off waiting for me to get in touch with you: whatever you may have heard, those Imeeji productions phones of yours can only dial out to others of the same model. Other idols' phones, that is.
D.va, though, is it? It's a lovely name, false or not. No wonder you demand all eyes on you. [ wink~ ]
Re: end.
You have a different model... [ she sounds a touch skeptical as she sits up, arching a thin brow. ] an upgraded phone, heh - now that really is something special. is there a reason for that, like... because you're a part of talent acquisition or is idol status really the only determining factor?
[ d.va sinks back down with a bubble of laughter. ] I do love it. I think it's the perfect stage name for someone like me. Here or there. I do love being front and center... in the limelight... [ she fingers the hem of hadassah's robe. ] I don't want to misstep though, so what I saw... I'll need to think about it... [ she imagines, as apollo's oracle, pythia has seen things like this too. a shame she can't, like, talk to her too. ]
Re: end.
[ tucking a finger beneath D.va's chin to study her face with slit-pupiled eyes for a long moment
...then leaning back in her seat again ]
I'll have to ask you about it some time.
As for phones, yes, it really is about idol status. We can't just have you all calling for us at any odd hour, you know.
Among other things, it would really make this sort of interaction much less special.