"...I have this ring. Intensely powerful. It's one of Madame Brigette's, but there's a fucking fail-safe curse on it. The wearer has to be male. If I wore it... it would kill me."
Emilie took a breath and sighed sharply, pinching Stas in the side.
"It was you or Sim, okay? And that boy is a fucking idiot."
"If the ring would kill you what would it do to me?"
He leaned into the pinch and pulled her closer to him, hands on hips. He was back again the original thought, which she still hadn't properly answered. "What do you want?"
"It shouldn't do anything to you. It's a boy's club." She laughed nonchalantly but when he asked her again, she leaned forward, whispering into his ear; her lip rings grazing his skin as she spoke.
"Please. I'm in deep trouble, Anastas. I need to kill a man, or he will find me, and he will kill me."
He shivered as her metal rubbed his flesh. He hadn't felt that in awhile, long enough that he almost missed it. "Miss Devlin you know I am up for many things. Murder is not one of them."
"God dammit, Stas! Even to save my life?" She was slightly offended. Sure, the whole thing was a lie but what if she really was in danger? Emilie scowled. A more subtle lie would've been more suitable, but she had always been one for the dramatics.
"You know I'll do anything to convince you." She said, leaning further against him. Which wasn't much considering how close they were already standing. Still, it made her point.
"I would do what I could to save your life, Emilie," he replied affectionately running his thumbs over her bottom. "But I do not know the whole situation. Is it truly so extreme that you must kill or be killed, like animals in the wild?"
He did enjoy it when she squished up against him closer. "You mean you would deign to sleep with me so that I would save your life. I am almost flattered." If he wasn't so distracted by his little Sunshine in the other room he'd realize that Emilie was up to something.
But Stasi's head was swimming in a cloud of affection and the first inklings of what might be love. He wouldn't know the difference. He hadn't loved anything truly in his life before now. "Fine. I will help you. Where is this magically cursed ring?"
"Yes, it is." Emilie replied simply. "A little too much time spent on Rue Ge Rouge. I finally crossed the wrong wizard, it looks like. And I'm not even out of high-school yet," she laughed once, but she didn't sound amused. "Off to a good start."
Anastas really was being turned into a fluffy bunny by that girl. Emilie tried her best not to smirk as she fished the ring out of her coat pocket and held the small plastic bag up in the air. In the light of the dance, it had seemed normal, but in the darkness they stood in now-- it was glowing a bright absinthe green.
"You are a one of a kind girl," he commented ruefully. He let go of her hips and shoved his hands into the pockets of his nice suit. He looked like a slob the rest of the year, but he always dressed impeccably for events like this. "I would expect no less from you."
He stepped back from the ring and Emilie as if burned. "Am I supposed to wear this ugly thing to do your biding?"
To this, Emilie actually smiled. She considered it a compliment, even if it might not have been.
"I've been told that if we're lucky, the curse might break and I won't even need you for much of anything." Her briefly genuine smile turned snide. "So let's just get this over with shall we?"
He frowned at her openly. In his mind Emilie's smiles had a tendency to be endearingly eerie and entirely unnerving. He took the plastic bag from her and eyed the glowing ring for a good minute before opening the seal on the bag and dropping the ring into his hand.
"Do I have to put it on?" he asked enjoying for a moment the sick pleasure of dragging this out and making Emilie beg.
He smirked at her, that familiar, comfortable smirk. With a grand gesture he took the ring from his open palm and slipped it onto his ring finger. It was a bit loose, but it would work for whatever devious purpose Emilie had in mind.
His finger started to tingle. He watched as the glow around it shifted from green to pink. "Does that mean the curse is broken?" he asked while trying to pull the ring off.
Emilie's thin brows shot up, and she tried not to giggle as she watched the little ring go to work. It was a little bit like watching a live-action Cinderella.
In being that, the ring cast a rather impressive illusion that Anastas was wear a huge, lovely, pink dress. It must have been much more impressive in full light. Not that Stas would be able to see it, anyhow.
Still, Emilie feigned innocence. "I--no. It's supposed to glow blue. Do you feel any different?"
He was unimpressed; an eyebrow flicked upward and he sighed at Emilie. "Not particularly," he replied.
He pulled at the ring again, but it wasn't coming off. "Your ring is stuck on my finger. What will you do now?" If he was pretending not to care earlier it melted a bit now. There was a touch of genuine concern in his voice. If she was really in danger this ring wasn't going to help her any time soon.
Aaw, that slight concern was almost touching. If Emilie possessed things like morals, or regret, or an essential item like a human soul... she might have felt a little guilty for lying to him.
"Uhh, I think I'm going to go enjoy the dance." Emilie shrugged, grinning. She walked past him toward the exit, heels clicking triumphantly.
He watched her go with deeply mixed feelings and the strong sense that he'd just been duped somehow. It was too early to tell how he'd been duped, so he followed her back to the dance with slower strides; he couldn't hear her clicking heels by the time he arrived near the door.
He peered through the glass to make sure Emilie was well clear of the door before entering the dance. If Sunny happened to be looking... Well, there'd be hell to pay. Emilie wasn't in his sight-line from the window in the door so he opened it up and entered the dance. Oblivious at first to the reactions of everyone around him he went looking for one of his friends or his girlfriend, whoever he happened to find first.
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