Acosmist || {Moonknight}

XVI. Useless.

"So you don't have the scarab?" Lucilla questioned, staring directly at Steven. If Steven didn't have the scarab then who knows where it is? Marc? He surely would but it was unlikely Steven accepted his presence yet. And even so Marc would never let someone like Harrow even have the Scarab.

Harrow held a hand before Lucilla as the girl leaned against the table, silencing her. "Perhaps you know someone who does?" He questioned on top of Lucilla's question, "maybe Marc?"

Steven's head turned towards the fruit bowl to stare at his reflection as if he was listening to it before shifting to glance at Harrow again. "No, I don't." He answered honestly. Something to Lucilla screamed that he did know where the Scarab was but she couldn't pinpoint what. And if she knew that then Harrow must've already caught on.

"May I speak with Marc?" Harrow asked out of the blue. Steven's gaze moved to Lucilla's as Harrow kept asking questions directed to the other man. He only wanted Marc. Steven was simply the middleman. "Marc, what has Khonshu promised you?"

Lucilla dropped Steven's gaze to glance at the empty space on the balcony above everything. Ptah stood alone for a moment, facing the girl directly before turning around and leaving abruptly. Someone else was there. They wouldn't leave otherwise he was watching over someone else.

"That this is your last mission? Then you'll be free?" Harrow continued before switching the direction. "Trust me when I tell you, Khonshu is a liar. There's always one last thing." Most gods where liars. They were never committed to only helping others but Khonshu were one of the worst, even the Ennead knew that. They typically put a spin on things to make the deals they make more suitable for them and never ending. Maybe Lucilla did get lucky with Ptah. She had a way out of his deals. Other avatars aren't so lucky.

Steven glances at the bowl once again. Lucilla shifted to stand up in hopes of finding whomever Ptah had spotted but caught everyone's attention instead. "Ms Spector I think you might want to stay with us." Harrow suggest calmly for her to stay with them, signalling men to stand around her at the same time. He wasn't giving Lucilla the choice.

Lucilla reluctantly sat down again. She needed to see who Ptah found but instead she was stuck listening to Steven. Even if Lucilla was able to move away to Ptah, she was risking at least one life. Leaving Steven could end up with him messing up with Harrow but if she didn't then whoever Ptah found might stumble into something they shouldn't. It was a loose loose situation. Maybe not so much if Marc was present. He could handle Harrow and everyone whilst Lucilla went off to the mystery Ptah found.

"Sorry." Steven interrupted as he returns to the original topic, "If Ammit judges people pre-evil, like, before the fact then isn't she just judging an innocent person?" He quickly spirals into a ramble, "I mean, a thought can't be evil, can it? I think about killing my boss all the time, but I wouldn't actually do it."

"A thought can go a long way," Lucilla muttered before Harrow attempted to call Steven out of his rambles. Marc proved that a thought can be more than something you think numerous times. It can be harmful in more than one way but evil thoughts being the reason people should die even if they are small isn't right.

"What about a child? Would she kill a child for something they might do in 30 years?" Steven continued with the ethics of Ammit's purpose but Harrow already knew the issues.

"I'm glad you mentioned that." He responded, unfazed by Steven's reasoning. "Sometimes, the cure is a little taste of the disease." The words Harrow spoke were put together so weirdly. "The difference between medicine and poison sometimes is only dosage. Consider a diseased limb. Amputation, horrific and grotesque, is necessary for the larger health."

"But the child is not a diseased limb," Lucilla added, now horrified. She was now slumped into her seat with her arms crossed. It wasn't difficult for her to recognise how wrong killing a harmless child is but it was safe to say that Harrow saw no harm in exactly that. If Ammit said to kill a child, he would.