Soft Hearts Hold Secrets

Elevator Rides

Asra hadn't gone home. He couldn't have.

There was no way he could have just left after anything like that. Instead, he'd cast a quick spell - nothing flashy - that made glowing headphones settle in his ears. Wires twisted around his fingers as he twirled and span them, before releasing it and watching it attach itself to the door.

The conversation inside was boosted immediately, the count's voice filling his ears with it's typical arrogance. The cable followed him as he paced, trailing along the floor as Asra walked. He couldn't stand still, too worked up.

"-is the good thing about getting this job, Scourge. You can keep all that cash you earn at your other job, and use it for the little things. Like making yourself look good, and clothes that haven't been worn before you got them."

And that goddamn voice in his ears wasn't making it any better. Lucio always knew just how to work him up, how to get on his last nerve and making his system spin webs of angry discomfort.

Especially hearing Lucio chastise Muriel for wearing what he could afford on the scrapings he'd earned. The pennies he saved going towards new clothes when rent and debt had been paid, when food was on the table. When he knew that Inanna wouldn't go hungry. Lucio only ever cared about presentation, even if it was impossible for someone else to keep up those precise standards.

If anything good came out of it, it'd be Muriel getting clothes that fit him well.

"We'll get your measurements next time you're here, hm? I'll call in someone to get you fitted. I didn't expect you to be back so soon, or I would have had someone in today." He put something away in a drawer- likely a wad of money, which was tucked away in the drawer and set aside. Likely Muriel's counted money. "You could have been perfect at this work, I still don't see why you'd choose some lousy mechanic gig over this."

"I don't like this work. I don't like you."

Muriel didn't mean to say that. The words left him before he even realized he'd parted his lips... however there wasn't much conviction to the weak little mutter. Muriel's voice had been empty when he answered. The numbness of his system could be heard in his tone. The dreary defeat. It had settled there ever since he stood beside Lucio behind the desk. Ever since he heard Lucio croon out the painful fact that Asra hated him -- hated the idea of him -- all that time.

Ever since he didn't hear any kind of refusal from Asra himself.

Each time he'd think of Asra, even feel Asra's name whisper itself from somewhere deep in his conscious, Muriel's stomach would twist and his chest would burn. The feelings were painful and... alien. Of course, he could relate them to things he'd felt before: fear, worry, panic, even anger. However... something about that feeling... something about feeling that feeling about Asra...

It made things different.

It made things worse.

Muriel didn't know whether or not he wanted to know why. He didn't know whether or not he cared enough to.

A sharp bark of laughter escaped Lucio, though that had to have been forced. It was more of a 'that had better be a joke' than anything else. Metallic thrumming, and Lucio was drumming his golden nails on the desk again. His patience was running thin- that should have been a dead giveaway.

"Do you think I care what you like or don't like, Scourge? You work for me. Everyone here works for me, no matter whether they like it or not. I don't care if you don't like me, because at the end of the day, I'm the one who got you where you are now. You would be dead without getting my help when you needed it. Now you have to repay the favour, or I'll put you back where you were. I have influence, Scourge."