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“I don’t have any respect for your human part” – Enriki said, – “It would be better if your demon suppressed it completely!”
“Fuck, I don’t understand what’s the deal with still considering Nik a human possessed by a demon” – Orel said grumpily. “It’s so dumb! This bullshit just pisses me off, and you, smart-looking people, insist on thinking of him as of someone redone, undone, possessed! You feeling ok?!”
Enriki blushed: “Fine! And what’s so dumb about it? I don’t see anything dumb here!”
“Andin my opinion, it’s just dumbness! I mean, Nick was living happily in his…what’s it’s called… oh, never mind, and then bam! A demon possessed him! What’s happening?! What for?!”
“Maybe he called the demon himself” – Squint-Eye suggested, “to become more powerful and to get back at his enemies”.
“What enemies?!”
“The Reds”.
“Oh, ok. Only instead of getting back at the Reds, he went straight to the Blacks’ ‘farm’!”
“Well, the demon must have had an agenda of his own”.
“Yes, everybody knows that the demons are just like that. You want something from them, and you end up getting the complete opposite”.
“Well, yes”.
The friends laughed at Orel’s ironic tone.
“I never said the demon possessed him like that” – Enriki tried to argue. “It’s just that if he was sold to a witch as a child, she must have been the one who turned him in to the dark powers. Sacrificed him. You understand what I’m talking about, Arel? Otherwise, why would she need a child? He was meant as a present, a sacrifice to demon from the beginning. Or maybe she obeyed the demon’s command, and he needed a body to penetrate into our world. That’s why Nikto’s human part is undeveloped and squalid. He is just meant to obey and be passive. That was also done by the witch, to make it easier for the demon. I mean, you guys can’t argue that Nikto is obedient most of the time, and resembles a wind-up toy”.
“Just like a rabbit with cymbals!” – Tol cried excitedly.
“And Rosa was totally unnecessary to the demon,” – Enriki continued, completely ignoring Tol’s outburst, as usual, – “on the contrary, she was standing on his way, nearly ruined the whole thing. Made Nikto fall in love, evoked some feelings, he became defiant, but being unexperienced, got jammed up right away and almost screwed up the whole thing. And of course, the buds of his free will where suppressed again, and he went where he had to go. Spreading chaos in our world, east, then west, and now in the very heart at the City.
“You don’t mind me being here” – Nikto interrupted. During their conversation he lifted his head from Orel’s lap and now was sitting next to him, his face twisted. “Hope I’m not bothering you”.
“Not at all” – Lis replied.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings” – Enriki explained. “It’s just my personal opinion, I was just expressing it. Would you prefer me to do it behind your back?”
“He would prefer you not to express it at all” – Lis grinned.
“Whatever happened to you – it was not your will, nor your fault. It just happened.
“Bad luck” – Squint-Eye said.
“Oh, go to hell! One of you thinks I’m just your reflection, another one – that I’m a rabbit with cymbals! I’m so tired of this shit pouring on me every day! You guys just haven’t heard enough fairytales when you were kids, so you keep telling them now!”
“How terribly you build your sentences!” – Enriki shook his head.
“I’m not like you, and that’s the whole problem, just because I have bright eyes and hair!”
“And every inch of your skin is packed with blasphemous, devilish images!”
Nikto moaned.
“In this world, there are at least couple hundreds half-bloods with bright hair and eyes” – Lis started, “But nobody is dissing them, why is that? Nobody’s dissing Mina, or Morgan Talas, for that matter. He’s not considered to be devil’s spawn, even though he’s a real piece of shit. And he’s definitely a half-blood”.
Nikto was silent.
“And what does it mean, you are just our reflection?”
“Ask him,” – Nikto nodded towards Orel, “If Enriki can still see a human in me, however damaged, Arel thinks I’m only capable of reflecting whatever is being put in me”.
“How is that?” – Lis lit a cigarette, and irritably tossed the box to Squint-Eye, who saw him lighting one and stretched towards him right away.
“Arel wants love, he puts love into me, and I love in response. You want to be first again, and involuntarily put your ambitions in me and think I’m the one craving power. And I, probably thanks to you, become just like that, and we are eternal rivals. “
“Arel came up with it?!”
“Yes.”
Lis stared at Orel, somewhat shocked: “I’m the one craving power? I put it in Nikto?! You should go easy on drugs, honey! They affect you too much. Probably because you were nuts even before!”
“It came up with it as a result of your own words!” – Orel snarled, displeased.
“But I never said anything of a sort!”
“Yes, you did! More than once! You said, ‘If you hurt Nikto, he’ll pay you back with the same coin. That’s why the “impure” do not touch him, do not fight with him anymore’. And I said, ‘Well, you shouldn’t worry about me then, I could never hurt him even if I wanted to, because I love him’. So you calmed down and said that in that case, I was protected. All in all, if you don’t count the small stuff, that was true”.
“Well, that’s not exactly what I meant!”
“And I actually like it” – Enriki noted, – “There is something about it, some sort of logic”.
“So what does he reflect from you?”
“Well, we are not that close with him…”
“Yeah, because I am that close with him!” – Lis noted sarcastically. “Honestly, I could still agree, that Arel is the only one with the input. Something he so pretentiously calls “love”. But in that case, Nikto should be insane, just like Arel, and shameless, and without any restraints.”
“And he’s just like that”, – Squint-Eye snorted.
“He is reflecting everything you say” – Orel turned towards Enriki, “How come you can’t see that?! A weak man imprisoned by a demon, who controls his entire life”.
Enriki went pale: “You think that’s me? I’m possessed by a demon!”
“And probably more than one. Ask Carina, she’ll tell you everything about your demons. It’s just that you don’t want to see them, and me and the others never gave a damn, she was the only one touched by them. Probably because she’s a normal person. I agree, you don’t show them off, unlike me, or Squint-Eye, for example. You push them deeper inside, hide them behind your beloved proprieties, but the demon bursts out anyway, so ugly an inappropriate, right, Rik? And he ruins everything you worked so hard building around you. Career, personal life, your relationships with people. And eventually, you end up here, with us, in trash.
“You really shouldn’t get high!”
“You’re angry because it’s true. That’s why Nik made you so crazy at the beginning! You couldn’t accept him, just as you can’t accept yourself, your inner ugliness. You were looking at his face and seeing your own insides. You are only handsome from the outside, a perfect front. But you are ugly inside. Now, it seems, you have almost put up with it. Accept yourself as you are, with all your vices” – Orel squeezed Nikto’s face in his palms – look at this! It’s impossible to correct anything, but he is still beautiful!”
Enriki looked down.
“Enough bitching about Nikto!” – Tol began indignantly. “Just going on and on, ugly-beautiful, inside-outside. Nikto is our guy! Ours! And by the way, he loves us all, despite the fact that all of you keep insulting and humiliating him all the time, and generally, are completely unfair towards him! But he doesn’t get angry! I’m sure, he would sacrifice his life for any of you!”
Orel laughed: “Oh, thank you, Tol. I had no idea you loved everybody so much!”
“What does it have to do with me?! I was talking about Nikto just now. Me, personally, I wouldn’t even give a red penny for Lis, for example, not to talk about risking my life! As if! Nikto is the only one not holding grudges, doesn’t matter how much Lis is shitting on him, he still loves him…”
“Oh, here’s another one!” – Orel said, turning towards Vil, who has just entered. Vil froze tensely, as usual.
“Vil, what’s Nik like, in your opinion? Quick, don’t think about it!”
Vil’s eyes went completely round with terror. “Kind…” – he whispered, hardly managing to speak, but not daring to disobey Orel and withhold the answer.
Friends exchanged glimpses, and Nikto laughed.
“And also”, – he said, – “You were saying that I don’t have a single drop of pride or dignity in me. And that I put out my ass for Orel obediently, and resemble a whore more than a warrior. You even put some eyeliner on me. I’m Arel’s slut!”
And Orel, seeing how the faces of his friends twisted in discontent, started laughing, too: “Serves you right! When you’re shitting on him, you’re actually shitting on yourselves! How about that, huh?! Didn’t expect that, now, did you? It’s a good idea I had, right?!”
“You definitely mustn’t get high” – Enriki said firmly.
“Personally, I don’t give a damn” – Squint-Eye shrugged, “So he resembles us, so what! But here, we all resemble each other, all of us covered in shit head to toe, that’s why we got together in the first place. And I never tried to hide my demon”.
“You are bummed because of your eye, and Nikto – because of his scar”.
“What do you know about it, anyway!”
“Me- nothing, I’m a gorgeous prince! I’m just saying that everyone’s got his share, and you too, and everyone’s got their…” – “Here comes Carina”, – Lis said quickly, and Orel fell silent right away. Nikto pulled away from him.
Carina came down into the hall and approached them with a smile.
“Hello,” – and she graciously lowered herself onto the furs, right next to Orel. He stretched towards her and kissed her.
“Have you rested?”
“I have, what about you?”
“Us too. Want some wine? Vil, get Carina a wineglass!”
“Oh, Vil, no need, I’ll get it myself” – she turned to Orel, “and in the meantime, if you don’t mind, I’ll take a sip from yours”.
“I don’t mind, but I don’t have a glass” – Orel lifted a half-empty heavy bottle.
“A-ah” – she laughed, – “Just be careful!”
He smiled at her too, touched a broken tooth with his finger: “You are talking about this? I’m trying”.
Vil was already fetching a glass.
She took a sip and shook her head: “I’ll become a drunk with you guys, what are you doing? Gambling again?”
“We were”.
“On money?” – She looked at the heaps of golden coins, sparkling on the thick furs.
“We were gambling on money, but Tol lost everything again”.
“And we decided to gamble on wishes”, – Enriki explained, – whoever loses, has to tell a story about himself.
“Like how he fucked for the first time!” – Tol added. –“Wanna play with us?!”
“Yeah, right! You’ll beat me right away! You play every day, and me – just from time to time!”
“So what! We will also tell our stories if you want, that’s even more fun!” – Tol went on.
“Then what’s the point of winning or losing?”
“No point! Let’s just tell our fuck stories, shall we?!”
“In that case, we don’t have to play at all” – Lis twisted his face. “Just sit around and talk about some bullshit!”
“For you, everything is bullshit!” – Tol said with outrage. – “And I like it! According to you, we should only talk about business all the time! I’m fed up with it!”
“You definitely should have gotten fed up! You are the one talking about business non-stop!”
“Arel! They’ve started again” – Carina laughed.
“Would you tell us what your first time was like?” – Orel asked, and his voice was like velvet.
“You pervert! Fine!” – She looked at her friends, naughty sparkles lit in her brown eyes. – “I’ll tell you! But you go first! I’ll listen to your stories, and then tell you mine”.
“You will lie to us!” – Tol roared, not even hiding his pleasure.
“I promise! I will tell you! Who’d we begin with?”
“With Squint-Eye”, – Orel laughed, – “He’s always the scape goat”.
Everybody laughed, too, and Squint-Eye didn’t even blink.
“I lost my virginity in a brothel”, – he said, – “My brother was the one who took me there”.
“The one who came here? Berk?” – Lis clarified.
“Yes”, – Squint-Eye continued, – “He decided it was about time I knew a woman. She was a regular whore”.
“And the first and the last intercourse in my life” – Lis added, mimicking Squint-Eye’s indifferent voice.
Everybody laughed.
“Almost”, – Squint-Eye replied calmly, – “That’s it.”
