Chapter 6: Consummation – Gluttony

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires. Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. 

Life was the thrill of battle, and the snap of bones in sharp teeth, the hunger dulling as he packed in enough flesh and blood to make his stomach ache, then the different hunger that went along slicing claws through warm, sticky, vulnerable stomachs to deny others that same pleasure--those were the two joys of a demon: destruction and self-empowerment. And to Arturo, it was the height of fun and life, both, not to mention it made life simpler.

Simple enough at least, Insofar as it didn't mean you had to deal with consequences or have any real reason to speak up except to say "This sucks", "I'm hungry", or "I get to kill this one."...Unfortunately, things were only simpler so long as others didn't disrupt the easy pattern of consumption and damage..."You're going to make yourself sick." Arturo looked up. By the flatness of the voice, he knew it to be Klaus. Klaus had barely spoken two words to him before though, so he could hardly think why the swordsman might break his habits now. Not to mention neither of them, were exactly social. God, he hated when people butted in...

The demon eyed him warily. He might have looked it, but he wasn't stupid. Klaus was a stray like him, from birth as far as he knew, raised by himself on the streets. He looked rather on the skinny side for a capable hunter. Or perhaps he simply didn't have the demon's metabolism. Arturo decided the best thing to do might be to offer the half-mangled joint of meat he'd stolen, guessing that might be his reason to pick a fight, just as a stray animal would. Klaus's unseen nose wrinkled. "No thank you." Arturo shrugged, now slightly mystified. "Suit yourself."

He tore again at the meat, the contents of the refrigerator spread out at his feet in a spray of destroyed, mangled containers, and splattered condiments, like trophies from some other war. Klaus prodded a desiccated wasabi container with a toe. "You are an animal..." He murmured. Arturo blinked surprised. The human was trying to provoke him into a fight. Why? Neither of them had done anything except tolerate the other's existence before...They'd carefully toed one another's territories with unspoken understanding while the others had trampled around not seeing what the fuss was, blind little fools in their tame, naive existence.

There was a rustling. Arturo glanced out of the corner of his eye. Oh right, Arielle was there too, reading a newspaper of all things in her ridiculous skimpy outfit, knees against her chest, wings flung over the back of her chair, and casually flickering every once in a while in unseen thoughts and unreadable, impulsive moods. She would certainly complicate things if a fight was going to break out...

Arturo didn't like the eraser much, call it blood-loathing if you had to. It was just something about how she could ignore Arturo ignore the whole world. Likely it was something of the tilt of those haughty-looking black wings, the arrogant flippancy in her dealings with all the rest of them. She didn't look as though she'd make much of a meal, ever--far too stringy and bony...and not many people could ignore a seven-foot-tall demon successfully with the same air of arrogant disdain as the tiny eraser managed to--she might have understood the unseen feral subtext Klaus and Arturo were fluent in, but she ignored it. When you had that much power though, you didn't have to give a damn about what anyone thought their territory was.

She was irritating solitary, and childishly moody. Arturo couldn't stand him or her black feathers left all over the place with their surprisingly blade-sharp edges. Arielle treated everything like it was her territory and her right, and she was infuriatingly nosy--she butted into everything. It was one of the things Arturo couldn't stand about her. Surely before too long, she'd have to add her two cents worth.

Arturo could also smell the smoke of Minaro's cigarettes nearby as well. Minaro was tame, though, and little enough trouble. For all his intellect, he might have known something was going on that he couldn't see, but he still couldn't see it. He was cautious with them, friendly enough to blandly, brazenly tease anyone and anything when he got bored enough, but not foolish enough to cause real trouble.

He had the sort of ease with others that only came from living in safety all one's life, and being smart enough to still figure out that there was smoke in the air before the house burned down, never mind why or how the tinder had been set. Likely he wouldn't get involved at all if a brawl broke out in the kitchen, and would just keep on smoking from wherever he was hiding... Just because you were smart, didn't mean you automatically assimilated. Arturo and Klaus both treated him with vague curiosity. Sometimes he did the damnedest crazy things with the easiest blindness... They both found him odd, but non-threatening, even amusing on occasion. Minaro was tolerable.

Arturo grunted into his meat, turning his eyes back to Klaus warily. Was he being tested? That wasn't fair. He'd certainly been there longer than Arielle had been. If anything the slender angel should have been the brunt of Klaus's fight-picking. That in and of itself was a slur—Klaus probably thought he could beat him, then. Arturo felt dimly irritated about all of that, but his master was keeping a tight rein on him--she didn't want him involved... and as much as Arturo loved fighting, he had to agree. It might not be the best idea to cross Klaus if he was in a bad mood--the two of them were far too equal on the fighting ground to escape without some form of nasty injury deciding the fight for them... If Klaus didn't care about that, and Arturo did, he'd be forced to back down, and he hated that.

"Hey...you listening to me?" Klaus asked, visible eyes narrowing as he prodded the demon's shoulder with a toe hard. Arturo glowered, fangs tearing his meat a little harder than was necessary, fighting the urge to tear the jerkoff in half like the joint of meat. "F'ya don't want somma this, then leave me alone," Arturo growled finally. Klaus was a picture of aloofness. He wasn't impressed. Arturo scowled back at him. "I'm hungry." He added with an edge of threat.

Klaus looked at him for a long moment. "Ever eat garbage?" Arturo stared at him. "Wassat gotta do with anythin'?" He grumbled around his food. Frequently, yes. Shouldn't the Klaus know that? He was a demon. He was omnivorous to an extreme. He'd eat anything that remained immobile long enough--that was a demon's way. It was easier that way. Besides, he liked things half-rotten--it gave them flavor.

"Have you ever been so hungry you ate mud just to fill your stomach?" Klaus asked, in that flat, calm voice of his. Arturo narrowed his eyes. What was he getting at? Was he insulting him? "Nuh-uh. Why'sit matter? Have you?" He asked back. Klaus nodded once. "Ever had to sell yourself just to get a meal a vulture wouldn't pick at?" Arturo blinked, hesitating now. Klaus didn't wait for an answer. "Have you ever considered eating your limbs?" Arturo wrinkled his nose. Even he wasn't that omnivorous. "Have you ever killed a man who violated you just to steal his dinner?" Klaus continued. Arturo was looking down nervously now, about ready to leave the room--he wasn't used to verbal attacks. Klaus could far outstrip him there. Maybe Minaro could match Klaus in words or even beat him, but Arturo wasn't that human. Klaus was attacking him somehow...and he was losing.

He hated when things got complicated...and he hated losing...A derisive snort echoed from the other side of the room. "Why mention it? Does it make you any stronger if you've been violated by a man? Does it make you any better if you've been hungry?" Arielle drawled. Klaus was quiet. Arturo could feel the balance shift. Arielle raised her inhumanly pale eyes to Klaus brazenly.

"Stop looking for pity or remorse. You're alive, aren't you? You humans always think dragging up your past gives you a purpose or it'll make others feel sorry for you. If you can't decide what to do about it, and insist on bringing it up, then what's the point in bitching about it to us?" Klaus turned his head away. "Hunger." He said finally. Arturo stared a moment. "Huh?" He ventured.

He was tired of not following the undercurrent if even Arielle could outstrip him here, he would be humiliated beyond belief if he didn't do anything about it—Arielle wasn't human either, after all. Klaus lowered his eyes to him. "After all that you find out that hunger isn't as bad as you think there are worse things than hunger." He explained in his toneless, flat voice. Arturo chewed, studying Klaus thoughtfully. Perhaps he wasn't attacking him at all...perhaps it was his mood... Arturo peered at him.

He did look a little pale... "Well...I was gonna say if you were that hungry you shoulda' found me. I would've gotten you some food. Y' didn' hafta do all that crap." Arturo grumbled, shifting. Klaus studied him for a long moment, features unreadable. "You don't know me. "Klaus said quietly, his eyes narrowed. "You would have sooner killed me." Arturo shrugged. "S'alright. I'd hunt for things I liked...people who needed it... 'N I'm better food than Arielle if you beat me. M' not some stringy crow."

Arielle's head jerked up and she glared at him. Arturo sniggered, giving another satisfied noise as he tore more meat away from the bone with his teeth, chewing thoughtfully and waving around the thing a little as he spoke. "If y' gave me a good fight I'd have fed you. I was bored more'n anything else. I wouldn't have cared. 'N even if you beat me,'s not so bad. It'd make you stronger." He shrugged.

Klaus looked at him for a long moment. He looked startled even, suspicion in his dark eyes. Arturo was proud of himself. He wasn't good with words and he'd backed his challenger into a corner somehow...He'd beaten both Arielle and Klaus. There was a soft laugh. Minaro turned in the doorway, cold black eyes glittering in dark amusement. "Careful Klaus, I think the demon likes you." Arturo snarled at Minaro "Shut your face, you pervert psychic!" hurling the empty container with a blood-slick hand.

It shattered upon impact with the lintel, sending shards of glass flying. Arielle bared her teeth, head-turning fast enough to make her pale hair snap with the motion. Her wings were twitching, glass sparkling like stars in the glossy black. Klaus watched silently, noting the tension in the eraser's body as her wings shook off the glass with a quick sweep, and a pebbling, occasionally tinkling sound, pale eyes not leaving Arturo throughout the motion. Had Kara not been controlling them, Arturo likely would have bought himself a massive fight right there one he wouldn't have won.

Minaro laughed, ever oblivious and safe beyond the limits of the room. "Look, Klaus, if you're that hungry why don't you say so to Nero? He'll whip up some vegan for you." Arturo snorted. "You're a vegetarian?" He asked Klaus with an air of disgust, slightly distracted from Arielle. Arielle's wings lowered slightly, lips thin, and expression sour. She contented herself with one final glare, returning to her newspaper.

Klaus glanced at Arielle, noting where Arturo's eyes were, then spoke when the demon looked back at him. "I prefer simple foods. I'm not a vegan, though. Or even a vegetarian." He replied. Arturo grunted, shifting. He opened the refrigerator with a grimy foot rummaged around in the crisper, and then tossed an apple at Klaus. Klaus caught it and looked down at it. He glanced at Arturo, almost curiously. "You're too skinny." The demon growled, half to himself, ripping back into the meat he'd put in his lap.

Humans could be strangely picky and self-damaging for the oddest things...He couldn't see what the problem was with vegetarians--why waste that much time avoiding what was put there for you to eat? What a wasteful way to live...only the decadent could afford to be so picky, not to mention it made everything so damn fussy...He couldn't see the point. He ate everything, and he wasn't fat or flaccid or weak--he was strong. Strong enough at any rate. Vegetarians were idiots.

Klaus spun the fruit in his fingers thoughtfully, quiet for a long moment, his features unreadable behind the mask, eyes transfixed on the fruit. He was tempted. Fruit was a rare treat for a stray. "It needs to be washed," Klaus said finally. "Wash it yourself," Arielle grumbled from the table, not looking up from her almost comically engrossed reading of the paper. "Yeah really, if you let all that crap happen to you, it's probably because you're letting yourself be helpless," Minaro added, not turning from leaning outside the room. "Even I'm not that concerned about my health..." Arielle sourly glared at the door, her tone frosty. "You're sucking that poison into your lungs still." Minaro snorted. "Better than what Klaus's sucking..."

Arturo shrugged when Klaus looked down on him questioningly. "I think I'll choose to ignore that," Klaus said lightly. Arielle scowled into her paper. "Then don't verbally acknowledge it if you're busy ignoring it." She retorted snappishly. Klaus raised an eyebrow, turning his head from Arielle--who ignored him--back to Arturo. Arturo snickered at his expression, gnawing at the bone of his meat to extract the marrow, cracking the thing with his teeth. He sucked out the soft material, spitting out a chunk of splintered bone. "S'just a little wax." He muttered with a shrug. "Wax catches dirt," Klaus replied quietly. "S'insulting."

Arturo muttered with another shrug turning back down to shuffling through his food, sucking on his bone as he rummaged with both gore-splattered hands. Klaus raised an eyebrow higher. "I wasn't implying it was dirt from you. I meant dirt in general." Minaro sighed from the doorway. "If you're such a germ-a-phobe, it's no wonder you didn't get to eat." Klaus ignored him. "Was talking about the dirt when I said S'insulting," Arturo grumbled semi-incoherently around the bone, finally spitting it into his lap so he could talk more easily.

"Was talkin' about the blood..." He gestured vaguely to the apple with a gore-spattered finger, putting the bone back in his mouth with a meaningful look, probing the fractured end with his tongue for more soft marrow. Klaus glanced down at the apple and adjusted his grip gingerly, eyebrows twisting queasily. "The...blood...?" he repeated faintly.

Minaro laughed from the door at Klaus's look of masked disgust. Arturo put down the bone, scowling. "Look. When y'kill something, it's an insult to wash. You eat their blood to get their strength. It goes on into you...makes you stronger... 'F ya wash it, it means you're insulting it--like it's not good enough for you or might make you weaker." Arturo noticed all eyes were on him and he shrugged. "This is a demonic custom?" Klaus questioned quietly, finally turning to look at him again.

Arielle wrinkled her nose, one wing giving a twitch as she turned the page. "Disgusting." She muttered flippantly. They both ignored her. Arturo shrugged, cracking through the rest of the bone with a triumphant noise, slurping out the rest of the marrow with a similar noise of satisfaction. Klaus stared at the apple for a long time. "Nice try...I don't believe in souls." He said finally, setting the fruit rather carefully on the counter. Arturo furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey! I didn't say it was their soul. I said it was their strength!" Klaus looked back at him quizzically.

Arielle snorted, cutting off whatever Klaus might have replied. "What kind of human doesn't believe in the soul?" Klaus turned to Arielle, probably frowning at best beneath his mask; there was a hint of irritation and a more extreme flatness to his voice now. "The kind of human that doesn't have one maybe you have one-" Arielle scowled. "Damn straight I have a soul. I know that. Without a soul, you're nothing more than a lump of meat." "Arturo might disagree there," Minaro added from the doorway. "He thinks everything's meat."

Arturo raised his arm to throw something else with a growl of irritation. Klaus caught his wrist. His fingers didn't meet around, but it startled Arturo enough that he didn't throw. "Do you?" Arturo blinked. "Huh?" Klaus's dark gaze was unreadable as ever, tone almost steely. "Do you think everything's just meat?" Arturo hesitated, lowering his arm, wondering what he'd done to provoke him. "Well. uh, I get strength from everything. I don't know squat about souls or whatever, but you can get strength from anything. Humans, animals, plants...maybe even that mud you were talking about eating before. Everything just makes you stronger." He shrugged. "So long as it doesn't kill you, I mean. If it kills you, it's stronger than you. That's how I think of it. Never really thought much about souls... all just strength. Souls is a stupid idea 'f y'ask me...I mean, y'don't want the thing sticking around asking for its strength back after you're done with it. It's stupid."

Arielle's wings rose angrily, and no doubt she was going to make some acidic retort, but Minaro interrupted her in an almost dreamy voice, half-laughing, and enjoying himself from his oblivious vantage outside the room. "Good thing Nero's not here. He'd start talking about Heaven and Hell about now." Arielle's eyes narrowed and she snapped. "Redundant."

Minaro turned his head to look into the room, voice mocking and derisive. "Yeah? Maybe from your point of view, considering you're the angel here. You could solve this all actually any humans wandering around in Heaven?" Arielle hissed out a breath testily, shooting Minaro a glare at having been interrupted all the longer from her reading the paper. "I'm not from Heaven, I fell from the Fleet." Minaro turned a little more, face bland. "Oh? Uh oh. Maybe there's no Heaven then."

Arielle raised her head again, teeth bared, her wings flaring. "Of course, there's a Heaven, but don't expect me to tell you what it looks like--I've never been there!" She snapped. Minaro's lips curved in a slight smile at having gotten the eraser to react. He loved incensing the angel to the point that Arielle's feathers would all rise in rage, ready to kill Minaro in an instant of black rage, but held back by their master.

Klaus was quiet as Arielle turned back around to read the paper, wings twisting irritably, but making a point to ignore Minaro. Minaro didn't say anything, only smiling in his smug, triumphant way. "Touchy." Klaus ventured finally. He likewise sounded slightly amused. Minaro raised his eyebrows. "Yeah." Arturo snickered at Arielle's expression, the angel glaring at him lividly for doing so, as though the whole thing was his fault.

Minaro could be amusing on occasion...Minaro glanced at Arturo in turn, slouching against the doorframe and fiddling with a cigarette. "What about you, Arturo? How's Hell?" The demon raised his head from rummaging around in the open refrigerator, frowning and scratching the back of his head with a blood-streaked finger. Something was prickling back there...it was starting to bother him... "Uh...Never been in Hell." He located the beetle that was troubling him. "Aha." Minaro turned his head to look at Arturo's noise of triumph, blinking mildly at the sight of the demon grinning at his captive, antennae flickering wildly over the blood-streaked fingers.

Klaus took a step back rather quickly. "Just a roach, Klaus," Minaro commented blithely. Klaus stiffened and seemed to force his body to behave as though he wasn't bothered at all, shooting Minaro a glare for calling attention to him--that hadn't been wise at all...

Arturo grinned a little wider. "Yeah. Nice big one too... Klaus?" he offered the quivering insect. Klaus twitched voice cold as steel. "No thank you. I've had all the encounters with those that I'd like for this lifetime." Arturo shrugged, staring down at the thing and sighing in some sort of bizarre contentment. "Nope... No hell but been in some nasty bars though." He added the last as an afterthought, putting the sharp-legged insect in his mouth. Minaro laughed at the crunching. Klaus looked quietly disgusted. Arielle was more open in her disgust. "You don't know where that thing's been!" The angel shrieked. Minaro shrugged. "Well so long as it doesn't kill him, I don't think he cares." Arturo nodded once. "S'right. Good protein. 'S sorta sour 'n bitter 'n stuff, but still good protein." Klaus said nothing, fingers smoothing his mask over his face almost compulsively, not looking at them.

"Well, there you go: the demon eats everything, and our angel and demon can't tell us any more about Heaven and Hell than we already knew...there's probably some bloody stupid metaphysical reason there, too." Klaus shrugged. Minaro sighed. "What about you, monk-boy? Any Nirvana? Considering your life's story probably not. Klaus glanced at him from behind suddenly silted lids, not even turning his head. "I may meditate on occasion to put my thoughts in order, but it puts me no closer to finding peace than anyone else in this war. Mysticisms of all kinds are simply comfort mechanisms for old fools. To let them consume you destroys any benefit they might ever offer."

Minaro gave a flash of teeth in a smile, turning his head to look through the door. "Ouch." He said mildly. Arturo shrugged. "Nh. Could never get the hang of just sittin' there and waitin' for the world to do somethin' for you...makes no sense to me." Minaro turned. "Meditation's no replacement for a nice armful of a woman when it comes to 'comfort mechanisms' if you ask me." Klaus gave him a long look. "Then I'd assume your life's become rather free of comforting as of late." He replied tartly. Minaro sighed as Arielle snorted, not looking up. "Yeah, really do you think to get me a girl at least once?" Klaus's tone was drily bemused when he spoke again, relaxing once he realized that nobody was pressing his reactions to Arturo's eating habits--they were being far kinder to him than they would have been to Arielle.

Arielle was the newest addition, and she was as congenial as a cup of poison edged in razorblades--she deserved everything she got."I doubt she would ever be so inclined. Something tells me she'd keep the poor thing all to herself." Minaro frowned. "You think? Damn. And here I was hoping she was after Nero." Arturo snickered on the floor. "You're all nuts. Nothing beats good food. Good food and a fight after--there's nothin' better!" He gestured with a fistful of raw broccoli, grinning.

"Wipe your mouth, insectivore," Arielle interjected tartly, folding her newspaper. "Oh really now, Arielle. There's got to be something you like." Minaro said, grinning despite himself. "Something better than reading the obituaries that is." There was a nasty look in his eyes despite the smile-- Minaro's smiles had never seemed to reach his eyes. Ever.

This one wasn't any different but had a special maliciousness to it. He also seemed to selectively ignore all of Arielle's nastiness, speaking in his lilting, sing-song manner. For all Arturo knew about humans, that could have been a sign of liking, or a sign of hatred. Arielle certainly hated him bitterly and eyed him coldly as he stood, wings folding sharply at her shoulders, still flicking once to dislodge any lingering glass. "Whatever I like doesn't matter. All I do now is follow master's orders anyway." Minaro laughed. "Oh really, there's no need to sulk about it."

Arielle made to leave. "Come on...there's got to be something in that bundle of meanness that is partial to a little comfort somewhere." Arielle didn't meet his eyes, Minaro blocking the doorway deliberately, lounging against a lintel. "Come on Arielle is it that hard to be social? A little friendly response is all I'd like. What's your poison? Men? Women? Absinthe?"

Neither Klaus nor Arturo moved, though they did glance at one another to see if the other understood this. Arturo wasn't prone to much reflecting, but he thought it was interesting that already he and Klaus functioned easily as a pack. They could move as one, anticipate as one, largely the same things were mystifying to them. Likely they were both a good deal more casual in their approach to factional unity than say, Nero with his ex-priest background, or Minaro with his strong ties to the Order.

Arielle was different perhaps, but she was solitary. Either the erasers were that way normally, or just she was, but she didn't seem to function well in anything... So it was just Arturo and Klaus...

Minaro's teasing was dangerous--or it might have been, depending on their unseen leader's mood. She might very easily allow Arielle to vent her temper on this one occasion, holding off just enough so Minaro wasn't killed, or, parent-like, she could take pleasure in Arielle's impotent rage, disciplining her, honing her into the pack, teaching her, her laws and her rules--the latter was more likely.

Both Minaro and Arielle were foolish there, though too solitary and independent to realize their dangers. Minaro raised the eraser's chin. "Hey, come on." Klaus and Arturo both tensed inadvertently, expecting some sort of response--that was one thing they both knew not to do: touch Arielle. Arielle suddenly raised her eyes sharply, slapping away his hand sharply, and all of them knew Arielle's hands were hard.

Minaro shook his hand out once as though to put feeling back in it. "Ouch," he said mildly. Arielle's expression darkened in anger. "My comfort is my freedom." she snapped. "And as of yet, that no longer exists. Now move. You're in the way." Minaro stepped aside wordlessly in mock politeness as the angel stormed out, feathers raised in rage.

"Hmm...Got to get her started on porn or something normal." Minaro murmured lightly as soon as Arielle was no longer in range of sight or sound. Arturo shrugged. "Angels are weird. Think they've gotta set 'f wings and it makes them better'n everyone else." He growled, glowering over a stalk of celery. His heart wasn't in the words.

Minaro was expecting someone to agree with him. Arturo didn't add the words 'and you're weird too, you moron.′ on the end, though he would have liked to. Klaus was still wordlessly eying the fruit in his hands--probably thinking the same thing. Both of them had relaxed only slightly. They both knew the limits to taunting Arielle. One day, Kara would grow tired of savoring her inner rage and would let her go. Arturo knew the feeling well, and she indulged him enough as of late...

Arturo returned to gnawing his bone, listening carefully to the silence, rummaging in the crisper for vegetables that hadn't gone limp with age. Klaus suddenly lowered his mask, taking a bite from the apple with a quick, tearing motion, and an audible, loud, snapping crunch. Arturo looked up, surprised, then grinned toothily, crunching a carrot himself.

He could tell even by Klaus's eating habits alone how much they were kin--the sharp bite, the bare second or two to chew, and the hearty gulping swallow--eating on the run, ready to flee or fight at any second. Klaus licked his lips with a surprisingly red tongue, pausing. "Right? S'good, isn't it?" Arturo prompted eagerly around his mouthful. Klaus turned his head, finger still lowering his mask. His lips curled upwards ever so slightly. It was a little odd to see his lips move as he spoke, a little strange to see how flat his face was, how like his voice."I've never been partial to gluttony...perhaps I've been wrong." He paused, eyeing the apple. "And the blood does seem to add a fresh aspect of attractiveness...you're right."

Minaro eyed them both with raised eyebrows, avoiding most of the smashed glass as he entered the room fully, pulling out a fresh cigarette. "Hey, Don't you come to me when you get salmonella." He said half-heartedly. Klaus only shrugged, taking another bite. This time his chewing was slower, savoring the taste. "There's oranges too," Arturo said, pointedly offering one to Minaro, though it was more out of politeness than anything else it wouldn't be a treat to him, Minaro shrugged. "Nah. I only like fruit when the juice is on a woman's skin." Klaus tilted his head.

"A different form of gluttony for you, then?" Minaro grinned, black eyes glittering. "Oh definitely. You wouldn't get it you would've had to grow up in the Order. You get smacked a lot during PMS, but the rest of the month..." He grinned, shrugging and gesturing vaguely with his cigarette. "It has its benefits?" He suggested.

Klaus shrugged, leaning against a counter, dropping his sword behind him. Arturo noticed how he was relaxing, savoring the quick, destructive bites. A rivulet of juice and saliva escaped his lips. He licked it away with a quick, gleaming tongue. "I wouldn't know." He said flatly, brushing pale hair from his eyes.

Without Arielle in the room, everything became a lot more predictable... Minaro's smile faded. "That so? Tough break. You don't seem the monk-type, and you were rather vehement before." Klaus gave a flippant gesture, taking another bite of his apple. "I'm not." He replied quietly. "As you implied knowing before."

Arturo tossed him the orange, rummaging for his own and grinning at the challenge. Klaus didn't even have to look to catch it. Arturo knew he wouldn't he was as aware of the space around him as the demon was perhaps more so since he trained that sense as a swordsman. Klaus put the fruit down beside him, unhooking his mask one-handed so he could eat more easily. He let the strip of fabric drop beside his sword, and then hoisted himself up onto the counter, opening the rind easily.

Arturo smelled the fragrant oil on the air, the ripeness of the fruit, and felt satisfied vaguely, even while he felt a little jealous he'd given Klaus one of the better oranges. He tore open his own, greedily crushing one half to his jaws, juice filling his mouth as he pulled the insides away with a jerk of his neck, dropping the discarded rind to the ground and chewing almost obscenely, cracking the occasional, slippery seed between his teeth, unbothered by the burst of sudden bitterness to the flavor.

Minaro seated himself on the table, tossing Arielle's newspaper aside, onto the floor, and slouching against a wall, pulling out the glass ashtray from its hiding place and tapping his ash out, the room already filling with the haze of smoke and the smell of nicotine, mingling with the dancing scent of the oranges, and the strong odors of sour spices from the fallen containers at Arturo's feet.

"I guess...the world seems to simply be different kinds of hunger when it comes down to it all, huh?" Minaro said quietly, leaning against a wall casually, propping a foot on a chair. "Hm. Sex, drugs, food, power, peace there are very few differences, if any, between how such things are accomplished." Klaus replied softly, around a mouthful. "Force and resistance, hunger and satisfaction… So it is, and always has been." He'd delicately arranged the segments of the orange beside him and was eating the fruit segment by segment as though it were an unspeakable delicacy.

Arturo watched him for a moment, wondering if the swordsman had just been victorious in the verbal spar. He was strangely fascinating, selecting each half-moon between thumb and forefinger, and dropping it past his lips with the care of a carrion bird looking for some choice, soft organ. It was an elaborate mockery of the delicacy of the tame ones. Arturo was almost certain he was the only one who understood the dark joke.

The apple lay, bitten down to the stem and most durable bits of core beside him. Klaus suddenly flicked it aside with a careless gesture, the insignificant corpse joining the carnage of Arturo's feast. Arturo prodded it with a toe and grinned lopsidedly to himself.

The demon was peeling away the orange rind from his remaining half with his teeth. He glowered suddenly over the mangled fruit. "Tried sex once..." He grunted, deeming an opening into the conversation. Both humans turned to him in surprise. "You? Really?" Minaro asked with raised eyebrows.

Klaus seemed to recover more easily but didn't say anything, eyes on him as he lifted another segment to his mouth and chewed. Arturo shrugged. "Kinda messy." He said flippantly. "That it is." Minaro said bemusedly, chuckling. Arturo scratched an eyebrow, trying to remember. "Hunh...She tried to eat me afterward. Damn spider woman..." Minaro laughed. "Eat you?" He questioned. "Another demon I take it?" Klaus asked nonchalantly ignoring Minaro. Arturo shrugged. "Crazy bitch." He growled a little irritated at even the memory.

Klaus's lips quirked upwards grimly but didn't quite form a smile. "You know some men wouldn't mind being eaten by a good enough woman..." Minaro said with an air of innocence. "Pervert," Klaus murmured flatly. Minaro flicked his ash away. "Hey, that's enough from you, boy-toy. Don't knock it till you've tried it." Klaus ignored the comment, stacking orange rinds neatly on the counter beside his sword. "Hmm...Spider woman though that sounds kinky. She got webs?" Arturo shrugged. "Was pretty messy...food's better." He said around a segment of orange.

Klaus was calmly peeling a second orange Arturo had tossed to him while Minaro was busy musing, ignoring them both for the entire world until he spoke again. "Most sex isn't a good replacement for a bottle of wine, I've found."

Silence reigned momentarily as both the other men stared at him, still nonchalantly peeling away, and fragrant oil dancing in the air around him. Minaro raised his eyebrows. "Ah? So you're a man of the vine? That's a surprise. Your faction would be scandalized." The last sentence was stated with an edge of his illustrative scandalized approval and a laugh. Klaus shrugged. "A good wine will hide most poisons and get you out of the more undesirable acts." He murmured, for all intents, calmly, studying his orange. "It's much harder to exhaust otherwise and significantly harder to poison with sex alone." Minaro struck without comment now, made a face as Klaus calmly ate an orange segment, licking a droplet of juice from his finger almost daintily, ignoring him. Minaro studied him. "You know...you have no sense of romance whatsoever. Seriously...go hook up with Arielle or something if you want abuse she looks like a dominatrix if that's your thing. I'm not exactly going to complain if you poison her either." Klaus raised his eyes long enough to give Minaro a look that showed exactly what he thought of that suggestion. Arturo sniggered on the floor, spewing chunks of food all over the bottles and empty containers of carnage. "She's not my type," Klaus replied tartly. "I'm rather choosier than you are, I'm sure." Minaro grinned.

"What's your type then? Nero? I'd figure the religious types would get a lot of monks." Arturo could only picture the ex-priests' expression at that suggestion, not to mention the ludicrously of suggesting two men from opposite, rival factions Klaus had that much of his original faction's doctrine in him at least. The demon snickered and Klaus shot him a look, with eyebrows raised. "Not my type either." He said dully, giving Arturo a cold look. The demon for his part shrugged that was the entire apology Klaus was going to get.

Minaro's face flattened suddenly as his mind trekked further down the list of Kara's soldiers. "Whatever it is, it'd better not be me. I'm not interested. Women only, thank you." Klaus gave him a cold smile, his voice strangely silken with amusement when he spoke again. "You make it sound as though I'd do something to you. Give me that much credit, Minaro." Minaro made a face.

"Creep." Arturo groaned and rolled his eyes. "Food's much better." He added in a grumble, also anticipating the next comment on Minaro's list. "Yeah, forget you. You'd rather stuff your face than have a one-night's-stand." Minaro grumbled. Klaus gave a soft, satisfied noise. "I'm starting to agree with you." He said quietly, ignoring Minaro and smiling at Arturo, tilting his head back to look at him. "Consuming things makes everything much simpler, doesn't it?" Arturo wiped his mouth, frowning, and finally shrugged. "I...guess wouldn't know I've never done anythin' different. "Klaus suddenly began to laugh, putting a hand to his eyes, his opposite fist crushing an orange segment, juice dripping like blood down his fingers.

Minaro raised an eyebrow. "You okay there, Klaus?" Klaus sighed. "I'm wonderful everything has become...clear." He suddenly whirled himself off the counter, landing in a crouch and pushing his face close to Arturo's. The demon froze, staring at him, a hunk of orange poised in his teeth. Klaus put sticky fingers on the demon's coarse hair, the touch gentle and strangely foreboding at the same time. "I should thank you, Arturo." He whispered with a sly smile. "I understand my master better now." Arturo frowned, confused. "I didn' say anything about our master!" he spluttered, chewing his orange, and looking unnerved, but having nowhere to back into. Klaus grinned at him. "Hm. No. You wouldn't. But you've brought me quite the revelation, nonetheless." Arturo frowned. "Eh...welcome I guess," he muttered grudgingly around his chunk of orange, chewing suspiciously.

"What's the revelation, monk-boy?" Minaro drawled. Klaus's grin was sharp and predatory. "How we must be to her...We are things to be consumed." He turned his head back to Arturo, eyes flickering. "And you...If ever I have hunger, you will understand, and you will satisfy, of that much, I've become certain." Klaus said tilting his head as though studying him.

Arturo was about to protest that he wasn't that fond of Klaus, and he certainly wasn't looking to be killed and consumed without a fight on his part when the monk swept forward and pressed his orange-sticky mouth to Arturo's, his fingers tight on a handful of Arturo's matted hair. Klaus wasn't bothered by the thought of fangs, the thought of Arturo's choices in food, the fruit still in his mouth, OR the audience behind them, blinking over his cigarette.

Arturo made a muffled noise of shock at the teeth on his lower lip and pushed Klaus away in an instant. "What the Hell?" Arturo gasped, choking on a fragment of orange. "Get off me!" He bellowed, shoving Klaus again, pushing the swordsman even further away, and scrambling back on discarded wrappers and containers to put even more distance between them. Klaus laughed. He had a strangely seductive laugh, high and oddly expressive considering how flat his voice usually was. His laugh there spoke all the more strangely--not that he was angry, or irritated in any way by Arturo shoving him away his laugh was an expression of, strange, almost evil delight...

Arturo stared, wondering if Klaus had lost his mind. He'd never heard him laugh before it had a wicked edge to it indeed. Minaro continued watching as though the whole thing were something only mildly interesting, smoking his cigarette and discreetly turning to tap out his ash with a faint, discreet cough. Klaus stood and smiled in an expression as unnerving and alien as that laugh. "I admire your strength." He said in a quiet, still-silken voice. "I would think you would understand." Klaus's deft fingers snatched the last orange from beside Arturo and he stood, grabbing up sword and mask both as he exited the room in almost a flee, his dark eyes fixed on Arturo in a still utterly unnerving smile, glass crunching once beneath his feet.

Arturo gaped. "What the...Hell?" He spluttered again. This time he directed the words to Minaro as he finished coughing up the last of the orange he'd accidentally breathed in. Minaro only shrugged, shaking his head faintly. "Don't look at me. I can't tell whether you just got suckered into being boy-toy's uke or the other way around. Do me a favor and leave me out of it. I take it master must already know or she'd have stopped him, but really...not my job. Damn just...I don't want to know!" Minaro took in a shaky breath on his cigarette. He rolled his eyes once then sighed. "Does everyone always run around threatening to eat you if you're a demon?" He asked as an afterthought. He didn't look as though he wanted an answer. Arturo stared down at the orange peel in his fingers, then scowled, tossing it aside and standing. "Screw this...there's no way in Hell he's taking my food like that!"

"Oh...I see...priorities..." Minaro muttered, sighing to himself and shaking his head half in resignation and half in bemusement as Arturo charged from the room, bellowing after Klaus. "GET BACK HERE WITH MY DAMNED ORANGE, YOU PANSY SWORDSMAN!"

Nero's quiet, but hurried footsteps approached down the opposite hall. He emerged just in time to hear a deafening crash from the other side of the house. 'What in the world is going on?" The priest asked distractedly, emerging with a look of the utmost alarm. Minaro groaned again. "Oh, it's you. Just what we need...spiritual guidance. You missed your chance, I'm afraid." Nero gave him a long-suffering look of patience. Minaro shrugged, gesturing vaguely in the smoky whorls of his cigarette. "What happened? Some kind of food-oriented hookup I think. Don't ask me. It was pretty weird and even I don't think I got all the innuendoes." He replied blandly.

Nero blinked once then shook his head faintly, glancing at the mess near the refrigerator with the horrified disbelief that is slightly numbed by a rather long experience. "Do you think you could please tell Arturo to keep his voice down?" Nero asked softly, sighing resignedly. Minaro raised his eyebrows. "Do it yourself. I'm not going out there. You're the one with the animal-handling experience, and I'm no glutton for punishment."

There was another loud crash, and another blast of indistinct bellowing from Arturo. Nero, who had jumped at the crash had a look of mute, indignant amazement, not sure whether to direct it towards the crash and the streams of colorful swearing, or the decidedly unhelpful Minaro. Minaro watched him with inner amusement, waiting to see what the humorless man would do. Nero took a practiced breath with the air of one who's spent a lifetime not swearing, crossing himself once, and he walked quietly back down the hallway, murmuring Latin under his breath. There was another deafening clang, and suddenly there was the screech of Arielle's voice echoing the words, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?"

Minaro grinned to himself imagining what Nero would have to say about what was likely to be an unusually apt choice of wordings at least in his mind when Nero finally reached the scene Minaro wasn't sure he even wanted to imagine. "Got to hand it to that girl, she can surely pick us. There's never a dull moment, that's for sure." He crushed the cigarette into the ashtray and pulled himself up from off the table, picking his way across the carnage on the floor to look into the still-open refrigerator. He shook his head once in disapproval. "Amazing they eat all the food, run off to eat each other for all I know, and leave all the beer bunch of weirdoes..."

He dimly wondered if this meant he'd get Klaus's room. He'd always wanted the one closest to the fire escape...You could never be too careful...just in case there was an off chance his master ceased to be the one consuming.