"Life is a cycle, isn't it? We are all destined to repeat ourselves, over and over. You, at my mercy. Me, merciless." {Indie Nefarian Serpine} {Fandom: Skulduggery Pleasant} {Face Claim: Colin O'donoghue} {Multiverse/Multishipping} {Selective/Mutuals Only} . Sideblogs: Mevolent {maliciousxsain} Baron-Vengeous {powerxandxsacrifice} Christophe-Nocturnal {facelessxhunter} Lord Vile {umbralxarmory}
An intense gaze of empty sockets met green. He could feel the coiling of HATRED and RAGE in his nonexistent guts, the very sensation that crawled up his spine making him stand stock still. If he had lungs, Skulduggery reckoned, he would most certainly be holding his breath right now. He spoke first, though, breaking the tense silence, coldness dripping from teeth.
Nefarian Serpine stopped dead in his tracks, f e a r cutting off his breath as if a fine string had been tied tightly around his throat. Oh, he remembered the familiar skeletal visage just too well, eventhough last time he had seen it it’s lower half had been covered by a kerchief as he chased Serpine through that damned DESERT along with his band of heathens. That horried memory was still fresh in his mind and would remain that way for the coming years, for that day he had just narrowly escaped a doublessly slow and painful DEATH, not too different from the one he had bestowed upon Skulduggery himself.
But they were no longer in SOUTH DAKOTA and his old foe had exchanged his battle garments for a ridiculous pine-stripped suit. The war was over and the skeleton wouldn’t dare lay a finger on him. Not with the TRUCE already signed, not within the sanctuary building.
The other spoke his name and Serpine s m i l e d smugly. “Hello Skulduggery.” He approached him with a confidence he had no right to feel.
“How have you been, my old fiend? Do tell me: did the marks I left on you remain engraved on your bones or did, whatever dreadful curse allows you to walk among the living, heal them as well?”
“No grave can hold my body down.” (from vilexintentions)
Hozier lyrics meme || Accepting
With a handful of his men, Serpine had pursued fleeing enemy soldier to the burned down CHURCH in the middle of town. The war was almost over and the Church of the Faceless Ones was the winning side. The remaining restistance was laughable at best, and hunting them down was more a f o r m a l i t y than anything else.
The fight was short and messy, and Serpine let out a silent chuckle as he looked down on the mangled bodys of what used to be the Sanctuary soldiers. Yet his own soldiers cheers was cut short. The S H A D O W S came to life around them, became s o l i d , became LETHAL. One soldier screamed in pure AGONY as his limbs were pulled out of his body, anothers pained groans were silenced by odd gurgling noises as he suffocated on his own blood, impaled by several UMBRAL spikes.
While his soldiers were being s l a u g h t e r e d by pigs, Serpine remained unharmed. His emerald eyes wide in HORROR, he backed away - turned to run - but shadows wrapped around his waist, ankles and wrists, forcing him to stand admist the MASSACRE and watch.
"What are you doing!?", the Adept cried out to the figure clad in black advancing on him. LORD VILE didn't answer as he approached his prisoner with i d l e steps. Finally, he came to a halt in front of Serpine tilted his head to the side.
"I've been waiting for this moment for years.", his velvet voice betrayed no emotion.
C o n f u s i o n painted Serpines face as he frowned. "I'm aware that you dislike me, admittingly, a lot of people do. But we're allies! Why are you attacking us?" Swallowing thickly, the Adept spoke with a CONFIDENCE he didn't feel. "Killing soldiers is unfortunate, Mevolent won't like it, but he can forgive it. ME, on the other hand, if you kill me, he'll hunt you down. And he'll make you regret very day you were born. Oh the things, he'll do to you, he-!!"
Serpine's speech was cut short by his own pained cry. The shadows had spicked out, easily p i e r c i n g through his leather armor. Vile watched the others body tremble in AGONY, the thick crimson liquid soaking his clothes and d r i p p i n g down his body.
"You talk too much, you always did, Nefarian. You talked way too much while TORTURING me too. Your senseless, arrogant babbling tends to ruin the moment."
The spikes retracted and Serpine's body sacked in it's restraines. "What the hell are you talking about?" His voice was strained, blood d r i p p i n g from his mouth. "I’ve never tortured you."
Instead of answering, Viles helmet appeard to liquify as the shadows of his head-piece f l o w e d downwards to rejoin with the main part of his armor, revealing the SKULL it had been hiding.
"Skulduggery?..." His eyes wide and mouth agape, Serpine starred at his old foe as realisation hit him and his expression changed into one of utter TERROR. "This...", he whimpered. "This is impossible! You are DEAD! Nothing but a mere skeleton! You should not be standing here before me! You shouldn't be talking, you shouldn't be l i v i n g ; you abomination, you freak of nature! I've personally put you in your watery GRAVE!! "
Oh, how delicious was the FEAR in those poisones eyes, how sweet the trembling of that thin, frail body. Wearing the eternal grin of his s k e l e t a l features, Vile answered,
Gruff men who get all soft and happy when they’re with you
Big men with calloused hands who touch you like you’re something incredibly special
Grumpy men who chuckle at your bad jokes
Calm men who get protective and irrational and then pretend like they didn’t
Stoic men who look at you with gentle smiles on their face when you’re not looking at them with an expression that sort of says “I can’t believe she’s with me."
Let villains be villains. But, also don’t forget that they don’t need to be in their ‘villain’ mode 24/7
Corporate and political villains will live their lives mostly normally, outside their shady work.
Warlords, corrupt politicians, crooked law enforcers, other unsavory authority figures, unethical doctors, etc, have families and friends, and full lives outside the shitty things they do.
Even serial killers, hitmen, violent fanatics, etc, can have lives; hobbies, friends, romantic partners, and so on.
Most villains will be shitty people only in certain aspect(s) of their lives, and carry on like everyone else the rest of the time.
They are still absolutely shitty people but being afraid to emphasize on their human sides, to lose the sight of their villainy, is incorrect, and takes away a lot of interesting aspects of a character for potential development.
