what would Illinois's perspective of Florida's story be or like, what did he think, bc your writing skills are amazing *throws confetti*
Note: this is the companion piece I wrote to Veni’s wonderful one-shot with Dante!
Summary: Lawton (2P Illinois), a Machiavellian crime lord who always acts in caution and cold blood, has gradually fallen to a heated temptation——courtesy of the one Dante Carriedo (2P Florida).
The grandiosity of mankind was made clear to me since the early days of my creation as I watched them conquer the almighty nature, molding and exploiting the landscape that had once struck me with endless awe to fit their own selfish interests. And I wondered, with a slight tinge of excitement, how much I can accomplish if I can make these people serve my interests instead of their own.
But of course, despite my grand ambitions, I am no barbarian. I will not force them to kneel before me. And judging from history, dominion established via unadulterated abuse is one that will be exhausting to maintain yet still never lasts.
There is a much more sustainable and refined alternative.
As I have come to learn, mankind consists of an array of people—from the ignorant who can be fooled by theatre, the greedy who can be bribed by benefits, the cowardice who can be threatened by violence, and alas to the clear-sighted who will wisely remain silent or… ah, disappear.
Each person exists somewhere on this spectrum, and each can be subdued by an unique combination of charisma, generosity, intimidation, and cruelty.
Granted; this is an alternative that requires much more flexibility and calculation. But to a man of efficiency and sophistication like myself, meticulous plotting and manipulation are much preferable than a savage conquest and has seldom fail to show the desired results at the lowest cost.
Note that I said ‘seldom.’
There is, unfortunately, one exception to my rule—an exception that takes form as a shameless sinner whose genius and brutality can only be matched by my own intellect and ruthlessness.
Unlike anyone in my past acquaintance, he is an entity existing entirely outside the spectrum of mankind. An eccentricity gifted with the cynicism to see through my facade of suavity and benevolence, held no rational desires that can be capitalized on with bribery, and mocked the very concept of consequences as if his heretical cognition is voided of any common sense or instinctive self-preservation.
A powerful fellow immortal who exhibited no exploitable trait that can give me any semblance of control over his actions and had—in a move of incomprehensible logic—gleefully marked himself a direct challenge to my authority, proclaiming in absolute absurdity that I will somehow become his.
That complete and utter lunatic.
Whereas a sane person in his peculiar circumstances would wisely choose to stay out of my way, this nuisance of a rascal has stubbornly stuck to my side as an explicit liability to my control. Introducing elements after elements of unpredictability into my immaculately calculated agendas as if my seething exasperation was his source of entertainment.
And yet… for a man who seems to have nothing better to do than tempting my patience, he was also fascinatingly determined to drag me into a heated courtship. Pursuing, with an unsubtle lust burning feverently in his eyes, not the poise gentleman I had meticulously crafted but the morbid darkness that is my unvarnished soul.
And to see this ingenious scoundrel I cannot deceive coveting ardently after the corrupted nature I had spent centuries concealing; this factor of chaos I cannot control unleashing an ungodly wrath upon my adversaries like a protective lover; this reincarnation of the biblical devil, a godless creature who blithely sinned, devastated, and slaughtered, caressing gently over my skin with an intimate affection I didn’t think he possessed…
It is an intoxicating euphoria that I cannot explain.
It left me craving desperately for more—for him to go even further, to worship me for what I am, and make me his in ways none had dared to contemplate.
So for once in my immortal life, I acted without reason and caution, surrendering myself instead to the exact fanatical desires that had made mankind gullible.
I allowed his uninvited presence by my side, permitting his advances and entrusting my pleasure in his hands for no ulterior motives other than to continuously feel the addictive exhilaration he inspires within me.
He exhibits an unconditional yet absolute devotion that my better judgment has so vehemently warned me against. One that is also precisely the spiral of delirious madness this maniac sought to drag me into.
Of course, not that I mind.
