milliways_bar | (no subject)

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lust

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Lust is in the bar, at the counter sipping some coffee.

She almost definitely has a plan ready, but timing being everything, she doesn't want to give too many people too much of a chance to stop her. Still, reading a book on the various matrices again to be absolutely sure she knows which variation of the transformation matrix she wants to use to change humans into Philosopher's Stone is not a bad thing.

Unless she's caught in the act of using that knowledge ...

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"I think that might be the most frequently ordered drink in the bar." With a nod to Lust's coffee cup, as Max makes her way up to the counter to get a refill on her own.

...Yes, this observation did have to be shared with a near-complete stranger, apparently.

(ooc: *beats aol for not giving me this notification email until 2am last night!*)

Lust looks to Max with a small smile. "It makes studying easier than being intoxicated. If you are drunk, you miss things."

The corners of her lips quirk upward slightly, not quite a smile, but close enough. "Given the level of paranoia here, I think that philosophy might well go for day-to-day business as well."

"This is true." She not-quite-smiled back. "I have never really understood the human need to rit itself of the one thing that makes them more than animals: Their sentience."

"I guess self awareness can seem more like a bane than a blessing, at times." She shrugs slightly. "Not that there aren't enough people who seem to maintain a level of sentience roughly equivalent to that of a shrub anyway..."

"They have many qualities, constancy is not one of them," she muses.

"Ah, well, that has its benefits, too." There's a quick, reflexive grin. "Confusion to the enemy, and all that. Besides, beyond a certain point, everything becomes unpredictable. If only because we don't have enough knowledge for it to be otherwise."

"Mankind's favorite pursuit is knowledge of mankind. One would think they would know their subject inside and out."

"Possibly if people had a habit of looking below the surface." A shrug, and a faint, sharp gesture. "Most just look for somethingt o confirm what they already believed. Easier than risking facing the truth, I suppose."

She cocks her head to one side, eyeing Lust curiously. "What are you, then?"

"Created by Man's sin of hubris." She sips her coffee. "The belief that Alchemy can conquer death, the belief that this alchemist is better than all those who came before and can therefore breach the wall between the living and the dead to bring back a loved one."

She laughs at that, sudden and bright. "Oh, and isn't that a flaw that persists in every corner of the multiverse? Second only to the desire for immortality. Or perhaps not."

She smiles slightly. "I would argue they are the same thing."

She contemplates her coffee. "And I, who am effectively immortal, want to be human and so ... mortal."

"On some level, perhaps. The desire to hold on to what one owns, be that physical possessions, people, or life. It's impossible, of course. Everything ends, this place is proof."

Her smile is slightly wry. "We all want to be what we aren't, it seems."

"And you? What is it you desire to be?"

"Me?" She seems to consider the question for a moment, leaning up against the counter. "Never really thought about it."

Lust looks at her curiously. "That is interesting."

"Well, introspection's a time-consuming hobby, y'know?" She shrugs, taking a sip of coffee. "And radical self-improvement tends to take a back seat to necessity."

The best lies are the ones that hold a large grain of truth.

She turns her hand over, accepting the explanation (arguing the point would be a waste of time as she probably wouldn't get anything out of it but further evasion).

"It must be nice to be so content, unless your necessity is of a life-threatening nature."

"It is," she replies with an easy shrug. "Life-threatening, that is. The way the world works, I guess."

"My sympathies," she says.

"No need," she replies, unconcerned. "That's just how life works."

"Can I offer you anything?"

She blinks once, then shakes her head. "Nah, I doubt it."

Beat.

"And my manners are hell. Sorry. Name's Max." She offers one black-gloved hand.

She smiled and shook with Max, black-gloved hand to black and tan-gloved hand. "I am Lust of the Seven Deadly Sins," she introduces herself.

"Sounds a little like a rock band." Her tone's light and cheerful. "Nice to meet you."

"A ... rock ... band. I'm not familiar with the term ..."

"A particular sort of musical group common on some versions of Earth during a particular time period."

"Ah, thank you," she smiles. "And yes it is nice to meet you, too."

"No problem." There's a bright grin. "I'll let you get back to your studying, I think."

"Thank you," she nods. "I look forward to speaking with you again."

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