A Golden Opportunity

[Tabs]

His tail continued to curl further in front of him as he said;

“I’m lucky enough not to have eyes. They’re -- just for a show, I suppose I could say--”

Tabs stopped short, looking down, apparently just having realized what his tail was doing when attention was called to it. A worried expression crossed his face. The wet interior smacked as the thorny jaws suddenly opened wider. Turning forward again, Tabs bucked his closest leg out, hitting the tail and returning it to its place behind him. His foot clopped back on the ground before curling slightly, his ankle having been cut by one of the teeth.

“Anyway. The name’s Tab Lloyd Inquirer. To friends, just Tabs,” he recited, swiftly moving along, “I’m heading the media department for the Legion. Think of me as the -- PR and HR guy.”

[Thomas]

Thomas tilted his head. "How?" he asked disbelievingly. What she said did not make a lick of sense to him; he had never heard of such an oddity. Then again, Thomas supposed he should be used to this sort of thing by now. He had seen all sorts of peculiarities in the Blackblood Legion. Hell, if anything, he was the peculiar one. Thomas had no quirks or powers. 

He frowned. It hardly seemed fair for her to wear a blindfold when her eyes worked just fine. Was there really no other way?

"Anyway. The name's Tab Lloyd Inquirer. To friends, just Tabs."

Thomas smiled. "And my name's Thomas. Thomas Lambert," he introduced himself.

"What's your name?"

[Aurelia]

Golden lips turn up in a polite smile and she gives a small bow, “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. My family name has been lost to the ages, but you may call me Aurelia. I’m the new, ah...” Her voice waivers here, as if a bit nervous of the next word.

“... executioner.”

Despite her hesitation, she’s quick to explain, straightening upright again, “Not that anything I’d do is gruesome, mind you! The eyes, ah..” A finger taps her temple here, and she tilts her head slightly, “A ‘gift’ from my late husband. If my eyes meet the eyes of another, they turn to solid gold. I’m not fond of it, but employing it in exchange for sanctuary is a price I’m willing to pay. Especially after all this time. But...”

Here, she turns slightly, gazing up at the four illuminated squares she’s assuming are Tabs’... face?

“Mister Tabs, you said you didn’t have eyes? At least, not true ones?”

[Tabs]

“Aurelia,” Tabs repeated the name, possibly to commit it to memory.

As he was listening, his arms bent as his claws assumed the fairly frequent position of being up near his chest. Nothing she’d said appeared to bother or surprise him. Maybe that was to be expected; a creature as strange as himself was bound to have been exposed to strange things. His eyelids lowered and he began to walk forward, staggering somewhat due to the fresh cut on his ankle.

“No. What I show on my faces is just a light pattern. There’s nothing physical there, except the cathodes of course,” he said.

Tabs lifted one of his claws much in the way he might when he was about to summon something into being, but hesitated and decided to ask;

“Would either of you care to sit down?”

[Thomas]

Thomas looked sadly at Aurelia. He felt sorry for her. It was so obvious Aurelia did not want this. Once again, the Mistress of All Evil had taken advantage of someone who needed their help. This job will ruin her, he thought angrily. Thomas had the idealism of the very young. For him, right was right, and wrong was wrong. He would not accept anything less.

Thomas put his hands in his pockets. "If it helps," the former colonist said begrudgingly. "I'm glad our executioner is someone like you and not some masochist." Like the rest of the Blackblood Legion, he added to himself cynically. Sometimes Thomas felt he lived in a rotten world.

At the propagandist's offer, Thomas looked anxiously at the door - much like a dog that needed to be let out. He had stayed a lot longer than he intended. "T-thanks, Tabs, but I can't. I want to, but I can't. If I don't leave now, I'm going to be late for work." He sorely remembered what went down the last time he was late for something, and he was sure Tabs remembered it too. After all, Maleficent had made "an example to everyone."

Thomas smiled at Aurelia even though he knew she could not see him. "It was nice meeting you, Aurelia," he said politely. "I hope we can talk again soon. Take care, Tabs."

He practically dashed out the door.

[Aurelia]

Aurelia waves after Thomas as he dashes from the room, making a curious noise. Poor thing, he seemed nervous about something...


"Ah, if you don't mind it, Mister Tabs, I'd love to join you. I don't believe I'm needed anywhere just yet, and I suppose it'd be good to make frinds. That, and I'm quite curious about what you said. I'm not positive what a cathode is, but if you don't have eyes..."


There's a giggle here, almost sheepish, almost excited.


"Mister Tabs, you may just be immune to me. That's a very exciting prospect."


Exciting it was. Aurelia had spent centuries, darting cave to cave, leaving a trail of gilded statues in her wake. She'd tried everything, it seems. Looking through fabric or glass, gazing into blind eyes... As long as eyes were there to be seen, there was a foul reaction. If she could look at Tabs, he'd bee the first person she'd seen in hundreds of years that survived.

[Tabs]

“Don’t be late,” Tabs said as the lad was turning from him.

It wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t sympathetic. It was merely casual.

Tabs’s body moved somewhat as he turned to face the gorgon completely. He had taken note of her coils and was about sure her sitting in a chair would be as awkward as it would be for him, given his extra leg. Regardless, he snapped his fingers, and a black office chair appeared in front of his desk.

He listened to Aurelia with interest, tilting his head twice in opposite directions. It seemed like an incredibly cautious kind of interest, as if he was treading lightly. In fact, he very softly took a single lollop forward -- quite difficult, given his usually clumsy movements.

“I can assure you: no real, physical eyes of any kind,” Tabs stated, tapping the front of a screen, creating a hollow glass sound, “But how do you intend to test your hypothesis?”

The last bit slipped out unconsciously and so suddenly he barely had time to catch it, “It’d be a shame if all you had to look at was… this.”

[Aurelia]

There's a hum from the gorgon, one of quiet thought, as she carefully slips into the chair beside her.

"I suppose asking to test such a theory would be a large step of trust to ask someone you'd just met, wouldn't it? Hm..."

Aurelia had never been tempted to take her blindfold off. Not once. But now, it took everything she had to keep from removing the one safeguard standing between her and a gilded fate for those around her.

... Except this Mister Tabs. He had no eyes. And that was the thing with this... gift. It had to be real, true eyes. She had to see them directly. If he had none...

The propagandist's words draw Aurelia from her racing thoughts, and she can't help but smile slightly, "Mister Tabs, I can assure you, seeing you would be one of the biggest blessings I could receive. I may not be able to see you now, but I'm certain, you're very handsome. One as kind as you would be hard-pressed not to be."

That was the thing, with the Golden Serpent. She saw beauty and love in everything. Tabs, regardless of form, would be just as handsome as any strapping adventurer, just as beautiful as any fair maiden. Everything from priests to spiders were viewed with such affection.

And that's what made Aurelia so dangerous.

[Tabs]

One claw unconsciously moved up toward his wrist and wrapped around it. Tabs could certainly act the part of suave (or scummy depending on your tastes) media mogul, but there were small tics that gave away inner anxiety.

His eyes turned downward as he looked himself over, as if him sprouting random eyeballs from his body was an actual possibility. Maybe it was. But the Producer wouldn’t actively sabotage him like that… right?

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll turn my faces off.”

In reality, shutting his monitors down did nothing. Tabs could still “see” even with his screens black. It was more a way for him to hide. Having his faces off gave him a sense of anonymity. Like a scared child hiding under a blanket, he felt invisible and safe.

Imagine encountering an eldritch horror existing in a reality it had no right existing in; Tabs was conditioned to expect the appropriate response -- fear, disgust, denial. He really did wish he could give Aurelia something more… earthly to gaze upon. Throat-tubes tightened and released, as if swallowing.

“I’m ready when you are.”

[Aurelia]

“A-Ah, Mister Tabs, are you positive about this? I-I mean—“

Aurelia’s concern hangs on her tongue, only for little teeth to worry at Golden lips. This might be the only chance she’d get to try this sort of thing. In all of her time, not once had she come across someone with no eyes whatsoever, but could still see...

... If this went foul, they’d have her head before dusk.

Dainty hands work carefully, gently nudging her blindfold away from closed eyes. Despite every bit of evidence pointing to a positive outcome, she couldn’t help but be anxious. So many times had she tried this, and so many times had it failed. So many lives, wasted on hope....

There’s a steadying breath from the Gorgon, and just for a moment, her eyes open.

Almost immediately, her hands fly up to her face, bracing in fear of what was to come. But... nothing came. There’s another breath here, a shaky one, before golden gaze peeks from between her fingers. Tabs was still very much alive. Still moving. She hadn’t killed him.

It’s here her hands fall, and Tabs Lloyd Inquirer is the first being in centuries to see Aurelia’s eyes.

Gaze wide and like liquid gold, Aurelia observes Tabs unblinkingly. She leans forward in her seat, tears beginning to blur her vision.

“Mister Tabs...”

Stunningly, there’s not a mote of fear, not an iota of disgust. Through the tears of joy, there’s only one thing to be seen:

Absolute, unbridled adoration.

“You’re magnificent...”