Room 418, Wednesday Night After Radio

[wrongkindofsith]

Instead of her usual post-radio bed-flop (talking that much was draining, all right?), Cara was pacing, fingers drumming restlessly against her thighs.

She mightn't have worn a hole in the carpet yet, but given the tension in her shoulders it was only a matter of time.

[Expecting one.]

Comments

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

"What about it?" Clark was maintaining that viewpoint, thanks.

[wrongkindofsith]

"You're wrong."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

"Uh, no I'm not." Clark should be more used to people telling him he was wrong.

[wrongkindofsith]

"I'm Mord'Sith, Clark." Which should have been proof enough for anyone. "We aren't good people."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

Clark so wasn't believing this. "Just because you're Mord'Sith doesn't mean you have to be bad. You're good Cara, I can tell. I've seen it."

[wrongkindofsith]

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what it actually meant to be Mord'Sith." Which Cara was not going to admit was one reason she tended to be vague about it.

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

"So what's it mean?" Clark asked, just going for it. It might stop both of them from assuming what his reaction would be. "Come on, I deserve to know if it makes you get like this and assume I'm making a bad choice here."

[wrongkindofsith]

Coming to a decision, Cara reached for an agiel, feeling the familiar pain shoot through her fingers and palm as she curled them around the grip.

"Give me your hand."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

It showed how much Clark trusted both his invulnerability and Cara when he held out his hand without hesitation and without any clue what she was doing with her dildo thing.

[wrongkindofsith]

And that right there was exactly why Cara needed to make him see the truth before it was too late.

Quelling an involuntary thrill of anticipation and using her free hand to take hold of his, she pressed the tip of the agiel firmly against his palm.

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

The moment the agiel touched his skin, Clark felt pain. It was nothing like he'd felt from any colored meteor rocks and he couldn't help crying out from the shock of the sensation. It took all his willpower not to pull back or curl in on himself as his body so desperately desired. Instead, Clark pushed through the pain enough to look up at her face. "Wha-- why?"

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara broke the contact, rubbing the spot with her thumb, and reminding herself it wouldn't be a good idea to praise his endurance. "You need to understand. The agiel is the weapon of the Mord'Sith," She paused before adding. "We don't just use them in battle."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

The pain was gone as quickly as it had begun, leaving Clark to shake off the strange hum it had left rattling through him. "Okay...so you use a weapon that really hurts. I mean...I'm invulnerable and that hurt." Magic so confused him.

[wrongkindofsith]

This was going to take a while, Cara forced herself to meet Clark's eyes as she explained. "The magic of the agiel causes pain to any who touch it. It never stops."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

"What, like, it hurts you, too?" He had actually assumed the handles offered some level of protection.

[wrongkindofsith]

In response, Cara stripped off a glove before taking hold of the agiel again, holding up her hand so Clark could see the dark lines of magic as they radiated along and under her skin.

"As much now as the first time I ever felt its touch." From her tone, she could have been talking about the weather.

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

Okay, even Clark could admit that was weird. "So why do you hold it?"

[wrongkindofsith]

"Because I'm Mord'Sith." It was as simple and complicated as that. "I've been trained to have the strength and endurance to wield it."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

There was some thinking involved prior to Clark's response. "Then, you mean you don't feel the pain anymore? I'm sorry, Cara, I don't get what this has to do with you not thinking you're a good person."

[wrongkindofsith]

It took all of Cara's self-control not to face-palm. Instead she moved to straddle his lap, hoping the proximity would help get the point across. "I feel the pain, every second of it. There's only one time I've only ever felt anything worse." And she was most definitely not going to talk to Clark about that. "Mord'Sith training enables us withstand the pain, embrace it, it makes us strong. Understanding pain enables us to serve the Lord Rahl the way we do."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

Clark welcomed the closeness, if only because it meant she wasn't going to leave before he could understand what she was talking about. "Okay. So pain is not painful to you but it helps you do your job?"

[wrongkindofsith]

That was close enough. "Yes. Knowing how to use it, to cause it."

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

"So you hurt people for a living?" This was the part where Clark started hoping he was understanding her wrong.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara licked her lips before continuing."The Mord'Sith serve the Lord Rahl in many ways." Any way the Lord Rahl wanted. "But amongst our duties, we're his torturers."

There, she'd said it.

[redandblueblur.livejournal.com]

Clark stared for a moment, not really believing what he was hearing. "And your friends, do they torture people, too?"