Ah, but how readily that simper found his lips in the wake of the young women's demands to know just what gift her future self had presented him with upon the loss of their bet of sorts the first time those sunglasses would save her life. A moment Matteo had already seen several times over. One that was, largely, the fault off her own recklessness and hot temper and Darcy's decidedly short patience and yet- for the simple knowledge that his companion would survive that encounter, no matter how it played it out, the near ancient Fae was content to let it occur. After all, to meddle with Fate, even those occasional tweaks so demanded a price be paid. Matteo content to wait, for as long as could, before paying that very price to alter the course of history itself when no other way save his own intrusion might prevent that coming catastrophe. How very much Harley's attitude amused him, even despite some small amount of worry that afflicted him all the same for the woman whom he knew was near destined to allow her sharp tongue to lead her into far more trouble then she desired. Her determination, her boldness, even her courage were admirable and wholly.....refreshing. How very much she gave him some measure of hope for the future in turn. Harley, he knew, so hardly anticipating an answer from him in that moment and perhaps it was for that simple anticipation he so chooses to afford her a response. It would not do, after all, for him to become predictable.

"Chocolate- because you will decide that everyone likes chocolate and because, despite your annoyance, you will actually attempt to find something I like. I thank you in advance for your consideration."

How readily that knowing grin so found his lips once more, that deep chuckle humming within the depths off his throat before Harley so announced those agreed upon terms for the visitation rights off the sunglasses he had bestowed upon her. The young woman insisting he was entitled to stories and photographs before considering that need to add her own photograph to the aforementioned 'Pyramid of Misery' that existed before them. Harley reaching then to point to that place atop Risque with the declaration it was there she desired to go. That simper upon his lips hardly faltering. How very much he might like to see her there too. If only sheer ambition was enough. That road ahead far....harder than he suspected even Harley had anticipated and yet he had no desire to tread upon her confidence. Perhaps, one day, she would rise above that pyramid as she remained so determined to do. Matteo holding that same hope for Tetradore in turn. After all, was that not his very job? To hope for them when they would or could not? That conversation shifted towards those guns then. Harley quick to insist she was not a total assehole and that, on occasion, a warning shot might surely suffice. The Frenchman not at all inclined to disagree. Her mention of her words only furthering that amusement upon his features, that soft snort escaping him now.

"Mon Cherie, I suspect your words are your warning shots."

How unanticipated her question upon how many people he had shot was. Yet, perhaps it was his own fault such a query had caught him off guard. Harley had proven, each time he had been in her company, not only to be distinctly more perceptive than most but equally unafraid to ask after what others rarely dared voice. The young woman concerned with little etiquette r social grace when it came to her curiosity. She desired to know what she desired to know. A trait he suspected would serve her well. Harley, in that short time he had known her, having asked him more than most other beings ever had and yet- he near found he enjoyed her directness. Even if he could not, or would not, provide her all those answers he near found he....enjoyed to be surprised by her queries. How strange. Matteo, this time, offering her but some indication of the amount of beings he had shot. After all, even he was not assured of that true number. The ancient Fae so instead hinting at the amount of battles he had fought in his life. The vast majority at Alexander's side and yet how rarely he chose to think upon them if only for how often they prompted him to consider how many innocent beings he had surely taken with him. His silvered gaze shifting to Harley once more as she asked after how he was not more 'fucked up'. Ah, such a question. His fingers so toying absentmindedly with that crucifix once more. The Frenchman, this time, offering her a more serious answer.

"I think, Mon Cherie, that the answer is time. I have had a very, very long time to look at the world. I think though, perhaps, I am still- as you say- 'fucked up' I am merely better at hiding it."

How very true those words surely were. The wounds of war, after all, never truly healed so much as they simply left scars in their wake. Matteo inclined to wonder what he might look like upon the inside where most of those scars were surely hidden just as they were for Tetradore and even harley in turn. Some wounds, he knew, surely still bleeding after all this time and some, like those left behind by Risque- had become near infectious. Such idle thoughts, for now, were readily cast aside as that conversation shifted to Tetradore. A man he knew Harley had every right not to trust and yet- here and now Matteo was inclined to speak in defense off his own son. A veritable tendril of information he saw no need to afford her just yet. Rather, he so strove to have the young woman understand that Tetradore, in this, was by far her greatest ally. That he was in the same position as she and that together they might achieve more than they would alone. Harley, for all her rightfully held disdain for the emerald-eyed man, was not foolish enough to ignore help when it existed before her. Matteo wholly content to give her a reason not to light his son on fire. The dark-haired beauty readily seeming to realise she had entrapped herself with her own words. That flicker of a simper finding his lips again.

"I am very likeable."

A lack of confidence, it seemed, would not be either of their weaknesses and yet perhaps even he had not steeled himself entirely for that conversation of Risque herself and the sheer wealth of.....memories that photograph alone so threatened to prompt within him. Harley herself, for a singular moment, near forgotten as his gaze lingered upon that picture. How very much he had enjoyed her company once. How different Risque had been when she was alive. She had always been wild and wilful and stubborn. She had always wanted more, always demanded the best and yet such traits had been balanced out with charisma and compassion and a sheer joy in life with a lust for adventure. Perhaps that was why he had been drawn to her to begin with. That girl from his visions who had been....ao alike him in their shared curiosity of the world. Yet- how corrupt she had become. That friend, his friend, had died so very long ago. What faint tendrils of emotions she still possessed in her vampiric form having taken on the form of cats. Matteo near oblivious to that shift off expression upon his own face or indeed the sheer perception of Harley in that moment as he offered those words. That sudden touch upon his arm seeming to shake that very reverie from him then. His gaze shifting to that striking violet off her own as she offered that near simplistic answer and yet- how true it was. Treat Risque as a monster with pitchforks and fire. That faint touch of amusement finding him once more.

"Yes- we don, Mon Amie."

How little he had realised the truth off those emotions upon his features or indeed how much of them Harley herself might surely have glimpsed in that moment. He would need, in future, to guard such things more carefully. Harley far more perceptive than most and yet even he could not hide that genuine surprise at her assurance it would be 'ok'. How he could not remember the last time someone had told him such a thing! Foolish though the notion was. Matteo himself so long having played that very role that others were so rarely afforded that chance to offer him the same in turn. That surprise so underpinned by a near...bafflement of sorts. A bafflement in this tiny girl before him, so small, so human and so very much within the depths of a darkness she could not escape from and yet still it was him she sought to comfort. As if she believed he deserved it....perhaps. Those words meaning far more then he suspected she anticipated if only for how very long it had been since another had offered it to him. That thank you upon his own lips strikingly genuine in its deliverance and yet even he so hardly know what he thanked her for in that moment. Those accented words leaving a silence between them before she insisted, simply, that it worked both ways. That near ancient Fae so merely meeting her gaze once more as if to look upon her anew in that moment. What a curious being she was.....

The warmth off her hand lifted away from him then. Harley drawing her knees up to herself in a fashion that appeared near girlish. As if, for a moment, allowing that vulnerability to exist upon her frame. As if to acknowledge it- and cast it aside. Her expression appearing all the more determined as he reached for a final shot of that gin in turn- only for the woman to collapse back atop that couch in announcement of the defeat of the photographs. Matteo, for now, seeking to return them both to firmer ground with that query on whether or not she slept well. An answer he already knew and yet she did not disappoint in her efforts to downplay the exhaustion that surely clung to every part of her. Sleep, after all, so had a way of fixing so many things. How readily he could hardly keep those nightmares at bay for her every night and yet, for tonight, he could surely assist as he had done for both his sons over the course of their lives. Even if Harley was no mere child. That very offer prompting a sudden demand as to whether her planned to knock her out. One eye arching upward.

"If my initial plan fails, then we shall revisit rendering you unconscious."

That soft chuckle rose within his throat once more. Matteo abruptly disappearing from beside her then only to reappear at that kitchen sink with plate and cutlery in hand. The Frenchman nothing if not diligent in his efforts to clean. Someone, it seemed, had domesticated the Fae long ago. That plate was no sooner washed and put away then his hand reached for that light switch, plunging that room into darkness despite Harley's protest only to appear at the woman's side once more. Matteo, this time, effortlessly lifting her up and into his arms with that assurance they had played about long enough. Yet how wise she was becoming to his games! That very suspicion clear upon her face as he moved to carry her into that bedroom and steal a glance at her features. The young woman demanding to know his intentions and whether or not he desired to tuck her in and kiss her forehead. That singular eye lifting as he glanced down toward her once more.

"Would you like me too, Mon Cherie?"

How readily that amusement laced those accented words, meeting the sarcasm off her own. Harley berating him further then and the veritable 'hot air' he was filled with. The young woman readily having come to anticipate his games and yet- how very much it amused him that she did. Harley one of those few and rare beings whom was as willing to meet his game with her own. The Fae so gently placing her upon her bed then- only to disappear once more. Her words hardly missed all the same and yet he was far from done with that game just yet. Matteo abruptly appearing atop her then. One knee either side off her waist as he effortlessly straddled her feminine figure. One hand lifted to brush that dark hair from his eyes as he regarded her near lazily. Hmm. she did look pleasing nestled amongst those sheets and yet....how much more pleasing she might appear with far more....tousled hair. A curious thought. Those very words finding him once more as he quieres how long it had been since she had taken a man to her bed. Harley still managing to reach for that sarcasm even now before declaring herself invulnerable to him and his very distracting.....ah, perhaps not so invulnerable as she appeared. That lazy all-knowing simper flashed towards her in near instant response. Matteo leaning easily forward then to offer her those words, his lips so very nearly touching her own like a whisper soft caress. That heartbeat quickening within her all over again and he finds himself inclined to consider once more how long it might take to steal but every line of tension from her figure, to have her let her guard down completely and have her relax in the depths off his embrace. Harley so boldly insisting then he was in her position then. Her words prompting that press off her lips to his own- fleeting and accidental though it was. That softness surprising. Would it be a terrible thing to steal a taste of them? Ah, how little she realised that veritable tease she had given him in turn with that touch. How far were they willing to take that very game? Such a dangerous game it was becoming and yet- did that not make it all the more glorious to play?

His own figure shifted abruptly, rolling effortlessly onto his back beside her with that warm, ready laugh that echoed in the moonlit glow of that room. That very light only furthering the beauty of young womans features and how readily he understood in that moment just why Risque's brother had held such a vested interest. Though he hardly dared let such thoughts find him now. A smile findinghis lips instead as he so insisted that now was the time for sleep. Harley eyeing him critically before insisting she was, instead, whide awake and he need work harder. Both eye rising slightly at that inuenndo so hardly missed. That posotively devillish simper finding him then.

"S'il y a quelque chose que tu voudrais que je fasse, ma chérie, dis-le-moi. Je prends des demandes. That is, if there is something you would like me to do, Mon Cherie, please tell me. I take requests."

Ah, he would see what she took from those words. His arms lifting upward then to fold behind his head. That story that left his lips, this time, almost abrupt and yet those words remained easy and even al the same. Offering her a part of that promised story. That gesture of....trust between them perhaps. Matteo determined to keep his word as Harley suddenly rolled to lay near half atop him,her arms folding to rest them atop his chest, her head laying atop them in turn. The warmth of her slender, feminine figure not unwelcome. Matteo content to leave her to lay just there as he finishes that fleeting offering off his own story before insisting upon sleep again. Harley demanding he make her. That grin finding his lips again as his eyes rolled in good humour. The young woman, this time, sliding her way further upon his figure to take up that position he had held agianst her only moments ago. Her fingers toying with his shirt. That faintest of hitches to his breathing so momentarily occurring as her fingers brushed his chest and yet how easily he moved to attempt conceal it with that chuckle.

"Yes, we had potatoes."

That sudden softening to her voice so readily saw his gaze lift upward to her own once more as she queried whether or not he missed them. That very moonlight upon her features appearing near ethereal and yet....how much more vulnerable it made her appear in turn. That question one he so hardly need consider all the same.

"I miss them all the time, just like you. Especially my Mother."

His Mother, after all, had survived so much longer then his father and sister. For over two thousand years she had.....been there, even if he had ceased to need a parent so long ago. It did not lessen the blow or the space they had left. His thoughts interrupted then as Harley lent forward once more, lingering desperately close to that very place on his neck she had all but nestled into earlier in the wake of giving in to her feline urges. Her words hardly lessning that warm simper as his head lifted just so, Matteo unfolding his arms then to lift them upward and wrap easily around her figure, content to tug her downward to lie fully agianst him and allow her to snuggle into that very spot he knew she desired too. His arms resting loosely around her then. She had hardly asked to be held in any sense and yet that, he suspected, might yet be the key to helping her find that sleep tonight. Her words prompting his head to angle toward her as best he could.

"Hm? Oh, it is a terrible game, I agree. A terrible, sneaky, devilish game that I shall spare you from any more tonight, Mon Cherie. Close your eyes and I shall tell you another story instead. Are you ready?"

He paused then, waiting for the woman to settle agianst him. His words distinctly gentle then, soft and quiet in that room with its moon glow. Matteo taking up that even, smooth tone then, one meant to chase away any of those worries that might still linger within the woman's mind. Matteo, this time, sharing those memories that had once meant so very much. A glimmer of pleasantness in a life so long lived.

"When I was very young, we lived in a small house made of stone with a straw roof. My Father built it. We only had two rooms but that was common then. A kitchen and a bedroom. Our house was on the edge of an enormous field. In spring the grass would grow taller then I was and be so green it would look like an ocean when it blew in the breeze. In late summer and autumn it would turn golden. My sisters and I used to hide amongst it. We used to move our sheep and cattle and horses from field to field. My Father taught me to ride in that field, atop an old shire gelding. I thought myself very brave back then to ride such a big horse...."


m a t t e o
it's tough to be a god