The circles were hellish for most that entered them, and yet Xunatar found them whimsical. Had many truly felt their actions would have no impact on them eventually? True, many went without being punished in the foreseen future and simply because of that, they didn't fear repercussions in the long run. He himself knew that he would be damned in the end of the road, but he simply didn't care. Eventually everyone had to answer for their sins, no matter how virtuous they perceived themselves. He didn't bother to shy away from his doings for they were as abundant as the seas were with fish. There was likely a very special spot reserved for him, but for now, he would live up his life to the fullest.

The circle he found himself in particular was arguably matched the one of Ruin in being the most suited for the god. As much as he ruined those of innocence and corrupted them, he was equally good at manipulation and deception well before his reign. Sweet, meaningless words seduced the ears and poisoned the minds of those around him constantly. Of course he couldn't take all the blame- many found themselves catching his lies because they longed for it, that they let themselves fall into his traps. It wasn't displacement in the least, not when he had been a crossroads demon, making deals with individuals for the price of their souls which would then end up to one of his superiors in the realm of demons. Others, he had used, he would admit that just as quick. They meant nothing to him than being puppets for his schemes.

As he walked down the desolate path, he could hear what seemed to be thousands of voices, though strangely enough they all belonged to him. Xunatar could make out some of them as they ushered through the air. They were all false tales, unclear answer that went nowhere and general white lies that he sprung throughout the years. Amusement etched across his face as he wore these not as shameful reminders of his past, but rather badges of honor. Each one had served its purpose, and he carried no guilt about it. There hadn't been a lie that he regretted nor would there be, not if it served some sort of purpose for him.

Passing by the broken homes and the denizens that could not speak and were left to endure the horrors, he came to an abrupt stop when he spotted her. A fairly young looking woman with crimson eyes and jet black hair let loose and wild stared upon him a few feet ahead. Letting out an annoyed sigh, the lord watched her with distain. "What are you doing here, Cyprus? " The woman laughed at him before she immediately appeared behind him, her hands on top of his board shoulders. "Did you miss me? I haven't forgotten all those nasty things you did to me." He refrained from answering and it stirred her temper. Her nails dug right into him but she carried that sweet, nectar like voice of hers. "You promised me power. You promised me anything I needed to destroy my kin. And…you not only lied to me, but you used me for your own gain."

"I never promised you power completely, my dear. And while I did use you, you made use of me as well. Stop playing the victim, its not a good fit on you." He felt himself being agitated by her presence; for some reason it was only Cyprus that could leave him as unhinged as he was now.  He had no feelings for her back then or now as he was in her grip. She had tried to ruin his life's work all just because of some petty squabble within her family. It had nothing to do with him, not until she wanted to involved Colden to which he simply watched from the shadow. That was until she planned to sacrifice him. "We could of had everything together, my prince…"

"That's king to you. And beyond birthing Colden, I had no other use for an impulse witch like you." The gleefulness that was usually in his eyes faded away, leaving an eerie cold stare. With little effort, Xunatar forced her grip off by yanking himself away from her and turned about. "If you were a thinking woman, you could have still been alive. Instead you are nothing more than Dalanesca's most vile prisoner here. The woman smiled widely, gruesomely as she stepped towards him. "Liar. Deceiver. Traitor. If I can't kill you… I'll kill everything else you have. Your children…our son in particular. That woman of yours… everyone will be ripped to shreds and I'll find a way to make you watch it all, my king. Xunatar remained still and yet the air grew thick with his anger. "Heed your tongue, it you value the last bit of power you have from it." Perhaps this circle struck a nerve with him; but either way he grew sick of these games and turned to make his way to the goddess while resisting the urge to flat out murder the Cyprus that stood here.

Kit woke amongst rubble to voices that reminded her of stray cats arguing. Her body hurt unbelievably and her sight was waning at best. Her hands drew through chunks of stone and ash, drawing under her nails and staining her fingers. From what she could discern she was sheltered by a ruined building, spores of dust fell between the gaping beams above her. As she drew back to her senses she let out a hoarse groan of frustration and hauled herself up onto her aching feet, wobbled once and then in a display of almost comical anguish booted a loose stone out into what she perceived to be a street. She then proceeded to curse the very idea of the existence of deities.
She couldn't care less about them and their incessant temper tantrums and therefore she managed to end up in a hellish place based off of her opinions. So far she had been spectator to all manner of ills, and her well of patience was running dry. In it's place had sprung her more reckless side and since isolation seemed to be a recurring theme she spoke out loud many of her thoughts; which took the form of a sarcastic and impatient monologue. 

"So let us count the tally so far." She spoke to herself, already she had forgotten that anyone was here in the wasteland surrounding her. "We have seen people beaten to a pulp, chased, starved, humiliated, whittled to their fundamental desires and fallen into despair. Perhaps our own sins will be catching up with us soon?" She spoke to herself, rationalising the fact that she had more or less cruised through the circles, drifting through the paths created by much more hapless adventurers. She had no care for exerting herself unnecessarily, especially when others were so desperate to do exactly that. She felt she had nothing to prove to these wrathful gods, and her general stubbornness and spite for being reprimanded cemented herself in her ways. If anything she would consider that her flirting with the incubbi the highlight of her travels to date, while countless others were willingly ravaged and torn apart while clearing the path for her. However she would be glad to return from whence she came. 

She took a stretch, feeling her bruised body crack and pop, as she did and then she produced her smoking pipe from her bag. A soft clack was heard as the pipe sat between her teeth. Her fangs made razor sharp by her unwillingness to mask them with her usual shape-shifting talents. In fact, her outwards appearance had slipped considerably from the usual facade she wore. Her eyes shone brighter and more viciously in the dark, her lips had drawn darker in colour as had the skin around her eyes. Her breath had become more or less an occasional whisper only encouraged by the draw and release of tobacco smoke. She wandered out onto the street in pursuit for another unfortunate soul to shadow. She had many questions for the next deity she saw, but until that moment she was going to make the most of her opportunities. 

"What sort of trick are you?", he asked, the hunger for her blood becoming all the more apparent with each passing moment. Cyprus only looked onto him with those playful eyes of hers, which were sickening to him. "Trick? Oh no Xunatar, I am me. I am the rightful Queen of the Black Court, not that daughter of mine. My sisters were fools to even consider thinking about replacing me. Had I known, I would have slaughtered every single one of them long ago." "And that's been your problem", he replied with crossed arms against his chest, "You knew think things clearly. You rush in and show your hand blatantly. Had you heed my words, you would have never lost your body or crown. You are the only one to blame for your undoing." The god turned around and yet there was she right in front of him again. This playing around was getting annoying. Cyprus waved a finger to his face and made a clicking sound with her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You fed me lies and let me wander down the path of destruction, knowing that I would be powerless to stop it. You could have done something!"

He didn't bother to answer her this time; he elected to take another path but no mater where he went or how far he traveled, Xunatar wouldn't have to wait long before he caught glimpses of the Rosenite in windows, within buildings and walking beside him. Her mouth continued to spew vile words any chance she could grasp and the god's patience was truly being tested. He tried to ignore her as he had done with everyone else here before becoming aware of another's presence in this part of the realm. Cyprus had distracted him plenty enough to make him that unaware. As she trailed behind him, he could continued to hear the wretch's voice tormenting him over and over with the hope of breaking him. The moments seemed like hours with her talking and before long she got her wish as he turned immediately onto his heels and spun about. One hand quickly latched around her neck and squeezed with enough force to keep her from drawing up another word from her mouth. She struggled to speak and when it was made clear that she could, Cyprus just let out a pained grin at him before he tossed through the window of one of the desolated buildings to the side of them.

From there, the area was free of her for now. A sigh of relief came pouring over him as he continued, not wishing to check up on her. He didn't want her coming back for the remainder of his stay and he noticed another person, a woman nearby. Was she too a tormentor of this circle? He watched her briefly before hearing the wretch's voice from behind him. He pondered what the girl would see if she was to look his direction; would she see Cyprus as well, or someone else from her life that was keen on payback for whatever reason…

Kit's head cocked to the side, as her ears re-adjusted to the on-going argument. Although she had been travelling away from it's source her curiosity had quickly won out. She stopped and smirked at the harsh strain of expletives coming from one of the participants. But only did she turn when she felt a gaze mark her.
As she looked her eyes met those of a demon. Not her first guess, in fact she had been hoping for some foolish mortal to pave the way for her. The said man seemed to be arguing with what she could only describe as a dense patch of grey fog- although it looked to be more ash than smoke. As she focused more readily on the mass it began to take shape. First feet planted upon the floor and eventually an entire figure formed to her sight. 

None other than the Captain of the Guard. Of course it was a trick, but seeing him in the flesh for the first time in years made the scar on her cheek twinge. He looked particularly healthy, none of the blue lips and startled, bulging eyes that he had sported the day she saw him swing from her noose. 
If the aim of the trick was meant to make her feel guilt, it had failed. As she gazed upon the ghost of the bitter old guardsman she felt no different from the day he died. A soul had been owed to death that day, and she had decided it wasn't going to be hers, and that was all there was to it. In fact, if this was to be the name of her punishment she was surprised there was not an entire reunion waiting for her. For the amount of souls who had paid the fare in her stead numbered higher than just one. 

During her internal monologue she had suddenly become aware that she had been staring down the man across the way and he had long-since stopped talking. Feeling a little bit of a stalemate arising she gave a curt, yet casual salute.

"Lovely weather for some light torment, don't you think, sir?" She broke the fresh silence from the air with a sarcastic greeting but held her distance. She was bored and alone but she was patient to see weather the man before her was another resident or also just passing through. While she waited she turned to her customary vice of quickly producing and lighting her tobacco pipe from the pouch on her hip. The environment around her was not short of smoke so she doubted a little of her own contribution would change anything much. 
With a dull clack the pipe sat between her teeth and she went about indulging in her little habit. Her eyes never strayed from the man, her unconscious brain, even at such a distance was processing his every feature, committing it to the wealth of memory associated with her shape-shifting abilities.

The ruse was growing more dull by the second for the god as he was kept company by the false Cyprus. But even the Lord of Lies would admit that the entity that masqueraded as the most scornful of his former lovers had done so nigh perfectly. From her appearance, to her voice and scent and even her memories were executed well. He suppose that the entity was the guardian of this circle and had to be kept intact to continue its punishment for the mortals. Even so, Xunatar wished for it to be out of his sights and find another person to hunt.

His attention find itself divided between that and the woman not too far from them. Cyprus glanced over his shoulder and brushed her hand up against his shoulder. “Another plaything, my king? Should I warn her as well about your games?” The god refrained from answering her and she shifted to the other side of him. He could feel Cyprus’ temper betraying that calmness she attempted to keep; it was a glaring weakness for that woman. She never could keep herself in check for long and at a drop of a pin, could shift into violence and rage. While his calmness was returning to him and a sly chuckle disturbed the silence.

The scales had been tipped, it seemed.

“Be gone. Our fun is good and done now, shrew.”

Hopefully this would be the last time he would have to see any glimpses of her for the remainder of his life. He heard nothing else from her so afterwards, likely sensing that he grew weary of it and didn’t wish to test his power any further. With that, Xunatar turned around to see the woman and tilted his head. “Perhaps. Though I’d imagine more of you lot being here to endure the hardships that Dalanesca had set forth.” The reasons of this woman’s for being here were unknown to him as his were to her. “Ghosts of the past don’t really do it for me”, he spoke, referring to seeing one from his past come back to try and hassle him. It seemed like a trick up his own book and he had to say that he was impressed with its performance. “I prefer to use more fun means to haunt the people, but it is her domain…” He spoke moreso to himself as more lies from long ago filled the air. “Some of them were too ridiculous to believe. To be young again… “, he smirked, maintaining an aura of coolness. A wine bottle materialized into his hands and he took a few chugs from the head. The berries used for it were delicious, not as elegant as Angela’s concoction but it would do. “What brings you here? Are you trying to save the skins of the people like most people here are?”
  

She listened for a while tot he whimsical memoirs of the man across the way and edged another pace closer. Once his voice turned to address her directly Kit then stretched and exhaled another lung-full of tobacco smoke before she answered. 

"To be perfectly honest sir, I believe it's my lack of enthusiasm for the higher powers that has drawn me here." She spoke casually as she flicked a stray ember from her glove.  "I have no care for saving lost souls unless I feel it appealing or of some sort of worldly value. I take the black marks on my soul with the white ones, and I make it a point not to regret a single one of my actions. I will pay for them yet, but for the time to come I intend for that to be a number of today's away." The pipe once again clacked against her porcelain-like teeth as she drew another dark breath. Her ears detected nothing at her distance, nothing but the faint hissing of her pipe and the wind swirling through the holes in the ruined village. 

"At any rate, it seems that you are no hapless soul. I'd wager if you've nothing to do with all of this you know who did. And I'm not entirely sure I'm inclined to chatter with self-righteous gods." Ash swirled from her mouth as she spoke and she drew patterns in the soft ground with the toe of her boot as she waited for a response. She was entirely at ease, although her senses sought a lost soul to follow out of this hell. She had no idea how far she had left to go. Worse still, she felt that if the man in front of her happened to be self-righteous in his ways or inclined towards pandering to the overtly good or mundane, she would have to deal with such while she did attempted to figure this circle out.

"I don't suppose you know a way out?" It was a long shot, but she decided that asking was better that guessing.

He watched her for moments but in his mind, it would have seemed as though he knew her sort for much longer than that. The woman reminded him of his dear daughter, though he suspected that she lacked the slight annoying trait of slothfulness that Rize carried in her. He swore that the blasted girl couldn’t so much as wake up in the morning for days without the proper motivation. “Oh? You aren’t here for that? I see…” His eyes narrowed darkly as the embers from her flew into the air only to die. “It doesn’t matter what drew you or I to observe the doings around us. Much of fate can’t be interpreted even if one spends their whole lives looking. Quite a waste of time that could be used doing much more interesting things.” He kept his distance from her for now, opting instead to pace about while his hand felt against the remains of what he assumed to be an inn. His hand gliding gracefully across the smooth stone. “Saving them would only serve as a waste as well. In the end, it doesn’t even matter. You yourself have so correctly accepted your fate, if I say so myself. We all will pay for our sins and these grounds will serve as our everlasting worlds.”

He glanced onto her with a more satisfied look, “It matters not who we are- good, evil, peasants…kings…gods even, eventually every single one of us falls and will have to pay the piper. It’s far better to embrace it. At least that’s what I have found in my years of life.” Xunatar lived without regret either and knew that his reign would eventually end, as all things did and he would have to face the consequences. Nonetheless, it didn’t bother the demon one bit. His hand came to a stop just before it reached the end of its path and his fingers lightly drummed against the surface. It appeared that she saw more than what met the eye, something he silently applauded her for in his mind. “Me? I am but a stranger in these grounds. I may know of a few things but you said so yourself that you may give pause when speaking with my kin.” A toothy grin etched across his face before proceeding, “Though I do think of myself of being opposite of self-righteous. I do not fault you for your decline of that. It’s not all too hard to see where that stems from. Some of my colleagues have it in their minds that what they do is right and just when it’s quite the opposite.” 

Xunatar started his approach into her territory; a few steps forward as he swung his hands behind him in a non-hostile position. “I suppose you aren’t dead, so there’s certain to be a way out. But why leave so soon when the fun is just beginning. I wish to see what other hoops my divine sister is making the denizens jump through. Other than that, I guess that re-tracing your steps is key here. That is if this reality is one that follows the logic and rationality of our home realm. “ A few more steps were taken towards her but he was still fairly good out of reach. “Just how many circles have you been through…I figure that's a good way to start.”