#and accidentally repeatedly doing things to save her bc she doesnt want the games to end

[ladyohdeath]

IT'S A SICKLY SATISFYING FEELING, watching the flicker of emotions and realization cross over clara's features. the light in her eyes shift, cautiousness covering the curiosity, and it feels like a fucking drug to death. fear is like a physical thing, something she can latch onto and chew like it's her last meal. she even goes as far as to allow her skeletal form to flicker for the slightest moment when clara says actually death.

death waits, almost patient, to see clara's response. she is not surprised when the woman stays standing, questioning her despite the weight of the revelation.

and oh, death likes her.

that bravery, that soul she pushes forward, is one of the very thing that had enticed death in the first place. many escape her, but very few capture her attention. in all her times watching her from a distance, she had not realized how it would feel to be one of the puzzles that clara is trying to figure out. her eyes darken, head tilting like she's examining her again. her smile is a wicked thing, full of promise.

"not as far as i know," she replies in a whisper, purposefully letting her eyes flicker from clara's body up to her eyes. she wants her to feel scrutinized, as though there's nowhere to hide. the truth of the matter is, of course, that clara is a mystery to her -- that she does not understand her the way she understands the universe, and that just makes her even more curious. "as much as i want it to be," she continues, allowing herself the visual of taking clara's soul into the afterlife. what a sweet prize she'll be when the time comes.

( she sort of wants clara to evade her forever. it's almost fun, chasing her around, knowing that someday her end will come. it'll be even more fun now that clara knows who she is. perhaps she won't stick to the shadows from now on. )

a deep breath, and she breathes her in. clara's stepped out of her vicinity, so she moves a bit closer. one might even think she was harmless, if they didn't know better. "as i said, clara. i've been watching you. you've..." she pauses, wrinkling her nose as she thinks of how to respond. she waves her hand, gesturing at clara. "... captured my attention." vexxed her, more like. "sometimes i have to see some things with my own eyes." hand drops, and her smile twitches. "would you come to your death willingly, if i said it was your time? or would you kick up a fight?"

─── ⋆ CLARA'S HEARTBEAT IS A SONG keeping in time with her adrenaline as this Rio played with her. They are both dancing on a razor edge boundary from what's considered a perversion in the open. Her breath hitches in anticipation to see how far they can push this. For a second, Clara fools herself into thinking she's the one leading this dance. There is strength in holding one's ground ( isn't there? ) But then a note in their melody sours in the form of the word...

DEATH. Clara releases her immediately in her shock. It's the moment where a leashed animal breaks free. A shiver persists after the split graze of Death's touch against her skin. Clara holds out a hand to insert space between them where none existed before. Regretfully.

"What are you? Some sort of Time Lord with a scary name? I already thought The Master was ostentatious but Death. Now that's creative." Though Clara lacks confidence in understanding what this means for her, she's never at a lack for words. She feels herself falling behind in this dance now. The outpour of words spill over like a flurry of strings building into a crescendo, a shield she stood behind.

Willful delusion leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, contorting and shaping her mouth the words she doesn't want to say. She cuts in before Rio can reply, "I mean you're not..." The curve of her smile twitches. "...Actually Death."

The accusation itself stands on shaky grounds in the same manner that her legs threaten to give out. She starts faltering back, yet only remains standing due to the swell of her own pride. The mystery of the Impossible Girl stumps yet another being who surpasses the summit of one's knowledge. The fate of lives all across the universe in the palm of this primordial entity. And somehow Clara has her attention and interest.

"And if you are, then I only have one question worth asking you. Is it my time?"