"Poisoned...?"
Talia promised herself just moments ago that she would completely ignore Rhys and not heed him any mind anymore, or at the very least, not get flustered with everything that he does. She was old, she had already seen everything there was to see in the world — but now, it was almost as if she was being brought back to her youth with how angry, curious, confused, and utterly clueless she was.
"What do you mean poisoned?" Talia then asked; slightly pushing away her disdain for now as she looked at Rhys, "The fruits?"
"Probably all of this," Rhys turned to look at the fruits, barbecue, and cool beverages provided to Talia, "I can already feel trace amounts of poison in the grape I ate, it's very faint, almost non-existent, but it's there. Your other food probably has even more of it."
"You... can also feel poison?" Talia could not help but lower her eyebrows as she also looked at her table that was filled with all the things she requested, she then turned her eyes back to Rhys, only to see him still eating the grapes, "Then why are you eating them if they really are poisoned?"
"I also have a way to bring my body to its optimal condition," Rhys shrugged, "I heard from the other prisoners that you were able to remove whatever they placed in our necks? I'm guessing that's also when you gained authority within the prison and started requesting food for yourself, right?"
"I... don't believe you, dregger," Talia squinted her eyes as she once again looked at the table, "I've been eating all of these even before you were born — I'm still alive."
"You are," Rhys stood up from the sofa as he looked at Talia from head to toe, "But could it be you're weaker than you're supposed to be, Talia...?"
"That's just how life works, boy," Talia scoffed and shook her head, "Even the mightiest of the mighty fall to the curse of time, I'm just old — my food is not poisoned, the people of this prison will not betray me like that."
"But you're just a prisoner here, Granny. Like me, like the rest of these people," Rhys turned to look at the other prisoners, who quickly moved away their prying and nosey gazes as soon as he and Talia looked at them.
"I am not like the rest of you," Talia also stood up from the sofa as she slightly raised her voice, "I am superior. I can leave this prison anytime I want to, I am here by choice."
"Are you?"
"I am," Talia looked Rhys in the eyes, "And you can't even prove there's any poison in my food."
"We'll see," Rhys then started looking around for a few seconds before he settled toward a couple of guards who were chatting with each other while looking at them. Rhys then snipped another piece of grape and just flicked it straight toward one of the guard's mouths with utmost precision.
Talia watched as the guard's face went through different phases when the grape just went straight down his throat — confusion, realization, and then... panic. The guard even inserted two fingers into his mouth to puke out the grape, but when it did not come out, he just quickly rushed out of the yard.
"See...?" Rhys then pointed at the guard's disappearing back, "Even I wasn't expecting them to react like that since the poison is too weak to even notice."
He then turned to look at her face; a large scar, adorning her left face and completely taking away her eye — but she wasn't ugly, not at all. And with the way she was approaching Rhys with her sultry steps and wet lips, she knew she was hot.
"Want some company?" The female prisoner smiled; the look in her eyes, even more suggestive than her voice, "Name's Rose. Rhys, Rose — we already have something in common."
"We're both criminals," Rhys let out a small but very deep breath as he sat up and looked at Rose from head to toe. Her body was nice, but Rhys had probably already seen all the spectrum of beautiful shapes from his current women... and not to mention Arachnea.
"A man with a sense of humor, I like that," Rose then just leaped onto the sofa before leaning in closer to Rhys, "There's a lot of humor here, but you're the only one who seems to have the guts to actually finish with the punchline."
"...Right," Rhys only glanced at her.
"I'm going to be straightforward, Rhys..." Rose then placed her hand on Rhys's thigh, "...I want to fuck you — and with all the guards busy with something else, we could just do it right here and now...
...and I'm already wet."
"...What are you in here for?" Rhys asked.
"Oh, is that your idea of foreplay?" Rose chuckled as she just grabbed Rhys's crotch, "Fine, I'll bite...
...I used to run a certain medicinal operation in the Underworld."
"Drugs," Rhys breathed out, "And what's your ability?"
"It's better if I show you..." Rose then slightly opened her lips; a faint smoke, escaping her mouth, "...I have the power to—"
"Produce aphrodisiac with her breaths."
And before Rose could finish her words, Rhys watched as pieces of her head started to fall off from her neck, and as they did so, they very slowly revealed Talia who was just casually approaching Rhys.
"I think this makes us even...
...Rhys Wilder."