Morals of a Villain

Chapter 17: Rules

Damon led Pandora back into the house, smiling down at her as he considered all the ways he could show her what villainy was really like. There were so many different options, and she only really needed one example of what it was like to be on this side of things for her to get into the swing of it. She might not even need that, considering that she was so familiar with the thoughts and feelings that turned people into villains. "What if we just went for the basics?" He asked, overwhelmed by the variety of paths he could take to show her the ropes of how things worked. "There aren't really many rules to this type of thing, so I suppose you would just need to know the stuff that we all sort of consecutively agree on. Beyond that, I can show you the way I personally think being a villain works and explain a few common courtesies that I like to stick to." He added. Pandora nodded. "That sounds lovely." She smiled, following Damon up the flight of stairs and down the hall to his study. "Although, I did think that your king would have set a bunch of really strict rules that you all he to follow. Ours did." She added, a perplexed look finding its way into her eyes. Damon shook his head. "It doesn't really work that way. We don't have 'rules', per say. We just have some decent common sense and a tendency to all meet back at the same point when it comes to morals." He said. Pandora smiled. "Do villains actually have morals?" She asked, as though saying so was a hilarious joke. Damon nodded. "Of course we do. They aren't exactly the same ones that heroes have, but that doesn't make them any less real." He grinned. 
Pandora tilted her head a little, considering this. "Oh. Well, I suppose that does make sense. I sort of thought that you people would have forced yourselves far enough into the stereotypical 'evil' mindset that you would have left stuff like pity and all that behind." She said, more to herself then anyone else. Damon laughed. "Woah, back up a step there. I never said we had pity. At least, not on our enemies. If we hear someone in our cities got seriously hurt by one of their friends or something, then we do everything we can to help and get them back on their feet, while also doing everything we can to find the culprit of whatever crime was committed. Our subjects are like our family, and they're the ones responsible for all of our success when you come right down to it. As such, they deserve to be treated as well as we can manage to treat them. But when it comes to fighting people from your side, we sort of lose all sense of even the most basic emotions and step into this sort of alternate version of ourselves, which is sort of like a mask we use when we're interacting with people we don't particularly feel safe around. It's a bit like an alternate personality that we use as a shield. And when it comes to fighting, that alternate personality is one that allows us to set aside any thoughts or feelings that might affect our focus on the situation at hand." He smiled, pushing open the door to his study and making a dramatic bowing gesture to beckon his lover into the book-filled room. Pandora laughed, following his unspoken directions with a flare of elegance that Damon was starting to find exceedingly hot. 
"There." Damon grinned, stepping into the study himself and shutting the door. "You're already flamboyant enough to be a villain. Now all you just need to remember to act vaguely alluring and overconfident when you're fighting someone, even if that isn't how you feel at the moment. It makes the person you're up against uncomfortable, and that can lead to mistakes you might be able to exploit. Besides, it's just plain fun to step into a different version of yourself and utterly destroy your enemies with whatever you might have on hand." He smiled. Pandora laughed, sitting down in one of three leather armchairs clustered around the fireplace. "So disassociate your way into a god complex every time someone tries to hurt you. Got it." She grinned. Damon nodded. "Not everyone does that, though. Some villains prefer to openly roast their opponents when they have to fight, using their anger against them instead of their discomfort. It's just a slight variation of the same routine, but some people do argue over which is better when they're bored and have nothing better to do." He said, taking the seat next to Pandora. 
Pandora nodded, thinking to herself. "Those people were always a lot more fun to fight. I know a bunch of heroes who get really pissed off when they were put up against someone like that, which I always found funny. They would get together in groups specifically dedicated to tearing down the villains that tried to aggravate them and coming up with retorts they planned to use when they got to fight that particular badie again. Of course, none of them ever got the chance to use any of the stuff they came up with, and if they did it was just turned back on them and warped into an even worse insult. I personally love firing back at villains that do that, though. It makes the whole situation a lot less awkward on all sides, and it takes some of the weight off my shoulders when I have to kill the person I'm up against. They're usually great sports about it, too, and some of them even set up a brutal joke when they realize they aren't going to make it out alive." She said, smiling just thinking about it. Damon nodded, grinning as he thought of all his friends who used those same tactics when they got into fights. "Those villains are always the ones that get invited to parties first. You can count on them to be absolutely brutal in the most hilarious ways when someone inevitably gets drunk and starts doing something stupid." He grinned. 
Pandora laughed. "I would pay to see that. It sounds a lot better than anything that's ever happened at one of the parties I'm forced to go to." She said. Damon nodded, grinning as he remembered the last time he and his friends were all together. It had been the Halloween party that they threw every year to distract themselves from their problems. His best friend since childhood had been there, ready to roast anyone who got even marginally wasted for anything embarrassing they might do. Unfortunately for him, the first person to get that drunk was Dame Francess, who was just as good at insulting people as Damon's best friend was. Francess, or Frank, as she was lovingly nicknamed by the friend group as soon as she had chopped her hair back to a pixie cut, had the tendency to slip in and out of her alternate personality the moment she got senseless enough to lose her grip of what she was doing. It was honestly really funny to watch, considering that her normal voice and demeanor were about the same as they had been when she was still in school. She could be talking in rapid, high-pitched tones as she slouched over a plate of probably the least healthy food one second, and the next she would be whirling around the dancefloor and vigorously insulting anyone she caught sight of. She also usually got mad at anyone who didn't call her by her nickname after she had fallen into her alternate personality, which was hilarious because the name didn't suit her at all. But it was what she seemed more comfortable with when she was drunk, so it was what everyone called her. Most of the time, no one even bothered to switch back to using her regular name when she was sober, probably because she got so embarrassed when she recalled the nights she'd spent carving out witty insults for each individual person in the friend group and getting blackout drunk that tormenting her with the nickname was no end of fun for everyone. Needless to say, seeing her pitted against Damon's childhood best friend had been quite the sight to behold. The whole thing had eventually dissolved into a rap battle that had lasted almost the entire night and entertained everyone who came to the party. "It's definitely something worth seeing." Damon grinned. 
Pandora smiled. "Maybe I'll get the chance on day. If it's not a rule that you stick to one method or the other when it comes to completely gaining control of a fight, though, then what is?" She asked, dragging the conversation back around to the rules again. She seemed genuinely interested in them, which was rather nice. Damon shrugged. "Really, there's only a few things you need to stick to. Just don't do anything to piss off the king, and don't call your friends in to get you out of a bad situation with heroes unless you're one hundred percent sure they can help you without getting hurt. The rest of the codes most people follow are just basic friendship rules. You know, help the people you're close to and kill anyone who tries to hurt them type stuff. Regular nonsense. Most of the rules we follow are based off of our own lives, so they're unique to everyone. It's generally agreed that not maddening people you can't fight is a good idea, though." He grinned. Pandora nodded. "That makes sense." She smiled.  
Damon opened his mouth to continue explaining about the remaining couple of things that people really stuck to like glue, but the sound of a bell interrupted him before he could even get the first word out. He turned to look at his desk, realizing that the phone was culprit for the noise. With a little huff of irritation, he got up and crossed the room to pick it up, rolling his eyes in exasperation and turning to give Pandora a little smile. She chuckled, watching him from her chair with a curious look. Damon lifted the thing out of its cradle, realizing too late that it was probably someone calling to berate him over the whole situation with Pandora. He slammed it back down as quickly as he could, but not before the person on the other end started screaming their head off loud enough that both Damon and Pandora could hear what they said without even having to listen closely. Damon grit his teeth, staring at the phone with an absolute seething hatred. Pandora was going to ask him questions now. Questions he didn't want to answer. She might even get concerned over the all to real possibility that they would both be bombarded with phone calls from angry heroes and their supporters for a long time yet to come. "Damon, what was that?" Pandora asked, getting up and coming to join him at the desk. Even without looking at her, he could tell she was confused and worried. "Nothi-" The phone started to ring again, cutting him off before he even got the chance to finish what he was saying. He reached to unplug it, but Pandora was quicker and picked it up before he could stop her. "Hello?" She said, speaking into the phone as an increasingly perplexed expression crept into her eyes. "This is Pandora. What's going on, Macy?"