Pride-Niklaus's Point of View
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"We may hate each other, and constantly try to murder one another, but we both have good sight and mirrors. We are both hot, and that's a fact." I smirked as I watched her intently, savoring the tension that seemed to grow with every word I spoke. The moment I said it, the words hung in the air, thick and unapologetic. "Me thinking you're hot doesn't change the fact that I don't like your guts, or that you are a psychopathic, condescending bitch. And you thinking I'm hot doesn't change how much you loathe my arse and want to kill me. It's simply... common knowledge."
Her pupils widened ever so slightly, and for a brief moment, I could have sworn I saw a red gleam flash across her golden iris, the same fiery hue as her hair. It was a subtle shift, a flicker of something I couldn't quite place, but it didn't go unnoticed by me. She had been expecting to go toe-to-toe with me, no doubt, but I could tell this remark had thrown her off. Just for a moment, though. Only for a moment.
"So, you think I'm hot?" she asked, her voice lower now, softer, though I could feel the shift. A playful edge slipped into her tone, but her eyes—those sharp, calculating eyes—never wavered from mine. They narrowed slightly as if she were testing me, waiting to see how I'd respond.
Hot? That was an understatement. The way she carried herself, the fire in her eyes, the way her movements were as fluid as they were dangerous... But I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of admitting that. Not yet.
"Do you think I'm hot?" I shot back, my voice laced with almost teasing challenge, watching her closely for any reaction. I could see the flicker of surprise, but she quickly masked it with that all-too-familiar scowl. She wasn't going to back down, not now, not in front of me.
Her eyes darted away for a split second, and I saw the hesitation in her face. She bit her bottom lip, clearly torn, as if weighing whether to lie or to tell me the truth. I could almost hear her mental battle—she was trying to play this cool, trying not to give me any advantage. But in the end, her pride—or was it arrogance?—won out.
"No. I wasn't lying," she said, her voice cool, almost disinterested, though I noticed the faintest trace of something underneath, some underlying truth in her tone. "I don't think you're hot."
A beat of silence.
She paused, as if giving me time to process her response, but then, her lips curled into a sly smirk, her eyes gleaming with something else. "But it seems like you have better eyes than I thought. I am hot indeed. The hottest."
I couldn't help the dry laugh that escaped me. It was the only response I could give to her audacity. She was insufferable, but there was something about her confidence that I had to admit—was it impressive or infuriating? Maybe both.
"Your ego certainly matches each other's," Nora remarked, her voice dripping with sarcasm, cutting through the tension that had been building in the air.
Scarlet's response came quickly, and with venom. "It's called self-awareness, snake shifter," she sneered, her eyes flashing dangerously as she turned her gaze on Nora. She didn't even acknowledge Loki's comment—her focus was entirely on Nora, the venomous undertone unmistakable. "Not ego."
"Indeed. Because you are smoking hot," Loki chimed in, his grin wide, practically oozing with insincerity as he eyed her like a predator watching its prey. His voice had that mock-innocent tone, meant to irritate, but it only seemed to amuse her.
Scarlet clicked her tongue, a clear sign of her disdain. "You sound like a pervert," she snapped, her voice dripping with disgust. There was no hiding the irritation in her words now.
Loki gasped dramatically, clutching his chest in mock horror, playing the wounded victim. "But I'm respectful with you!" he protested, his tone exaggerated, as if to show how deeply offended he was by her accusation.
"Are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, unable to resist the urge to dive in and stir the pot a little. I turned toward Loki, letting out a mock scoff. All of us—Scarlet's brothers, Kai, Dove, and me—scoffed in unison. Each of us was equally unimpressed with his feigned innocence.
"You certainly don't sound respectful, filthy fox!" I mocked, my voice dripping with sarcasm, the words sharp and pointed as I threw my own jab into the mix.
Loki's glare turned to me, his eyes narrowing with irritation. "Look who's talking!" he shot back, his tone laced with venom, clearly irritated by my interference.
I arched an eyebrow, unfazed by his petty retaliation. "Why would I be respectful with someone like her?" I asked, turning to face him with mock innocence. "We hate each other, and she's anything but respectful. She's a bitch, so I gotta be a bitch too."
I grinned slyly as I spoke, making a not-so-subtle reference to the song she had mentioned in her post earlier. But I wouldn't say it outright. Why make it easy for her to catch on?
"But you?" I continued, my expression shifting into something more challenging as I turned back to face Loki, my eyes narrowed. "You keep pretending to be all respectful and shit, when you're just an eccentric, obsessive pervert who doesn't know how to digest a 'no' or a rejection. It's embarrassing, honestly."
Loki hissed defensively, his posture rigid, his body language clearly irritated. He didn't like being called out so bluntly, and I knew that. "I was not rejected," he muttered, though the sharpness of his words betrayed his irritation.
That was all it took. Scarlet's laugh bubbled out, a laugh so bitter and cold that it cut through the tension in the room like a knife. "I reject you almost every day, fox," she said, her voice dripping with mockery, the gleam in her eyes almost cruel as she toyed with him, clearly enjoying his discomfort.
Loki straightened up, trying to recover, his posture stiffer now as he put on a cocky grin. But it didn't quite reach his eyes. "You don't know well yet," he said with forced confidence, as though he were trying to convince both Scarlet and himself. "I'm sure I'll make you fall in love with me. I mean, I am hot, and we match, don't we?" He continued, trying to sound casual, almost too casual. "We'd be amazing together. I'm tall, my dark pink hair matches yours, my amber eyes match yours, I'm a red nine-tailed fox and extremely powerful. I'm clever, and we like the same things."
Scarlet's eyes narrowed at his words, her gaze slow and deliberate as she took in his appearance. She was calculating, assessing him, weighing her options before speaking. The silence stretched on for a moment, and I could feel the tension between them building. Finally, she spoke, her voice low and cutting, filled with coldness.
"Fox, let's be honest," she began, her tone icy and unwavering, the words deliberate and measured. "You stalked the hell out of me and made yourself like the same things I do. You keep mimicking me, and it's fucking annoying."
She leaned in a little, just enough to close the distance between them, her posture making it clear that she wasn't backing down. "You don't know how to understand a no. A no is a no. You shouldn't fucking insist when someone you're trying to woo tells you no. Anything other than that is crossing the fucking line, and that disgusts me."
There was a sharp, almost suffocating silence after that. Loki's face darkened, his lips pressing into a thin line, but Scarlet wasn't finished yet. She wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily.
"You've never been a bitch to me," she continued, her voice still laced with disdain, "but you are too overbearing, too much. And though you have some cool looks, you are not my type, fox." The finality in her words echoed through the room, and they landed like a hammer blow.
Loki's eyes were practically smoldering now, burning with frustration and defiance, but he didn't back down. "Yes, you are smart, but so what?" he spat, his tone bitter and sneering. "I am too. I'm stronger and smarter than you. You may be a powerful nine-tailed red fox, but I am a—" She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in before delivering her final, crushing blow. "Immortal drakyre. The first of my kind. I am special in a way you will never be." Her words were cutting, final.
The air in the room thickened with tension as she stood her ground, her posture tall and unyielding. Even I had to admit, the truth of her statement was undeniable. Scarlet wasn't just a powerful force in her own right—she was something unique, something beyond what most of them could comprehend. And though I was aware of how dangerous she could be since our powers mirror one another's, not everyone knew the full extent of her power.
Her eyes remained cold, her expression unchanging. "You have no chance with me, Loki," she said, her voice a quiet, firm dismissal. "You never had."
The words hung in the air, heavy and oppressive, as the room fell into a thick, uncomfortable silence.
And fuck if hearing her speak so clearly to him, in front of everyone, didn't swell my chest with pride.