Daemonic Madness II: Better Angels

[succy]

Characters: Closed to characters below!
Summary: Continued from our Daemonic Madness plot, the conflicts simmering below the surface of the community are finally coming to a head.
Date(s): May 2018
Warnings/Notes: Psychic coercion, sexual themes, etc. If you have not been contacted about a previous role that you'd like to continue, please reach out to shramp!

Daemonic Madness II: Better Angels

Of sinners I am chief

Delila (Closed to Hunter & Vanyel)

The two men are in the woods tonight. At least, it looks like it's just them.


It's been months since they went after the little girl, but that was in another tract of forest entirely— they've run into each other once or twice since then, and seen her abandoned car still sitting by the roadside. A few of the succubi and the other sex worker had asked after her, but none had been surprised when they were told Delilah couldn't be found. The amplification accidents are over and people are safe— if Delilah chooses to make it so, all they can do is look for her. But life goes on.

The weather is mild and Hunter is out for a run, listening to the song of the eerie, alien 'wolves' that inhabit this world. Their occasional, piping songs lured him out a few miles out to the North, but he's on his way back when he hears the thwok of arrows hitting solid wood targets, and the crisp crunching of someone else moving in the deepening dusk.

Vanyel is practicing his archery against a tall tree. Vanyel hears it too, of course. The weight of a body moving over vegetation.

But here's the rub: they know that it's not just each other that they hear. There's someone else out here, amid the trees and the thick brush, moving about. No telling if it's D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., or someone who means them no harm at all.

Guard Dogs (Closed to Rosie)

At this point, guard duty with the succubi is both uneventful and also pretty sexy. There are a couple different men and women, employees, who've gotten rather friendly with her— eager to flirt, or to talk about the culture of her home, to discuss music, the best soundtrack to discussion. You know. #justdemonthings. Just sexy demon things, specifically.

The reverse of normal businesses, it's usually the late mornings that they ask her to come in to the luxury apartment complex, with more of them sleeping or going about business that they don't get done during busy nights. There haven't been many thefts lately, and certainly not on the same scale. Some had started to suppose it might be over, and that they should let Rosalina get back to her usual, sexy life. But they kept procrastinating, perhaps flatteringly; they like having her around. She's one of them, this motley collection of those regarded as discards and freaks, even for those who come from the more progressive worlds.

The other guardstaff are pretty cool, too. There are a couple rumors floating around about why the last guy got fired, but that aside, it's typically Bill the Lizardman who hogs the couch between patrols and Akari the Human Ninja who doesn't say much, but did bring them take-out steaks this one time.

It's a nice way to earn some extra barter goods. And positive vibes, which are ever in short supply in Xistentia these days.

This morning, Rosie's hanging out on the orange couch, while Bill mutters and pushes at her leg. Akari is walking the halls for now. "I'm bigger than you," he says. "No penis jokes." They have already talked about the penis jokes. Just because his genitalia isn't always external doesn't mean he doesn't have a penis!! Rosie! "I should get more couch."

??? (Closed to Era et al.)

TBD.

Comments

[astralera]

[ Era ignores the being's words, realizing quickly that it cannot be reasoned with. It would condemn all other universes for the sake of its own, without fighting for an alternative.

The portal is where her focus needs to be. Emeraldd and Peki can handle themselves, though she will toss a few rapidfire spells back if need be. Her companions have tackled larger groups of monsters than this with great success. Era just makes sure to let Emmy know to take its time - draw it out to try and avoid even more creatures spawning.

The corpse is slow, but Era takes no risks. She needs to buy herself more time and has just the spell for it. She casts Tether, a spell to bind the target for twenty precious seconds. Seconds Era can use to examine the portal and figure out how to deactivate it. ]

[zomby]

[Her spell snaps into place immediately. The zombie creature arrests on the spot, his feet rooted to the ground, one arm bent forward and the other back, mid-run, mid-step. It's hilariously awkward. He'd probably fall, were it not for the strength of the magic holding him upright and in place, his jaws half-locked around the next comment he had been about to make.

But even as he stands there, somethings' happening with him. His undead skin is tearing, more and more brilliant light beginning to crack, chink out of it. Slicing through the air, perhaps even the holding spell itself.

In the meantime, Era's own fleet steps take her easily over the ground. She hears the creatures combating her companions-- the lizard is considerably more formidable than she expected, landing a heavy blow against Peki. In the meantime, the other creature starts to fall.

She assesses the situation. And as she measures the distance to the portal, the zombie thing, maps the moment in her head, a sudden flash of an image splits through her mind's eye. It's that same symbol she saw only weeks ago.



A spitting image through her head. Emeraldd's eyes begin to change, a holographic bubble popping out into the air over it. It reads simply:

CONVERSION PROTOCOL

AWAITING USER INPUT

as the energy of the moment sweeps through Era's slight frame.]

[astralera]

[ It's difficult to ignore Peki's pained cry, but it is not the first time her beloved Chocobo has taken a powerful blow, nor will it be the last. He will survive, and she will tend to his wounds as needed. That doesn't mean she won't toss a powerful Verflare over her shoulder at the offending beast, however.

Era stumbles momentarily as the all too familiar image flashes through her mind. When Emeraldd suddenly acts strange. She vaguely remembers Tony saying something about his gift to her involving the use of her daemon, but it's all a blur at the moment. Regardless, she hesitantly sheathes her rapier that she might pull the odd device out of her inventory. It could be a mere coincidence that this gift of Tony's has the same symbol the unicorn showed her, yet Era is not about to question it. If it works it works, if it doesn't... Well, Estinien and Aymeric should be here soon and they can figure something else out then. ]

[zomby]

[As Era moves to grasp the odd device that Tony gave her, her thoughts start to clarify. The edges of that strange, searing vision come into clearer definition. It's a strange and stressful situation to be sure, but the Warrior of Light has always had a complicated relationship with the world around her, no matter what that world might be. Responsibilities that would cripple anyone else.

Tony's typewritten words come back to her. The way that people -- our people — would change to fit those worlds? Memory loss, changes in physics, abilities, that kind of thing.

Emeraldd's dialogue box jumps and rolls with the little daemon, as its remarkable finesse takes it around the lizard creature and the other monster, moving to target their eyes and throw their attacks off Peki. Emeraldd signals too, that Estinien and Aymeric draw close. Adrenaline pours through Era's veins.

The zombie creature is breaking free. More light slicing through its skin, which forms cracks, like a shell.

And in that moment, she remembers—

Primals. In her own world, they would be the equivalent of a creature so powerful that it contains its own worlds, has its own creatures, unimaginable power. And with an interdimensional gateway right there, she could conceivably take it to the world where it belongs— and regain her own powers, unhindered, as she was.]